Completely Conspicuous

November 2019
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Tue, 26 November 2019

Completely Conspicuous 520: Streaming for Vengeance

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies.

Show notes:

- This decade has flown by

- 10 years ago, Matt was getting ready to move to Ireland

- Hard to rank the best movies and TV because there's so much we haven't seen

- Recording on the day that Disney+ launched

- Some bugs because of the huge demand on day 1

- Biggest change is the move to streaming content

- Binge-watching has become a huge trend

- Spoilers abound

- Jay: Don't read reviews until after I've watched something

- HBO's Watchmen series is pretty good

- So easy to fall behind on a show

- Shows switch to different streaming services

- We're so distracted that many people are doing multiple things while watching a show

- Short seasons are appealing because you can finish them quickly

- Rare to watch shows live

- Matt watched final season of LOST from Ireland, live with his family via a laptop

- Similarly, there's so much new music being released but a lot of it doesn't get heard

- Radio stations play a lot of the same music over and over

- More and more original programming on non-traditional outlets: PlayStation, Amazon Prime, Apple+

- So many streaming services available now

- The end goal is to replace your $200 cable bill with an equal amount spent on streaming services

- Jay: Cut the cord three years ago, went to all streaming

- You can't get everything

- Takes a long time to decide what to watch sometimes

- Sometimes we watch two different things while in the same room

- Seeing movies in a theater is great, but dealing with other people isn't

- Stay off social media if you don't want spoilers

- Jay: 10 years ago, I was watching late night talk shows every day

- Now, watch clips online the following day

- Jay: Haven't seen a Star Wars movie since 1983

- Something to be said for holding onto hard media

- Bringing back dead actors using AI

- Deep fakes are freaky and amazing

- Superhero movies became big moneymakers in the last decade

- The Shining happened because Kubrick was at a low spot and needed a hit

- The new Fantasy Island reboot is a horror movie

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_520_112619.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:06pm EDT

Tue, 19 November 2019

Completely Conspicuous 519: Cornell '77

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead bootleg Cornell '77.

Show notes:

- Recorded at CompCon world HQ

- Talking about Dead show recorded on 5/8/77 at Cornell University

- Phil: Listened to this hundreds of times

- Jay: Very impressed by the bootleg

- Phil: The show was so random

- Dead had taken some time off from touring from '74 to '76

- By spring of '77, band was firing on all cylinders

- Phil's parents wouldn't let 8-year-old Phil see the Dead on that tour

- A lot of live albums are unnecessary

- But a great live recording is transcendent

- Phil: Early Chicago with Terry Kath on guitar was a great live act

- The Dylan and the Dead live album was a dud

- Phil Lesh: The Heineken Years

- Clapton's MTV Unplugged album was awful

- Jay: Solo Clapton is terrible

- Phil doesn't like Thin Lizzy

- The Dead has 36-minute versions of songs on their bootlegs

- Phil has around 125 Dead boots

- Figuring out which songs flow well into others

- Phil: The version of "Morning Dew" on this bootleg is the best

- Plenty of snow at that show, inside and outside

- Love when bands change up the setlist every night

- When you get sick of songs you love

- Somehow we start talking about "The Day After"

- AC/DC's music is more complicated than you think

- Phil would set his time machine to 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_519_111919.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 8:35pm EDT

Tue, 12 November 2019

Completely Conspicuous 518: Terrapin Station

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station.

Show notes:

- Recorded at CompCon world HQ

- The Dead's 9th studio album

- Band had signed with Clive Davis and Arista

- Album was produced by Keith Olsen, later known for slick AOR albums by Eddie Money, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Heart

- Phil: Would get a tattoo of the Terrapin cover

- Cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is pretty lame

- Live, the cover turns into a long jam (duh)

- Donna Godchaux was featured a lot on this record

- Side 2 is an side-long suite written by Hunter and Garcia

- Band didn't tour for this album after Mickey Hart got in a car accident

- The tour before this album was legendary for Dead fans

- Tried songs out live before they made it to studio recordings

- Side 1 closes out with a Donna G. song that sounds nothing like anything else the Dead has done

- The Godchaux marriage was splitting up while they were in the band

- Olsen erased Hart's drums on one song and replaced them with strings

- Lyrics on Terrapin Station are pretty dense

- Relatively short album for the Dead at 35 minutes

- Phil: These songs got better in the live setting

- Jay: A lot of filler on side 2

- Album feels like a contractual obligation

- Dead & Co. plays part of the title suite now

- Phil: Not a John Mayer fan, but he's a good guitarist

- Jay: Not a fan of this album

- Next: Cornell 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_518_111219.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:33pm EDT

Mon, 4 November 2019

Completely Conspicuous 517: Top of the Heap

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we conclude our countdown of our favorite albums of the decade.

Show notes:

- Recorded at CompCon world HQ

- Kumar's #3 of the decade: Parquet Courts cements their post-punk presence (2014)

- Impressive body of work with an art-rock vibe

- Breitling's #2: Johnny Foreigner's self-produced magnum opus (2011)

- Breitling was running a JF-themed blog for a while

- Kumar's #2: A punk explosion of political anger from Superchunk (2018)

- Still vital after all these years

- Breitling's #1: Post-punk legend Walter Schreifels' debut solo album (2010)

- Sincere folk rock with incredible hooks

- Kumar's #1: Bowie's final album was a masterpiece (2016)

- Recorded in secret with an unknown jazz band

- He thought he had more time, but died a few days after the album came out

- That's a decade

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

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Direct download: CompCon_517_110519.mp3
Category:Completely Conspicuous -- posted at: 7:07pm EDT