The Velvet Hammer Episode 20: In the season 1 finale we invite our special guest from California to join us during her first-ever vacation to Buenos Aires. How did she like it? Did she feel safe? How does she feel about her children living there? Find out in our discussion as we recount stories from her visit. In the good news, an LA zoo sea otter is moving to Argentina to help repopulate the endangered population in the country. We gripe yet again about the US elections, and wonder how democratic private debates really are. There’s jokes about road rage in the US, and Mom joins in–luckily, she’s calmer than us. Yield! On the topic of vacation, we speak about learning Spanish, and get pretty rowdy over the accents, joking about the difference between US and UK English. We close with some final thoughts about Mom’s vacation and where we see the country going in the next few years, and there goes season 1. Thank you all for listening and we can’t wait for you to join us for a revamped and reinvigorated season 2 coming soon!

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 19: Welcome to our second to last episode of season 1! We start looking at inflation in Argentina slowly decreasing (despite still being highest in the world) while the government began circulation of new 10,000 peso bills. We jump to immigration around the world, with New York State spending record amounts on migrants while the UK has made a deal to deport people to Rwanda. From there, we review the US elections again, wondering how Trump’s trial will turn out and how the candidates will fare with the first scheduled private debate. Back to local news, we cover a train collision in Buenos Aires that hopefully didn’t compromise the bridge it occurred on, and that terrible news of a hate crime against the Argentine LGBT community. Then, a story of a woman scorned, but wealthy enough to build the largest reinforced concrete building at the time as means to exact her revenge. While on buildings, we cover the holdout houses in the country, gentrification, urban renewal, and finally close on some random seafood talk. Remember to join us next week for the season finale of The Velvet Hammer!

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 18: Strike! Strike! Strike! A national protest was called during this episode, with most public transport, trash collection, hospitals, and more being shut down to bring awareness to Argentina’s economy. We begin with that before moving getting into national news as the economic output of the country hits pandemic-level lows and grocery spending massively contracts. As we fend off yet another mosquito boom, we chat about US elections and the candidates. That curiously segues to drag-queen culture and how to properly “tuck”, causing much hilarity and discomfort. We attempt to understand Bitcoin amid news that an Argentine company has decided to start a miner powered by waste stranded gas. With Copa America coming, the security minister sent a list of violent football fans to the US, causing us to share a story of an incident involving such a group. We end with science as Tadeo explains what happens as alcohol breaks down in your body, concluding with our predictions, one which includes…bed bugs!

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 17: Our wildest episode yet! You’ll want to stay to the end for this one! As Argentinian Labor Day passes, we mourn the end of summer and the gorgeous weather while celebrating a hopeful end to the mosquitos. Covering a bit of word news, we have apple orchards being chopped down by Heineken and some angry environmentalists. Then the shock of Tesla’s supercharger team being fired in one fell swoop – what did they do wrong? We share some tornado stories as twister season befalls the US before launching into our deeper discussion of music. Does vinyl sound better than cd? Tom helps explain the difference. From there a quick segue to suburban nightlife rowdiness in California and anecdotes about Firestone tires. With eggnog season approaching, we ask about the difference between brown liquors and Tom helps us clarify what they are; which leads to a complete loss of control as we share yet more lively anecdotes that leave us stitched sideways with laughter at the close.

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 16: This week gets off to a worrying start when we realized that most of our bottled water is straight from the tap. And the plastic is getting not just in the fish but our bodies as well. That leads us to wonder how much radiation is in our environment and even what’s in the chemical waste they use for fracking. Somehow we begin to wonder whether we’re living in a simulation and if there were parallel simulations, whether there’d be fermented things…like beers? Of course, we have our US news with TikTok being forced to sell. Bernie Sanders says congress is breaking the law – we entertain the idea that our constitution should have rules preventing our congress from being unlawful. Returning to Argentine happenings, as the University of Buenos Aires loses its funding, one of the largest protests since the new presidential administration descended on the capital in fury about students not being able to continue their educations. Meanwhile, the government maintained it’s fiscal and trade surplus for an entire quarter, so Milei’s seeming not to care…

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 15: Wine starts us off this week with a quick discussion of Argentine wine serving culture, this being the land of luscious Malbecs and crisp Torrontés. That quickly segues to the shocking news that the University of Buenos Aires has seen such massive cuts to their budget that they can’t keep operating. While this seems counter to president Milei’s push for education, his government did give a discount to private school families, easing their burden. In the north, corn crop forecasts were decreased yet again amid a disease spreading by leafhoppers while ministers rush to approve new pesticides. Then weather shuts down Dubai airport, spurring us to an overview of the most popular in the world and comparing them to trains. Moving on, during the economic crisis, Argentina buys new fighter jets, HSBC bank sold its business here, but Stellantis invests in solar energy. And the central bank announced its finally printing new bills so you no longer need a wheelbarrow just to buy dinner.

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 14: This week begins with an anecdote about college parties in a US private university that morphed into talking about drinking and driving law. In some states you could drive with a beer in hand? While on travel, we shared a little of what we know about the Argentine train system, bringing in news from our friend who works there. Transitioning to politics, we wonder what’s in store for the people in poverty here as winter comes, although Milei’s austerity measures are popular with the rich – many can’t afford warm clothing, or heating for their homes. Meanwhile, JP Morgan Argentina says the country will have access to capital markets soon, maybe that changes something? And as California increases minimum wage, does that mean fast food chains are finally going to go full robotic? Just before predictions, we marvel at Taiwan’s buildings still standing at terrifying angles after an earthquake tragically stuck the country.

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 13: This week begins with the shocking news that Argentine president Milei laid off 70,000 government employees with only three days notice. As that reverberates through the country, retirees are suffering with minimum pension payments amid increasing inflation – even as Milei devalues the currency yet again. But amidst the turmoil, the country posted another fiscal & trade surplus and even went shopping for F-16 fighter jets. Are they preparing for war? Not sure, but Columbia just ejected Argentina’s diplomats from their embassy. And winter’s coming quickly while heating prices increase in reaction to the elimination of subsidies for heating gas. In US news, we cover the bridge collapse and realize there were two more this year alone. Looking to the election, we wonder who’s going to be coming to the forefront with 7 months left and polarizing ideas.

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 12: We get off to a quirky start this week by sharing the nuances of mate tea drinking culture in Argentina. It’s an acquired taste, but definitely worth the effort for expats. In response to US president Biden’s poor performance at a latino vote rally, we discuss the effect we as expats have on Argentina. We end up agreeing we’re worthy ambassadors, embracing the country with open arms. After Milei’s first 100 days, we take a quick update: with inflation slowing, poverty is still on the rise, the people don’t think their politicians are helping, and winter is just around the corner. We move to our worries about American politics and why there’s no other options – people are even voting for candidates that aren’t on the ballots. We imagine what a war would look like if it comes to that, but quickly move to some good news. In a national forest in Argentina, endangered jaguars have finally had cubs and are sparking hope for the species that almost went extinct.

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.

The Velvet Hammer Episode 11: You’re joining us this week after a massive deluge swamped the city with water in record-breaking storms. After we get over the storm, we consider what has happened to the State of the Union Address: why is it more of a campaign speech than checkup on the country? We wonder about the wars going on and whether they’re going to spread to South America. There’s a heated discussion about term limits and why politicians stick around so long the youth have no opportunity to lead the country. In Argentina news, the country’s dollar purchases have hit a record high of over 10 billion in the reserve, helping stem catastrophically high inflation. In international news, we wonder what’s happening in Haiti and how they’re similar to “patriots” in the US. Are they the same?

Coming every Thursday, this is The Velvet Hammer with your hosts, Jonny, Tom, & Tadeo, three American expats recording from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Brought to you by One Eleven Entertainment.