Wastin' Away on the North Coast
 

Wednesday, May 14 2008

Schmoe’s Extravagant Circus Mexicus Blog

    Despite what we said earlier, it looks like there will be no new show this week.  Schmoe and Mike are heading to Roger Clyne’s Circus Mexicus, and Schmoe needs time to prep on how to say “Puerto Peñasco”.  We’ll have a new show next week, where we can discuss our fantasy setlists, and, presumably, hear stories of Mexico.
    Update: Text messages from Schmoe, sent Friday, May 16:

We were able 2 go to m’ville cafe glendale  so we can charge trip 2 scott’s paypal acct

I am making… Waffles!

    Update update: now that Mike and Schmoe are back, we found out the reason Schmoe’s IMs stopped so prematurely.

First of all, I must tell everyone that my cell just plain stopped working in and around the border.  No chance at Cholla Bay.  I would have loved to keep my texts going.  Especially if Mick was going to run his own Twitter site for me on our blog, it would have been funny to see them in order.  At least for me it would have been.  I apologize for starting some hours later than I should have and then ending abruptly.

    Update update update: photos from the trip are now available in our Photo Gallery.

Tuesday, May 13 2008

Episode 68: Go Set Lister Go

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, May 7 2008 (9:30 PM - 10:30 PM) at Joe’s Prime Time Pub, Brownstown MI
    “For a short episode this sure took a long time to edit.  Schmoe, Greg, and Mickey see out our second year and kick off our third looking back at the tour’s first leg and looking ahead at
a new project.  (Special appearance by Jen.)”

    00:00 - This week’s cold open was stolen from the Retro Crush podcast, episode #137.  Learn more at Retro Crush.com.
    00:42 - ah, the old opening music, repeating our tradition of bringing back our old theme on our anniversary shows
    02:04 - DRANO: “Downriver Area Narcotics Organization”
    03:45 - pretty sure Jimmy meant Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Which I guess means he did.
    04:13 - included since that has to be the scariest sounding fan ever!!!
    06:07 - sorry, we had no windscreens
    10:11 - share your fantasy setlist at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
    11:50 - more on this in Episode 71
    14:01 - most likely she’s in the background of Episode 41
    15:15 - Grand Theft Auto IV had been released a week earlier (April 29 2008)

      >  Download Episode 68

Saturday, April 26 2008

Episode 67: The Heartbreaker Kid

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, April 23 2008 (9:30 PM - 11:00 PM) at Joe’s Prime Time Pub, Brownstown MI
    “We’re still here too!  With the start of our new season and Jimmy’s concert tour
coinciding, we bant—  I mean, we discuss the new setlist.  (Panel includes Greg, Scott, Schmoe, Mickey, and, once again in person, Mike.  Cameo appearance by DJ.)”

    00:12 - quite the long mid-season break, eh? Take THAT Battlestar Galactica!
    00:30 - and in sports, the Tigers trounced the Texas Rangers 19 to 6 and the Pistons beat the Philadelphia 76ers 105 to 88.
    00:36 - the deck had been recently stained and the smell of it was filling up the back room
    01:07 - Landshark Lager
    02:08 - the full quote, “It’s pronounced ‘Canada’; and, no, I haven’t”, comes from a Labatt Blue commercial (YouTube link)
    03:06 - in the previous episode, Schmoe went on a rant about the lack of any irony in the Alanis Morissette song “Ironic”. It was cut for time.
    03:29 - Kirsten’s phone call, as mentioned in Buffett News
    04:13 - St Louis Today article, via Buffett News
    05:05 - first mentioned in Episode 63
    06:31 - score by John Williams, of course
    07:44 - “Skip to the end”: a Simon Pegg quote from Spaced, available at last in the US on July 22 2008 and highly recommended
    11:07 - Commonwealth Displays
    11:14 - according to Wikipedia, Radio Margaritaville started streaming in 1998 before being picked up on Sirius in 2005
    12:35 - admittedly a not so subtle riff on the Monty Python “Knights of Ni” scene
    13:27 - we learned later that Scott’s playout music is the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow”.  And my song is arguably Eric Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues” (though technically I only stepped out to go to the lavatory; I did not actually leave the bar).
    No playout music for Greg, Schmoe, or Mike though, unfortunately.  The jukebox had stopped playing by then.
    14:06 - my 1989 setlist page
    15:57 - learn more about The Goners at John Hiatt.com
    21:05 - as mentioned in Episode 64
    26:16 - my 1992 setlist page
    26:25 - despite Mike contributing in person, we still get goddamned GSM noise!  Scott is innocent since he had actually left by this point.  I can’t say for sure, but i’m tempted to say Greg is to blame since I seem to recall him fiddling with his phone at this time.
    36:30 - as discussed in Episode 64
    Agree with us?  Disagree?  Let us know at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

      >  Download Episode 67

Sunday, April 20 2008

Episode 66: When the Song Hits Home

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, April 16 2008 (9:00 PM - 11:00 PM) at Zodiac Racquet Club, Southgate MI
    “Another season winds to a close as Greg, Mickey, Scott, Schmoe, and Mike review the Glendale AZ mini concert.  And we bring back the fourcast, as Schmoe quizzes us on our favorite Jimmy Buffett performances.  Share yours at podcast_at_northcoastcast.com.  (Special appearance by Jennifer.)”

    What?  Another show?  Yes — partly because Mike is still in town and partly because concert season is starting to heat up, we’re getting back into our weekly shows routine.
    Re: title.  You’ll have to pardon the slight paraphrasing of the song lyric.  It sounds better, for our purposes here.
    01:26 - Roy Orbison’s Black & White Night on Blu-Ray
    01:26 - in Episode 65
    01:55 - recorded April 11 at the Gothic in Englewood CO, available from the Live Music Archive at Archive.org
    04:23 - compare for yourself: Pita Jungle vs Jungle Java
    04:54 - which of course means next week it will be Scott’s favorite concert ever
    12:32 - the 41^st Country Music Awards, hosted by Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus, were broadcast two nights prior (Monday, April 14)
    16:23 - as captured in Episode 20
    16:39 - previously mentioned in Episode 15
    17:01 - this was in 1992, but Jimmy also did three shows around the Fourth in 1993
    17:57 - also discussed in Episode 63
    19:07 - Mike and Schmoe are referencing the Roger Clyne lyric “The kids are lighting firecrackers, boom boom boom” from “Counterclockwise”
    19:48 - this was possibly my first Jimmy Buffett concert too.  I was too drunk to remember any of it, but I do have this cool tour button as a souvenir…

    20:44 - available on my 1993 setlist page.  The story behind this: I talked my brother into bringing his wife and younger daughter to this show.  They were up in the lawn, and during the show a woman was coaxed into taking her top off for the cameras.  I was mortified, thinking such debauchery would scandalize my young niece.  I hoped that they might not have seen it ... only to find out afterward it had happened only a few feet away from them!  Jimmy made mention of the incident in his song introduction. 
    22:49 - no, I did not get mess up the title.  I simply did not pause enough between “Night” and “live”
    24:47 - available on my 1995 setlist page.  I’m not sure, but it might have been Tropic Depression Six which was spawned by Hurricane Erin.  The story behind this: I had clumsily given myself a head injury (hitting myself in the forehead with a tire iron while changing a flat, if you must know) and it required four stitches.  The doctor instructed me to make sure to keep the bandage dry—and here I was, the next day, standing in an all-day rainstorm!
    27:45 - Amazon’s link for the Music for Montserrat DVD.  (The audio clip is no longer hosted on my site, as I deleted it once the DVD went on sale.)
    30:37 - available on my 1989 setlist page
    30:56 - available on my 1996 setlist page
    31:06 - available on my 1987 setlist page
    31:17 - one which is available on my 1997 setlist page
    31:27 - one which is available on my 1992 setlist page
    32:05 - as you can probably guess, the pretense of calling Scott back was because our big finish was recorded prior to the podcast, when Scott was still present
    33:27 - Lake Michigan car ferry

    Note: I keep forgetting my setlists site is so old most of the content is still in crappy-sounding (and, in most cases, no longer playable) RealAudio.  I had intended on linking my fourcast list to the respective audio clips on my old LADI34T site, but I’m reminded it will be necessary to redo the clips to make them more listenable.  Something new for my To-Do list.  Stay tuned.

    P.S.: the “banter” count for tonight’s show is 8

      >  Download Episode 66

Tuesday, April 15 2008

Episode 65: Pirates, Banditos, and Beach Bums

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, April 9 2008 (9:30 PM - 11:30 PM) at Zodiac Racquet Club, Southgate MI
    “The boys are back from their road trip weekend (seeing Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers
in Ferndale and Chicago) and they’re full of stories.  Let the mancrushing begin.  (Cameo by Jennifer.)”

    Show notes to follow.
    By the way, I did a photo-dump of all my Ferndale pictures and all my Chicago pictures over at my dot-Mac gallery.

      >  Download Episode 65

Sunday, March 30 2008

Episode 64: Fun Tickets in Our Pockets

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, March 26 2008 (10:00 PM - 11:30 PM) at Zodiac Racquet Club, Southgate MI
    “Between the last episode and this, it was announced that Jimmy is coming back to
Pine Knob and tickets have already gone on sale. Schmoe, Greg, Texas Mike, Hud, Mickey,
and Scott share their ticket-buying stories, with guest appearances by Jennifer and Lee.”

    00:19 - a topical reference to Hillary Clinton and her questionable memory on the campaign trail
    00:51 - Greg's "smelled bad" comment is in reference to the pitcher of water Jennifer just brought
    01:10 - the international sign for water is reportedly holding up three fingers
    02:03 - the Pistons lost to the Raptors, 89 to 82
    02:20 - Houston is the site of the tour's opening night, Monday April 21
    02:39 - Landshark Lager
    02:57 - Scott's brother's wrestling podcast
    03:23 - Straight Guys Who Love Show tunes, a member of the PodSchmoe podcast network
    03:58 - the first newspaper ad
    04:16 - #1 Overall Live Event on TicketNews.com, via Buffett News
    04:45 - Jen had a hole in her top. She was wearing a sweater top with white and navy blue horizontal stripes, and the hole was right along the bust line. She lucked out at least that the hole was right in one of the blue stripes, so it was almost hidden in the dim light of the Zodiac back room. Update: you can see the hole in this picture.
    05:03 - the tour page at Jake Shimabukuro's website
    05:28 - "Tonsil Trouble", South Park Episode 1, Season 12. Watch it here. Once again, this clip has been cut for time as well slightly re-ordered for clarity. One remarkable element of the clip is that they knew enough to use a modern-day Jimmy but they gave him the Live By the Bay band!

JB on South Park

    08:18 - Landshark was the drink of choice on the March 7 edition of the Diggnation podcast. Watch it here. (Thanks go to Listener Ed for dropping us a line about it.)

Landsharks on Diggnation

    09:13 - Advertising Age's article on Corona, via Buffett News
    09:55 - links for Miller Chill, Tecate, Dos Equis, and Bud Light with Lime
    10:20 - for one poker night long long ago Mike showed up with some lime-flavored tortilla chips. It was so outlandish we never let him hear the end of it. We had no idea how ahead of his time Mike would be ... but we still give him hell over it.
    11:53 - introducing my new Samson H2 Zoom recorder. We switch now from the Core Sound mics and my Edirol R-09 recorder to the H2 Zoom which we could hand off between us
    12:57 - according to Schmoe this came from Family Guy Episode 6, Season 1, "The Son Also Draws". Watch it here.
    14:22 - not counting TicketMaster's additional charges, our $134.50 tickets included $3 for "traffic control", an $8.50 "venue fee", and $1 for Jimmy's Singing for Change charity
    14:51 - first discussed in Episode 61
    22:50 - as heard in Episode 63
    26:58 - this is what we're talking about




      >  Download Episode 64

Thursday, March 27 2008

Tragic Accident

When someone you know and care about dies as a result of a freak accident, it knocks you off your feet.  [...]  You think that what you’re seeing and hearing is so wild that it can’t possibly be happening.

That’s how many of my friends and neighbors in the Caseville area are feeling as they try to take stock of what happened to Judy Zagorski on Thursday [March 20].  Zagorski, a Caseville resident, was killed in Florida when an airborne spotted eagle ray hit her while she rode in a boat driven by her father.  The accident was so incomprehensible that it made new reports across the nation.

I met Judy through her long association with the Cheeseburger in Caseville Festival, the 10-day party that transforms our village into Key North, a tropical paradise each summer.  Judy, and her husband, Steve, who died in his own nightmarish way in December 2005 after complications from routine shoulder surgery, were among the original organizers of the festival.

Judy was what you call a “people person.”  She was sweet and kind and generous, almost to a fault.  If you met her, you liked her.  It was automatic.  She became an instant friend, someone who would do anything she could for you.

People in our tiny resort town will remember her vibrant smile, her great sense of humor, and her humanity for years to come.

— Taken from Dave Vizard’s Bay CIty Times column, via MLive.com