Stuck In Thee Garage #318: April 24, 2020

Many have proclaimed that the album is dead, but I don't buy that notion. There are still plenty of great albums released all the time. This current quarantine situation certainly has me exploring a lot more albums in depth. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played great title tracks in hour 2 (h/t to friend of the show Phil Stacey for the idea). All that said, don't touch my records. Ever.

This playlist must be filed alphabetically:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Car Seat Headrest - Hollywood/Making a Door Less Open
Green/Blue - With That Face/Green/Blue
Eyelids - Ceremony/The Accidental Falls
Savak - Bayonet/Rotting Teeth in the Horse's Mouth
Flat Worms - Market Forces/Antarctica
Peel Dream Magazine - Escalator Ism/Agitprop Alterna
Fiona Apple - Heavy Balloon/Fetch the Bolt Cutters
STRFKR - Never the Same/Future Past Life
Blonder - Bees in the Sun/Crystal Ball EP
Graveyard Club - Valens/Single
Will Johnson - Cornelius/Wire Mountain
Dead Stars - Always Down/Never Not Here
Pearl Jam - Comes Then Goes/Gigaton
Hamilton Leithauser - The Garbage Men/The Loves of Your Life
Elvis Depressedly - Let's Break Up the Band/Depressedelica
Moaning - Connect the Dots/Uneasy Laughter

Hour 2: Title tracks
Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power/Raw Power
The Clash - London Calling/London Calling
X - Los Angeles/Los Angeles
Motorhead - Ace of Spades/Ace of Spades
Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning/Thunder and Lightning
Soundgarden - Superunknown/Superunknown
Joe Jackson - I'm the Man/I'm the Man
The Jam - In the City/In the City
Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction/Stranger Than Fiction
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive/Stay Positive
The Tragically Hip - Fully Completely/Fully Completely
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen/Gentlemen
The Cars - Candy-O/Candy-O
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange/Orange
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run/Band on the Run
Prince - Sign O' the Times/Sign O' the Times

Stuck In Thee Garage #317: April 17, 2020

In times like these, it's not easy to maintain a positive outlook. But we have to keep pushing forward. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played positive jams in hour 2. Things are still tough and not so great, but that doesn't mean we should wallow in the mire. Right, Kenneth?

This playlist may or may not be immortal:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Flat Worms - The Aughts/Antarctica
Dead Stars - Story of Your Life/Never Not Here
Peel Dream Magazine - Emotional Devotion Creator/Agitprop Alterna
The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking/The New Abnormal
Sharon Van Etten - Beaten Down/Single
STRFKR - Deep Dream/Future Past Life
Gully Boys - Hear You Calling/Phony
The Psychedelic Furs - Don't Believe/Made of Rain
Kiss the Tiger - Motel Room/Single
Grand Courriers - INIMRM/Habits
Dad Bod - Spirits/Single
Melkbelly - Little Bug/Pith
Savak - Vis-a-Vis/Rotting Teeth in the Horse's Mouth
Ty Segall - Drivin Along/Segall Smeagol
Drakulas - Level Up/Terminal Amusements

Hour 2: Positive
The Hold Steady - Positive Jam/Almost Killed Me
Spoon - Something to Look Forward to/Kill the Moonlight
The Posies - Please Return It/Amazing Disgrace
Urge Overkill - Positive Bleeding/Saturation
Frank Black - Hang On to Your Ego/Frank Black
Bloc Party - Positive Tension/Silent Alarm
Sugar - A Good Idea/Copper Blue
Thelonious Monster - Positive Train/Baby...You're Bummin' My Life Out in a Supreme Fashion
Ted Leo - You're Like Me/The Hanged Man
The Dirtbombs - Indivisible/We Have You Surrounded
Sloan - The Good In Everyone/One Chord to Another
Teenage Fanclub - Star Sign/Bandwagonesque
Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??/Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up/So
Rancid - Time Bomb/...And Out Come the Wolves
Bad Brains - Attitude/Bad Brains
Temple of the Dog - Pushin' Forward Back/Temple of the Dog

Completely Conspicuous 533: Long Distance Runaround

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss quarantine life. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded recently via Skype
- What's the first thing you'd do post-COVID?
- All the big movies got pushed back to later in the year or 2021
- Some movies are going straight to streaming
- When will we feel comfortable at crowded concerts again?
- If touring slows down, how will musicians survive?
- Artists may have to go directly to fans for support
- Lou Barlow started a subscription service
- Artists have done similar things for years: Rundgren, Prince
- Might see more music made by artists stuck at home
- Suddenly we have a lot of time to listen to records
- Jay: Daughter's into the Beatles now
- When you know songs you hate by heart
- Appreciating '70s-era McCartney
- Bad production really stands out on mix playlists
- Does anyone remember dynamics?
- Self-improvement activities to catch up on
- Brian: No time to do any of it so far
- Jay: Want to alphabetize my records
- No guilty pleasures: Making peace with disco
- Brian: Need to organize music room
- Jay: Hope to pick up the old guitar
- Bill Rieflin, R.I.P.

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 #316: April 10, 2020

As much I love great albums, the true test of a band (for me, anyway) is how good they are live. There's something about live music that really hits home for me. And that's one of the many things that have been so difficult during these quarantined times: No live music. So this week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played great live jams in hour 2. It's like that time Chris Farley worked security for Mudhoney.

Remember that time I made that playlist? That was awesome:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Ty Segall - Gotta Get Up/Segall Smeagol
Drakulas - Fashion Forward/Terminal Amusements
Savak - Listening/Rotten Teeth in the Horse's Mouth
The SuperModels - Emotional Advice/Single
Andy Cook - Tried Pretty Hard/Single
Erik Koskinen - I Got You (To Get Me Through)/Single
Waxahatchee - Oxbow/Saint Cloud
Moaning - Coincidence Or Fate/Uneasy Laughter
Wolf Parade - Julia Take Your Man Home/Thin Mind
Pearl Jam - Superblood Wolfmoon/Gigaton
Guided By Voices - Man Called Blunder/Surrender Your Poppy Field
Hallelujah the Hills - We Are What We Say We Are/BOOTLEG: Rock 'N Roll Improved My Chemistry
The Wedding Present - Every Mother's Son/Tommy 30
Dogleg - Bueno/Melee
Melkbelly - Sickeningly Teeth/Pith
Chastity - Spirit Meetup/Home Made Satan
Sports Team - Here It Comes Again/Making Hay EP
Feet - Axe Man/What's Inside Is More Than Just Ham

Hour 2: Live
Beach Slang - Hard Luck Kid/Live on KUTX
Krill - Turd/Live on WOBC 
Courtney Barnett - History Eraser/Live on KUTX
Guided By Voices - Postal Blowfish/Live at Threadwaxing Space, NYC 6/25/94
Sloan - Deeper Than Beauty/Japan 2002 Bootleg
Gord Downie and the Sadies - Search and Destroy/Live on CBC Fuse
The Cult - Brothers Grimm/B-Sides, Etc.
Bullet Lavolta - X-Fire/Force Majeure (The RCA Anthology '90-'92)
Blue Oyster Cult - Cities On Flame With Rock 'N Roll (live)/Tyranny and Mutation (B-side)
The Hold Steady - The Swish/Live at Schuba's 3/12/04
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Cinnamon Girl/Live at Fukuoka 3/8/76
Stephen Malkmus - Baby C'mon/Live at the Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR 1/20/07
Ween - Buckingham Green/Live on Nothing TV 1997
Mark Lanegan - The River Rise/Live on KNDD 10/19/99
Mike Watt - Piss Bottle Man/Live in Chicago 1995
Queens of the Stone Age - Do It Again/Live at the Melkweg 6/24/02

 

Completely Conspicuous 532: Life During Quarantine

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss quarantine life. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded last week via Skype
- Homeschooling is hard work
- A month in, the hoarding continues
- Brian's second-grader has a lot of schoolwork
- Brian was down in Florida to spend a few days at spring training
- Had planned to visit family in Arizona in March, but decided not to
- Virus moved quickly
- Brian saw Jonathan Richman concert in March
- Jay: Was supposed to fly to California for a conference in March, but it was canceled
- Had tickets to Archers of Loaf concert in mid-March that was canceled
- Jay: Working from home full-time
- Brian: Trying to find non-screen activities for the kids
- We're spending a lot of time with our families, which isn't a bad thing
- We've never had a situation like this where everything is shut down
- A lot of people are out of work or unable to work right now
- No sports to watch during one of the best times of year for sports
- Sports may come back without crowds in attendance
- When will things go back to normal?
- Kids' school sports, activities are on hold
- Touring musicians are losing a ton of money
- South Korea was able to shut everything down and come out on the other end
- One person can do a lot of damage
- Spring break idiots
- Adam Schlesinger, R.I.P. (this was recorded before he died)
- Washing our hands more than ever before
- Missing out on draft beer
- We're lucky to be able to work from home
- How will the economy bounce back?
- To be continued

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 #315: April 3, 2020

If you're like me, this pandemic has got you listening to a lot of music. It's also got me thinking about picking up my guitar and making ungodly sounds again. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about playing in a band in hour 2. Just make sure you've got your band's name figured out before you get the all-clear to start jamming again:

This playlist does not feature Herman Menderchuk, sadly:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Moaning - Make It Stop/Uneasy Laughter
Drakulas - Dark Black/Terminal Amusements
Charly Bliss - Supermoon/Supermoon
Throwing Muses - Dark Blue/Sun Racket
Pearl Jam - Never Destination/Gigaton
Eldridge Rodriguez - There's No Control/Slightest of Treason
Childish Gambino - 53.49/3.15.20
Greg Dulli - The Tide/Random Desire
Porridge Radio - Lilac/Every Bad
Drive-By Truckers - Babies In Cages/The Unraveling
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Shoulders/All In Good Time
Dogleg - Watortle/Melee
Jonny Polonsky - Take Me Home/Kingdom of Sleep
Beach Slang - Nobody Say Nothing/The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
Caspian - Circles On Circles/On Circles

Hour 2: Playing in a band
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust/The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Paul McCartney and Wings - Rock Show/Venus and Mars
Ty Segall - Break a Guitar/Ty Segall
Drive-By Truckers - Road Cases/Southern Rock Opera
Tenacious D - Kyle Quit the Band/Tenacious D
McLusky - Fuck This Band/McLusky Do Dallas
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock/Let There Be Rock
Don Babylon - Started a Band/Foul!
White Reaper - The World's Best American Band/The World's Best American Band
Hunx and His Punx - Baby of the Band/Hardly Art sampler
The Smithereens - Behind the Wall of Sleep/Especially For You
The Stone Roses - She Bangs the Drums/The Stone Roses
Piebald - All You Need is Drums to Start a Dance Party/If It Weren't For Venetian Blinds It Would Be Curtains For Us All
Kim Mitchell - Diary For Rock 'N Roll Men/Akimbo Alogo
Sloan - Money City Maniacs/Navy Blues
PUP - If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will/The Dream Is Over

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.