Completely Conspicuous

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and retirement. Show notes: - Recorded recently via Skype - Will we see KISS JR.? - Will bands bring in replacements after the original members are all retired/dead? - Plenty of good cover bands out there who can probably outperform the originals - The "officially licensed cover band" - Hologram concerts are still trying...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and retirement. Show notes: - Recorded recently via Skype - David Lee Roth recently announced his retirement - Should more aging rock stars retire? - Robert Plant isn't trying to be the Golden God anymore - Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford can still deliver high-energy metal performances - Shut it down, Clapton - Ozzy's b...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1987. Show notes: - Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ - Jay's non-top 5 albums: Terence Trent D'Arby, Pixies, The Cure, Prince (The Black Album), Sonic Youth, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses - It's easier to listen to bro-country or classic rock than look for new music these days - Phil's #5: GNR's debut took a few years...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1987. Show notes: - Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ - In '87, Phil was 17 going on 18, Jay was 19 going on 20 - The Bangles had the #1 single of the year with "Walk Like An Egyptian" - Another big year for movie soundtracks - A lot of female pop artists hit big - Jay: Concerts I saw included Genesis, Peter Gabriel,...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite music of 1986. Show notes: - Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ - Phil's #5: Solid effort from the Pretenders, which was basically just Chrissie Hynde at this point - Jay's #5: Metallica hits their high point - Neighborhood dogs start chiming in - Phil is a big fan of Ratt n' Roll - Phil's #4: The debut of the Van Hagar era -...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1986. Show notes: - Recorded in the backyard of CompCon HQ - Jay was 18 going on 19 in '86, Phil was 16 going on 17 - Nine of the top 10 selling albums of '86 came out the year before - Older artists make comebacks - Pop and hair metal were big - Boston finally released its third album - Phil's non-top 5s: Talking Heads, Smitheree...

Celebrating the show's 15th birthday with a look back at some key moments over the years. Show notes: - Going the clip show route - Episode 2: The early days - Episode 72: The first guest, featuring Jay Breitling - Episode 141: Talking about mixtapes, including recordings I made when I was 13-14 - Episode 146: Talking to Amanda Guest about college radio - Episode 186: My visit to Seattle, which go...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about growing up as sports fans. Show notes: - Recorded on the way home from Tree House Brewing - We still don't get esports - Bands who sing songs about sports - Weezer at the Winter Classic - Short attention spans and sports - Sports gambling is big business - Super Bowl prop bets are popular - Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player we've s...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about growing up as sports fans. Show notes: - Recorded on the way to Tree House Brewing - Phil: Grew up watching sports with his dad, playing sports with his brothers - Watched a lot of tennis in the late '70s/early /80s - Both read the sports page of the local paper - Collecting sports cards was a big hobby - Jay: Began watching hockey with dad, q...

Part 3 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon World HQ - Still with the fan noise - Kumar's #7: Sleaford Mods with perennially pissed off minimalist post-punk - Breitling's #6: Multi-instrumentalist Colleen with hypnotic ambient album - Kumar's #6: More IDLES-y post-punk from across the pond with TV P...

It's part 2 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon World HQ - Still with the fan noise - Kumar's bubbling under picks (aka "Bubblahs"): Lots of cool UK post-punk (Black Country, New Road; Squid; Yard Act; Sleaford Mods; TV Priest,; Dry Cleaning), The Hold Steady, Mdou Moctar, Guardian Singles,Nick Cav...

It's part 1 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon World HQ - Apologies for the loudness of the fan! Pretend you're skydiving! - First time together since December 2019 - Kumar: Check out Mdou Moctar, West African guitarist on Matador - Rollins and his listening habits - Breitling: Watching a lot of r...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we count down our favorite albums of 1985. Show notes: - Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020 - Phil and Jay's #5: R.E.M. follows up two classic albums with a quirky effort - Band gradually grew in popularity - Phil and Jay's #4: The Cult hits the right combination of goth and hard rock - Ian Astbury's lyr...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1985. Show notes: - Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020 - We were scheduled to record a podcast the weekend that everything shut down last year - In '85, Jay was 17 going on 18 and Phil was 15 going on 16 - Jay: Finished high school, started college - The year of rock charity - We...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1984. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Phil's #5: A strong return for the Pretenders - Half the band died after the previous album - Jay's #5 and Phil's #3: An interesting new direction for U2 - Moody, atmospheric production from Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois - Phil's #4: Audacious debut by the Smiths - Another influential...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1984. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Phil was 14 going on 15, Jay was 16 going on 17 in '84 - Phil: Watched a lot of MTV - "College rock" was emerging - Music was drenched in synths - Jay: Saw my first concerts - Hair metal was making a splash - Thrash metal was new and exciting - Billy Squier's tough year - Phil's non-...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1983. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Phil's #5: U2's second release of '83 - Captured the band's fiery live show - Jay's #5: Iron Maiden continues its U.S. breakthrough - Part of the mainstream acceptance of metal - Phil's #4: The solo debut of Stevie Ray Vaughan - SRV got a lot of comparisons to Hendrix - Jay's #4 and...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1983. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Jay was 15, Phil was 13 in '83 - Jay: Moved to NH from WA halfway through the year - Was pleasantly surprised by the variety of radio stations in Boston area - First year CDs went on sale in the U.S. - The U.S. Festival made a splash that summer - KISS took off their makeup - The Pol...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Eric Green as we pay tribute to the cassette tape. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Eric with the Mr. Belvedere reference - You had to be sneaky to tape record a concert - Physical media holds its allure for fans of a certain age - Never got into 8-track tapes - Jay: Have a bunch of blank tapes, but haven't made a mixtape since 2000 - Eric: As a kid, made a mi...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Eric Green as we pay tribute to the cassette tape. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Eric's first time on the show since '15 - R.I.P. to Lou Ottens, inventor of the cassette tape - Eric: Got into music via cassettes in the '80s - You could make your own mixes - Jay: Would tape songs off the radio in late '70s/early '80s - Jay: Currently have hundreds of tapes b...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1982. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Phil's #5: Steely Dan singer goes solo - Jazzy feel is a logical extension from Gaucho - Jay's #5 and Phil's #3: R.E.M. makes its debut with iconic EP - Influential on many bands who followed - Different sounds coming out of the underground - Phil's #4: His image has been t...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite music of 1982. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Callback to the CompCon eps looking at '82-2000 with Brian Salvatore a while back - My lists changed since then - In '82, Jay turned 15, Phil turned 13 - Jay: The only full year I spent in Washington state - Jay: Was big into hard rock and metal, which I listened to on my Wa...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown. Show notes: - Tough to not see friends - Matt runs Dungeons & Dragons games via Zoom - Surprising number of people are into D&D - It's a good escape from the world - Like a weekly therapy session - Companies use D&D for corporate retreats - Games have grown in popularity during the pan...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown. Show notes: - Haven't talked for the show since November 2019 - Coming up on the first anniversary of everything getting locked down - Matt was already used to working from home - Matt writes YA superhero/fantasy books including The Indestructibles series - Hasn't been able to go to fa...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1981. Show notes: - Recorded via Zoom - Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: The Stones have a massive hit with a collection of outtakes - Followed up with a massive stadium tour - Jay's #4: Prince keeps getting better but not yet breaking through to the mainstream - Pushing the envelope with explicit content - Phil's #3: J....