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.
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:
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.
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.
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].
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!
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
The Iron Cowboy just completed 50 iron man triathlons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days.
Feodor Vassilyev’s unnamed wife, who gave birth to 69 infants over the course of 27 pregnancies, of whom 67 survived infancy.
Jack LaLanne once towed 70 rowboats for over a mile, and makes a great juicer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This week Dave and Steel are joined by Steel’s graduate school buddy Eric. Together the trio share some recent life hacks, discuss the New Horizons spacecraft’s visit to Pluto (and its cargo of human remains), Sepp Blatter’s pope-blessed gold cross, and the strange phenomena of enormously popular online videos of other people playing video games. We grill Eric about all things Mississippi, his past life as an executive at Steve & Barry’s and a proud inhabitant of the Krzyzewskiville tent village, and his longstanding love for the Buffalo Bills, and Eric introduces us to the wild world of late 16th century English satire via the esteemed personages of Thomas Nashe and Gabriel Harvey. We round the episode off with great Mississippi-connected music from Bob Dylan, The Weeks, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Mavis Staples, and Mountain, and Eric drops some book wisdom from Friedrich Nietzsche about the dangers of believing that we can achieve objectivity.
This week Dave and Steel discuss highlights in NBA draft fashion, Dave’s opinion of the film Jurassic World, play another version of Lost the Plot with the Stallone/Schwarzenegger film Escape Plan, share some unjustly forgotten Biblical baby names, induct the newest member of the Off the Chain Hall of Fame, share some great America-inspired music from John Wayne, Ray Charles, Neil Diamond, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Brother Ali, and James Brown, and drop some moving wisdom from a famous July 4th speech by Frederick Douglass.
