Episode 71: We’re Baaaack!

It took Steel three weeks to get this episode edited (which explains all the Valentine’s Day references in early March) but we’re back! This week Dave and Steel make a new induction to the OTC Hall of Fame (congratulations public libraries!), give you some new topics to discuss in another installment of Small Talk, praise two everyday heroes, shared six great songs from Esmé Patterson, Graham Parker & the Rumour, Saintseneca, Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam, Dr. Dog, and Keaton Henson, and drop some book wisdom by the satirical French novelist David Foenikos.

Links

Off the Chain Hall of Fame

 

OTC Hall of Fame

This week we’re inducting the public library into our Off the Chain Hall of Fame! The greatest idea in the history of Western civilization? The last bastion of pure idealism in the United States? Yes and yes. We think you’re great, public libraries. Thanks for everything!

Small Talk

Everyday Heroes

  • Bike Batman, this otherwise pretty boring normcore guy in Seattle who confronts bike thieves and returns the bikes to their rightful owners [Steel].
  • Scott Mills, the man who stood inside the U-Haul truck while we emptied my house and somehow found a way to fit all of my family’s possessions inside this truck [Dave].

Unchained Melodies: Songs for each other

Book Wisdom

Steel read a passage from David Foenikos’ hilarious satirical novel The Erotic Potential of My Wife [thanks to Ewa Miernowska for the recommendation!].

Featured image by Jan David Hanrath

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

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!

Episode 22: Adventures in Homeschooling, Small Talk, Expert Testimony: Parenting and Creativity, Everyday Heroes, Unchained Melodies, and I Hate To Leave This Beautiful Place

This week Dave was out, so Steel had to hold down the fort without him. Fortunately, Rose and Emeline were available, and together the three of them had a delightful time, discussing Rose and Emeline’s homeschooling experiences, a newly discovered connection between the brain and the lymphatic system, the survival ability of the word ‘mother’, and the surging greatness that is emoji. The three of them also discussed some of the challenges of parenting and their struggles to balance familial commitments with the desire for a creative life, what it’s been like raising boys, the style era they’d feel most at home in, and three everyday heroes (all women) they wanted to praise. In this week’s edition of Unchained Melodies, the focus was on songs sung in languages other than English, and they shared great sounds from Fran Jeffries, Peter Pan Complex, Ana Tijoux, Natalia LaFourcade, Glen Check, and Super Furry Animals, before Rose shared some moving book wisdom from an Inuit folklorist recounted in Howard Norman’s memoir I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place.

Links

Small Talk

Everyday Heroes

Unchained Melodies

Fran Jeffries — Meglio Stasera

Peter Pan Complex — 자꾸만 눈이 마주쳐 (Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)

Ana Tijoux — 1977

Natalia LaFourcade — Aventurera

GD & TOP – 집에 가지마 (Glen Check Remix)

Super Furry Animals — Ymaelodi Â’r Ymylon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdUx2SYOiEk

Book Wisdom

This week’s edition of book wisdom was read by Rose, and came from Howard Norman’s memoir I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place.