Needless Things

Earlier this year Phantom Troublemaker became quite taken with the idea of Record Store Day. If you don’t know, Record Store Day was started by a group of independent store owners as a way to draw attention to independent shops and create hype around the hobby of record collecting. For more information visit the website: RecordStoreDay.com We’re doing things a little backwards, as the actual Recor...

On this week’s Needless Things Podcast, Phantom Troublemaker sat down with Emmy winning television host, restaurateur, chef, artist, musician, writer, and comedian Jim Stacy of Offbeat Eats with Jim Stacy.    Jim talks to Phantom about growing up in a hardworking Southern family, playing in bands like Greasepaint and Grand Moff Tarkin, and the long journey to opening his unique, freestanding resta...

If you read Phantom Troublemaker’s post about The Headless Horseman of Silly Hollow , then you know about his recent visit to the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.   After the puppet show Phantom was able to sit down with the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers – siblings Robin Erlandsen and Brian and Erik Torbeck – to discuss the fourteen year history of Silly Hollow as well as their own backgrounds...

In this week's episode we divert from Halloween festivities (sorry, boils and ghouls) to address what is potentially the biggest news the toy industry has seen in over a decade - Scott Nietlich - AKA Toy Guru - has resigned from Mattel due to an offer from an as-yet unnamed competitor. On hearing this, Phantom Troublemaker scrapped plans for a horror toy episode and assembled the Needless Things T...

Shane Morton has been a fixture of the Atlanta scene for pretty much all of his adult life. From rock n’ roll to tattooing to haunted attractions, he’s always stayed busy and contributed to many different art forms. In this episode Phantom Troublemaker traveled out to the Morton homestead to talk about Shane’s many pursuits over the years. He’s rocked in the bands Super X-13 and Gargantua, owned B...

In this week’s episode Phantom Troublemaker sits down with “Howdy” Mike Gordon, host of the Earth Station One Podcast and creator of Tiki Zombie . Phantom and Mike discuss the creator’s history, his views on the art of creating comics, and which franchise he'd galdy take over given the opportunity. It's a great conversation that gives a great insight into the mind of a great creator and a talented...

This is literally the biggest episode so far! Needless Things wanted to do something really cool for the first October episode, so we gathered a whole bunch of folks together to talk about horror and fear. Featured in this episode are: Phantom Troublemaker – Your Host Beth V – Needless Things’ Top Reporter R.T. Ewell – Author and Needless Things Contributor Ryan Cadaver – Lead Vo-Kill-Ist for The...

Dragon Con is over and I may only have one podcast to show for it! Due to many different factors – one of which was me neglecting to turn on my digital recorder – I only recorded one panel. But that's okay because it was a great one! I felt very fortunate to once again be at the table with the wonderful and talented William Stout, this time for a discussion of Conan the Destroyer. Listen in as Teg...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be part of a conversation with the DCW Hooligans? Today’s Needless Things Podcast is your opportunity to find out! Of course, none of that may mean anything to you. If you’re not a regular visitor to NeedlessThingsSite.com then you probably don’t know what the heck a DCW Hooligan is. The DCW Hooligans are a group of people that attend Dragon Con Wres...

this episode I welcome Mr. Beau Brown back to the Podcast, this time not as my co-host, but as a guest! He’s here in his role as Director of the Dragon Con Puppetry Track. You’ve heard Beau talk about his passion for Masters of the Universe, but today we turn the spotlight on the true great love of his life – puppetry. Join us and our guests Stacey Gordon and Madison J. Cripps as we discuss the Na...

It’s no secret that I adore Gary Mitchel and Joe Crowe – the men behind Dragon Con’s American Sci-Fi Classics Track . A large part of that adoration is the fact that they so wholly embrace the way that I present myself and my opinions on pop culture. I’m not above letting my ego influence my likes. Or anything else, for that matter. My respect for these two guys goes far deeper than that. Sure – i...

Time to get these Dragon Con episodes underway, Phantomaniacs! Last year Beau and I talked to DJ Spider about cosplay and conventions. She was so delightful we knew we wanted to have her back this year. I’ve been wanting to have Sean Patton of  SMP Designs on since the first time I spoke to him. He’s the guy that sparked my desire to learn more about cosplay and feature it like I did during last y...

It is time once again for the Knights of Needless Things to assemble and discuss the goings-on at the biggest media event on the planet – San Diego Comic Con! Sadly Reverend Dan Wilson and The Oncoming Josh were unable to join us due to calamitous acts of one form or another. But we sallied forth with Phantom Troublemaker, our lovely co-host Mr. Beau Brown, the Belligerent Monkey , and Sir Ryan of...

You guys – it rained on us again while we were driving to Charlotte for Heroes Con. That makes three years in a row. This year’s deluge wasn’t the sort of violent meteorological upheaval that the prior years had provided, but we did encounter some very heavy rain and lightning. Thankfully it was brief and did not impede our travel to the only proper comic book convention that I attend. If you don’...

Everything really is awesome. Today's Needless Things Podcast continues my special LEGO coverage that is leading up to this weekend's LEGO KidsFest at the Cobb Galleria Centre . I had the opportunity to talk to somebody that I consider to be a true superhero of the toy industry – LEGO Master Builder Chris Steninger. Chris has been a Master Builder for five years now and has worked for the LEGO com...

Join Phantom Troublemaker and Mr. Beau Brown as we talk with Tim Clarke!   Tim worked with Kermit Love and for Jim Henson as a puppet builder and designer on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. He worked on The Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock, and is the man that built Uncle Traveling Matt. Tim also had a huge hand in the toy industry in the 80s, as he was the creator of both the Sectaurs and Boglins...

If you listened to last week’s (LAST WEEK!) Episode 23 of the Needless Things Podcast , then you know that we had a great time talking about the history of the Godzilla franchise. We barely scratched the surface, though, so there will be a sequel episode later this year. After we finished recording I was so excited by talking to Gary, Johnny, and Scott that I asked if they would be interested in g...

I am not a Godzilla fanatic.   I do love Godzilla as a monster. I am awed by his place in cinematic history. I think he is one of the best monster designs ever, in movies or otherwise. And he has certainly been mimicked and paid tribute to more than any other modern monster. He also has the best rogues gallery of anybody, ever.   I can’t tell you which Godzilla movie I saw first or when I saw it,...

I’ve known James T. Warbington for about two decades now and I find myself hard-pressed to describe him. He’s a punk rocker, an entrepreneur, a musician, a director, a redneck, an arranger of things, a wrestlemaniac, a mentor, and one of the most unselfish people I’ve ever met. And he writes like a loud insane person. James was the first subject of one of my 13 Questions posts and I still feel lik...

Yes, the picture is correct - this is Episode 19 of the Podcast. We recorded it back in January, but for various reasons I have not been able to publish it until now. This makes the image for the Stephen Platinum episode incorrect, but the numbering is right on everything now. 2013 was a huge year for Masters of the Universe and now it's time for me and Mr. Beau Brown to finally get together and t...

In which Phantom Troublemaker discusses matters of health, finance, and rocking the mic.   Seriously, though - I just wanted to have a nice little fireside chat with all of you Phantomaniacs and let you in on what's happening. We hit our goal, the podcast will go on to be bigger and better.   But there are other things afoot, as well. Give it a listen and leave your feedback here, on Facebook , or...

This past Sunday I got online with Mr. Beau Brown ( SciFiJanitors.com ), Ryan Schweck (Evil), Jay Hornsby ( The Belligerent Monkey ), Josh Wilson ( The Oncoming Storm ), and Reverend Dan Wilson ( Poddy Humor ) to discuss the recent New York International Toy Fair. Check it out:

I am absolutely delighted to be bringing you an interview with the most brilliant professional wrestling mind I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, Stephen Platinum. But he’s more than just a booker, he’s also a pop culture aficionado, which plays into his booking style in more ways than you could imagine. We talk about Steve’s life, career in wrestling, and Dexter. His tour of Full Moon Studio...

I couldn’t be more excited and quite frankly impressed with myself as far as how this year is shaping up so far. I am pretty awesome. Just let me have this moment. I have three podcast episodes in the can already and two more on the schedule. Three of these episodes are interviews that to me are Big Deals – dany only, today’s with Adam WarRock, and another one that you’re just going to have to wai...

Hey Phantomaniacs – it’s an all-new year and I’m proud to be kicking it off with an interview I’ve been waiting over a year for. My goal is to bring you no less than twenty-four new episodes over the next twelve months, and I have a lot of cool stuff planned. If you don’t know, dany only (yes, that’s correct – no caps) is a professional wrestler that’s been working the Southeast for over a decade...