Rick Ness

Rick Ness is the Indiana Jones of UW-Madison. Sure, he might seem like he’s a mild mannered teacher of 18th and 19th century transatlantic literature — but, actually, he’s one of the dudes from Chicago legends Figdish! On this episode, we talk to THAT dude about the ‘Dish’s forthcoming sorta-new third record (Rick will explain), after-parties at Club Shakespeare, releasing the Kraken, paying off your debt to Brad Wood with a few well placed Radiohead covers, scamming A&amp;R guys, Zima, Kevin Cronin’s scatting, deadly microphone stands, and hot August nights with Neil Diamond. Jesus Christ, we love Rick.

130. LIFERS - Rick Ness

Scott’s dropping names again. After last Sunday’s 40th anniversary performance of REM’s “Murmur” (among other things) by Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy &amp; “friends” at the Metro — Scott is lit up and bubbling over with memories of meeting Mike Mills, singing with Mike Mills, and hanging out and drinking with Mike Mills. We invited Jason (Narducy not Narduzzi) over to get a word in edgewise and join us for a (fairly) friendly round of REM drafting (we also learn what song Gabe wants played at his funeral). It’s all about REM this week and we feel… uh, pretty ok with it.

129. LIFERS - REM Draft Day With Jason Narducy

Does a Gen-X man (one that ISN’T Noah Baumbach) have any place in a Barbie world? This week the guys welcome Metro media celebutante Jill Hopkins back to the show to help them with their struggles. Specifically: Scott’s struggle to square his love of Greta Gerwig with his hatred of blockbuster hype and pink-selfie mania, Ben’s struggle against society’s relentless march towards a meme driven cinema, and Gabe’s struggle to stay awake. In the process, Jill struggles to give a shit. PLUS!: Double decker pizza and Beyoncé Draft Day!!! Yesss…

128. LIFERS - Barbeyoncé

Forced to go guestless yet again — the guys discuss Barbie bleeps, Scott’s relentless name dropping, Irish butter, Gigglesnort Hotel, Ben’s fond childhood memories of wearing a dress and throwing candy out of bi-planes, Indiana Jones vs. Tom Cruise, top ten talk-box jams, Napoleon, Gary Gnu, Michael Shannon eats all the pizza in Indiana, and Gabe’s insatiable need to watch the world burn.

127. LIFERS - Bleeps, Barbies, Boxes & Bubonic Butter

Rick Froberg

Or: The Airing Of Grievances. Scott’s got a lot of problems with you people and now you’re gonna hear about it. Some of the topics of disgruntlement include Indiana Jones, the 4th of July, Dolly Parton, demons, baby eaters, black pumpkins, Roger Ebert, Jim Caviezel, Gabe-rock, Pesciwood, and the Hokey Pokey. ALSO: Justine and Steve Sleeve join us for a competitive round of “What’s The Best?” (AC/DC edition) and we pay tribute to Rick Froberg. Is this the best episode ever?

126. LIFERS  - AC/DC, America & Rick Froberg

The last night of our world tour of two cities had us at The Bur Oak in Ben’s adopted hometown of Madison, Wisconsin — where we welcomed our favorite Queen of the Scene: Ms. Cathy Dethmers. As former owner of both O’Cayz Corral AND High Noon Saloon, Cathy was (and IS) a beloved key figure in Madison’s excellent and influential indie-rock community — and we were honored to have her. PLUS!: Gabe tries wasabi nuts, Iron Maiden vs. Replacements trivia is rigged, One Shot with Scott, a great crowd, and Cathy tries to dethrone Gabe in another round of Lifers Against Humanity.

125. LIFERS LIVE!!! In Madison with Cathy Dethmers

Greg Norton

It’s legend time around here again as we welcome Mr. Greg Norton. That’s right. THAT Greg Norton — trailblazing bass player from one of the all time great American rock bands: fucking Husker Du. What more do you want? Anyway — it was our pleasure to talk to Greg about mustaches, Black Flag, insane tours of the West Coast, the Twin Cities, playing the Longhorn, playing the 7th Street Entry, Replacements rivalries, rivalries from within, Sonny Vincent and Shotgun Rationale, becoming a chef, playing jazz in The Gang Font, Porcupine, cancer scares, bonus cups, talkative Bob, the Joan Rivers show, and Greg’s excellent new punk-rock supergroup Ultrabomb. This is a good one, folks.

124. LIFERS - Greg Norton

This episode recorded LIVE at Gman Tavern in Chicago, IL on June 6 has it all: Bowling, Indian food, the most horrific day of Gabe’s life, Malort, Iron Maiden vs. Replacements trivia, Ben’s hell-ride with Herb, booster seats, ice cream, Shotgun Steve Reidell, UFOFU, a few more rounds of Lifers Against Humanity, and Josh Caterer of Smoking Popes makes his long awaited return to the show. PLUS!!! Another great audience to laugh at our stupid jokes. All in all — a terrific night! Let’s relive the magic.

123. LIFERS LIVE!!! - In Chicago with Josh Caterer

The guys welcome returning champion (and LIFERS secret weapon that you may remember from episode 5 — aka “that Genesis episode”) Steve Reidell(!) back to the podcast to talk about last week’s LIFERS live shows, Scott’s trip to Tribeca, Dolly Parton’s coleslaw, the age of Carol O’Connor, Zach Waxer, the origin story of Stv Slv, Chip Z’nuff’s car, and the top 3 songs to play if you happen to be DJing a prom in 1982. This episode is simply breathtaking.

122. LIFERS - Post-tour Reflections, Dolly Parton’s Coleslaw & How To DJ A Prom (w/Steve Reidell)

After a couple years of dipping our collective toe into this whole podcast thing — we decided to dip our toe into the whole LIVE podcast thing. Recorded live at the Gman Tavern in Chicago, IL. last Monday — this episode has it all. Herb making fruity drinks, Un-punk Gabe getting cute with a Chipotle dung-bag, Steve Reidell making shotgun noises, Kelly Wey pouring a few “One Shot with Scott”s, Ben hosting a few rounds of Lifers Against Humanity, some one-man acoustic jams, and —to Ben’s disbelief— a surprise visit from Chip Z’nuff! PLUS!!! A terrific audience that made us feel good and laughed at all of our stupid jokes. You may ask yourself: What sort of person would show up to this particular brand of nonsense? As it turns out, a pretty great sort of person. And we had a blast.

121. LIFERS Live!!! — In Chicago with Chip Z'Nuff

A LOCAL H podcast with Scott Lucas, Gabe Rodriguez, Ben Reiser, and a revolving door of friends, luminaries and beloved “lifers”.

Kyle Kinane

120. LIFERS - The No Fun E.P. Imploder and more Kyle Kinane

On this week’s episode: Chicago comedy hero Kyle Kinane stops by to shoot the shit. In more ways than one. Having booked himself to appear on our podcast the same night he had to -um- “prepare” for a colonoscopy scheduled the next morning (it happens) — this is an episode with an air of suspense that’s worthy of Hitchcock. Kyle grins, bears it, and tries to sit still for Scott’s probing …questions. How do you get a guy who’s a C-hair away from shitting himself to honor his non-“binding” commitment to this silly podcast, you ask? Well, it might help that Kyle is a bit of a fan of Gabe’s deadpan style of comic cluelesness (although, in typical Gabe fashion, that didn’t stop Gabe from ramming in an oblivious insult or two). It also helps that Kyle has maintained a non-pretentious working class attitude about his career that’s allowed him to keep his head, not buy into the show-biz bullshit, and protect the part of his job that he loves the most: Telling jokes and making people laugh. We couldn’t be happier to have Kyle on as our first comedian — and before he had to run off to the bathroom, we managed to get him to talk about his new comedy special (“Shocks &amp; Struts”), shutting down his long running podcast “The Boogie Monster”, honing a stand-up style in the eye of the Chicago music scene, how to shit in a box (again), Chipotle (also again), the meaning of success, “Casino” Rickles vs. “Natural Born Killers” Rodney, the Katt Williams effect, Loverboy adjacent stories, Kyle’s first run-in with Scott, always galloping on a desert island, and dropping wavs in folders. Back to basics, baby!

119. LIFERS - Kyle Kinane

We all have that friend that got us into punk rock and was in our first bands with us. Jerry Newbrough was Scott’s. On this episode we talk to Jerry about going to high school with Gabe and Scott, Christian rock, moving to Madison, He Who Cannot Be Named, O’Cayz Corral, Cathy Dethmers, designing the “As Good As Dead” cover, loving music too much to play it, Greg Norton, Jerry’s bands Mr. Peabody and Pound, WI, and (of course) Zion food-punk legends The Family Cruisers.

118. LIFERS - Jerry Newbrough

And the legends just keep on coming. This week we’re pleased as punch to have Mr. Tommy Stinson on the show. If you’re like Gabe and you don’t know — Tommy is one of rock’s great bass players, great stars, and great lifers. Getting his start at age 11 (ELEVEN?!?) in the undeniably seminal Replacements , Tommy went on to form the bands Bash &amp; Pop and Perfect before lending his bass chops and cool factor to Guns N’ Roses, Soul Asylum, and Puff Daddy. On this episode we talk to the man about being a punk star in high school, sneaking into clubs that he’s playing in, Husker Du, Wendy O. Williams, legendary SNL performances, disastrous tours with Tom Petty, and Tommy’s great new band Cowboys In The Campfire. Viva la lifers!

117. LIFERS - Tommy Stinson

Michael Alago

Hey! Waddya know? We got a legend on the podcast this week. Michael Alago knows everybody. No. Seriously. He knows EVERYBODY. So we asked the former A&amp;R superstar (and current photographing king) about some of them. We also talk about Michael signing Metallica to Elektra records, living in (and embodying) New York, signing White Zombie to Geffen, working at the Ritz, making a ‘zine for the Dead Boys, Cliff &amp; Simon &amp; Garfunkel, making a blues record with Cyndi Lauper, L’Amour, Mike’s documentary (“Who The Fuck Is That Guy?”), Steve Earle, signing Nina Simone, being responsible for “Hands On The Bible”, Eric Bogosian and “Talk Radio”, Ether Coven, the PIL riot, and Gabe getting better questions. PLUS!: LIFERS goes live, and AI goes Local.

116. LIFERS - Michael Alago

Eric Oblander

Eric Oblander —everybody’s favorite vocalist and harmonica player for everybody’s favorite heavy-rock blues band (Toledo’s 5 Horse Johnson)— is our guest this week and you are WELCOME! This episode’s been a long time coming and we got to talk to Eric about Detroit, going on tour with The Necros, forming the Johnson, going to strip clubs with Frodo, Motorhead, Aldo Nova, meeting Rights Of The Accused, the Megadeth backstage chicken story, Big Chief, temporarily joining Clutch, playing on a Local H record, firecracker fights, and Eric gives us HIS thoughts on U2. Goddamn, we love this guy!(We also make a little announcement that you MIGHT be interested in.)

Eric Oblander —everybody’s favorite vocalist and harmonica player for everybody’s favorite heavy-rock blues band (Toledo’s 5 Horse Johnson)— is our guest this week and you are WELCOME! This episode’s been a long time coming and we got to talk to Eric about Detroit, going on tour with The Necros, forming the Johnson, going to strip clubs with Frodo, Motorhead, Aldo Nova, meeting Rights Of The Accused, the Megadeth backstage chicken story, Big Chief, temporarily joining Clutch, playing on a Local H record, firecracker fights, and Eric gives us HIS thoughts on U2. Goddamn, we love this guy! (We also make a little announcement that you MIGHT be interested in.)

115. LIFERS - Eric Oblander

It’s Bring Your Daughter To Work Week over here at The Lifers Podcast. First up we welcome Ben’s daughter Lily to the show — seems like she’s got a beef with her ol’ pops about his unflattering impersonations of her (as well as Ben’s way with a tall tale or two). And then it’s time for our favorite 11-year-old Green-Mountain-Garwin student — Helena Brandt (and her awesome mom Cara Gwinn). Turns out Helena’s doing a school paper on Scott (that’s right!) and has a few questions for him (questions that may or may not involve candy). Also on this totally beep-arific episode: Big Mac sauce, Canadians, COVERBOY, “Bunny Lake Is Missing”, the Therapy Cabal, bananas, and Gabe learns a new word. BEEP!!!

114. LIFERS - Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter

This week we flash back to LAST week to finish what we started with Mahmood Shaikh: Counting down our favorite U2 songs. The answers may surprise you. Or not. PLUS: Scott talks about Michael, Ben talks about Springsteen tickets, Louise Post drops by to talk about her new single and tour (and the useless Local H shirt she bought), and Gabe locks himself in his office. So un-punk.

113. LIFERS - What's The Best?!?: U2

We’ve been trying to get Mahmood Saikh on the show almost since the podcast started. And finally, he has relented, but with the caveat that he be allowed to appear not as a traditional guest —oh, no, no!— he wanted to be treated as “just one of the guys”. A panel position, if you will. Fine. We accept you. One of us. The indie-rock booking-agent maestro DID send us a bio, however — so here it is: “Mahmood Shaikh is an agent at Concerted Efforts. He represents a wide range of artists including Algiers, Boris, Frankie Rose, Jawbox, Karate, Mr Twin Sister, Nothing, SURVIVE, Ted Leo, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and many others in North America and other territories.  Previously, he was an agent at Flowerbooking, Inc. where for over a decade he sat next to the guy that booked Local H.  Last name is pronounced “Shake”.”Anyway, on this episode we talk about Mahmood’s love of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Scott’s Global Entry worthiness, 1982, Michael, Commie Liberal Pinko Tuesday, upside down pizza, U2 cover bands, Gabe’s fever for Pac-Man, and finally — COVERBOY: Chicago’s newest super-group. This is Ben’s kind of episode. Gooble gobble.

We’ve been trying to get Mahmood Saikh on the show almost since the podcast started. And finally, he has relented, but with the caveat that he be allowed to appear not as a traditional guest —oh, no, no!— he wanted to be treated as “just one of the guys”. A panel position, if you will. Fine. We accept you. One of us. The indie-rock booking-agent maestro DID send us a bio, however — so here it is: “Mahmood Shaikh is an agent at Concerted Efforts. He represents a wide range of artists including Algiers, Boris, Frankie Rose, Jawbox, Karate, Mr Twin Sister, Nothing, SURVIVE, Ted Leo, We Were Promised Jetpacks, and many others in North America and other territories.  Previously, he was an agent at Flowerbooking, Inc. where for over a decade he sat next to the guy that booked Local H.    Last name is pronounced “Shake”.” Anyway, on this episode we talk about Mahmood’s love of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Scott’s Global Entry worthiness, 1982, Michael, Commie Liberal Pinko Tuesday, upside down pizza, U2 cover bands, Gabe’s fever for Pac-Man, and finally — COVERBOY: Chicago’s newest super-group. This is Ben’s kind of episode. Gooble gobble.

112. LIFERS - Mahmood Shaikh

Mike Zelenko

It’s not like Material Issue is the most obscure or overlooked band in the history of Chicago music, but no matter how many power pop music fests get named after them (like the long running International Pop Overthrow festival — which takes its name from their classic debut album), they will always land towards the top of the list of the city’s most underrated bands. And now there’s a new documentary —“Out Of Time: The Material Issue Story”— that seeks to rectify that injustice. We talked to drummer Mike Zelenko about the love the band’s been getting at the recent sold out Q&amp;As for the movie, as well as his experiences recording in Scott’s hometown at the Shoes studio, going to high school with Mike O’Connell, opening the Replacements’ final show, Michael Chapman, tuna subs, fucking Enuff Z’nuff, the aftermath of Jim Ellison’s suicide, and Ted Ansani’s legendary pompadour.

111. LIFERS - Mike Zelenko

The LIFERS Podcast

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Best Episodes on Relationships & Love

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