Completely Conspicuous

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the difficulties of avoiding cynicism. Show notes: - Check out Matt's new book Like a Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4 - It's hard not to be cynical these days - Politics are infuriating in general - Soccer hooligans can spread joy, too - Getting cynicism drummed into you as a young reporter - Kids, don't go into journalism - NIMBY...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output - Brian's #3 - Prince starts pushing the envelope - Prince in the '80s was nearly untouchable - Jay's #3 - A childhood favorite - Moving Pictures encapsulated everything Rush had been working toward - Side 1 was killer - Brian's #2 - K...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output - Elvis Costello released two albums in '81 - Solo albums from Phil Collins, Debbie Harry, Ronnie Wood, Peter Cetera, Lindsay Buckingham - Bands formed: The Alarm, Anthrax, Metallica, Bangles, Beastie Boys, Butthole Surfers, Run DMC, S...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1981. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output - In 1981, Jay was 13 and Brian wasn't born yet - Jay: Lived in Canada for most of the year, then moved to U.S. - Listened to a lot of hard rock and AOR - Toronto radio was cool but a few years from becoming heavily formatted - A lot o...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss how our musical tastes have changed over the years. Show notes: - Artists we missed at first but now love - Phil's #2 - Dismissed Phish initially, focused on the Dead at first - Jay's #2 - Got into Bob Mould and Sugar first, then backtracked - Husker Du: Great catalog, bad production - Phil's #1 - Overlooked because of constant radio p...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss how our musical tastes have changed over the years. Show notes: - Artists we just stopped listening to - Phil's #1 - Smashing Pumpkins had a strong run in the '90s - Corgan's pretentiousness ran its course - Jay's #1 - Went back and forth, but finally stopped listening to the Doors in early '90s - Phil: Morrison became a drunken buffoo...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss how our musical tastes have changed over the years. Show notes: - Revisionist band history - Bands we once loved but now dislike - Phil's #3 - Liz Phair got off to a strong start, disappointed afterward - Jay's #3 - Huge artist I enjoyed as a kid - Billy Joel stopped releasing new pop music in the '90s - Phil's #2 - Love his first band...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization and tell old journalism stories. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Making a good first impression - Journalism: A good profession for social misfits - What to do when an ax-wielding maniac is on the loose - "Your internship could have kids" - Fun with new...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Always planning ahead to the next project - Happiness is an empty inbox - Jay: Preparing for a purge of office stuff - How much is too much work? - Matt doesn't need a calendar - Organization via Google Calendar - The ar...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization. Show notes: - Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3 - Organization is important when you're juggling a lot of responsibilities - The challenge of working a full-time gig while also doing other jobs - Prioritizing by deadlines - Writing a book adds another big deadline - Fin...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output - Brian's #3 - Magnetic Fields play every style of music on 69 Love Songs - Jay's #3 - Beck funks it up - Beck stopped experimenting years ago - Brian's #2 - Brian's favorite Pavement album, but not Jay's - Band was falling apart -...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output - Brian's bubbling under picks: The Microphones, Tom Waits, Foo Fighters, Frank Black, The Roots, American Football - Jay: Sheila Divine, Wilco, Matthew Sweet, Guided by Voices, White Stripes, Ben Folds Five, Sebadoh - Wanted: A Bo...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output - Brian was 16 going on 17 in '99, Jay was 31 going on 32 - The dawn of Napster - Downloading music via dial-up was excruciatingly slow - Most downloading was done on college campuses - 1999 was the biggest sales year for the music...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss presidential candidates, the '70s and regional differences. Show notes: - New England is not representative of the rest of the country - Christian's ideal place to live: DC - The '70s were a fascinating time in the U.S. - Hip hop and punk grew out of mid-'70s NYC - The Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi - Lee Atwater, bluesman -...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss racism, political correctness and gentrification. You know, the lighter side of life. Show notes: - Political correctness on both sides of the aisle - Literary archetypes reflect cultural fears - The Trump Method: Repeat your point until people agree with you - The Washington football team sticks to its guns - Could All in the F...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Christian Douglass as we discuss the differences between the North and the South. Show notes: - Christian grew up in Texas - The tension between North and South is still around - The Cuban Connection - Ted Cruz's attempts at humor - Batshit crazy election season - The Trump effect - It's still the economy, stupid - A brown dude in New Hampshire - Canada welcome...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1983. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output - Brian's #3 - Jonathan Richman forges his own path - A great year for singles - Jay's #3 - Metallica helped introduce thrash metal - Brian's #2 - Post-Eno Talking Heads is still pretty damn good - Jay's #2 - The Replacements start...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1983. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output - Jay: Talking Heads, Robert Plant, Billy Idol, X, Motorhead, The Fixx, The Kinks - Lemmy and Brian Robertson didn't get along - "Come Dancing" is a great pop song - Brian's #5 - First exposure to Bowie music - Greg Dulli's great t...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1983. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Check out Brian's new podcast Input/Output - In '83, Brian turned 1, Jay turned 16 - A lot of classic '80s singles came out in '83 - From Men at Work to Metallica - Thriller loomed large - Strange mix of hits on the top 100 - CDs were first sold in the U.S. - The US Festiva...

Part 3 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 - Fear of wasting time or fear of missing out? - Phone calls are rare and annoying - Tinder = instantaneous hookups - Jay: Thankful to have been in the dating Dark Ages - Guys are born stupid - Telephone hangups used to be way...

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...