Jon Rineman

Jon Rineman started his career with as tumultuous and triumphant a 15-year run as a comic could envision for themselves. He started in 2003, then freelanced jokes for Jay Leno, wrote jokes for Seth Meyers including one infamous zinger at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that earned the ire of a future president, and wrote for Jimmy Fallon at Late Night and the Tonight Show until 2018. He survived the vicious battles around late night, got to write for the WWE, got married, had his first kid, and then saw things deteriorate quickly, both personally and professionally. A lot of this is detailed in his new podcast, Here’s What People Are Talking About. I would refer you to that for some of the more intricate workings of his writing role and departure from Fallon we reference here. We address that, but we also talk about his new comedy card game, Anti-Social Skills, his post-Tonight Show gig teaching at Emerson College in Boston, and what he learned about the future of late night from his students.  This one was a tough edit because we had so much to cover, so I’m hoping this gives you a taste of an extraordinary period in the life of a stand-up comedian and writer. You can find the podcast, Here’s What People Are Talking About, on Apple, Spotify, and all the usual podcast locations. Jon’s website is www.rinemania.com, and that’s where you can find at least a partial accounting of his late night monologue jokes. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @rinemania. Anti-Social Skills is at asskills.com, which should be easy to remember, and on Twitter at @antiskills and Instagram at @antisocialskillsgame.

Jon Rineman started his career with as tumultuous and triumphant a 15-year run as a comic could envision for themselves. He started in 2003, then freelanced jokes for Jay Leno, wrote jokes for Seth Meyers including one infamous zinger at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that earned the ire of a future president, and wrote for Jimmy Fallon at Late Night and the Tonight Show until 2018. He survived the vicious battles around late night, got to write for the WWE, got married, had his first kid, and then saw things deteriorate quickly, both personally and professionally. A lot of this is detailed in his new podcast, Here’s What People Are Talking About. I would refer you to that for some of the more intricate workings of his writing role and departure from Fallon we reference here. We address that, but we also talk about his new comedy card game, Anti-Social Skills, his post-Tonight Show gig teaching at Emerson College in Boston, and what he learned about the future of late night from his students.  This one was a tough edit because we had so much to cover, so I’m hoping this gives you a taste of an extraordinary period in the life of a stand-up comedian and writer. You can find the podcast, Here’s What People Are Talking About, on Apple, Spotify, and all the usual podcast locations. Jon’s website is <a href="http://www.rinemania.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.rinemania.com</a>, and that’s where you can find at least a partial accounting of his late night monologue jokes. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @rinemania. Anti-Social Skills is at <a href="http://asskills.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">asskills.com</a>, which should be easy to remember, and on Twitter at @antiskills and Instagram at @antisocialskillsgame.

S2EP6 - Comedian and Late Night Writer Jon Rineman

The Stay Scary Podcast is a silly podcast about serious horror, as described by host Lisa McGolgan. Every episode, Lisa and co-host Yinh Kiefer take a theme in horror films or horror lore, everything from insects to puberty, serial killers to doll parts, and have a ripsnorting good time going wherever that topic takes them. The show is as much fun to listen to as it is to be on, and taping this episode was the most fun I had in an interview this season. It devolves almost immediately, and it was a pile o’ fun. That’s right. Not a pile “of” fun, but a pile o’ fun, which is orders of magnitude higher. We discussed that age old favorite question amongst us ghoul-lovers, “why horror,” the origins of our own fandom, horror as a cultural touchpoint, and what actual scares us (hint- very little, but for Lisa and Yinh, the movie Terrifier certainly fits the bill). But you can see from this interview that you don’t have to be a fan of horror to enjoy the Stay Scary Podcast. Here’s Lisa and Yinh! You can find Stay Scary on Apple and Podbean and iHeart Radio and various other podcast aggregators. The show is also on social media, on Instagram at @stayscarypodcast and on Twitter at @stayscarypod. You can find Yinh’s podcast, Ten With Yinh at all of those same podcast locations.

The Stay Scary Podcast is a silly podcast about serious horror, as described by host Lisa McGolgan. Every episode, Lisa and co-host Yinh Kiefer take a theme in horror films or horror lore, everything from insects to puberty, serial killers to doll parts, and have a ripsnorting good time going wherever that topic takes them. The show is as much fun to listen to as it is to be on, and taping this episode was the most fun I had in an interview this season. It devolves almost immediately, and it was a pile o’ fun. That’s right. Not a pile “of” fun, but a pile o’ fun, which is orders of magnitude higher. We discussed that age old favorite question amongst us ghoul-lovers, “why horror,” the origins of our own fandom, horror as a cultural touchpoint, and what actual scares us (hint- very little, but for Lisa and Yinh, the movie Terrifier certainly fits the bill). But you can see from this interview that you don’t have to be a fan of horror to enjoy the Stay Scary Podcast. Here’s Lisa and Yinh! You can find Stay Scary on Apple and Podbean and iHeart Radio and various other podcast aggregators. The show is also on social media, on Instagram at @stayscarypodcast and on Twitter at @stayscarypod. You can find Yinh’s podcast, Ten With Yinh at all of those same podcast locations.

S2EP5 - Stay Scary Podcast Hosts Lisa and Yinh

Rob Kovacs

At first glance, Rob Kovacs seems to have wildly divergent interests in music. His latest album, Let Go, is lush and rhythmic piano pop. It’s organic and melancholy, and tells a very human story about snakebit would-be lovers who can’t come together and yet can’t quite find their way out of each other’s orbit. It’s built for sepia-tinged sunlight and dry scattered leaves. Look again, and you see his alter-ego, 88Bit, who orchestrates the mechanical soundtracks of throwback video games for piano. The music from Let Go seems as far as you can get from the three-channel ditties on your average NES system. But keep listening, and you’ll hear how they blend together, how they merge in Kovac’s particular style. We discussed both sides of Kovac in this conversation on a particularly nice day in his hometown of Cleveland – you can even hear the birds chirping in the background through his open window.  You can find his work at the places he just mentioned, but in case you missed them, his website is www.obkovcsmusic.com, and you can find him on Twitter and Instagram at @robkovacsmusic. You can find 88Bit at www.88bitmusic.com and on Twitter and Instagram at @88bitmusic. Follow him there for tour and new release info.

At first glance, Rob Kovacs seems to have wildly divergent interests in music. His latest album, Let Go, is lush and rhythmic piano pop. It’s organic and melancholy, and tells a very human story about snakebit would-be lovers who can’t come together and yet can’t quite find their way out of each other’s orbit. It’s built for sepia-tinged sunlight and dry scattered leaves. Look again, and you see his alter-ego, 88Bit, who orchestrates the mechanical soundtracks of throwback video games for piano. The music from Let Go seems as far as you can get from the three-channel ditties on your average NES system. But keep listening, and you’ll hear how they blend together, how they merge in Kovac’s particular style. We discussed both sides of Kovac in this conversation on a particularly nice day in his hometown of Cleveland – you can even hear the birds chirping in the background through his open window.  You can find his work at the places he just mentioned, but in case you missed them, his website is <a href="http://www.obkovcsmusic.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.obkovcsmusic.com</a>, and you can find him on Twitter and Instagram at @robkovacsmusic. You can find 88Bit at <a href="http://www.88bitmusic.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.88bitmusic.com</a> and on Twitter and Instagram at @88bitmusic. Follow him there for tour and new release info.

S2EP4 - Musician Rob Kovacs

Paul Tremblay

Last spring, I read a Tweet from author Paul Tremblay apologizing for his upcoming horror novel, Survivor Song. When he had turned in his final edits for the book months before, he could not have known how prescient it would seem, especially to his friends in the New England horror writing community. Survivor Song is set in Boston in the opening stages of an epidemic. A virus is spreading, hospitals are overwhelmed, the government is providing an inadequate response. I won’t go into too much detail here since I read the Tweet into the record later, but he even mentioned a lack of PPE. That is where we begin the conversation, which also covers the reissues of his early comic noir novels about a narcoleptic private investigator, The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland.   His new novel Survivor Song is out in paperback in July, and The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland are out now wherever you get good books. His website is www.paultremblay.net, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @paulgtramblay

Last spring, I read a Tweet from author Paul Tremblay apologizing for his upcoming horror novel, Survivor Song. When he had turned in his final edits for the book months before, he could not have known how prescient it would seem, especially to his friends in the New England horror writing community. Survivor Song is set in Boston in the opening stages of an epidemic. A virus is spreading, hospitals are overwhelmed, the government is providing an inadequate response. I won’t go into too much detail here since I read the Tweet into the record later, but he even mentioned a lack of PPE. That is where we begin the conversation, which also covers the reissues of his early comic noir novels about a narcoleptic private investigator, The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland.   His new novel Survivor Song is out in paperback in July, and The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland are out now wherever you get good books. His website is <a href="http://www.paultremblay.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.paultremblay.net</a>, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @paulgtramblay

S2EP3 - Author Paul Tremblay

Jenee Halstead

Being an artist often means you spend your life looking for a place that feels right, finding it, and then leaving it as quickly as you can. Creative fulfilment as Brigadoon. In 2021, Jenee Halstead released Disposable Love, an album that sounds in many ways like the one she was always meant to make. With producer Dave Brophy and collaborators like Susan Cattaneo, Halstead has crafted an elegant pop album with a sonic palette that spans from her earlier acoustic sound to horn-driven R&amp;B to something more ethereal. She took some chances to do something different, part of which was allowing herself to sing happier pop songs, which she says can feel even more vulnerable than some of the more folky confessional songs she has written in the past. But then, she’s always kept moving. She recently found new context in her writing after an Ayahuasca ceremony, and she’s looking forward to incorporating chants into her next project. That is all covered in this conversation about the arc of her career and the sound of Disposable Love.  You can find her music on Apple and Google and Spotify and all the usual places. To keep track of the new stuff you can go to www.jeneehalstead.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram under @jeneehalstead. The new album is Disposable Love, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Being an artist often means you spend your life looking for a place that feels right, finding it, and then leaving it as quickly as you can. Creative fulfilment as Brigadoon. In 2021, Jenee Halstead released Disposable Love, an album that sounds in many ways like the one she was always meant to make. With producer Dave Brophy and collaborators like Susan Cattaneo, Halstead has crafted an elegant pop album with a sonic palette that spans from her earlier acoustic sound to horn-driven R&amp;B to something more ethereal. She took some chances to do something different, part of which was allowing herself to sing happier pop songs, which she says can feel even more vulnerable than some of the more folky confessional songs she has written in the past. But then, she’s always kept moving. She recently found new context in her writing after an Ayahuasca ceremony, and she’s looking forward to incorporating chants into her next project. That is all covered in this conversation about the arc of her career and the sound of Disposable Love.  You can find her music on Apple and Google and Spotify and all the usual places. To keep track of the new stuff you can go to <a href="http://www.jeneehalstead.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.jeneehalstead.com</a> and find her on Twitter and Instagram under @jeneehalstead. The new album is Disposable Love, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

S2EP2 - Musician Jenee Halstead

Josh Johnson

I first spoke to Johnson in 2019 for The Boston Globe, and back then he was already an established headlining comic with a distinct voice. He is a smart joke writer at ease with his own vulnerability, and those are qualities that are only enhanced as he gets bolder as an artist. Most of this episode is centered around Elusive: A Mixtape, his album-length exploration of comedy and music. Johnson isn’t a singer or a musician, but he had an idea that he wanted to put stand-up and music together, so he called some musician friends and made an album that is at turns silly and thoughtful, with live comedy punctuated by music recorded in a studio. It also couldn’t have been easy writing for the Daily Show in a year when it felt like the world was ending, and Johnson shares how working with Trevor Noah has helped him both as a writer and a person. I should note that Johnson’s new one-hour Comedy Central special, Trevor Noah Presents Josh Johnson: #, was released after out conversation. But there was plenty to talk about concerning Elusive, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more from Johnson sooner rather than later. The new album is Elusive: A Mixtape, which you can find on Apple Music and Spotify and wherever you get your music. The new special, #, is on Comedy Central now. You can also see The Daily Show on Comedy Central. His website is www.joshjohnsoncomedy.com, and you can also find him on IG at @joshjohnsoncomedy and Twitter at @joshjohnson.

I first spoke to Johnson in 2019 for The Boston Globe, and back then he was already an established headlining comic with a distinct voice. He is a smart joke writer at ease with his own vulnerability, and those are qualities that are only enhanced as he gets bolder as an artist. Most of this episode is centered around Elusive: A Mixtape, his album-length exploration of comedy and music. Johnson isn’t a singer or a musician, but he had an idea that he wanted to put stand-up and music together, so he called some musician friends and made an album that is at turns silly and thoughtful, with live comedy punctuated by music recorded in a studio. It also couldn’t have been easy writing for the Daily Show in a year when it felt like the world was ending, and Johnson shares how working with Trevor Noah has helped him both as a writer and a person. I should note that Johnson’s new one-hour Comedy Central special, Trevor Noah Presents Josh Johnson: #, was released after out conversation. But there was plenty to talk about concerning Elusive, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more from Johnson sooner rather than later. The new album is Elusive: A Mixtape, which you can find on Apple Music and Spotify and wherever you get your music. The new special, #, is on Comedy Central now. You can also see The Daily Show on Comedy Central. His website is <a href="http://www.joshjohnsoncomedy.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.joshjohnsoncomedy.com</a>, and you can also find him on IG at @joshjohnsoncomedy and Twitter at @joshjohnson.

S2EP1 - Comedian and Daily Show Writer Josh Johnson

Season Two of the Department of Tangents Podcast coming Tuesday June 29! Six episodes, guests are comedians Josh Johnson and Jon Rineman, Stay Scary Podcast hosts Lisa and Yinh, author Paul Tremblay, and musicians Jenee Halstead and Rob Kovac!  New format! Tune in!

Season Two of the Department of Tangents Podcast coming Tuesday June 29! Six episodes, guests are comedians Josh Johnson and Jon Rineman, Stay Scary Podcast hosts Lisa and Yinh, author Paul Tremblay, and musicians Jenee Halstead and Rob Kovac!  New format! Tune in!

The Department of Tangents Podcast: A Brief (Re)Introduction

Bethany Van Delft

This week I speak with Bethany Van Delft, a comedian and storyteller and so much more. Bethany hosts Artisanal Comedy every Wednesday on her Instagram, and she’s got a lot brewing she can’t quite mention yet. She adapted her show to the online comedy world very quickly, partly because she’s not willing to just give up comedy when real world stages are not available. We also talked about taking care of a family under quarantine and taking some time to pause as creative people to prevent burnout. The last part of the conversation revolves mostly around the Black Lives Matter protests, how social media has focused people’s attention in quarantine because they don’t have the usual distractions to move on to, and why this moment in history feels different from other flashpoints. It is always  a joy to speak with Bethany, and we frequently go over time, but I managed to stop us twenty-seven minutes into what was supposed to be a twenty-minute conversation. So thanks to Bethany for the extra seven minutes!

This week I speak with Bethany Van Delft, a comedian and storyteller and so much more. Bethany hosts <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bethanyvandelft/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Artisanal Comedy every Wednesday on her Instagram</a>, and she’s got a lot brewing she can’t quite mention yet. She adapted her show to the online comedy world very quickly, partly because she’s not willing to just give up comedy when real world stages are not available. We also talked about taking care of a family under quarantine and taking some time to pause as creative people to prevent burnout. The last part of the conversation revolves mostly around the Black Lives Matter protests, how social media has focused people’s attention in quarantine because they don’t have the usual distractions to move on to, and why this moment in history feels different from other flashpoints. It is always  a joy to speak with Bethany, and we frequently go over time, but I managed to stop us twenty-seven minutes into what was supposed to be a twenty-minute conversation. So thanks to Bethany for the extra seven minutes!

The Artist Check-In EP8: Bethany Van Delft - Comedian, Storyteller 

Welcome back to the Department of Tangents Podcast, a special new episode with Paul Hansen of The Grownup Noise. You may have noticed I haven’t done an official episode of the Department of Tangents in several months. More recently, I’ve been doing the Artist Check-In Podcast which focuses on how creative people are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. That series has a very particular focus, and this episode didn’t quite fit that. Paul and I have been friends for nearly 30 years. I was the drummer in one of his first bands when he was in high school, and it has been amazing to see where he has gone since we were playing Aerosmith, Joe Walsh, and Eric Clapton covers at high school dances. Paul is the songwriter at the center of The Grownup Noise, a beloved and hard to characterize indie rock outfit in Boston. Over the years, the band line-up has changed, but Paul has always been out front with his guitar and voice. This week, on June fifth, Paul is putting out a new Grownup Noise with a very new sound. The music was mostly constructed on an analogue synth, rather than Paul’s guitar. If you’re a fan, you’ll notice the difference in sound immediately. But you may also notice that, while Paul is challenging himself as a songwriter, this is still very much a Grownup Noise album.   In this conversation, we cover writing and recording the new album, working with a new instrument, the decision to keep using the Grownup Noise name, and some of our own history. Much of this is focused on the music, but this is very much a conversation between old friends who know each other well. Which means the very first thing you hear is Paul asking me about my own process for writing fiction. I debated cutting the stuff where Paul asked me about my own work, but I think that also shows Paul’s generosity and curiosity as an artist and a human being.   You will hear three songs from the album sprinkled through the conversation. You can look for the full thing Friday, June 5th on BandCamp, and look for more info on www.thegrownupnoise.com and search for The Grownup Noise on all your social media.

Welcome back to the Department of Tangents Podcast, a special new episode with Paul Hansen of The Grownup Noise. You may have noticed I haven’t done an official episode of the Department of Tangents in several months. More recently, I’ve been doing the Artist Check-In Podcast which focuses on how creative people are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. That series has a very particular focus, and this episode didn’t quite fit that. Paul and I have been friends for nearly 30 years. I was the drummer in one of his first bands when he was in high school, and it has been amazing to see where he has gone since we were playing Aerosmith, Joe Walsh, and Eric Clapton covers at high school dances. Paul is the songwriter at the center of The Grownup Noise, a beloved and hard to characterize indie rock outfit in Boston. Over the years, the band line-up has changed, but Paul has always been out front with his guitar and voice. This week, on June fifth, Paul is putting out a new Grownup Noise with a very new sound. The music was mostly constructed on an analogue synth, rather than Paul’s guitar. If you’re a fan, you’ll notice the difference in sound immediately. But you may also notice that, while Paul is challenging himself as a songwriter, this is still very much a Grownup Noise album. In this conversation, we cover writing and recording the new album, working with a new instrument, the decision to keep using the Grownup Noise name, and some of our own history. Much of this is focused on the music, but this is very much a conversation between old friends who know each other well. Which means the very first thing you hear is Paul asking me about my own process for writing fiction. I debated cutting the stuff where Paul asked me about my own work, but I think that also shows Paul’s generosity and curiosity as an artist and a human being. You will hear three songs from the album sprinkled through the conversation. You can look for the full thing Friday, June 5th on BandCamp, and look for more info on <a href="http://www.thegrownupnoise.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.thegrownupnoise.com</a> and search for The Grownup Noise on all your social media.

The DoT EP112: Paul Hansen of The Grownup Noise On New Music, New Instruments, and Some Personal History

Gregory Bastianelli

This week I speak with horror author and storyteller Gregory Bastianelli. Gregory released his  winter-themed horror novel  Snowball at the end of January. He had planned a full slate of appearances and conferences to promote the book, and all but a couple of these wound up being cancelled because of a COVID-19 quarantine. That has left him without a direct line to fans, something that an independent author counts on to sell books. We’ll talk about that, writing habits under quarantine, and the miserable New England winters that inspired him to write Snowball.

This week I speak with horror author and storyteller <a href="https://www.gregorybastianelli.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gregory Bastianelli</a>. Gregory released his <a href="https://www.flametreepublishing.com/Snowball-ISBN-9781787583481.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> winter-themed horror novel</a> <a href="https://www.flametreepublishing.com/Snowball-ISBN-9781787583481.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Snowball</a> at the end of January. He had planned a full slate of appearances and conferences to promote the book, and all but a couple of these wound up being cancelled because of a COVID-19 quarantine. That has left him without a direct line to fans, something that an independent author counts on to sell books. We’ll talk about that, writing habits under quarantine, and the miserable New England winters that inspired him to write Snowball.

The Artist Check-In Podcast EP7 – Gregory Bastianelli: Horror Author, Storyteller

Longtime journalist Nick Zaino interviews the people who create what he loves -- comedy, horror, and music on this weekly podcast. Plus a featured song or comedy routine on every episode! Visit the blog at www.departmentoftangents.com

Unlike most straight-to-the-point interview shows, Department of Tangents gives you laid-back conversations with talented people, that (as the name suggests) can go just about anywhere. Feels less like you&#39;re listening to a celebrity plug their latest work, and more like you&#39;re listening to two friends hanging out shooting the breeze. Zaino does a terrific job of putting his subjects at ease and simply letting them hold forth. I also like how the show alternates between long and short episodes. Sometimes I just want a quick fix!

Terrific conversations

Nick is a great interviewer who shows a genuine interest in his subjects. He comes prepared to turn the interview into a fun, frank, and insightful conversation. A great start to a new podcast that mixes somewhat obscure but interesting guests with more recognizable names. Looking forward to upcoming shows.

Great start

Longtime journalist Nick Zaino interviews the people who create what he loves -- comedy, horror, and music on this weekly podcast. Plus a featured song or comedy routine on every episode! Visit the blog at <a href="http://www.departmentoftangents.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.departmentoftangents.com</a>

The Department of Tangents Podcast

Lou Gramm

I know I have said this podcast is on hiatus for the year, and technically, it is. I’m developing new ideas, both for the Department of Tangents Podcast and some new podcast projects. But, this interview came through after I had made that decision, and it has a bit of a special meaning for me as I get ready to head back to home to Bloomfield, New York for the holidays. Bloomfield is just outside of Rochester, one of the most hardcore classic rock cities in the nation. Foreigner was a staple on local radio there when I was a young fellow, at least in part because Gramm is from there. And, as I found out in this interview, Gramm still lives there with his family. The occasion for the interview is the release of a new Foreigner live album, Double Vision: Then &amp; Now, a CD and DVD combo that includes the current line-up of the band plus a reunion of original members Gramm, Mick Jones, Al Greenwood, Dennis Elliott, Ian McDonald, and Rick Wills. The album was released November 15, and I hope you can head out to a local brick and mortar record store to pick it up. If you’re in Rochester, you can try the Record Archive, Bop Shop, or House of Guitars. I just might see you there. Gramm was supposed to join the band again for some dates, but had to bow out due to illness. He’s fully mended now and hopes to get another chance to do that in 2020. He’s also got some new music of his own, which he says harkens back to his days in Black Sheep, his band before Foreigner. We talked about what it felt like to be onstage with the original members and the current members of the band, and I get to debunk at least one story told to me by a schoolmate from high school about meeting Gramm on the Canandaigua Pier years ago. Watching the video footage of the show, I was surprised how many of the songs I could sing along with, how many I remember hearing on my old stereo in my room on WCMF, which broadcast from Rochester. And I surprised myself in the interview by how much of a fanboy I became. I was not expecting that reaction from myself. Apparently, though, I’m not alone. Gramm says he gets people telling him stories about how Foreigner’s music fit into their lives through the years. I thank him for his patience. 

I know I have said this podcast is on hiatus for the year, and technically, it is. I’m developing new ideas, both for the Department of Tangents Podcast and some new podcast projects. But, this interview came through after I had made that decision, and it has a bit of a special meaning for me as I get ready to head back to home to Bloomfield, New York for the holidays. Bloomfield is just outside of Rochester, one of the most hardcore classic rock cities in the nation. Foreigner was a staple on local radio there when I was a young fellow, at least in part because Gramm is from there. And, as I found out in this interview, Gramm still lives there with his family. The occasion for the interview is the release of a new Foreigner live album, Double Vision: Then &amp; Now, a CD and DVD combo that includes the current line-up of the band plus a reunion of original members Gramm, Mick Jones, Al Greenwood, Dennis Elliott, Ian McDonald, and Rick Wills. The album was released November 15, and I hope you can head out to a local brick and mortar record store to pick it up. If you’re in Rochester, you can try the Record Archive, Bop Shop, or House of Guitars. I just might see you there. Gramm was supposed to join the band again for some dates, but had to bow out due to illness. He’s fully mended now and hopes to get another chance to do that in 2020. He’s also got some new music of his own, which he says harkens back to his days in Black Sheep, his band before Foreigner. We talked about what it felt like to be onstage with the original members and the current members of the band, and I get to debunk at least one story told to me by a schoolmate from high school about meeting Gramm on the Canandaigua Pier years ago. Watching the video footage of the show, I was surprised how many of the songs I could sing along with, how many I remember hearing on my old stereo in my room on WCMF, which broadcast from Rochester. And I surprised myself in the interview by how much of a fanboy I became. I was not expecting that reaction from myself. Apparently, though, I’m not alone. Gramm says he gets people telling him stories about how Foreigner’s music fit into their lives through the years. I thank him for his patience.

DoT Minicast Lou Gramm on the Foreigner Reunion, New Music, and Living In Rochester

Carole Montgomery

Andrea Henry

Christine Hurley

Carole Montgomery is 61, and she won’t hesitate to mention her age onstage. That is somewhat unusual in an industry obsessed with youth. But Montgomery is proud of her age. She has been doing comedy for roughly forty years, slugging it out in the clubs and balancing stand-up and family. She told Forbes online she once had to leave her baby son with a bouncer while she did her set, and found the bouncer rocking him in his car seat afterwards, afraid to pick him up to comfort him. That’s part of the experience of the comedians on the Funny Women of a Certain Age tour Montgomery has been producing for the past couple of years, which led to a Showtime special of the same name with Montgomery, Fran Drescher, Vanessa Hollingshead, Kerri Louis, Lynne Koplitz, and Luenell that premiered in March. I sat down with her when she came to Laugh Boston for a local edition of the tour, along with Boston comedians Christine Hurley and Andrea Henry. Christine Hurley has played the Comics Come Home benefit at the TD Garden with local luminaries like Lenny Clarke, with whom she frequently shares a bill, and Denis Leary. Andrea Henry was on Nickelodeon’s Search For America’s Funniest Mom, co-wrote the book Real Kids Jokes By Real Stand-up Comics with Myq Kaplan, and writes short films. Part of what makes this show so funny is the fact that, while all the comedians might have some shared experiences, their perspectives are all different. You’ll get a taste of that in the following interview, taped in the Green Room of Laugh Boston after the show. You can find the Funny Women of a Certain Age special on Showtime and find out more about the tour on Twitter under @woacacomedy and on the tour’s webpage at funnywomenofacertainage.com. You can find Montgomery at carolemontgomery.com and on Twitter under @nationalmom, Hurley at christinehurleycomedy.com and on Twitter under @churleycomedy, and find Andrea Henry at andreahenrycomedy.weebly.com. Our featured track this week comes from Lucette, and it’s the title track from her latest album, Deluxe Hotel Room, which is available wherever you can get good music as of May 17. I first got the chance to see Lucette when she was opening up for Alejandro Escovedo in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at The Music Hall’s more intimate blackbox room. She played an exquisite solo set on piano supporting her 2014 debut album, Black Is the Color, which was produced by Dave Cobb. I’ve been looking forward to her follow-up ever since. It turns out the past four years have been a fairly dark period in her life, and that’s what the album is about. She mentions on Facebook that this track is a bit of a Rosetta Stone for the rest of the songs. “The title track itself pretty much encapsulates it all,” she writes, “it explains the past 4 or so years for me, and explains a lot of where the other songs came from.” She wrote it in Toronto, where she was put up for a gig in a hotel room she couldn’t have afforded on her own, with a “massive deposit” on her credit card. She started humming, and then writing that song in that hotel room about how the experience made her feel small. Sturgill Simpson produced, and you can hear Lucette expanding her palette of sounds. You can hear the full album on Spotify, or find out more about it and Lucette’s upcoming tour dates on lucettemusic.net.

Carole Montgomery is 61, and she won’t hesitate to mention her age onstage. That is somewhat unusual in an industry obsessed with youth. But Montgomery is proud of her age. She has been doing comedy for roughly forty years, slugging it out in the clubs and balancing stand-up and family. She <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerylbrunner/2019/03/17/women-of-a-certain-age-star-in-a-showtime-comedy-special/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">told Forbes online</a> she once had to leave her baby son with a bouncer while she did her set, and found the bouncer rocking him in his car seat afterwards, afraid to pick him up to comfort him. That’s part of the experience of the comedians on the Funny Women of a Certain Age tour Montgomery has been producing for the past couple of years, which led to a Showtime special of the same name with Montgomery, Fran Drescher, Vanessa Hollingshead, Kerri Louis, Lynne Koplitz, and Luenell that premiered in March. I sat down with her when she came to Laugh Boston for a local edition of the tour, along with Boston comedians Christine Hurley and Andrea Henry. Christine Hurley has played the Comics Come Home benefit at the TD Garden with local luminaries like Lenny Clarke, with whom she frequently shares a bill, and Denis Leary. Andrea Henry was on Nickelodeon’s Search For America’s Funniest Mom, co-wrote the book Real Kids Jokes By Real Stand-up Comics with <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2018/07/20/dot-ep66-comedian-myq-kaplan-plus-new-music-from-the-rails/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Myq Kaplan</a>, and writes short films. Part of what makes this show so funny is the fact that, while all the comedians might have some shared experiences, their perspectives are all different. You’ll get a taste of that in the following interview, taped in the Green Room of Laugh Boston after the show. You can find the Funny Women of a Certain Age special on Showtime and find out more about the tour on Twitter under <a href="https://twitter.com/woacacomedy" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@woacacomedy</a> and on the tour’s webpage at <a href="http://www.womenofacertainagecomedy.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">funnywomenofacertainage.com</a>. You can find Montgomery at <a href="http://www.carolemontgomery.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">carolemontgomery.com</a> and on Twitter under <a href="https://twitter.com/nationalmom" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@nationalmom</a>, Hurley at <a href="http://christinehurleycomedy.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">christinehurleycomedy.com</a> and on Twitter under <a href="https://twitter.com/churleycomedy?lang=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@churleycomedy</a>, and find Andrea Henry at <a href="https://andreahenrycomedy.weebly.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">andreahenrycomedy.weebly.com</a>. Our featured track this week comes from Lucette, and it’s the title track from her latest album, Deluxe Hotel Room, which is available wherever you can get good music as of May 17. I first got the chance to see Lucette when she was opening up for <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2016/11/30/dot-podcast-ep16-alejandro-escovedo-burns-something-beautiful/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Alejandro Escovedo</a> in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at The Music Hall’s more intimate blackbox room. She played an exquisite solo set on piano supporting her 2014 debut album, Black Is the Color, which was produced by <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2016/04/01/department-of-tangents-podcast-ep-3-producer-dave-cobb-music-from-morgane-stapleton-with-chris-stapleton/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Dave Cobb</a>. I’ve been looking forward to her follow-up ever since. It turns out the past four years have been a fairly dark period in her life, and that’s what the album is about. She mentions on Facebook that this track is a bit of a Rosetta Stone for the rest of the songs. “The title track itself pretty much encapsulates it all,” she writes, “it explains the past 4 or so years for me, and explains a lot of where the other songs came from.” She wrote it in Toronto, where she was put up for a gig in a hotel room she couldn’t have afforded on her own, with a “massive deposit” on her credit card. She started humming, and then writing that song in that hotel room about how the experience made her feel small. <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2016/04/15/new-release-roundup-4152016/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Sturgill Simpson</a> produced, and you can hear Lucette expanding her palette of sounds. You can hear the full album on Spotify, or <a href="http://www.lucettemusic.net/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find out more about it and Lucette’s upcoming tour dates on lucettemusic.net</a>.

DoT EP90: Funny Women of a Certain Age with Carole Montgomery, Andrea Henry, and Christine Hurley, Plus New Music from Lucette

Bernard Fowler

Nathan Ballingrud

Nathan Ballingrud has a wonderfully demented imagination. He has a way of reaching into your brain and finding all of those creepy little corners where you hide the things that make you cringe and make your skin crawl. In his first collection of stories, North American Lake Monsters, there was a bit more realism in his stories and characters. Hulu has optioned that, and will start shooting an anthology series this summer. In Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, he goes for broke, to the point where he was worried he might be going over the top. Not worried enough, though, to pull anything back. In “Atlas of Hell,” a decapitated skull allows a mob lackey fetch demons and objects from the underworld. In “The Diabolist,” a young girl is left alone in her scientist father’s mansion when he dies with an imp trapped in a tank, and starts to fight back against the town that has always ostracized her. In “Skullpocket,” flesh-eating ghouls sponsor a deadly fair for children. In “The Visible Filth,” which is now a film called Wounds on the festival circuit starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, and Zazie Beets, a bartender in a New Orleans dive fights his own jealousy and a mysterious stranger who contacts him through a phone left behind at the bar after a fight. Nightmare creatures attack a town and flay its inhabitants to make giant, singing skin structures in “”The Maw,” and pirates take, quite literally, a journey to the shores of Hell in “The Butcher’s Table.” I talked to Ballingrud about his inspiration for these stories, which included Stephen King and Mike Mignola, how they’re all connected, the new film, and more. He finds all of this creepiness quite fun, which is good for us, because he’s got more stories on the way, and a full-length book he’s working on to release in 2021, which he says is set on Mars in 1930. You can find out more about his work on nathanballingrud.com and find him on Twitter under @NBallingrud. Our featured track this week is a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” from their longtime backup singer Bernard Fowler. This is a spoken-word version of the song, as are all of the Stones covers on the new album, Inside Out. Fowler has been singing with the Stones for more than three decades now, and had the idea that he could put the lyrics up front by covering the songs in this style. He started doing it at soundchecks on tour with the Stones, and told Mick Jagger at one point he planned to cut an album. Jagger apparently gave his blessing, and the album was born. Fowler is getting ready for the new Stones tour now, and I caught him before a rehearsal to talk about his album and his history with not only the Stones, but Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, and more. Tune in next week for that. If you want to check out more of his work, you can find it on Spotify and check out his site at bernardfowler.com.

Nathan Ballingrud has a wonderfully demented imagination. He has a way of reaching into your brain and finding all of those creepy little corners where you hide the things that make you cringe and make your skin crawl. In his first collection of stories, North American Lake Monsters, there was a bit more realism in his stories and characters. Hulu has optioned that, and will start shooting an anthology series this summer. In Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, he goes for broke, to the point where he was worried he might be going over the top. Not worried enough, though, to pull anything back. In “Atlas of Hell,” a decapitated skull allows a mob lackey fetch demons and objects from the underworld. In “The Diabolist,” a young girl is left alone in her scientist father’s mansion when he dies with an imp trapped in a tank, and starts to fight back against the town that has always ostracized her. In “Skullpocket,” flesh-eating ghouls sponsor a deadly fair for children. In “The Visible Filth,” which is now a film called Wounds on the festival circuit starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson, and Zazie Beets, a bartender in a New Orleans dive fights his own jealousy and a mysterious stranger who contacts him through a phone left behind at the bar after a fight. Nightmare creatures attack a town and flay its inhabitants to make giant, singing skin structures in “”The Maw,” and pirates take, quite literally, a journey to the shores of Hell in “The Butcher’s Table.” I talked to Ballingrud about his inspiration for these stories, which included Stephen King and Mike Mignola, how they’re all connected, the new film, and more. He finds all of this creepiness quite fun, which is good for us, because he’s got more stories on the way, and a full-length book he’s working on to release in 2021, which he says is set on Mars in 1930. You can find out more about his work on <a href="https://nathanballingrud.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">nathanballingrud.com</a> and find him on Twitter under <a href="https://twitter.com/nballingrud?lang=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@NBallingrud</a>. Our featured track this week is a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” from their longtime backup singer Bernard Fowler. This is a spoken-word version of the song, as are all of the Stones covers on the new album, Inside Out. Fowler has been singing with the Stones for more than three decades now, and had the idea that he could put the lyrics up front by covering the songs in this style. He started doing it at soundchecks on tour with the Stones, and told Mick Jagger at one point he planned to cut an album. Jagger apparently gave his blessing, and the album was born. Fowler is getting ready for the new Stones tour now, and I caught him before a rehearsal to talk about his album and his history with not only the Stones, but Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, and more. Tune in next week for that. If you want to check out more of his work, you can find it on Spotify and check out his site at <a href="http://bernardfowler.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">bernardfowler.com</a>.

DoT EP93: Horror Author Nathan Ballingrud On His Creepy Fun Collection "Wounds," plus New Music from Bernard Fowler

Jim Breuer

Nat Freedberg

If Nat Freedberg’s voice sounds familiar, it may be because you’ve heard him on this podcast way back on EP32, when I interviewed his band, The Upper Crust. Of course, back then, he wasn’t speaking as Nat, he was speaking as his character, Lord Bendover, the snarling 18th century aristocrat in a powdered wig and finery that wielded his Gibson SG like a rocque n’ roll weapon. That band got some national exposure on the late night talk show circuit, opened for Tenacious D, and, as Nat mentions here, nearly had their own reality show. Freedberg was somewhat relieved when that didn’t work out, and he’s very happy to talk as himself here, avoiding the pressure of having to improvise as a character that was a lot more fun to play onstage than off. Unfortunately, The Upper Crust is no longer a going concern, on a kind of permanent hiatus. The good news is, that means we get Freedberg’s first solo album after almost forty years rocking in bands like the Satanics and the Titanics in the Boston scene. And it’s worth the wait. The adjective that pops up most in reviews of Freedberg’s Better Late Than Never is “tasty,” and that’s well deserved. It’s still a rock album, but one with a lighter touch. Guitar drenched in rich tremolo weaves around electric piano on the opening track, “Devil Rockin’ Man.” There’s a more earnest, occasionally optimistic tone that Lord Bendover would never cop to on songs like “Only Takes A Minute,” “If That’s the Way You Want It,” and last week’s featured track, “Something Good About Love.” The biggest thing that doesn’t change is those sweet, sweet riffs. Freedberg is skilled at filling the spaces between phrases with melodies and lines that really connect all the pieces and keep you humming long after the music stops. The album almost didn’t happen when Freedberg suffered nerve damage and wasn’t sure he’d be able to play again. He recovered with a new dedication to get these songs out into the world, and he’s already working on the follow-up album. You can find more about the new album on Rum Bar Records’ BandCamp site, and find more of Freedberg’s stuff on his BandCamp site, and find more about The Upper Crust at www.theuppercrust.org. This week’s featured track is “Colonoscopy Pt. 1” from Jim Breuer’s new album, Live From Portland. I caught Breuer at last year’s Comics Come Home benefit in Boston where he did an inspiring riff on life and death. Things got complicated over the holidays, but I finally caught up to speak with Breuer for a minicast that will be out next week about love and mortality, two themes which figure heavily on the new album. You get the tiniest of hints of that in this track. Colonoscopies are necessary, yes, but not fun. Unfortunately, I speak from experience on that account, but we’ll leave that topic be so you can enjoy this instead.

If Nat Freedberg’s voice sounds familiar, it may be because you’ve heard him on this podcast way back on <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2017/06/09/dot-podcast-ep32-frippery-and-foppery-with-the-upper-crust-aunty-donna-invades-america-and-comedy-from-ali-wong/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">EP32, when I interviewed his band, The Upper Crust</a>. Of course, back then, he wasn’t speaking as Nat, he was speaking as his character, Lord Bendover, the snarling 18th century aristocrat in a powdered wig and finery that wielded his Gibson SG like a rocque n’ roll weapon. That band got some national exposure on the late night talk show circuit, opened for Tenacious D, and, as Nat mentions here, nearly had their own reality show. Freedberg was somewhat relieved when that didn’t work out, and he’s very happy to talk as himself here, avoiding the pressure of having to improvise as a character that was a lot more fun to play onstage than off. Unfortunately, The Upper Crust is no longer a going concern, on a kind of permanent hiatus. The good news is, that means we get Freedberg’s first solo album after almost forty years rocking in bands like the Satanics and the Titanics in the Boston scene. And it’s worth the wait. The adjective that pops up most in reviews of Freedberg’s Better Late Than Never is “tasty,” and that’s well deserved. It’s still a rock album, but one with a lighter touch. Guitar drenched in rich tremolo weaves around electric piano on the opening track, “Devil Rockin’ Man.” There’s a more earnest, occasionally optimistic tone that Lord Bendover would never cop to on songs like “Only Takes A Minute,” “If That’s the Way You Want It,” and last week’s featured track, “Something Good About Love.” The biggest thing that doesn’t change is those sweet, sweet riffs. Freedberg is skilled at filling the spaces between phrases with melodies and lines that really connect all the pieces and keep you humming long after the music stops. The album almost didn’t happen when Freedberg suffered nerve damage and wasn’t sure he’d be able to play again. He recovered with a new dedication to get these songs out into the world, and he’s already working on the follow-up album. You can find more about the new album on <a href="https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/better-late-than-never" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Rum Bar Records’ BandCamp site</a>, and find more of <a href="https://natfreedberg.bandcamp.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Freedberg’s stuff on his BandCamp site</a>, and find more about The Upper Crust at <a href="https://www.theuppercrust.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.theuppercrust.org</a>. This week’s featured track is “Colonoscopy Pt. 1” from <a href="https://officialjimbreuer.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Jim Breuer</a>’s new album, Live From Portland. I caught Breuer at last year’s Comics Come Home benefit in Boston where he did an inspiring riff on life and death. Things got complicated over the holidays, but I finally caught up to speak with Breuer for a minicast that will be out next week about love and mortality, two themes which figure heavily on the new album. You get the tiniest of hints of that in this track. Colonoscopies are necessary, yes, but not fun. Unfortunately, I speak from experience on that account, but we’ll leave that topic be so you can enjoy this instead.

DoT EP87: Nat Freedberg from The Upper Crust to Better Late Than Never, plus New Comedy from Jim Breuer

J. Edwin Buja

This is episode 100 of the podcast, and I thought about doing some sort of compilation of previous interviews, as I’ve done a couple of times in the past, to commemorate that. I decided against that for a couple of reasons. First, I haven’t accomplished everything I want to with this podcast yet, so it’s not time to celebrate. Hopefully, that comes later. Second, I have so many great interviews waiting to be released, I couldn’t see delaying any of them by a week. And third, this week’s interview is representative of one of my goals with the Department of Tangents, which is helping to amplify the good works of independent artists, whether they are musicians, comedians, authors, filmmakers, or work in a visual medium. And J. Edwin Buja fits that goal perfectly. I recorded this at the 2019 NECON conference, the same place I recorded last year’s David Wellington interview. NECON is part horror conference, part summer camp. People get to know each other there, whether they are horror writers, cover artists, publishers, or just fans. J. Edwin Buja has been a regular at NECON for years, but this year, things were a little different. Buja has written about technology for a living and released a couple of children’s books, but he has always attended NECON as a fan and friend, not a writer. This July, he released his debut novel, book one of his new series, King of the Wood, and he has a short story in the Wicked Weird collection slated for release in August. King of the Wood created a buzz at NECON, and Buja had a seat at the author’s reception, signing his own newly-printed work. It’s an ambitious horror novel, taking place in a small town that’s about to be best by a religious cult and a malevolent nature spirit. That’s in addition to the troubles planned by a corrupt town official who is trying to create his own little fiefdom. And it all starts when the protagonist, Tom, finds someone tied to a tree outside of his picturesque home on a hill. Not a big deal, usually, since people have been doing that as a prank for years. This time, the victim is dead, and the scene is more gruesome than whimsical. You’ll hear in the conversation everything that went into writing and revising book one, and the plans for book two, as well as Buja’s experience as a first-time novelist at NECON. The new book is King of the Wood, published by Haverhill House Publishing, which you can find at haverhillhouse.com on the Web. Watch this space for future episodes taped at NECON with authors Scott Goudsward and Matt Moore.  TC&amp;I is a reunion of singer/bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers, who released an EP called Great Aspirations in 2017. Their new album, out August 9, is Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre. There are plenty of great XTC songs on the album, but this week’s featured track is one of the new songs from the EP, “Scatter Me.” The song is beautiful, lyrically and musically, a sort of metaphysical consideration of what happens to us after we die and those we leave behind. The CD is called Naked Flames and can be purchased exclusively through the Burning Shed Web site at burningshed.com once it’s available on August 9. Unfortunately, it looks like there are no further plans for the band to record or tour at this time, but based on the quality of this tune, I hope that changes, the sooner the better.

This is episode 100 of the podcast, and I thought about doing some sort of compilation of previous interviews, as I’ve done a couple of times in the past, to commemorate that. I decided against that for a couple of reasons. First, I haven’t accomplished everything I want to with this podcast yet, so it’s not time to celebrate. Hopefully, that comes later. Second, I have so many great interviews waiting to be released, I couldn’t see delaying any of them by a week. And third, this week’s interview is representative of one of my goals with the Department of Tangents, which is helping to amplify the good works of independent artists, whether they are musicians, comedians, authors, filmmakers, or work in a visual medium. And J. Edwin Buja fits that goal perfectly. I recorded this at the 2019 NECON conference, the same place I recorded last year’s David Wellington interview. NECON is part horror conference, part summer camp. People get to know each other there, whether they are horror writers, cover artists, publishers, or just fans. J. Edwin Buja has been a regular at NECON for years, but this year, things were a little different. Buja has written about technology for a living and released a couple of children’s books, but he has always attended NECON as a fan and friend, not a writer. This July, he released his debut novel, book one of his new series, King of the Wood, and he has a short story in the Wicked Weird collection slated for release in August. King of the Wood created a buzz at NECON, and Buja had a seat at the author’s reception, signing his own newly-printed work. It’s an ambitious horror novel, taking place in a small town that’s about to be best by a religious cult and a malevolent nature spirit. That’s in addition to the troubles planned by a corrupt town official who is trying to create his own little fiefdom. And it all starts when the protagonist, Tom, finds someone tied to a tree outside of his picturesque home on a hill. Not a big deal, usually, since people have been doing that as a prank for years. This time, the victim is dead, and the scene is more gruesome than whimsical. You’ll hear in the conversation everything that went into writing and revising book one, and the plans for book two, as well as Buja’s experience as a first-time novelist at NECON. The new book is King of the Wood, published by Haverhill House Publishing, which you can find at <a href="http://www.haverhillhouse.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">haverhillhouse.com</a> on the Web. Watch this space for future episodes taped at NECON with authors Scott Goudsward and Matt Moore. TC&amp;I is a reunion of singer/bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers, who released an EP called Great Aspirations in 2017. Their new album, out August 9, is Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre. There are plenty of great XTC songs on the album, but this week’s featured track is one of the new songs from the EP, “Scatter Me.” The song is beautiful, lyrically and musically, a sort of metaphysical consideration of what happens to us after we die and those we leave behind. The CD is called Naked Flames and can be purchased exclusively through the Burning Shed Web site at <a href="http://burningshed.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">burningshed.com</a> once it’s available on August 9. Unfortunately, it looks like there are no further plans for the band to record or tour at this time, but based on the quality of this tune, I hope that changes, the sooner the better.

DoT EP100: J. Edwin Buja On His Debut Novel, King of the Wood, Plus New Music from TC&I (formerly of XTC)

Jimmy Tingle

Jimmy Tingle is one of the first people I interviewed in the Boston comedy scene years ago. He was hosting and producing a stand-up show on race relations that featured, among others, Patrice O’Neal and Sue Costello. During my twenty years covering this scene, Tingle has always been a community-minded guy, whether it’s been as a theater owner for five years or his Humor for Humanity comedy benefit shows. So it wasn’t a surprise when he declared his candidacy for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in the Democratic primary last year. He eventually lost, but garnered 41.3 percent of the vote as a first-time candidate in the primary. His new show, 20/20 Vision, recounts his campaign, surreal moments like having Matt Damon and Paula Poundstone record robocalls on his behalf, and presents some of his out-of-the-box ideas, like using exercise bikes as a power source or windmills near highways to power traffic lights. Tingle is a political comedian, but he’s never been a fire-breathing, tear-it-all-down satirist. He’s always been optimistic and upbeat. It is no easy feat to look at the divisions in this country and offer optimistic solutions. I sat down with Tingle in the Podcast Kitchen and asked him how he remains so hopeful, the one time I ever saw him get angry in a political discussion, about his early days in the Boston and New York comedy scenes, about the campaign, how recovery inspired his political bid, how he believes in government, his cameo on VEEP, and a lot more. You can find out more about where he’s going to be and what he’s up to at jimmytingle.com  I am very pleased to present you with this week’s featured tracks, excerpts from the audiobook of Nathan Ballingrud’s latest collection, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell. Ballingrud has a remarkable imagination and a delicious vocabulary. Take the subtitle seriously – these are lovingly rendered tales of the horrific. Severed heads with lolling tongues that induce a feeling of violence in anyone around them. Angels who tear apart their hosts to be born into this world. And child-eating ghouls. About that last one. You may have heard rumors about Jonathan Wormcake. About how he and his friends attacked the Cold Water Fair in 1914, what he does up there in that mansion, about how the children are drawn there by ghastly visions. Maybe some of it is true, but Wormcake is dying, and he’d like to set the record straight on a few myths about ghouls and how the Skullpocket Fair came to be before he goes. And that brings us to the beginning of “Skullpocket,” one of the six stories in Wounds. You can find him at nathanballingrud.com or on Twitter under @nallingrud. He’ll be a guest on the podcast next week Audio excerpts courtesy of Simon &amp; Schuster Audio from “Skullpocket”, read by Danny Campbell in the compilation WOUNDS by Nathan Ballingrud. Copyright © 2019 by Nathan Ballingrud. Excerpted by permission of Simon &amp; Schuster, Inc.

Jimmy Tingle is one of the first people I interviewed in the Boston comedy scene years ago. He was hosting and producing a stand-up show on race relations that featured, among others, Patrice O’Neal and Sue Costello. During my twenty years covering this scene, Tingle has always been a community-minded guy, whether it’s been as a theater owner for five years or his Humor for Humanity comedy benefit shows. So it wasn’t a surprise when he declared his candidacy for Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in the Democratic primary last year. He eventually lost, but garnered 41.3 percent of the vote as a first-time candidate in the primary. His new show, 20/20 Vision, recounts his campaign, surreal moments like having Matt Damon and Paula Poundstone record robocalls on his behalf, and presents some of his out-of-the-box ideas, like using exercise bikes as a power source or windmills near highways to power traffic lights. Tingle is a political comedian, but he’s never been a fire-breathing, tear-it-all-down satirist. He’s always been optimistic and upbeat. It is no easy feat to look at the divisions in this country and offer optimistic solutions. I sat down with Tingle in the Podcast Kitchen and asked him how he remains so hopeful, the one time I ever saw him get angry in a political discussion, about his early days in the Boston and New York comedy scenes, about the campaign, how recovery inspired his political bid, how he believes in government, his cameo on VEEP, and a lot more. You can <a href="https://jimmytingle.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find out more about where he’s going to be and what he’s up to at jimmytingle.com </a> I am very pleased to present you with this week’s featured tracks, excerpts from the audiobook of Nathan Ballingrud’s latest collection, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell. Ballingrud has a remarkable imagination and a delicious vocabulary. Take the subtitle seriously – these are lovingly rendered tales of the horrific. Severed heads with lolling tongues that induce a feeling of violence in anyone around them. Angels who tear apart their hosts to be born into this world. And child-eating ghouls. About that last one. You may have heard rumors about Jonathan Wormcake. About how he and his friends attacked the Cold Water Fair in 1914, what he does up there in that mansion, about how the children are drawn there by ghastly visions. Maybe some of it is true, but Wormcake is dying, and he’d like to set the record straight on a few myths about ghouls and how the Skullpocket Fair came to be before he goes. And that brings us to the beginning of “Skullpocket,” one of the six stories in Wounds. You can <a href="https://nathanballingrud.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find him at nathanballingrud.com</a> or on <a href="https://twitter.com/NBallingrud?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter under @nallingrud</a>. He’ll be a guest on the podcast next week Audio excerpts courtesy of Simon &amp; Schuster Audio from “Skullpocket”, read by Danny Campbell in the compilation WOUNDS by Nathan Ballingrud. Copyright © 2019 by Nathan Ballingrud. Excerpted by permission of Simon &amp; Schuster, Inc.

DoT EP92: Satirist Jimmy Tingle On Politics and Optimism, plus Audio Excerpts from Nathan Ballingrud's Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell

Erica Rhodes

Christine Ohlman

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes in this job of talking to notable people, you get kind of a day off. You talk to someone with such a long history, with such a broad view of the world of entertainment, with so many stories, that your presence is barely required. That was the case with Christine Ohlman. I just needed to pitch a topic or two out there and get out of her way Since 1992, Ohlman has been the singer with the Saturday Night Live Band, watching generations of cast members from Adam Sandler up to the current cast with Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon. She’s seen Sinead O’Connor tear up the photo of the pope, Alec Baldwin doing Trump, and everything in between. She can tell you about Paul McCartney and his band playing at rehearsal, dancing with Chris Farley, and all the private jams and cast parties. But SNL alone does not define her. She has shared a stage and/or recorded with just about anyone in the rock and pop world you can think of. She gave a nervous and incredibly polite Eddie Vedder permission to sing next to her backing up Neil Young on the Bob Dylan anniversary show. Elvis Costello, Ian Hunter, Levon Helm, Maceo Parker, George Harrison, Ronnie Spector, Lou Reed, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen. She fronted Big Brother and Holding Company. She was almost in the B-52s. And when she’s not backing up someone else, she’s leading her own band, Rebel Montez, recording and gigging around the country. She’s also a songwriter, with new music in the works after a long recording absence, and that was one of the most interesting parts of our conversation to me. When you’ve seen the inner workings of some of the best songs in the history of American popular music, as a collector and a collaborator, what happens when you sit down to figure out your own sound. You can find out more about her work at christineohlman.net, and you can find her on Twitter under @christineohlman. She’ll be heading into the studio to record the new album this fall, so keep that in mind for 2020. This week’s featured track is “Eggshells” from comedian Erica Rhodes’ new album Sad Lemon. It’s a very tight, well-written set of comedy, and I chose this track because it’s one of the riffs we talked about when she was on the show in episode 91. In this track, she talks about her father and his Multiple Sclerosis, and how they can joke about it, but how audiences sometimes get a bit uptight about it. As I have mentioned once or twice on this show in the past, I have MS myself, and though it hinders me less than it does many others, there is still a bit of anxiety over how it might develop in the future. I’d like to think that if that next attack does finally come, I’d like to be able to have a sense of humor about my predicament the way Rhodes’ father does, and that people would feel safe to mention it. There are a lot of tracks off the new album I could have used, but this one has a bit of a personal edge for me, and I hope you enjoy it, too. You can find out more about Rhodes at ericarhodescomedy.com and on Twitter under @ericarhodes and look for her on the upcoming NBC comedy competition Bring the Funny, which debuts July 9.

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes in this job of talking to notable people, you get kind of a day off. You talk to someone with such a long history, with such a broad view of the world of entertainment, with so many stories, that your presence is barely required. That was the case with Christine Ohlman. I just needed to pitch a topic or two out there and get out of her way Since 1992, Ohlman has been the singer with the Saturday Night Live Band, watching generations of cast members from Adam Sandler up to the current cast with Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon. She’s seen Sinead O’Connor tear up the photo of the pope, Alec Baldwin doing Trump, and everything in between. She can tell you about Paul McCartney and his band playing at rehearsal, dancing with Chris Farley, and all the private jams and cast parties. But SNL alone does not define her. She has shared a stage and/or recorded with just about anyone in the rock and pop world you can think of. She gave a nervous and incredibly polite Eddie Vedder permission to sing next to her backing up Neil Young on the Bob Dylan anniversary show. Elvis Costello, Ian Hunter, Levon Helm, Maceo Parker, George Harrison, Ronnie Spector, Lou Reed, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen. She fronted Big Brother and Holding Company. She was almost in the B-52s. And when she’s not backing up someone else, she’s leading her own band, Rebel Montez, recording and gigging around the country. She’s also a songwriter, with new music in the works after a long recording absence, and that was one of the most interesting parts of our conversation to me. When you’ve seen the inner workings of some of the best songs in the history of American popular music, as a collector and a collaborator, what happens when you sit down to figure out your own sound. You can find out more about her work at <a href="https://www.christineohlman.net/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">christineohlman.net</a>, and you can find her on <a href="https://twitter.com/ChristineOhlman" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter under @christineohlman</a>. She’ll be heading into the studio to record the new album this fall, so keep that in mind for 2020. This week’s featured track is “Eggshells” from comedian Erica Rhodes’ new album Sad Lemon. It’s a very tight, well-written set of comedy, and I chose this track because it’s one of the riffs we talked about <a href="https://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2019/05/29/dot-ep91-comedian-erica-rhodes-on-art-discipline-and-her-new-album-sad-lemon-plus-new-music-from-cate-le-bon/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">when she was on the show in episode 91</a>. In this track, she talks about her father and his Multiple Sclerosis, and how they can joke about it, but how audiences sometimes get a bit uptight about it. As I have mentioned once or twice on this show in the past, I have MS myself, and though it hinders me less than it does many others, there is still a bit of anxiety over how it might develop in the future. I’d like to think that if that next attack does finally come, I’d like to be able to have a sense of humor about my predicament the way Rhodes’ father does, and that people would feel safe to mention it. There are a lot of tracks off the new album I could have used, but this one has a bit of a personal edge for me, and I hope you enjoy it, too. You can find out more about Rhodes at <a href="http://ericarhodescomedy.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">ericarhodescomedy.com</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/ericarhodes" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter under @ericarhodes</a> and look for her on the upcoming NBC comedy competition <a href="https://www.nbc.com/bring-the-funny" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Bring the Funny</a>, which debuts July 9.

DoT EP95: The Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman Talks Rock and Roll, Singing for Saturday Night Live, and Songwriting, plus New Comedy from Erica Rhodes

Rick Jenkins

My day job is talking to artists for different publications, which means I know a lot of people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the quarantine associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this limited series I’ll be talking with comedians, musicians, sound engineers, authors, and creative people about how they are handling this personally and professionally. This week we get the comedy club owner’s perspective from Rick Jenkins, who owns The Comedy Studio in Somerville, a club that has fostered a lot of talent through the years. The Studio had to shut down in March, but eventually started doing regular streaming shows featuring stand-up, variety shows, and interviews. Rick is still showing up to the Studio in his vintage Johnny Carson suits, and we kicked off the conversation talking about masks and trying to keep a normal routine. 

My day job is talking to artists for different publications, which means I know a lot of people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the quarantine associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this limited series I’ll be talking with comedians, musicians, sound engineers, authors, and creative people about how they are handling this personally and professionally. This week we get the comedy club owner’s perspective from Rick Jenkins, who owns The Comedy Studio in Somerville, a club that has fostered a lot of talent through the years. The Studio had to shut down in March, but eventually started doing regular streaming shows featuring stand-up, variety shows, and interviews. Rick is still showing up to the Studio in his vintage Johnny Carson suits, and we kicked off the conversation talking about masks and trying to keep a normal routine.

Artist Check In EP4 Rick Jenkins - Comedy Studio Owner, Comedian

Kate Tempest

Face it. Bernard Fowler has a better job than you. Not only does he release his own solo work, like his new album, Inside Out, he has also toured the world singing with the Rolling Stones for more than thirty years. He first started working with Mick Jagger on his solo album, She’s the Boss, in 1985. Producer Bill Laswell had told Fowler he had a job for him in London, but didn’t tell him with whom until he got in the same room with Jagger. As he tells me, he was more than surprised. But he aced the job, so when the Stones were getting ready to record Steel Wheels, Fowler got the nod to sing in the studio and on tour. He took charge of his part in the recording, going so far as to tell the guys to stop rolling tape so he could make suggestions. He has been firmly ensconced in that world ever since, touring and recording on Stones albums and solo albums, and writing with Ronnie Wood. As he says, he’s watched their children grow up. The new album is a tribute to the Stones done in a spoken-word style, which helps brings out the stories in the lyrics. And it’s not just a greatest hits package. He does “Sympathy For the Devil, which you heard on last week’s episode, but other than that, Fowler takes a deeper dive with cuts like “Dancing With Mr. D,” “Sister Morphine,” and “All the Way Down.” Fowler is happy to report that after his recent heart problems, Jagger is looking pretty spry onstage. And Fowler thinks the Stones are a better band now than they ever have been, and tells me why later in the interview. He says what he’s mainly learned from the band is that if you love what you do, you can do it for a long time, and at a very high level. He also says there are a few songs on the new tour’s set list that might surprise people.  Although it’s obviously a big part of his world, there’s more to Fowler than his work with the Stones. “When I’m not singing for the Rolling Stones,” he says, “in my world, I’m the Mick Jagger.” Over the years, he’s been a part of bands like Tackhead, Nicklebag (that’s “bag,” not “back”), and Little Axe. He’s also done session work on albums by Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, Philip Glass, Duran Duran, Public Image, Ltd., and many others. We even talk about a short stint working with Steven Seagal, which Fowler was not at all happy I brought up, but I do love his reaction to that line of questioning. I spoke to him before a rehearsal with the Stones in London for the new tour, which kicks off this week at Soldier Field in Chicago. You can actually hear him getting his things together to go toward the end, and there are a couple of places where the connection dips a bit, but I hated to lose any of the great stuff Fowler was saying.

Face it. Bernard Fowler has a better job than you. Not only does he release his own solo work, like his new album, Inside Out, he has also toured the world singing with the Rolling Stones for more than thirty years. He first started working with Mick Jagger on his solo album, She’s the Boss, in 1985. Producer Bill Laswell had told Fowler he had a job for him in London, but didn’t tell him with whom until he got in the same room with Jagger. As he tells me, he was more than surprised. But he aced the job, so when the Stones were getting ready to record Steel Wheels, Fowler got the nod to sing in the studio and on tour. He took charge of his part in the recording, going so far as to tell the guys to stop rolling tape so he could make suggestions. He has been firmly ensconced in that world ever since, touring and recording on Stones albums and solo albums, and writing with Ronnie Wood. As he says, he’s watched their children grow up. The new album is a tribute to the Stones done in a spoken-word style, which helps brings out the stories in the lyrics. And it’s not just a greatest hits package. He does “Sympathy For the Devil, which you heard on last week’s episode, but other than that, Fowler takes a deeper dive with cuts like “Dancing With Mr. D,” “Sister Morphine,” and “All the Way Down.” Fowler is happy to report that after his recent heart problems, Jagger is looking pretty spry onstage. And Fowler thinks the Stones are a better band now than they ever have been, and tells me why later in the interview. He says what he’s mainly learned from the band is that if you love what you do, you can do it for a long time, and at a very high level. He also says there are a few songs on the new tour’s set list that might surprise people. Although it’s obviously a big part of his world, there’s more to Fowler than his work with the Stones. “When I’m not singing for the Rolling Stones,” he says, “in my world, I’m the Mick Jagger.” Over the years, he’s been a part of bands like Tackhead, Nicklebag (that’s “bag,” not “back”), and Little Axe. He’s also done session work on albums by Herbie Hancock, Bootsy Collins, Philip Glass, Duran Duran, Public Image, Ltd., and many others. We even talk about a short stint working with Steven Seagal, which Fowler was not at all happy I brought up, but I do love his reaction to that line of questioning. I spoke to him before a rehearsal with the Stones in London for the new tour, which kicks off this week at Soldier Field in Chicago. You can actually hear him getting his things together to go toward the end, and there are a couple of places where the connection dips a bit, but I hated to lose any of the great stuff Fowler was saying.

DoT EP94: Bernard Fowler On Singing Backup with the Rolling Stones and His New Album, plus New Spoken Word from Kate Tempest

Chris Johnson

The Artist Check-In is a limited series of conversations with comedians, musicians,  authors, and creative people about how they are handling, personally and professionally, the quarantine conditions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this episode, I speak with Chris Johnson, a musician and sound engineer, who is responsible for the sound of this show’s theme song. He is also the bass player for Deafheaven, who had to cancel a tour and are trying to figure out how to record a live album when people can’t gather to watch live shows. If you’re a musician trying to record from home, there’s a good discussion about what Chris can do for you remotely and what to think about in setting up a home studio.     To book Chris for mixing and mastering and other associated production duties, you can find him at The Electric Bunker. You can also check out his work as a musician in  Doomriders and  Summoner on BandCamp, and at Deafheaven.com.  

The Artist Check-In is a limited series of conversations with comedians, musicians,  authors, and creative people about how they are handling, personally and professionally, the quarantine conditions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this episode, I speak with Chris Johnson, a musician and sound engineer, who is responsible for the sound of this show’s theme song. He is also the bass player for Deafheaven, who had to cancel a tour and are trying to figure out how to record a live album when people can’t gather to watch live shows. If you’re a musician trying to record from home, there’s a good discussion about what Chris can do for you remotely and what to think about in setting up a home studio.   To book Chris for mixing and mastering and other associated production duties, you can find him at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theelectricbunker" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Electric Bunker</a>. You can also check out his work as a musician in <a href="https://doomriders.bandcamp.com/?fbclid=IwAR0MhUQn7dDgvFBk-DDGWp-ptgI_yOuBmO2UrpgltUNZiqXqJ024Y-sX8Fc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Doomriders</a> and <a href="https://summonerboston.bandcamp.com/?fbclid=IwAR0xW-csBOHzUsYSgnhlmGWrgWuChOc7ujl0IFUUMP-w1f_RCE_N_NSZX_M" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Summoner</a> on BandCamp, and at <a href="https://deafheaven.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Deafheaven.com</a>.

The Artist Check-In EP2: Chris Johnson, Musician, Sound Engineer

Lucy Isabel

Lamont Price

If you want to make anything funnier, just add Lamont Price. It certainly made watching Godzilla a much more enjoyable experience, which is the point of much of this podcast. This one has been brewing for a couple of years, starting with a conversation we had after a more formal interview with Price when he organized the comedy portion of the Boston Calling festival a while back. We were going to talk about Ringo Starr as a drummer, the Beatles, and celebrate the history and vibe of P-Funk. Then I ran into Price at the movies when the Godzilla trailer was new, and we added that to the mix. Then P-Funk came to town and their farewell tour. We saw that, and then a couple weeks later, we made plans to see Godzilla and sit down immediately afterwards to talk about all of these things, just a few days shy of Ringo's birthday. We also flesh out what a Rambo vs Terminator crossover would look like. I’m glad we got all of these things in, but it doesn’t even really matter what you talk about with Price. It’s always an entertaining conversation. And Lamont will be back, hopefully around Halloween and Christmas, times of year that we both enjoy. Look for his Lamont’s Boston segments on nbcboston.com, and find him on Twitter under @lpizzle and on Instagram under @lpizzle12, and on his site at lamontpricelive.com. This week’s featured track is from next week’s guest, Lucy Isabel. Isabel has a great backstory. A few years ago, Isabel left behind a degree in theater from Yale to move from New Jersey to Nashville and become a singer/songwriter. Her debut full-length album, Rambling Stranger, came out in June, and has produced a couple of great tracks like “How It Goes” and “Something New,” which both have official videos now. My favorite song on the album is “The Between,” which features the line, “Is there something between hitting big and just going home broke.” Isabel’s got a great Americana sound, with disparate influences from Brandi Carlile to Judy Collins, and we explore that a lot more in the conversation next week. And there will be a couple of live tracks in next week’s episode from her recent Boston show. Follow her on Twitter under @lucyisabelmusic, on her site at lucyisabelmusic.com, and also search for her on BandCamp.

If you want to make anything funnier, just add Lamont Price. It certainly made watching Godzilla a much more enjoyable experience, which is the point of much of this podcast. This one has been brewing for a couple of years, starting with a conversation we had after a more formal interview with Price when he organized the comedy portion of the Boston Calling festival a while back. We were going to talk about Ringo Starr as a drummer, the Beatles, and celebrate the history and vibe of P-Funk. Then I ran into Price at the movies when the Godzilla trailer was new, and we added that to the mix. Then P-Funk came to town and their farewell tour. We saw that, and then a couple weeks later, we made plans to see Godzilla and sit down immediately afterwards to talk about all of these things, just a few days shy of Ringo's birthday. We also flesh out what a Rambo vs Terminator crossover would look like. I’m glad we got all of these things in, but it doesn’t even really matter what you talk about with Price. It’s always an entertaining conversation. And Lamont will be back, hopefully around Halloween and Christmas, times of year that we both enjoy. Look for his Lamont’s Boston segments on <a href="http://nbcboston.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">nbcboston.com</a>, and find him on <a href="https://twitter.com/LPizzle?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter under @lpizzle</a> and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lpizzle12/?hl=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram under @lpizzle12</a>, and on his site at <a href="http://lamontpricelive.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">lamontpricelive.com</a>. This week’s featured track is from next week’s guest, Lucy Isabel. Isabel has a great backstory. A few years ago, Isabel left behind a degree in theater from Yale to move from New Jersey to Nashville and become a singer/songwriter. Her debut full-length album, Rambling Stranger, came out in June, and has produced a couple of great tracks like “How It Goes” and “Something New,” which both have official videos now. My favorite song on the album is “The Between,” which features the line, “Is there something between hitting big and just going home broke.” Isabel’s got a great Americana sound, with disparate influences from Brandi Carlile to Judy Collins, and we explore that a lot more in the conversation next week. And there will be a couple of live tracks in next week’s episode from her recent Boston show. Follow her on Twitter under <a href="https://twitter.com/lucyisabelmusic" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@lucyisabelmusic</a>, on her site at <a href="https://www.lucyisabelmusic.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">lucyisabelmusic.com</a>, and also search for her on <a href="https://lucyisabel.bandcamp.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">BandCamp</a>.

DoT EP96: Lamont Price on Godzilla, P-Funk, Ringo, and Rambo with New Music From Lucy Isabel

Karen Haglof

There is so much to explore in Karen Haglof’s career. She started out playing with a band called The Crackers in a Minneapolis scene that included Curtiss A, The Suicide Commandos, The Suburbs, and Flamingo before bands like Soul Asylum, the Replacements, and Husker Du put that scene on the map nationally. If, like me, you’re unfamiliar with that bit of history, seek out a new documentary called Jay’s Longhorn, for which Haglof is interviewed. It’s the most Midwestern story you could imagine – a bunch of writers and musicians and fans deciding they want a punk and indie music scene, and then forming committees and canvassing neighborhoods to find places receptive to hosting music. And it worked. Haglof eventually left that scene to pursue music in New York City, where she joined Band of Susans and created some heavy music with fellow guitarist Paige Hamilton, later of Helmut. Haglof was a hired gun guitarist and working at restaurants when she decided she needed to grow up and have a career. She didn’t choose an easy path. She went to med school eventually became an oncologist, a job she still does full time in New York City today. She had left music behind while she studied and made her way into her profession, but got the itch to play guitar again after seeing the guitar documentary It Might Get Loud with Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White. This time, she started making music for herself and writing her own songs. The new album, Tobiano, shows a blossoming of Haglof’s skills as a songwriter. The style and feel shifts from song to song, from the cool and groovy indie rock of “Tobiano Twirl” to the twang and train beat of “Humbled and Chastened,” the bouncy country of “Foothold” to the Jimmy Page-esque riffing of “These Are the Things” and the charging Velvets sound of “Favor Favor.” She enjoys the contrast, which is the story behind the title “Tobiano,” a term used to describe a horse with white and brown contrasting colors. You could apply that more universally to Haglof’s life as a rock and roller and oncologist. She finds time for music and she’s always writing down ideas, but she would never tour while she had patients to tend to. You can find out more about her work at karenhaglof.com and find her on Twitter under @karenhaglof. This week’s featured track is “What Yer Doing To Me” from Florida’s The Woolly Bushmen off their brand new album, In Shambles. Got to love that twangy reverb right off the bat on this track. It’s a certified garage guitar rocker, and if the name Woolly Bushmen makes you think of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs’ hit “Wooly Bully,” you’re in the right territory. Singer Simon Palombi has that same kind of bit and playfulness in his voice. The background vocals are also drenched in reverb here, which makes me think of that eerie sci-fi sound of the Pixies on “Where Is My Mind?” It’s great new music for your hi-fi, and you can find it on BandCamp, which pays the artist a bit better than some other platforms, or Spotify and iTunes, and keep up with them on Facebook.

There is so much to explore in Karen Haglof’s career. She started out playing with a band called The Crackers in a Minneapolis scene that included Curtiss A, The Suicide Commandos, The Suburbs, and Flamingo before bands like Soul Asylum, the Replacements, and Husker Du put that scene on the map nationally. If, like me, you’re unfamiliar with that bit of history, seek out a new documentary called Jay’s Longhorn, for which Haglof is interviewed. It’s the most Midwestern story you could imagine – a bunch of writers and musicians and fans deciding they want a punk and indie music scene, and then forming committees and canvassing neighborhoods to find places receptive to hosting music. And it worked. Haglof eventually left that scene to pursue music in New York City, where she joined Band of Susans and created some heavy music with fellow guitarist Paige Hamilton, later of Helmut. Haglof was a hired gun guitarist and working at restaurants when she decided she needed to grow up and have a career. She didn’t choose an easy path. She went to med school eventually became an oncologist, a job she still does full time in New York City today. She had left music behind while she studied and made her way into her profession, but got the itch to play guitar again after seeing the guitar documentary It Might Get Loud with Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White. This time, she started making music for herself and writing her own songs. The new album, Tobiano, shows a blossoming of Haglof’s skills as a songwriter. The style and feel shifts from song to song, from the cool and groovy indie rock of “Tobiano Twirl” to the twang and train beat of “Humbled and Chastened,” the bouncy country of “Foothold” to the Jimmy Page-esque riffing of “These Are the Things” and the charging Velvets sound of “Favor Favor.” She enjoys the contrast, which is the story behind the title “Tobiano,” a term used to describe a horse with white and brown contrasting colors. You could apply that more universally to Haglof’s life as a rock and roller and oncologist. She finds time for music and she’s always writing down ideas, but she would never tour while she had patients to tend to. You can <a href="http://karenhaglof.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find out more about her work at karenhaglof.com</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/karenhaglof?lang=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find her on Twitter under @karenhaglof</a>. This week’s featured track is “What Yer Doing To Me” from Florida’s The Woolly Bushmen off their brand new album, In Shambles. Got to love that twangy reverb right off the bat on this track. It’s a certified garage guitar rocker, and if the name Woolly Bushmen makes you think of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs’ hit “Wooly Bully,” you’re in the right territory. Singer Simon Palombi has that same kind of bit and playfulness in his voice. The background vocals are also drenched in reverb here, which makes me think of that eerie sci-fi sound of the Pixies on “Where Is My Mind?” It’s great new music for your hi-fi, and you can f<a href="https://thewoollybushmen.bandcamp.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">ind it on BandCamp,</a> which pays the artist a bit better than some other platforms, or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/5fqNJSuavsDeVzMG3hBfYo" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a> and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-woolly-bushmen/868768127" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Woollybushmen/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">keep up with them on Facebook</a>.

DoT EP89 Indie Rock Oncologist Karen Haglof with New Music from The Woolly Bushmen

Cate Le Bon

If you have not heard Erica Rhodes’s comedy, you have the perfect excuse to dive in on June 18, when her new album, Sad Lemon, comes out. Rhodes has been performing in some fashion since she was a kid, modeling at five and playing the voice of Garrison Keillor’s conscience on Prairie Home Companion at ten. She was a dancer as a child, then dedicated herself to playing cello before discovering acting and attending the Atlantic Theater Conservatory. That’s where she got some advice from David Mamet, that she needed to fix her voice if she was ever going to have a career, an experience that wound up as the subject of a joke on the new album. Turns out, she says, he was right. If Rhodes’ voice, high-pitched and friendly-sounding, was a liability in acting, it’s an asset in comedy. It allows her to speak honestly about subjects like aging, living alone, and revising your life’s expectations and keep the mood light. There’s a natural buoyancy in her stand-up. And she writes smart stuff. When you’re thirty, you start talking about how you’re old, she says. Then when you’re forty and realize you really are old, you realize you could have been young for an extra ten years. Her mother is relieved that she never had to face abuse by Harvey Weinstein. “She’s like, ‘I know you weren’t ‘cause I told your father, if she had been, she’d be a lot more successful.’”  Sad Lemon is Rhodes’ first comedy album, but it is the work of a seasoned performer. The jokes are tight, the performance is loose, and you get to know some of who Rhodes is through her material. And she has only been doing stand-up comedy for roughly six-and-a-half years. Rhodes says she is not afraid to fail, a hallmark of any artist who wants to improve in their craft, and that has allowed her an accelerated growth rate as a comedian. She also loves language – as illustrated by her grammar material on the album – and that doesn’t hurt either. We covered her beginnings in show business, acting in horror movies, and he dedication to her true craft, stand-up comedy.  Look for her Sad Lemon on June 18. You can find out more about her on her website are ericarhodescomedy.com, or on Twitter under @ericarhodes. Our featured track this week is “Daylight Matters” from the new Cate Le Bon album Reward, which is out as of May 24 on the Mexican Summer label. When I first listened to this, to me, it had a kind of breezy, summer song vibe. If you’re listening casually, responding to the laidback groove and Le Bon’s airy vocals as she sings, “I love you, I love you, I love,” you might be forgiven for thinking this is a nice feel good track. If you’re listening a little closer, you hear Le Bon is singing, “I love you, but you’re gone/If I’m never going to see it again/It’s too late now/Your money’s lent/Dreams I’ve had and never shared/Sacrificed/The daylight matters.” There’s a wistfulness that tugs at your heart. Take a look at the video, as well, which opens on a concrete building on what looks like a snow-laden field. A few shots later, you find out that it’s a barren beach at low tide. Le Bon wanders around in a bright red hoodie, the brown grass turning momentarily green as she passes. It’s a groovy, playful lament.  Le Bon is heading out on tour in support of the album in June, and you can find the dates on her website at catelebon.com, and follow her on Twitter under @catelebon.

If you have not heard Erica Rhodes’s comedy, you have the perfect excuse to dive in on June 18, when her new album, Sad Lemon, comes out. Rhodes has been performing in some fashion since she was a kid, modeling at five and playing the voice of Garrison Keillor’s conscience on Prairie Home Companion at ten. She was a dancer as a child, then dedicated herself to playing cello before discovering acting and attending the Atlantic Theater Conservatory. That’s where she got some advice from David Mamet, that she needed to fix her voice if she was ever going to have a career, an experience that wound up as the subject of a joke on the new album. Turns out, she says, he was right. If Rhodes’ voice, high-pitched and friendly-sounding, was a liability in acting, it’s an asset in comedy. It allows her to speak honestly about subjects like aging, living alone, and revising your life’s expectations and keep the mood light. There’s a natural buoyancy in her stand-up. And she writes smart stuff. When you’re thirty, you start talking about how you’re old, she says. Then when you’re forty and realize you really are old, you realize you could have been young for an extra ten years. Her mother is relieved that she never had to face abuse by Harvey Weinstein. “She’s like, ‘I know you weren’t ‘cause I told your father, if she had been, she’d be a lot more successful.’” Sad Lemon is Rhodes’ first comedy album, but it is the work of a seasoned performer. The jokes are tight, the performance is loose, and you get to know some of who Rhodes is through her material. And she has only been doing stand-up comedy for roughly six-and-a-half years. Rhodes says she is not afraid to fail, a hallmark of any artist who wants to improve in their craft, and that has allowed her an accelerated growth rate as a comedian. She also loves language – as illustrated by her grammar material on the album – and that doesn’t hurt either. We covered her beginnings in show business, acting in horror movies, and he dedication to her true craft, stand-up comedy. Look for her Sad Lemon on June 18. You can find out more about her on her website are <a href="http://ericarhodescomedy.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">ericarhodescomedy.com</a>, or on <a href="https://twitter.com/ericarhodes" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter under @ericarhodes</a>. Our featured track this week is “Daylight Matters” from the new Cate Le Bon album Reward, which is out as of May 24 on the Mexican Summer label. When I first listened to this, to me, it had a kind of breezy, summer song vibe. If you’re listening casually, responding to the laidback groove and Le Bon’s airy vocals as she sings, “I love you, I love you, I love,” you might be forgiven for thinking this is a nice feel good track. If you’re listening a little closer, you hear Le Bon is singing, “I love you, but you’re gone/If I’m never going to see it again/It’s too late now/Your money’s lent/Dreams I’ve had and never shared/Sacrificed/The daylight matters.” There’s a wistfulness that tugs at your heart. Take a look at the video, as well, which opens on a concrete building on what looks like a snow-laden field. A few shots later, you find out that it’s a barren beach at low tide. Le Bon wanders around in a bright red hoodie, the brown grass turning momentarily green as she passes. It’s a groovy, playful lament. Le Bon is heading out on tour in support of the album in June, and you can find the dates on her website at <a href="http://www.catelebon.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">catelebon.com</a>, and follow her on <a href="https://twitter.com/CateLeBon" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter under @catelebon</a>.

DoT EP91: Comedian Erica Rhodes On Art, Discipline, and Her New Album Sad Lemon, plus New Music from Cate Le Bon

Christina Raia

If you follow the Department of Tangents Blog, there’s a good chance you’ve seen some of Christina Raia’s work. I featured her delightful ghost story Hello on October 23 of 2017, and another of her horror shorts, Night In, a month later. This past November, Raia debuted a different kind of film for her, a heist film called Enough with an ensemble cast. Raia says she loves to direct horror, and she’s got a new horror short called “Gaze” and a new horror/comedy feature called “Silent Night” in the works. But she also hates to be pigeonholed to any particular genre or style. Which is why on May 7, she released a feature-length family dramedy she directed called About A Donkey, written by Kelsey Rauber. You can find it on Vimeo now, and look for it on Amazon Prime and Seed &amp; Spark in June.  About a Donkey (Official Trailer) from CongestedCat Productions LLC on Vimeo. When matriarch Ann Owens announces to her husband Tim and three adult children, Celia, Burgh, and Annie, that she has been diagnosed with depression, no one is surprised. Ann has been keeping to herself for a while, and the kids treat the announcement with humor. What does surprise everyone is Tim’s announcement that he has bought a donkey, one with deep brown eyes, just because he’d always wanted one. And he thinks it’ll help. Mostly it will help Tim feel a bit more useful, having something to take care of now that his kids are grown up and he can’t figure out how to help them with their problems. It’s a charming comedy, born out of a desire to quietly counter an increasingly combative and unkind social and political climate. I spoke with Raia about this film and her short films, what horror and comedy have in common, Jordan Peele’s work, and, of course, donkey wrangling. What good podcast doesn’t include a chunk about donkey wrangling? You can find out more about her and her movies at congestedcat.com and find her on Twitter under @Craia9. You can also find Congested Cat on Twitter under @CongestedCat. And if you liked this or any other episode of the Department of Tangents Podcast, please subscribe and/or give us a positive rating on iTunes and Stitcher. This is one of the best ways to let other people know they should tune in and give us a try. This week’s featured trackis "Tobiano Twirl" by next week’s interview guest, songwriter, guitarist, and full-time oncologist Karen Haglof. Haglof has a great story to tell, starting in the Minneapolis music scene and moving to New York to join Band of Susans before leaving music to study medicine. About ten years ago, inspired by the documentary It Might Get Loud, she picked up her guitar again after a decade of it gathering dust and started making beautiful music in a variety of styles – heavy, bluesy, twangy, folky, indie angular. This week's conversation was About a Donkey, our song is about a horse, particularly one with a white and brown coloring. Or it’s about driving a racecar. Or both. You’ll have to tune in next week for the full story and more about the new album, Tobiano.

If you follow the Department of Tangents Blog, there’s a good chance you’ve seen some of Christina Raia’s work. I featured her delightful ghost story <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2017/10/23/daily-horror-film-fest-hello/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Hello</a> on October 23 of 2017, and another of her horror shorts, <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2017/11/20/2306/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Night In</a>, a month later. This past November, Raia debuted a different kind of film for her, a heist film called <a href="http://nickzaino.com/departmentoftangents/2018/11/20/short-film-christina-raias-enough/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Enough</a> with an ensemble cast. Raia says she loves to direct horror, and she’s got a new horror short called “Gaze” and a new horror/comedy feature called “Silent Night” in the works. But she also hates to be pigeonholed to any particular genre or style. Which is why on May 7, she released a feature-length family dramedy she directed called <a href="http://www.congestedcat.com/about-a-donkey" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">About A Donkey</a>, written by Kelsey Rauber. You can find it on <a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/aboutadonkey" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Vimeo</a> now, and look for it on Amazon Prime and Seed &amp; Spark in June. <a href="https://vimeo.com/270094659" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">About a Donkey (Official Trailer)</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/congestedcat" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CongestedCat Productions LLC</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vimeo</a>. When matriarch Ann Owens announces to her husband Tim and three adult children, Celia, Burgh, and Annie, that she has been diagnosed with depression, no one is surprised. Ann has been keeping to herself for a while, and the kids treat the announcement with humor. What does surprise everyone is Tim’s announcement that he has bought a donkey, one with deep brown eyes, just because he’d always wanted one. And he thinks it’ll help. Mostly it will help Tim feel a bit more useful, having something to take care of now that his kids are grown up and he can’t figure out how to help them with their problems. It’s a charming comedy, born out of a desire to quietly counter an increasingly combative and unkind social and political climate. I spoke with Raia about this film and her short films, what horror and comedy have in common, Jordan Peele’s work, and, of course, donkey wrangling. What good podcast doesn’t include a chunk about donkey wrangling? You can find out more about her and her movies at <a href="http://www.congestedcat.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">congestedcat.com</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Craia9" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find her on Twitter under @Craia9</a>. You can also <a href="https://twitter.com/CongestedCat" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">find Congested Cat on Twitter under @CongestedCat</a>. And if you liked this or any other episode of the Department of Tangents Podcast, please subscribe and/or give us a positive rating on iTunes and Stitcher. This is one of the best ways to let other people know they should tune in and give us a try. This week’s featured trackis "Tobiano Twirl" by next week’s interview guest, songwriter, guitarist, and full-time oncologist <a href="http://karenhaglof.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Karen Haglof</a>. Haglof has a great story to tell, starting in the Minneapolis music scene and moving to New York to join Band of Susans before leaving music to study medicine. About ten years ago, inspired by the documentary It Might Get Loud, she picked up her guitar again after a decade of it gathering dust and started making beautiful music in a variety of styles – heavy, bluesy, twangy, folky, indie angular. This week's conversation was About a Donkey, our song is about a horse, particularly one with a white and brown coloring. Or it’s about driving a racecar. Or both. You’ll have to tune in next week for the full story and more about the new album, Tobiano.

DoT EP88: Horror and Comedy with "About A Donkey" Director Christina Raia, plus New Music from Karen Haglof 

I have been working on this one since last fall when I saw Jim Breuer at the Comics Come Home benefit show in Boston. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it’s an annual event hosted by Denis Leary with an all-star lineup of stand-up comedians, many of whom have local ties. Lenny Clarke is there every year, and the 2018 edition featured Brian Regan, Robert Kelly, Jessica Kirson, Billy Gardell, and Christine Hurley, who will be a guest on next week’s full episode. Since it’s a benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care, there are often a few life-affirming moments. Breuer’s set last year was exactly that, but in a strange way. He talked about how he wanted people to celebrate life, and when he’s dead, throw a party. Shoot his body out of a cannon over a lake and have fireworks and music. That’s not a new sentiment, but coming from Breuer, it was beautiful. The man has been through hell losing his father after a battle with Alzheimer’s and a stroke and then sister to cancer five weeks later in 2014. To top it off, his wife is also battling cancer. That’s enough to make anyone a bit cynical. Those tough times have had an influence on Breuer’s comedy, in a completely positive way. You can hear it on his new album, Live In Portland, which, as mentions in this interview, he didn’t even intend to make. He hadn’t planned this material as a special, necessarily – he doesn’t even remember exactly what he said. Breuer is still as playful and silly as ever, but from a new perspective. He’s grateful for what he has, and even what he’s lost. Also for opening for Metallica on tour, and even that fits the theme. Those guys aren’t getting any younger, either. The conversation was delayed by Breuer’s schedule and some of my own health issues, but I’m so glad it finally happened. You can find out more about the album and find out if he’s coming to a venue near you at www.officialjimbreuer.com.   The Clips:  “Seeing Metallica Now”   “51 Years Old”  “Nursing Home”  “Holding Dad”  “The Cardinal” 

I have been working on this one since last fall when I saw Jim Breuer at the <a href="https://camneelyfoundation.org/events-signature-events" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Comics Come Home</a> benefit show in Boston. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it’s an annual event hosted by Denis Leary with an all-star lineup of stand-up comedians, many of whom have local ties. Lenny Clarke is there every year, and the 2018 edition featured Brian Regan, Robert Kelly, Jessica Kirson, Billy Gardell, and Christine Hurley, who will be a guest on next week’s full episode. Since it’s a benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care, there are often a few life-affirming moments. Breuer’s set last year was exactly that, but in a strange way. He talked about how he wanted people to celebrate life, and when he’s dead, throw a party. Shoot his body out of a cannon over a lake and have fireworks and music. That’s not a new sentiment, but coming from Breuer, it was beautiful. The man has been through hell losing his father after a battle with Alzheimer’s and a stroke and then sister to cancer five weeks later in 2014. To top it off, his wife is also battling cancer. That’s enough to make anyone a bit cynical. Those tough times have had an influence on Breuer’s comedy, in a completely positive way. You can hear it on his new album, Live In Portland, which, as mentions in this interview, he didn’t even intend to make. He hadn’t planned this material as a special, necessarily – he doesn’t even remember exactly what he said. Breuer is still as playful and silly as ever, but from a new perspective. He’s grateful for what he has, and even what he’s lost. Also for opening for Metallica on tour, and even that fits the theme. Those guys aren’t getting any younger, either. The conversation was delayed by Breuer’s schedule and some of my own health issues, but I’m so glad it finally happened. You can find out more about the album and find out if he’s coming to a venue near you at <a href="https://officialjimbreuer.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.officialjimbreuer.com</a>. The Clips: “Seeing Metallica Now” “51 Years Old” “Nursing Home” “Holding Dad” “The Cardinal”

DoT Minicast: Love and Death with Jim Breuer

This is the Department of Tangents special joy of Halloween and horror episode with Lamont Price. I love Halloween, and so does Price. And that’s really the only inspiration for this episode. Price is an incredibly entertaining human being, so we sat down with no real notes and not much of an agenda other than to discuss why we love the holiday, horror movies and books, what scares us and what doesn’t. We talked about trick or treating as kids, how that was part of the first taste of independence you get as a kid. And we go through all the major creeps and spooks to weigh in on how and why they scare us – ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires, serial killers, aliens.    To prepare for the episode, we went to a couple of Halloween stores before we taped. You can watch Price’s Instagram to see if any of the videos from those visits pop up. Until then, enjoy Price rocking out as Slimer on his Twitter page. Ladies, why won't you let me love you? pic.twitter.com/YhBvP7JFqo— Lamont Price (@LPizzle) October 16, 2019     Look for his "Lamont’s Boston" segments on nbcboston.com, and find him on Twitter under @lpizzle and on Instagram under @lpizzle12, and on his site at lamontpricelive.com.   Our featured track this week is “Collector of Things,” the first track from the new Even Twice album, This Is Boomerang. Believe it or not, Even Twice is just two guys – drummer/singer Pat O’Shea and bassist/singer Bob Hait. They make a beautiful rock and roll racket together, and for a two-instrument band, they cover a lot of different styles on Boomerang. There is a driving, punk edged sound at the heart of it. But sometimes it sounds like sludgy prog rock a la King Crimson’s “20th Century Schizoid Man.” Sometimes, as on “Collector of Things,” it sounds like 60s garage rock, rough around the edges but with a solid melodic center. You can find the new album on Spotify or better yet, buy it on BandCamp. Find them on Twitter under @EvenTwice, and look them up on Facebook. This is “Collector of Things” off of This Is Boomerang by Even Twice.

This is the Department of Tangents special joy of Halloween and horror episode with Lamont Price. I love Halloween, and so does Price. And that’s really the only inspiration for this episode. Price is an incredibly entertaining human being, so we sat down with no real notes and not much of an agenda other than to discuss why we love the holiday, horror movies and books, what scares us and what doesn’t. We talked about trick or treating as kids, how that was part of the first taste of independence you get as a kid. And we go through all the major creeps and spooks to weigh in on how and why they scare us – ghosts, zombies, werewolves, vampires, serial killers, aliens.    To prepare for the episode, we went to a couple of Halloween stores before we taped. You can watch Price’s Instagram to see if any of the videos from those visits pop up. Until then, enjoy Price rocking out as Slimer on his Twitter page. Ladies, why won't you let me love you? <a href="https://t.co/YhBvP7JFqo" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/YhBvP7JFqo</a>— Lamont Price (@LPizzle) <a href="https://twitter.com/LPizzle/status/1184268517568319488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">October 16, 2019</a>     Look for his "Lamont’s Boston" segments on <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">nbcboston.com</a>, and find him <a href="https://twitter.com/LPizzle" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">on Twitter under @lpizzle</a> and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lpizzle12/?hl=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram under @lpizzle12</a>, and on his site at <a href="http://lamontpricelive.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">lamontpricelive.com</a>.   Our featured track this week is “Collector of Things,” the first track from the new Even Twice album, This Is Boomerang. Believe it or not, Even Twice is just two guys – drummer/singer Pat O’Shea and bassist/singer Bob Hait. They make a beautiful rock and roll racket together, and for a two-instrument band, they cover a lot of different styles on Boomerang. There is a driving, punk edged sound at the heart of it. But sometimes it sounds like sludgy prog rock a la King Crimson’s “20th Century Schizoid Man.” Sometimes, as on “Collector of Things,” it sounds like 60s garage rock, rough around the edges but with a solid melodic center. You can find the new album on Spotify or better yet, buy it on BandCamp. Find them <a href="https://twitter.com/Eventwice" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">on Twitter under @EvenTwice</a>, and look them up on Facebook. This is “Collector of Things” off of This Is Boomerang by Even Twice.

DoT EP111: Lamont Price On the Joy of Halloween and Horror, Plus New Music from Even Twice

Lisa Kroger

Corey Rodrigues

If you ask a random reader to name foundational women horror writers, you might get two or three names. Mary Shelley. Shirley Jackson. Maybe Daphne du Maurier or Anne Rice. But as Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson point out in their new book, Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror &amp; Speculative Fiction, if that’s where our knowledge begins and ends, we’re missing out on a lot. Eli Colter, who wrote, amongst other things, weird westerns. C.L. Moore who helped introduce swashbuckling rebels into the sci-fi canon. Angela Carter’s re-imagining of folk tales. There are also works of literary fiction we might not put in the horror genre, like Toni Morrison’s Beloved.    Kroger and Anderson give readers a primer on women writers whose work you may have missed, and puts it in a historical context. You can learn about the origins of the gothic story, the influence of spiritualism in writing and pop culture, how writers supported their families with their short works, a bit about pulp magazines like Weird Tales, and even how one writer put together a group of mystics (or mystic-adjacents) to help guard the coast of England during World War II. But beware – Monster, She Wrote is likely to add considerable height to your reading pile.    A note about the sound quality – we tried to do this interview with Skype, but it kept cutting out. So we had to do it the old fashioned way, the way I started recording interviews in the last century, on speaker phone with a recorder. I’ve sweetened it up a bit through some plug-in magic, but you’ll notice the switch a few minutes in.   Monster, She Wrote is out now from Quirk Books and you can find out more about it at www.quirkbooks.com  or wherever you get wonderful books. You can also keep track of Lisa Kroger’s work at www.lisakroger.com and Melanie R. Anderson at www.melanieranderson.com. The Know Fear Podcast is at www.knowfearcast.com, and on Twitter under @knowfearcast.    This week’s featured track from the new Best of Boston Stand-Up, Volume 1. Boston has a long and fine tradition of stand-up comedy, and this album is a good introduction to some of the funniest comedians you can see regularly around town. Veterans like Steve Sweeney, Don Gavin, Tony V., Kenny Rogerson, and Jimmy Dunn; more recent headliners like Kelly MacFarland, Will Noonan, Dan Crohn, Christine Hurley, and Corey Rodrigues, who you are about to hear.    This is a bit about Rodrigues going out for a day at the beach, and the reaction he got when he tried to put on sunscreen. I won’t give away too much, but Rodrigues is black, and the audience at this taping was mostly white. That allowed Rodrigues to have a little fun with their expectations partway through the story. Look for more of Rodrigues’s stuff on the Dry Bar Comedy YouTube channel, and find his album, My Turn, on Apple Music and Google Play. His Web site is www.coreyrodrigues.com.

If you ask a random reader to name foundational women horror writers, you might get two or three names. Mary Shelley. Shirley Jackson. Maybe Daphne du Maurier or Anne Rice. But as Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson point out in their new book, Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror &amp; Speculative Fiction, if that’s where our knowledge begins and ends, we’re missing out on a lot. Eli Colter, who wrote, amongst other things, weird westerns. C.L. Moore who helped introduce swashbuckling rebels into the sci-fi canon. Angela Carter’s re-imagining of folk tales. There are also works of literary fiction we might not put in the horror genre, like Toni Morrison’s Beloved.    Kroger and Anderson give readers a primer on women writers whose work you may have missed, and puts it in a historical context. You can learn about the origins of the gothic story, the influence of spiritualism in writing and pop culture, how writers supported their families with their short works, a bit about pulp magazines like Weird Tales, and even how one writer put together a group of mystics (or mystic-adjacents) to help guard the coast of England during World War II. But beware – Monster, She Wrote is likely to add considerable height to your reading pile.    A note about the sound quality – we tried to do this interview with Skype, but it kept cutting out. So we had to do it the old fashioned way, the way I started recording interviews in the last century, on speaker phone with a recorder. I’ve sweetened it up a bit through some plug-in magic, but you’ll notice the switch a few minutes in.   Monster, She Wrote is out now from Quirk Books and you can find out more about it at <a href="https://www.quirkbooks.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.quirkbooks.com </a> or wherever you get wonderful books. You can also keep track of Lisa Kroger’s work at <a href="http://www.lisakroger.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.lisakroger.com</a> and Melanie R. Anderson at <a href="https://melanieranderson.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.melanieranderson.com</a>. The Know Fear Podcast is at <a href="http://www.knowfearcast.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.knowfearcast.com</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/knowfearcast" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">on Twitter under @knowfearcast</a>.    This week’s featured track from the new <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/best-of-boston-stand-up-vol-1/1476273387" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Best of Boston Stand-Up, Volume 1</a>. Boston has a long and fine tradition of stand-up comedy, and this album is a good introduction to some of the funniest comedians you can see regularly around town. Veterans like Steve Sweeney, Don Gavin, Tony V., Kenny Rogerson, and Jimmy Dunn; more recent headliners like Kelly MacFarland, Will Noonan, Dan Crohn, Christine Hurley, and Corey Rodrigues, who you are about to hear.    This is a bit about Rodrigues going out for a day at the beach, and the reaction he got when he tried to put on sunscreen. I won’t give away too much, but Rodrigues is black, and the audience at this taping was mostly white. That allowed Rodrigues to have a little fun with their expectations partway through the story. Look for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=corey+rodrigues+dry+bar+comedy" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">more of Rodrigues’s stuff on the Dry Bar Comedy YouTube channel</a>, and find his album, My Turn, on <a href="https://music.apple.com/album/1169101578?app=itunes&amp;ls=1" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Apple Music</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Corey_Rodrigues_My_Turn?id=Bdoyzdtfs366etgubs6x2snsphy&amp;hl=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Google Play</a>. His Web site is <a href="https://coreyrodrigues.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.coreyrodrigues.com</a>.

DoT EP110: Monster, She Wrote Authors Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson On the History of Female Horror Writing, Plus New Comedy from Corey Rodrigues

Rebecca Turner

Sue Costello

Sue Costello is someone I saw early on in Boston, specifically playing a show organized by Jimmy Tingle that featured Costello, Patrice Oneal, and Steve Sweeney. She has always been tough, and she wears her Dorchester roots with pride. We got into some thorny topics here, including pervasive sexism in the entertainment industry and her dealings with CBS as the Les Moonves scandal was breaking. She has survived sexism in comedy and in the television industry and come out of it trying to find a way to get people to communicate more productively, to get to a truth. As she says, the empaths need to grow some balls, because the bullies are winning.   That’s part of the philosophy behind her new talk show pilot, Simmah Down with Sue Costello. She wants people to be real about the ugly things in their lives and not be afraid to talk about them. The show is in a pilot stage now, but it’s up on YouTube now. Watch it here:  You can keep up to date on news from Costello at www.suecostello.com, and find her on Twitter and Facebook under Sue Costello and Instagram under iamsuecostello. She’s also filming a new movie called Mow, which you can find on the social medias on @mowmovie.    Our featured track this week is “Living Rock” from Rebecca Turner, from her upcoming album The New Wrong Way, out November 6. This will be Turner’s third album, and her first since 2009’s Slowpoke. Since then, she has continue to write and play, but family and work concerns kept her from finishing a new album. The New Wrong Way is a culmination of ten years of writing and tweaking the songs, which were recorded starting last winter. The featured track is the opening song from the album, a riffy roots-rock tune called “Living Rock.” Find out more about Rebecca Turner at https://rebeccaturner.net.

Sue Costello is someone I saw early on in Boston, specifically playing a show organized by Jimmy Tingle that featured Costello, Patrice Oneal, and Steve Sweeney. She has always been tough, and she wears her Dorchester roots with pride. We got into some thorny topics here, including pervasive sexism in the entertainment industry and her dealings with CBS as the Les Moonves scandal was breaking. She has survived sexism in comedy and in the television industry and come out of it trying to find a way to get people to communicate more productively, to get to a truth. As she says, the empaths need to grow some balls, because the bullies are winning.   That’s part of the philosophy behind her new talk show pilot, Simmah Down with Sue Costello. She wants people to be real about the ugly things in their lives and not be afraid to talk about them. The show is in a pilot stage now, but it’s up on YouTube now. Watch it here: You can keep up to date on news from Costello at <a href="http://www.suecostello.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.suecostello.com</a>, and find her on <a href="https://twitter.com/suecostello" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/suecostello/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a> under Sue Costello and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamsuecostello/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram under iamsuecostello</a>. She’s also filming a new movie called Mow, which you can find on the social medias on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mowmovie/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">@mowmovie</a>.    Our featured track this week is “Living Rock” from Rebecca Turner, from her upcoming album The New Wrong Way, out November 6. This will be Turner’s third album, and her first since 2009’s Slowpoke. Since then, she has continue to write and play, but family and work concerns kept her from finishing a new album. The New Wrong Way is a culmination of ten years of writing and tweaking the songs, which were recorded starting last winter. The featured track is the opening song from the album, a riffy roots-rock tune called “Living Rock.” Find out more about Rebecca Turner at <a href="https://rebeccaturner.net" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://rebeccaturner.net</a>.

DoT EP109: Sue Costello On Staying Positive, Sexism, CBS, and Simmah Down, Plus New Music From Rebecca Turner

Dave Ross

Dave Ross has a fantastic new album out now called The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex. You can download it, but if you see him at a show, you can buy a download card with a special flipbook he’s made with some beautiful photos and silliness. It’s Ross’s attempt to give you a little something extra for your participation, which is something he does in his comedy, as well. A few years ago, I reviewed the aptly-titled album Holy Fuck for the comedy review site The Spit Take. It was a who’s who of alternative comedy taped at the recurring show of the same name, curated by Ross. But his new album was my first prolonged exposure to him, and I’m glad for that. The album captures his love for dumb comedy and his compulsion to try to say something meaningful. He talks about getting high and eating the best fried chicken he’d ever tasted at a gas station in Florida, but he also interrogates extreme masculinity, poking fun at the type of guys what might utter phrases like, “I want to marry violence” and “I wish I could be a truck.” It’s an appealing mix, and there are a lot of lines that make me laugh just remembering them. I was happy to find that Ross was coming to Boston shortly after the album’s release, to a Monday-night show called CitySide Comedy. I caught up with him there to talk about dumb and thoughtful comedy, the influence of punk, and, as we started the interview as he was finishing his supper, kale. I usually make at least some minor edits to a conversation to make it flow a bit better or cut out some pauses and stammers, but since we have near-constant background noise, the edits would have been noticeable and distracting. So this is the full thing, start to finish. You can find out more about him on his Web site at www.davetotheross.com, and also find him on Twitter and Instagram under @davetotheross. The new album is called The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex, and it’s out on aspecialthing records now, and you can find them at www.astrecords.com. Thanks also to Sam Ike and Anjan Biswas of CitySide Comedy for bringing Ross to town. If you happen to live in the Boston area, you can find out about the show on Facebook by searching CitySide Comedy. This week's featured track is an early rehearsal version of “California Uber Alles” by Dead Kennedys. A couple of years before their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, punk pioneers Dead Kennedys got together and recorded a rehearsal of a lot of the music that would wind up on that album. That’s being released on September 27 under the name Iguana Studios Rehearsal Tape – San Francisco 1978. Jello Biafra wrote the song about then California governor Jerry Brown, but has said in interviews he softened on Brown a bit once the Reagan era began, and even changed the lyrics to include the line “We’ve got a bigger problem now.” This version is a bit slower and a bit more sinister. The recording is from 1978 and includes the band’s original line-up of Biafra, East Bay Ray and 6025 on guitar, Klaus Flouride on bass, and Ted on drums. It’s a wonderful lo-fi punk slice of mud. There are a few tour dates planned for the beginning of October, but casual fans, if there is such a thing as a casual Dead Kennedys fan, should note the current line-up does not include Biafra. The album is out September 27 on Manifesto Records.

Dave Ross has a fantastic new album out now called The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex. You can download it, but if you see him at a show, you can buy a download card with a special flipbook he’s made with some beautiful photos and silliness. It’s Ross’s attempt to give you a little something extra for your participation, which is something he does in his comedy, as well. A few years ago, I reviewed the aptly-titled album Holy Fuck for the comedy review site The Spit Take. It was a who’s who of alternative comedy taped at the recurring show of the same name, curated by Ross. But his new album was my first prolonged exposure to him, and I’m glad for that. The album captures his love for dumb comedy and his compulsion to try to say something meaningful. He talks about getting high and eating the best fried chicken he’d ever tasted at a gas station in Florida, but he also interrogates extreme masculinity, poking fun at the type of guys what might utter phrases like, “I want to marry violence” and “I wish I could be a truck.” It’s an appealing mix, and there are a lot of lines that make me laugh just remembering them. I was happy to find that Ross was coming to Boston shortly after the album’s release, to a Monday-night show called CitySide Comedy. I caught up with him there to talk about dumb and thoughtful comedy, the influence of punk, and, as we started the interview as he was finishing his supper, kale. I usually make at least some minor edits to a conversation to make it flow a bit better or cut out some pauses and stammers, but since we have near-constant background noise, the edits would have been noticeable and distracting. So this is the full thing, start to finish. You can find out more about him on his Web site at <a href="http://davetotheross.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.davetotheross.com</a>, and also find him on <a href="https://twitter.com/davetotheross" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/davetotheross/?hl=en" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a> under @davetotheross. The new album is called The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex, and it’s out on aspecialthing records now, and you can find them at <a href="http://astrecords.virb.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.astrecords.com</a>. Thanks also to Sam Ike and Anjan Biswas of CitySide Comedy for bringing Ross to town. If you happen to live in the Boston area, you can find out about the show on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CitySideComedy/?epa=SEARCH_BOX" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook by searching CitySide Comedy</a>. This week's featured track is an early rehearsal version of “California Uber Alles” by <a href="http://deadkennedys.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Dead Kennedys</a>. A couple of years before their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, punk pioneers Dead Kennedys got together and recorded a rehearsal of a lot of the music that would wind up on that album. That’s being released on September 27 under the name Iguana Studios Rehearsal Tape – San Francisco 1978. Jello Biafra wrote the song about then California governor Jerry Brown, but has said in interviews he softened on Brown a bit once the Reagan era began, and even changed the lyrics to include the line “We’ve got a bigger problem now.” This version is a bit slower and a bit more sinister. The recording is from 1978 and includes the band’s original line-up of Biafra, East Bay Ray and 6025 on guitar, Klaus Flouride on bass, and Ted on drums. It’s a wonderful lo-fi punk slice of mud. There are a few tour dates planned for the beginning of October, but casual fans, if there is such a thing as a casual Dead Kennedys fan, should note the current line-up does not include Biafra. The album is out September 27 on <a href="http://manifesto.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Manifesto Records</a>.

DoT EP108: Dave Ross On Smart and Dumb Comedy, Punk, Masculinity, and Kale, Plus Newly-Released Early Dead Kennedys Music

Mike Watt

Mike Watt is a bona fide punk rock legend. And he probably hates being described like that. His work with The Minutemen and fIREHOSE is seminal stuff, and hard to describe, especially The Minutemen. The second you hear it, you know it’s punk, but it’s also funk and jazz and so many other things, and completely in-the-moment music. It’s as if all music, past and present, lives on the same plane, and he’s filtering all of it at once. The reason for that, he says in this interview, is that when he and D. Boon started, they were innocent of genre delineations. They knew Creedence and Van Halen and a few other bands, but they weren’t locked into FM radio expectations. When Watt heard jazz great John Coltrane, he thought he was listening to punk. More than anything, Watt is a seeker. On his new project, Jumpstarted Plowhards, he found a new way to collaborate. He recorded bass parts for a batch of songs and sent them to Todd Congelliere of Toys That Kill and F.Y.P. Congelliere then recorded vocals and guitar parts and found a revolving cast of drummers to complete the songs. The result is a tough and tuneful merging of their voices. The new album, Round One, is out October 4 on Recess Records, and that’s where the conversation begins. Along the way, we talk about the different ways Watt has kept his creative juices flowing, the early days of The Minutemen and how he didn’t even know what a bass guitar was when D. Boon’s mom told him that’s what he was going to play, what he learned from playing with The Stooges, making rock operas for major labels, the unreleased Minutemen stuff he’s playing on his new tour, and the new Missingmen and Secondmen albums in the works. On a more personal note, it is wonderful to have Watt on this podcast. He was the first person I interviewed as a “journalist,” back in 1995. I had thought the tape of that interview was long gone, but I found it just this week. I have to admit, it’s a little cringe-inducing for me to hear how unprepared I was for this interview. Fortunately for me, Watt is a warm and open guy, which comes across in both interviews. The interview took place on October 7, 1995, outside of The Showplace Theater in Buffalo, New York. Watt had made a big splash with his solo debut, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, which featured Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Dave Grohl just as he was getting Foo Fighters going, J Mascis, Henry Rollins, and a lot of other musicians that represented some of the best and most well-known alternative players at the time. Watt was on the Crew of the Flying Saucer tour with Nels Cline on guitar and Michael Preussner and Vince Meghrouni on drums. I had grabbed my tape recorder on my way out the door, but hadn’t actually expected to get to speak with Watt. When I asked the door person at if Watt might be open to answering a few questions for the University at Buffalo campus magazine, they said “sure” and let me up into the green room. Watt was apparently getting a bit of rest in the van, and I hung out with Preussner, chewing his ear off until Watt came upstairs. Standing out on the street, Watt showed me his signature Econoline van, complete with bullethole in the bumper, as fans streamed into the venue and said hello. The new album from Jumpstarted Plowhards is called Round One, and it will be available October 4 on Recess Records, which you can find at www.recessrecords.com. Round Two is already in the works, and look for the band to start playing live once they’ve got to Round Five. And you can keep up with Watt and check his tour dates and news on his Web page at www.hootpage.com. We are approaching Halloween, which means it is time once again for the Daily Horror Film Fest. Every day through October, the Department of Tangents presents a different short horror film. If you have a favorite short horror film, or if you yourself have made a short horror film, tell me about it, and it may wind up in the fest. E-mail me at nick@nickzaino.com and show me what you’ve got. This week’s featured track comes from stand-up comedian Dave Ross’s new album, The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex, out now on A Special Thing Records. He’s been on Drunk History, the WTF podcast, The Last Late Show with James Corden and a bunch of others. Ross is a storyteller, but with a lot of sneaky punches hiding in these looping kind of tales. He will be on the podcast soon, so you’ll hear more about that. Find out more about Ross and the new album on his Web site at www.davetotheross.com. This is the track that sold me on the album. It’s called “I Attack Strangers.”

Mike Watt is a bona fide punk rock legend. And he probably hates being described like that. His work with The Minutemen and fIREHOSE is seminal stuff, and hard to describe, especially The Minutemen. The second you hear it, you know it’s punk, but it’s also funk and jazz and so many other things, and completely in-the-moment music. It’s as if all music, past and present, lives on the same plane, and he’s filtering all of it at once. The reason for that, he says in this interview, is that when he and D. Boon started, they were innocent of genre delineations. They knew Creedence and Van Halen and a few other bands, but they weren’t locked into FM radio expectations. When Watt heard jazz great John Coltrane, he thought he was listening to punk. More than anything, Watt is a seeker. On his new project, Jumpstarted Plowhards, he found a new way to collaborate. He recorded bass parts for a batch of songs and sent them to Todd Congelliere of Toys That Kill and F.Y.P. Congelliere then recorded vocals and guitar parts and found a revolving cast of drummers to complete the songs. The result is a tough and tuneful merging of their voices. The new album, Round One, is out October 4 on Recess Records, and that’s where the conversation begins. Along the way, we talk about the different ways Watt has kept his creative juices flowing, the early days of The Minutemen and how he didn’t even know what a bass guitar was when D. Boon’s mom told him that’s what he was going to play, what he learned from playing with The Stooges, making rock operas for major labels, the unreleased Minutemen stuff he’s playing on his new tour, and the new Missingmen and Secondmen albums in the works. On a more personal note, it is wonderful to have Watt on this podcast. He was the first person I interviewed as a “journalist,” back in 1995. I had thought the tape of that interview was long gone, but I found it just this week. I have to admit, it’s a little cringe-inducing for me to hear how unprepared I was for this interview. Fortunately for me, Watt is a warm and open guy, which comes across in both interviews. The interview took place on October 7, 1995, outside of The Showplace Theater in Buffalo, New York. Watt had made a big splash with his solo debut, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, which featured Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Dave Grohl just as he was getting Foo Fighters going, J Mascis, Henry Rollins, and a lot of other musicians that represented some of the best and most well-known alternative players at the time. Watt was on the Crew of the Flying Saucer tour with Nels Cline on guitar and Michael Preussner and Vince Meghrouni on drums. I had grabbed my tape recorder on my way out the door, but hadn’t actually expected to get to speak with Watt. When I asked the door person at if Watt might be open to answering a few questions for the University at Buffalo campus magazine, they said “sure” and let me up into the green room. Watt was apparently getting a bit of rest in the van, and I hung out with Preussner, chewing his ear off until Watt came upstairs. Standing out on the street, Watt showed me his signature Econoline van, complete with bullethole in the bumper, as fans streamed into the venue and said hello. The new album from Jumpstarted Plowhards is called Round One, and it will be available October 4 on Recess Records, which you can find at <a href="http://www.recessrecords.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.recessrecords.com</a>. Round Two is already in the works, and look for the band to start playing live once they’ve got to Round Five. And you can keep up with Watt and check his tour dates and news on his Web page at <a href="http://www.hootpage.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.hootpage.com</a>. We are approaching Halloween, which means it is time once again for the Daily Horror Film Fest. Every day through October, the Department of Tangents presents a different short horror film. If you have a favorite short horror film, or if you yourself have made a short horror film, tell me about it, and it may wind up in the fest. E-mail me at nick@nickzaino.com and show me what you’ve got. This week’s featured track comes from stand-up comedian Dave Ross’s new album, The Only Man Who Has Ever Had Sex, out now on A Special Thing Records. He’s been on Drunk History, the WTF podcast, The Last Late Show with James Corden and a bunch of others. Ross is a storyteller, but with a lot of sneaky punches hiding in these looping kind of tales. He will be on the podcast soon, so you’ll hear more about that. Find out more about Ross and the new album on his Web site at <a href="http://www.davetotheross.com" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">www.davetotheross.com</a>. This is the track that sold me on the album. It’s called “I Attack Strangers.”

DoT EP107: Mike Watt on Jumpstarted Plowhards, The Minutemen, and Keeping the Creative Juices Flowing, Plus New Comedy from Dave Ross

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