For the second episode of “Popdose Presents: Songs of Freedom”, Matthew Bolin and Lyana Fernandez focus on the Occupy movement, especially its beginning point at Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Lyana gives her personal reflections of the two times she went down to OWS, and the roles she saw music play there as political expression, entertainment, and source of communal power. They talk about the musicians that have shown up at OWS, what they’ve performed, if they performed, and the differences between artists who take part out of support, versus those who take part as a form of self-promotion.

Later, Matthew and Lyana interview musician Geosafari about his new EP Protest Songs (Are Dead), his background as a political songwriter, the link between his involvement in Freeganism and initial connection to Occupy Wall Street, and his participation in-and observations of-the movement.

After the interview Matthew and Lyana continue to talk about musicians and the Occupy movement, looking specifically at one person who practically came out of hiding to perform for OWS, and another much more popular artist who was “supposed” to play but didn’t. This leads into a critique of a recent piece by punk legend Henry Rollins about music and the movement, and the cynicism he appears to have in regards to bands actually attaching themselves to political movements nowadays.

Finally they preview the third episode, which will focus mainly on MTV and its (mostly limited) role in politics, both in the past and today.

Note: This episode was recorded just before the ejection of OWS from their “homebase” in Zucotti Park–thus the absence of commentary on this event and similar actions towards the movement in other cities which have taken place since then. These more recent events will be touched upon in the third episode.

Special thanks to Friend-of-Popdose Thierry Côté and his blog Sonic Weapons for up-to-date information on the artists attending and performing at the various Occupy locations across the globe.

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Popdose Presents: Songs of Freedom — EPISODE TWO (1:37:28, 89.2 MB)

*

Playlist– Click HERE for a list of songs by artists discussed in this episode, and other tunes related to the episode’s subject matter.

————————————————————————————–

Matthew Bolin can be contacted on Twitter @Hadrians_Dad. Lyana Fernandez can be contacted @lolitapop9. Comments as well as topic/song suggestions are welcomed.

Oh hi. Do you like our new look? We feel this one is more accurate, mainly because we do all actually have that much chest hair (yes, even Jason) and Jeff actually sported that haircut a couple of summers ago (humidity is not his friend). Special thanks to Dw. Dunphy for creating it for us!

So it’s been a few months, and we sincerely apologize. We recorded a kick-ass episode last month, but unfortunately, technical difficulties prevented us from being able to post it. We’re especially sad because it featured the phenomenal author (and Popdose contributor!) Brian Boone, who has written a fantastic new book entitled I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (Except When I Hate It): Extremely Important Stuff About the Songs and Bands You Love, Hate, Love to Hate, and Hate to Love. Go out and buy this book today, people. You know when you look up an artist on Wikipedia and forty minutes later, you’ve disappeared down the Wikipedia Rabbit Hole? That’s what it’s like to read this book. You’ll finish it in about an hour and you will be desperately clamoring for a sequel the minute it’s done. It makes a perfect holiday gift for the music nerd in your life, or even just the casual music fan — they’ll be a music geek like the rest of it by the end!

Anyway, we’re back, and we thought it’d be fun to tackle another Billboard Top 10. Please join us for another episode of:

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 22: CHART ATTACK! Revisited! (1:19:12, 72.8 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton.
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Intro

0:00 Jason went and saw the Bacon Brothers live and feels the need to talk about it. You can imagine where it goes from there. As usual, all roads lead to Mellowmas. We also recap Dave’s recent Earmageddon post and get into a discussion that involves arm wrestling competitions.

13:27 Okay, it’s CHART ATTACK! time! And we’re all pretty happy with the Top 10 from November 26, 1983!

10. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) — Michael Jackson

9. Crumblin’ Down – John Cougar Mellencamp

8. Heart and Soul — Huey Lewis and the News

7. Say It Isn’t So — Daryl Hall and John Oates

6. Love Is a Battlefield — Pat Benatar

5. Cum On Feel the Noize — Quiet Riot

4. Islands in the Stream — Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

3. Uptown Girl — Billy Joel

2. Say Say Say — Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

1. All Night Long (All Night) – Lionel Richie

EnDOSEments

1:05:17 It’s after Thanksgiving, and so it’s officially okay to listen to Christmas music! Jason sends out some love to Tommy Emmanuel and his new instrumental Christmas album, All I Want For Christmas. Just try not to look at the cover. (Song: Tommy Emmanuel, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”)

1:08:14 Jeff endorses Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One for Blu-ray. We all endorse Jeff endorsing this. (Song: Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, “Kill the Wabbit” from What’s Opera, Doc?)

1:10:50 Dave endorses the fantastic album from Julian Velard, Mr. Saturday Night, which we all pretty much rushed out and grabbed after Jeff’s interview with Julian. Dave even saw him live! (Song: Julian Velard, “Love Again for the First Time”)

Wrappin’ It Up

Thanks so much for listening to us take apart this Top 10 — these are always fun discussions for us, so we hope you enjoy them as much as we do. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes, and don’t forget to visit our Facebook fan page as well as the Popdose Twitter feed. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next month!

Welcome to the first episode of “Popdose Presents: Songs of Freedom”, hosted by Popdose music contributor Matthew Bolin and Lyana Fernandez.

In this introductory episode, Matthew and Lyana talk about the genesis of the podcast, and explore how the internet has changed both art in general and specifically the consumption and general need for protest and political songs. They also go over the difference between commentary and criticism, and how access to technology has helped blur the lines between the two. As an example, M.I.A.’s most recent album is discussed, regarding how numerous reviews of it decided to focus of aspects of her personal behavior (i.e. “Trufflegate”) or personal politics, rather than the actual album content.

Later, Matthew and Lyana talk about the last few decades of English versus American political music, emphasizing the different ways the UK assimilates foreign music sources into their art (or product) versus the US. This section of the podcast also contains a discussion of P.J. Harvey’s newest album, the Mercury Prize-winning Let England Shake, with special focus given to the lyrical content, and Harvey’s apparent choice to neither fall on the side of overt protest songwriting (like Billy Bragg), or the political as personal or social commentary (like Morrissey or Jarvis Cocker). This leads to further examination of the internet’s role in shaping the ability to create music with a message, and how things such as an instant feedback loop have changed our ability to allow for reflection, and for songs with social messages to grow organically and be preserved in the public consciousness.

The episode also takes some time to remember R.E.M., perhaps its most political record (Document, which turns 25 next year), and consider how their standing might have been different if their most overtly political work had come out after internet use was widespread.

Finally, we look forward to the second episode, which will cover (among other things) the Occupy Wall Street movement, the “cost” of being a political singer, and Radiohead as a (non-)political band.

————————————————————————————–

Popdose Presents: Songs of Freedom — EPISODE ONE (1:14:34, 68.3 MB)

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Playlist–Here you will find a good number of the artists and/or songs that are discussed in each episode:

Billy Bragg – Waiting for the Great Leap Forward from Workers Playtime (1988)

The Clash – London Calling from London Calling (1979)

The Clash – London’s Burning from The Clash (1977)

The Kinks – Picture Book from The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)

M.I.A. – Born Free from MAYA (2010)

Morrissey – We’ll Let You Know from Your Arsenal (1992)

R.E.M. - The One I Love from Document (1987)

Sinead O’Connor – Black Boys on Mopeds from I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990)

P.J. Harvey – Let England Shake from Let England Shake (2011)

Pulp – Common People from Different Class (1995)

David Shane Smith – City of the Future from Cloud Pleaser (2009)

The Specials – Ghost Town non album single (1981) appears on The Singles Collection (1991)

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Matthew Bolin can be contacted on Twitter @Hadrians_Dad. Lyana Fernandez can be contacted @lolitapop9. Comments as well as topic/song suggestions are welcomed.

As longtime Popdose readers are no doubt already aware, we’re big Matthew Ryan fans around here — one of our first posts was an interview with him, and he was even kind enough to co-write his own Popdose Guide.

Needless to say, a new Matthew Ryan album is always cause for celebration at Popdose HQ, so when we heard he was releasing his 13th solo project, I Recall Standing As Though Nothing Could Fall, we knew we needed to do something special. Unfortunately, our original plan to purchase Matthew a pony fell through, so he had to settle for spending an hour with Jeff Giles and Matt Wardlaw. (Until recently, we’d have said that at least Matt and Jeff smell better than a pony, but Matt’s been hitting the Michael Anthony Hot Sauce pretty hard lately, so…)

The usual technical difficulties kept us from getting this recorded and edited as quickly as we’d have liked, but we’re nothing if not tenacious — and we think this episode of the Matt ‘N’ Jeff Radio Hour was well worth the wait. As he is in song, Matthew Ryan is poetic, thoughtful, and thoroughly engaging in conversation, and talking to him was a real pleasure. If you’re a fan, you’re going to love this — and if you aren’t, you’ll have no choice by the time this episode is over. Without further delay…

The Matt ‘N’ Jeff Radio Hour, Episode 4: Matthew Ryan interview

Visit Matthew Ryan at his official site – and if you require immediate gratification, watch a video for “Summer in the South,” a track from I Recall Standing as Though Nothing Could Fall:

Here at Popdose we wanted to do something special for Labor Day, and we can think of nothing more labored than another episode of the Popdose Podcast! And just like your day off, we’re not really doing anything, either. Instead of getting together and recording a brand-new episode, we’re giving you a long outtake from Episode 20, where we spoke with our buddy Peter Lubin. It’s a really great discussion about the state of the music industry that was too long to fit into the show, but too good to leave it on the cutting room floor.

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 21: More Fun With Peter Lubin! (30:14, 27.7 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton, with special guest Pete Lubin.
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EnDOSEments

Stick around after the show to hear “Orphan” by MyNameIsJohnMichael, which you can download for free, along with “Elders,” from his website. You can also read Jeff’s interview with him.

Related articles

• The Popdose Podcast: Episode 20 (Re-Post) (popdose.com)
• The Popdose Podcast: Episode 19 (popdose.com)
• Popdose Podcast Extra: Michaels on Michael (Plus) (popdose.com)

Once upon a time, there was Jefitoblog. It was loved by many in the land. But one day, Jefitoblog left us. Some say it was the result of a crappy webhost, some say it was the result of its author getting caught with a male prostitute. But whatever the reason, Jefitoblog was gone, and so was the will of the man behind it. Some thought he might never write again. But write again he eventually did, forming a behemoth site called Popdose, allowing him to not only share his own love of pop culture, but the love of many of other pop culture aficionados. There were many who helped bring it to fruition, but perhaps none more important than the guest on this, the 20th episode of The Popdose Podcast.

Peter Lubin is legendary in the music industry. As an A&R man, he has worked with some truly awesome and varied artists, including Peter Gabriel, Phish, the Moody Blues, John Mellencamp, Def Leppard, They Might Be Giants, and many, many more. And he’s been heavily involved in many other parts of the music industry as well, some of which you will hear about on this very podcast. In fact, there was so much fascinating conversation that a bonus ‘cast will be released in the not-so-distant future. What you won’t find here is the story of Pete’s involvement in getting Popdose up and running. He’s too humble to bring it up, but no worries — we’ll draw that story out of him sooner or later.

So sit back and enjoy a discussion on the state of the music industry, secrets on how to obtain a job you’re wholly unqualified for, and of course a few mother jokes dropped in here and there. But don’t you worry, there aren’t too many — mainly since Pete seems to have mastered the secret raconteur’s trick of speaking without ever taking a breath. Next time, we will get in a joke about your mom, Pete!

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 20: Pete Lubin! (1:13:11, 67.0 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton, with special guest Pete Lubin.
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0:00 Your three co-schmucks banter a little before Pete gets on the line. We discuss Jason’s athletic activities, and Dave’s too (not a typo). We talk about “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” and Dave actually wasn’t the one to bring it up. Meat Loaf is discussed, which brings us, sadly, to Mellowmas. We recall last month’s episode featuring Jason’s dad Gary and rave about the amazing show Louie.

18:21 We welcome Pete to the podcast! Gosh, there’s so much in the net 50 minutes that it’s hard to mention it all — and that would spoil the fun of hearing it for the first time anyway. But you’ll hear how Pete got his start in the business as a teen in New Haven, his work with famous publicist Howard Bloom, Columbia Records and Mercury Records, his early days as the publicist behind a number of artists like synthesizer great Larry Fast and Moody Blues keyboardist Patrick Moraz, how he signed Peter Gabriel, his time working with Robert Cray…the list goes on! You’ll also hear Pete’s thoughts on what drives record deals these days and the tricks he used to figure his way out behind the business. There’s also talk about some guy named Lefschmutz? I may have that spelling wrong. Either way, you don’t want to miss this, if only because you’ve probably never heard the term “venal hyenas” before.

EnDOSEments

52:28 Pete endoses Kickstarter and all it’s done to help artists obtain funding and attention for projects in a way they never would have been able to do in the past. He cites an artist he loves, Antje Duvekot, as a great example. And a great discussion follows. (Song: Mötley Crüe, “Kickstart My Heart.” (Really, Dave? Really?))

57:30 Jason endoses Spotify and mentions the new Kanye/Jay-Z album, Watch the Throne, as an example he wouldn’t have listened to without it. (Song: Kanye West, Jay-Z, “Made in America”)

59:53 Jeff endoses the group Spirit Family Reunion. Read Jeff’s interview with vocalist and guitarist Nick Panken. (Song: Spirit Family Reunion, “When My Name is Spoken”)

1:05:06 Dave endoses the new Fountains of Wayne album, Sky Full of Holes. (Song: Fountains of Wayne, “A Road Song”)

And that’s it for this month’s podcast! Thanks again to Pete for joining us on the show — stay tuned for our special bonus episode featuring more great insights from Mr. Lubin. And as always, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes, and don’t forget to visit our Facebook fan page as well as the Popdose Twitter feed. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next month!

After our inaugural trip discussing the new Bruce Hornsby live album, we’re back to discuss the latest album from ’80s hard rockers Night Ranger. Those who were fans of the “classic” era of Night Ranger (think of albums like Seven Wishes and Midnight Madness) will find a lot to love about this new album which is a promised return to the classic sound. The album delivers on that promise and then some, but don’t take our word for it….actually, please do take our word and listen to us for the full lowdown on everything that you need to know about the new record (Somewhere in California) plus a side dish conversation about the new album from The Outfield!

We’ll also reveal why former Night Ranger keyboardist Alan “Fitz” Fitzgerald is sitting in Eddie Van Halen’s breakfast nook.

The Matt ‘N’ Jeff Radio Hour, Episode 3: A Trip Through Night Ranger’s Somewhere in California….

]]> http://popdose.com/podcast-the-matt-%e2%80%98n%e2%80%99-jeff-radio-hour-%e2%80%93-episode-3/feed/ 14 http://popdose.com/the-popdose-podcast-episode-19/ http://popdose.com/the-popdose-podcast-episode-19/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:30:28 +0000 Jason Hare http://popdose.com/?p=78334 The Popdose Podcast!]]>

Mothers. Where would we be without them? I mean, yeah, there’s the whole “birth” thing. But that’s not what I’m talking about. When I say “we,” I’m talking about “the podcast schmucks.” Our mothers have given us ample material for the past eighteen episodes. We repeatedly ignore all the wonderful things they have done for us and just focus on disrespecting them as much as possible. This must change. But real change doesn’t come easily or quickly. Barack would agree, I’m sure. Especially when it comes to mother jokes. So, on this episode of The Popdose Podcast, we’re giving mothers a break. This month: Fathers. And why not? This is the month of Father’s Day, after all! (Yes, we know the month ended yesterday. Give us a break.) So, on Episode 19, we decided to invite a special guest to join us: Gary, Jason’s father. We invited him because he’s funny! We invited him because he’s irreverent! But mostly, we invited him because he’s alive! Good job, Gary!

Gary sharing one of his trademark anecdotes, to Jeff’s delight and Jason’s exasperation, August 2009

Those of you who know and love tolerate Gary know he’s chock-full of interesting stories, insulting comments to/about his kids, and Borscht Belt humor. We’re pleased to announce he behaved exactly as we hoped on the podcast, and surprisingly, Jason seems none worse for the wear, thanks to many years of therapy. For a man who doesn’t know Murry Wilson from Ann Wilson and Joe Jackson from Reggie Jackson, he did a fantastic job keeping up with us. We hope you’ll listen and be as entertained as we were!

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 19: Jason’s Dad (1:11:51, 65.8 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton, with special guest Gary Hare.
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0:00 Gary jumps right into the deep water with us, answering questions from Dave and sharing a number of relatively embarrassing stories about Jason that ultimately reveal his parenting philosophy: purposely provoke your child as much as possible and see what happens. But wonderfully enough, Gary decides to interview us as well. (First question, asked before the show: “what the hell is a podcast?”) He asks questions about how we choose the music we choose to listen to and talk about. This leads into a discussion about Starland Vocal Band (started by Jeff, believe it or not), aging, getting nookie on your birthday, Gary going to Woodstock (sort of) and his thoughts on Burning Man.

12:09 Gary also asks if we’ve ever critiqued — or complimented — a performer and received feedback from them. So we talk about Jason’s recent Greg Guidry Internet Smackdown, Dan Fogelberg, and Kip Winger (link coming soon!). Gary manages to derail almost every story. He also insists he remembers a band called The Rats. (Could be these guys, definitely are not these guys.) We don’t really believe him, but hang on to the band name for the entirety of the episode.

36:58 Gary also reveals his lack of musical talent, and Jeff talks about his efforts to learn guitar. Gary reminisces about the Ed Sullivan show, the Harmonicats, and we segue into a discussion about the influence our parents have had on our music. We also discuss the state of the kids’ music scene and how Jeff’s musical tastes might influence his own kids.

And through all of this, there are a lot of crass jokes. Most made by Gary.

EnDOSEments

50:43 Gary’s prepared! He endorses the two things he uses the most in his daily life: the Fein MultiMaster FMM 250Q, and…we’re not going to tell you the other one. Listen to the show. (Song: Albert King, “Crosscut Saw”)

53:42 Jeff endorses the fantastic new oral history Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. Gary contributes a story about working at Yankee Stadium and being too short for the job. (Song: Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew, “The Super Bowl Shuffle.”)

58:32 Jason endorses the newest album by the Wailin’ Jennys, Bright Morning Stars, suggested to him by Jeff. (Gary: “Jeff’s awfully opinionated for a guy who’s basically a shut-in and sits at a computer all day.”) Dave contests the band name. (Song: The Wailin’ Jennys, “Last Goodbye.”)

1:02:17 Dave endorses making music. Simple as that. Listen to what he has to say. Jeff references something fantastic he heard from Heidi Swedberg. (Song: John Mellencamp, “Play Guitar”)

And that’s it for this month’s podcast! Thanks again to Gary for joining us on the show! And as always, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes, and don’t forget to visit our Facebook fan page as well as the Popdose Twitter feed. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next month!

It’s hard to believe it’s been just over two years since Michael Jackson died. I knew I wanted to do something special to honor the King of Pop on Popdose – something that would capture the admiration and sense of loss that comes with being a fan of Jackson, as well as the warmth and enjoyment of sharing great culture with people you care about.

It was in that spirit that I pitched to Jeff the idea of a bonus podcast with a quirky theme: Michaels on Michael. I would enlist the help of fellow Popdosers Mike Heyliger (probably the No. 1 MJ fan I know) and Michael Parr (whose ’80s R&B loyalties run more purple, but is always great for cultural conversation), and we’d reflect, share and joke about Jackson in the great Popdose Podcast tradition.

Now, that sounds easy – but it wasn’t. I’ve said it a hundred times this past week and I’ll say it a hundred more: podcasting is not as effortless as Dave, Jeff and Jason make it look. Audio glitches necessitated no less than three attempts at recording this thing. Along the way, though, we did gain a neat extra: Heyliger added one of his colleages from his own Popblerd, Zack Stiegler, to wax informative on MJ. Ultimately, a good time was had by all – and even though this is coming at you a few days after the actual anniversary of Jackson’s passing, we remain confident that it’ll be a fun listen.

The Popdose Podcast Extra: Michaels on Michael (Plus) with Mike Duquette, Mike Heyliger, Michael Parr and Zack Stiegler

Show Notes

0:00Mike D. introduces our guests, and we’re off discussing the topic. First, each of us discusses where our love of Michael Jackson stemmed from. After the first moment of confusion over which Michael was starting off, Mike H. discusses his narcissistic love for MJ (growing up seeing his family pay attention to yet another Michael). Parr talks about his early years watching the awesomely bad Jackson 5ive cartoon and getting hooked on the “Billie Jean” music video. Zack talks about growing up in the ’80s and listening to Thriller (courtesy of the Columbia House Record Club), and Mike D. – the runt of the Popdose litter – talks about getting into the music and videos of Michael Jackson in the early 2000s, long after his popularity had peaked in America (but arguably at the last moment in his life when his influence was felt among the crop of artists on TRL). Digressions include Parr’s not-so-embarrassing tale of meeting Mike D., stylishly dressed in an a-ha T-shirt in 2011.

11:40 The group discusses their moments of establishing a deeper connection with Jackson’s discography. Zack cites the release of Bad and the crystallization of Jackson’s superstar status, along with his first viewing of Captain EO. Mike D. seconds the impact of Bad and its overt commercial aspirations. That leads to a digression about Jackson’s post-Thriller aspirations to one-up himself, particularly on the divisive Dangerous – which Mike H. expertly defends for still being slightly ahead of the pop cultural curve, circa 1991. The gang also discusses the increasing grandiosity of Michael Jackson’s videos, the endearing creepiness of the E.T. Storybook, the popularity of Jackson’s CD singles (ahh, music retail), initial reactions to Jackson’s first legal woes and a digression on DualDiscs.

33:42 Discussion moves to the visual side of Jackson’s catalogue. Parr waxes nostalgic on early attempts to moonwalk, Mike H. recalls staying up past his bedtime to watch the Motown 25 performance as it aired. The gang reflects on discovering lost MJ moments through YouTube, including Jackson’s live performance with James Brown and Prince, a rare performance on Midnight Special (featuring a surprise appearance by Jermaine!) and the Jackson Family Honors fiasco. There’s also talk about J. Randy Taraborrelli’s often enlightening, occasionally frustrating biography of Jackson, first released in 1990 and sordidly updated twice since. (We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that some other guy at Popdose has penned a book on Jackson, too – one largely lacking in saucy details.)

42:54 Things get serious in discussing where everyone was when Michael Jackson died. Zack reflects on the emotional impact of his passing, as shared with ’80s fans at a dance club. Parr notes the rise of TMZ in reporting Jackson’s death ahead of other news sources and the sudden emotional impact of “Man in the Mirror.” Mike D. reflects on drowning his sorrows over Michael in the Motown catalogue. Mike H. revisits the personally numbing day when Jackson passed, but notes that he wasn’t as affected as he expected. All share their reflections of the summer of 2009, when Michael Jackson was, once again, an inescapable force of pop culture, and their hopes for the future of the King of Pop’s catalogue.

Wrappin’ It Up

And so ends this enjoyable little sideshow. From my end, I’d like to thank Michael Parr, Mike Heyliger and Zack Stiegler for participating and putting up with several different technical shenanigans, Dw. Dunphy for his uproarious illustration and, most of all, Dave Lifton for making podcasting look easy.

And of course, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes, and don’t forget to visit our Facebook fan page as well as the Popdose Twitter feed. Thanks for listening and check back soon for the next regularly scheduled episode of the Popdose Podcast!

Greetings and salutations! This month’s episode of The Popdose Podcast is a sequel of sorts to Episode 17 — which, if you may recall, featured an interview with Gorman Bechard, the writer/director/producer of Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements. The three of us planned to record a somewhat short intro segment discussing our own experiences as music fans, but we wound up with so much material (plus an additional half hour of our usual oh-so-witty banter about mothers and what have you) that we decided to hold it over until this episode. And here it is. Despite Dave asking questions that only he had prepared answers for, we had a great discussion — hope you think so too.

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 18: Some Random Questions About Fandom (1:04:01, 58.7 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton.
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0:00 Dave is your host for the intro and outro for this episode. I just want to say that I disagree about the mother joke in the middle of the show being the best one in the history of the podcast. I don’t think it’s actually a mother joke, just a great opportunity for immature humor that I can’t believe Dave didn’t see coming. I have this power because I wrote the show notes.

1:45 The discussion begins! Dave wonders what album might have changed our views about a certain genre, we discuss writing fan letters, what it’s like to interview the artists you love, which acts go against the grain of our tastes (the joke happens somewhere in here, folks!), what acts caused us to become obsessive fans and how many facets of being an obsessive fan are no longer applicable due to technology (collective shaking of fists), which artists we just can’t get into…and by the end of the episode, you’ll have realized that once again, all we’ve really done is talk about Billy Joel for an hour.

EnDOSEments

59:20 Dave offers the sole endorsement this month, but we stand behind his selection: Del McCory’s album with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, American Legacies. And if you haven’t done so already, be sure to read Jeff’s interview with Del. (Song: Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Del McCory Band, “I’ll Fly Away.”)

Wrappin’ It Up

And that’ll do it for this month! Hope you enjoyed the chat, and if so, please weigh in with your own thoughts. We’d love to know who your faves are, what artists inspire your obsessions, and if you too can’t really get into Neil Young.

Also, we’d like to mention that Todd Stump, editor of the fantastic and always-thoughtful Brown Tweed Society, interviewed the three of us last month for his website. It was a nice roundtable with, once again, way too much discussion about Billy Joel. Thanks so much for making us feel special, Todd! Here are Part One and Part Two of the interview.

And as always, if you like what you hear, please leave us a review on iTunes, and don’t forget to visit our Facebook fan page as well as the Popdose Twitter feed. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next month!