Sunday, September 29, 2019

Completely Conspicuous 514: A Punk Rock Future

I'm joined by guest Steve Zisson as we discuss the new sci-fi short story anthology he compiled, A Punk Rock Future. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Take 2 of our conversation after the first one didn't record
- A Punk Rock Future is available on Oct. 8
- Book mashes up Steve's love of punk rock and science fiction
- Inspired by other self-published sci-fi anthologies
- Steve and I go back to the late '80s when we were both newspaper reporters
- Later worked together at three different companies
- Zisson: Love for sci-fi started with the original Star Trek series
- Wrote sci-fi in his teens, but then went into journalism
- Jay: Realized that chemical engineering wasn't the path for me and decided to go into journalism
- Zisson: Got into music in the mid-'70s, including early incarnation of the Cars (R.I.P., Ric Ocasek)
- Was going to see bands like Queen, the Kinks, Roxy Music before checking out early punk acts
- Saw Ocasek and Ben Orr's pre-Cars band Cap'n Swing at a small club in Nahant, Mass.
- Then a year or so later, sees the Cars playing at UMass right before they hit it big
- Then would go see the Clash, the Jam, and local Boston punk acts like the Neighborhoods and DMZ
- Zisson got back into writing sci-fi around 2012
- Would dedicate time to write in his spare time
- Discovered a lot of great young writers
- Got a few stories published in well-known sci-fi journals and sites
- More ways to get published now, but more competition, too
- Used to be primarily U.S. writers, now more international
- Came up with the idea for the book after 2016 election
- Drew parallel to late '70s and talked to some writers about "a punk rock future" as an anthology idea
- Put the call out for stories and got over 400 submissions
- Started a Kickstarter to raise $5,000 to pay the authors selected
- Enlisted former Webnoize colleagues to help read the submissions
- With music now, there's so much out there, it's impossible to keep up
- The goal of the project was to get it done and showcase the authors
- One of the authors, Sarah Pinsker, has a new book out that's getting good buzz called A Song For a New Day
- A Punk Rock Future is available on Amazon and at indie bookstores
- Don't confuse Steve Zisson with Steve Zissou
- Next up: Get some more writing done
- Maybe do an anthology of really short stories, like an album of 2-minute songs

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. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Stuck In Thee Garage #288: September 27, 2019

These are the Dumb Times. Everywhere you look, there is dumbness. And it's only getting worse. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about dumbness in hour 2.


This playlist is not dumb:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
B Boys - I Want/Dudu
Ty Segall - Taste/First Taste
Mudhoney - Creeps Are Everywhere/Morning in America
Mikal Cronin - Shelter/Seeker
Chastity Belt - It Takes Time/Chastity Belt
Rose Dorn - Wish/Days You Were Leaving
Pixies - St. Nazaire/Beneath the Eyrie
Trinary System - Hovering/Lights in the Center of Your Head
Froth - Dialogue/Duress
Horse Jumper of Love - Airport/So Divine
Mannequin Pussy - F.U.C.A.W./Patience
Martha - Into This/Love Keeps Kicking
Silversun Pickups - Songbirds/Widow's Weeds
All the Saints - Lites/Look Like You're Going Somewhere
Dumb - Submission/Club Nites
The Minus 5 - MRI/Stroke Manor
Sebadoh - Battery/Act Surprised

Hour 2: Dumb
Radiohead - Idioteque/Kid A
TV On the Radio - Dumb Animal/Province
Krill - Dumbass in a Pair of Shorts/Alam No Hris
Kristin Hersh - Some Dumb Runaway/Wyatt in the Coyote Palace
Nirvana - Dumb/MTV Unplugged in New York
Dios Malos - Dumb After All/B-side
Meat Puppets - I'm a Mindless Idiot/II
XTC - The Mayor of Simpleton/K-Rocking in Pasadena
Jane's Addiction - Idiots Rule/Nothing's Shocking
The Jesus Lizard - Mouth Breather/Goat
McLusky - Alan is a Cowboy Killer/McLusky Do Dallas
Tacocat - Men Explain Things to Me/Lost Time
Mike Doughty - The Idiot Kings/Circles, Super Bon Bon...
Ladyhawk - I Don't Always Know What You're Saying/Shots
Van Halen - Fools/Women and Children First
Temple of the Dog - Wooden Jesus/Temple of the Dog
The Tragically Hip - The Last of the Unplucked Gems/Road Apples


Saturday, September 21, 2019

Stuck In Thee Garage #287: September 20, 2019

It's never easy when someone dies, let alone someone who contributed so much to the music you grew up with. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I paid tribute to the late great Ric Ocasek in hour 2, with music from the Cars and his solo work, as well as bands that he produced.



This playlist is rather triumphant:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Ty Segall - Whatever/First Taste
Ex Hex - What Kind of Monster Are You?/Single
Bob Mould - I Don't Mind/Single
Mudhoney - Ensam I Natt/Morning In America
The Futureheads - Listen, Little Man!/Powers
Pixies - On Graveyard Hill/Beneath the Eyrie
Crooked Ghost - Black Rainbow/Colors Bleed
Oh Sees - Psy-Ops Dispatch/Face Stabber
Plague Vendor - Nothing's Wrong/By Night
Ceremony - We Can Be Free/In the Spirit World Now
The Hold Steady - T-Shirt Tux/Thrashing Through the Passion
DIIV - Skin Game/Deceiver
Guards - Take My Mind/Modern Hymns
Ride - Fifteen Minutes/This Is Not a Safe Place
Rose Dorn - Deathwish/Days You Were Leaving
Summer Cannibals - One of Many/Can't Tell Me No
Bethlehem Steel - Govt. Cheese/Bethlehem Steel

Hour 2: Ocasek
The Cars - Gimme Some Slack/Panorama
Ric Ocasek - Something to Grab For/Beatitude
The Cars - Since You're Gone/Shake It Up
Ric Ocasek - The Next Right Moment/Troublizing
The Cars - Touch and Go/Panorama
Ric Ocasek - Asia Minor/Troublizing
The Cars - I'm Not the One/Shake It Up
Ric Ocasek - Jimmy Jimmy/Beatitude
Romeo Void - Never Say Never/Benefactor
Weezer - The World Has Turned and Left Me Here/Weezer
Weezer - Only in Dreams/Weezer
Guided By Voices - Avalanche Aminos/Hold Up Hope EP
D Generation - No Way Out/No Lunch
D Generation - Waiting For the Next Big Parade/No Lunch


Saturday, September 14, 2019

Stuck In Thee Garage #286: September 13, 2019

The hype was big and the pants were bigger. In 1999, the world was ready for chaotic change. We just didn't know what and how extensive that change would be. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 1999 in hour 2. All the music played was not downloaded illegally. Right, Shawn?



This playlist did not piss off Lars Ulrich (maybe):

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Ex Hex - It's Real/Single
The Futureheads - Jekyll/Powers
Bethlehem Steel - Bad Girl/Bethlehem Steel
Sheer Mag - Blood From a Stone/A Distant Call
Titus Andronicus - Troubleman Unlimited/An Obelisk
Kal Marks - Science is Science/Let the Shit House Burn Down
Kim Gordon - Sketch Artist/No Home Record
Angel Olson - All Mirrors/All Mirrors
SAULT - Let Me Go/5
Plague Vendor - Prism/By Night
Goon - Deny/Heaven is Humming
Oh Sees - Poisoned Stones/Face Stabber
Juliper Sky -  Heaven/Single
Total Heat - LA Song/Single
Versus - Mummified/Ex Voto

Hour 2: 1999
The White Stripes - The Big Three Killed My Baby/The White Stripes
Beck - Broken Train/Midnite Vultures
Wilco - Can't Stand It/Summerteeth
Built to Spill - Bad Light/Keep It Like a Secret
Frank Black & the Catholics - I Switched You/Pistolero
Fu Manchu - Eatin' Dust/Eatin' Dust
Pavement - Spit On a Stranger/Terror Twilight
Ben Folds Five - Your Redneck Past/The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
Songs: Ohia - Love and Work/Axxess & Ace
Sloan - Friendship/Between the Bridges
Gigolo Aunts - C'mon C'mon/Minor Chords and Major Themes
The Sheila Divine - Like a Criminal/New Parade
Chris Cornell - Mission/Euphoria Morning
Sebadoh - Nick of Time/The Sebadoh
Piebald - Mess With the Bulls/If It Weren't for Venetian Blinds, It Would Be Curtains For Us All
Matthew Sweet - Split Personality/In Reverse


Friday, September 06, 2019

Stuck In Thee Garage #285: September 6, 2019

Make a wish, kid, it's yer birthday! Today marks the 6th anniversary of the first episode of Stuck In Thee Garage radio, just a week after BFF.fm went on the air. It's been a fun ride so far and the station has continued to grow and thrive, so there's plenty of optimism going forward. This week, I played songs about the mind in hour 2, so grab yerself a giant pancake and crank it up.



This playlist is large and in charge:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Menzingers - Anna/Single
Pixies - Catfish Kate/Beneath the Eyrie
Allah-Las - In the Air/LAHS
Oh Sees - Snickersnee/Face Stabber
Plague Vendor - New Comedown/By Night
METZ - Pig/Covers
Shredders - Ayeyayaya/Great Hits
Chaos Chaos - Theaters/Single
Ceremony - Further I Was/In the Spirit World Now
That Dog - If You Just Didn't Do It/Old LP
Geowulf - Round and Round/My Resignation
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell/Norman Fucking Rockwell
Sleater-Kinney - Love/The Center Won't Hold
Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses/Single
Redd Kross - Fantastico Roberto/Beyond the Door
The Black Keys - Eagle Birds/Let's Rock
Blackpool Astronomy - Schuster/The Secret Language of a Nervous Breakdown

Hour 2: Mind
Talking Heads - Mind/Fear of Music
LCD Soundsystem - change yr mind/American Dream
Prince - Dirty Mind/Dirty Mind
Titus Andronicus - I Lost My Mind/The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Sonic Youth - Androgynous Mind/Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
Beck - Fuckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)/Mellow Gold
Pixies - Where Is My Mind?/Surfer Rosa
Tracy Bonham - Mother Mother/The Burdens of Being Upright
The Pursuit of Happiness - Back of My Mind/The Wonderful World of...
Sebadoh - Mind Reader/Harmacy
Spacemen 3 - Losing Touch With My Mind/Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to
Soundgarden - Mind Riot/Badmotorfinger
Stiv Bators - Make Up Your Mind/Disconnected
Sugar - If I Can't Change Your Mind/Copper Blue
Spoon - My Mathematical Mind/Gimme Fiction
Washer - Group Therapy/Here Comes Washer



Day After Day #84: Can't You Hear Me Knocking

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).   Can't You Hear Me Knocking (1971) ...