La Jolla Babylon: The Making Of A Suburban Punk

Chapter 67 Spartanburg The last episode of season 3! Keep us in your feed - we’ll pop up everyone once in a while with some bonus eps between now and season 4! We’ll see young Adam get in and out of trouble. And then in again. We’ll see post-adolescent Adam meet some fates. In this episode: Adam gets hired as a professional tour manager and breaks down in the buckle of the Bible Belt. A Baptist fa...

The You-Know-What Episode  Chapters 64 WOLFIE 65 DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS 66 FILMMAKING Explicit content. In other words, a nother one the in-laws might want to skip. Adam makes a Porn for college credit. In which Aaron miraculously gets out of reading in front of people. This is a recorded version of what our live show could have been. When it’s time to move out of a small town, it’s really time...

Everybody But Me Wang Chunged That Night Chapters: 62 KURU 63 TWO QUICK THINGS Aaron dishes about getting kicked out of the band he thought was going to make him a rock star. Altogether now: “It was the 90s.” Afraid of being an “unreliable narrator” - Aaron asks Katie not to let him off the hook. As the stories get closer to modern day, it’s getting less cute to hear about Adam and his bad choices...

The end of Dan Jones. Friend break-ups are the hardest. Katie and Aaron talk ADHD. **Update! We chose not to air the episode Aaron describes at the end of this one. These stories can sometimes cut a little close to the bone, and we felt like what would have been episode 4 might be pushing too far into other peoples’ lives. It was a good one but we decided to err on the side of privacy. Email us a...

Adam meets someone special in the bathroom. In this bonus episode, Aaron tells a true story in which he sees a ghost and then teases Katie for believing in ghosts. Big brother/ little sister dynamic! Katie and Aaron talk about Halloween as the punk Christmas, get woo-woo, talk wearing costumes on stage, ghosts and all that jazz (spoiler: Aaron is a party pooper).  Video of Old Time Relijun playing...

The Wrong Tools Aaron and Katie reunite on the mics and bring you the first episode of a brand-spankin new season - just in time to save the world! Sorry it took so long. Episode 1 brings us into Dan Jones’ family of origin and Adam tries to keep up. Adam returns to his childhood home and meets the friendly cult that has moved in. Adam is growing up this season, but only sort of. As Katie says, “A...

La Jolla Babylon is excited to announce our triumphant return! Season three, the Undoing of a Suburban Punk begins on Saturday, October 18. This season: Dan Jones’ dad gets out of prison, Adam sees a ghost, makes a porn for college credit, almost gets famous, and gets stranded deep in the Bible Belt. Episodes will be slightly more intermittent than in the past, so just keep us in your feed and we’...

Going to Chicago with Grandma Blues This is one of a few short episodes that will be sprinkled throughout the coming weeks as we finish season 3. “The food was terrible – and such small portions!”   Please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! And don’t forget to rate this show to help others find it!   Music: La Jolla Babylon Theme by Aaron Hartman Vocal: Alicia Jo Rabins @ohaliciajo | aliciajo...

La Jolla Babylon: Shenanigans Edition, Terry and the Cat   Terry and the Cat   ** A warning that there is the slightest mention of what could be considered cruelty to animals. If you are especially sensitive to this sort of thing, I suggest reading the transcript before listening to the episode.** This is the first of a few short episodes that will be sprinkled throughout the coming weeks as we fi...

The Ascent of a  Suburban Punk   Keep us in your feed! Season 3 will sneak up on you before you know it. In this last episode of what has been an emotional and illuminating season, we bring on Arrington DeDionyso, the multi-lingual, muti-instrumental musician and Aaron’s longtime collaborator in Old Time Relijun. Chapter titles: 54 The Delightful Calvary 55 Addington 56 Clarity of Purpose Music: L...

The Education of a Suburban Punk Chapter titles: Adam stops at the army on the way to college and drives away with some clarity. Then the next thing in life happens. In the discussion, Katie and Aaron talk about elephant skin boots and why they are bad We enter what is conceptually the second half of this “lightly fictionalized” memoir. Really the last third. Or maybe more like 4/7th? You get the...

A Suburban Punk Leaves Home Adam is given an ultimatum and he gets out of town for a while. Aaron talks about his favorite way of sneezing. Katie and Aaron say the word “cancerous” too many times. Our grandfather’s real name was Harry Hartman. He really did coin the phrase “going, going, gone!”. Here’s a link to one of the websites talking about it. https://mediaheritage.com/harry-hartman-1931-193...

The Electrification of a Suburban Punk This episode contains details of teenagers getting intimate. Please be advised. Especially if you’re related to Aaron. Adam’s first real girlfriend. Laugh, cry, wonder why. The person described in this episode is a cocktail of several people. Some situations may have been changed for the sake of privacy and narrative. Chapter title: 47 Hairier Music: La Jolla...

The Revenge of a Suburban Punk Another gross episode. No one reads the show notes - but consider this a warning. The book Aaron was trying to remember is called Make ‘Em Pay! Ultimate Revenge Techniques from the Master Trickster by George Hayduke. Correction: “Thou shalt by thy time before activating a revenge plot” is commandment #5, not #1. Also note: no one is recommending this book. Chapter ti...

The Demystification of a Suburban Punk Chapters: 43 Angel Tree 44 City, Mountains, Desert, Ocean An epic camping trip. Shit goes down. The combination of whatever type A and ADHD that runs in our family was off-putting to my punk school friends. Adam was a planner but only in the sense that he could foresee the need for food and shelter. Music: La Jolla Babylon Theme by Aaron Hartman Vocal: Alicia...

A Suitably Impressed Suburban Punk THIS IS EP 4   Within the realm of this episode, Adam and Dan Jones take the law into their own hands. Adam goes to prom and meets a girl. Katie and Aaron talk about Mötley Crüe for some fucking reason. Our hosts also develop an idea for a new underwear for pubescent boys called “Tuckies”. Listen on to get their dumb joke! Chapter titles: 37 Invisible Knights of...

The Fortification of a Suburban Punk Hung over Katie barely makes it through this one, but she’s still charming. Aaron finally gets to “millennial” Katie and it is so satisfying. We meet an experimental hang glider pilot who gives Adam life lessons, and we learn to be wary of phone calls from radio stations. We also find our why Tar is not going to be a guest on the podcast. 40 Darryl John and the...

The Revelation of a Suburban Punk 34 Breaking Away 35 Second Band            36 The Point Hey! You came back! In the second episode of Season 2, Dan Jones gets a girlfriend who might not be “the one”; Adam finds his groove with a new band; and a girl stirs things up at a cemetery. Music: La Jolla Babylon Theme by Aaron Hartman Vocal: Alicia Jo Rabins @ohaliciajo | aliciajo.com Drums: Sara Lund @lu...

The Mortification of a Suburban Punk …And we’re back! We are so excited to hang out with you for another season. In this first episode of Season 2, we break the seal on guests! The woman who inspired the character “Lulu” joins Aaron and Katie for a revelatory conversation. In which Aaron confronts his biggest fear: making his friends mad at him. Aaron confesses his feelings for his friend from bac...

This week we’re taking a break from our usual narration and charming sibling banter while we finish up season two. Today’s mini episode is going to be a little different. We’ve put together a playlist of all the music we’ve heard so far on La Jolla Babylon. Here is a link to almost all the music: Marine Layer I wrote the bulk of these chapters in cafes and was constantly distracted by whatever the...

Worse Brains Chapters: 29 Worse Brains 30 Second Job In this final episode of Season 1, Dan and Adam have a run-in with a cop in Tijuana. Adam gets the perfect job for someone like him. Yes, Katie asks Aaron if Bad Brains is a band. It’s cool, baby. I’m sure she knows lots of stuff you don’t know anything about! Stay tuned for season 2! Please subscribe to La Jolla Babylon so you don’t miss an epi...

Generation: Stand By Me Chapter titles: 27 The John Muir Alternative School for Humanistic Studies 28 Introduction to Female Hygiene In which Adam turns 17 and his party is disgusting. Aaron does not over-sell the story. Katie finally finds her breaking point. And the hashtag #crustytampontiktokchallenge is born. Music: “Be Your Person” (unreleased) Music: La Jolla Babylon Theme by Aaron Hartman V...

La Jolla Babylon Chapter: 26 La Jolla Babylon In this episode, Adam and Dan Jones want to be able to leave any party and have more fun. Roaming the beach at night yields unexpected gifts. In what turns out to be what Katie calls a “classic Southern California gen-X stand-by-me beach situation”. Katie also coins the phrase “pity bra”. Music: La Jolla Babylon Theme by Aaron Hartman Vocal: Alicia Jo...

“Guitar face was the least of it” Chapter titles: 24 REQUIEM 25 Sweet spot In this episode: Adam’s first band sucks but something clicks. The boys do some inexcusable things while Adam’s blind grandmother is in the room. Katie and Aaron talk about their older cousin’s funeral at sea. Music: La Jolla Babylon Theme by Aaron Hartman Vocal: Alicia Jo Rabins @ohaliciajo | aliciajo.com Drums: Sara Lund...

 “What if We Disappeared?” Chapter titles: 20 Trial 2 21 Fear and Loathing 22 Dan Jones 23 To the Beach! Adam gets busted for weed and has a brilliant way of talking his way out of it: being a dick to his parents. The threat of rehab looms. We finally meet the kid who Adam dedicates his adolescence to. A polite punk who loves his grandmother. “The scarier you look, the nicer you have to be.” Music...