Stuck In Thee Garage #362: February 26, 2021

Sometimes you need more than just another guitar solo. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs with spoken word parts in hour 2. Whether it's a long intro, a quick quip or a movie quote, spoken word adds a different dimension to songs. 

That playlist good!

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Dinosaur Jr. - I Ran Away/Sweep It Into Space

Fuzzed Out - My Own Worst Enemy/Fuzzed Out

The Natvral - New Year's Night/Tethers

The Hold Steady - Spices/Open Door Policy

Teenage Wrist - Wear You Down/Earth Is a Black Hole

Glitterer - Are You Sure?/Life Is Not a Lesson

Goat Girl - Closing In/On All Fours

Ian Sweet - Dumb Driver/Show Me How You Disappear

of Montreal - Fingerless Gloves/I Feel Safe With You, Trash

Mister Goblin - Get Gone/Four People In an Elevator and One of Them Is the Devil

Har Mar Superstar - Sleight of Hand/Roseville

Lucero - Good as Gone/When You Found Me

Oceanator - The Sky Is Falling/Things I Never Said

Mourn - Apathy/Self Worth

Fleeting Joys - While I'm Waiting/Despondent Transponder

Editrix - Bad Breath/Tell Me I'm Bad

Hour 2: Spoken word

Queens of the Stone Age - You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar But I Feel Like a Millionaire/Songs For the Deaf

Rancid - Junkie Man/...And Out Comes the Wolves

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Bellbottoms/Orange

David Bowie - Future Legend/Diamond Dogs

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs/Diamond Dogs

Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby/Coney Island Baby

The Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood/Undercover

Minutemen - History Lesson Part 2/Double Nickels on the Dime

Pavement - Stereo/Brighten the Corners

Primus - My Name Is Mud/Pork Soda

Living Colour - Funny Vibe/Vivid

Van Halen - Everybody Wants Some!!/Women and Children First

Rollins Band - Liar/Weight

Completely Conspicuous 556: It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Tough to not see friends

- Matt runs Dungeons & Dragons games via Zoom

- Surprising number of people are into D&D

- It's a good escape from the world

- Like a weekly therapy session

- Companies use D&D for corporate retreats

- Games have grown in popularity during the pandemic

- Jay: We started playing a family dominoes game every Saturday

- Jay: Played the board game Pandemic years ago

- The CDC's zombie announcement

- People will run toward the zombies

- Going to movies seems so far away

- Jay: Like going to concerts, don't love going to movies

- Tough time to be a theater actor

- Miss going to bars

- Will masks stick around after the pandemic ends?

- Toilet paper hoarders

- Matt ordered TP last April; it arrived in October

- Waiting for normalcy

- Matt: Look forward to seeing nieces and nephews again

- Want to do activities involving other humans

- We miss traveling

- Jay: Wasn't overly disappointed to not go to a June work conference in Phoenix

- Matt hated getting ready to go places, but liked it once he got there

- When you can't find parking during a pandemic

- Some people don't care about doing the right thing

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 #361: February 19, 2021

Even back in 1988 when Bobby McFerrin had a hit with "Don't Worry Be Happy," a lot of people had a tough time with the concept. There was plenty of stuff to worry about back then, and there's even more to worry about now. But somehow music can provide an escape from all that. That even proved to be true this week on Stuck In Thee Garage when I played songs about worrying in hour 2. But don't tell that to Debbie Downer. Everything bums her out.

This playlist does not include a sad trombone:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Goat Girl - The Crack/On All Fours

Glitterer - Didn't Want It/Life Is Not a Lesson

Cherry Glazerr - Rabbit Hole/Single

Daniel & the Real Feels - Confrontation/Single

Teenage Wrist - Yellowbelly/Earth is a Black Hole

Mister Goblin - Hook In the Eye/Four People In an Elevator and One Is the Devil

Ex-Hyena - Ink Drops On Water/Artificial Pulse

Cathal Coughlan - Owl in the Parlour/Song of Co-Aklan

Rick White - Torn/Rick Covers Sloan's Peppermint EP

TV Priest - Powers of Ten/Uppers

Sleaford Mods - I Don't Rate You/Spare Ribs

The Lounge Society - Burn the Heather/Single

Claud - Soft Spot/Super Monster

The Kills - Love Is a Deserter (XFM session)/Little Bastards

Paul McCartney - Seize the Day/McCartney III

The Besnard Lakes - Raindrops/The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings

Hour 2: Worry

Talking Heads - Don't Worry About the Government/Talking Heads 77

Radiohead - Worrywort/Knives Out

Public Image Ltd. - Worry/9

Sinai Vessel - Cork of Worry/Brokenlegged

Chastity Belt - Don't Worry/I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone

The Fiery Furnaces - Worry Worry/Gallowsbird's Bark

Preoccupations - Anxiety/Preoccupations

Chastity - Anxiety/Home Made Satan

Young Mammals - Don't Make Me Worry/Jaguar

Faith No More - Separation Anxiety/Sol Invictus

Split Enz - I Got You/True Colours

Sloan - Worried Now/Twice Removed

The English Beat - Sugar and Stress/Special Beat Service

Los Lobos - Don't Worry Baby/How Will the Wolf Survive?

Minutemen - D's Car Jam-Anxious Mofo/Double Nickels on the Dime

Titus Andronicus - Anxiety Block/Titus Andronicus LLC Mixtape Vol. 1

Surfbort - High Anxiety/Friendship Music

IDLES - Anxiety/Ultra Mono

Completely Conspicuous 555: Working for the Clampdown

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss life after close to a year in pandemic lockdown. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Haven't talked for the show since November 2019

- Coming up on the first anniversary of everything getting locked down

- Matt was already used to working from home

- Matt writes YA superhero/fantasy books including The Indestructibles series

- Hasn't been able to go to fantasy or comics conventions

- Jay: Miss the interaction of being in the office

- Now used to the WFH life

- Strange to spend all day at home with your family

- Matt has been working remotely for over a decade

- Companies will probably do away with full offices at some point

- Matt: Working in an office forces you to plan for inefficiency

- WFH requires self-discipline

- Definitely tougher for folks with small kids

- Matt dealt with the challenges of ancient Wifi technology in 2010 in Ireland

- Employers will have to adjust post-COVID

- Commuting sucks and people aren't going to want to do it as much

- The lockdown wasn't good for Matt's writing focus

- Too much going on in the world

- Last March, we all assumed things would be back to normal soon

- Matt: Lost the full-time gig, now juggling multiple freelance jobs

- Doing photography shoots exposes you to lots of germs

- Masks let you be more anonymous than you once were

- Running with a mask is a little challenging

- 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 #360: February 12, 2021

Twenty years ago, we were still muddling along with slow internet, still buying CDs but starting to download music, and blissfully unaware of scary things like terrorist attacks and pandemics. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played music from 2001 in hour 2. Sadly, there's no Bowie cameo.

This playlist is ready for the runway:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Ex-Hyena - Ultraviolet/Artificial Pulse

Mister Goblin - The Elevator/Four People In an Elevator and One of Them Is the Devil

The Reds, Pinks and Purples - Don't Ever Pray In the Church On My Street/Uncommon Weather

Editrix - Taste/Tell Me I'm Bad

Mogwai - Richie Sacramento/As the Love Continues

TV Priest - Slideshow/Uppers

Sleaford Mods - All Day Ticket/Spare Ribs

Dale Crover - Shark Like Overbite/Rat-A-Tat-Tat!

Miss Grit - Grow Up To/Impostor

Matthew Sweet - Stars Explode/Catspaw

Fuzz - Nothing People/III

Pearl Jam - Get It Back/Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy, Vol. 2

Kiwi Jr. - Dodger/Cooler Returns

Oceanator - Heartbreat/Things I Never Said

Lilys - Ginger/A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns

Curve - Ten Little Girls/Blindfold EP

Hour 2: 2001

The Strokes - The Modern Age/Is This It

Stephen Malkmus - Discretion Grove/Stephen Malkmus

Spoon - Everything Hits at Once/Girls Can Tell

The White Stripes - I Think I Smell a Rat/Peel Session 8/11/01

Circulatory System - Waves of Bark and Light/Circulatory System

Drive-By Truckers - Ronnie and Neil/Southern Rock Opera

Frank Black and the Catholics - Robert Onion/Dog In the Sand

Guided By Voices - The Brides Have Hit Glass/Isolation Drills

Ben Folds - Zak and Sara/Rockin' the Suburbs

Sloan - The Other Man/Pretty Together

Fugazi - Cashout/The Argument

Rocket From the Crypt - Heart of a Rat/Group Sounds

Fu Manchu - Separate Kingdom/California Crossing

Built to Spill - Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Ancient Melodies of the Future

R.E.M. - Imitation of Life/Reveal

Destroyer - The Sublimation Hour/Streethawk: A Seduction

Completely Conspicuous 554: Demolition Man

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1981. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded via Zoom

- Jay's #5 and Phil's #4: The Stones have a massive hit with a collection of outtakes

- Followed up with a massive stadium tour

- Jay's #4: Prince keeps getting better but not yet breaking through to the mainstream

- Pushing the envelope with explicit content

- Phil's #3: J. Geils Band's pop breakthrough

- Was "Centerfold" banned by WCOZ?

- Jay's #3: Fair Warning was my favorite Van Halen album

- Darker tone than other VH albums

- Phil's #5 and Jay's #2: Rush hits the sweet spot with Moving Pictures

- Side 1 is flawless

- Phil's #2: An underrated U2 record, even by U2 fanatics

- Got into it when it came out

- Phil's #1: The Police reach commercial success

- Hit their pop potential while maintaining their unique sound

- Jay's #1: Going out there with Mission of Burma's debut EP

- Hugely influential on scores of alt-rock bands who came later

- Favorite songs: "Demolition Man" (Phil), "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple 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 #359: February 5, 2021

For better or worse, singers tend to get most of the attention in bands. Sometimes it's nice to let the rest of the band take the spotlight. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played instrumentals in hour 2. Time to let the other guys bring the rock.

 

This playlist slaps da bass:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Sleaford Mods - Short Cummings/Spare Ribs

Cathal Coughlan - Song of Co-Aklan/Song of Co-Aklan

Nero Kane - Mechthild/Tales of Faith and Lunacy

Beach Bunny - Good Guys (Don't Get Used)/Blame Game

Nation of Language - Deliver Me From Wondering Why/Single

Oceanator - A Crack In the World/Things I Never Said

Dale Crover - I Can't Help You There/Rat-A-Tat-Tat!

Dayton Hollow - Something I Need/Single

TV Priest - Press Gang/Uppers

Lucero - Back In Ohio/When You Found Me

Cub Scout Bowling Pins - Moon Camera/Heaven Beats Iowa

Steve Hartlett - lonely phony face/molting

Kiwi Jr. - Domino/Cooler Returns

Editrix - Tell Me I'm Bad/Tell Me I'm Bad

Mourn - Gather Really/Self Worth

Fleeting Joys - Where Do I End/Despondent Transponder

Nothing - Catch a Fade/The Great Dismal

 

Hour 2: Instrumentals

Pixies - Cecilia Ann/Bossanova

The Police - Behind My Camel/Zenyatta Mondatta

The Pretenders - Space Invader/Pretenders

Fugazi - Sweet and Low/In On the Kill Taker

Sebadoh - Hillbilly II/Harmacy

Teenage Fanclub - Is This Music?/Bandwagonesque

Yo La Tengo - Green Arrow/I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One

Sufjan Stevens - The Black Hawk War/Illinois

Pavement - 5-4=Unity/Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Beastie Boys - Sabrosa/Ill Communication

The Budos Band - Long In the Tooth/Long In the Tooth

Frank Black - Mosh, Don't Pass the Guy/The Cult of Ray

Queens of the Stone Age - These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For/Queens of the Stone Age

Iron Maiden - Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)/Powerslave

David Bowie - Speed of Life/Low

The War On Drugs - The Haunting Idle/Lost In the Dream

Caspian - Some Are White Light/The Four Trees

 

 

Completely Conspicuous 553: Give the People What They Want

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1981. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded via Zoom

- Jay turned 14, Phil turned 12 in '81

- Jay started the year in Canada, finished it in the U.S.

- No good radio station, listened to a lot of my own stuff

- Phil: Started buying my own music in '81

- Listened to a lot of Casey Kasem's American Top 40

- "Bette Davis Eyes" was the #1 single of the year

- REO Speedwagon had a big year

- K-Tel used to make big hits compilations

- Ozzy bit the head off a dove (and later a bat), horrifying moms across America

- MTV went on the air in August '81 (Jay didn't have it until '85)

- Stones' massive tour was sponsored by Jovan Musk

- When Jon Anderson of Yes teamed up with Vangelis

- Phil's not-top-5 albums: Foreigner, Loverboy, The Cars, The Who, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Go-Gos, The Kinks, ZZ Top, X, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Genesis, Phil Collins, Tom Tom Club, David Byrne, Grace Jones, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Pretenders, Duran Duran, The Cure, Black Flag, Billy Squier, Prince, AC/DC

- Jay's not-top-5s: The Gun Club, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Def Leppard, Sabbath, April Wine, Triumph, Rush's live album, Motley Crue, Rick James

- Anthony Michael Hall IS Mutt Lange (in a crappy Def Lep biopic)

- To be continued: Our top 5 albums

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple 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.