Completely Conspicuous

This week on Quarantining With Kumar, I talk about how life has changed drastically in a short period of time because of COVID-19. Show notes: - Recorded while driving around to get some essentials - Day 5 of self-quarantine, working from home - The state of Massachusetts has pretty much closed all non-essential businesses - We haven't experienced anything like this before (in my lifetime) - Life after 9/11 was weird, but got back to normal fairly quickly - Some states have implemented "shelter in place" rules - Social distancing is the big buzzword - Public gatherings are outlawed - Spring breakers defied warnings - Everything's getting canceled: Sports, trips, concerts - We need to stay home to keep virus from spreading - Most people I know are complying with the quarantine - Musicians are doing livestreams instead of concerts - Optimistic this will end soon, but it's hard to tell - Watching out for older folks who are more susceptible

I talk to Phil Stacey and Dave Olson about baseball's cheating scandal while we drive to a rock concert. Show notes: - Recorded on the way to see the Drive-By Truckers in Somerville, MA - Not the first cheating scandal in MLB, but this has a different feel - Houston Astros accused of stealing signs on the way to 2017 World Series - Every team cheats in some way or another - "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" - Corked bats, scuffed pitches - Baseballs were juiced last year to generate interest - The sport is fading in popularity - Too slow for short attention spans of today's society - Steroids in the late '90s were ignored in favor of home run records - Did the punishment fit the crime? - Astros were fined and lost draft picks, but could have been worse - MLB didn't expect this to blow up; former Astro revealed it in an interview - Public reaction has been loud - Two other teams have fired their managers who had connections to Ast

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and aging. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - '90s butt rock is alive and well in New Hampshire - Marlins will soar, according to Scott Stapp - Commercial rock radio is dying - In the mid-80s, rock radio was thriving in the Boston area - Brian has satellite radio - GNR/Smashing Pumpkins touring this summer - The evolution of Sugar Ray's sound - Mark McGrath is always working - The Cameo economy - Talking to musicians - The ubiquity of Henry Rollins - The musician deaths have always been plentiful - 10 years ago, we lost Jay Reatard, Teddy Pendergrass, Doug Fieger, Mark Linkous, Alex Chilton, Malcolm McLaren, Dio - So many big names in rock are getting older - Eagles have continued to tour without Glenn Frey - Surviving members of Nirvana have reunited for charity shows - Rush will never play another show - R.E.M. has never performed together since their breakup -

I'm joined by guest Brian Salvatore as we discuss rock stars and aging. Show notes: - Recorded via Skype - Brian's first appearance on the show in two years - The rock deaths keep on hitting us hard - Neil Peart's recent death was surprising and shocking - Brian: Not a big Rush fan, but respected them - A couple of really good documentaries about the band - Rush followed their own path - Andy Gill of Gang of Four kept touring and recording right until he died - Big deaths that impacted us - Jay: Peart, Gord Downie, Bowie, Prince, Tom Petty - As a kid, remember Randy Rhoads, Bonham, Bon Scott, Keith Moon - Later, Cobain and Layne Staley - Tortured artist syndrome - Meanwhile, the Stones keep chugging along - Brian: McCartney is still amazing live into his 70s - Neither of us has seen the Stones live - Brian: Regret not seeing classic acts at least once - Prince played crazy long shows - Getting harder to stay out super late - "Farewell tours"

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead album Go to Heaven. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - The Dead transitioning into a new decade, the '80s - Cover may have given fans the wrong idea - Short outing at only 38 minutes - One of the least favorite studio albums among Dead fans - Phil: A real mish-mash - Contractual obligation: Third studio album in four years - AOR was getting big - The Godchauxs were gone - Brent Mydland brings a smooth Michael McDonald vibe that is off-putting - Grateful Dead keyboard players : Spinal Tap drummers - Some Dead classics on this album: Alabama Getaway, Althea - Didn't make another studio album for seven years - Jay might go see Dead & Co. with Phil at some point - Phil: This is their second-worst album - Lost Sailor doesn't work - Three straight Weir/Barlow songs - Saint of Circumstance could be an '80s sitcom theme song - Bob Weir loves the short shorts - Hey, we used

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead album Shakedown Street. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - First ep of the new decade - Shakedown Street came out in '78 - Lots of musical stuff happening: Disco, punk, new wave, hard rock - Disco wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be - Jay: No guilty pleasures: If you like it, you like it - The Dead were coming off a triumphant '77 - This was a contractually obligated studio album - Lots of influences thrown in: Funk, disco, African jazz, rock - Met with savage reviews - The version of "Good Lovin'" here pales in comparison to the live version, especially when Pigpen sang it - The last album with Donna and Keith Godchaux - Title track gets slagged as bad disco, but we dig it - Shakedown Street is now the name of the merch area at Dead & Co. shows - Pressure was on from Clive Davis for them to have hits - This album was produced by Lowell George of Little Feat

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite albums of 2019. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Breitling's #4 - Former Boston act now relocated to Nashville - Perfecting her sound - Kumar's #4 - Introspective album that topped my midyear list - Sweeping, synth-driven songs - Breitling's #3 - Worthy follow-up to classic mid-'90s indie pop release - Expansive and experimental - Kumar's #3 - Return to rocking from for NJ punk stalwarts, produced by Bob Mould - Surprisingly succinct from a band known for 8-minute epics - Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #6 - Majestic final release from artist who tragically took his own life right after it came out - Backed by the band Woods - Kumar's #2 - Third release from Toronto punk-pop act - Writing about frustrations of getting older - Breitling's #1 - Recently released instant classic from Boston indie rock act - Frontman Ryan Walsh wrote album after

It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite albums of 2019. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - The top 10 - Breitling's #10 - A surprising solo debut from a veteran rock legend - Kumar's #9 - Raw shoegaze effort from Brooklyn act changing its sound - Breitling's #9 - Electronic album with an analog feel released late in the year - "Crust ambient" - Kumar's #8 - Power pop-punk album about the aftermath of broken relationship - Great album cover - Breitling's #8 and Kumar's #10 - Strong release from shoegaze pioneers - Trying some different things - Breitling's  #7 - Shoegaze duo from California that likes to take its time - All killer, no filler - Berniece's sleep aggression - Kumar's #7 - Second release from indie legend's latest band - Embracing '80s hard rock sound - Breitling's #6 - Used to call this band the Steve Miller of indie rock - Opinion has changed, especially with the la

It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2019. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - This program is not affiliated with Moviefone - A decade of talking rock - Near - Breitling: Had time to listen to a lot more music this year - The Billie Eilish vs. VH debate has been raging for a while - Kids don't know or care about music from 10 years ago, let alone 35 - A lot of butthurt older music fans getting worked up for no reason - Most kids have zero interest in classic rock - Listen to what you want - The "OK Boomer" phenomenon - When music becomes something on in the background - Breitling needs to see Idiocracy - The albums that didn't make our top 10 lists - Breitling: Floating Points, Rroxy More, Top Down Dialectic, Katie Dey, Max Richter - Kumar: Mikal Cronin, Ty Segall, Mark Lanegan, Trinary System - Mission of Burma's second act may be done - Breitling: Juana Molina, Bedroom

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies. Show notes: - Going over some of our favorites of the decade - Jay: Haven't seen a lot of critical faves - Both enjoyed Blackkklansman - Toy Story 3 is the best of that series - Matt: Beasts of the Southern Wild was a stunner - In the Loop is profanely excellent - Jay never saw Inside Out; Matt says it's borderline educational - The traumatic sadness of Disney movies - Don't ban offensive old movies - Stereotypes in older movies stick out - The series 24 was so over the top about torture and terrorists - Writing for women's roles in the '80s was pretty awful - Post-9/11 jingoism - Good Sorkin: The Social Network - Bad Sorkin: The Newsroom - When older celebs are trending on Twitter - Matt: In praise of Monsters - Timothy Olyphant is great - Matt needs to watch Justified - Black Mirror is predicting everything - The Americans is an excellent show - Ma

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 b

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

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

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! T

It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the past decade. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Breitling's top 10 aren't ranked in order - JB's #10: 2014 compilation of singles by Cookies - Experimental stuff, hooks galore - JK's #10: Magnum opus by Titus Andronicus (2010) - Sprawling album with lots of guest stars, loosely based on Civil War - JB's #9: Breakout 2013 album from Speedy Ortiz - Hot '90s indie rock sound - JK's #9: Double album from Toronto's Fucked Up (2011) - Sound of hardcore singer fronting Velocity Girl - JB's #8: Dan Bejar brings the heat in 2011 with Destroyer - Catchy '80s yacht rock vibe - JK's 8: Jeff Rosenstock's post-election response (2018) - Deals with disappointment and hitting your 30s - JB's #7: Snowball II with an early '90s homage (2017) - Produced by Kurt Heasley of Lilys - JK's 7: Epic 2013 release from Queens of the Stone Age - Near-death experience

It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the past decade. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - We did this 10 years ago, a little differently - Ten years is a long time inside a car - The shift from downloads to streaming - Not everything is available from streaming services - iTunes didn't die, it was just split up - Music can also disappear from streaming services - Original MP3 players only held a handful of songs - The kids like the vinyl - Concerts business has evolved: Bands are playing smaller venues - Who the hell are the Chainsmokers? - Bands we like can't fill hockey rinks - Nobody's making money off albums - It's all merch - Vinyl and box sets are big bucks - Lots of reissues - Albums that didn't make our top 10 - Breitling: Releases from Lubec, Funeral Advantage, Hop Along, LCD Soundsystem - Kumar: LCD Soundsystem, Grinderman, Arcade Fire, Wild Flag, Sloan, Destroyer, METZ,

I'm joined by guest Steve Zisson as we discuss the new sci-fi short story anthology he compiled, A Punk Rock Future. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Take 2 of our conversation after the first one didn't record - A Punk Rock Future is available on Oct. 8 - Book mashes up Steve's love of punk rock and science fiction - Inspired by other self-published sci-fi anthologies - Steve and I go back to the late '80s when we were both newspaper reporters - Later worked together at three different companies - Zisson: Love for sci-fi started with the original Star Trek series - Wrote sci-fi in his teens, but then went into journalism - Jay: Realized that chemical engineering wasn't the path for me and decided to go into journalism - Zisson: Got into music in the mid-'70s, including early incarnation of the Cars (R.I.P., Ric Ocasek) - Was going to see bands like Queen, the Kinks, Roxy Music before checking out early punk acts - Saw Ocasek and Be

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album Blues for Allah. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in September 1975 - The band's highest-charting album until 1987 - Very non-commercial record - Jay: The best thing about the album is the cover - Moved in a much different direction from previous album - Band had stopped touring after From the Mars Hotel - Mickey Hart was back - Also in 1975, Zeppelin had released Physical Graffiti, Talking Heads and Sex Pistols played their first shows, disco started hitting the charts - Phil: Very sparse, subdued jazz-rock album - Studio songs are blueprint, but they change after repeated live playings - Dead fans were used to changing sounds - The live show was the thing - Commercial success was less important to the band and its fans - Some songs on this album went on to become concert staples - Not a lot of bands that have fans following

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album From the Mars Hotel. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ on the 13th birthday of the podcast - The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in June 1974 - Watergate hearings were the big news story - Beer was a lot cheaper back then - In '74, there was a good variety of rock acts releasing important albums, plus funk - Mars Hotel had some classic Dead songs - Phil Lesh sang two songs, which was rare, and Bob Weir had one - Garcia is in prime form on this record - The Dead was touring with the "Wall of Sound," a massive "distortion-free" speaker setup - Playing larger venues - The cost was so high that they eventually quit touring for a few years - Maybe the last great Dead studio album - The Grateful Dead Movie was taken from the final shows of this tour - Working out new songs in the live setting - Rivalry between lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow - The Dead would

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Gary Barth as we discuss the concertgoing experience. Show notes: - Recorded in Gary's car on the way to the show - Driving before and briefly after an Iron Maiden concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA - Jay: Big fan of club shows - Like to get up close to the stage - The downside of theater shows - Some shows are made for big venues - Getting your face melted by Ty Segall - Demographics: We're the target market for Maiden, but often among the oldest when seeing newer acts - If you were 30 when you saw Maiden during their early days, you're pushing 70 now - Still weird to be "the old guy" - No institutional knowledge of what came before - Gary: Raised our kids on the Beatles - Jay: My kids love Taylor Swift; at least she writes her own songs - I listen to a lot of pop these days when I drive the girls around - Making the kids listen to your music - Gary: We played Beatles Rock Band a lot as a family - Will we still go to rock shows as senior citizens? - No such t