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March 2024
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Syndication

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year so far.

Show notes:

- Pixies played "surprise show" at TT the Bear's

- Cambridge club is closing after 40+ years

- A primer on the Boston rock club scene

- Free Converse shows were a bummer for those of us who couldn't get tickets

- Van Halen talk continues with Eddie slagging DLR and Michael Anthony

- JB: Indie bands move beyond the '90s guitar rock sound

- Speedy Ortiz explored different textures on new album

- Nice work, Insound

- JK: Reunited bands with good new releases: Sleater-Kinney, Swervedriver and Faith No More

- JB: Pile's new album has a live feel to it

- Hard to categorize Pile

- To be continued

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_380_062315.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 6:24pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss hero worship.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout

- Scared of the stunt guy

- Watch out for the quiet ones

- Comic book movies and shows tend to be pretty dark

- Daredevil series on Netflix has been really good

- Matt: Dark Knight Returns series portrayed heroes as old and fat

- The problem with vigilantes

- Realistic fight scenes

- Why the Punisher hasn't worked as a movie hero

- Superhero comics target new readers

- Rebooting superheroes

- Iron Man's alcoholic years

- Fast and Furious series is quietly the most diverse

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_379_061615.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:25pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss hero worship.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout

- Bronies and furries, oh my

- Why would you want to run for office these days?

- Small-town politics

- Tearing down heroes on Twitter

- Avengers press junket goes awry

- Celebs stumble on social media

- Michael Richards, Mel Gibson go from beloved stars to pariahs

- Can you enjoy a Gibson movie now knowing what you know about him?

- When politics get in the way of entertainment

- To be continued

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_378_060915.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:02pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss hero worship.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's book, The Indestructibles: Breakout

- Matt founded Home For Wayward Geeks to rant about superheroes

- The problem with binge watching TV

- Superhero movies and TV shows are everywhere now

- Marvel's got a new movie coming out every few months

- Simon Pegg bites the hand that feeds him

- Comics are still big business, but the real money is in movies and merch

- Do we need superheroes?

- Matt: They're not going away until things get better in the real world

- We love to tear our heroes down

- Nobody likes a winner

- Robert Downey Jr. was a mess before he became Iron Man

- The Hugo Awards controversy

- People get all worked up over casting in comic book movies

- Matt doesn't get aniime

- To be continued

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_377_060215.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:55pm EDT

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1982.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Jay's #3

- Peter Gabriel's breakthrough

- Exploring dark themes

- Parallels between Eddie Van Halen and John Romita Jr.

- Brian's #2

- Descendents were very relatable to suburban teens

- Bass player was way older than rest of band

- Big influence on '90s pop punk

- Jay's #2

- Prince played 99% of the music on 1999

- Brian's #1

- Bad Brains were unmatched for sheer insanity and awesomeness

- Jay's #1

- Mission of Burma's only full-length during their first stint

- Broke up a year later, reunited nearly two decades later

- Next up: 1997

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_376_05262015.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 10:21pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1982.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Recording industry was warning of the evils of home taping

- Jay: Would tape my records so I could listen to them on my Walkman

- Streaming is convenient

- '82 was a good year for both hard rock and synth pop

- Guess the chart toppers

- Bubbling under albums

- Brian: Prince, Captain Beefheart, James White

- Nebraska was an interesting departure for Springsteen

- XTC releases another great record

- Jay: Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Van Halen

- Rush enters their synth phase

- Pete Townshend released another solid solo effort

- Joe Jackson blew up with "Steppin' Out"

- Brian's #5

- Jim Jarmusch's band made a splash on the no wave scene

- Jay's #5

- R.E.M.'s hugely influential debut EP

- Brian's #4

- The worst Lounge Lizards album was still pretty good

- Jay's #4

- Brian's #3

- Not the best Clash album, but a decent effort

- To be continued

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_375_051915.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:00pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1982.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Brian was born in '82

- "Ebony and Ivory" was the #1 song the week he was born

- Strange year for music

- The band Fear is better to talk about than listen to

- John Belushi's death

- SNL was a very different show at first

- Jay: Started watching SNL in '81-'82 when Eddie Murphy was blowing up

- The brilliance of SCTV

- Strange year for Ozzy

- First CDs were sold in Japan

- Big year for top 40

- Thriller was a monster hit

- The Who's "farewell" tour, sponsored by Schlitz

- The abrupt ending of "Young Turks"

- To be continued

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_374_051215.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 9:34pm EDT

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about whether songs have an expiration date.

Show notes:

- Critical writing about rock musicians is important and rare

- The corruptness of Rolling Stone reviews

- Songs that focus on obsolete technology

- Songs you like at first but grow to hate

- The problem with Red Hot Chili Peppers

- Goo Goo Dolls, Soul Asylum started strong but sucked later

- JK: U2 was once my favorite band, but not anymore

- The Strokes fizzled after a strong debut

- JK: Listen to a lot of top 40 thanks to kids

- Tidal and Pono

- Different relationship with music today

- Classic rock stations now include and overplay music from the '90s

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_373_050515.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 10:04pm EDT

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about whether songs have an expiration date.

Show notes:

- JK: After a bad breakup, couldn't listen to "Wild Horses" for years

- "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as a torture device

- Classic rock and top 40 stations overplay certain songs to the point of no return

- Indie rock is only played on college radio for the most part (in Boston, anyway)

- Parody songs are often dated, although Weird Al endures

- In the '80s and '90s, you could get sick of songs both on radio and video

- Playlists were very tight

- Pop and rock music steers clear of social issues nowadays

- More focused on personal statements

- Ted Cruz loves country

- UK acts disavow David Cameron's fandom

- Looking back not so fondly at the hardcore scene

- To be continued

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_372_042815.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:16pm EDT

This week, I talk to filmmaker Eric Green about the release of his documentary on the mid-'80s Boston music channel V66.

Show notes:

- We last spoke in 2012, when Eric was still working on Life on the V

- Previously appeared in episodes 231 and 232

- Movie's now out on DVD and in film festivals

- In 1985, MTV was still growing and smaller music video shows were on

- Two Boston radio veterans wanted V66 to be like a radio station

- Audiences who are unfamiliar with V66 have enjoyed the movie

- Long post-production process

- Cast and crew screening was in early 2014

- Founder John Garabedian quickly realized V66 couldn't just show videos

- Needed other programming to keep viewers

- Added wrestling, sports and lifestyle shows

- Original cut of movie was 2 hours

- Connecting to the Boston community

- Good response at festivals

- Developing other projects

- Great time for music documentaries

- Eric: It's as much a business story as a music story

 

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

 

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Direct download: CompCon_371_042115.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:51pm EDT