Completely Conspicuous

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss short attention spans. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Spending too much time in front of screens - Much harder to get through long articles nowadays - How many words are worth $1? - Looking at phone is how we kill time - Smoking made Matt more social - A generation of socially...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss short attention spans. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - The inevitable joke - MP: The more novels I write, the shorter my attention span gets - Live-tweeting TV shows takes some effort - Trace back to quick cuts in MTV videos of the early '80s - Wireless Internet has sped up the...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of this decade (2010-14). Show notes: - JB's #5 - Dan Bejar's guilty pleasure - JK's #5 - Band came out of left field - JB's #4 - Dream pop classic - JK's #4 - Comeback album from alt-rock legends - JB's #3 - Cassette-only release - JK's #3 - Prolific artist put it all together - JB's #2 - Veteran hardcor...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of this decade (2010-14). Show notes: - Looking back - Breitling: My top albums of the 2013 and 2014 didn't make this list - JB's #10 and JK's #9 - "The purest distillation" of this band's sound - JK's #10 - Harking back to '70s glam punk - JB's #9 - New sound for indie rock stalwart - JB's #8 - Lots of s...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2015. Show notes: - Jay Kumar's #5 album of the year - Productive collective out of the Bay Area - Jay Breitling's #4 - What's next for Jonah Furman? - JK's #4 - JB's #3 - Dark, crazy guitar ambience - JK's #3 - Another indie darling blowing up big - JB's #2 - Another great shoegaze act makes its mark - JK's #2 - A loca...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2015. Show notes: - More music out than ever before - JK: Immersed in top 40 pop against my will thanks to my kids - JB's honorable mentions - Ava Luna is the Steely Dan of indie rock - JK's honorable mentions - Some notable comeback albums - JB's #10 - JK's #10 - The insanity of the Paris concert tragedy - JB's #9 - JK...

This week, I'm joined by author Greg Renoff as we discuss the response to his new book about the early days of Van Halen. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen Store - We last spoke in March before the book came out - Great response from readers - Selling well on Amazon, was reviewed in Rolling Stone - DLR's role in th...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1992. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Jay: Rollins Band broke out with The End of Silence - Jay's #5 - The best album from The Tragically Hip - Brian's #5 and Jay's #4 - Pavement's first stab at greatness - The Pavement reunion was disappointing - Brian's #4 and Jay's #2 - Brian's #3 - 1992 was a banner year fo...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1992. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Brian: A friend was at the Eagles of Death Metal show in Paris but escaped unharmed - Security at club shows is minimal - Post-9/11 concert experiences - Bands formed in '92: Brainiac, Bush, Shellac, Sugar, Weezer - Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" is a great song - Bands t...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1992. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - In '92, Brian turned 10 and Jay turned 25 - Hot 100 chart had a lot of pop, R&B, some hip hop - But alternative rock was booming - "Baby Got Back" was #2 song of the year - Clapton's Unplugged album was huge - The greatness of early Dire Straits - Pat Smear in the Chili Pep...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the problem with research studies. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Don't get sick! - Studies can be scary - Apply some logic when reading studies - People live in fear of everything - We love to get worked up about studies - Studies with no research on long-term effects - Studie...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the problem with research studies. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Surviving Halloween in Salem - Endless barrage of studies - You can find a study to prove just about any point - Pick and choose the result you want - Going down the WebMD wormhole - Studies get picked up by mass...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Mike Heyliger as we discuss the trials and tribulations of moving. Show notes: - Check out Mike's blog Popblerd and his podcast Blerd Radio - Jay: Haven't moved since 2000, but moved a lot in the '80s and '90s - TVs used to be a lot bigger and heavier - People used to always move around September 1 - Jay: Used to borrow the newspaper delivery van for moves - Mi...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Mike Heyliger as we discuss the trials and tribulations of moving. Show notes: - Check out Mike's blog Popblerd and his podcast Blerd Radio - Mike's moving to Brooklyn - Music industry changes led to job change - Boston's no longer the focus of record labels that it once was - Moving vinyl is tricky - A good excuse to streamline and get rid of stuff - Who watch...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1994. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Jay's #4 - Pavement was a shock to the system at the time - Malkmus continues to be a solo force - Brian's #3 - Ween's second-based album - Brian: Ween made 5 perfect albums in a row - Jay's #3 - Drive Like Jehu delivers scorching rock - Brian's #2 and Jay's #2 - Jay: Frank...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1994. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Brian:  Enjoyed albums from Tom Petty, Rancid, Sea and Cake - Beasties were all over the place on Ill Communication--in a good way - Sunny Day Real Estate's epic album - Halo Benders teamed Doug Martsch and Calvin Johnson - The Toadies break through - Jay: Sebadoh's Bakesal...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1994. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Rooting for a Jays-Mets World Series - Brian: 1994 was a big year for me - Rock radio was all about the alternative - Big year for Ace of Base with three songs in top 10 of '94 - Lots of pop and hip hop on singles chart - Aerosmith's foray into downloadable music - Took hou...

Quick hit episode this week as I discuss the power of a song. Show notes: - In 1979, I listened to Toronto's CHUM-AM all the time - Used to collect the Top 30 singles chart every Friday - A song that captured my imagination was Joe Jackson's "I'm the Man" - The clock radio was important - Couldn't get enough of "I'm the Man" - Still powerful after all these years - Jackson's best work was in the l...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss vacations. Show notes: - Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ - Check out our web series Trust Fund Challenge - Vancouver is a great destination - Trouble at the border - Someday, Jay will visit India again - A co-worker's move to France - Ric's vacation movie marathon - Dick Clark's role in Killers Three - Ric has beef with Christopher No...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss vacations. Show notes: - Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ - Check out our web series Trust Fund Challenge - A reboot/remake/sequel to National Lampoon's Vacation is out - The first Vacation movie still holds up - Based on a National Lampoon novella - Both of our families went to Disney World in the '70s - Family vacations can either be...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the art of hype. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Patreon is a crowdfunding option - The patronage model - Kickstarter, Indie GoGo efforts are commonplace - Matt loves board games - Contributing to podcasts and radio shows - Matt's research on dino romance novels - A Gronk to Rem...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the art of hype. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Avoiding overhype - Getting RTs from celebrities - Sometimes it feels like there's no benefit to Internet hype - Getting bummed out to write sad scenes - Cosplayers are having a moment - Day jobs are a must, unfortunately - Taggin...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the art of hype and celebrate CompCon's 9th anniversary. Show notes: - Pre-order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - When your medical professional is younger than you - It's all about the hype - Matt was at Boston ComiCon last weekend - How to effectively hype your stuff online - Perfecting the pitch...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1997. Show notes: - Jay and Brian's #4 - Pavement continues a strong run of records - Brian's coffee shop - Jay's #3 - Ben Folds Five breaks through - Brian's #3 to be discussed later - Jay's #2 - Built to Spill's guitar pop excellence - Brian's #2 - Foo Fighters' sophomore album is chock full o' good songs - Back...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1997. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Bubbling under albums - Brian: Flaming Lips' Zaireeka was designed to have its 4 CDs listened to simultaneously - Sweet 75 was Krist Novoselic's side project - Brian gives thumbs down to Eyes Adrift, which had a song about Jonbenet Ramsey - Jay: Totally missed Superchunk's...