book.record.beer

The boys are back for this one! Nick Gregorio joins us to talk super heroes, male friendship, and what abv is just too much. Some fun facts about The Veils are dropped and Nick M. finds himself in a very mega way by the end. Cheers!

Billy Joel is back, along with male fragility washed down with a Tastykake infused brew. Shit got weird.

"Fantasia is the first music video" ... - Daniel Difranco Season 8 is going to be great. -NM

Our 7th annual Franco Christmas Cast!!! Such a pleasure to welcome Franco Fiorini into the basement for another holiday cast. We started with store brand (it's fine) peppermint espresso poured over vodka and called a martini and it was delish. We could not handle the album. At all. Nor will you, but we should all give it another listen to be sure. Dickens crushed as usual, and this vingette seven years senior to his seminal Christmas Carol lets us, the modern reader, into his affection for this holiday of good will and redemption. Friendship and fellowship abound. Cheers to the beauty of companionship over these seven years!

A very special spooky cast with the always lovely Kailey Tedesco! Author of a new book of poetry about the mother of the Jersey Devil, Kailey picked an incredible cast for us. A translated story from Korean author Bora Chung, the 2014 offered from Button:Pusher, and the Von Trapp brewing keystone Vienna Lager. We chat childbearing, birth control, loss, and that weird time when She and Him dominated the airwaves.

This month we're joined by Tik Tok sensation, Nick Perilli, to discuss cosmic horror, classical music, and a seasonal offering from New Ridge Brewing.

A couple of paisanos dig into the gorgeous and anti-linear LEONE by Giandomenico and Colafella and somehow find their way to Mitamu's incredible debut Sunflower in the east, all while drinking that Italian standby, Peroni.

Nick and Dan dig into Kristen Arnett's debut short story collection "Felt in the Jaw" from Split Lip Press. Consumption and self indulgence with a suburban backdrop coupled with a dollop of copulation and (warning) sexual abuse. There was a lot to unpack. Nick then unveils the rare find from a Youtube hole "The Flying Lesbians" and the fanboy-ing begins. Here it is: https://youtu.be/sqhlRo1fiH0 ENJOY! Then we drink some beers. Cheers! Happy belated PRIDE to all. We love you. Goodnight.

A lil Nick and Dan cast! Do we need others? What makes a great artist? What kills a great artist? Can you dig it?

A lil Nick and Dan cast to start our seventh season of Book Record Beer. This was a joy. Kirsten Reneau's gorgeous "Meeting Gods in Basement Bathrooms and Other Ways to Find Forgiveness" is a fucking gift of a chapbook and we dig in substantially to themes of loneliness and reconciliation, among others. Tom Waits' "Alice" takes the record portion of the cast as a soundtrack to a play that prompts the dudes to consider what it means to be a creative, particularly a weird one. And in honor of basement bars Nick and Dan have a few city wides, yellow bellies, and other beverages one need listen to the episode to understand. Thank you all for listening for 7 seasons. A lucky one this one shall be.

2 Nicks 1 cast. A BHM cast focused on a novel in verse entitled Punching the Air by one of the exonerated 5 Yusef Salaaam and poet Ibi Zoboi, Dead Prez's seminal 2000 album "Get Free" and Partake brewing's IPA. The Nick's chat about radical insight and change, the purpose of art, and what remains. We hope you enjoy and love you for listening.

Our dear friend Franco Fiorini joins us once more for our annual holiday cast. The irking story for A Christmas Story in Jean Shepherds "In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash" is lapped up like an 8th glass of wine while Bing Crosby's manifest destiny of an album, "A Christmas Story" is run over like a penny on a transcontinental railroad. Hometown hero Yuengling and Hershey come together to bring back some holiday cheer as the boys cheers to another holiday past and a brilliant new year.

We welcome our dear friend Kailey Tedesco to the show and revel in her choices for this late halloween cast. Shirley Jackson's posthumous "The Possibility of Evil" is explored along with the satanic doo-wop stylings of Twin Temple and of course Tired Hands own "Hail Santa" with a fitting abc of 6.66%. Ring in the new year with some freaky shit from the old. We love you and will see you soon! A million thanks to Kailey as always for her insight and expertise!

What's a 3 month delay between friends? Part technological snafu, part scheduling conflict, and a big part of laziness is bringing you this cast...finally! This time it's just a little ol' Nick and Dan talking David Sedaris and the heart of comedy, Domi and JD Beck and pushing the art forward (in this case, jazz), and sipping on an Octoberfest...when it was fashionable to do so. Thanks for listening, and we'll be hitting your ears with Episode 8 before the month is out!

Beers! Fridge buzz! Buddies bullshitting over brews! After 18 months away from eachother, we dusted off our traveling mics to record in person. We met the poet Francis Daulerio at Forest & Main brewery and chatted about Kafka's The Metamorphosis, White Lighter's album Typhoon, and the various drinks we had at Forest & Main. Be sure to check out Fran's newest poetry collection, JOY, wherever books can get got. (psst. here— https://www.unsolicitedpress.com/store/p373/joy.francisdaulerio.html )

Up, up, and away! This month we're back at it with another graphic novel. This time it's the last Superman story you'll ever need to read with All-Star Superman. We follow it up with the lads out of Dublin, Fontaines D.C. with their third 3 release in 4 years, Skinty Fia. And finally, Daniel has an IPA he might actually like in the Dieu du Ciel Moralité. Gather up your humanity and join us. Thank you as always

Robin Black's crushing collection "If I loved You, I'd Tell You This" is the subject of this cast as we dive into her title story. Notions of love and how we spend or share it are explored along with the the very real notion that god might be fiction himself. Canadian punks White Lung give us the record for this one with their second album "Sorry". A truly excellent under 20-minute onslaught of the best Bikini Kill inspired hardcore one could imagine. Unfortunately Apple Music fucked Daniel's copy of the album so he has very little to contribute. Lastly, Nick M. drinks a White Claw with tequila while Daniel has his standby Guinness and Gregorio once again gets the marque with Tree House Brewing's "Spring". This one felt really good. Perhaps the Nick's had more than a few minutes of sleep the night before. CHEERS!

Morbid romance cast! Our dear friend Kailey Tedesco joins us with some killer picks in Carmen Maria Mechado's "The Low Low Woods" a graphic novel set in a burning Pennsylvania town. She also chose Olivia Rodrigo's album "sour" and Gregorio brings the beer with Workhorse Brewing's "Bonfire Nights" smoked lager. Trauma is the main course in this cast as the graphic novel deals with notions of inherited trauma and the act of giving consent to remember. We love having Kailey on and hope you all check out her many gorgeous books of poetry as well. Cheers!

We welcome very special guest Eric Weingarten for the Daddy episode! Hours before Nick Gregorio becomes a father and months after Nick M becomes one for a second time the crew gets together to discuss Wells Tower's only fiction collection "Everything Raged, Everything Burned," Fever Ray's self-titled album and Icelandic brewery Einstok's arctic berry ale. Notion of manliness and fatherhood arise as do Gregorio's alarming difficulty with IKEA furniture.

After a brief absence from good ol' Nick M, the boys are back Thin Lizzy style with their good friend Franco for our traditional holiday cast. Season six will be an interesting one pivoting to short story collections instead of novels. (diversify baby!!) We get into UK author Angela Carter's holiday trip between myth and Puritanical rejection of joy with her story "The Ghost Ships: A Christmas Story" from her collection "American Ghosts and Old World Wonders." Nostalgia reigns as we dig into Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack to the special of the same name and finally imbibe the brews we've come to love over the holidays as well as some new concoctions we've found this year. We thank you all for listening and hope this offering brings some joy in these fading hours of 2021. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

One of our favorites to date, the Nick's and Daniel dive into Roberto Bolano's seminal work, "The Savage Detectives" in the hopes of making sense of the enigmatic form and poetic prose. What it means to engage with art and ultimately become an artist is explored as well as the importance of paying homage to the artists that have come before and the necessity in blowing them and their work to bits. The fellas jump from the Mexico city of the detectives over to Tokyo, Japan to engage with post rock beauties TOE and their 2012 offering, "The Book About My Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety" the bands second full-length album. A gorgeous instrumental work packed with tasteful movements in a number of genres and ultimately the assertion that the drums fucking wail. Nick M. ends the show by pounding a 24 oz Modelo Chelada of mango and chile for no good reason beyond he is alive, as are we all, so enjoy good art and beer. Cheers!

Native American myth starts this Gregorio cast with Stephan Graham Jones' acclaimed "The Only Good Indians" and moves the dudes to consider genre, sports writing, and who our Elk Head Woman might be. Pelican's "Nighttime Stories" is universally agreed to be the best soundtrack for the book, especially the horrific sweat lodge massacre scene, and sour liquid of the variety of goses and blackberry mojitos imbibed make for a delicious end to a blast of a cast. NOTE: there are a few moments of "in and out" with Gregorio's mic. Such is life. SMOOCHES

A very special Nick Mehalick cast, this one was done with pride. The prophet James Baldwin's brilliant "Giovanni's Room" frames the cast as the guys discuss masculinity, sexuality, the human condition, and what it means to be othered. Themes of invisible social contracts and just how dramatic we Italian's can be are explored. The soundtrack for the text, M83's "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" follows the book ala Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz, a strange trip for sure but one that is equally fitting and equally French. Lastly, the classic French beer by Kronenbourg brewery, the 1664 is downed and followed by the French Canadian Unibroue brewery's Ephemere.

This time it's a little ol' Nhick and Dan joined by guest mw brooke (who we call Michelle, spoiling her disguise). We talk James Salter's 1979 novel, Solo Faces, and the individual's pursuit to the self and the eternal...yeah, it was that kind of cast. We seque right into Sparklehorse's 2001 album, It's a Wonderful Life. The whole album is briiliant and we discuss colloboration and if an artist really only has 1 great or defining work in them. We wash it all done with different sours: Nhick and Dan on the Rodenbach Grand Cru, mw on Ecliptic Peach Sour (some fancy shit micro from Portland). We hope you dig this one as much as we did talking about art and booze.

A Gregorio cast!! A debut novel from K. Chess following a pair of displaced refugees from an alternate timeline on earth has the dudes contemplating the difficulty of sci-fi and how a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. Minnesota rapper/drummer P.O.S. kills on his 2012 album "We Don't Even Live Here" and has the gents contemplating cancel culture and what makes a dance song a dance song. Lastly, everyone gets wrecked on some Belgium Triples. The end! ENJOY!

A vaxxed and hammered Daniel brings you this very special St. Patty's episode amplifying Black artists. Nuff said.

A depression cast, a perspective cast, whatever you make of it this was a fun one for us. This cast was chosen by Nick Gregorio and explores an ode to Jack Kirby with Mister Miracle by Tom King, Philadelphia natives Nothing and their recent aptly titled release The Great Dismal, and finally Treehouse Brewing's "Haze". we talk the value and role of the artist in our current culture, what it means to write an ode and make it your own, and contemplate nearly a year apart. Cheers and be well.

Dear listener, find a comfortable seat or treadmill or walking path and prepare to get frustrated and enlightened with us as we unpack postmodernist Italo Calvino's seminal work, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. It's a book about reading, being a reader, writing and being a writer...but is it? We take a trip to Argentina and hang out with the wholly unique and experimental artist Juana Molina before kicking back after a 15 hour day with Southern Tier's Lakeshore Fog. Dig.

THEE Book.Record.Beer Holiday coast host Franco Fiorini joins the gents for this one as they dig into Gogol, your favorite authors favorite author, offering of a Ukrainian folk tale drenched in his own wit and told through the critical lens only Gogol could possess. They weep for the soul of a nation exposed through Pheobe Bridger's EP of Christmas cover songs and make it all better with the cause of and solution to all of life's problems, the beer this time being Corsendonk's perfect creation, their Christmas Ale. The gents try and decide what make a Christmas thing and Christmas thing and if art really can save the soul of a people. The last cast of 2020 sees a group of men deciding to take some time to spend with one another as a way to combat this awful year and the numerous ways 2020 has tried to extinguish the human spirit. Yet it prevails. Cheers and love to everyone as we try to do and be better.

Season 5, Episode 2! The boys dive into Megan Giddings's sci-fi, horror, and very timely novel, LAKEWOOD, before discussing The Mars Volta's 2005 release, Frances the Mute. They wash down the heaviness of the book and record with Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron while pontificating the merits and pitfalls of small-batch breweries and pizzerias, and waiting in line. Happy Thanksgiving listeners! If you are reading this, we are thankful for you

Season 5!!! We made it!!!! A Nick Gregorio production brings us Edgar Allen Poe's classic "The Cask of Amontillado while Daniel brings us the Poe expertise. We dive into Ghost's anti-metal metal album Meliora. And all the dudes have their own autumnal brews. Nick M. sips on Harpoon brewery and Dunkin Donuts offering of the Dunkin Pumpkin. Daniel sucks down some Great Lakes Nosferatu and Gregorio chugs some Free Will Scarecrow. It's all good fun and a beautiful start to season 5. Thank you all for listening. We promise to start getting better.

We finish our 4th year with one of our favorite writer's on as a guest! Kailey Tedesco, author of She Used to be on a Milkcarton, and Lizzie Speak, among others, chose Candice Wuehle's haunting "Death Industrial Complex," a poetry collection channeling late photographer Francesca Woodman. We also, dig into the synth-heavy (ala Little Feet, etc.) Purity Ring and their 2012 album Shrines along with the Pumking beer. We remember macabre moments with our grandmother's and why this just might be one of the most interesting times to be reading poetry. Cheers to four years!!!

This month's cast is brought to you by Gnick Gregorio. We've assembled in our respective studios with not one, but two guests! Author and editor of Trident Press, Nathaniel Kennon Perkins joins us to talk about indie publishing and his collection "The Way Cities Feel to Us Now." And, Cody Bluett of Dweller talks to us about their latest album "Aquarium." Crack open a *Mike's Hard Lemonade or spiked seltzer and **listen along. *please don't **please do

Serendipity! Kismet! Fate! Chance! Like minds! Whatever the reason, or lack thereof, this was a very special cast. The gents has the very special pleasure of welcoming celebrated author Bud Smith to the cast for this one. Author of the novel "Teenager," memoir "Work" and short story collection "Double Bird," Bud is a humorous and very real voice in American literature. He weighs in on Mikhail Bulgakov's masterpiece "The Master and Margarita," as well as Murder City Devils' "In Name and Blood" while Nick M. knocks back North Coast brewing co's "Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout." And all before noon. This is a fun one and we are so very thankful for Bud's good taste in reading The Master and Margarita and singing its praises a week or so before recording so we could invite him on the show with us. A grand time was had by all. Enjoy and thank you for listening!

Larry Brown was a firefighter for 16 years. Then he quit to write stories. This is a cast focused on his memoir about this time coupled with the lead singer of hardcore punk band Defeater's solo project "Alchoa" and Workhorse brewery's "Pure" light craft beer brewed using traditional Japanese sake ingredients and techniques. We dive into the metaphor of fire, following passion, and finding outlets in this fucking chaotic state of change that is 2020.

Remote Cast No. 3: This one was a Daniel cast. Two sexy and sad offerings are discussed in Jeanette Winterson's "Written on the Body" and Jeff Buckley's "Grace." The dudes are not unified in their beer endeavour due to social distancing, but Gnick dipped into his stockpile and drinks and talks Levante Brewing's Tickle Parts. Tune in as we discuss love, loss, memory, 40 under 40 lists, and artists realizing their potential. Pop in the buds and get sad, little birds.

Gregorio dorkd out hard on this and gave us not one but TWO eu novels (one graphic!) in the Star Wars universe, Alphabet Squadron and Tie Fighter. He also picked Rush's seminal 2112 and a delightful beer named Light Speed from Toppling Goliath brewery. The dudes talk genre fiction, elitism, joy, and what the fuck it means to still care about things and do the thing in a pandemic. Hell yeah! Ode. To. Joy

Remote quarantine cast with Nick M. and Daniel went surprisingly well given the conditions and topic, suicide. Camus' essay regarding suicide as the essential philosophical question is explored along with his suggestion that we imagine Sisyphus happy. Can we? Can you? Listen and find out. We discuss Cornell's lyrics, the importance of Superunknown for the band and the era, as well as the impact a single creative person can have on an entire community. Then Nick combines a Rolling Rock and a Shiner Cheer and essentially the cast is over. Stay tuned after the credits for a classic 90's move and a secret "song." Dig. Wash Your Fuckin Hands. Stay distant and stay healthy.

Top 3 Book.Record.Beer casts brought together by the glory that is The Alchemist Luscious Imperial Stout. A graphic interpretation of the classic epic Beowulf and from there it only gets better. This was one for the ages, quite literally.

Nick M. picked this one. Our first memoir in Paul Lisicky's "The Narrow Door," covers nearly 30 years of a life of love, loss, and friendship. Goddamn that is such a reductive summary. What we find in this beautiful work is the nuance of feeling that comes from a thoughtful and poetic observer of one's own life. Lisicky pairs with Smith in this way as we are drawn into the pain of a life by way of a beautifully restrained voice that plants tiny mines in the mind to be set off when one feels the same panic or pain. DISCLAIMER: We did not find St. Ides and instead drank some Old E. It happens. The craft revolution is upon us. We are bette for it. But a 40 now and hen won't kill you. ENJOY

"Zero out of zero pieces of flair because we don't do flair on Cohen," -Franco. This quote sums up another incredible calendar year and Holiday Cast with our great friend Franco Fiorini. A gorgeous posthumous album from Leonard Cohen brought the dudes together after various takes on Stewart O'nan's "Last Night at the Lobster." Some say we read too much into it, others thought it wasn't enough. Regardless, the Mon Cheri touched this Italian crowd in its amaretto souls and tickled the maraschino of wit within us all. What am I even saying anymore? Who knows, it's the holidays and this one has been filled with friends and laughter and a family made from the love of literature, music, and beer. May the new decade bring your mon cheri your way. From your friends at BRB, we look forward to another decade with you. Smooches.

Episode two gets dark. The Black Friday cast has little to do with consumerism (except for the obvious {cough} pop music {cough}) and more to do with the a grotesque darkness that one needs to engage with to get through this thing we call life. The Book of X is for all of us one of the great masterworks of 2019 and perhaps this new millennia. It is a comment on the time in a world that belongs to Etter alone. The dudes disagree to varying degrees regarding the supremely talented Billie Eilish's debut full-length but all loved Trillium's delicious black IPA. We test each others mettle throughout and frankly, if Nick M would have shut up a bit would have pumped out one of our most solid casts. Cheers!

It has been one of the great pleasures of my life to sit down with so many incredible people and talk about the things that keep life worth living every month. It has been 3 years and this feeling has yet to wane so I know it's got to be real. Unfortunately one of my favorites had to be absent for this particular cast but Gregorio was in our hearts as Daniel, myself, and our good friend Eric Weingarten got into their beloved Edgar Allen Poe and his story William Wilson. We dig into this doppelgänger tale, the power of the Simpsons treehouse of horror episodes, as well as My Bloody Valentine's incredible album "Loveless" and Victory brewing's "Festbeer." Thank you all for listening the past 3 seasons and we hope you stick around for everything set to come.

The last episode of season 3 and Nick M. totally blew it on the book choice. Some teachable moments regarding what not to do when writing fiction permeates the first third of the cast but then he TOTALLY REDEEMS HIMSELF with the music choice of Annuals seminal debut lp "Be He Me." GNick then brings it home the gorgeous Vermont Pilsner from Lost Nation Brewing. In all seriousness, we here at Book.Record.Beer was to sincerely thank everyone who listens each month and continues to do so with each passing episode. We love literature and music, beer and friendship and are so glad you choose to share those things with us as well. Cheers to 3 years!!

After nearly 3 years the guys are finally revealing their back to school songs and stories. Each cast mate picked their favorite piece of literature to start the school year as well as the song that carries them into week one. Gregorio was kind enough to bring us back a Perfect Day IPA from his recent trip to Asheville Brewing Company down in North Kakalacky and the boys ponder what their perfect teaching day would look like.

The fellas are joined by Jaime Fountaine—author of MANHUNT, host of Tire Fire, comedian, Danzig apologist—to talk Steven Dunn's POTTED MEAT, getting bumped for Janeane Garofalo, falling in holes, Danzig's lack of humor and self-awareness, and writing about those hard coming of age years. They wash it all down with Victory's No Brainer IPA.

The boys get into Garth Greenwell's beautiful story of new love, travel, and the inevitable end to said love. The discuss the merits, or lack thereof, of live albums, specifically Queen's 1979 release entitled "Live Killers!" The end this celebration of all the is different and beautiful during this month of pride with Anderson Valley's "Summer Solstice." Stay loving, stay lovely, and be you, beautiful. Happy Pride!

The cast that almost wasn't! After an ER visit and a few weeks of recovery, all is well in the Book.Record.Beer family and the boys descend the Dupont street basement stairwell once more to embark on their FIRST POETRY CAST! Featuring the latest from philly poet Ryan Eckes, a look back at Offspring's 1994 release Smash, and 2SP Brewing's Circadian, the guys talk unions, global warming, and those rhythms humanity seems unable to avoid through the millennia. Buckle up for a passionate cast fueled by art and Irish whiskey.

A classic canon cast. These are a few of (Nick M.'s) favorite things. The guys dig into Steinbeck's folk tale "The Pearl," Led Zeppelin I, and the original Czech lager "Czechvar" better know in the Czech Republic as the original Budweiser. Nick drops a surprise jam of "Good Times, Bad Times" into the cast as recorded with his brother and cousin in a single impromptu take. Enjoy!

We've gone remote once again! This time we met up with Alex and Christina Rosso-Schneider, proprietors of the newly opened book store A Novel Idea in South Philadelphia. We talked local author Andrew Katz's debut novel, vampires, one cast mates brief obsession with Anne Rice, and the responsibility of the author when dealing with a traumatic subject. Later we dig into Sharon van Etten's fantastic new record "Remind Me Tomorrow," and finally we crack open some sweet, sweet nitro cans of Wake Up Dead, a Russian Imperial Stout from Left Hand Brewing.

This month we're live and remote at the specatacular comic shop Hero Complex in Manayunk, PA. We're talking Jeff Lemire's Trillium (graphic novel—a first for us!), Infinity Shred's Long Distance (record—instrumental—another first for us!), and Flying Dog's Bloodline blood orange ale (beer—you guessed it, for the first time!). Tune in to hear the dudes chat about first comics, how many infinities out of 8 infinities is enough, the perils of 7% beer, and so much more with special guest, and proprietor of Hero Complex, J.D. Korejko.