Wastin' Away on the North Coast
 

Tuesday, July 15 2008

Horrible Goodness

    Okay, okay.  Now I can reveal why I didn’t upload a new episode last week.  There was no “audio problem” [air quotes, please].  That was just our cover story.
    Simply put, there was no new show because ... how could we compete with this kind of Internet awesomeness?!

Sunday, July 13 2008

Episode 75: The Missing Episode

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, July 9 2008 (9:30 PM - 11:00 PM) at Joe’s Prime Time Pub. Brownstown MI
    “Also know as the “Bzz, bzz-bzz-bzz, bzz, bzz” Episode.  Schmoe, Greg, Scott, Mickey, DJ, and Mike engage in another fourcast, with disastrous results.”

    Mike is back in Houston, and our return to using a speakerphone was our worst attempt ever.  Maybe it’s because it’s the first time we’ve tried this at Joe’s Prime Time, maybe it’s because I don’t know what I’m doing, maybe I should set everything up before I start drinking; but, not only did we get GSM noise again, we got continual and constant GSM noise!
    I tried playing around with the recording but there’s no way to salvage it.  I tried turning it mono (using the side with slightly less buzz), I tried re-equalizing it, I tried various filters, but nothing worked well enough.  The more I try to phase out the GSM noise the more I lose in overall audio quality; and the less tweaking I do the more annoyingly unlistenable it stays.
    So here’s a compromise.
    Instead of the usual MP3 in our podcast feed, I’ve typed up a transcript of the recording.  Download the PDF here or read it below, and this way we can share what we recorded without your having to suffer through listening to it.  Pretend it’s just like one of our other shows.  Or get some friends together and act out all the parts.  (Make sure to use some kind of effect for Mike, such as talking into a coffee can.)

    For the heck of it, we turned the transcript into an ebook for Kindle, too.  You can buy it from Amazon’s Kindle Store (for a 99¢ fee, mind you) or you add it manually by downloading it here (for free).  We have a free ePub version as well, for iPads and Nooks.
    Update: added August 29, here’s an outtake, videotaped after the show, where Greg gives his review of the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker:

      >  Download Episode 75 as a PDF

Sunday, June 29 2008

Pine Knob Parrothead Tailgate

    This was back on June 10, of course, but I didn’t go through all the footage and edit it till today.

Friday, June 27 2008

Episode 74: Coverville

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, June 25 2008 (9:00 PM - 10:30 PM) at Joe’s Prime Time Pub. Brownstown MI
    “We’ve complained in the past about the prevalence of cover songs in Jimmy’s albums and on tour, but now, in a new North Coast fourcast, we choose what covers we do like. A big crowd tonight with Schmoe, Greg, Mike, Mickey, Scott, Patti, and Larry on the panel, with guest appearances by DJ, Nathan, and Rachel.”

    We had a huge turnout for this one.  Scott returned, Greg was back, and even past participants Patti and Larry showed up.  All making for a lively and loud conversation.  In fact, we had such a big crowd Scott and DJ sat at a different table, which explains why Scott sounds a bit off-mic. 
    The episode title obviously refers to the far superior Coverville podcast, at Coverville.com.  (There was talk of maybe using “Coveritaville” instead.)
    00:11 - it sounds like Schmoe says “Jew”.  This isn’t an edit, so don’t blame me.  That’s the way it sounds on the recording.
    00:17 - Patti hasn’t been on a panel since Episode 55, and, before that, way back in Episode 2.  Her homecoming might have been a bigger deal if she hadn’t just appeared in our tailgate recording two episodes ago.
    00:51 - Greg was really hoping to get a picture of Rachel when she came back to our room, so it was particularly funny when it was Larry who brought us our round of beers instead (at 03:55).
    01:21 - Margaritaville Rum, via Buffett News.  Out in September.
    02:24 - Nadirah Shakoor’s YouTube page.  ...Or is that iTube?  ...uTunes?  (Don’t forget to click “More info” for the full write-up on this video and her album.)
    03:22 - Join the Band info at Little Feat.net |  Link to Amazon’s page |  Link to iTunes’s soon-to-be-live page
    04:24 - This is the chef, at the bar’s entrance, of which Schmoe speaks.  And, as you can probably guess, Greg’s instruction to go left is deliberately incorrect (hence my comment).
    05:22 - note to self: the pig’s name is Rumpy and the boy’s name is Barley.  The book even states this on every chapter, but I still get them confused.
    05:53 - Famous Dave’s
    07:40 - Amazon link for Sonny Landreth’s From the Reach album
    08:15 - Amazon link for Jake Shimabukuro’s Gently Weeps album
    08:36 - the band is Pearl Jam, with their “2008 Bootleg Program”.  The concerts actually are available on CD, if desired, but are also available in MP3 or FLAC.
    Little Feat sells their concerts too!  Come on, Jimmy, start serving concerts at the Radio Margaritaville site!
    08:52 - I think this is what Larry is talking about
    09:34 - Commonwealth Displays
    10:51 - Link to Zodiac Racquet Club…as soon as they join the 21^st century and get a website
    11:40 - Scott is of the opinion we’re repeating ourselves with this episode’s fourcast.  He is part right.  In Episode 23, Covers Charge, one question in our fourcast dealt with our favorite cover song.  And now, all four parts of tonight’s fourcast deal with our favorite covers.
    19:58 - actually, it’s written by Big Al Anderson, Stephen Bruton, and Sharon Vaughn; and has in fact been covered at least twice.  Big Al Anderson’s version of “Trip Around the Sun” is on After Hours, available at Big Al Anderson.com; while Stephen Bruton‘s version is on Nothing But the Truth.
    20:04 - a Goldmine writer’s opinion on Covers vs Remakes 
    23:08 - feel free to add your own cricket sound effect here
    24:09 - a.k.a. Southgate Fireworks.com.  (And if those commercial breaks aren’t enough, why not another one?)
    26:03 - it irks me I studied the discography so carefully but I still forgot about the Margaritaville Café compilations.
    28:42 - Will Kimbrough - and, hey, he’s got a podcast!
    29:50 - Jesse Winchester
    30:55 - “California Promises” is off the Steve Goodman album Affordable Art, available at Steve Goodman.net
    31:04 - “Boats to Build”, written by Guy Clark, is the title track of his album and is also on Jerry Jeff Walker’s Cowboy Boots and Bathin’ Suits
    31:13 - “She’s Going Out of My Mind” is off Mac McAnally’s 1989 album Simple Life; and, by the way, “It’s My Job” is off his 1980 album Cuttin’ Corners
    33:46 - that’s Larry’s ringtone, which I guess, being written by Irving Szathmary, could be considered its own cover
    34:23 - I know, we’re all thinking it, but she was referring to her fists
    34:49 - the “U.P.” refers of course to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Did Rachel tell us she’s from St Ignace?  I don’t remember.
    35:57 - oops, I was supposed to edit that part out.  Cue the evil, Dr Horrible-like laugh!
    And finally, here’s another behind-the-scenes video from our recording session, with outtakes and deleted scenes.

      >  Download Episode 74

Saturday, June 21 2008

Episode 73: The Chicken Wrap Concert Wrap-Up Rap

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, June 18 2008 (10:00 PM - 11:00 PM) at Joe’s Prime Time Pub. Brownstown MI
    “Another look at Jimmy’s Pine Knob show, along with the final dates of the tour’s second leg, Mickey monologues about Saturday Night Live, and Rachel helps out with three — count ’em, three — jokes.”

    00:02 - for the record, Greg’s was the first hiccup, with Mike’s reenactment following.
    00:29 - no, it won’t
    00:46 - Thursday,  July 17, at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati OH
    00:57 - either Audacity or Vista.  I blame Vista.
    01:32 - courtesy of gingerbreadman at the Buffett News discussion board, here’s a WMV file of Jimmy and Mac doing “Coast of Carolina”
    01:53 - gingerbreadman comes through again with the complete pre-show interview from Pine Knob
    02:48 - chippewa, of the Buffett News board, offers a couple nice photos of Jimmy in the Red Wings jersey.  And this is Schmoe’s idea of a “Tin Cup Chalice”.
    09:25 - Greg insists he is mocking me with that pronunciation
    12:00 - I completely failed to mention the return of “We’re Still Here” during the MSG show for the only time this leg
    12:02 - once again I have misremembered.  Jimmy ragged on our follow-spot operator while introducing “One Particular Harbour” but mentioned him in New York during the introduction to “Cowboy in the Jungle”.
    12:12 - that errant voice is actually someone barging into the back room to see the new LED palm trees (shown in the preceding blog entry)
    18:30 - as always, this clip is edited for time
    19:22 - WDIV Channel 4 were also the geniuses who delayed Late Night with David Letterman an entire day for Our Gang and Barney Miller reruns.  WKBD Channel 50 was an independent UHF channel, but more recently was a UPN and now CW affiliate.
    20:50 - Buffett News’s story on the Little Feat album
    21:09 - Amazon link for Sonny Landreth’s new From the Reach album
    21:16 - the song is “Hell at Home”, but it’s only new if you’ve never heard Sonny’s album The Road We’re On from 2003.  Which I haven’t.
    21:43 - remember, Scenes You Know By Heart is only available at Walmart, Sam’s Club, and, of course, Mailboat Records
    22:35 - an old quote of Schmoe’s
    22:49 - as heard at the tail end of Episode 70
    23:03 - I know, it’s not.  This is.
    23:18 - Journey’s new lead singer

      >  Download Episode 73

Wednesday, June 18 2008

Patio Palms

    Check out the cool new decorations on the patio of our summer home, Joe’s Prime Time Pub.

Cocodeck

Cocodeck

Monday, June 16 2008

Episode 72: Two for One

Show Notes:
Recorded Tuesday, June 10 2008 (11:00 PM - 12:30 AM) at Pine Knob, Clarkston MI
Recorded Wednesday, June 11 2008 (9:00 PM - 10:00 PM) at Joe’s Prime Time Pub in Brownstown MI
    “A special double feature in the wake of Jimmy’s 2008 concert performance.  (Appearances by Scott, Greg, Jacob, Patti, her cousin Debbie, Schmoe’s daughter Kate, and others.)”

    Hey kids, it’s our second “Tales from the Parking Lot” show!  By the way, it might not make the best podcast for driving since there are a lot of car horns in it.  And now onto the show notes…
    00:39 - wrong again.  It’s Lynyrd Skynyrd.
    01:49 - thanks to gingerbreadman, of the Buffett News discussion board, we got to hear Jimmy’s Radio Margaritaville pre-show interview after the concert
    02:08 - according to Wikipedia, Pine Knob Music Theatre became DTE Energy Music Theatre in 2001.  That’s longer that I thought but still not long enough for Schmoe’s talk radio callers to be ignorant of.
    03:12 - the DTE Energy FAQ lists capacity at “15,274 Total *7,202 pavilion, *8,072 lawn seats”.
    04:11 - the Freep‘s Garden Fresh Gourmet article
    04:40 - at the tailgate the night before, Mike and Schmoe joked how they only needed to add milk to turn the Margaritaville “Island Lime” chips into a kid’s breakfast cereal
    04:57 - Scott related how he had witnessed a woman win the opportunity to board the Margaritaville party bus.  She presented a laminated certificate from WYCD 99.5 “Detroit’s Country” (née “Young Country”)—whose only claim to Buffett is the License to Chill album!—which had a booth near the front gates.
    05:42 - and here’s where we get invaded by the Prime Time Pub softball team.  They had been enjoying a celebratory meal on the patio, but it had been a muggy day and I guess the mosquitos were too bad and drove them inside.
    06:14 - because of Episode 67, of course
    06:26 - yes, it was only around eleven:o’clock when we started recording
    06:42 - recognize the little audio cue?  Can you guess where it originated?
    08:00 - my guess is Schmoe is referring to their July 17 2006 concert
    09:48 - yep, that’s right, back on July 20 1994!
    10:13 - incredibly, Palacenet did not put out a single port-a-john, even though the lot opened at 2 PM
    11:12 - that’s somebody driving over some glass
    11:40 - another Roger Clyne reference, this time to Mike & Schmoe’s fabled Circus Mexicus show where Roger urged to crowd to “pace yourself” ... until changing his mind near the end of the show.  Probably mentioned in Episode 69A but I don’t feel like listening to it to find out.
    13:36 - for those paying attention back in Episode 64, I bought one of Mike’s tickets and I sold my tickets to Patti and her cousin.
    13:47 - you can see our angle in my cellphone pictures, in the preceding blog entry
    18:42 - I Twitter’d on the road and during the concert
    20:29 - visit Sonny Landreth at Sonny Landreth.com
    21:25 - said because Jimmy had messed around with the song order at the June 5 Atlanta show
    21:33 - but, no one noticed we missed out on hearing the new “Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season” arrangement
    22:12 - said because Jake had announced the appearance on his website
    23:08 - some nice shots of Jimmy wearing the jersey, courtesy of chippewa on the Buffett News discussion board
    23:57 - just to set the stage: you can’t hear it, but the Tommy Bahama lady (and her beau) pull up in a second vehicle, as the Palacenet worker drives off
    24:40 - aw heck, why not: here’s a link to Tommy Bahama
    24:43 - a reference to Sharkjaws Adam’s appearance in Episode 71
    24:49 - evidently she though I said “Prove it” because she leaned forward and it really looked to me like she was going to undo her bikini top—and I wonder if that’s why her beau suddenly cut the conversation short and drove off
    26:47 - the True Colors tour
    28:24 - did you guess yet?  Did you?  It’s from the opening to “Dreamsicle”!
    28:30 - another Roger Clyne shout-out.  The song playing is “Ashes of San Miguel”.
    29:44 - maybe “daily” is too strong, I have no way of knowing.  But weekly?  Every other day?  Venues don’t clean their port-a-johns, do they?  Don’t they just have some company swap-in fresh ones?

      >  Download Episode 72