Completely Conspicuous 531: Where Have All the Good Times Gone?

This week, I'm joined by author Greg Renoff as we discuss the new book he wrote with legendary rock producer Ted Templeman. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 
Show notes:
- Greg's first book was 2015's Van Halen Rising
- Five years later, people are still discovering it
- Wrote about the early years of VH from a fan's perspective
- The band filled a void when their debut came out
- That book led to Greg's new book, Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life in Music
- Templeman came to book signing for Van Halen Rising
- Greg later pitched the idea of a book about Templeman
- Book looks at his start as a musician and the albums he worked on as a producer
- Renoff wanted to add more structure to Templeman's recollections
- Book's out on ECW Press on April 21
- Took a few years to put together before the editing process
- Did a lot of interviews with Ted, exchanged many emails
- He didn't want to dwell on controversy too much
- Book starts with his childhood in Santa Cruz through the last album he worked on with the Doobie Brothers in 2010
- Didn't cover every album he worked on
- He was a talented musician in his younger days, as a jazz phenom and then a minor pop star
- Heavily influenced by Tito Puente
- Got into producing with the Doobies in '71, and later Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, Montrose
- Not in touch with the VH camp anymore, but appreciative of his work with them
- Worked with Van Morrison a few times
- Templeman was on TV with his pop group Harpers Bizarre, but he didn't see a future in performing
- Was interested in production and moved behind the scenes in 1970
- Nearly got out of the industry
- Started at the bottom listening to tape submissions
- Found the Doobie Brothers demo
- VH already had the harmony vocals, and Ted incorporated those (and provided some) on most of those albums
- By the time he got to VH, Ted was intent on finding bands a radio hit
- Worked with a wide range of artists from Carly Simon to the Bulletboys
- Sometimes he was brought in to finish projects that others had started
- Currently interested in streaming and following certain artists
- Initial book launch plans have changed because of COVID-19
- Hoping to do joint interviews eventually
- Greg plans to do another VH book
- Started work on it, but will get back to it once coronavirus restrictions are lifted

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Stuck In Thee Garage #314: March 27, 2020

Sometimes when things aren't so great in the here and now, it's fun to look back through the past. Things are especially crappy right now, so on Stuck In Thee Garage this week, I played songs from 1980 in hour 2. We didn't have no stinkin' coronaviruses to worry about back then, but there was the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the invention of Post-It Notes and the Rubik's Cube and the U.S. men's hockey team knocking off the heavily favored Russians. And a certain Man of Steel met his match:

This playlist will now kneel before Zod:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Cars In Space/Single
Drakulas - Pretty Tommy/Pretty Tommy
Charly Bliss - Feed/Supermoon
Girlpool - Like I'm Winning It/Single
Hamilton Leithauser - Here They Come/The Loves of Your Life
Westerman - Think I'll Stay/Your Hero Is Not Dead
Of Montreal - Don't Let Me Die In America/UR FUN
Stephen Malkmus - Xian Man/Traditional Techniques
Destroyer - It Doesn't Just Happen/Have We Met
Hallelujah the Hills - Confessions of an Ex-Ghost/BOOTLEG: Rock 'N Roll Improved My Chemistry
Dogleg - Headfirst/Melee
Bambara - Sweat/Stray
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Something Like This/X: The Godless Void and Other Stories
Kim Gordon - Don't Play It/No Home Record
Elizabeth II - Mickey/Two Margaritas at the Fifty Five

Hour 2: 1980
X - The Unheard Music/Los Angeles
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - Bad Reputation/Bad Reputation
The Pretenders - Up the Neck/Pretenders
Van Halen - Romeo Delight/Women and Children First
Motorhead - (We Are) The Roadcrew/Ace of Spades
Ozzy Osbourne - Suicide Solution/Blizzard of Ozz
Teenage Head - Somethin On My Mind/Frantic City
The Feelies - Loveless Love/Crazy Rhythms
The Cars - Touch and Go/Panorama
XTC - Respectable Street/Black Sea
The Police - Driven to Tears/Zenyatta Mondatta
Robert Palmer - Looking For Clues/Clues
Prince - Partyup/Dirty Mind
David Bowie - It's No Game/Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

Completely Conspicuous 530: Quarantine Dream

This week on Quarantining With Kumar, I talk about how life has changed drastically in a short period of time because of COVID-19. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded while driving around to get some essentials
- Day 5 of self-quarantine, working from home
- The state of Massachusetts has pretty much closed all non-essential businesses
- We haven't experienced anything like this before (in my lifetime)
- Life after 9/11 was weird, but got back to normal fairly quickly
- Some states have implemented "shelter in place" rules
- Social distancing is the big buzzword
- Public gatherings are outlawed
- Spring breakers defied warnings
- Everything's getting canceled: Sports, trips, concerts
- We need to stay home to keep virus from spreading
- Most people I know are complying with the quarantine
- Musicians are doing livestreams instead of concerts
- Optimistic this will end soon, but it's hard to tell
- Watching out for older folks who are more susceptible to virus
- Some people are freaking out with conspiracy theories
- Got to ride this thing out
- Stay positive

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Stuck In Thee Garage #313: March 20, 2020

We're in uncharted territory, folks. The coronavirus has most of the country essentially living in isolation (unless you're a dingus on spring break in Florida) in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading. So there's no school, no work commute and no contact with others for the most part. It's a life of intentional isolation, and it's not fun. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about isolation in hour 2. Keep your chin up, brother.

This playlist was approved by Desmond Hume:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Dogleg - Prom Hell/Melee
New Primals - A Beast With Two Backs/Horse Girl Energy
Porridge Radio - Born Confused/Every Bad
FACS - Teenage Hive/Void Moments
Acid Tongue - Bullies/Bullies
Nation of Language - Rush and Fever/Introduction, Presence
Wolf Parade - The Static Age/Thin Mind
Stephen Malkmus - Shadowbanned/Traditional Techniques
Chelsea Wolfe - The Mother Road/Birth of Violence
of Montreal - Polyaneurism/UR FUN
Chastity - Flames/Home Made Satan
Rubinoos - Phaedra/From Home
Guided By Voices - Windjammer/Surrender Your Poppy Field
Nada Surf - Ride in the Unknown/Never Not Together
Mark Lanegan - Radio Silence/Somebody's Knocking
Girl Band - Caveat/The Talkies
Refused - I Wanna Watch the World Burn/War Music

Hour 2: Isolation
Ty Segall - Isolation/Fudge Sandwich
The Strokes - Alone, Together/Is This It
Jets to Brazil - Perfecting Loneliness/Perfecting Loneliness
Wilco - How to Fight Loneliness/Summerteeth
Silver Jews - Honk If You're Lonely/American Water
TUNS - Lonely Life/Tuns
The Smithereens - In a Lonely Place/Especially For You
Maximo Park - Isolation/Missing Songs
Husker Du - Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely/Candy Apple Grey
Foo Fighters - Alone + Easy Target/Foo Fighters
Joy Division - Isolation/Closer
Divine Fits - What Gets You Alone/A Thing Called Divine Fits
Gang of Four - We Live As We Dream, Alone/Songs of the Free
Cherry Glazerr - Isolation/Stuffed & Ready
The C.I.A. - Oblivion/The C.I.A.
New York Dolls - Lonely Planet Boy/New York Dolls
Lou Reed - Leave Me Alone/Street Hassle

Isolation Drills

It's been 18.5 years since 9/11, which is the measuring stick for everything that came after in terms of big events. It was the event that "changed everything" and there's a lot of truth to that. But here we sit, in the middle of the biggest slowdown of modern day life I've ever seen. It wasn't caused by terrorism or war or weather or a natural disaster; nope, it was COVID-19, which has infected nearly 218,000 and killed 8,800 worldwide.

This virus is so infectious and insidious that essentially the entire country has been ordered to stay home from work and school and each other indefinitely. All sports--professional, school, recreational--have ground to a halt. Events have been canceled or postponed and everyone is supposed to maintain a safe distance of 6 feet from others. The idea is to keep the infection from spreading the way it has in China, Italy and Spain, where most of the deaths have occurred.

I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to work from home, so that's what I've been doing the last three days, while Deb and the girls are also home from school. I've worked from home before, but this has the potential to last a lot longer. In Massachusetts, schools have been ordered to be closed for three weeks, but some think if the infection rate continues to grow, that absence could be extended. Meanwhile, I'm set up in our kitchen and it looks like that may be the case for a long while.

My gym's closed, so I won't be able to do my usual free weight workouts for a while. The hockey rinks where I skate a few times a week are closed, so that's done for now. But I can run and I can do pushups and I've got a few dumbbells, so it won't be a total loss. I had signed up to run the Ipswich Ale Half Marathon in April, but that was just postponed, as was the Boston Marathon. Both girls were set to play spring sports, but that's in limbo.

The NHL and NBA seasons were suspended and are in jeopardy, especially as more players test positive for COVID-19 seemingly every day. March Madness was canceled and MLB pushed the start of its season to mid-May. Normally, this time of year, there's something great to watch every night in terms of sports. Now, there's nothing.

Bars and restaurants are closed. Concerts have been called off. Streets are mostly empty. It's really weird. All we can do is stay home and wait this thing out. Stir craziness kicks in from time to time and we're only a few days into the quarantine. But we have to hope enough people stay home to keep the infection rate from getting out of control. In the meantime, we're going to see a lot of these four walls.

Stuck In Thee Garage #312: March 13, 2020

Getting sick is on pretty much everybody's mind right now, so much so that many of us are doing everything we can to avoid it. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about sickness in hour 2. Hopefully, they can help take your mind off it.

The prescribed playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Cornershop - St. Marie Under Canon/England Is a Garden
of Montreal - Peace to All Freaks/UR FUN
Rubinoos - Do You Remember/From Home
Stephen Malkmus - The Greatest Own in Legal History/Traditional Techniques
Hallelujah the Hills - Born to Blow It/I'm You
Chelsea Wolfe - Deranged for Rock & Roll/Birth of Violence
Greg Dulli - Sempre/Random Desire
Guided By Voices - Cul-De-Sac Kids/Surrender Your Poppy Field
Chastity - Last Year's Lust/Home Made Satan
Bambara - Death Croons/Stray
Eldridge Rodriguez - Psychic Darts/Slightest of Treason
The Skull Practitioners - Death Buy/Death Buy EP
Royal Trux - Platinum Tips/Quantum Entanglement
Shana Falana - Stripped/Darkest Light
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Reoccurring Dream/All In Good Time

Hour 2: Sick
Boss Hog - Sick/Boss Hog
Run DMC - You Be Illin'/Raising Hell
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless/Remain in Light
Preoccupations - Fever/Preoccupations
Morphine - Cure for Pain/Cure for Pain
The Comfies - Medicine/Close to Me
The Kills - U.R.A. Fever/Midnight Boom
Faith No More - Home Sick Home/Album of the Year
The Cult - Medicine Train/Sonic Temple
Orbit - Medicine/Libido Speedway
A.C. Newman - Miracle Drug/The Slow Wonder
Ron Gallo - Kill the Medicine Man/Heavy Meta
Sloan - Emergency 911/Parallel Play
Aimee Mann - Medicine Wheel/@#%&*! Smilers
Darto - Fell Ill/Human Giving
Versing - Medicine Man/Nude Descending
LVL Up - Pain/Return to Love
Lubec - (high blood pressure)/Cosmic Debt

Stuck In Thee Garage #311: March 6, 2020

You can't go home again, or so they say. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about home in hour 2. It'll knock you on your butt like a home-made booby trap.

The big city playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Guided By Voices - Year of the Hard Hitter/Surrender Your Poppy Field
Bambara - Heat Lightning/Stray
Husbands - Manhorse/After the Gold Rush Party
Chastity Belt - The Process/Single
Wye Oak - Fear of Heights/Single
Waxhatchee - Fire/Saint Cloud
Wasted Shirt - The Purple One/Fungus II
Caspian - Collapser/On Circles
Beach Slang - Sticky Thumbs/The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
Chastity - Sun Poisoning/Home Made Satan
Wolf Parade - Out of Control/Thin Mind
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Vicariously Living/All In Good Time
Destroyer - The Raven/Have We Met
Greg Dulli - Scorpio/Random Desire
Nada Surf  - Live, Learn & Forget/Never Not Together
Desert Sessions - If You Run/Vols. 11 & 12

Hour 2: Home
Pavement - Western Homes/Wowee Zowee
Paul and Linda McCartney - Eat at Home/Ram
Arctic Monkeys - Still Take You Home/Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
PJ Harvey - A Place Called Home/Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
The Slits - Adventures Close to Home/Cut
Jarvis Cocker - Homewrecker!/Further Complications
Dinosaur Jr. - Goin' Home/Where You Been
Beck - Steal My Body Home/Mellow Gold
Los Campesinos! - The Fall of Home/Sick Scenes
The Lemonheads - Baby's Home/The Lemonheads
Shudder to Think - Earthquakes Come Home/Pony Express Record
The Monkeywrench - Call My Body Home/Clean as a Broke-Dick Dog
Superchunk - Does Your Hometown Care?/Suburbia soundtrack
Husker Du - Broken Home, Broken Heart/Zen Arcade
Gang of Four - At Home He's a Tourist/Entertainment!
Public Image Ltd. - Home/Album
Parquet Courts - Urban Ease/Content Nausea

Completely Conspicuous 529: Cheat to Win

I talk to Phil Stacey and Dave Olson about baseball's cheating scandal while we drive to a rock concert. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded on the way to see the Drive-By Truckers in Somerville, MA
- Not the first cheating scandal in MLB, but this has a different feel
- Houston Astros accused of stealing signs on the way to 2017 World Series
- Every team cheats in some way or another
- "If you're not cheating, you're not trying"
- Corked bats, scuffed pitches
- Baseballs were juiced last year to generate interest
- The sport is fading in popularity
- Too slow for short attention spans of today's society
- Steroids in the late '90s were ignored in favor of home run records
- Did the punishment fit the crime?
- Astros were fined and lost draft picks, but could have been worse
- MLB didn't expect this to blow up; former Astro revealed it in an interview
- Public reaction has been loud
- Two other teams have fired their managers who had connections to Astros that season
- Did MLB and the teams coordinate these actions?
- MLB wants this to go away and it's not
- Other teams and players are upset about it
- A pitcher sued because Astros lit him up and he was out of the majors
- Astros are going to be booed mercilessly all season on the road
- We don't know how much the sign stealing helped them
- Houston will get some big TV ratings this season
- Brought to you by Google Maps
- Altuve was a heroic figure, now tarnished
- MMA and pro wrestling are resonating with a younger generation
- A lot of baseball teams struggle to fill the seats
- Young kids would rather watch eSports, where other people play video games
- Easier to cheat in baseball or basketball
- Astros intern figured out how to steal signs and convinced management to adopt it
- Astros players should expect to get hit by a lot of pitches this season

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.