Stuck In Thee Garage #128: April 29, 2016

It's been a sad week. We're still trying to wrap our brains around the loss of Prince. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I pay homage to the Purple One with a slew of great songs from throughout his career.

This is what it sounds like when doves cry:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Sonny & the Sunsets - Death Cream part 2 "Watch Out for the Cream"/Moods Baby Moods
WOODS - Can't See at All/City Sun Eater in the River of Light
Aesop Rock - Rings/The Impossible Kid
The Julie Ruin - I Decide/Hit Reset
Courtney Barnett - History Eraser/Live in KUTX's Studio 1A
Charles Bradley - Change for the World/Changes
Parquet Courts - Captive of the Sun/Human Performance
Hallelujah the Hills - Realistic Birthday Music/A Band is Something to Figure Out
Washer - Got Drunk and Ate the Sun/Here Comes Washer
Prince and the Revolution - Pop Life/Around the World in a Day
Prince - When You Were Mine/Dirty Mind
Prince - Delirious/1999
Prince - Partyup/Dirty Mind
Prince - D.M.S.R./1999
Prince - Head/Dirty Mind
Prince and the Revolution - Darling Nikki/Purple Rain
Prince and the Revolution - Erotic City/B-side
Prince and the New Power Generation - Sexy M.F./Love Symbol
Prince - Sign 'O' the Times/Sign 'O' the Times
Prince and the Revolution - Take Me With You/Purple Rain
Prince and the New Power Generation - 7/Love Symbol
Prince and the Revolution - I Would Die 4 U/Purple Rain
Prince - U Got the Look/Sign 'O' the Times
Prince - I Feel for You/Prince
Prince - It/Sign 'O' the Times
Prince - Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?/Prince
Prince - Thieves in the Temple/Graffiti Bridge
Prince - I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man/Sign 'O' the Times

Trust Fund Challenge #22: "Five Desperate Women" (1971)

If there was ever a time for much-needed laughter, it's now. The latest installment of Trust Fund Challenge finds Ric and I watching a 1971 TV movie produced by Aaron Spelling (like seemingly everything else back then) that pits Stefanie Powers and four college friends against a homicidal maniac. The movie is fairly serious stuff, but we have a lot of fun with it.

Completely Conspicuous 421: Done is Good

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization and tell old journalism stories. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

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 newspaper interns
- Person-on-the-street interviews were challenging
- Expiration date for the newspaper biz
- Writing on deadline helps with time management
- Editors who can't write and vice versa
- Being a supervisor
- "Done is good."

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Baby, I'm a Star

Damn, man. It seems like the only times I've done non-show posts lately is when somebody iconic dies. We've lost some big-time musical influences in the last five months or so: Lemmy, Bowie and now Prince. This latest death is particularly shocking because Prince was only 57. The circumstances of his death are still shaking out, but it appears he'd been ailing for some time.

Like Lemmy and Bowie, Prince was another iconic artist I've never seen play live. Not sure why, really. Inexcusable on my part. Especially given what an incredible showman he was.

I first became aware of Prince in 1982 when "Little Red Corvette" was released off the album 1999. I was a defiantly hard rock-loving teen nerd who was stuck in a town with shitty radio stations. Prince brought a rock element to pop/R&B that was refreshing to someone who hated most top 40 music. Between that song and the title track, I found pop music I could tolerate when I wasn't listening to Rush or Led Zeppelin or Ozzy. By the time Purple Rain was released, I was firmly in the metalhead camp but still impressed at the sick-ass guitar solo at the end of "Let Go Crazy." A few years later, I was in college and broadening my musical horizons. I hadn't purchased any Prince albums to that point, but I picked up the 45 of "Sign O' the Times," which was getting played on rock stations like Boston's WBCN. The first Prince album I actually bought was the Batman soundtrack in '89, which I don't think I've listened to since that year. Although a year or so earlier, I bought a bootleg cassette of The Black Album, which to that point was unavailable any other way. Since then, I've amassed several of his classic albums.

Throughout the years and the various personas and eccentricities, Prince never lost his ability to write a great song and put on great performances. And even though he tried to limit the amount of footage of live shows online, I've been able to see a fair amount of concert videos from throughout his career. I've appreciated him that way since I never got to actually see him in concert.

There are some who shake their heads at the outpouring of grief on social media when someone iconic like a rock star dies. Sure, I didn't know the guy, but it's always been a sad thing when a musician I've admired passes away. I still remember how disappointed I was in 1980 when John Bonham died. I had just become a Zeppelin fan in the last year and his death was such a bummer, especially when it meant the band was breaking up. Same thing applied to John Lennon, Randy Rhoads, Phil Lynott, Joe Strummer, John Entwhistle, Kurt Cobain, Ronnie James Dio, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Cliff Burton, Gary Moore and many more. We're at a point where many of our rock stars are approaching or in senior citizen age, so there will be more deaths. But thankfully, we'll always have the music.

08.Prince.-.1999 from Mauricio Onate on Vimeo.

Stuck In Thee Garage #127: April 22, 2016

Most of us have to go to work every day to bring home the proverbial bacon and/or cash money. While this isn't always a fun thing, it's a necessary one. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about occupations in hour 2. (Note: The show was already put together when news of Prince's death broke, so there's no mention of it here. Next week, though, it will be mentioned.)

Here's looking at you, working class peoples!

The hard-working playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Future of the Left - Back When I Was Brilliant/The Peace & Truce of Future of the Left
Parquet Courts - Dust/Human Performance
Wire - Internal Exile/Nocturnal Koreans
Hallelujah the Hills - I'm in the Phone Book, I'm on the Planet, I'm Slowly Dying/A Band is Something to Figure Out
PJ Harvey - The Ministry of Social Affairs/The Hope Six Demolition Project
Palm - Scribe/Trading Basics
The Posies - Unlikely Places/Solid States
Amber Arcades - Right Now/Turning Light
Big Eyes - Wanted Sometimes/Almost Famous
The Dears - Blood/Degeneration Street
Obits - Fake Kinkade/I Blame You
King Khan and the Shrines - Land of the Freak/The Supreme Genius of King Khan and the Shrines
Rancid - Roots Radical/...And Out Come the Wolves
Sugar - The Slim/Copper Blue
Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinoceros/Gish

Hour 2: Occupations
R.E.M. - Finest Worksong/Document
The Members - Goodbye to the Job/1980 - The Choice is Yours
Ray Davies - Working Man's Cafe/Working Man's Cafe
The Rolling Stones - Dear Doctor/Beggars Banquet
Guided by Voices - I am a Scientist/Live at Threadwaxing Space, NYC 6/25/94
Gary Numan - Engineers/The Pleasure Principle
Van Halen - Ice Cream Man/Van Halen
A Tribe Called Quest - Rap Promoter/The Low End Theory
Ike Turner Presents the Family Vibes - Garbage Man/Confined to Soul
Rose Royce - Car Wash/Car Wash Original Movie Soundtrack
St. Vincent - Actor Out of Work/Actor
Frank Black and Teenage Fanclub - Handyman/The John Peel Session EP
Sonic Youth - Dude Ranch Nurse/Sonic Nurse
The Who - The Dirty Jobs/Quadrophenia
David Bowie - A New Career in a New Town/Low
Drive-By Truckers - This Fucking Job/The Big To-Do

Completely Conspicuous 420: Failing to Plan, Planning to Fail

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

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 art of the sticky note
- Business is moving away from email
- Working with people from across the globe
- Matt: Don't know how I could do more
- The newspaper life was a disorganized one
- Working way too many hours for tiny salary
- Learned how to write efficiently on deadline
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Stuck In Thee Garage #126: April 15, 2016

A decade can go by in an instant. Even though it doesn't seem that long ago, a full 10 years have passed since the heady days of Hannah Montana, Dick Cheney shooting dudes in the face and the emergence of YouTube. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played music from 2006 in hour 2.

This playlist is ready for sexy time:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Parquet Courts - Berlin Got Blurry/Human Performance
Hinds - Garden/Leave Me Alone
Solids - Blurs/Else
Gold Class - Bite Down/It's You
Kurt Vile - Kidding Around/b'lieve i'm goin down
Nap Eyes - Stargazer/Thought Rock Fish Scale
Hallelujah the Hills - We Have the Perimeter Surrounded/A Band is Something to Figure Out
Hooded Fang - Tunnel Vision/Venus on Edge
Stove - Lowt-Ide Fins/Is Stupider
Future of the Left - If AT&T Drinks Tea, What Would BP Do?/The Peace & Truce of Future of the Left
Blacklisters - Power Ballad/Adult
Black Sabbath - Weevil Woman '71/Master of Reality reissue
Iggy Pop - In the Lobby/Post Pop Depression
Iggy Pop - Nightclubbing/The Idiot
Iggy Pop - Success/Lust for Life

Hour 2: 2006
The Hold Steady - Same Kooks/Boys and Girls in America
The Raconteurs - Hands/Broken Boy Soldiers
Pearl Jam - Comatose/Pearl Jam
Sloan - Before the End of the Race/Never Hear the End of It
The Twilight Singers - Bonnie Brae/Powder Burns
TV On the Radio - Dirty Whirlwind/Return to Cookie Mountain
Mission of Burma - Spider's Web/The Obliterati
Jay Reatard - Hammer I Miss You/Singles '06-'07
Sonic Youth - Sleepin' Around/Rather Ripped
Destroyer - Your Blood/Destroyer's Rubies
The Minus 5 - Rifle Called Goodbye/The Minus 5
Robert Pollard - Love is Stronger Than Witchcraft/From a Compound Eye
The Lemonheads - Let's Just Laugh/The Lemonheads
Lilys - Where the Night Goes/Everything Wrong is Imaginary
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco/Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Eagles of Death Metal - Shasta Beast/Death by Sexy

 
 

Completely Conspicuous 419: Get It Together

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the need for organization. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
 

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
- Finding time for other activities when you have kids
- Doing plenty of unpaid work
- Organized to a point
- Sometimes the need for sleep takes over
- Matt: Watching TV's too passive
- "The People vs. OJ Simpson" was surprisingly good
- Old-school Internet problems
- Wasting time online
- Cubicle life
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Stuck In Thee Garage #125: April 8, 2016

It's not uncommon for artists to give fellow artists shout outs in the press, but sometimes they do it in song as well. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs that mention other artists in hour 2. None of them involved this guy:

This playlist deserves a shout out:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Hallelujah the Hills - What Do the People Want/A Band is Something to Figure Out
Chuck Prophet - Alex Nieto/Single
Megafauna - Desire/Welcome Home
Thin Lips - Never Again/Riff Hard
Hard Left - Economy/Economy EP
Bob Mould - The End of Things/Patch the Sky
Savages - When in Love/Adore Life
Kyle Craft - Pentecost/Dolls of Highland
Holy Wave - Minstrel's Gallop/Freaks of Nurture
Surf Harp - Pool Boy/Peel
Iceage - Simony/Plowing Into the Field of Love
Death Index - Dream Machine/Death Index
Hit Bargain - Cheap Death/Hit Bargain
Wild Powwers - Party Song/Hugs and Kisses and Other Things
The Fall - Hot Cake/Your Future Our Clutter
McLusky - Day of the Deadringers/McLusky Do Dallas
The Blood Brothers - Rat Rider/Young Machetes
Gorilla Biscuits - First Failure/Start Today

Hour 2: Shout outs
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at My House/Single
Mike Watt - Intense Song for Madonna to Sing/Ball-Hog or Tugboat?
Pavement - Unseen Power of the Picket Fence/No Alternative
The Hold Steady - Constructive Summer/Stay Positive
Drive-By Truckers - Ronnie and Neil/Southern Rock Opera
Barrence Whitfield and the Savages - Oscar Levant/Dig Thy Savage Soul
The Smithereens - Behind the Wall of Sleep/Especially for You
Weezer - Buddy Holly/Weezer
The Posies - Grant Hart/Amazing Disgrace
The Replacements - Alex Chilton/Pleased to Meet Me
Death from Above 1979 - Always On/The Physical World
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Lariat/Wig Out at Jagbags
Superchunk - Me & You & Jackie Mittoo/I Hate Music
Minutemen - History Lesson, Part II/Double Nickels on the Dime
Tenacious D - Dio/Tenacious D
Mojo Nixon - Elvis is Everywhere/Bo-Day Shus!!!
The Police - When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around/Zenyatta Mondatta
Beastie Boys - Sure Shot/Ill Communication

Completely Conspicuous 418: Reeling in the Years, 1999 (Part 3)

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1999. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 
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
- Jay's #2
- Sloan's concept album...about themselves
- Brian's #1
- Sigur Ros sing in an unidentified language
- Loud, droning orchestral sound
- Jay's #1
- Built to Spill released some epic guitar jams
- Lamenting shows we missed
- Jay: Learned about Built to Spill via Napster
- Next up (in a few months): 1981

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Trust Fund Challenge #21: "Poochinski" (1990)

There's a fine line between "So bad it's good" and "So bad it's goddamn awful." The latest installment of Trust Fund Challenge finds Ric and I watching a pilot that is legendarily horrendous: Poochinski. Filmed in the late '80s and aired once in the summer of 1990 on NBC, Poochinski featured Peter Boyle as a slob police detective killed on the job whose soul enters a bulldog. I know, gritty realism.  Anyhoo, we have a lot of fun watching this thing that somehow aired on network television. You will, too.

Stuck In Thee Garage #124: April 1, 2016

Where would we be without the telephone? Good ol' Alexander Graham Bell never realized how connected we'd be to the goddamn things, but for pretty much anything but speaking to each other. One great thing you can do on a cell phone is listen to Stuck In Thee Garage, and this week's show features songs about phones in hour 2.

Not sure if Gordon Gekko was getting much Internet radio on his cinder block phone, though.

Greed is good, and so is this playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Pavement - Sordid/Wowee Zowee - Sordid Sentinel Edition
Bob Mould - Pray for Rain/Patch the Sky
PJ Harvey - The Wheel/The Hope Six Demolition Project
David Bowie - Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)/Blackstar
Bleached - Keep On Keepin' On/Welcome the Worms
A Giant Dog - Sex & Drugs/Pile
Hit Bargain - The Circuits That Cannot Be Cut/Hit Bargain EP
Savages - Sad Person/Adore Life
The I Don't Cares - Done Done Done/Wild Stab
Washer - Figure Me Out/Here Comes Washer
Yuck - Cannonball/Stranger Things
WOODS - I See in the Dark/City Sun Eater in the River of Light
Family Video - You in the Night/Places to Sleep
Chandos - Everyone's an Expert/Rats in Your Bed
TV Freaks - D.Y.O.T./D.Y.O.T.-The Pits 7"
The Posies - Daily Mutilation/Amazing Disgrace
The Glands - Livin' Was Easy/The Glands
Poison Girls - Crisis/Statement

Hour 2: Phones
Blondie - Hangin' on the Telephone/Parallel Lines
X - Your Phone's Off the Hook, But You're Not/Los Angeles
The Pretenders - The Phone Call/Pretenders
Gang of Four - Call Me Up/Songs of the Free
The Replacements - Answering Machine/Let It Be
Pointed Sticks - Telephone Song/Part of the Noise
Pods - Where I'm Calling From/Where I'm Calling From
Adrian Belew - Phone Call from the Moon/Young Lions
Hallelujah the Hills - Pick Up an Old Phone/Have You Ever Done Something Evil?
The Black Angels - Telephone/Phosphene Dream
R.E.M. - Star 69/Monster
Buffalo Tom - Bad Phone Call/Live at the Paradise 6/30/06
Metric - Collect Call/Fantasies
The White Stripes - Hello Operator/Fantasies
Mr. Airplane Man - Hang Up/C'mon DJ
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Flavor/Orange