Category: Podcasts

Posted on

Episode 34: A Mighty Wind

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined by Dave’s old neighbor Zac, an accomplished pianist (you probably know him from his work with world-renowned Neil Diamond cover band Diamond in the Rough or his life-changing guest session with George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars at a Barack Obama inauguration with the Congressional Black Congress in a DC hotel) and holder of a five-year chip for meritorious bus driving in the Mesa Unified School District. He’s a big deal, obviously! In addition to Zac’s “expert testimony,” in which he explains the cultural value of jazz to the philistinic hosts, and gives some tips for avoiding disciplinary hearings as a high school bus driver, the trio share the latest in Vin Diesel developments, some great music featuring wind instruments from Beirut, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Vulfpeck, and Tjupurru, and Dave drops some great vehicle related wisdom from Flannery O’Connor’s novel Wise Blood.

Links

Vin Diesel: Running on Gas

  • Vin’s a must-follow on Instagram
  • The Last Witch Hunter is less than one month away.
  • Although the search for a director for Fast & Furious 8 continues, Vin promises a closing trilogy for the series.

Unchained Melodies

Songs with wind instruments

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage was chosen by Dave and comes from Flannery O’Connor’s first novel Wise Blood.
Featured image for the post by Tom Marcello

Posted on

Episode 33: Small Town USA, Small Talk, To the Limits, Great Moments in Advertising History, OTC Hall of Fame, Unchained Melodies: 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and "Pig in First Person"

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Jordan to discuss Dave’s recent move to a small town in Arizona, cover some small talk topics, describe some extraordinary feats of human endurance, great advertisements featuring pro athletes and attorneys for local markets, induct the newest member of the OTC Hall of Fame, share great music from The Bacon Brothers, Arcade Fire, Stan Rogers, The Tragically Hip, Fujima and Miyagi, and Kenny Loggins, and share a wrenching poem by John Levy, a Tuscon-based poet who works as a public defender.

Links

Small Talk

To the Limits

  • Terry Fox ran with one leg across Canada to raise money for cancer. The 30 for 30 documentary Into the Wind tells his story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIBLJn48IpU

  • Filip Müller was a Jewish prisoner of Czech origin who was forced to serve on the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz. He was one of a very few crematorium workers to survive Auschwitz.
  • Hesham Modamani and Feras Abukhalil, two Syrian refugees who recently swam from Turkey to Greece.

Great Moments in Advertising History

Athletes in Local Commercials

Scottie Pippen for Submarine sandwiches

Some Incredible Lawyer Commercials

OTC Hall of Fame

Lawyer Mike

This guy is incredible. Just watch his videos and you’ll understand.

Unchained Melodies: 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Book Wisdom

Today’s selection for book wisdom, “Pig in First Person” is a poem from John Levy‘s collection Oblivion Tyrants Crumbs.

Posted on

Episode 32: Back to School, Expert Testimony: Ed Tech and Uvula Facts Edition, OTC Disaster Movies, Unchained Melodies: Back to School Edition, and Two Poems

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined once again by their friend Josh. They share back to school memories (lots of bus ride reminiscing), ask Josh about his loved of technology, pedagogy, video games and uvulas, and then Dave and Steel share some great music from Pulp, The Korgis, Modest Mouse, Blackalicious, Bombadil, and Camera Obscura, before Steel ends the episode by dropping some anti-teacher book wisdom from Roger Waters and Philip Levine.

Links

Expert Testimony

Israeli researchers explain the purpose of our uvula.

Unchained Melodies: Back to School Edition

Book Wisdom

This week Steel read the opening lines from the immortal Roger Waters’ poem “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” and Philip Levine’s “M. Degas Teaches Art and Science at Durfee Intermediate School, Detroit 1942“.

Photo by Internet Archive Book Images

Posted on

Episode 31: Men's Hair Care Tips, The Apocalypse, Unchained Melodies: Apocalypse Now Edition, and The Circle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

We know that we missed a week (Dave was moving his lucrative nursing practice to a new city), but we’re back, and this episode is more than worth the wait. Our friend Josh joins us to discuss hair care and grooming tips for men, several flavors of apocalypse (he and Dave are experts on the topic!), we play end of the world themed music from Wyclef Jean, Nena, Barry McGuire, Tom Waits, Tool, and Echo & the Bunnymen, and Dave shares some dystopian book wisdom from Dave Eggers’ most recent novel The Circle.

Links

Hair Care & Grooming Tips for Men

  • Dave recommends Garniet Fructis’ now-discontinued Surf Hair product.
  • Steel once bought some Malin+Goetz hair pomade. The one time he used it was pretty nice.
  • Josh is a big fan of Brut spray-on deodorant, especially when applied in poorly-ventilated locker rooms. Do everyone a favor and use a ton of this stuff.

The Apocalypse

Some recommendations, sorted by type of apocalypse:

Natural Disaster

    • Waterworld, obviously.
    • The Mad Max franchise
    • The Age of Miracles, a novel about time slowing.
    • Deep Impact & Armageddon 

Disease

Rage

  • Pontypool. Rage as a disease transmitted through the spoken word.
  • The Signal. Technology spreads rage!

Alien Invasion

Zombies

  • The Zombie in Film (FULL ESSAY: Parts I, II, and III)
  • Maggie
  • World War Z
  • Fido
  • Warm Bodies
  • Shaun of the Dead
  • Zone One
  • 28 Days Later
  • 28 Weeks Later
  • Night of the Living Dead Franchise
  • Walking Dead
  • iZombie (not apocalypse, just living as a creature among humans.)

Vampires

War

  • Hunger Games
  • The Postman
  • The Road
  • The Terminator Franchise
  • Fallout Video Games

Religion/Act of “God”

Zombie Preparedness Resources

Unchained Melodies: Apocalypse NOW! edition

Book Wisdom

This week’s edition of Book Wisdom comes from Dave Eggers’ satire of the new media and tech industries, The Circle.

Photo by Abode of Chaos

Posted on

Episode 30: The Skunk & Following People, Expert Testimony: Lexington, Kentucky Edition, Ask OTC, Unchained Melodies: Songs About Animals, and The Seed Beneath the Snow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined once again by their friend Julia. Together they share stories of spying and following people, quiz Julia about all things Kentucky and ancient Greece, answer listener questions about Vin Diesel, eighteenth century literature and college, share great music from Beth Orton, Hayden Thorpe, David Gray, Joanna Newsom, Warren Zevon, and CocoRosie, and Steel shared a passage from Ignazio Silone’s novel The Seed Beneath The Snow.

Links

The Skunk

Dave recommends the children’s psychological thriller The Skunk by Mac Barnett.

Expert Testimony

Ask OTC

  • Check out Vin Diesel’s fake beard in his new witch-hunter movie.
  • Carry your book in a wagon when you go to college kids. That is all.

Unchained Melodies

Beth Orton — Dolphins

Hayden Thorpe — Goodbye Horses

David Gray — One with the Birds [Bonnie “Prince” Billy cover]

Joanna Newsom — Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie

Warren Zevon — Werewolves of London

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDpYBT0XyvA

CocoRosie — Werewolf

Book Wisdom

This week’s edition of Book Wisdom comes from Ignazio Silone’s The Seed Beneath the Snow, the third novel in his Abruzzo trilogy, which also includes Fontamara and Bread & Wine.

Posted on

Episode 29: Greatest Ever Haircuts, Small Talk, Everyday Heroes, Unchained Melodies: BECK!, and Bartleby, the Scrivener

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined by their friend Julia to discuss their best and most memorable haircuts, the recent revival of the Yul Brenner sci-fi classic Westworld, a huge, beautiful net that’s been installed over Boston’s Greenway, and lower level Spanish football jerseys made to look like ham. The trio also give respect to a trio of everyday heroes, share six favorite songs from Beck’s incredible, eclectic musical career and Julia drops some books wisdom from Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”.

Links

Small Talk

  • Westworld, a fantastic film starring Yul Brenner was so good that HBO has decided we need more, much more [Dave].
  • This net over the Greenway in Boston is awesome. We should have one everywhere [Julia].
  • Some lower league Spanish football uniforms have been made to look like ham [Steel].

Everyday Heroes

  • Tate Peschka, one of Dave’s coworkers at the Anasazi Foundation [Dave]
  • My mom. No but seriously. She broke her kneecap recently 🙁 — poor mom. She’s a good mom though. Also an anesthesiologist. Very impressive word to teach your kids to say. [Julia]
  • Arnold Abbott, this 90 year old guy in Broward County, Florida who has been serving meals to the homeless for decades in memory of his now deceased wife. Got arrested and made the news recently [Steel].

Unchained Melodies: Beck Edition

Book Wisdom

This week, Julia presented the concluding paragraphs of Herman Melville’s classic short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener“. Ah Bartleby! Ah Humanity!

Posted on

Episode 28: Expert Testimony: Self-Help, Teen Boys and Tull edition, To the Limits, Ask OTC, Unchained Melodies: Jethro Tull Forever, and The Things They Carried

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

He’s back, by popular demand! Following up on last week’s amazing appearance, Dave and Steel bring back their old buddy Matt Howard. In this episode, Howard explains his love of self-help books, troubled adolescent boys, and Jethro Tull, the trio discuss the incredible exploits of the Iron Cowboy, the unnamed peasant woman who gave birth to 69 children, and Jack LaLanne, take some great listener questions, put together a life-changing Jethro Tull musical marathon and drop some sobering book wisdom from Tim O’Brien’s collection The Things They Carried.

Links

To the Limits

Ask OTC

Paul O’Neill — A True Yankee

Rickey Henderson — The Greatest Basestealer of all-time

Jim Abbott’s No-hitter

Unchained Melodies — Jethro Tull Edition

Skating Away (on the Thin Ice of a New Day)

Bungle in the Jungle

Bourée

Life is a Long Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE8YLPHZImw

Thick as a Brick

My Sunday Feeling

Book Wisdom

This week’s passage came from the opening story of Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam book The Things They Carried.

BONUS TULL!!!!

Aqualung

Posted on

Episode 27: Ode to Summer, Great Moments in Advertising, Small Talk, OTC Money, Would You Rather?, Unchained Melodies: Unrequited Love Edition, and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined by their old friend Howard. Together the three of them discuss their shared love of water parks and share recent child-related misadventures in public pools, cover some great moments in 1990s advertisements, cover the eight benefits of saunas, what it’s like to write political speeches for a dishonest moron, and the return (to Netflix) of Reading Rainbow. They also introduce a new segment, OTC Money, in which they give advice for buying a car, play a few rounds of would you rather, share heartbreaking melodies of love and loss by Dr. Hook, Van Morrison, Biz Markie, Pepe Aguilar, Phil Collins, and The Contours, and Howard shares some book wisdom from the storyteller Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years about how to make your life into a meaningful story.

Links

Great Moments in Advertising

Wendy’s — Where’s the Beef?

Listerine — Tarzan Song

Mountain Dew — Do the Dew

Honda — The Cog

Small Talk

Unchained Melodies

This week we tackled songs on the theme of ‘unrequited love.’ Watch out, there were some real heartbreakers.

Dr. Hook — Sylvia’s Mother

Van Morrison — Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do

Biz Markie — Just a Friend

Pepe Aguilar — Directo al Corazon (Por Unas Monedas)

Phil Collins — Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_qgSs65-mY

The Contours — Do You Love Me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhqmD1aVuNw

Book Wisdom

Howard chose this week’s passage from Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

Posted on

Episode 26: Summer Fashion, OTC Friendship, Unchained Melodies: 90s Hip-hop One-hit Wonder Edition, and Master & Commander

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week Dave and Steel are joined once again by Dave’s nursing compatriot Katie. Together the trio discuss the latest in summer fashions (including the longstanding battle for GOAT between seersucker and white linen), Off the Chain friendships, share great timeless music from Nate Dogg and Warren G, Tag Team, Wreckx-N-Effect, Coolio, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Vanilla Ice, Partners in Kryme, and Wee Papa Girl Rappers, and dave drops some amicable hilarity from Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series.

Links

Summer Fashion Musts

Here’s Steel’s & Dave’s guide to this summer’s must-have’s

  • Seersucker [classic]
  • White Linen Suits [will literally never go out of style. God himself wears these.]
  • Polo shirts with animals embroidered on them (like Izod, Lacoste, etc.)
  • Any male short with at least 4 inches of skin above the knee
  • Espadrilles
  • DIY/Home-made jorts and tank tops
  • Overalls. Just great for people of all ages. But not sexy overalls. Just regular ones.
  • Athletic shorts +black crew socks + slip-on men’s sandals
  • Mom jeans. High waisted, of course. Bonus points for pleats or acid/stone wash.
  • Puff paint t-shirts, XXL or bigger.

OTC Friendship

  • Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. Who are these guys? Only the greatest friends in all of literature, that’s all.
  • Han Solo and Chewbacca. Renegade and wookie who owes a life debt. What more could you ask for.
  • Seinfeld and Costanza. The very model of neurotic, outraged, nebbish friendship.
  • Elliot and ET. Interspecies comraderie at its finest.
  • Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. Not all friendships are healthy. Remember that.

Steel also wants to recommend Charlotte Delbo’s amazing Holocaust memoir, Auschwitz and After.

Unchained Melodies

Nate Dogg & Warren G — Regulate

Tag Team — Whoomp, There it Is

Wreckx-N-Effect — Rump Shaker

Coolio featuring L.V.– Gangsta’s Paradise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGbzYlnz7c

Sir Mix-A-Lot — Baby Got Back

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony — Tha Crossroads

Vanilla Ice — Ninja Rap

Partners in Kryme — Turtle Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YceSXH9kRrE

Wee Papa Girl Rappers — Wee Rule

Book Wisdom

This week Dave (and Steel) read two passages demonstrating the literary friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series.

Posted on

Episode 25: Summer Movies, On Death and Dying, Ask OTC, Unchained Melodies: Funeral Music, and Preparing for Death

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

On this week’s episode, Steel and Dave are joined by Katie, Dave’s friend and fellow nurse. Together, the trio discusses favorite summer blockbusters from their adolescence, discuss their views on death, modern medicine, and what constitutes a good death, answer listener questions (in which Dave confesses his most embarrassing medical secret) and endure another of Katie’s lightning round of questions. They end the episode with great music from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Silver Jews, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Neil Diamond, The Weather Girls, and Lisa Hannigan, and some deep wisdom from the Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus’ treatise “Preparing for Death”.

Links

Summer Movies

  • In God’s Hands [Steel]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzenjcClUBU
  • The Goonies [Katie]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFEfHCJG4G4
  • Star Wars: The Phantom Menace [Dave]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD7bpG-zDJQ

 On Death and Dying

Unchained Melodies

Bonnie “Prince” Billy — I See A Darkness


Version Two:

Silver Jews — Random Rules

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole — Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Neil Diamond — Hell Yeah

The Weather Girls — It’s Raining Men

Lisa Hannigan — Safe Travels, Don’t Die

Book Wisdom

Today’s passage came from Desiderius Erasmus’ classic treatise De Praeparatione ad Mortem [Preparing for Death].