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!
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