Podcasts about dirty business

This year, Land and Climate Review's first investigative series has documented more than 11,000 breaches of environmental law at North American wood pellet mills. Alasdair MacEwen speaks to Camille Corcoran, whose recent reporting was published with The Times in the UK, and Bertie Harrison-Broninski, who normally co-hosts with Alasdair, but here discusses Land and Climate Review's Canadian investigations, which were featured on BBC Newsnight. They discuss the process of uncovering environmental violations at wood pellet mills owned by Drax Group, which operates the UK's largest power station, and how residents in Mississippi and British Columbia say they have been affected by the pollution from the mills. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski and Podcast House. Read the investigations: ‘Drax-owned facilities broke environmental rules more than 11,000 times in the US', Land and Climate Review, November 2024‘The Dirty Business of Clean Energy: The U.K. Power Company Polluting Small Towns Across the U.S.', The Intercept, September 2024‘Drax's pellet mills violated environmental law 189 times in Canada', Land and Climate Review, May 2024‘Drax faces penalty after Canadian biomass plant fails to submit pollution report', The Independent, October 2023Related episodes: Are Canada's sustainable forestry claims accurate? - with Richard Robertson from Stand.EarthDoes bioenergy increase CO2 emissions more than burning coal? - with John Sterman from MITWhat is BECCS and what does it mean for climate policy? - with Daniel Quiggin from Chatham HouseClick here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.

“Trump's Triumphant Return To X” “JD Vance TAKES DOWN Dana Bash” “Foot Meet Mouth, Meet Walz” “Accountability, The USSS, & Dirty Business”

Every follower of Jesus has "dirty business" to conduct. Learn what that is and how you can get involved. For more information go to. www.city-church.com.au/

The Boys season 4 has come to its conclusion and what a fucking end it was. Tek Knights party in ep 6 Dirty Business? The Avenue V Christmas Special in ep 7, The Insider. And then there's the finale originally titled Assassination Run but due to real life events it was renamed simply Season Four Finale. So like a shot of fresh milk in the mouth we're here to talk the last 3 episodes of the quite possible the finest show on streaming. The Boys are most definitely BACK!!! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jafnpodcast/support

Pimps, Simps, and Trojans - It`s a Dirty BusinessWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/studio/?pimps-simps-and-trojansNetwork: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedomhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+139%3A7&version=CJBPsalm 139:7Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Trojan%20horseTrojan horse1: someone or something intended to defeat or subvert from within usually by deceptive means2: a seemingly useful computer program that contains concealed instructions which when activated perform an illicit or malicious https://www.trojanbrands.com/en/aboutTHE TROJAN™ BRAND PROMOTES A SAFE, HEALTHY AND FUN SEX LIFE. FROM CONDOMS TO SEX TOYS TO LUBES, TROJAN™ IS DEDICATED TO DELIVERING INNOVATIVE, HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS THAT OFFER PLEASURE AND PROTECTION.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqNb9uTOtMYWhy Am I Supposed to Have a Problem With This? - Michael KnowlesIs Knowles trying to imply that concerned people are operating from a false-cause fallacy perspective?false cause fallacy - You presumed that a real or perceived relationship between things means that one is the cause of the other.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jIgthlykaMHarmeet Dhillon Delivers Sikh Prayer At Close Of RNC's First Night - Forbeshttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6%3A14%2C+17-18&version=CJB2 Corinthians 6:14, 17-18Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship does light have with darkness? Therefore Adonai says, "'Go out from their midst; separate yourselves; don't even touch what is unclean. Then I myself will receive you. 18 In fact, I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.' says Adonai-Tzva'ot."https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16%3A16-18&version=CJBActs 16:16-18Once, when we were going to the place where the minyan gathered, we were met by a slave girl who had in her a snake-spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. This girl followed behind Sha'ul and the rest of us and kept screaming, "These men are servants of G_d Ha'Elyon! They're telling you how to be saved!" 18 She kept this up day after day, until Sha'ul, greatly disturbed, turned and said to the spirit, "In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, I order you to come out of her!" And the spirit did come out, at that very moment.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIqA2iCzzWEBREAKING: Joe Biden Is A Sick Man - Michael Knowleshttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16%3A19-24&version=CJBActs 16:19-24But when her owners saw that what had come out was any further prospect of profit for them, they seized Sha'ul and Sila and dragged them to the market square to face the authorities. Bringing them to the judges, they said, "These men are causing a lot of trouble in our city, since they are Jews. 21 What they are doing is advocating customs that are against the law for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans." The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged. After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely. Upon receiving such an order, he threw them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew8tBQPmA84SHOCKING: PBS Pushes DRAG QUEEN Story Hour for KIDS - Michael Knowles

En nuestro episodio 309 El Watcher anuncia su participación en "Gen Con 2024", conversa sobre su experiencia en el Repechaje Olímpico que se celebró en San Juan, Puerto Rico y comparte su "First Reaction" de el cuarto episodio de la segunda temporada de "House of the Dragon" (2022) titulado "The Red Dragon and the Gold", el sexto y séptimo episodio de la cuarta temporada de "The Boys" (2021) titulados "Dirty Business" y "The Insider" y los "Trailers" de "Gladiator 2" (2024), "Agatha All Along" (2024) y "Captain America: Brave New World" (2025). ¡Subscríbete a nuestro canal de YouTube! Visita: https://www.youtube.com/culturasecuencial ¡Síguenos y Suscríbete a nuestro canal de Twitch! Visita: https://www.twitch.tv/culturasecuencial ¡Síguenos en Instagram! Visita: https://www.instagram.com/culturasecuencial ¡Síguenos en Facebook! Visita: https://www.facebook.com/CulturaSecuencial ¡Síguenos en Twitter! Visita: https://twitter.com/CultSecuencial ¡Apoya nuestro contenido uniéndote a nuestro Patreon! Visita: https://www.patreon.com/CulturaSecuencial --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/culturasecuencial/support

The Boys S4E6 "Dirty Business". Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Joe Kessler). Credit: Courtesy of Prime. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC Join Paul and Cat on "Podcast V" as they delve into "The Boys" Season 4, Episode 6, titled "Dirty Business." This week, we explore the theme of duality, primarily through the complex character of Billy Butcher. We also discuss Hughie's harrowing ordeal enduring abuse in Tek Knight's dungeon.

Join us for a virtual podcast this week as we recap The Boys S4E6 where Hughie um... gets... yup. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sceneitbefore/support

Greetings, nerds! This is Scene N Nerd. Join your dynamic duo, Sarah Belmont and Will Polk, as they dive into the latest in geek and pop culture with thoughts on Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the Bear season 3, and the Gladitor II trailer. (0:56) We next start with Sarah's thoughts on the newest House of the Dragon episode, Season 2, Episode 4, "The Red Dragon and the Cold." Sarah and Will discuss Daemon's haunting visions, the political maneuvering within Team Black, and the intense dragon battle that leaves viewers on the edge of their seats. They explore the implications of Rhaenyra's attempts to preserve her father's legacy and the brewing tensions that could lead to further conflict. (16:06) Then, we dive into The Boys, Season 4, Episode 6, "Dirty Business." Will and Sarah break down Butcher's internal struggle, the controversial Tek Knight storyline, and the unsettling BDSM scene that left many viewers uncomfortable. They also discuss Homelander's latest power moves, A-Train's evolving role, and the political machinations of Victoria Neuman. The duo delves into the show's ability to mirror real-world issues while maintaining its unique brand of dark humor and shocking moments. (49:34) Follow our crew on X (formerly Twitter) @SceneNNerd, friend us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and Threads @scene_n_nerd, and visit our website at www.scenennerdpodcast.com. But most importantly, rate, follow, and comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts!  

Journey Joe Mitchell dives deep into The Boys Season 4, Episode 6, "Dirty Business." From the shocking revelations in the Tek Cave to Homelander's political machinations, we break down all the twisted turns and dark humor that make this episode a standout. Joe analyzes the stellar performances, particularly Jack Quaid's Hughie enduring unspeakable trials and Karl Urban's Butcher grappling with his inner demons. Plus, he shares his thoughts on the show's escalating shock tactics and the deeper themes lurking beneath the surface. Whether you're Team Vought or Team Boys, this episode of TV in the Basement offers all the insights, laughs, and disturbed reactions you need to fully process this boundary-pushing installment of Amazon's superhero satire. Join us as we unpack the craziest hour of television you're likely to see this year – just don't eat any cake while listening!

The Boys are back! Brian and Pete continue their review of season 4 with episode 6 "Dirty Business"

The Boys are back! Brian and Pete continue their review of season 4 with episode 6 "Dirty Business"

Holy whips and chains, Tek Knight! This week's episode of The Boys brings us into that universe's version of the Batcave, and it's as pervy as you might expect. But is the episode any good? That's the big question. Also: some news, including whether or not Kevin Feige is playing favorites. If you don't care about that, skip to 33:57. This week's music is the Velvet Underground. Thanks for listening!

The Superhero Show Show #540Sweet Tooth's Sappy Sweet Series FinaleIn the latest installment of "The Superhero Show Show" podcast, the hosts delve into the series finale of "The Sweet Tooth," focusing on episode 308 titled "This is a Story." This episode marks a significant milestone as the beloved series concludes its journey, and the hosts leave no stone unturned in their comprehensive analysis. Alongside this, they also touch upon other popular superhero TV shows, including "The Boys" and "My Adventures With Superman," making this podcast episode a must-listen for superhero enthusiasts.Series Finale: "The Sweet Tooth" Episode 308 - "This is a Story"The podcast kicks off with an in-depth discussion of "The Sweet Tooth" series finale. The hosts reflect on the journey of Gus, the hybrid deer-boy, and his companions. They explore the emotional and narrative arcs that have brought the story to this climactic point. The episode "This is a Story" is lauded for its poignant storytelling, compelling character development, and the resolution of long-standing plot threads. The hosts dissect key scenes, analyze the thematic elements, and share their thoughts on the series' overall impact on the superhero genre.The Boys - Dirty BusinessNext, the hosts transition to a discussion about "The Boys" episode titled "Dirty Business." This gritty and intense episode showcases the dark and morally complex world of the series. The hosts examine the shocking twists and turns, the ethical dilemmas faced by the characters, and the satirical take on superhero tropes. They also highlight standout performances and directorial choices that make this episode a standout in the series.My Adventures With Superman - Olsen's 11Following their analysis of "The Boys," the hosts shift gears to "My Adventures With Superman," focusing on the episode "Olsen's 11." This lighter, more comedic take on the superhero genre offers a refreshing contrast to the darker tones of "The Boys." The hosts discuss the heist plot, the camaraderie among the characters, and the clever nods to classic Superman lore. They appreciate the show's balance of humor and heart, and how it captures the spirit of Superman's world.Spider-Man: The Animated Series - "Sins of the Father Chapter 5: Rocket Robots"Towards the end of the podcast, the hosts revisit a classic episode of "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" titled "Sins of the Father Chapter 5: Rocket Robots." They reminisce about the nostalgia of the 90s animated series and its influence on the superhero genre. The conversation focuses on the plot involving Spider-Man's battle against high-tech robots and the intricate storyline involving his personal struggles. The hosts praise the animation style, voice acting, and the episode's contribution to the overarching narrative of the series.In conclusion, this episode of "The Superhero Show Show" podcast offers a rich and varied discussion on some of the most compelling superhero television episodes, with a special focus on the series finale of "The Sweet Tooth." Whether you're a fan of dark and gritty narratives or light-hearted adventures, this podcast has something for everyone. Don't miss out on this comprehensive and entertaining analysis of your favorite superhero shows.Links and ResourcesCatch up on our previous discussion about The BoysPrevious EpisodesResearch Links for the nerds!The Boys WikiMy Adventures With Superman Wiki

Eric Kripke Might Need Some Therapy This week on the podcast, Brian and Darryl are talking about the last 2 weeks of House of the Dragon and The Boys. Then they dive into a full-season review of the new Netflix superhero show Supacell. Episode Index Intro: 0:07 The Boys: 9:10 House of the Dragon: 35:10 Supacell: 1:01:15 The Boys (Prime Video) Out of 5 Why We Are Hate Watchings Darryl: 1.5/5 Brian: 2.5/5 Episodes 5 & 6 Episode 5: “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son” Written by: Judalina Neira Directed by: Shana Stein Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: Butcher and The Boys discover a virus that can kill Supes. Homelander declares The Seven as “wrathful gods.” Hughie’s father, revived with Compound V, goes on a rampage. Stan Edgar is freed by Neuman. The Boys and Stan locate a sample of the virus, but Sameer Shah goes missing. Butcher reveals to Joe that Sameer is alive and kidnapped to replicate the virus. Episode 6: “Dirty Business” Written by: Anslem Richardson Directed by: Karen Gaviola Air Date: July 4, 2024 Summary: Butcher forces Sameer to enhance the virus. The Boys infiltrate Tek Knight’s mansion, leading to a confrontation with Homelander and Sage. M.M. shoots Sage, causing brain damage. Annie and Kimiko rescue Hughie from Tek Knight, who reveals Homelander’s plans before being killed. Firecracker reveals a mole within The Seven. Butcher, hallucinating, continues to push for the virus’ enhancement. House of the Dragon (Max) Out of 5 Did We Have to Hear the Cuttings Darryl: 3.89/5 Brian: 4.12/5 Episodes 2 & 3 Episode 2: “Rhaenyra the Cruel” Written by: Sara Hess Directed by: Clare Kilner Air Date: June 23, 2024 Summary: The murder of Prince Jaehaerys causes chaos, leading King Aegon to seek revenge on Rhaenyra. A public funeral is held to tarnish her image. Blood, a City Watch guard, confesses Daemon’s involvement. Aegon dismisses Otto as Hand and appoints Ser Criston. In Dragonstone, Erryk kills his twin brother Arryk, who was sent to assassinate Rhaenyra. Episode 3: “The Burning Mill” Written by: David Hancock Directed by: Geeta Vasant Patel Air Date: June 30, 2024 Summary: Rhaenyra’s attempts to negotiate peace with Alicent fail. In the Riverlands, the Brackens and Blackwoods feud. Rhaenyra sends her children to the Arryns for safety. Daemon has a vision and faces an ominous prophecy. Aegon and Aemond encounter each other at a brothel. Rhaenyra realizes Alicent misunderstood King Viserys’ dying words. Supacell (Netflix) Out of 10 Is This Heroes Mashed With Misfits or Whats Darryl: 7.25/10 Brian: 6.5/10 Season 1 Episode 1: “Michael” Written by: Rapman Directed by: Rapman Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: Michael's life changes when he discovers he has superpowers. He attempts to understand his abilities while facing personal and external challenges. Episode 2: “Tazer” Written by: Rapman Directed by: Rapman Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: Four Londoners reel from the discovery of their powers, while another knows exactly how to make the most of his. Michael desperately looks for answers. Episode 3: “Sabrina” Written by: Rapman Directed by: Sebastian Thiel Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: Sabrina and Sharleen plan a night out after a long day. The Tower Boys get into a fight that leaves Tazer swearing revenge. Michael comes up with a plan. Episode 4: “Dylan” Written by: Rapman Directed by: Sebastian Thiel Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: Dylan struggles with his new powers and his past. As tensions rise, he must make a choice that could change everything. Episode 5: “Andre” Written by: Rapman Directed by: Sebastian Thiel Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: Andre tries to harness his powers for good, but he faces opposition from those who fear his abilities. Meanwhile, the group faces a new threat. Episode 6: “Supacell” Written by: Rapman Directed by: Rapman Air Date: June 27, 2024 Summary: The group must come together to confront their greatest challenge yet. Loyalties are tested, and the true extent of their powers is revealed. Infamous Shirts for Naked Bodies… You’ll feel “shirty” when you buy our gear from the Flying Pork Apparel Co. Contact Us The Infamous Podcast can be found wherever podcasts are found on the Interwebs, feel free to subscribe and follow along on social media. And don't be shy about helping out the show with a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help us move up in the ratings. @infamouspodcast facebook/infamouspodcast instagram/infamouspodcast stitcher Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play iHeart Radio contact@infamouspodcast.com Our theme music is ‘Skate Beat’ provided by Michael Henry, with additional music provided by Michael Henry. Find more at MeetMichaelHenry.com. The Infamous Podcast is hosted by Brian Tudor and Darryl Jasper, is recorded in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show is produced and edited by Brian Tudor. Subscribe today!

This week on LGRN After Snark, we celebrate Canada Day (belatedly), Daney's asked if America is better than Brazil, we are then joined by Adelia to talk The Acolyte episode 6 Teach/Corrupt...with a special guest at the end. Daney and Snark then discuss The Boys season 4 episode 6, Dirty Business. Has it gone too far? Join us!!! YOUR HOSTS FOR THIS EPISODE

In this clipout from LGRN After Snark, Daney and Snark discuss season 4, episode 6 of The Boys. YOUR HOSTS FOR THIS EPISODE

Prestige-ish Media The Boys Season 4 Episode 6 - Dirty Business - INSTANT DEEP DIVE. Listen in as Craig Lake, and Dan McNair give their opinions on the Amazon Prime show. In this episode we discuss Holes, Tek Knight, S&M, Firecracker's Firecrackers, and more. Please join us for our coverage of The Boys Season 4 and House of the Dragon Season 2 in June. Only Murders in the Building Season 4 and Rings of Power Season 2 coming in August. X @prestige_ish Instagram @prestigeishmedia X/Instagram @realrealbatman @danmcnair1017 http://prestigeish.com Get 20% OFF @manscaped + Free Shipping with promo code YOURMOM at MANSCAPED.com! #ad #manscapedpod

Farmyard animals, asparagus and frontal lobotomies, it's all going on in The Boys. Adam, Izzi and Neil share thoughts, predictions and Easter eggs, spoilers included, for episode 4, Wisdom of the Ages, episode 5, Beware the Jabberwock, My Son and episode 6, Dirty Business. We can't wait for you to hear our thoughts on the latest episodes and for you to give us yours too. You can find and follow us on all the socials @tvdnapod You can also email us on tvdnapod@gmail.com  And, if you listen on Spotify, check out our poll below. We have recent and ongoing specials on Star Wars:The Acolyte, House of the Dragon and The Bear, a fab interview with Abigail McGibbon from Blue Lights and spoiler free watchlist episodes. Our back catalogue includes Andor, Succession and Better Call Saul. We're on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Anchor, Breaker and Radio Public so be sure to subscribe to the pod and please leave us a review.  Thanks as always to JComp for our logo and Roman Senyk Music for our theme.  Adam, Grace, Neil, Damian and Isabel

The Boys find out about a party Tek Knight is hosting for Homelander and some right wing big wigs, but getting in won't be easy for MM and worse still for Hughie. Meanwhile A-Train has a hero moment, Firecracker has a surprise for Homelander, Butcher has a realisation and we get to see one of our favourite comic moments. Find us on Twitter: @rantsmono, Bluesky: @MonoRants, Instagram: MonoRants_The_Boys or send your own rants to monorantspodcast@gmail.com

Grab some Purell, Sunny-D and Everclear! Ashley and J Scotty navigate all the filthy escapades of one of the wildest episodes of The Boys to date!Check out our other podcasts!www.strandedpanda.com

By Matthew Nemeth Back with The Diabolical Seven for The Boys on Amazon Prime, this, for The Boys 406 'Dirty Business' Check below for the free podcast Click here for a list of our iTunes feeds. Information matthew@entertainmenttalk.org Please rate and review us on iTunes @etalkuk Twitter Patreon matthew@entertainmenttalk.org Facebook Page Matt's Twitch Kualo Domains Click here for the ad-free podcast

Tune in with Kit, Madison, and Steve as they dissect the high-stakes episode 6 of 'The Boys' Season 4, titled 'Dirty Business.' The Boys infiltrate Tek Knight's lavish estate, where Homelander, Sage, and Victoria Neuman host the elite to orchestrate a political coup. Hughie, undercover as Web Weaver, gets a little more than he bargained for in the Tec Cave. Plus, don't miss as Steve celebrates his spot-on prediction about the plot! 00:00:00 - Introduction:Welcome to a new episode of Streaming Things, where we dive deep into the world of streaming content!00:04:38 - Overall Thoughts:Our hosts share their initial impressions and overarching thoughts on today's movie/TV episode.00:16:46 - THE DEEP Dive:Join us as we break down the episode or movie scene by scene, offering insights and commentary.01:04:58 - Diabolical Moments:The hosts list their top 3 moments of the episode.01:11:47 - The Vought Vault:The hosts any easter eggs, expanded The Boys lore mentions, or behind the scenes facts they were able to pull from watching this episode.01:14:27 - Compound VIPs:The hosts recognize the talent they think delivered the best performance of the episode.GET TICKETS TO OUR LIVE SHOW HERE!Engage with Streaming Things:Merchandise: Check out our BRAND NEW Merch Store for the latest Streaming Things apparel and accessories.YouTube: Don't miss our visual content on Streaming Things YouTube channel.Website: Visit our official website for more updates and content.Connect with Us:Email: Send your feedback and questions to streamingthingspod@gmail.com.Instagram: Follow us @streamingthingspodofficial for behind-the-scenes content.Twitter: Stay updated with our latest tweets @StreamThingPod or follow Chris @moviesRtherapy.Fan Mail:Address: Send your letters and fan mail to:Streaming Things6809 Main St. #172Cincinnati, OH 45244Episode Sponsors:This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get the support you need at betterhelp.com/streamingthings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a twist of irony, this episode was so gross it turned us all a little conservative! Ashley Barrett is here to stay, putting on quite the show in Tek-Knight's Tek-Cave. Homelander's imposter syndrome and the return of breastmilk kryptonite. Speaking of Mothers Milk, has M.M. been suppressing his powers this entire time?

Professionelle Zahnreinigung - das ist bestimmt ne gute Sache für meine Zähne, denkt man sich, wenn man sich alle Beläge abschleifen lässt und dafür auch noch ordentlich Geld bezahlt. Aber stimmt das - macht eine PZR für jede und jeden Sinn? Und wie teuer darf sie sein? Astrid Kühn und Niels Walker sagen's euch!

"Behind the Scenes with Rob Bleetstein: Archiving the Legacy of the NRPS"Larry's guest, Rob Bleetstein, is known for his role as the host of the live concerts on the Sirius XM Grateful Dead station and as the voice of Pearl Jam Radio. In today's episode, he discusses the recently released live album "Hempsteader" by the New Riders Of The Purple Sage (NRPS), where he serves as the archivist and producer.The New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band that emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969, with original members including some from the Grateful Dead. Their roots trace back to the early 1960s folk and beatnik scene around Stanford University, where Jerry Garcia and David Nelson played gigs together. Influenced by American folk music and rock and roll, the band formed, including Garcia on pedal steel guitar initially.The discussion delves into the background of the NRPS, their albums, and notable tracks like "Panama Red," written by Peter Rowan and popularized by the band. The album "New Riders of the Purple Sage" features Garcia on pedal steel guitar and includes tracks like "Henry," a humorous tale of marijuana smuggling.Throughout the show, various NRPS tracks are highlighted, showcasing the band's eclectic style and songwriting. Additionally, news segments cover topics such as the DEA's agreement to reschedule marijuana and updates from the music industry, including rare concert appearances and tour plans.Overall, the episode provides insights into the NRPS's music, their influence on the country rock genre, and relevant news in the marijuana and music industries. Larry's Notes Rob Bleetstein who many folks know as the host of the three live concerts played every day on the Sirius XM Grateful Dead station.  Also the voice of Pearl Jam Radio. And, most importantly for today's episode, the archivist for the New Riders Of The Purple Sage and the producer of the Hempsteader album. Today, featuring recently released NRPS live album, “Hempsteader” from the band's performance at the Calderone Concert Hall in Hempstead, NY on June 25, 1976, just shy of 48 years ago.New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead.[2] The band is sometimes referred to as the New Riders or as NRPS.The roots of the New Riders can be traced back to the early 1960s Peninsulafolk/beatnikscene centered on Stanford University's now-defunct Perry Lane housing complex in Menlo Park, California where future Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia often played gigs with like-minded guitarist David Nelson. The young John Dawson (also known as "Marmaduke") also played some concerts with Garcia, Nelson, and their compatriots while visiting relatives on summer vacation. Enamored of the sounds of Bakersfield-style country music, Dawson would turn his older friends on to the work of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens and provided a vital link between Timothy Leary's International Federation for Internal Freedom in Millbrook, New York (Dawson having boarded at the Millbrook School) and the Menlo Park bohemian coterie nurtured by Ken Kesey.Inspired by American folk music, rock and roll, and blues, Garcia formed the Grateful Dead (initially known as The Warlocks) with blues singer Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, while Nelson joined the similarly inclined New Delhi River Band (which would eventually come to include bassist Dave Torbert) shortly thereafter.  The group came to enjoy a cult following in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties through the Summer of Love until their dissolution in early 1968.In 1969, Nelson contributed to the Dead's Aoxomoxoa album in 1969.  During this period Nelson and Garcia played intermittently in an early iteration of High Country, a traditional bluegrass ensemble formed by the remnants of the Peninsula folk scene.By early 1969, Dawson had returned to Los Altos Hills and also contributed to Aoxomoxoa.  After a mescaline experience at Pinnacles National Park with Torbert and Matthew Kelly, he began to compose songs on a regular basis working in a psychedelic country fusion genre not unlike Gram Parsons' Flying Burrito Brothers.Dawson's vision was prescient, as 1969 marked the emergence of country rock via Bob Dylan, The Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, the Dillard & Clark Band, and the Clarence White-era Byrds. Around this time, Garcia was similarly inspired to take up the pedal steel guitar, and an informal line-up including Dawson, Garcia, and Peninsula folk veteran Peter Grant (on banjo) began playing coffeehouse and hofbrau concerts together when the Grateful Dead were not touring. Their repertoire included country standards, traditional bluegrass, Dawson originals, and a few Dylan covers ("Lay Lady Lay", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Mighty Quinn"). By the summer of 1969 it was decided that a full band would be formed and David Nelson was recruited to play lead guitar.In addition to Nelson, Dawson (on acoustic guitar), and Garcia (continuing to play pedal steel), the original line-up of the band that came to be known as the New Riders of the Purple Sage (a nod to the Foy Willing-led Western swing combo from the 1940s, Riders of the Purple Sage, which borrowed its name from the Zane Grey novel) consisted of Alembic Studio engineer Bob Matthews on electric bass and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead on drums; bassist Phil Lesh also played sporadically with the ensemble in lieu of Matthews through the end of the year, as documented by the late 1969 demos later included on the Before Time Began archival release. Lyricist Robert Hunter briefly rehearsed with the band on bass in early 1970 before the permanent hiring of Torbert in April of that year.[8] The most commercially successful configuration of the New Riders would come to encompass Dawson, Nelson, Torbert, Spencer Dryden (of Jefferson Airplane fame), and Buddy Cage.After a few warmup gigs throughout the Bay Area in 1969, Dawson, Nelson, and Torbert began to tour in May 1970 as part of a tripartite bill advertised as "An Evening with the Grateful Dead". An acoustic Grateful Dead set that often included contributions from Dawson and Nelson would then segue into New Riders and electric Dead sets, obviating the need to hire external opening acts. With the New Riders desiring to become more of a self-sufficient group and Garcia needing to focus on his other responsibilities, the musician parted ways with the group in November 1971. Seasoned pedal steel player Buddy Cage was recruited from Ian and Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird to replace Garcia. In 1977 and 1978, NRPS did open several Dead and JGB shows, including the final concert preceding the closure of Winterland on December 31, 1978.In 1974, Torbert left NRPS; he and Matthew Kelly co-founded the band Kingfish (best known for Bob Weir's membership during the Grateful Dead's late-1974 to mid-1976 touring hiatus) the year before. In 1997, the New Riders of the Purple Sage split up. Dawson retired from music and moved to Mexico to become an English teacher. By this time, Nelson had started his own David Nelson Band. There was a reunion performance in 2001. In 2002, the New Riders accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from High Times magazine. Allen Kemp died on June 25, 2009.[13][14] John "Marmaduke" Dawson died in Mexico on July 21, 2009, at the age of 64.[15][16]Pedal steel guitarist Buddy Cage died on February 5, 2020, at age 73. (Rob – this is mostly notes for me today so I can sound like I know what I'm talking about.  I'll go through some of it to set some background for the band, but feel free to take the lead on talking about those aspects of the band, and its musicians, that you enjoy most or find most interesting – keeping in mind that our target audience presumably are fans of marijuana and the Dead.)   INTRO:                Panama Red                                Track #1                                Start – 1:49 Written by Peter Rowan “Panama Red” is well known in the jam-grass scene, but it's perhaps not as widely known that Peter Rowan wrote the song.It was originally a 1973 hit for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the first popular version with Rowan singing and playing it came when the supergroup Old & In the Way, released their eponymous album in 1975, two years after their seminal time, in 1973, and a year after they disbanded. Jerry Garcia was the connective tissue between the two projects, playing pedal steel in the early New Riders and banjo in Old & In the Way. “I wrote ‘Panama Red' after leaving my first project with David Grisman, Earth Opera, around the summer of the Woodstock music festival [1969],” Rowan explains. “It's a fun song because it captures the vibe of the time. I was from the East Coast, but I found there to be more creativity on the West Coast during that time period.“Nobody wanted to do ‘Panama Red' on the East Coast. I took it to Seatrain [the roots fusion band in which Rowan played from 1969 to 1972], and when it eventually became a hit, the manager of Seatrain claimed it. I never saw any money, even though it became the title of an album for the New Riders of the Purple Sage [1973's The Adventures of Panama Red]. “The subject was "taboo" in those days. You did jail time for pot. So that might have scared commercial interests. But Garcia was a green light all the way! "Oh sure" was his motto, both ironically and straight but always with a twinkle in his eye! After Seatrain management kept all the money, Jerry suggested I bring the song to Marmaduke and Nelson!" “When David Grisman and I got back together for Old & In the Way in 1973 with Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and John Khan, we started playing it.”From the NRPS album “The Adventures of Panama Red”, their fourth country rock album released in October 1973. It is widely regarded as one of the group's best efforts, and reached number 55 on the Billboard charts.The album includes two songs written by Peter Rowan — "Panama Red", which became a radio hit, and "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy". Another song, "Kick in the Head", was written by Robert Hunter. Donna Jean Godchaux and Buffy Sainte-Marie contribute background vocals on several tracks.  SHOW No. 1:   Fifteen Days Under The Hood                                Track #41:55 – 3:13 Written by Jack Tempchin and Warren Hughey.  Jack Tempchin is an American musician and singer-songwriter who wrote the Eagles song "Peaceful Easy Feeling"[1] and co-wrote "Already Gone",[2] "The Girl from Yesterday",[3]"Somebody"[4]and "It's Your World Now".[5] Released as the opening song on the NRPS album, “New Riders”, their seventh studio album, released in 1976 SHOW No. 2:   Henry                                Track #6                                1:19 – 3:05 "Henry", written by John Dawson, a traditional shuffle with contemporary lyrics about marijuana smuggling.  From the band's debut album, “New Riders of the Purple Sage”, released by Columbia Records in August, 1971.  New Riders of the Purple Sage is the only studio album by the New Riders to feature co-founder Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on pedal steel guitar. He is also featured on the live albums Vintage NRPS and Bear's Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage.Mickey Hart and Commander Cody play drums and piano, respectively, on two tracks—"Dirty Business" and "Last Lonely Eagle".Then, there's a swerving left turn away from romance tunes on this album with ‘Henry‘, whose titular hero has stepped right out of a Gilbert Shelton underground comic.  At a frenetic pace the story of Henry's run to Mexico to fetch twenty kilos of (Acapulco?) gold unravels, with Henry driving home after sampling the wares “Henry tasted, he got wasted couldn't even see – how he's going to drive like that is not too clear to me.”  It's a joke, but a joke that sounds pretty good even after repeat listens.SHOW No. 3:   Portland Woman                                Track #9                                :34 – 2:00 Another Marmaduke tune from the NRPS album released in August, 1971.A bittersweet love song progressing from touring boredom to be relieved by a casual hook-up with the pay-off with the realization that the Portland Woman who “treats you right” has actually made a deeper connection “I'm going back to my Portland woman, I don't want to be alone tonight.”   SHOW No. 4:   You Never Can Tell                                Track #15                                :51 – 2:26 You Never Can Tell", also known as "C'est La Vie" or "Teenage Wedding", is a song written by Chuck Berry. It was composed in the early 1960s while Berry was in federal prison for violating the Mann Act.[2] Released in 1964 on the album St. Louis to Liverpool and the follow-up single to Berry's final Top Ten hit of the 1960s: "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell" reached number 14, becoming Berry's final Top 40 hit until "My Ding-a-Ling", a number 1 in October 1972.  Berry's recording features an iconic piano hook played by Johnnie Johnson.  The piano melody was influenced by Mitchell Torok's 1953 hit "Caribbean". The song has also been recorded or performed by Chely Wright, New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Jerry Garcia Band, Bruce Springsteen, the Mavericks, and Buster Shuffle.  JGB performed it almost 40 times in the early ‘90's. The song became popular again after the 1994 release of the film Pulp Fiction, directed and co-written by Quentin Tarantino. The music was played for a "Twist contest" in which Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) competed (and were the only contestants shown in the film). The music added an evocative element of sound to the narrative and Tarantino said that the song's lyrics of "Pierre" and "Mademoiselle" gave the scene a "uniquely '50s French New Wave dance sequence feel".  OUTRO:              Glendale Train                                Track #17                                1:30 – 3:14 Still another Marmaduke tune from the “New Riders of the Purple Sage” album released in late summer 1971.   MJ News:Just one MJ News story today important enough to take a few minutes to talk MJ:  DEA's agreement to reschedule MJ to Schedule 3 from Schedule 1.DEA Agrees To Reschedule Marijuana Under Federal Law In Historic Move Following Biden-Directed Health Agency's Recommendation - Marijuana Moment Benefits:  banking services, no 280(e) restrictions on what expenses retailers can deduct and allows for full medical research of MJ. Negatives:  Still illegal, all drugs on Schedules I, II and III must be prescribed by a licensed health care provider with prescription privileges and can only be dispenses by licensed pharmacists.  Music News:A few quick hits re Music (no real need to get into any of these but I like to see what's going on so I don't miss anything interesting, these are the first things that get cut when we decide we want to keep talking): Jaimoe makes rare public concert appearance with Friends of the Brothers in Fairfield CN, plays ABB hitsJaimoe Takes Part in Rare Public Concert Appearance, Revisits Allman Brothers Band Classics (relix.com) Mike Gordon sits in at the Dodd's Dead Residency at Nectar's in Burlingtron, VT as part of “Grateful Dead Tuesday”.  Plays He's Gone and Scarlet (we have some Phish fans as listeners so try to toss a few bones to them)Listen: Mike Gordon Offers Grateful Dead Classics at Nectar's (A Gallery + Recap) (relix.com) David Gilmour may be planning first tour since 2016, won't play any Pink Floyd songs from the ‘70's – like the old Doonesbury strip where Elvis comes back from the Dead, Trump hires him to play in one of his casinos and at the start of the show, Elvis announces that he is only playing the songs of the late great John Denver.David Gilmour Plots First Tour Since 2016 (relix.com) Roy Carter, founder of High Sierra Music Festival passes away.Roy Carter, High Sierra Music Festival Founder, Passes Away at 68 (relix.com) .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast

In this episode, we discuss the Vince McMahon scandal, the dirty deeds of promoters in the past, and review the 2024 Royal Rumble. We end this long episode talking about wrestling on TV in St. Louis during the 1980s.

Back in the early 1900s, the Chicago mafia was known as “The Outfit”, and their frontman was a Harvard-educated lawyer named Abe Pritzker, a man once described as the “clean face of a dirty business”. Out of this situation, Abe Pritzker was able to build a massive empire of businesses, and from there his family built upon his foundation over the next century to create a fortune exceeding $33 billion. These days the Pritzker family is responsible for financing the Rainbow Mafia & Trans Agenda, Barack Obama's rise to power, the Diversity Equity Inclusion push, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and other agendas designed to subvert America from within. From owning the Hyatt Hotel brand & Royal Caribbean cruise line to the TransUnion credit reporting agency & Marmon Group, the Pritzker family runs Chicago and has installed one of their own as governor of the state of Illinois, but there are now some rather obvious cracks in the foundation. Anarchapulco: www.Anarchapulco.com Promo Code: MACRO Sponsors: Emergency Preparedness Food: www.preparewithmacroaggressions.com Chemical Free Body: https://www.chemicalfreebody.com Promo Code: MACRO C60 Purple Power: https://c60purplepower.com/ Promo Code: MACRO Wise Wolf Gold & Silver: www.Macroaggressions.gold True Hemp Science: https://truehempscience.com/ Haelan: https://haelan951.com/pages/macro Solar Power Lifestyle: https://solarpowerlifestyle.com/ Promo Code: MACRO LegalShield: www.DontGetPushedAround.com EMP Shield: www.EMPShield.com Promo Code: MACRO Christian Yordanov's Detoxification Program: https://members.christianyordanov.com/detox-workshop?coupon=MACRO Coin Bit App: https://coinbitsapp.com/?ref=0SPP0gjuI68PjGU89wUv Macroaggressions Merch Store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/macroaggressions?ref_id=22530 LinkTree: linktr.ee/macroaggressions Books: HYPOCRAZY: https://amzn.to/3VsPDp8 Controlled Demolition on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ufZdzx The Octopus Of Global Control: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3VDWQ5c Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/39vdKeQ Online Connection: Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/Macroaggressions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/macroaggressions_podcast/ Discord Link:  https://discord.gg/4mGzmcFexg Website: www.Macroaggressions.io Facebook: www.facebook.com/theoctopusofglobalcontrol Twitter: www.twitter.com/macroaggressio3 Twitter Handle: @macroaggressio3 Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-4728012 The Union Of The Unwanted LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/uotuw RSS FEED: https://uotuw.podbean.com/ Merch Store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/union-of-the-unwanted?ref_id=22643&utm_campaign=22643&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source

America Out Loud PULSE with Dr. Marilyn Singleton – The down-and-dirty business of medical care is starting to make the news as much as the end result: high costs. Five insurance companies control half the market. Now there is a proposed merger between two of them. Do buy-outs and mergers help or hurt patients? We are going to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of what is under the surface of medical care...

America Out Loud PULSE with Dr. Marilyn Singleton – The down-and-dirty business of medical care is starting to make the news as much as the end result: high costs. Five insurance companies control half the market. Now there is a proposed merger between two of them. Do buy-outs and mergers help or hurt patients? We are going to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of what is under the surface of medical care...

The monologue this time is a flashback. First, John runs down the current headlines - then talks about the tragedies of early December: Pearl Harbor and the death of John Lennon. He takes a call from Mitch at Kent State on Trump's statement he will be a dictator on day one. Then, he chats with political analyst Max Burns on the 4th Republican primary debate, the projections for the 2024 election, and the future of Trump and MAGA. Next, John speaks with Kathleen in Kansas on the philosophy of democracy, Marsha in Cape Cod on Trump and John Lennon, and Joanne in Maryland on volunteering to help get out the vote. Finally, he talks with T.V.'s Frank Conniff. They joke about new movies, Trump, and his new special airing Tuesday December 12th at 8pm EST, Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu riff the halls with a livestream special riff of "The Creeping Terror", one of the all time classic MST 3k stinkers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode 170 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Astral Weeks", the early solo career of Van Morrison, and the death of Bert Berns.  Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-minute bonus episode available, on "Stoned Soul Picnic" by Laura Nyro. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata At one point I, ridiculously, misspeak the name of Charles Mingus' classic album. Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is not about dinner ladies. Also, I say Warren Smith Jr is on "Slim Slow Slider" when I meant to say Richard Davis (Smith is credited in some sources, but I only hear acoustic guitar, bass, and soprano sax on the finished track). Resources As usual, I've created Mixcloud playlists, with full versions of all the songs excerpted in this episode. As there are so many Van Morrison songs in this episode, the Mixcloud is split into three parts, one, two, and three. The information about Bert Berns comes from Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin. I've used several biographies of Van Morrison. Van Morrison: Into the Music by Ritchie Yorke is so sycophantic towards Morrison that the word “hagiography” would be, if anything, an understatement. Van Morrison: No Surrender by Johnny Rogan, on the other hand, is the kind of book that talks in the introduction about how the author has had to avoid discussing certain topics because of legal threats from the subject. Howard deWitt's Van Morrison: Astral Weeks to Stardom is over-thorough in the way some self-published books are, while Clinton Heylin's Can You Feel the Silence? is probably the best single volume on the artist. Information on Woodstock comes from Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns. Ryan Walsh's Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 is about more than Astral Weeks, but does cover Morrison's period in and around Boston in more detail than anything else. The album Astral Weeks is worth hearing in its entirety. Not all of the music on The Authorized Bang Collection is as listenable, but it's the most complete collection available of everything Morrison recorded for Bang. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before we start, a quick warning -- this episode contains discussion of organised crime activity, and of sudden death. It also contains excerpts of songs which hint at attraction to underage girls and discuss terminal illness. If those subjects might upset you, you might want to read the transcript rather than listen to the episode. Anyway, on with the show. Van Morrison could have been the co-writer of "Piece of My Heart". Bert Berns was one of the great collaborators in the music business, and almost every hit he ever had was co-written, and he was always on the lookout for new collaborators, and in 1967 he was once again working with Van Morrison, who he'd worked with a couple of years earlier when Morrison was still the lead singer of Them. Towards the beginning of 1967 he had come up with a chorus, but no verse. He had the hook, "Take another little piece of my heart" -- Berns was writing a lot of songs with "heart" in the title at the time -- and wanted Morrison to come up with a verse to go with it. Van Morrison declined. He wasn't interested in writing pop songs, or in collaborating with other writers, and so Berns turned to one of his regular collaborators, Jerry Ragavoy, and it was Ragavoy who added the verses to one of the biggest successes of Berns' career: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] The story of how Van Morrison came to make the album that's often considered his masterpiece is intimately tied up with the story we've been telling in the background for several episodes now, the story of Atlantic Records' sale to Warners, and the story of Bert Berns' departure from Atlantic. For that reason, some parts of the story I'm about to tell will be familiar to those of you who've been paying close attention to the earlier episodes, but as always I'm going to take you from there to somewhere we've never been before. In 1962, Bert Berns was a moderately successful songwriter, who had written or co-written songs for many artists, especially for artists on Atlantic Records. He'd written songs for Atlantic artists like LaVern Baker, and when Atlantic's top pop producers Leiber and Stoller started to distance themselves from the label in the early sixties, he had moved into production as well, writing and producing Solomon Burke's big hit "Cry to Me": [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Cry to Me"] He was the producer and writer or co-writer of most of Burke's hits from that point forward, but at first he was still a freelance producer, and also produced records for Scepter Records, like the Isley Brothers' version of "Twist and Shout", another song he'd co-written, that one with Phil Medley. And as a jobbing songwriter, of course his songs were picked up by other producers, so Leiber and Stoller produced a version of his song "Tell Him" for the Exciters on United Artists: [Excerpt: The Exciters, "Tell Him"] Berns did freelance work for Leiber and Stoller as well as the other people he was working for. For example, when their former protege Phil Spector released his hit version of "Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah", they got Berns to come up with a knockoff arrangement of "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?", released as by Baby Jane and the Rockabyes, with a production credit "Produced by Leiber and Stoller, directed by Bert Berns": [Excerpt: Baby Jane and the Rockabyes, "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?"] And when Leiber and Stoller stopped producing work for United Artists, Berns took over some of the artists they'd been producing for the label, like Marv Johnson, as well as producing his own new artists, like Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, who had been discovered by Berns' friend Jerry Ragovoy, with whom he co-wrote their "Cry Baby": [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, "Cry Baby"] Berns was an inveterate collaborator. He was one of the few people to get co-writing credits with Leiber and Stoller, and he would collaborate seemingly with everyone who spoke to him for five minutes. He would also routinely reuse material, cutting the same songs time and again with different artists, knowing that a song must be a hit for *someone*. One of his closest collaborators was Jerry Wexler, who also became one of his best friends, even though one of their earliest interactions had been when Wexler had supervised Phil Spector's production of Berns' "Twist and Shout" for the Top Notes, a record that Berns had thought had butchered the song. Berns was, in his deepest bones, a record man. Listening to the records that Berns made, there's a strong continuity in everything he does. There's a love there of simplicity -- almost none of his records have more than three chords. He loved Latin sounds and rhythms -- a love he shared with other people working in Brill Building R&B at the time, like Leiber and Stoller and Spector -- and great voices in emotional distress. There's a reason that the records he produced for Solomon Burke were the first R&B records to be labelled "soul". Berns was one of those people for whom feel and commercial success are inextricable. He was an artist -- the records he made were powerfully expressive -- but he was an artist for whom the biggest validation was *getting a hit*. Only a small proportion of the records he made became hits, but enough did that in the early sixties he was a name that could be spoken of in the same breath as Leiber and Stoller, Spector, and Bacharach and David. And Atlantic needed a record man. The only people producing hits for the label at this point were Leiber and Stoller, and they were in the process of stopping doing freelance work and setting up their own label, Red Bird, as we talked about in the episode on the Shangri-Las. And anyway, they wanted more money than they were getting, and Jerry Wexler was never very keen on producers wanting money that could have gone to the record label. Wexler decided to sign Bert Berns up as a staff producer for Atlantic towards the end of 1963, and by May 1964 it was paying off. Atlantic hadn't been having hits, and now Berns had four tracks he wrote and produced for Atlantic on the Hot One Hundred, of which the highest charting was "My Girl Sloopy" by the Vibrations: [Excerpt: The Vibrations, "My Girl Sloopy"] Even higher on the charts though was the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout". That record, indeed, had been successful enough in the UK that Berns had already made exploratory trips to the UK and produced records for Dick Rowe at Decca, a partnership we heard about in the episode on "Here Comes the Night". Berns had made partnerships there which would have vast repercussions for the music industry in both countries, and one of them was with the arranger Mike Leander, who was the uncredited arranger for the Drifters session for "Under the Boardwalk", a song written by Artie Resnick and Kenny Young and produced by Berns, recorded the day after the group's lead singer Rudy Lewis died of an overdose: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Under the Boardwalk"] Berns was making hits on a regular basis by mid-1964, and the income from the label's new success allowed Jerry Wexler and the Ertegun brothers to buy out their other partners -- Ahmet Ertegun's old dentist, who had put up some of the initial money, and Miriam Bienstock, the ex-wife of their initial partner Herb Abramson, who'd got Abramson's share in the company after the divorce, and who was now married to Freddie Bienstock of Hill and Range publishing. Wexler and the Erteguns now owned the whole label. Berns also made regular trips to the UK to keep up his work with British musicians, and in one of those trips, as we heard in the episode on "Here Comes the Night", he produced several tracks for the group Them, including that track, written by Berns: [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"] And a song written by the group's lead singer Van Morrison, "Gloria": [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"] But Berns hadn't done much other work with them, because he had a new project. Part of the reason that Wexler and the Erteguns had gained total control of Atlantic was because, in a move pushed primarily by Wexler, they were looking at selling it. They'd already tried to merge with Leiber and Stoller's Red Bird Records, but lost the opportunity after a disastrous meeting, but they were in negotiations with several other labels, negotiations which would take another couple of years to bear fruit. But they weren't planning on getting out of the record business altogether. Whatever deal they made, they'd remain with Atlantic, but they were also planning on starting another label. Bert Berns had seen how successful Leiber and Stoller were with Red Bird, and wanted something similar. Wexler and the Erteguns didn't want to lose their one hit-maker, so they came up with an offer that would benefit all of them. Berns' publishing contract had just ended, so they would set up a new publishing company, WEB IV, named after the initials Wexler, Ertegun, and Berns, and the fact that there were four of them. Berns would own fifty percent of that, and the other three would own the other half. And they were going to start up a new label, with seventeen thousand dollars of the Atlantic partners' money. That label would be called Bang -- for Bert, Ahmet, Neshui, and Gerald -- and would be a separate company from Atlantic, so not affected by any sale. Berns would continue as a staff producer for Atlantic for now, but he'd have "his own" label, which he'd have a proper share in, and whether he was making hits for Atlantic or Bang, his partners would have a share of the profits. The first two records on Bang were "Shake and Jerk" by Billy Lamont, a track that they licensed from elsewhere and which didn't do much, and a more interesting track co-written by Berns. Bob Feldman, Richard Gottehrer, and Jerry Goldstein were Brill Building songwriters who had become known for writing "My Boyfriend's Back", a hit for the Angels, a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back"] With the British invasion, the three of them had decided to create their own foreign beat group. As they couldn't do British accents, they pretended to be Australian, and as the Strangeloves -- named after the Stanley Kubrick film Dr  Strangelove -- they released one flop single. They cut another single, a version of "Bo Diddley", but the label they released their initial record through didn't want it. They then took the record to Atlantic, where Jerry Wexler said that they weren't interested in releasing some white men singing "Bo Diddley". But Ahmet Ertegun suggested they bring the track to Bert Berns to see what he thought. Berns pointed out that if they changed the lyrics and melody, but kept the same backing track, they could claim the copyright in the resulting song themselves. He worked with them on a new lyric, inspired by the novel Candy, a satirical pornographic novel co-written by Terry Southern, who had also co-written the screenplay to Dr Strangelove. Berns supervised some guitar overdubs, and the result went to number eleven: [Excerpt: The Strangeloves, "I Want Candy"] Berns had two other songs on the hot one hundred when that charted, too -- Them's version of "Here Comes the Night", and the version of Van McCoy's song "Baby I'm Yours" he'd produced for Barbara Lewis. Three records on the charts on three different labels. But despite the sheer number of charting records he'd had, he'd never had a number one, until the Strangeloves went on tour. Before the tour they'd cut a version of "My Girl Sloopy" for their album -- Berns always liked to reuse material -- and they started performing the song on the tour. The Dave Clark Five, who they were supporting, told them it sounded like a hit and they were going to do their own version when they got home. Feldman, Gottehrer, and Goldstein decided *they* might as well have the hit with it as anyone else. Rather than put it out as a Strangeloves record -- their own record was still rising up the charts, and there's no reason to be your own competition -- they decided to get a group of teenage musicians who supported them on the last date of the tour to sing new vocals to the backing track from the Strangeloves album. The group had been called Rick and the Raiders, but they argued so much that the Strangeloves nicknamed them the Hatfields and the McCoys, and when their version of "My Girl Sloopy", retitled "Hang on Sloopy", came out, it was under the band name The McCoys: [Excerpt: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"] Berns was becoming a major success, and with major success in the New York music industry in the 1960s came Mafia involvement. We've talked a fair bit about Morris Levy's connection with the mob in many previous episodes, but mob influence was utterly pervasive throughout the New York part of the industry, and so for example Richard Gottehrer of the Strangeloves used to call Sonny Franzese of the Colombo crime family "Uncle John", they were so close. Franzese was big in the record business too, even after his conviction for bank robbery. Berns, unlike many of the other people in the industry, had no scruples at all about hanging out with Mafiosi. indeed his best friend in the mid sixties was Tommy Eboli, a member of the Genovese crime family who had been in the mob since the twenties, starting out working for "Lucky" Luciano. Berns was not himself a violent man, as far as anyone can tell, but he liked the glamour of hanging out with organised crime figures, and they liked hanging out with someone who was making so many hit records. And so while Leiber and Stoller, for example, ended up selling Red Bird Records to George Goldner for a single dollar in order to get away from the Mafiosi who were slowly muscling in on the label, Berns had no problems at all in keeping his own label going. Indeed, he would soon be doing so without the involvement of Atlantic Records. Berns' final work for Atlantic was in June 1966, when he cut a song he had co-written with Jeff Barry for the Drifters, inspired by the woman who would soon become Atlantic's biggest star: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Aretha"] The way Berns told the story in public, there was no real bad blood between him, Wexler, and the Erteguns -- he'd just decided to go his own way, and he said “I will always be grateful to them for the help they've given me in getting Bang started,” The way Berns' wife would later tell the story, Jerry Wexler had suggested that rather than Berns owning fifty percent of Web IV, they should start to split everything four ways, and she had been horrified by this suggestion, kicked up a stink about it, and Wexler had then said that either Berns needed to buy the other three out, or quit and give them everything, and demanded Berns pay them three hundred thousand dollars. According to other people, Berns decided he wanted one hundred percent control of Web IV, and raised a breach of contract lawsuit against Atlantic, over the usual royalty non-payments that were endemic in the industry at that point. When Atlantic decided to fight the lawsuit rather than settle, Berns' mob friends got involved and threatened to break the legs of Wexler's fourteen-year-old daughter, and the mob ended up with full control of Bang records, while Berns had full control of his publishing company. Given later events, and in particular given the way Wexler talked about Berns until the day he died, with a vitriol that he never used about any of the other people he had business disputes with, it seems likely to me that the latter story is closer to the truth than the former. But most people involved weren't talking about the details of what went on, and so Berns still retained his relationships with many of the people in the business, not least of them Jeff Barry, so when Barry and Ellie Greenwich had a new potential star, it was Berns they thought to bring him to, even though the artist was white and Berns had recently given an interview saying that he wanted to work with more Black artists, because white artists simply didn't have soul. Barry and Greenwich's marriage was breaking up at the time, but they were still working together professionally, as we discussed in the episode on "River Deep, Mountain High", and they had been the main production team at Red Bird. But with Red Bird in terminal decline, they turned elsewhere when they found a potential major star after Greenwich was asked to sing backing vocals on one of his songwriting demos. They'd signed the new songwriter, Neil Diamond, to Leiber and Stoller's company Trio Music at first, but they soon started up their own company, Tallyrand Music, and signed Diamond to that, giving Diamond fifty percent of the company and keeping twenty-five percent each for themselves, and placed one of his songs with Jay and the Americans in 1965: [Excerpt: Jay and the Americans, "Sunday and Me"] That record made the top twenty, and had established Diamond as a songwriter, but he was still not a major performer -- he'd released one flop single on Columbia Records before meeting Barry and Greenwich. But they thought he had something, and Bert Berns agreed. Diamond was signed to Bang records, and Berns had a series of pre-production meetings with Barry and Greenwich before they took Diamond into the studio -- Barry and Greenwich were going to produce Diamond for Bang, as they had previously produced tracks for Red Bird, but they were going to shape the records according to Berns' aesthetic. The first single released from Diamond's first session, "Solitary Man", only made number fifty-five, but it was the first thing Diamond had recorded to make the Hot One Hundred at all: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Solitary Man"] The second single, though, was much more Bert Berns' sort of thing -- a three-chord song that sounded like it could have been written by Berns himself, especially after Barry and Greenwich had added the Latin-style horns that Berns loved so much. Indeed according to some sources, Berns did make a songwriting suggestion -- Diamond's song had apparently been called "Money Money", and Berns had thought that was a ridiculous title, and suggested calling it "Cherry Cherry" instead: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Cherry Cherry"] That became Diamond's first top ten hit. While Greenwich had been the one who had discovered Diamond, and Barry and Greenwich were the credited producers on all Diamond's records  as a result, Diamond soon found himself collaborating far more with Barry than with Greenwich, so for example the first number one he wrote, for the Monkees rather than himself, ended up having its production just credited to Barry. That record used a backing track recorded in New York by the same set of musicians used on most Bang records, like Al Gorgoni on lead guitar and Russ Savakus on bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "I'm a Believer"] Neil Diamond was becoming a solid hit-maker, but he started rubbing up badly against Berns. Berns wanted hits and only hits, and Diamond thought of himself as a serious artist. The crisis came when two songs were under contention for Diamond's next single in late 1967, after he'd had a whole run of hits for the label. The song Diamond wanted to release, "Shilo", was deeply personal to him: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Shilo"] But Bert Berns had other ideas. "Shilo" didn't sound like a hit, and he knew a hit when he heard one. No, the clear next single, the only choice, was "Kentucky Woman": [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Kentucky Woman"] But Berns tried to compromise as best he could. Diamond's contract was up for renewal, and you don't want to lose someone who has had, as Diamond had at that point, five top twenty hits in a row, and who was also writing songs like "I'm a Believer" and "Red Red Wine". He told Diamond that he'd let "Shilo" come out as a single if Diamond signed an extension to his contract. Diamond said that not only was he not going to do that, he'd taken legal advice and discovered that there were problems with his contract which let him record for other labels -- the word "exclusive" had been missed out of the text, among other things. He wasn't going to be recording for Bang at all any more. The lawsuits over this would stretch out for a decade, and Diamond would eventually win, but the first few months were very, very difficult for Diamond. When he played the Bitter End, a club in New York, stink bombs were thrown into the audience. The Bitter End's manager was assaulted and severely beaten. Diamond moved his wife and child out of Manhattan, borrowed a gun, and after his last business meeting with Berns was heard talking about how he needed to contact the District Attorney and hire a bodyguard. Of the many threats that were issued against Diamond, though, the least disturbing was probably the threat Berns made to Diamond's career. Berns pointed out to Diamond in no uncertain terms that he didn't need Diamond anyway -- he already had someone he could replace Diamond with, another white male solo singer with a guitar who could churn out guaranteed hits. He had Van Morrison: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] When we left Van Morrison, Them had just split up due to the problems they had been having with their management team. Indeed, the problems Morrison was having with his managers seem curiously similar to the issues that Diamond was having with Bert Berns -- something that could possibly have been a warning sign to everyone involved, if any of them had known the full details of everyone else's situation. Sadly for all of them, none of them did. Them had had some early singles success, notably with the tracks Berns had produced for them, but Morrison's opinion of their second album, Them Again, was less than complimentary, and in general that album is mostly only remembered for the version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", which is one of those cover versions that inspires subsequent covers more than the original ever did: [Excerpt: Them, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"] Them had toured the US around the time of the release of that album, but that tour had been a disaster. The group had gained a reputation for incredible live shows, including performances at the Whisky A-Go-Go with the Doors and Captain Beefheart as their support acts, but during the tour Van Morrison had decided that Phil Solomon, the group's manager, was getting too much money -- Morrison had agreed to do the tour on a salary, rather than a percentage, but the tour had been more successful than he'd expected, and Solomon was making a great deal of money off the tour, money that Morrison believed rightfully belonged to him. The group started collecting the money directly from promoters, and got into legal trouble with Solomon as a result. The tour ended with the group having ten thousand dollars that Solomon believed -- quite possibly correctly -- that he was owed. Various gangsters whose acquaintance the group had made offered to have the problem taken care of, but they decided instead to come to a legal agreement -- they would keep the money, and in return Solomon, whose production company the group were signed to, would get to keep all future royalties from the Them tracks. This probably seemed a good idea at the time, when the idea of records earning royalties for sixty or more years into the future seemed ridiculous, but Morrison in particular came to regret the decision bitterly. The group played one final gig when they got back to Belfast, but then split up, though a version of the group led by the bass player Alan Henderson continued performing for a few years to no success. Morrison put together a band that played a handful of gigs under the name Them Again, with little success, but he already had his eyes set on a return to the US. In Morrison's eyes, Bert Berns had been the only person in the music industry who had really understood him, and the two worked well together. He had also fallen in love with an American woman, Janet Planet, and wanted to find some way to be with her. As Morrison said later “I had a couple of other offers but I thought this was the best one, seeing as I wanted to come to America anyway. I can't remember the exact details of the deal. It wasn't really that spectacular, money-wise, I don't think. But it was pretty hard to refuse from the point of view that I really respected Bert as a producer. I'd rather have worked with Bert than some other guy with a bigger record company. From that angle, it was spectacular because Bert was somebody that I wanted to work with.” There's little evidence that Morrison did have other offers -- he was already getting a reputation as someone who it was difficult to work with -- but he and Berns had a mutual respect, and on January the ninth, 1967, he signed a contract with Bang records. That contract has come in for a lot of criticism over the years, but it was actually, *by the standards in operation in the music business in 1967*, a reasonably fair one. The contract provided that, for a $2,500 a year advance, Bang would record twelve sides in the first year, with an option for up to fifty more that year, and options for up to four more years on the same terms. Bang had the full ownership of the masters and the right to do what they wanted with them. According to at least one biographer, Morrison added clauses requiring Bang to actually record the twelve sides a year, and to put out at least three singles and one album per year while the contract was in operation. He also added one other clause which seems telling -- "Company agrees that Company will not make any reference to the name THEM on phonograph records, or in advertising copy in connection with the recording of Artist." Morrison was, at first, extremely happy with Berns. The problems started with their first session: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl (takes 1-6)"] When Morrison had played the songs he was working on for Berns, Berns had remarked that they sounded great with just Morrison and his guitar, so Morrison was surprised when he got into the studio to find the whole standard New York session crew there -- the same group of session players who were playing for everyone from the Monkees to Laura Nyro, from Neil Diamond to the Shangri-Las -- along with the Sweet Inspirations to provide backing vocals. As he described it later "This fellow Bert, he made it the way he wanted to, and I accepted that he was producing it... I'd write a song and bring it into the group and we'd sit there and bash it around and that's all it was -- they weren't playing the songs, they were just playing whatever it was. They'd say 'OK, we got drums so let's put drums on it,' and they weren't thinking about the song, all they were thinking about was putting drums on it... But it was my song, and I had to watch it go down." The first song they cut was "Brown-Eyed Girl", a song which Morrison has said was originally a calypso, and was originally titled "Brown-skinned Girl", though he's differed in interviews as to whether Berns changed the lyric or if he just decided to sing it differently without thinking about it in the session. Berns turned "Brown-Eyed Girl" into a hit single, because that was what he tended to do with songs, and the result sounds a lot like the kind of record that Bang were releasing for Neil Diamond: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] Morrison has, in later years, expressed his distaste for what was done to the song, and in particular he's said that the backing vocal part by the Sweet Inspirations was added by Berns and he disliked it: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] Morrison has been very dismissive of "Brown-Eyed Girl" over the years, but he seems not to have disliked it at the time, and the song itself is one that has stood the test of time, and is often pointed to by other songwriters as a great example of the writer's craft. I remember reading one interview with Randy Newman -- sadly, while I thought it was in Paul Zollo's "Songwriters on Songwriting" I just checked that and it's not, so I can't quote it precisely -- in which he says that he often points to the line "behind the stadium with you" as a perfect piece of writing, because it's such a strangely specific detail that it convinces you that it actually happened, and that means you implicitly believe the rest of the song. Though it should be made very clear here that Morrison has always said, over and over again, that nothing in his songs is based directly on his own experiences, and that they're all products of his imagination and composites of people he's known. This is very important to note before we go any further, because "Brown-Eyed Girl" is one of many songs from this period in Morrison's career which imply that their narrator has an attraction to underage girls -- in this case he remembers "making love in the green grass" in the distant past, while he also says "saw you just the other day, my how you have grown", and that particular combination is not perhaps one that should be dwelt on too closely. But there is of course a very big difference between a songwriter treating a subject as something that is worth thinking about in the course of a song and writing about their own lives, and that can be seen on one of the other songs that Morrison recorded in these sessions, "T.B. Sheets": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "T.B. Sheets"] It seems very unlikely indeed that Van Morrison actually had a lover die of tuberculosis, as the lover in the song does, and while a lot of people seem convinced that it's autobiographical, simply because of the intensity of the performance (Morrison apparently broke down in tears after recording it), nobody has ever found anyone in Morrison's life who fits the story in the song, and he's always ridiculed such suggestions. What is true though is that "T.B. Sheets" is evidence against another claim that Morrison has made in the past - that on these initial sessions the eight songs recorded were meant to be the A and B sides of four singles and there was no plan of making an album. It is simply not plausible at all to suggest that "T.B. Sheets" -- a slow blues about terminal illness, that lasts nearly ten minutes -- was ever intended as a single. It wouldn't have even come close to fitting on one side of a forty-five. It was also presumably at this time that Berns brought up the topic of "Piece of My Heart". When Berns signed Erma Franklin, it was as a way of getting at Jerry Wexler, who had gone from being his closest friend to someone he wasn't on speaking terms with, by signing the sister of his new signing Aretha. Morrison, of course, didn't co-write it -- he'd already decided that he didn't play well with others -- but it's tempting to think about how the song might have been different had Morrison written it. The song in some ways seems a message to Wexler -- haven't you had enough from me already? -- but it's also notable how many songs Berns was writing with the word "heart" in the chorus, given that Berns knew he was on borrowed time from his own heart condition. As an example, around the same time he and Jerry Ragavoy co-wrote "Piece of My Heart", they also co-wrote another song, "Heart Be Still", a flagrant lift from "Peace Be Still" by Aretha Franklin's old mentor Rev. James Cleveland, which they cut with Lorraine Ellison: [Excerpt: Lorraine Ellison, "Heart Be Still"] Berns' heart condition had got much worse as a result of the stress from splitting with Atlantic, and he had started talking about maybe getting open-heart surgery, though that was still very new and experimental. One wonders how he must have felt listening to Morrison singing about watching someone slowly dying. Morrison has since had nothing but negative things to say about the sessions in March 1967, but at the time he seemed happy. He returned to Belfast almost straight away after the sessions, on the understanding that he'd be back in the US if "Brown-Eyed Girl" was a success. He wrote to Janet Planet in San Francisco telling her to listen to the radio -- she'd know if she heard "Brown-Eyed Girl" that he would be back on his way to see her. She soon did hear the song, and he was soon back in the US: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] By August, "Brown-Eyed Girl" had become a substantial hit, making the top ten, and Morrison was back in the States. He was starting to get less happy with Berns though. Bang had put out the eight tracks he'd recorded in March as an album, titled Blowin' Your Mind, and Morrison thought that the crass pseudo-psychedelia of the title, liner notes, and cover was very inappropriate -- Morrison has never been a heavy user of any drugs other than alcohol, and didn't particularly want to be associated with them. He also seems to have not realised that every track he recorded in those initial sessions would be on the album, which many people have called one of the great one-sided albums of all time -- side A, with "Brown-Eyed Girl", "He Ain't Give You None" and the extended "T.B. Sheets" tends to get far more love than side B, with five much lesser songs on it. Berns held a party for Morrison on a cruise around Manhattan, but it didn't go well -- when the performer Tiny Tim tried to get on board, Carmine "Wassel" DeNoia, a mobster friend of Berns' who was Berns' partner in a studio they'd managed to get from Atlantic as part of the settlement when Berns left, was so offended by Tim's long hair and effeminate voice and mannerisms that he threw him overboard into the harbour. DeNoia was meant to be Morrison's manager in the US, working with Berns, but he and Morrison didn't get on at all -- at one point DeNoia smashed Morrison's acoustic guitar over his head, and only later regretted the damage he'd done to a nice guitar. And Morrison and Berns weren't getting on either. Morrison went back into the studio to record four more songs for a follow-up to "Brown-Eyed Girl", but there was again a misunderstanding. Morrison thought he'd been promised that this time he could do his songs the way he wanted, but Berns was just frustrated that he wasn't coming up with another "Brown-Eyed Girl", but was instead coming up with slow songs about trans women. Berns overdubbed party noises and soul backing vocals onto "Madame George", possibly in an attempt to copy the Beach Boys' Party! album with its similar feel, but it was never going to be a "Barbara Ann": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Madame George (Bang version)"] In the end, Berns released one of the filler tracks from Blowin' Your Mind, "Ro Ro Rosey", as the next single, and it flopped. On December the twenty-ninth, Berns had a meeting with Neil Diamond, the meeting after which Diamond decided he needed to get a bodyguard. After that, he had a screaming row over the phone with Van Morrison, which made Berns ill with stress. The next day, he died of a heart attack. Berns' widow Ilene, who had only just given birth to a baby a couple of weeks earlier, would always blame Morrison for pushing her husband over the edge. Neither Van Morrison nor Jerry Wexler went to the funeral, but Neil Diamond did -- he went to try to persuade Ilene to let him out of his contract now Berns was dead. According to Janet Planet later, "We were at the hotel when we learned that Bert had died. We were just mortified, because things had been going really badly, and Van felt really bad, because I guess they'd parted having had some big fight or something... Even though he did love Bert, it was a strange relationship that lived and died in the studio... I remember we didn't go to the funeral, which probably was a mistake... I think [Van] had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen." But Morrison has later mostly talked about the more practical concerns that came up, which were largely the same as the ones Neil Diamond had, saying in 1997 "I'd signed a contract with Bert Berns for management, production, agency and record company,  publishing, the whole lot -- which was professional suicide as any lawyer will tell you now... Then the whole thing blew up. Bert Berns died and I was left broke." This was the same mistake, essentially, that he'd made with Phil Solomon, and in order to get out of it, it turned out he was going to have to do much the same for a third time.  But it was the experience with Berns specifically that traumatised Morrison enough that twenty-five years later he would still be writing songs about it, like "Big Time Operators": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Big Time Operators"] The option to renew Morrison's contracts with Berns' companies came on the ninth of January 1968, less than two weeks after Berns' death. After his death, Berns' share of ownership in his companies had passed to his widow, who was in a quandary. She had two young children, one of whom was only a few weeks old, and she needed an income after their father had died. She was also not well disposed at all towards Morrison, who she blamed for causing her husband's death. By all accounts the amazing thing is that Berns lived as long as he did given his heart condition and the state of medical science at the time, but it's easy to understand her thinking. She wanted nothing to do with Morrison, and wanted to punish him. On the other hand, her late husband's silent partners didn't want to let their cash cow go. And so Morrison came under a huge amount of pressure in very different directions. From one side, Carmine DiNoia was determined to make more money off Morrison, and Morrison has since talked about signing further contracts at this point with a gun literally to his head, and his hotel room being shot up. But on the other side, Ilene Berns wanted to destroy Morrison's career altogether. She found out that Bert Berns hadn't got Morrison the proper work permits and reported him to the immigration authorities. Morrison came very close to being deported, but in the end he managed to escape deportation by marrying Janet Planet. The newly-married couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to get away from New York and the mobsters, and to try to figure out the next steps in Morrison's career. Morrison started putting together a band, which he called The Van Morrison Controversy, and working on new songs. One of his earliest connections in Massachusetts was the lead singer of a band called the Hallucinations, who he met in a bar where he was trying to get a gig: [Excerpt: The Hallucinations, "Messin' With the Kid"] The Hallucinations' lead singer was called Peter Wolf, and would much later go on to become well-known as the singer with the J. Geils Band. He and Morrison became acquaintances, and later became closer friends when they realised they had another connection -- Wolf had a late-night radio show under the name Woofa Goofa, and he'd been receiving anonymous requests for obscure blues records from a fan of the show. Morrison had been the one sending in the requests, not realising his acquaintance was the DJ. Before he got his own band together, Morrison actually guested with the Hallucinations at one show they did in May 1968, supporting John Lee Hooker. The Hallucinations had been performing "Gloria" since Them's single had come out, and they invited Morrison to join them to perform it on stage. According to Wolf, Morrison was very drunk and ranted in cod-Japanese for thirty-five minutes, and tried to sing a different song while the band played "Gloria". The audience were apparently unimpressed, even though Wolf shouted at them “Don't you know who this man is? He wrote the song!” But in truth, Morrison was sick of "Gloria" and his earlier work, and was trying to push his music in a new direction. He would later talk about having had an epiphany after hearing one particular track on the radio: [Excerpt: The Band, "I Shall Be Released"] Like almost every musician in 1968, Morrison was hit like a lightning bolt by Music From Big Pink, and he decided that he needed to turn his music in the same direction. He started writing the song "Brand New Day", which would later appear on his album Moondance, inspired by the music on the album. The Van Morrison Controversy started out as a fairly straightforward rock band, with guitarist John Sheldon, bass player Tom Kielbania, and drummer Joey Bebo. Sheldon was a novice, though his first guitar teacher was the singer James Taylor, but the other two were students at Berklee, and very serious musicians. Morrison seems to have had various managers involved in rapid succession in 1968, including one who was himself a mobster, and another who was only known as Frank, but one of these managers advanced enough money that the musicians got paid every gig. These musicians were all interested in kinds of music other than just straight rock music, and as well as rehearsing up Morrison's hits and his new songs, they would also jam with him on songs from all sorts of other genres, particularly jazz and blues. The band worked up the song that would become "Domino" based on Sheldon jamming on a Bo Diddley riff, and another time the group were rehearsing a Grant Green jazz piece, "Lazy Afternoon": [Excerpt: Grant Green, "Lazy Afternoon"] Morrison started messing with the melody, and that became his classic song "Moondance": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Moondance"] No recordings of this electric lineup of the group are known to exist, though the backing musicians remember going to a recording studio called Ace recordings at one point and cutting some demos, which don't seem to circulate. Ace was a small studio which, according to all the published sources I've read, was best known for creating song poems, though it was a minor studio even in the song-poem world. For those who don't know, song poems were essentially a con aimed at wannabe songwriters who knew nothing about the business -- companies would advertise you too could become a successful, rich, songwriter if you sent in your "song poems", because anyone who knew the term "lyric" could be presumed to know too much about the music business to be useful. When people sent in their lyrics, they'd then be charged a fee to have them put out on their very own record -- with tracks made more or less on a conveyor belt with quick head arrangements, sung by session singers who were just handed a lyric sheet and told to get on with it. And thus were created such classics prized by collectors as "I Like Yellow Things", "Jimmy Carter Says 'Yes'", and "Listen Mister Hat". Obviously, for the most part these song poems did not lead to the customers becoming the next Ira Gershwin, but oddly even though Ace recordings is not one of the better-known song poem studios, it seems to have produced an actual hit song poem -- one that I don't think has ever before been identified as such until I made a connection, hence me going on this little tangent. Because in researching this episode I noticed something about its co-owner, Milton Yakus', main claim to fame. He co-wrote the song "Old Cape Cod", and to quote that song's Wikipedia page "The nucleus of the song was a poem written by Boston-area housewife Claire Rothrock, for whom Cape Cod was a favorite vacation spot. "Old Cape Cod" and its derivatives would be Rothrock's sole evident songwriting credit. She brought her poem to Ace Studios, a Boston recording studio owned by Milton Yakus, who adapted the poem into the song's lyrics." And while Yakus had written other songs, including songs for Patti Page who had the hit with "Old Cape Cod", apparently Page recorded that song after Rothrock brought her the demo after a gig, rather than getting it through any formal channels. It sounds to me like the massive hit and classic of the American songbook "Old Cape Cod" started life as a song-poem -- and if you're familiar with the form, it fits the genre perfectly: [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Old Cape Cod"] The studio was not the classiest of places, even if you discount the song-poems. Its main source of income was from cutting private records with mobsters' wives and mistresses singing (and dealing with the problems that came along when those records weren't successful) and it also had a sideline in bugging people's cars to see if their spouses were cheating, though Milton Yakus' son Shelly, who got his start at his dad's studio, later became one of the most respected recording engineers in the industry -- and indeed had already worked as assistant engineer on Music From Big Pink. And there was actually another distant connection to Morrison's new favourite band on these sessions. For some reason -- reports differ -- Bebo wasn't considered suitable for the session, and in his place was the one-handed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton, who had played with the Barbarians, who'd had a minor hit with "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: The Barbarians, "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?"] A later Barbarians single, in early 1966, had featured Moulty telling his life story, punctuated by the kind of three-chord chorus that would have been at home on a Bert Berns single: [Excerpt: The Barbarians, "Moulty"] But while that record was credited to the Barbarians, Moulton was the only Barbarian on the track, with the instruments and backing vocals instead being provided by Levon and the Hawks. Shortly after the Ace sessions, the Van Morrison Controversy fell apart, though nobody seems to know why. Depending on which musician's story you listen to, either Morrison had a dream that he should get rid of all electric instruments and only use acoustic players, or there was talk of a record deal but the musicians weren't good enough, or the money from the mysterious manager (who may or may not have been the one who was a mobster) ran out. Bebo went back to university, and Sheldon left soon after, though Sheldon would remain in the music business in one form or another. His most prominent credit has been writing a couple of songs for his old friend James Taylor, including the song "Bittersweet" on Taylor's platinum-selling best-of, on which Sheldon also played guitar: [Excerpt: James Taylor, "Bittersweet"] Morrison and Kielbania continued for a while as a duo, with Morrison on acoustic guitar and Kielbania on double bass, but they were making very different music. Morrison's biggest influence at this point, other than The Band, was King Pleasure, a jazz singer who sang in the vocalese style we've talked about before -- the style where singers would sing lyrics to melodies that had previously been improvised by jazz musicians: [Excerpt: King Pleasure, "Moody's Mood for Love"] Morrison and Kielbania soon decided that to make the more improvisatory music they were interested in playing, they wanted another musician who could play solos. They ended up with John Payne, a jazz flute and saxophone player whose biggest inspiration was Charles Lloyd. This new lineup of the Van Morrison Controversy -- acoustic guitar, double bass, and jazz flute -- kept gigging around Boston, though the sound they were creating was hardly what the audiences coming to see the man who'd had that "Brown-Eyed Girl" hit the year before would have expected -- even when they did "Brown-Eyed Girl", as the one live recording of that line-up, made by Peter Wolf, shows: [Excerpt: The Van Morrison Controversy, "Brown-Eyed Girl (live in Boston 1968)"] That new style, with melodic bass underpinning freely extemporising jazz flute and soulful vocals, would become the basis of the album that to this day is usually considered Morrison's best. But before that could happen, there was the matter of the contracts to be sorted out. Warner-Reprise Records were definitely interested. Warners had spent the last few years buying up smaller companies like Atlantic, Autumn Records, and Reprise, and the label was building a reputation as the major label that would give artists the space and funding they needed to make the music they wanted to make. Idiosyncratic artists with difficult reputations (deserved or otherwise), like Neil Young, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, the Grateful Dead, and Joni Mitchell, had all found homes on the label, which was soon also to start distributing Frank Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Captain Beefheart. A surly artist who wants to make mystical acoustic songs with jazz flute accompaniment was nothing unusual for them, and once Joe Smith, the man who had signed the Grateful Dead, was pointed in Morrison's direction by Andy Wickham, an A&R man working for the label, everyone knew that Morrison would be a perfect fit. But Morrison was still under contract to Bang records and Web IV, and those contracts said, among other things, that any other label that negotiated with Morrison would be held liable for breach of contract. Warners didn't want to show their interest in Morrison, because a major label wanting to sign him would cause Bang to raise the price of buying him out of his contract. Instead they got an independent production company to sign him, with a nod-and-wink understanding that they would then license the records to Warners. The company they chose was Inherit Productions, the production arm of Schwaid-Merenstein, a management company set up by Bob Schwaid, who had previously worked in Warners' publishing department, and record producer Lewis Merenstein. Merenstein came to another demo session at Ace Recordings, where he fell in love with the new music that Morrison was playing, and determined he would do everything in his power to make the record into the masterpiece it deserved to be. He and Morrison were, at least at this point, on exactly the same page, and bonded over their mutual love of King Pleasure. Morrison signed to Schwaid-Merenstein, just as he had with Bert Berns and before him Phil Solomon, for management, record production, and publishing. Schwaid-Merenstein were funded by Warners, and would license any recordings they made to Warners, once the contractual situation had been sorted out. The first thing to do was to negotiate the release from Web IV, the publishing company owned by Ilene Berns. Schwaid negotiated that, and Morrison got released on four conditions -- he had to make a substantial payment to Web IV, if he released a single within a year he had to give Web IV the publishing, any album he released in the next year had to contain at least two songs published by Web IV, and he had to give Web IV at least thirty-six new songs to publish within the next year. The first two conditions were no problem at all -- Warners had the money to buy the contract out, and Merenstein's plans for the first album didn't involve a single anyway. It wouldn't be too much of a hardship to include a couple of Web IV-published tracks on the album -- Morrison had written two songs, "Beside You" and "Madame George", that had already been published and that he was regularly including in his live sets. As for the thirty-six new songs... well, that all depended on what you called a song, didn't it? [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Ring Worm"] Morrison went into a recording studio and recorded thirty-one ostensible songs, most of them lasting one minute to within a few seconds either way, in which he strummed one or two chords and spoke-sang whatever words came into his head -- for example one song, "Here Comes Dumb George", just consists of the words "Here Comes Dumb George" repeated over and over. Some of the 'songs', like "Twist and Shake" and "Hang on Groovy", are parodying Bert Berns' songwriting style; others, like "Waiting for My Royalty Check", "Blowin' Your Nose", and "Nose in Your Blow", are attacks on Bang's business practices. Several of the songs, like "Hold on George", "Here Comes Dumb George", "Dum Dum George", and "Goodbye George" are about a man called George who seems to have come to Boston to try and fail to make a record with Morrison. And “Want a Danish” is about wanting a Danish pastry. But in truth, this description is still making these "songs" sound more coherent than they are. The whole recording is of no musical merit whatsoever, and has absolutely nothing in it which could be considered to have any commercial potential at all. Which is of course the point -- just to show utter contempt to Ilene Berns and her company. The other problem that needed to be solved was Bang Records itself, which was now largely under the control of the mob. That was solved by Joe Smith. As Smith told the story "A friend of mine who knew some people said I could buy the contract for $20,000. I had to meet somebody in a warehouse on the third floor on Ninth Avenue in New York. I walked up there with twenty thousand-dollar bills -- and I was terrified. I was terrified I was going to give them the money, get a belt on the head and still not wind up with the contract. And there were two guys in the room. They looked out of central casting -- a big wide guy and  a tall, thin guy. They were wearing suits and hats and stuff. I said 'I'm here with the money. You got the contract?' I remember I took that contract and ran out the door and jumped from the third floor to the second floor, and almost broke my leg to get on the street, where I could get a cab and put the contract in a safe place back at Warner Brothers." But the problem was solved, and Lewis Merenstein could get to work translating the music he'd heard Morrison playing into a record. He decided that Kielbania and Payne were not suitable for the kind of recording he wanted -- though they were welcome to attend the sessions in case the musicians had any questions about the songs, and thus they would get session pay. Kielbania was, at first, upset by this, but he soon changed his mind when he realised who Merenstein was bringing in to replace him on bass for the session. Richard Davis, the bass player -- who sadly died two months ago as I write this -- would later go on to play on many classic rock records by people like Bruce Springsteen and Laura Nyro, largely as a result of his work for Morrison, but at the time he was known as one of the great jazz bass players, most notably having played on Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch: [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy, "Hat and Beard"] Kielbania could see the wisdom of getting in one of the truly great players for the album, and he was happy to show Davis the parts he'd been playing on the songs live, which Davis could then embellish -- Davis later always denied this, but it's obvious when listening to the live recordings that Kielbania played on before these sessions that Davis is playing very similar lines. Warren Smith Jr, the vibraphone player, had played with great jazz musicians like Charles Mingus and Herbie Mann, as well as backing Lloyd Price, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. Connie Kay, the drummer, was the drummer for the Modern Jazz Quartet and had also played sessions with everyone from Ruth Brown to Miles Davis. And Jay Berliner, the guitarist, had played on records like Charles Mingus' classic The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady: [Excerpt: Charles Mingus: "Mode D - Trio and Group Dancers, Mode F - Single Solos & Group Dance"] There was also a flute player whose name nobody now remembers. Although all of these musicians were jobbing session musicians -- Berliner came to the first session for the album that became Astral Weeks straight from a session recording a jingle for Pringles potato chips -- they were all very capable of taking a simple song and using it as an opportunity for jazz improvisation. And that was what Merenstein asked them to do. The songs that Morrison was writing were lyrically oblique, but structurally they were very simple -- surprisingly so when one is used to listening to the finished album. Most of the songs were, harmonically, variants of the standard blues and R&B changes that Morrison was used to playing. "Cyprus Avenue" and "The Way Young Lovers Do", for example, are both basically twelve-bar blueses -- neither is *exactly* a standard twelve-bar blues, but both are close enough that they can be considered to fit the form. Other than what Kielbania and Payne showed the musicians, they received no guidance from Morrison, who came in, ran through the songs once for them, and then headed to the vocal booth. None of the musicians had much memory of Morrison at all -- Jay Berliner said “This little guy walks in, past everybody, disappears into the vocal booth, and almost never comes out, even on the playbacks, he stayed in there." While Richard Davis later said “Well, I was with three of my favorite fellas to play with, so that's what made it beautiful. We were not concerned with Van at all, he never spoke to us.” The sound of the basic tracks on Astral Weeks is not the sound of a single auteur, as one might expect given its reputation, it's the sound of extremely good jazz musicians improvising based on the instructions given by Lewis Merenstein, who was trying to capture the feeling he'd got from listening to Morrison's live performances and demos. And because these were extremely good musicians, the album was recorded extremely quickly. In the first session, they cut four songs. Two of those were songs that Morrison was contractually obliged to record because of his agreement with Web IV -- "Beside You" and "Madame George", two songs that Bert Berns had produced, now in radically different versions: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Madame George"] The third song, "Cyprus Avenue", is the song that has caused most controversy over the years, as it's another of the songs that Morrison wrote around this time that relate to a sexual or romantic interest in underage girls. In this case, the reasoning might have been as simple as that the song is a blues, and Morrison may have been thinking about a tradition of lyrics like this in blues songs like "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl". Whatever the cause though, the lyrics have, to put it mildly, not aged well at all: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Cyprus Avenue"] That song would be his standard set-closer for live performances for much of the seventies. For the fourth and final song, though, they chose to record what would become the title track for the album, "Astral Weeks", a song that was a lot more elliptical, and which seems in part to be about Morrison's longing for Janet Planet from afar, but also about memories of childhood, and also one of the first songs to bring in Morrison's fascination with the occult and spirituality,  something that would be a recurring theme throughout his work, as the song was partly inspired by paintings by a friend of Morrison's which suggested to him the concept of astral travel: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] Morrison had a fascination with the idea of astral travel, as he had apparently had several out-of-body experiences as a child, and wanted to find some kind of explanation for them. Most of the songs on the album came, by Morrison's own account, as a kind of automatic writing, coming through him rather than being consciously written, and there's a fascination throughout with, to use the phrase from "Madame George", "childhood visions". The song is also one of the first songs in Morrison's repertoire to deliberately namecheck one of his idols, something else he would do often in future, when he talks about "talking to Huddie Leadbelly". "Astral Weeks" was a song that Morrison had been performing live for some time, and Payne had always enjoyed doing it. Unlike Kielbania he had no compunction about insisting that he was good enough to play on the record, and he eventually persuaded the session flute player to let him borrow his instrument, and Payne was allowed to play on the track: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] Or at least that's how the story is usually told -- Payne is usually credited for playing on "Madame George" too, even though everyone agrees that "Astral Weeks" was the last song of the night, but people's memories can fade over time. Either way, Payne's interplay with Jay Berliner on the guitar became such a strong point of the track that there was no question of bringing the unknown session player back -- Payne was going to be the woodwind player for the rest of the album: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] There was then a six-day break between sessions, during which time Payne and Kielbania went to get initiated into Scientology -- a religion with which Morrison himself would experiment a little over a decade later -- though they soon decided that it wasn't worth the cost of the courses they'd have to take, and gave up on the idea the same week. The next session didn't go so well. Jay Berliner was unavailable, and so Barry Kornfeld, a folkie who played with people like Dave Van Ronk, was brought in to replace him. Kornfeld was perfectly decent in the role, but they'd also brought in a string section, with the idea of recording some of the songs which needed string parts live. But the string players they brought in were incapable of improvising, coming from a classical rather than jazz tradition, and the only track that got used on the finished album was "The Way Young Lovers Do", by far the most conventional song on the album, a three-minute soul ballad structured as a waltz twelve-bar blues, where the strings are essentially playing the same parts that a horn section would play on a record by someone like Solomon Burke: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "The Way Young Lovers Do"] It was decided that any string or horn parts on the rest of the album would just be done as overdubs. It was two weeks before the next and final session for the album, and that featured the return of Jay Berliner on guitar. The session started with "Sweet Thing" and "Ballerina", two songs that Morrison had been playing live for some time, and which were cut in relatively quick order.  They then made attempts at two more songs that didn't get very far, "Royalty", and "Going Around With Jesse James", before Morrison, stuck for something to record, pulled out a new lyric he'd never performed live, "Slim Slow Slider". The whole band ran through the song once, but then Merenstein decided to pare the arrangement down to just Morrison, Payne (on soprano sax rather than on flute), and Warren Smith Jr: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Slim Slow Slider"] That track was the only one where, after the recording, Merenstein didn't compliment the performance, remaining silent instead – Payne said “Maybe everyone was just tired, or maybe they were moved by it.” It seems likely it was the latter. The track eventually got chosen as the final track of the album, because Merenstein felt that it didn't fit conceptually with anything else -- and it's definitely a more negative track than the oth

Some of you may have wondered what happened to the “In Conversation” talk show. And some of you, who read and hear our news on LPM or WFPL already know. In August, our host, colleague and friend Rick Howlett passed away from cancer. Senior producer Laura Ellis who worked with Rick for years, including on the “In Conversation” team, wrote a lovely tribute about him. Since Rick was co-creator of “In Conversation,” and its only host since it launched in January 2019, we are left with a Rick-sized hole. But he also leaves us inspired to carry on with programming that reflects his passion for examining the news, encouraging community engagement, and contributing to public discourse in a way that makes us better together. In the spirit of sharing the kind of work you value as an “In Conversation” listener, here is the documentary “Dirty Business,” from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. Our journalists uncover the true cost of cleaning up after the eastern Kentucky floods, including how unfinished work can set up more problems the next time there's extreme weather.

"In this episode, we're diving deep into the world of pet care with Jennifer Blaese, a passionate animal lover and dynamic entrepreneur based in the bustling city of Chicago. Jennifer is the visionary founder of GreenLine Pet Supply, a company dedicated to providing a wide range of sustainable and eco-friendly products for pets and their devoted human companions.Jennifer's journey is marked by her unwavering commitment to making a positive impact on the world. Through GreenLine Pet Supply, she has transformed her love for animals and her passion for sustainability into a thriving business that sets a remarkable standard in the pet industry.What truly sets Jennifer and her company apart is their dedication to giving back. GreenLine Pet Supply is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, a global network of businesses that pledge to donate 1% of their sales to support grassroots nonprofits actively making a difference in their local communities.In this episode, we delve into the practical aspects of Jennifer's eco-conscious pet products and how they're contributing to a greener world. If you're interested in discovering innovative, sustainable solutions for your beloved pets while supporting a business with a heart, this episode is a must-listen.To learn more about Jennifer Blaese and explore the eco-friendly offerings of GreenLine Pet Supply, visit their website at greenlinepetsupply.com."Support the show

In this week's episode of the Albany Update podcast, we'll explain more about what we believe and what motivates us to do the work that we do. Let's get started. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/albanyupdate/support

Hunter Biden's longtime business partner Devon Archer recently testified to Congress behind closed doors about international deals he and Hunter were involved in and whether Joe Biden had any participation. Even though the mainstream media is spinning the testimony as exonerating the President, the reality is that Hunter was clearly trading on his father's name and that Joe actively involved himself in his son's business. Jimmy and The Convo Couch host Craig Jardula discuss the weight of evidence suggesting President Biden helped and benefited from his son's influence peddling schemes. Plus segments about a new poll showing a majority of Americans no longer support Ukraine War funding and out-of-touch elitist Joy Behar wondering why Joe Biden isn't more popular. Also featuring Stef Zamorano and Mike MacRae! And phone calls from Andrew Cuomo and Joe Biden!

School boards and state governments have been locked in intense debates over what counts as history and whose history ought to be taught. Many of these wrestles orbit around events and cultural beliefs that the pragmatist philosopher Cornel West might refer to as “catastrophes.”Some voices are eager to bury, ignore, or sterilize many of the truly horrendous deeds that have happened in the United States. Slavery. Segregation. Jim Crow. Genocide. The exploitation of workers. And the list goes on.This inability to process the pain, guilt, or shame many of these events provoke in people is, arguably, a major contributing factor to the polarization, dehumanization, and political corrosiveness we encounter in both the national discourse and our local communities. Brad Elliott Stone and Jacob Goodson believe the answer can be found in building beloved community.They draw from the philosophies of Josiah Royce, Martin Luther King Jr, Cornel West, and William James. In their new book, Building Beloved Community in a Wounded World, they argue for ways in which we can heal the wounds inflicted on all of us by racism and economic injustices, both past and present. Here are just a few of the questions considered throughout the conversation.Should building beloved community be focused locally, nationally, or globally? What does it take to effectively respond to the cries of the wounded? And, how can communities better work through the emotional pain of past wrongs?Brad Elliott Stone is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean in the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.Jacob L. Goodson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas.Show NotesBuilding Beloved Community in a Wounded World by Jacob L. Goodson, Brad Elliott Stone, and Philip Rudolph Kuehnert (2022)Introducing Prophetic Pragmatism: A Dialogue on Hope, the Philosophy of Race, and the Spiritual Blues by Jacob L. Goodson and Brad Elliott Stone (2019)Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty (1989)The American Evasion of Philosophy by Cornel West (1989)“Pragmatism and the Tragic Sense of Life” by Sidney Hook (1960)The Tragic Sense of Life by Miguel de Unamuno (1954)Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James (1907)“Tender-Minded vs. Tough-Minded Thinkers” by Jeffrey Howard (2023)S2E02 Fear of Breakdown in American Democracy w/ Noëlle McAfee (2022)“American Democracy and Its Broken Bargaining Tables” by Daniel Layman (2021)“Rortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth” by Adrian Rutt (2021)S1E12 Philosophers Need to Care About the Poor w/ Jacob Goodson (2021)S1E19 Buddhist Reflections on Race and Liberation w/ Charles Johnson (2021)S1E01 Richard Rorty and Achieving Our Country w/ Adrian Rutt (2020)Music Credits“Happy Americana” by ABCDmusic“Empty Bottle, Empty Bed” by Mini Vandals“Thinking Blues” by Bessie Smith“Nobody's Dirty Business” by Mississippi John Hurt“That's All Right” by Arthur Crudup“Sissy Man Blues” by Kokomo Arnold This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit damntheabsolute.substack.com

Double Down with James Breslo is an exciting new show focusing on the business of sports betting. Breslo is a former gaming industry executive and host of “Casino Talk with Louie Anderson.” Breslo interviews insiders about everything from Vegas sports books to internet wagering, from fantasy sports leagues to three team parlays, from stock picks to political showdowns. On the June 15, 2023 episode, James introduces Joseph Martin, Founder and CEO of Kinectify, to the Double Down audience discussing the troubling trend of money laundering within the gambling sector and how his company is helping the industry fight back against this illegal activity. The fascinating conversation digs deep into the actions of the money launderer and the steps implemented by Kinectify to track and prevent it from negatively impacting casinos, sportsbooks and mobile gambling operators. You will be left amazed after listening to this episode of Double Down with Breslo. Please remember to subscribe to the CrossCheck Media channel on YouTube to receive notifications alerting you when Double Down with Breslo is posted. Also, please let us know what you think! Send comments to Press@XCheckMedia.com. Who knows--maybe James will read your message on the air! Social Connections: Twitter: @XCheckMedia, @JimBreslo, @TMSchoenberger, @DoubleDown_TV, @KinectifyAML Instagram: @CrossCheckMedia #gambling #sports #wagering #exchange #rankings #research #investing #AI #esports #fantasy #education #moneylaundering #AML

TikTok is lawyering up. The embattled social media app has 150 million users in the US, but dancing teenagers don't have the kind of pull that TikTok needs. So, they are spending millions on the most connected Washington lobbyists they can get, high-priced, “well placed names” who can speak to Republicans or Democrats. On the most recent episode of The Drill Down with Peter Schweizer, Peter and co-host Eric Eggers detail the impressive lineup of former politicians and staffers from previous White House administrations who are making money defending what some critics and computer security professionals call “Chinese spyware.”

This week we talk about the National Divorce, The Fulton County Grand Jury Foreman, and the NCAA's Dirty Business of Basketball.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another new mafia romance with a new take that hooked us and gave us the best book hangover. Tune into our book club chat discussing A Dirty Business by Tijan, the storyline, characters, and the plot twists we didn't see coming. Note: Yes the second book is Ashton's

Should you have a cancellation policy for a monthly cleaning customer? Is a monthly customer just a one-off clean? Having rules or choices upfront will help you manage monthly clients. Today's #AskaHouseCleaner sponsor is #SavvyCleaner training and certification for house cleaners and maids. (https://savvycleaner.com/join) And your host today is #AngelaBrown (https://g.page/r/CbMI6YFuLU2GEBI/review) Today's #BehindtheCleans is produced by Savvy Cleaner Training and certification for house cleaners and maids. (https://savvycleaner.com/join) And your production team is Angela Brown, PJ Barnes, & Parker Shelton. *** CANCELLATION POLICY FOR A MONTHLY CLEANING CUSTOMER *** 0:00 - Meet Angela Brown, the House Cleaning Guru 0:24 - Should I have a cancellation policy for monthly customers? 0:59 - What is a one-off client? 1:22 - Why would a monthly customer cancel? 2:01 - What can I say to someone that only wants to be monthly? 2:43 - If two or three months go by, can I change my pricing? 3:06 - What to say if a customer misses a month? 3:27 - Selling a year in advance may help keep customers on schedule 4:50 - Can I put one-offs on a waitlist? 5:42 - What to say if the client's cleaning needs are now different? *** PROMISED LINKS AND GOOD KARMA RESOURCES *** Cleaning Up in a Dirty Business - https://amzn.to/3gV8qKN You Can Make It, But Can You Keep It?  - https://amzn.to/3VzBard The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money - https://amzn.to/3Fujjwy Small Business Survival Guide: Starting, Protecting, And Securing - https://amzn.to/3VFgI8I The Small Business Disaster Survival Guide: Business Continuation - https://amzn.to/3iEnJrC (When available, we use affiliate links and may earn a commission!) *** RATE THIS SHOW ***  https://sotellus.com/r/savvy-cleaner   *** RATE THIS PODCAST ***  https://ratethispodcast.com/askahousecleaner  *** TRAINING & CLEANING CERTIFICATION*** https://savvycleaner.com/join *** MOST REQUESTED LIST OF CLEANING STUFF I USE *** https://www.Amazon.com/shop/AngelaBrown  *** CONNECT WITH ANGELA ON SOCIAL MEDIA *** YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AskAngelaBrown Facebook: https://Facebook.com/AskAngelaBrown Twitter: https://Twitter.com/AskAngelaBrown Instagram: https://Instagram.com/AskAngelaBrown Pinterest: https://Pinterest.com/AskAngelaBrown Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/AskAngelaBrown TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@AskAngelaBrown Store: https://amazon.com/shop/AngelaBrown Live Shopping: https://amazon.com/live/AngelaBrown *** GOT A QUESTION FOR A SHOW? *** Please email it to Angela[at]AskaHouseCleaner.com Voice Mail: Click on the blue button at https://askahousecleaner.com  *** FREE EBOOK – HOW TO START YOUR OWN HOUSE CLEANING COMPANY *** https://amzn.to/3jHk4GL *** PROFESSIONAL HOUSE CLEANERS PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP *** https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProfessionalHouseCleaners/ *** VRBO AIRBNB CLEANING FACEBOOK GROUP *** https://www.facebook.com/groups/VRBO.Airbnb.Cleaning/ *** LOOKING FOR A WAY TO GET MORE CLEANING LEADS *** https://housecleaning360.com *** SPONSOR A CLEANER - SAVVY CLEANER SCHOLARSHIP FUND ***  Each year Savvy Cleaner gives away scholarships to the Savvy Cleaner Network, which includes training for house cleaners and maids, group coaching, and 24/7 network support. This trains them in personal protective equipment, chemical safety, cleaning equipment between jobs, how to clean techniques, and more. If you find value in this show and you want to pay it forward, you can sponsor a cleaner here:  Give: https://savvycleaner.com/scholarship-fund Apply - https://savvycleaner.com/scholarship-application *** SPONSORSHIPS & BRANDS ***  We do work with sponsors and brands. If you are interested in working with us and you have a product or service that makes sense for the cleaning industry, here's how to work with us -https://savvycleaner.com/brand-deals *** THIS SHOW WAS SPONSORED IN PART BY *** SAVVY CLEANER - House Cleaner Training and Certification – https://savvycleaner.com MY CLEANING CONNECTION – Your hub for all things cleaning – https://mycleaningconnection.com SAVVY PERKS – Employee Pricing for Small Business Owners –  https://savvyperks.com  VRBO AIRBNB CLEANING – Cleaning tips and strategies for your short-term rental  https://TurnoverCleaningTips.com  FUNNY CLEANING SHIRTS – Incentive and thank-you gifts for house cleaners and maids. https://FunnyCleaningShirts.com  HOARDING WORLD - Helping you change your relationship with stuff https://HoardingWorld.com *** VIDEO CREDITS *** VIDEO/AUDIO EDITING: Kristin O  https://savvycleaner.com/reviews/kristin-o HOST: Angela Brown  https://g.page/r/CbMI6YFuLU2GEBI/review PRODUCER: Savvy Cleaner https://savvycleaner.com

Go to http://dipseastories.com/MLM for an extended 30 day free trial.  Go to http://hellofresh.com/mlm65 and use code mlm65 to get 65% off plus free shipping.  Go to http://hellofresh.com/mlm65 and use code mlm65 to get 65% off plus free shipping!   Welcome to Multi Level Mondays, a weekly series all about multi level marketing, pyramid schemes, and ponzi schemes. In 2020, MLMs made headlines by catapulting in popularity as people remained trapped in their homes, desperate for a little extra cash, and hopeful for a miracle cure-all that could save them from Covid-19. One of the most prominent MLMs out there was, BOO, a company claiming that their magic dirt could heal every disease or disorder known to mankind. But, while their customers and sellers pushed the product desperately on social media, others were paying attention to their rise, less than thrilled by their “cure-all” advertising.  Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/iilluminaughtii Sources: https://justpaste.it/6ddoe Writers/Researchers/Helpers: Jess Hubbert This episode was edited and mixed by: @GThomasCraig  Album cover art created by: Betsy Primes Intro Song Credits: Last to Fall- Will Van De Crommert Outro Song Credits: Sacred and Profane- Nicholas Rowe

Most of us have already tried to offset the carbon footprint of our consumption. Maybe you've paid to offset your flight, a parcel delivery, or even production of a product you bought. And it made you feel good, right? Well, this episode will make you feel a bit worse. Sorry. But if you are ready to take the red pill listen in and we'll share: how governments try to force certain industries and companies into decreasing pollution, why do some companies voluntarily offset their carbon footprint, and why, unfortunately, neither of these two paths is currently effective.

The guys open the show by discussing Red Lobster, where Tony orders, "chickety tenduhs" or "chicken tendies." Then they get serious on the Deshaun Watson situation. Also, Russ is overjoyed to see Jason rip into Tony's job performance for once. And much more. Check out great shirts and more at HOMAGE at homage.sjv.io/SportsAdjacent and listen to this episode for our promo code to get 20% off your first purchase. And visit Sheets & Giggles at sheetsgiggles.com/SA and you'll get $23 off your next order -- discount applied automatically at checkout.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/house-of-l-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The guys open the show by discussing Red Lobster, where Tony orders, "chickety tenduhs" or "chicken tendies." Then they get serious on the Deshaun Watson situation. Also, Russ is overjoyed to see Jason rip into Tony's job performance for once. And much more. Check out great shirts and more at HOMAGE at homage.sjv.io/SportsAdjacent and listen to this episode for our promo code to get 20% off your first purchase. And visit Sheets & Giggles at sheetsgiggles.com/SA and you'll get $23 off your next order -- discount applied automatically at checkout.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Beauty shoppers are clamouring for green packaging and sustainable beauty. The industry is coming out with innovative packaging made from recycled plastics that themselves can be recycled. So isn't this a positive landscape and a happier space for the beauty industry to be in than a few years ago? If only sustainable beauty packaging were so simple. In this Green Beauty Opinion, Formula Botanica CEO, Chartered Environmentalist and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier praises the strides the beauty industry is making on sustainable packaging, but also unearths the truth about how much is recycled. Consumers still know little about what our beauty packaging is made of and where it ends up in its afterlife. In this opinion short, Lorraine explains that while we are becoming familiar with acronyms for plastics, like post-consumer recycled PET plastics, and are better at deciphering recycling symbols, the reality is that very little plastic waste is recycled. Plastics are still shipped from rich countries across the world to be dumped in open landfills. Ultimately, much ends up polluting the oceans. Innovative packaging solutions are well and good, but are let down by a recycling infrastructure that can't close the loop and sustain a circular economy. Lorraine's challenge to all of us engaged in beauty, whether as shoppers or industry insiders, is to start having more conversations about the environmental harm of beauty packaging. Whether indie founder or mainstream big beauty business, we need to tell our customers just what our packaging is made of and how to recycle it. Make our customers lives easier by making videos on how to recycle that airless pump bottle, for example. As shoppers, we must be prepared to ask beauty brands how to recycle and reuse their packaging, whatever it is made of, and pile the pressure on them to respond with clarity. While R&D is coming up with the next closed-loop, circular economy packaging, we can start having an immediate impact by simply having conversations and educating each other. And remembering that because innovative sustainable packaging can be recycled, it doesn't mean it will be.

Boxing. It's one of the most popular sports in the world, watched by millions of people both at ringside and on television. But have you ever stopped to wonder who is putting together the fights in the first place. This week on Cheat, we're going to the '70s, to the golden age of boxing—where historical fights like Rumble in the Jungle and Thrilla in Manilla are being fought. At the centre of it all is a boxing promoter by the name of Don King. On the surface he seems like boxing's boy wonder, but he's been cutting corners and in 1977 he cut one of his biggest with all all-American Boxing tournament. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's show we talk about Ukranian and Russian soldiers filming everything they do, including war crimes. Hunter Biden's laptop is heating up and the left is finding it harder to get away with the lies. The Boston Marathon is banning people from the race if they have Russian blood. Max Kellerman doesn't think that Tiger Woods is an athlete, and Cracker Jill has a new catchy theme song! All that and more!   Order Callahan Coffee right now, and while you're at it grab yourself a Bug The Chug Mug! callahancoffee.com Want extra content? Get daily livestreams and one extra show per week on Locals: callahan.locals.com   Support our sponsors: mypillow.com/Gerry sheaconcrete.com callahancoffee.com