The Wilder Ride

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray get a chance to interview the CEO of the Stuckey's Corporation, Stephanie Stuckey. After catching up on the last week since the prior show, Stephanie comes to the stage and takes us back 80+ years to the 1930's. He grandfather was carving out a life by selling pecan's to resellers. He eventually began selling them on the side of the road. Within a few years, he enlisted his wife to help bake Southern style treats, like pecan rolls to expand their offerings. As the business grew, they great to a store, added a restaurant and gas pumps.

Pretty soon, they grew to another location and then another. At their height, they had well over 350 stores across 40 different states in the U.S. But, as many family business stories go, the family sold the rights to the name and it seemed as though Stuckey's was doomed to eventual obscurity. By chance, Stephanie, the granddaughter of the Stuckey namesake, received a call. Banking her life's savings, she decided to buy back the family business.

Now, she is rebuilding the brand the way her grandfather started the business, through merchanise. Embracing online ordering and 21st century markting techniques, including social media, Stephanie is laser-focused on returning the brand to it's former glory. As the interview progresses, they talk about the future of Stuckey's and what Stephanie hopes to see in place five years from now.

After the interview, Walt moves into his horrible movie review. That's not to say he does a horrible job revieiwng a movie. Rather, our listeners have selected a horrible movie for him to watch and review. Alan and Walt then dive into their odd news segment. Finally, with Stephanie still along for the ride, they conclude with their entertainment segment.

WATCHING

Walt finished off all three seasons of Arrested Development. He also re-watched the 2009 Star Trek reboot on Netflix. Finally, he caught a documentary called, The Other One, about The Grateful Dead. Alan watched, The Outlaw Josey Wales, for the first time and really enjoyed it. He also re-watched, Captain America with his visiting Father-in-Law. Alan also did a throw-back watch of War Games from 1983. Finally, Alan wrapped up watching, Loki, on Disney+ and thoroughly enjoyed it. Stephanie suggests watching the series, Food that Built America. She also praised, Schitt's Creek!

READING

Walt and Alan are both still working through the same Star Trek book they've discussed for several weeks. Alan also re-thumbed through the book, "The Making of Tombstone," and recommends it for any fan of the film. Stephanie suggests, "The Story of Air B&B," and, "Don't Make Me Pull Over, The History of the American Road Trip."

LISTENING

Walt had three podcasts he wanted to suggest this week. The first was, The Pop Culture Show, followed by Holy Crap It's Sports and Smartless. Alan listened to the latest episodes of 60MW Podcast and Measuring the Score. He was also excited about the announcement of the 17th album by Iron Maiden, Senjutsu. Stephanie really recommended the podcast, Wind of Change. She also likes the shows, How I Built This with Guy Raz and Morbid: A True Crime Podcast.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this episode, hosts Alan and Walt get a chance to talk with former meterologist, Karen Minton, of WSB-TV. Karen's career didn't start with a focus on television or meteorology. After getting her degree in the biological sciences, she was working for Dairy Queen corporate offices. She really thought she was going to be heading down that path. A chance encounter with a news director helped shape the course of her future. Starting on the West coast as a weather reporter, she eventually received a call from The Weather Channel. She isn't sure how they found out about her, but she took the job and relocated to Atlanta, Georgia. After a time, she thought she would be taking a new role in Florida. However, the station had just been sold and the news director said most people were bailing. The pause eventually led to being part of the WSB-TV team on channel 2.

As her career grew, she knew she needed to get her American Meteorological Society certification. As a divorced mother of two, she juggled work, raising her daughters, going to school and getting her certification. She spent the rest of her career as a news and weather anchor for WSB-TV, retiring just a couple years ago. Though she has hung up her Doppler Radar, she is eyeing a possible future as a patient advocate. However, before that, she has a few trips she'd like to go on and some fun to be had.

Following the interivew, Karen hung out as Walt began his review of another horrible movie he was forced to watch. Next, Alan and Walt each shared a pair of crazy news items. And, as always, they all wrapped up with the entertainment segment, letting us know what they have been watching, reading and listening to.

WATCHING

Walt began re-watching Arrested Development and binged all of season one. He really enjoyed the start of the series, Life After People on Hulu. Finally, he began watching, The Queens Gambit, and loved the first episode. Alan introduced his visiting Father-in-Law to the reboot of, Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams. He re-watched, A Fish Called Wanda, Dave, Pale Rider and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Each of those movies is highly recommended. Alan continues to watch the weekly drops of, Loki, and has not yet been disappointed. As to the YouTube channels, he watched Ashleigh Burton react to Thor, Casablanca, A League of Their Own, Snatch and Ferris Beuller's Day Off. The Channel, Popcorn in Bed, reacted to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Pulp Fiction, Independence Day, Arrival and Top Gun. Finally, he always catches The Daily Doug. Karen loved the series, Chuck. She also his hooked on British shows and suggests, Victoria, The Crown, Endeavor, Shetland, Midummer Murders, Outlander, The Durrells of Corfu, Grantchester and Zen.

READING

Walt and Alan and both trying to finish the Star Trek behind-the-scenes book they both have. Karen just finished, "The Art of Power," by John Meacham, a book about Thomas Jefferson. She's also big into Ken Follet and the Century Trilogy, which cosists of, "Fall of Giants," "Winter of the World," and "Edge of Eternity." The other series is the Pillars of Earth, consisting of, "The Pillars of Earth," "World Without End," "A Column of Fire," and, "The Evening and the Morning." She also suggests, "The Splended and the Vile," by Erik Larson and "Grant" by Ron Chernow.

LISTENING

Walt continues to pour his way through Camp Hell: Anneewakee podcast. He also likes the sports podcast, Holy Crap It's Sports with Pete Davis. Alan continues to listen to the 2002 album, "Hummingbird," as well as random songs by them via his Alexa. As for podcasts, this week he listened to the latest episodes of, Measuring the Score, 60MW Podcast (doing a throw-back watch and review of Condorman) and Radiolabyrinth. Karen, says she plans to start diving into The WIlder Ride podcast.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray get a chance to sit down with Caroline Daley and Michael Caputo of Pod Clubhouse. Alan and Walt were featured on their show, Interview with a Podcast, which dropped in January of 2021. On that show, Caroline and Michael like to bring a spotlight on other podcasts. Alan and Walt had such a fun time being interviewed, they wanted to return the favor here in season 4 of The Wilder Ride.

Caroline Daley and Michael Caputo of Pod Clubhouse each started in media separately, but found each other via a radio program. It did not take long for the two of them to realize they fed easily off each other and it led to the creation of a new podcast. The concept behind Pod Clubhouse was to bring other podcasts and voices together in the spirit of collaboration. As Michael says, they believe in the concept that a rising tide lifts all boats. As they embarked, their brand has become an umbrella for several different shows. While they still think of Interview with a Podcast as their primary show, they have added shows related to dozens of television and streaming shows, a movie themed show where they are looking at 52 weeks of Christmas movies, a show called, Decorating the Set and one called PCH Press Pass. There are several other members of the Pod Clubhouse team, all of which can be found on their website under the About Us page. As we wind down the interview portion of the show, Caroline and Michael encourage folks to proactively reach out to them if you would like to join forces on an episode. There is no guarantee, but life is easier for them if people feel comfortable reaching out to them.

As the episode continues, Walt dives into his horrible movie review, which was selected by members in our Facebook Listeners Group. Alan and Walt then get into a few news items and then all of them wrap up the show with the entertainment segment.

WATCHING

Walt finished season 1 of Tin Star on Amazon Prime, giving it an enthusiastic review. He just started to watch Bosch season 7 and highly recommends the Eddie Murphy movie, Mr. Church, streaming on Netflix. Alan also finished season 1 of Tin Star and loved it. With his father-in-law still visiting, he went back to watch some older flicks. They included Iron Man, Kindergarten Cop, Galaxy Quest and Silverado. Alan also encourages the YouTube channel, Ashleigh Burton, who reacted this week to the films of Fried Green Tomatoes and the 1962 Cape Fear. Radio Labyrinth had a YouTube show out discussing Loki. Popcoun in Bed reacted to The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug, The Battle of the Five Armies and Schindler's List. Finally, on The Daily Doug, previous guest Doug Halvering reacted to Queensryche's, "Suite Sister Mary," which included a shoutout to our own podcast! Caroline watches, Sex LIfe and Penguin Town, both on Netflix. Michael recommends, Kevin Can F Himself, on AMC, Central Park on Apple TV and Domina on Epix.

READING

Walt and Alan both continue to work through the Star Trek unauthorized history, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years." Alan also read, "How to Love Your Child More Than You Hate Your Ex," by Dr. Larry Waldman for another show called, The Marriage Fit Podcast. Caroline is currently reading, "Last Summer at the Golden Hotel," by Elyssa Friedland. Michael is working his way through all three volumes of the comic book, Invincible.

LISTENING

Walt is listening to the podcasts, The Great Trials, Camp Hell: Anneewakee, FBI Retired Case File Review with Jeri Williams and Never Not Funny with Jimmy Pardo. He has also been listening to the album, Hummingbird, by last week's guests, the New Age group 2002. Alan has also been listening to, Hummingbird. The podcasts he has been listening to this week include Measuring the Score, 60MW Podcast, Radio Labyrinth, The Nostalgic Podblast and The Indiana Jones Minute. Caroline has been listening to the Beach Boys Christmas album. She recommends the podcast, The Deep Dive with Jessica and June. Michael is addicted to podcasts, with over 50 subscribed in his Spotify account! He listens to all of the Pod Clubhouse shows, of course. He also suggests, The Neighborhood Listen, Comedy Bang Bang and Gates McFadden Investigates - Who Do You Think You Are?

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray meet the family members who make up the New Age group, 2002. The story begins with husband and wife, Randy and Pamela meeting in high school theater. They both had a love for music early in their lives. The two would go in separate directions after high school, getting involved with various bands as part of their musical journeys. After nearly a decade, circumstances returned them both to the Texas area where they reunited. That would eventually become the team who would create the New Age group, 2002.

The choice of that kind of music actually came from an event where Pamela was asked to play random, soothing melodies on her flute at a gathering. At the end, those in attendance wanted to know where to buy their music? From the simplest of starts has grown one of the most renowned and successful new age groups of the last few decades. As their daughter, Sarah, grew up in a musically gifted environment, she soon developed her own skills, both as a musician and a singer. Soon her talents were added to mix, creating even more depth and variety of music and melodies.

Their most recent album, Hummingbird, is available for digital download and the physical media will be available in mid-July 2021. As one well-respected critic, Steve Shepherd, writes, "It is hard to explain this, but whilst writing this review I haven't spoken, drank, or moved, and barely even breathed, and only just realized I hadn't even saved my work, this is how amazingly great this album is, I kid you not, this is without doubt the best instrumental album that 2002 have ever created. Hummingbird will probably go down in musical history as one of the best examples of 21st century New Age music there is, as it really doesn't get any better than this."

Tracks heard in the interview are:

Sacred Mountain from Hummingbird

River of Stars from River of Stars

Seoithin Seo Ho (Hushaby, Hush) / Gartan Mother's Lullaby from Celtic Fairy Lullaby

Gathering the Clouds from Hummingbird

After the interview, Walt provides a movie review of Waterworld. Then the two breakdown some crazy items in the news of the past week, followed by the entertainment segment, where the dive into what they have been watching, reading and listening to since the last episode.

WATCHING

Walt started the series Formula One: Drive to Survive. He also started some binge-watching of MASH on Hulu. Alan watched Honest Thief with Liam Neeson and enjoyed the somewhat predictable film. He also started to watch the series, Tin Star, with Tim Roth, which started in 2017. He re-watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a guilty pleasure for him and his wife. On YouTube, Alan watched Ashleigh Burton's reaction channel where she covered Tremors, Caddyshack, Ed Wood and Smokey and the Bandit. On the channel Popcorn in Bed, he watched Cassie and her sister react to a first-time watch of Jaws. He always catches The Daily Doug, especially on Iron Maiden Monday's and The Charismatic Voice, where the host looked at the performance of the song, "Fear of the Dark," by Iron Maiden.

READING

Both of our hosts were slackers this week, having nothing useful to share here.

LISTENING

Walt continues the engrossing but disturbing podcast, Camp Hell: Anneewakee. He also listened to the recent episode of Smartless with special guest, David Cross. Finally, he recommended the podcast, Stuff You Should Know. Alan continues to listen to 2002's music, the podcast Radio Labyrinth and the 60MW Podcast.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray sit down with Jeff Leiboff, one of the hosts of the Radio Labyrinth podcast. They start all the way back to 4th grade, when Jeff and Tim Andrews first became friends. As they got ready for college, Jeff was moving toward a journalism degree. He had taken a few early "graphics" classes in high school, but nothing was computerized at that point. Once in college, Jeff got involved with the campus newspaper and other publications. Within a few years, he found himself gravitating more toward layout and design. An opportunity opened and he spent two years living on a Caribbean island. He enjoyed it, but after a few hurricanes and living hand to mouth, he returned to the states, moving to Atlanta.

As his graphic design career continued to grow, Jeff discovered the world of podcasting. Being forced to commute an hour each way to his job, he got hooked on listening to shows on-demand. Jeff tried for years to convince Tim to do a podcast. Finally in December of 2015, the first episode of Radio Labyrinth was released.

With the interview winding down, Jeff Leiboff sticks around to help with the rest of the show. Walt first dives into yet another terrible movie review. Then Alan and Walt do their news segment and close with an entertainment recap.

WATCHING

Walt gave WWII in Color documentary on Netflix a solid endorsement. He is suggested The Naked Gun and The Outlaw Josey Wales, both available on Netflix. Jeff highly recommends Alone on the History channel. He also just started Clarkson's Farm with Jeremy Clarkson. Finally, he liked the most recent episode of WWE Most Wanted on A&E about Andre the Giant. Alan got his visiting father-in-law to watch The Fellowship of the Ring. They also watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

READING

Jeff highly recommends the book, "Project Hail Mary," by Andy Weir. Jeff also loved the audiobook version of the story! Alan is reading, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years."

LISTENING

Walt continues to dive into the podcasts, Gangster House, Camp Hell: Anneewakee and Comedy Bang Bang. Jeff really liked the debut of Patton Oswald's podcast called, Did You Get My Text? Of course he likes Radio Labyrinth, The Office Ladies, Fake Doctors Real Friends and The Office Deep Dive. Alan does a shoutout for The Marriage Fit Podcast, Radio Labyrinth and 60MW Podcast.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray bring back former FBI Agent from season three, a show we call, George Murray vol 2. The last time we spoke with George, we spent a good amount of time going through his backstory, from Vietnam through retiring from the FBI. This time we spend almost the entire episode on his FBI background.

Alan and Walt start off discussing all the stories hitting the media of late, which were considered false this time last year. So many people's voices were squashed. Alan hopes we all wake up and realize it's better to have more information, not less, especially if the information is wrong. Once George joins, he weighs in on the topic before the interview turns toward his career.

George Murray vol 2 begins with a seventh grader who met an agent and decided that was going to be his career. After college and a stint serving in Vietnam, George went to Quantico and became a field agent. Alan and Walt ask about the changes happening in the Bureau at the time, including the start of Behavioral Sciences. This led to a discussion of Wayne Williams and the Atlanta Child Murders. George was actually part of the overall surveillance team. During that time, an incident occurred where a mental health patient stopped taking his meds and decided to break into the building with the FBI and hold 9 agents hostage. A SWAT team eventually had to take him down.

The conversation rolls into the recent Colonial Pipeline issue with Russian hackers and how the FBI was able to recover significant funds. Alan and George then share some information about the pipeline situation, leading Alan to ask about politics in the Bureau. After that, Alan and Walt begin to discuss some of the undercover work and arrests across George's career. This leads Alan to remind the audience he is in awe of the vast majority of people working in law enforcement. Alan brings up the latest cyber sting regarding the ANOM service, which netted hundreds of arrests.

As the interview winds down, Walt asks about George ever firing his gun and about asking if young people should want to work for the FBI. Alan jumps in with his worry of how law enforcement is getting so much negative press that even police-friendly communities are seeing hiring shortages. George hopes police will get back to where they were and society can move forward with law and order. Then the hosts let him go before finishing the remaining segments of the show, with Walt's horrible movie review, crazy news items and the Entertainment Segment.

WATCHING

Walt has finished the cartoon, Invincible, on Netflix. Though Alan saved spoilers, they both agree there is one really big unanswered question. But, they both plan to watch season two. Walt like the foreign film, True Crimes, playing of Tubi and Vudu. Finally, he caught, Major Events of WWII in Color and loved it. Alan admitted with his Father-in-Law visiting, they have been watching a lot of movies. Alan saw, Delirious, with John Candy. It was okay. Then he watched Back to the Future 1 and 2 with high praise for the much loved films. He loved re-watching, Gran Tarino, with Clint Eastwood. Then on YouTube, Alan watches, The Daily Doug, The Charismatic Voice, Ashleigh Burton, Popcorn in Bed, Nerd of the Rings, Listening In and Rick Beato's show, What Makes this Song Great? In Rick's recent episode he broke down Pink Floyd's, "Comfortably Numb."

READING

Alan didn't have anything to report. Walt was re-reading, "Propaganda," by Edward Bernays from 1928. He is also still reading, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years," about the creation of the original Star Trek show.

LISTENING

Walt's episodes of Office Space Minute have dropped and he's been listening to that excellent podcast breaking the film down a minute at a time. He is also listening to Camp Hell: Anneewakee and In the Red Clay. Alan continues to get weekly episodes on the 60MW Podcast. He is back to listening to The Indiana Jones Minute, back after a LONG hiatus. Finally, he's been playing score from The Lord of the Rings almost every night.

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray chat with classically trained music composer, Douglas Helvering. We start with a look back and Doug's draw to music. He was first pulled in via a choir and became mesmerized with learning more about music and composition. As a PhD professor of music, Doug has spent most of his adult life analyzing and teaching others how to understand music theory. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he was forced to reevaluate how to reach others while in lockdown. After awhile, he returned to his YouTube channel, commenting on news and thoughts of the day.

In the fall of 2020, it was Doug's brother who suggested Doug try a reaction episode. Doug was not really ready for a clash of music genres, but his brother suggested giving an analysis of the Iron Maiden song, "Fear of the Dark." It was a huge hit with YouTube watchers. Within weeks, he gained thousands of subscribers. With a newfound purpose of teaching principles of music theory over top of metal and hard rock pieces, Doug has grown to over 70,000 followers at the time of this recording. Doug truly teaches us what is happening compositionally in the music and how it moves through chords, keys and even lyrics. In some ways, the watcher is getting the benefit of a classical education leveraged on elements of metal and rock.

As the episode wraps up the interview, Alan pulls executive privilege and bypasses the normal review of a horrible movie. Instead, they all talk about some of their favorite war films in honor of Memorial Day. After the films, Alan and Walt each provide a pair of odd news items. Then they move into the Entertainment Segment.

WATCHING

Walt is watching the Robert Kirkman animated series, Invincible. He also re-watched the 70's film, The Towering Inferno. Finally, he just watched the classic 80s flick, War Games. Doug gave two thumbs up for, Mare of Easttown. He also recently watched Real Genius, Schitt's Creek, The Good Place and Hamiliton. Alan also finished Mare of Easttown and gives it a glowing review. Alan re-watched Togo with his Father-in-Law and that led to watching, Iron Will. Alan also gaves two thumbs up for Guns Akimbo starring Daniel Radcliffe. Finally, in honor of its release on May 25, 1977, Alan re-watched Star Wars with his wife and Father-in-Law.

READING

Walt is reading, "Gun Room, " by Warren Ellis. Alan, in preparation for an upcoming interview on The Marriage Fit Podcast, is reading, "The 4 Intimacy Styles." Doug is getting ready to read, "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service," by Carol Leonning.

LISTENING

Walt plugs the podcast, Radio Labyrinth and Small Town Murder. He also reminds everyone that Old Sea Brigade has a new album out. And, Walt just got tickets to see Dead and Company in Atlanta later this fall. Alan does a shout out to the 60MW Podcast, Measuring the Score podcast, The Daily Doug on YouTube and the new age group, 2002. Doug has been listening to Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers. He recently did an episode on Queen's, "The March of the Black Queen." He has also been listening to the music of Stargazer and Dio. As to radio, he likes to listen to Mike Smerkonish on SirusXM. He also likes the podcasts, Wait, wait! Don't Tell Me and, The Thinking Atheist.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray sit down with Writer, Director and Actor, Amanda Raymond. After getting caught up on current events since the last episode, Alan and Walt welcome Amanda to the stage. She admits she wanted to be an actress since she was a little girl. As she got older, she also developed a love for animation and used that as a launching point for her career. She bounced back and forth with acting and PA work for a time.

She finally started to focus on more of the behind-the-scenes work of production. This eventually led to her writing and directing a short. The short got the attention of others who wanted her to direct a feature, which ended up optioned to Netflix. During this, Amanda began her own production company called 13 Curves Productions. Amanda continues to hone her writing and directing craft, revealing her ultimate goal is to one day direct a Star Wars movie.

Amanda Raymond joins in the remainder of the show, weighing in on a terrible movie Walt has to review. Alan and Walt then discuss a couple of outrageous news items before diving into the entertainment segment.

WATCHING Walt is binging Jericho and is continuing to watch the Robert Kirkman cartoon, Invincible. Amanda has been watching You on Netflix. Alan finished all of season one of Invincible and watched Midnight Run after the passing of Charles Grodin. Alan never saw it before and liked it, though he felt the score was a little cheesy.

READING Walt is reading, "Boundaries," by Dr. Cloud. He is learning how to set limits and reasonable expectations. Amanda just began a book about the Arch Bishop John Hughes, who is also known as Dagger John. She feels there might be a story there worth adapting to the screen. Alan discusses the book, "Rewire Your Anxious Brain," by Catherine M. Pittman and Elizabeth M. Karle.

LISTENING Walt is listening to the podcast, Camp Hell. He also suggests, The Thrilling Adventure Hour by Paul F. Tompkins. Finally, he is enjoying the latest music release by Old Sea Brigade. Amanda enjoys listening to an eclectic mix of music, including Rob Zombie, the Mortal Combat soundtrack, Enya and Ted Talks podcasts. Alan suggests Radio Labyrinth, 60MW Podcast and The Marriage Fit Podcast.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In this episode, hosts Alan and Walt get a chance to talk to film composer, Chris Lott, about his career in film and his podcast. As usual, the episode opens with Alan and Walt recapping their work and happenings over the past week. They quickly move to welcome their special guest, Chris Lott. Chris remembers his first "score" as being the soundtrack to Maximum Overdrive. The soundtrack was done by AC/DC. One of the tracks was an instrumental and Chris remembers being mesmerized. He remembers asking his parents how he could get more albums of just music. As he grew older, he became aware of his love of film scores. Chris began to gravitate toward creating music and before he even thought of film school, was composing. He admits he has learned most of the craft on-the-fly, diving in head first and learning by doing. Later, his wife, a classically trained musician, would help him with both business and creativity. While growing his list of clients, he and his wife began the podcast Measuring the Score. The podcast focuses on their love of film scores and discussing unique ones in each episode.

After the interview segment, Chris hangs out with Alan and Walt to riff on the remaining parts of the show. Walt reviews another horrible film selected by listeners who are part of their Facebook private Listeners Group. You can vote weekly on which film Walt gets to review. They move into crazy news items and wrap up with their entertainment segment.

WATCHING

Walt has a NON-recommendation for the film, Breech, with Bruce Willis. However, Walt did watch the first episode of the cartoon, Invincible, created by Robert Kirkman. Walt did enjoy it. Chris and his wife have gone back to re-watch Firefly. He also liked the animated film, The Mitchell's v. The Machines. Alan watched another Rush documentary called, Time Stand Still. He also binged all 6 episodes (thus far released) of The Nevers by Joss Whedon. Alan gives it two big thumbs up for the mid-season finale.

READING

Walt just got the book, "The Fifty-Year Mission - The First 25 Years," by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman. Alan also just got this same book to read. Chris is reading Stephen King's, "The Shining."

LISTENING

Walt does a solo shout-out to the podcast, Radio Labyrinth, by our good friends, Tim Andrews, Jeff Leiboff, Stephanie Swain and Dustin Lollar. Chris listed three podcasts to try: Green Shirt, At the Cheap Seats and Digital Dissection. He is also listening to the score to the film, Oxygen, by Rob. Alan does a shout-out for 60MW Podcast, The Marriage Fit Podcast and History of the Marine Corps.

In this episode, hosts Alan Sanders and Walt Murray chat with photographer, Gene Ho, about his career and being selected to document the Donald J. Trump campaign. As usual, the show opens with Alan and Walt recapping their week. Walt manages to keep his voice through most of the show, but he is still on-the-mend from a recent bout with laryngitis. Both Alan and Walt have been slammed with work and home repair/renovation projects.

Once Gene Ho hits the stage, we learn how he stumbled across photography in college. After falling in love with the field, he started doing wedding shoots. He was in the right place to get a gig with the wedding of an Atlanta cheerleader. As he mentions, once you get that first foot in the door, he was able to get more of them to hire him. From that point forward, he was climbing on a rocket. As his business grew he had a chance to attend an event where Donald J. Trump was attending. Gene Ho was hired by a magazine to take pictures. Within a couple weeks of that event, Gene got a handwritten message from Donald Trump complementing him for his work. One thing led to another and Gene was asking to be the photo-documentarian of the Trump campaign.

Being on the road, photographing hundreds of events over two years really gave Gene a full perspective of the man and the campaign. After the election, Gene worked to release a book called, Trumpography and is now running for the mayor of his home city of Myrtle Beach, SC.

After Gene Ho's interview, Alan and Walt moved into the horrible movie review segment. They then covered crazy news and wrapped with the Entertainment segment.

WATCHING

Walt is catching up on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episodes. He also watched three films that recently dropped on Amazon Prime: Galaxy Quest, 48 Hours and Buckaroo Banzai. Alan got into a music documentary kick over the last week. He recommends Rush - Beyond the Lighted Stage, ZZ Top - That Little Band from Texas and Echo in the Canyon. He also started the new HBO Max limited series, Mare of Easttown, with Kate Winslet and loves it. He is continuing watching episodes of season 2 of the classic Star Trek. Alan did call out the episode, "Mirror, Mirror," as a particularly good one he just watched. He also finished The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and really liked it. He had one overall criticism over the age of the antagonist, but not enough to ruin the overall feeling.

READING

Walt finally finished the book, "Running with the Devil," about Van Halen.

LISTENING

Walt gives a shoutout to The Dirty Harry Minute and their latest coverage of Dead Pool. He is also listening to SmartLess, Radio Labyrinth and History of the Marine Corps. He makes a special call-out to follow astronaut, Shane Kimbrough, on his social media. Shane was a guest last season and is currently on the International Space Station. Alan is listening to the Indiana Jones Minute as they are back to breaking down the fourth film after their hiatus. He is also listening to This Means Something, the Close Encounters of the Third Kind podcast. And, he was recently on the Spotlight Reflection TV show on the 60MW Podcast.

Make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener's Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group.

You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.