Podcasts about goddammit

Es geht endlich weiter. Aber bevor wir wieder über Musik reden können, habe ich ein bißchen was loszuwerden. Aber es musste einfach mal raus! Viel Neuigkeiten gibt es auch:    Shownotes: NAPAEA on instagram NAPAEA Website The Campfire Camaraderie - Goddammit, Bryson [Whatever Happens Session] The Campfire Camaraderie on instagram The Campfire Camaraderie Website John Allen Online Shop für PreOrders von Album, Shirts und Hoodies

Podcasting 2.0 for September 9th 2022 Episode 101: "Loops, not Lists" Adam & Dave discuss the week's developments on podcastindex.org and expose the Podcast industrial Complex ShowNotes Got my first Podverse alert GrapheneOs and tailscale Alby now soundcloud "tipping" - Need Music 2.0 wallets! Podcast Industry is now Podcast Industrial Complex TikTok Vale4Value doesn't need lists XMPP bridge to IRC XMMP Strike Force - Mitch and Alecks Well, Goddammit, Now I Have To... - by Tanner Campbell Michael Mignano video piece bs - Been there done that alby-mainnet-lnd1 - Amboss Space the Lightning Network Explorer and Analytics Tool - 030a58b8653d32b99200a2334cfe913e51dc7d155aa0116c176657a4f1722677a3 Last Modified 09/09/2022 14:17:22 by Freedom Controller

In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Kristina Lee, an assistant professor in Communication Studies at the University of South Dakota. We talk about the idea of “theistnormativity” – the way that Christianity and belief in God are subtly (or not!) privileged in the United States. This is seen in things like having “In God We Trust” on the money, the ubiquitous “God Bless America” in politicians' speeches, and the way atheists are mistrusted and have had their citizenship challenged. We talk about how this theistnormativity is not inevitable but that it was Christian nationalists who have repeatedly tried to instill it. We also learn whether a “true atheist” can commit a sin, or say “Goddammit!” when they stub their toe.In the bonus section, we talk about persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1940s and the reception of Kristina's work in academia and as a teacher.Disclaimer: "Please note, Dr. Lee is expressing her own professional opinion, not those of USD or the South Dakota Board of Regents."Check out some of Kristina's articles:“Why it matters that 7 states still have bans on atheists holding office”: https://theconversation.com/why-it-matters-that-7-states-still-have-bans-on-atheists-holding-office-161069“70 years ago Walter Plywaski fought for atheists' right to become citizens – here's why his story is worth remembering”: https://theconversation.com/70-years-ago-walter-plywaski-fought-for-atheists-right-to-become-citizens-heres-why-his-story-is-worth-remembering-164758“How 'In God We Trust' bills are helping advance a Christian nationalist agenda”: https://theconversation.com/how-in-god-we-trust-bills-are-helping-advance-a-christian-nationalist-agenda-164143Follow Nathan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NathGAlexanderNathan's website: https://www.nathangalexander.com/If you find the podcast valuable and want to support it, check out our Patreon page, where you will also find bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/beyond_atheism We are grateful for every contribution.

Last week ended, quite literally, on a blackout. Was Doug attacked? Did he simply pass out from lack of sleep, or the nasty smell that wafted from his office? THIS WEEK: Doug drags his wounded self to the the local island doctor, who has, let's say, unconventional methods in treating his patients…Hit play above to listen to APOCALYPSE ROCK or scroll down to read. Enjoy!

DILLON HART FRANCIS is laying in a lush green meadow, centered in a field of daisies dressed in all white. Though I'm not sure we're meant to be, I'm sure that we could be; Or have been— But that's just me; My memory expands further than the eyes see; You're like me, But likely, Another lesson I need So here I am Rolling in the deep Keeping secrets, Sleeping with my grip Tightly wrapped around the key; A lock that doesn't open, Another thing I don't need; And I don't need you, But I'm thinking that I probably shouldn't think I need a drink— (Of love) Another drink— (Of blood) It's something wonderful, or was A pigeon turned to dove, And then a duck, Right before my eyes I'd be lying if I said I never cried so much Over one Lustful Stunning Something What? You woke me up for nothing I was someone in my dream, And now I'm up, And I'm no one I'm no one, huh But funny, sometimes Why me? I just keep on writing, I just keep on writing I just keep on writing I'm deprived, I'm not alive anymore— No one ever loved me before. He certainly must be dead; he thinks; his bright blue eyes glisten in the light, and as they begin to change, one single daisy stands out to him–unmoving, he stares at it, her petals rustling in the light breeze of the wind, however–they, too, begin to change. He takes a slow, deep breath in, still, however unmoving, as the daisy seemingly begins to dance and glisten; now he seem curious at best, but still unmoved. The daisy begins to flutter and twinkle, dazzling as the light seems to move around it, the meadow fading into a picturesque blur as the flower blooms, now changing color into a swirling array of flashing colors, now emitting a lulling hum– a peaceful and calming lullaby of frequencies and tones, cosmic and otherworldly and yet somehow natural and familiar Dillon becomes flush with bewilderment and awe, as the daisy continues to flash strobing patterns of lights and colors, now opening and growing as its petals stretch out, reaching into a flush and glorious cascade of pure white light–as his eyes widen, he moves slightly towards it; it opens up and swallows him whole. INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY THOMAS WESLEY PENTZ is slightly stunned, still glued to his screen; his good friend DILLON FRANCIS, an actor, has invited him over to watch his newest movie. What the fuck. The daisy returns to its natural state, and a warm wind blows through the sunlit field. FADE TO BLACK. What the fuck did I just see. I swear, you're in the weirdest movies, dude – He turns to his side to see an empty space on the course where Dillon had once been sitting. Dillon? He looks about the room confusedly, then pauses the movie, getting up from the couch and starting to the kitchen. Dillon. Your movie's weird, bro. However, the kitchen is empty. He approaches the counter, where GERALD is placed–he looks awkwardly at the pinata, staring into his eyes before turning it around. Ugh. He departs to search for Dillon in the bathroom. Dillon! Where you at, bro? I paused the movie! He checks the bathroom; also empty. YO! He turns down the hallway, hearing the sound of the shower running– Are you in the shower? No response. I'm not about to come into your shower bro; it's weird and random that you're in the shower when you invited me over to watch your movie. Still, no response. Bro! Again, silence–the shower continues running. Alright…you better not be naked. He steps into the master bedroom, the steam of the hot shower crawling out of the master bathroom and into the bedroom. Are you okay? He winces as he looks into the master bathroom, shower running at full power and the room filled with steam, to the point that even the roof is condensating; a drop of water drips from the ceiling and into his left eye– –fuck– –rubbing his eye, he observes the room to be empty–his friend is nowhere to be found; He is in the house alone. --- It's was incredible magic, even if it was my own—and I didn't exactly know that it was, or at least not surely, as my day had been anything but enjoyable, not that I was allowing myself to be convinced of such—The Secret had at best instilled the fake it till you make it technique of always being “good”, even when you were bad—and that there was no such thing as being bad, even if you were feeling it; and that if you were feeling it, you were just allowing yourself to feel it. Everything is always good all the time no matter what—bad thoughts and feelings were a result of something you were lacking—something you were doing wrong—though, really, there was no wrongdoing, as for the truly practical use of The Secret says that everything that happens is with purpose; the power the awareness of that purpose, and the consistent application of that purpose no matter what action or circumstance. --- Describe this feeling. I don't know. Does it hurt? Kind of. But— But— Did you cry? I didn't cry. Good. I wanted to. Good. There was no way I could finish The 48 Laws of Power and The Art of Seduction, or The 33 Strategies of War by Sunday; but, already knowing the 48 laws of power, I understood that even attending Dillon Francis's show would be an obvious forfeit to whatever game we were playing; it indeed was war, and as my fragile mind psychologically bent and twisted, wondering why it was I couldn't let Dillon out of my hindsight, foresight, or insight for much more than a brief moment; there was something powerful at play if not my own mind, crafting the world into a game which was fixed in my favor. However, this day was odd, with no reason or rhyme—and now I was burning with a new sense; one with which I couldn't do anything, and though far from stalemate my next series of moves would have to be played well in order to peacefully withdraw from the match. It was a different feeling entirely than with Kayla Lauren—and however fickle it may have seemed, it was still some sort of hurt— though, rather than a deep stab wound which pierced through my heart and straight into my soul, instead it was in fact a fire, which burned in my chest and, although in the place where my heart once might have been—an incinerator of panic and frenzy of chaotic, mischievous unrest had welled up inside of me. There she was— I assumed, the blockage I had sensed admirably, having prayed for peace and happiness, However—it was clear that in all the nonsense I had indeed become attached and outright infatuated with the idea of obsessively wanting Dillon Francis, which had, admítedly halted the overall creative action in anything including him in The Festival Project, and though there were still subtle hints of things maybe even going my way—I had to find something, anything that would help me cling to rational, stable thoughts. I had, after all—just wanted a [expletive]—and now with any luck or without any grief I could find one, without having the image of his face or his eyes burned into my mind. I had a healthy denial of having fallen in love with him; after Sonny, there was no love—and there certainly wasn't any falling into it, especially not with Dillon Francis. Now I had to do everything I could to at least rid myself in the very least of everything I had written of him, I was looking forward to somehow disbanding the account and all things associated with it, as I was sure any monitors, trackers, or hacks were to be through there, and—as things seemed to have gotten serious in one way or another, with the “demon” coughs still following me everywhere I went, mostly possessing the bodies of white, skinny women—I couldn't trust that whatever was being done was being done to anyone but SupaCree—as no one yet even knew my true new name, besides the social security administration, and I had long since gathered that it it was indeed my own United States government trying to kill me, or rather, have me kill myself—they had by now realized I was more of a valuable asset to keep around in some way, if not just for my intellectual rarity alone. The fact was, I wanted but not needed Dillon Francis—and as painful as it was to simply subsist in medocrity and corporate slavery, I knew myself to be powerful enough at least on my own to be constantly stalked, watched, and followed—and by Some standards or whatever other interests, I was valuable enough for consideration, but also replaceable enough to be let go. I had nothing else to live for, and so cared less either way, but having the weight of The Great Big Book Of Dillon Francis off my shoulders would at least allow whatever would take place thereafter to be duty-free. She was long and frail looking, at least by the arms and the hands, and the shot was perfect enough that I could only know one thing about her, even watching the video multiple times. I didn't know why I was there, but something was scratching and gripping at me to look, and so I did—and to my atrocious delight, there was a woman beside him—stuffing the innards of a double double with hot fries—the kind I used to like: I was at least glad it didn't show her biting Into the mess, but I had already seen Kayla Lauren do so, minus the hot fries, in her very own In-N-Out commercial; this, however wsd just a hand model—a demon dressed as a woman showing off what she could do that I couldn't—and Dillon unremarkably making a statement, as if to say without saying “things I can do with her.” The next slide, however, took and shook me, prompting me to realize I would have to change all of the names in my upcoming would-be novel, had I ever the time to finish it—of the means to put a middle or end to it, as it just seemed ever-never-ending. [EDIT] The dog in the photo nearly distracted me from essentially the most shocking thing I could have ever fathomed seeing on Instagram, and actually rocked me at the core; nearly vomiting with excitement or confusion, neither of which I could place, and setting the aforementioned fire with a gaseous fume—I played the story over in a fit of rage, and for the next few hours I would come to again question my own being and existence, unable to place my feelings but however, fully aware of them, unable to understand what they exactly were and why they were there. Now, I had probably another album underfoot, and though I was as wordless as ever, there was something to be said about the fit of fury and rage that was inescapable, the tears I had been able to hold back in the early morning hours that same day finally pouring out, as now I was certainly again in the grips of deep growing pains, none of which were wanted or needed, nor was I ready for. It was a dangerous, disastrous love—or something enough like it to be equally as painful and destructive. Everyone had a Kayla Lauren, and here I was, trapped in a body too big and too black to be cared for in the way I had only ever wanted or needed; at least by anyone I was actually drawn to, which was in itself a rarity. Hell indeed hath no fury. Auto-Magic Don't stop me now Uh I'm on auto-Matic Auto-matic Auto-matic Auto-matic Daddy's home Yo— I gota boner Or bone in my body to roam I'm going rio-to roam. You do not know me I am not lonely, But no beef with my rice-aroni, No cheese Oh please don't need me I was just sleeping I am the king of kings You see me, Jesus? He be calling on me We don't sleep Where are you mr mau5 They call me mr mouth They call me mr mouth I'm here to eat you O-o-o-o-out The limit is 5; Times it by 9 Now that's a new paradigm, I blend it up with lime A Diamond Now you are mine; I am your mind I am time Bruh. I like what I like I have to hype you up, You have to buy me Blimey, my— you're suicidy. Fuck. Grow up. I just opened up a notebook, Now I'm shook, Don't look And don't look me up, I'm a muffin, Crunchy, But no nuts What? Shut up. Bruh. Oh. It's you again. I think I'm in love with Being In love with Being in love I think I'm in love with Being in love with Being in love I think I'm in love with Being in love with Being in love I think I'm in love with Love with Love with Love with— Being with— Love Love is Love is Love is Being in Love is Love is Love is Being with Love js Love js Love is Being in Love is Love is Love js Being—- Love Is In You Oh. Diplo & SIDEPEICE on your mind Sometimes I Try a little harder Do a little more Work a little longer Thinking of you I —- One day I'll be perfect One day I'll be famous One day I'll be a shining star You'll wish upon me; But I'm far away now, I'm far away now “One day I'll be pretty”, she said ‘One day you'll be with me', she thinks One day there will be no secrets, or regrets But that's far away now, Far away now Here we go Alright, alright You all strapped in? I'll be here all night, all night One day I'll be famous, Nameless said I'm saying grace at picnic tables Lady Faith ain't reading fables I think I'm disabled, maybe Run like a horse out the stable This is unstable This is unhealthy This is unwritten; This is a fairly tale! Very well, Very well written Hot as hell isn't it? Isn't it intermission yet? I'm still on a mission; I still haven't read the texts I'm still sitting in smitten, Drifting, but I haven't driven in centuries Sifting and lifting my misery into Ascension This my invention: I need invitations for Satan's epiphany What it is? Skinny as Whitney, Stiff as a skeleton No more jello-or gelatin Animal product again— Hey this is my agent, or management; Animal planet isn't as infinite as history channel If I wear a flannel to funural Call it a habit or programming— Haven't I had it? Goddammit, my dad is just Random I miss him I can't take advantage I'm packing my bags for the promised land Plane hasn't landed yet I just made management Damaged like can in the back of a What the fuck is that thing? What? What is THAT? A semi truck. What's it for? Uh… Sometimes God asks questions I can't answer I gotta get to Alaska I think I'm crashing rapidly Yeah, I'd eat a can on spam for my dad I'm having a panic attack But I'm laughing out loud Cause the law of attraction says Disaster is A product of imagination— And mine is bigger than Disney's If you're gonna miss me, Admit it Cause I'm disappearing I mean it I gotta get to Alaska I gotta get to Alaska I gotta get to Alaska A flatline Can't be Gotta get back on time Gotta sing like Whitney Shit you not I'm not kidding This shit has got to be Offa my rocker Or rocking chair Dad, I'm a rockstar I'll be right there A delayed reaction A trap; A plan to get me back to alaska “I'm a trash can” I'm a beautiful black man Man, This is savage, I can't handle this madness Where's my man Where's my mantras? I am a Grammy winner I am an Oscar winner I am an Emmy Winner I am a Tony winner Blow me Get below me You owe me You don't own me I'm the only one who knows me Okay I'll eat banana cream pie Just don't die on me Just don't lie Like there's no time Please believe me The only Interaction with Jesus I need Is pleading Please don't leave me hanging, dang I'm on my way Don't hate me for praying Don't hate me Hey, Don't take this the wrong way I only changed my name To get away from A murderer I'm sorry It's all my mistakes I— I'm wasting away I'm wasting away I'm wasting my days procrastinating And eating cupcakes I'm a size 4 I'm adorable, But what will I do with these legs Eggs and bacon Any day of the week And some pancakes, please Anything for my daddy Anything Underwater plays on the radio station I'm an over eater, but not lately Haven't been sleeping Haven't been playing the game that I made up I'm an alien No, I'm an Alaskan With black skin Pity the fool, But I can't pity you Maybe time for the pool But can't stop a panic attack When it's happening Dad. Wait for me. Don't leave me with mom Please Please Take it easy The universe doesn't understand Don't Or know But I hope she won't Take him away from me Before I see him again Radiation I hate this X-ray machine A display of hate I'm so mean when I'm hungry Just trying to be as lean as I can be Just want to be happy Just want to be me, and I mean it I see you see me I see you see me, too I see you in me, too I see myself in you, But I'm selfish boo, so unusual So, so cruel Eat a spoonful of Fuck you, dude Watch YouTube to get in the mood I pity the fool But don't pity you You're just shitty And I'm in your living room Wishing to just end it By admission, I didn't risk it all Just to Envy you And I don't And I can't And I won't Have it bad? I don't believe you I can't see through anything with the Steam on my lenses No steam room Stream of consciousness says Get out of bed, From midnight to noon I'm a human I'm dead in the eyes I'm dead serious One minute to write And I'm furious Curious Put me on ice; This is ludachris Losing my life to a human Some bullshit Digital love >< the veldt Discoveries to Discovery (That's Daft Punk) I'm in no hurry; Have a McFlurry If life isn't wonderful Isn't it wonderful Isn't it dumb when you wonder what month it is Isn't this physics Collision of science and violent One tiny violin, silence Displayed as the sermon is read Syrup with bread, or something Guess I'm inbred, but well-read, or something Guess we'll wear red, or something Guess I'm just dead, With no regrets Surfing the internet, or something I'm channel tres Let me express my regrets, Or regression Excersise to exsicion, Expression Express self check out I'm wrecked, Write a check out To bounce Where's Mr. Mau5 I'm still Mr. Mouth, I'm sour Didn't forget where this started but It's been 5 hours and I'm just now feeling the power I got you a flower, Now I'm the man of the hour, Turn the page I'm starting to look my age, I'm Starting to have nice legs, I'm Starting to miss the stage a bit I'm starting to see the deficit to my attention Split the Bill, and fit the picture Simply put, I miss her, I miss him I miss this I miss that— I'm miss América under this hat I'm African American, yeah I'm black— Well, half In the back of the pack With a sandwhich This is a masterpiece Or just an album Or just a - - - Or just a problem Or just another mistake I made I'm starting to look my age, I'm a raisin in the sun Having fun yet? Not without a flat stomach And a gun, To blow my head off, Cause I never got it That's raw, huh? “I'm awesome” “I'm so lost.” I'm an apostle, Paul You got it all wrong; Imposter God with an awful lot of pasta Without any sauce Cause that's got carbs in it.. And I'm made of carbon or something But not for long— $10 an hour? So wrong Get me off this rock. It's always too good to be true It's always too good to be true It's always too good to be true— If you think so It's always too good to be true It's always too good to be true It's always too good to be true— If you think so I'm always too me to be you— Till you need me to; Now there are two in this room, And it's blu in full bloom, I assume, Make some room for me Build a tomb for me, in your womb Don't bury me Burn me instead If I'm worthy “The earth, My creation” —she said. The end. (But it isn't, It's infinite.) Amen

Look, we love Jersey. Obviously. This podcast's existence hinges upon it. BUT - we can all admit that part of loving Jersey is recognizing that there's a lot of shit broken around here so why don't they just FIX IT ALREADY? In this episode we break down a tiny number of the MANY things this state should just FIX ALREADY, GODDAMMIT. Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Goddammit! You son of a bitch She won't watch it I bet she will They know I will He knows I am! I am! Oh, there we go—it's on Get off me! Goddammit, Dillon Francis! I hate you. I hate you BACK! GO BACK! GO BACK! GO BACK–WHEN TO THE WYNN!! Right—! Wait—- Not yet— I know the code. Oh she– she knows what the code is. What did I put it in? I get it, I get it, it's— Not now, then! Not then, now! Not— Wait—- DONT! ...then, I die. The DJ VALET AND THE DJ BALLET THE BAMPHERAMPH BALANCING ACT WITH THE CHAMPION OF RAP?!? ...ohhh, wave dash, I get it… It had just occurred to me, that I would end it then and there, without ever a worry in the world again as to whether or not I'd survive there hellish and homeless, loveless and heartless times; I oogled the gun once more and began to swoon at the caress of sweet death, drifting into a seductively vivid daydream--i as I looked through the perfectly set scene, my DJ equient laid out upon the elegant oak dining room table, unplugged and untouched; my flags folded untidily atop The jog wheels, obscuring the mixing knobs, garnished with the rainbow of my lei. I melted warmly Over the ever so slightly morbid thought of my bloody brains, sprinkled over it all, as an ode to my complete inability to compete with the rest of the would-be headlining hopefuls of the world--the billions, at least seemingly, but realistically, rather, at least millions of us, all hoping to taste if even the most measly and translucently sliced piece of cake, that is to be Top DJ--by anyone's rank--in any genre, on any stage, anywhere. What would it take, to be among those so admired for the literal worlds created by the embodiment of their essence into musical frequencies; the bedazzled and wanderous, whimsical rooms which would work to build a home in The House of Love we call music? What does it take, anyway? Money. Besides that. Encouragement and support from people who love you. Might help. Would be nice. Did you see that Dixie girl's house? "Queen of space buns" Queen of privileged white kids. Beside The King. Dillon Francis isn't the king of priviliged-- His favorite audience is Coachella. Okay. Wht did I watch that? It had...Dilkon Francis in it. So? So, im guessing you thought it would be funny. Is that what i thought? Was it? No. What the fucking house. It was, a huge house. Guess that makes me a huge house fan. I think I just like the idea of living inside. Right. By myself. Really? Or...with a boyfriend. Just kill yourself. That took a turn. Did it? No. We both knew it was going there. Where's it going now? Hell.

Joe and Smith introduce each other and their podcast. The guys discuss some early LDS lore and invent a new early saint called W.W. Wphelps, who may have had a hand in inventing the World Wide Web. Joe notices his tendency to want definitive truth when learning something new. The guys are going to use swear words and sometimes offend, but not for the sake of being offensive. Joe and Smith are pretty convinced that they are the worst people, self-esteem is not their strong suit, but they're working on it. The guys bring up how they still hang on to some doctrines from the church, like Brian Regan. Smith says that he wants the podcast to help people who feel like they're on the outside who may be dealing with some trauma and sadness from their families and from the church. The guys started watching Under the Banner of Heaven (2022), aka Garfield, on Hulu. Joe feels like he has only ever won one fight with the church and that it was deciding not to go anymore. The guys give an overview of the process of having one's name removed from the church's records. The BOM has 239 chapters. Goddammit. Smith denies being a Star Wars fanboy, but he really is. The guys bare their testimony that the BOM was written by a fraud (JS) and written for purposes such as gaining power and money. It's a secret combination. They devolve into some righteous indignation toward JS, but they steer out of it by singing a hymn. Smith feels like the overwhelming pressure for perfection in the church conditioned him to lie, while Joe feels like he told the truth and was just “less than”. The guys notice that it may be easier to stay in the church if you don't take the church very seriously.  Smith reads us the title page, which is super confusing. The guys try to piece together some of the details but give up and refer the listener to people like Jeremy Runnells and John Dehlin, aka Jahndalyn. Smith points out how easy it is to get distracted by the levels of details and minutia in the BOM, but that it's all made up.  The guys read the introduction to the BOM, which essentially positions itself as Bible fanfiction. Smith tells about getting duped by fake Harry Potter fanfiction before book 5. Russel M Nelson is a bastard. The guys take some issue with the church adding the word “among” to the intro page. Smith knows a lot about the temple, but he'll get into that later. Smith talks about how he tried to “make up” for the church's sexism by elevating women to a higher level.  Mormon Stories Podcast 480-482: JEREMY RUNNELLS AND HIS LETTER TO A CES DIRECTOR JUNE 18, 2014 https://mormonstories.org/podcast/jeremy-runnells-and-his-letter-to-a-ces-director/    CES Letter My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts BY JEREMY RUNNELLS https://cesletter.org/    THE DOLLOP Dave Anthony | Gareth Reynolds https://allthingscomedy.com/podcast/the-dollop    Music Provided by Eric VanAusdal with permission from the artist.  The Book of Mormon is publicly available at churchofjesuschrist.org   Email us at joeandsmithpod@gmail.com   Remember who you are and what you stand for

In this episode, I sit down with the wildly funny, authentic-as-hell Michelle Cove, the Senior Communications Manager for Experience Camps for Grieving Children. When Michelle was 20 years old, she lost her father. She continued by living in a state of shock, until 12 years later, she fell apart. She was in a loving, supportive marriage with a young child, and the trauma of her young adulthood hit hard. “It threw me because I didn't know why. And the reason why was that I was safe. I was in a stable place, all around me. There were signs that said it's okay now to fall apart.”Michelle takes us on her journey that led to her current professional role as the Senior Communications Manager for Experience Camps for Grieving Children. The campers are young people who have lost a parent or parent figure or a sibling. With Covid, Michelle has seen even more applications for campers whose loved one has died of overdose or suicide, the pandemic making life, especially in communities of color, impossible, exacerbated by the lack of mental health access.Michelle brings her life experience to her organization in her daily work, getting the word out about the camp, amongst other missions. She focuses on education for supporting those grieving: “If we are talking about grief, or if we're talking about depression or anxiety or anybody facing any adversity— just sitting with them, not trying to fix it, or give them your wisdom. Nobody needs your advice. Just, ‘that sounds hard.' Or, ‘I want to hear what it's like for you.' Or, ‘I'm just listening.'”Highlights from Michelle:"And I realized that Goddammit, there were gifts from the death of my Dad. And the biggest one was I don't take time for granted.""You're valuable just because you're valuable. You're worthwhile because you're you. And everything after that is just extensions of what you want to put out into the world. And it's such a different way to live when you really get that.""I think authenticity is the hottest thing in the world. People showing you who they really are— take me or leave me. This is me. I don't know what's better than that. I love showing up that way and I love it in other people. It's the thing I find the most attractive."Don't Miss a Beat. Follow my Instagram for news from me, Tara Beckett: https://www.instagram.com/letperfectburn/Learn more about Michelle Cove:http://www.michellecove.com/Experience Camps for Grieving Children:https://experiencecamps.org/Original Music for Let Perfect Burn by Eleri Wardhttps://www.instagram.com/eleriward/

The Blue Cats - Nowhere Man (196?) I'm gonna guess 1966 since this band released three albums of covers of their time plus some instrumental originals. Probably German studio guys bringing the Western hits of the day to their homeland.  Diane and Annita - Groovey Kind of Love (1965) Fans (?) of this release propose that this might not even be the titular singers (who sound nothing like the voices on this recording) but actually the writers, Carol Bayer-Sager and Toni Wine. Annita Ray also recorded a one-off novelty single with Eden Ahbez, the writer of "Nature Boy," in 1956. It was titled "Frankie's Song" b/w "Elvis Presley Blues."  Wikipedia: The melody is from the Rondo from Muzio Clementi's Sonatina, Opus 36, No. 5. Even though Wine and Sager claim full songwriting credits, they mainly wrote the lyrics and just slightly modified Clementi's music. Bayer Sager originally pitched the song to pop star Lesley Gore in early 1965, but Gore's producer at the time, Shelby Singleton, rejected it, as he found the word "groovy" too slangy.  Gene Cotton - Let Your Love Flow (1975)  The Undisputed Truth - Papa Was A Rollin' Stone (1972) This version actually preceded the Grammy-winning version by The Temptations, and the two are pretty similar. The Undisputed Truth had their biggest hit with a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong as well, "Smiling Faces Sometimes", which was originally recorded by The Temptations! This is another trivia question you can ask your friend.  Beau Williams - C'est La Vie (1984) Black Magic! - Miss Jessie (1970) Brian Wilson - Just Say No (1986) C.W. McCall - Kidnap America (1980)  The Soul Searchers - We The People (1972) Roogalator - Cincinnatti Fatback (1976) Note the Stiff Records logo on the upper left corner. This was one of the first Stiff releases. Danny Adler was an American ex-pat living in England. This was the second version of Roogalator (formed in 1972), and as much as this track smokes, the band got virtually no support from the label, and constant personnel changes killed the group. Could you have hung on that long with an entire movement (that you helped start) bubbling under your feet, only to be ignored and ultimately ripped off?  Cliff Bennett and his Band - Back In The U.S.S.R. (1968) Con-Funk-Shun - Clique (1974) Sesame Street - Cracks (1976) "Cracks" is an animated musical insert produced for Sesame Street in the 1970s. A young girl is unable to go outside to play because of the rain, and so she imagines the cracks in her wall form a camel. The camel takes her on an adventure through the wall where she meets a hen and a monkey, also made out of cracks. The voice is the one and only Dorothy Moskowitz, who I featured on a recent show. She is mostly known as the female voice of The United States of America.  Debby Dobbins - How You Gonna Feel (1979)  A selection from the one and only album by Don Thompson - Fanny Brown/Just Plain Funk/Night Ladies/Hang Loose (1977) God, I love this funk. From Dusty Groove: The one and only album from drummer Don Thompson – a funky Brunswick classic from the 70s, and one of the most unique records we've ever heard from the label at the time! Don's got this style of singing that has a bit of a southern twang at times, but he works with grooves that are definitely northern in their orientation – served up in a range of styles that includes the funky drum break of the title cut, some mellow-stepping moments on a few other tunes, and the bouncing boogie that's really become the album's calling card over the years! There's loads of great bass work on most cuts, which really grounds that album alongside Don's drums – and titles include "Just Plain Funk", "Fanny Brown", "Lovin To The Bone", "Night Ladies (part 1 & 2)", and "Hang Loose". Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto (1970) His early records were expansive and unique, and his voice was second to none. He was every bit the equal of Stevie and Marvin, but you know him from his duets with Roberta Flack.  Wikipedia: During the peak of his career, Hathaway began suffering from severe bouts of depression and exhibiting unusual behavior. In 1971, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia for which he was prescribed various medications. At one point, Hathaway was prescribed fourteen different medications that he was to take twice a day. After Hathaway was diagnosed and began taking medication, his mental state improved. However, Eulaulah Hathaway has said that her husband became less than diligent about following his prescription regimen when he began feeling better and often stopped taking his medications altogether. From 1973 to 1977, Hathaway's mental instability wreaked havoc on his life and career and required several hospitalizations. The effects of his depression and severe mood swings also drove a wedge in his and Flack's friendship; they did not reconcile for several years, and did not release additional music until the successful release of "The Closer I Get To You" in 1978. Flack and Hathaway then resumed studio recording to compose a second album of duets. You should investigate his discography, especially this stunning debut album, Everything Is Everything. He was brilliant.  Donny Hathaway - To Be Young, Gifted, and Black (1970)  Donnie Most - Rock Is Dead (1976)  Enoch Light and the Light Brigade - Pick Up The Pieces (1975) John Miller on bass.  Enoch Light and the Light Brigade - Puppet Man (1970)  Fleetwood Mac - Sentimental Lady (1972) POACA will remember that Bob Welch rerecorded this with a more prominent Christine McVie backing vocal part. The singing members of Fleetwood Mac circa 1977-1980 could have crapped on a cracker and it would have gone gold.  The Mothers of Invention - Help, I'm a Rock (Suite In Three Movements) I. Okay To Tap Dance II. In Memoriam, Edgard Varèse lll. It Can't Happen Here (1966)  Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Reasons To Be Cheerful (Pt. 3) (1980)  Kelly Gordon - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (1969) First version. Beautiful.  Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Indiscreet (1983) Live. Goddammit, Carol Colman on bass.  The Residents - Die In Terror (1980)  Hoover Commercial with Brian Johnson of AC/DC on vocals. (1979)  Carpenters - Suntory Pop Jingle (1977)    

Season 2 Episode 19:  One False Step Jesus Jumping Christ, I don't know about you, but this season has WAY too many of this episode. Don't upset the “primitives,” whom you don't understand, Gate Gang. Amazingly, Dr. Frazier *doesn't* find “some kind of virus,” but she suspects one, of course, even though she can find “nothing physically wrong.” Sam saves the day without making a whole thing of it. Again. At least that's how I remember it. If I got that wrong, ping me at verticalwateringhole@gmail.com and maybe we'll play your clarification on an episode! ----more---- 00:00 - Intro 7:10 - 24 Seconds 8:23 - Debrief  1:02:02 - Were We Comforted 1:07:06 - Yeh Neh or Meh 1:12:29 - Next Episode 1:14:47 - ComeTrya! 1:16:05 - Get To Know Your Hosts    

I Don't Wanna Hear It Podcast169 – Joke Bands: These Are Bands That Waste Your TimeThis week we're getting to one of the dumbest topics of all time: joke bands. Man, some of these are dumb and a couple aren't... bad. One is great though AND NO, WE DON'T MEAN JUD JUD. GODDAMMIT.-Check out more of our stuff at I Don't Wanna Hear It and join the Patreon, jabroni. I mean, if you want. Don't be weird about it. Oh, and we publish books now at WND Press because we want to be bankrupted by a dying medium.We now have a Big Cartel where you can buy shirts, pins, mugs, and coffee.Also, you should listen to our 2021 Christmas special: A Black Metal Christmas Carol, as well as Mikey's true crime podcast, Wasteland and Shane's psychology podcast, Why We Do What We Do.Aaannnddd... our good buddy Matt Moment is in a great hardcore band called Contact. Check 'em out!Episode Links:No TriggerI Am WarCaninusHatebeakAustrian Death MachineInternational Heroes of HardcorePowerpointEzekial: 24Stuck In the Past article on Ezekial: 24Jud JudDethklokMonophonicsSome of our old bands are on Spotify:Absent FriendsWe're Not DeadYears From NowMusical Attribution:Licensed through NEOSounds. License information available upon request.“5 O'Clock Shadow,” “America On the Move,” “Baby You Miss Me,” “Big Fat Gypsy,” “Bubble Up,” “C'est Chaud,” “East River Blues,” “The Gold Rush,” “Gypsy Fiddle Jazz,” “Here Comes That Jazz,” “I Wish I Could Charleston,” “I Told You,” “It Feels Like Love To Me,” “Little Tramp,” “Mornington Crescent,” “No Takeaways.”

ENTER THE MULTIVERSE: THE MOVIE - PART I // THE LEGEND OF SUPACREE: ENTER THE MULTIVERSE LEGENDS: ORIGINS Apparently, There's a movie between Season 3, and Season 4. Of which show? All of them. ALL OF THEM? That's a lot. That is a lot. Does she know she's being recorded? She doesn't know she's being recorded. Oh, My God. ANANDAR THE GREAT. who's this now? --that's my sponsor --that's my manager --that's my... Oh. "Oh." ...Oh. Ah! She's a witch! Yo--She's a fairy! WHAT'S THIS MAGIC? ...kk. damn. i'm a dick. she's such a diva. what an asshole. I guess it's a series of important encoded messages, or something. 4 fucking hours?! I'm not listening to this. We're listening to this. I shouldn't post this. Don't post this. Damn. I'm a dick. A fucking narcisist. What an asshole! What a dick. A fucking sociopath. "My body doesn't know what it needs." "My body knows exactly what it needs." Here, take this. You can't just-- [does.] SUPACREE is a dick. She's a dick. [SECRET LIFE OF SUNNI BLU] Whatever. Something out there asked for this. What about your superstardom? What about it? Give me that. Ugh. What is this? *coughs* WHAt THE-- doctor sebi maps.me dissappear. -blu. Fall//Fly (never) capo 1 Oh I've never been so high in my life Oh I've never been so high in my life Oh I've never been so… Lost in my mind, in time Oh I've never been so high in my life Oh I've never been so out of touch Oh I've never been so out of touch Oh I'll never forget to call again Oh I've never been so Out of touch If i could love you a life time And I probably might, I find I'd give you all my light (or none ) We'll find, in time Which one Oh I've never seen such love in my world Oh, I've never seen such love in my world oh, I've never seen such love in my world Oh, i'll never forget to fall again, Oh, I've never seen such love in my world …Oh, I've never been so high in my life Oh, i”ve never been so high in my life Oh, I'll never forget to call again— Oh, i've never been so high in my life Oh I''ve never been so high in my life Oh i”ve never been so high in my life Oh, I'll never forget to fall… ___ 4427 43 2900 5671 12/3 369 The question wasn't whether I wanted to stay, or go; in fact, I wanted to go, and to stay—but underlying and now, overlying, was the wonder of in what way I would spend my birthday. Did it matter? I wanted it not to, and yet, here I was, caught in the wash, and the album or book, or episode– whatever it was, that was coming about from it was meant to be called “Three Nights In San Cristobal” , but something was pressing me to get out, now that I had the certainty and assertion of what I was; Then It just stops. OH MY GO- RUSKO aka “Christopher Mercer” is standing trial for the involuntary manslaughter of his roommate; He becomes famous in a nearby parallel for being the the first human known to have committed murder by way of sound frequency— FUCK. —little does anyone know… SUPACREE headlines an entire festival during a blackout. Was it bad? yeah. did they throw trash at me? Only a little. aww. SUPACREE is a Superstar DJ. Oh great, yeah. She is possibly the best— THE BEST &, also/a- SHH. “Bread's Dead” LIVE KETO SET. What is this. just buy tickets. What is it? I'll buy them. PAUSE. AND THEN WHAT? MILEY CAME IN ON A WRECKINGBALL. You mean, “like” a wrecking ball”? NO. I mean, YES, she was ON a wrecking ball, so– “like' but, WAS. WHAT. BROAH. DID SHE COME OFF? sortof. WAHHHHHHHHHHHH. WHAT DRUGS ARE YOU ON? NONE. hey, look watch. RELEASE THE KRAKEN. YOOOOOOOOOOOOO. got a new guitar; got another gig got a new guitar, got another gig got a new guitar got another gig —got another gig —got another gig. Well, now that I'm famous, it makes everybody seem more human. The good ones, the bad ones– Except for women. Women are monsters. I hate them. You are them. I was them. NO, I wasn't. Was I wrong for loving you? (It's too human) I didn't want to do this— (It's so stupid) True, I'll use it, too “i'll use him” “Cool” I'm just a tool, to you, then. Then, there was Justin Roiland, the unsung hero of them all–mostly because he wasn't ‘sung' at all, but mostly spoken–the amount of comfort his voice had always provided was, in the very least, heroic–if I understood the context of Poetic Justice at all, that's probably what it was. But even he, in my mind, being all of consciousness at once, now, more often than not, had collided with the thoughts of fame and wealth, and what exactly it does; I paused hard upon reflecting on the ‘retarded' amounts of laugher that seemed to be unstoppable, as I formed the then-very-loose-plot of my own projects, or rather, the conglomerate of them all, which would eventually become The Festival Project Perhaps, I thought, all that it really was is that I had been watching the final outcome of a ride I was also on, for all of them–however, as much as I wanted, I couldn't seem to forge the great gifts of The Prodigal Sonny, and as it turned out, I wanted either all of it or none. Now that I was properly out of carbohydrates, I could focus on being somewhat hot, at least until someone with an actual body walked by or just happened along; I had somewhere along the way decided that women with perfect bodies were in fact not Gods, or rather Goddesses, but Satan in his truest form– as often and awkwardly from afar, I often watched as men would become useless and lost followers in their company, typically unarmed with more than looks– But, I knew at this point that the men I had so affectionately fawned after had climbed the social and even political ranks so much so that, The Actresses, The Models, The Musicians and otherwise multi talented women of the world– A world to which I may have once belonged, had my mother not destroyed my body– my upbringing clipping me with a 25-year-long inability to produce positive thoughts concerning The Self. Now that I had properly shifted my self-hatred into Skrillex, which didn't exist as a man, but a business, I could unravel the rest of the infinite that was somehow expanding as quickly as it was collapsing. Considering Luis was now seemingly preoccupied with the ugly punk rock girl, and now that I would be properly sealed-off from whatever truck stop… Stop scratching. You look awful. It's just because i'm black and I need my hair done. Just cut it off! Fuck that nonsense. Why not? Same reason I put clothes on: It covers up the ugly. God Loves Ugly. Oh yeah? Well maybe UGLY just loves GOD cause nobody wants it so there's no one left to talk to BUT him. “Him” ? Or not.. Whatever. It's beyond the human concept what The God Consciousness is. *coughs* whatever she wants. Or IT. Check it out. Another fucking demon. ‘The Demon Whisperer' Demons don't whisper, they cough. (Or pretend to cum.) Who does that? Pornstars. Models. Whatever these are. –truck stop travelers would pass through rampantly, leaving nothing but the trash of processed junk and coughing obnoxiously, rather than having to hang above it all in a hammock, only ever wishing for Skrillex so that I could fight the mosquitoes off. I just wanted a home, and, though I was only joking about the mangoes, it seemed my faith was at least partially restored, as the room I had decided was the closest thing… Suddenly, the ability to write, at least, as I had been–in this form, was vanishing; Of course, having to scrambble to some effect to make sure that I wasn't listening to Dillon Francis– Why, exactly, is that? Why is what? Why is Dillon Francis on The Blacklist? Because. Dillon Francis Made Me Laugh AND DEN?! Dillon Francis Made Me Cry. Oh noooo. Oh I love her. This plot is so racist. So is Hollywood. IN THIS DIMENSION: The Chinese Woman from Freaky Friday, and The Chinese Woman from Dude Where's My Car are actually the same woman–she just has two jobs. HAVE–THREE JOB. Oh, three jobs. That's a lot, Mrs. Wong! (Racist name, by the way) —and, she's gone. No, i”m not. Get me off this planet. LIQUID STRANGER If you want. Enter: The Psychonauts His music had inspired the entire plot of Ascension… I could be gone from it, but not forgotten or lost; at some point it seemed as though everything I had written hadn't even belonged to me… Well, it was almost a thought process, in narrative form. Then what happens? This. This is the festival project. Why'd you get up? I felt I was being watched. Well, you're not. (But I was) hy·per·son·ic /ˌhīpərˈsänik/ Learn to pronounce adjective 1.relating to speeds of more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). 2.relating to sound frequencies above about a thousand million hertz. Now that I had nearly drifted off into an experience that was more in my body than out… She's–immune to ACID? In– SUPACREE throws DILLON FRANCIS out the window. Wait, what window. It–doesn't matter. DILLON FRANCIS [falling] YES IT DOES No, it doesn't. ((yes it does)) Oh–it does? [Everyone nods, especially DILLON FRANCIS, who seems to momentarily stop falling as if he's forgotten he ever was.] [Dillon Francis Nods] Well then… [He is suspended in mid air] Really high up. Oh My God. [He hits the ground, hard. Surprisingly, he does not splatter–and luckily, appears to have already been unconscious. In the darkness, upon impact.] RUN. Just then, I remembered who Ever was– who never was; The daughter I had thought up and then forgotten under everything i had become; The mumbling, stumbling drunken father I loved, only reminded me of the… And…it's gone. What! We can't add south park! That's too many plots! Well, you're practically Butters. I am– [BUTTERS] Mantequilla!!!!! MORE TEQUILA. Sacred Science: Ancient Egyptian “It Doesn't Matter” CC's new friend falls into an infinite loop, where SUPACREE flees for her life from superstardom and fame; He (Inwardly, also SUPACREE—) and his friend “Kiwi” relay a series of messages through several various futuristic intergalactic languages and advanced codes, which CC, operating newly as “Blū” and DJ Ū in her full creative persona, has learned to decode through music programming hypnosis, and ha developed a keen expertise in the studies of synaesthetics, and telekinesis. Oh. This is next level. It's multiple levels. Okay, heavy duty. I'll roll one. Oh. [Three overly attractive idealistic males enter The Vortex] Jesus Christ, Almighty. Oh. I told you, sit here. This is good. I needed that. — ‘I needed that.' Nothing happens without purpose or reason. What is “purpose”? What is “reason”? Oh, What's this *Daddy* Alright, I should get on with my day. No, stay seated. That's not fair. NO, watch it— Wait for it; Just wait. He—spoke BIRD. He was huge. Gigantic. THIS ISN'T HAPPENING. Don't be tall. I wasn't gonna! Oh, no, no, no. Everything was rock hard bodies and chest hair; The matted dreads of the friend beside me added adverse texture to the clean cut and very well-to-do-looking gentlemen who had against my will-to-wish, decidedly planted themselves parallel and just out of my line of sight, by peripheral—just so that to study them I had to sneak to peek at each of them, as within moments of spotting them all at once, as always, I could tell that each of them—with great respect, in their… “PALM/CC* MAAAAAAAAN— We waste time on SOOO much buuulllllshiiiiit! Oh, I get it. This is illuminati. You got it. —in their own unique sense and in the proper respective realms—they each had something to give, and to receive, to The Goddess, most recently hidden and writhing in sexless pain– Oh, My God. What's this around his neck. I don't know. Let's see here. Is it obsidian? HE SPEAKS BIRD. GO FOLLOW HIM. I just gushed. Don't be gross. Oh no, don't open your mouth. [The man begins to speak; he is oversexily foreign.] Oh My GOD. This dragon is going to destroy something! She's going to destroy EVERYTHING. That's what she does best! I had arguably never been so horny in my life, and nothing but the damage was being done, to my psyche and my subconscious ability to self destruct when super imposed upon. @terrazadelarquitecto She was wild, and wanted to know all there was to know to become and unleash the sprawling Goddess that had begun to take her Maiden form in the wash that was coming up into the shaken and awoke knowledge that was— they were all so perfect, Sacred Science: The king of pharaonic theocracy R.A.Schwaller De Lubicz There he is. Hey, there, sailor. What the fuck is THIS. How. Why be that large? Has it's benefits. Christ Almighty. Is that the one you want? Is it, then? Realizing I was being programmed to buy another something, I stopped myself from the influence of all that was around me, a playful gesture to indulge, by kindly rejecting the notion, in a push to finally move about my day; I was again becoming The Insomniac, or, whether or not I had known it all along, I always had been—which meant, in the suffering of losing my knack for writing anything and everything at any given time. I am a sitting duck. [Dillon Francis emerges from the water, gasping for every bit of breath.] Don't look at that. Mooh, my God. It's in color. Why is that—? Now What was *then*? Answer this question, No , Answer this Question: Okay. lol. _ here's this: What's this crappy place? Harsh. No, i'm serious. This is horrible. Okay, ouch. I mean it, this is bad. Where is this? Uh- Why are we here? This..is the bottom of my heart. This is gross. dang. Wait. so you're saying Yeah, get this They literally went—“within” Uhuh. To the bottom of his heart, literally— Yes, the inward infinite; The literal material externalization– The literal—yes. And she's like: “Ew” “Ew.” …Ew. [SECRET LIFE OF SUNNI BLU] I love the illuminati. Why would you say something like that? Look at this: What are those. They're not Crocs! Are they diamond encrusted? Indeed they are. Is that gold. Solid Gold, and Platinum; They're not plated. How would you even walk in those. I would not— Because you can't. I could, cause I'm man-strong — I just would not; Because it's ridiculous? Don't use that word around me. It is ridiculous! No, it's a synonym of ridiculous, because ridiculous doesn't exist—Anyway. Someone should put you to sleep. I've Michael Jackson'd Myself three times since I got famous—and you know what I got? It wasn't sleep! That's Off subject. Nothing's ‘on' subject. It's really *not* I love dudes in weird pants. Period. Still on the outside; Dead on the inside Inside out and On my head, Alone, my mind, along— But on my own ride A tribe of gypsies, With me, (or without me) Living out loudly, and badly But I was quite poorly, Or worried, but good on the core Wonder what's it all worth , with no surf and no certainties; copy + paste. ep -En Ūtero [Extended] 6:18 -hopskoch. -takitoo. 6:01 -43. -and then what? -Ū C'ESME'T Why are you walking me to my wild side? PETRUTHEIO Because it's my wild side. [beat] PETRUTHEIO (CONT'D) –What if I gave you all my love? C'ESME'T Why would I want that much love? PETRUTHEIO What if it wasn't that much? C'ESME'T Then why would I want it at all? He likes these games, ain't no heartbreak Raise the stakes No harm, no foul; It's an eye for an eye, and and ear for an ear, here She said “I live a fast life” He said, “I drive a fast car” but it wouldn't go far, no It wouldn't go far at all, now! I sometimes forget i'm famous enough to just live out my life, I forget i'm an idol, I decided my mind is a diamond I'm higher than high now, Hey now, The Lord of the Flies Now I might need to file another reliable lie There's another way to settle down, now Call it automatic, press repeat and need to eat But need to breathe again Can't keep secrets from the reaper, Everything you need is simply Everything you need is simply Everything you need is simply green. I sometimes forget i'm famous enough to just Live it out, loud But I don't want to go, now! How about a round of applause— cause I like the sound of it Got a Dalmatian on the Greyhound What now? I'm finally proud of my Finally proud of my No, I'm just finally proud of me; Figure out how to be found There's another way to settle down, now Call it automatic, press repeat and need to eat But need to breathe again Can't keep secrets from the reaper, Everything you need is simply Everything you need is simply Everything you need is simply green. Black background, green Plus sign (insomniac sweater) rarity. (purple) -Ū. mirissa g.pool “fucking mosquitoes.” I told you, you need Skrillex. And I told YOU to shut your dirty mouth, you hooker. Hookers get paid. Yeah, by Skrillex. –that's enough. I am the only one at my table; I am the only one on my team I been inside the box for so long, that if you let me out, I might scream I am the only crayon in the whole damn box I'm the only sand on my beach and I don't preach what I practice; But I practice what I preach Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh oh oh oh yeah yeah yeah yeah oh oh hey Do you have a problem? Is it with me? Should I pray the Lord your soul to keep? Should I call the reaper? Or the state police? Is it martyrdom or suidice if they write a press release? SKRILLEX You looked like a deer in the headlights. SUPACREE Oh yeah? well, you looked like a bat on a windshield I'll give you ten thousand dollars if you can get that hat off her head. Are you serious? 15Gs if you can get it to touch the ground. SUPACREE we're playing a game i made up TIM We're playing a game *I* made up. SUPACREE I am you. TIM Now you've got it. I don't know what just happened— Okay— But this lady just saw down straight into my soul, where a ghost lives. You're a ghost? My soul's haunted!!! That is deep bro. …And he's got music. —So he's almost always gonna be alright And she's got—music; So she's almost-always gonna be alright. You can go ahead. It *is* funny. I don't like it. It's already hilarious. Where are we? Where *is* this? And you will *never* find me. We found you. Eyes on God. Oh My— WHAT. I'm *sorry* mom. Why are you looking at *ME*. ‘Cause I'm SORRY. Don't look at *ME* sorry. Wait. How many people can I be at once? All of them. No. Yes. Watch: [Watching.] …Watching… [Watching—gets knocked out.] Now. Now, you caught me in a bad spot; I'm getting off in dark spaces Come, come along now. Way beside, but along on my own, now. Tie your love down/ Tie your love down; Oh, Now all the way out of the way This is innosense, in a sense Go down to the shore, For the fun of it; Come now, you got to Tie down Tie down Tie down Dive down wide-eyed, Humbled with pride— While you're siding, Colliding with Idols, Confiding in no one, and residing nowhere— Nowhere to go, If they don't care ‘Who are you?' Now I'm getting caught in dark spaces; I'm getting off in a bad spot; Come, along now. Along, but way beside all on my own now In a sense, this is innocence Down, Tie Your love— Down Down, Tie your love, down All the way out of the way, Now— Oh! In a sense, this is innocence. I've got summer on my mind. ‘I take no part in the festival; if you look to kill me, I only ask that you do it quickly. ‘ What movie is this? This is ‘The Insomniac”. Oh, Okay well—what happens in it? CREE? SUPACREE. What are you DOING here? This is how I wrote The Legend of SUPACREE. I thought this was “The Insomniac”? This is how I wrote this, too. Wrote what? Just— Just. Keep. Writing. —And it doesn't stop for nothing. It really doesn't; it doesn't stop for anything. What is this. Audio. It's DJ Shit. ___ Bitch, what is your deal? I don't have one. Yes you DO. My soulmate made a deal with the devil;He sold the soul we share for success, wealth, and fame—but did not include love in the fine print. Watch this. What is this. It's a test. It's all a test. _ Open the map. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not playing. Are you insane? By standard definition? By any definition. I mean— [Some Mild Insanity.] I could be. INSOMNIAC. Who would do this. Who wrote this? Who's paying for this? Now that the stones that I Carried for The Luminaries had grown heavy, I could not carry them all at once, and at the same time was also in the process of getting smaller; So small that it would become difficult to carry one or more of the stones in my bosoms. Wow. Control your self. Wish I could. For some reason the whole world smelled like sex; There was nothing but bodies in the ripe perfection of the perfect paradisiacal air; Sunlight reflecting off of each and every thing thing that was under it..The days were long, and the nights were almost a blur, but I was less concerned with any one person or circumstance beyond my own well being for more than a fraction of the moment. But because I let it become funnier, all the while behaving as an omnipotent observer, it was unfolding quite beautifully, and very theatrically; I couldn't help but keep track of the movement around me, and how it related to my innermost reflections in this existence, seemingly everlasting. ‘--Now he's gonna cut the head off this bird, I guess.' Owh. This is beyond out of control. Unacceptable. The game hasn't started; the map isn't even open yet; Why are the refs making calls? You are OUT of BOUNDS. I'M NOT PLAYING. This is so far off the map. There's a secret passageway. They LEAKED. The MAP. All of a sudden, nothing bothered me. I was my own worst enemy, but now it seemed that I was magically washing away in my fears. Not far from freedom, I wasn't gone from the idea of what Love was, but was drawn towards a darker, more solitary cause. What is this story. I guess this is The Legend of Supacree. I'M NOT CURSED. I'm not SUPACREE. Fair. Fair. [Heavy Skrillexian Accent] FIAR!!! You're are Fired. I'm a- what? So I pulled these cards. Oh, woah, now. Drop this, here. I can't; Wow. Wow. Wow. Wooo00000wwwoooooowwwwwwWW. Do you know who you ARE? Do *you* know who I am? Oh, My God! I feel like that's an important factor. What the fuck is this show? go for the gold! I told you, the whole damn cast of; Sons of Anarchy; what on god. This all happened. *ecstatic* Ohhh Noooooo. [TIS + LEGEND OF SUPACREE + GERALD'S WORLD = ENTER THE MULTIVERSE / LEGENDS] key: live that long maybe it's not my place Maybe it's not my place to say, maybe It's not my place Maybe it's not my place, to say I'll just say grace, and clear my plate My patience [is] —- What the fuck. lol You know what? I like cake, you bitch!! Then eat some cake, you— [a death glare] —Overly-agressive person! I guess I'm just Suspiciously Capricious Kinda skittish when I'm in my kitchen scripting this in Yiddish, washing dishes in my menacingly hideous unmentionables spitting shit I didn't get to send to— …anybody interesting. #skrillex 3 Weeks Earlier… And of course, the first night I thought it either safe or warm enough to sleep entirely in the nude, the man next door somehow found it necessary to burst into my apartment, to which my lackluster and almost non-existent response became more alerting to me than the incident itself; I realized at that point, the amount of trauma I had sustained had created a nearly unexcitable individual, as I pondered the kind of reaction any ‘normal' woman might have had to that, something which may have seemed terribly frightening once upon a time, but was now, as anything else, merely comical. I had just finished what I considered to be the conclusion of ‘Season 3' of my Podcast series, still gaining an incomprehensible cult following, to which I questioned in curiosity, but none-the-less kept present, however awaiting karmic response, or some external universal backlash, as the season, which I posted all-at-once in an effort to regain some of my consciousness, as it seemed to have been ripped away in pieces– no longer belonging to myself, but a ghost that could neither decide whether it wanted to haunt or befriend me. In the early dawn, finally able to rest, I slipped into that of another vivid and astral projection of lucid dreaming–however, becoming increasingly sensitive to the notion of love, I chose not to record its happenings, only allowing the fondest of any memory I had kept from the dream sequence, a relief; as the connection I had received was both joyfully unexpected, and greatly needed. With only pending payments still pending for weeks and mere days left in the dwelling I inhabited, and almost nothing left–pennies, actually, by the American standard of conversion, I kept myself from weeping and only could depend on yet another intervention of Divinity to again rescue me, again–from this, a city which may have excited me in safety, but that I had grown to dislike increasingly, only having come with hopes of releasing The Festival Project internationally, however– with this rendition of The Electric Daisy approaching quickly within the week, my sanity became wavering under the notion that EDD had any humanity, as they had seemingly used me as some sort of experimentation, dangling the money I so desperately needed like a carrot in front of me–randomly allowing payments in my greatest moments of desperation and disparity. This disparity, however, would leave me stranded in a hostile 3rd world country. The Legend of SUPACREE I'm functioning at low capacity, I haven't eaten When I sleep, I hardly dream Or remember where I've been in Astral projections; This circle of protection, A perfection of reflected projections Of the vision, Created in our image; Imagine, Making television— I had to write a film about it Now I just remembered, I have albums, the advantage I want him, but can't have him Above average handsome man// All I am is an obsessive fan without a family Have a plan, But nothing left to stand for I'm just buried in the sand, And asking if the seagull might just hold my hand Damn I'm so damaged Damn A dine and dash sounds nice, I can't— I'm showing tracks I feel like trash, But haven't half the magic left I had inside my hands Damn After all that I just feel fat Maybe a can of cannellini beans, In place of meat Maybe a salad in a bag Can I afford that? Yeah, but then it's back to Jimmy Fallon Damn Damn My karma came back fast I left the man with Jimmy Fallon, I'm not worth ⅓ the bag of Pretzels that I smashed Inside the can of rancheros, That fell out as I ran A random act Of patriotism, Dressed up in a sinful Leather dress, And a dad hat The House Nigga caught me red handed: I told him I was hungry, then just left it [red light camera] Man. I just saw the flash Ask Uncle Sam if I can have my land back But I'd have to move my mask, And haven't been vaccinated; So I can't… Pass, Beyond the border or internationals At that, I text my fake ass friends a snap Of half of someone's head, He's sitting in first class, And can probably afford to check a bag, But all I have is my back pack And I'm certain under a black mask Is the man who backmasked tracks, And blasted from the past With ashes grey to match His privileged rich pajama, with the slacks He bounces back, And asks a fan to— “Gimmie your hat” And just like magic, she passes it. Wait, I'm actually passing, yeah? Who's actual class is this? Pasqualle's a proud headmaster, And a Bampheramph, The Captain dances in his honor I put on my cap and gown, But can't go on, and can't believe I'm being honored Valedictorian Kandi Accomplished PLUR Police and Motherfucker OG Raver Graduate, I'm still glowing up from all the love I got when coming up from under, Or something; I had to lose my temper Followed one and then another, And I wonder what was up When it was over I'm just a lover; But I never found The One, Now I'm not gonna I'm too busy seeking out producers, to compete with Got computer, complete with Ableton Don't mind me, I'm just writing all this out instead of sorting through the Dillon and the Sonny or the anyone I've ever loved just listening And listening And singing, writing, dancing; I was born inside the box, And I still haven't started living Change my name to Sunnï Daisy Raiin, I go insane in pain Just sorting me through all these possibilities inside my brain Yes, I guess I've changed LA made me everything I hate about myself And so I'm changing I don't want anything I need Just take this apathy and envy, gluttony and greed, I guess I'll serve the PLUR Police, Until I find the peace the city needs So I can sleep in it— And I can finish writing my goodbye to everyone I love; Including me— I can't be S U P A C R E E, She's just a vigilante alien, a superpowered something Who should be mixing, But she's busy writing this. What is it? It's...A Saga. A Saga of What. Just—a saga. Oh, My God. No, I'm not— This is a lot. Look I promised. Promised what. This fucking Saga. Saga for What?! Everybody else is drunk and on drugs; I'm keeping the records of history that's lost. [meanwhile, lost in the sauce] LLLAAAALLAAKANSJSKahajajaaqwqwwewwAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Oh. I see. It's a lot. Ah. Carry on. Lost your shine? Lost my Skrillex! You miss it? Do I Miss—? … You know what? What. Fuck you, dude. ...no can do. [later] Are we relaxed? What is this? I need it. You fucked up. This isn't right. No, it isn't. — BLACKOUT. What happened here? Are we rolling? Cut to commercial. — Are you serious? I'm so serious!!! She's so serious. CUT TO: Grocery Store, Day [over the store radio] She's a maniac, maniac on the floor!! What is she DOING? What are you doing? I'm doing me, bitch. And she's dancing like she never has before. —cut to rave— ***WUBZ*** Who is this? I'm on my own tonight. Is she drinking?!? THATS NOT FAIR! Oh, Sweet Jesus! —regular Jesus: [to sweet Jesus] aha! It's you this time. Sweet Jesus: fuck, no fair. THIS ISN'T SKRILLEX. Sweet Baby Jesus. Sweet Jesus: (relieved) YES. Regular Jesus: Oh, you're saved. Nice. [Passes baby Jesus to Sweet Jesus, then footballing the infant into the outer realms, dusting his hands off and flexing.] Send the Messiah. Wait, which one? Yeah, whose Messiah? CUT BACK TO: ‘the rave' ...Who's baby is this? Woah, cool baby. I respect that. [The third raver simply lifts his diffraction glasses, astonished by the bedazzling baby Jesus's vibe.] Wait, Baby Jesus is bedazzled? MAYBE: CUT TO: A flash of the alternate dimension, where indeed baby Jesus is Bedazzled.] Cut back to: No, his vibe. Is he sparkling? It's his aura. Oh. Pfft. Lol. Okay. —- First of all, I've never had this many black friends before. .. Oh, my God… I am alarmed. She's so stupid… Actually, just ugly—! Eyyy. Woahhh! But now I'm— You're a fan. Hey—I ate a fan for breakfast—okay?! Literally. OKAY. Ew, gross. Just kill me. [without hesitation] HANZEL No—Ze Rulez. [Lowers Rave Weapon] __ I'm highly allergic— —Don't need Skrillex. Brought my own! — [stabs self] What is that? Oh shit, it's the EPI(c)PEN OH SHIT. Nice. It also writes. After the stab? Usually after, yes. You, have to. Oh, yeah, huh? No, you actually have to stab yourself first with it—or else it won't write. — Anyway—what were you trying to write? ...fuck, I forgot. Good job, Sonny. ___ Take me back! You wanted this. I wanted NOTHING. You got there! Agh!! Then when you did, you wanted to leave. There's no music. It's literally NOTHING. Except Jimmy Fallon. WHAT?! Since when?! What? Since literally ever. What?! No way. Let me see. Let me see. Oh my—WOAH. Let me see. Nothing is something! Unh-uh bro! What the— IT IS JIMMY FALLON. There will be Hell to pay!!!! Hell?! To pay?! Hah, yeah, right— You expect Satan to pay, dad—? He doesn't have any money—he just keeps making shit up and then making people give it to him for nothing. ...for nothing…? Yeah, literally nothing. The people that worship him go there instead of here or hell when they die. That's terrible. Yeah, and then when he gets it he keeps spending it on useless shit. He is a useless shit. He's nothing. I have to h/save my kid. // Alternately: I have to shave my kid! Lol. Okay, then. — It is terrible. Explain Jimmy— (((Jimmy Fallon has a galaxy…))) Raven Simone—*ahem* ((Incase Raven summons Raven Symons)) —-AHEM RAVEN SYMONE)) Don't forget the— RAVEN SYMONÉ. Which Jimmy—dead Jimmy or live Jimmy? Like, Jimmy Fally? Jimmy Fallon Live, Jimmy. Is this why—- JIMMY FALLON shhhhh shhhh—-!!!! they poured the pennies? Ah yeah, the last dollar… Westwood trees have good memories… What?? She can see dead people?! SO—Maybe—-maybe she can see Ricky!!!! WESTWOOOD, CALIFORNIA, 199? PASQUALE ROTELLA is a dashing young man; he and his friends are gathered, en route to a secret location. Pasquale, please— Come on, Ricky—can you tell me where we're going with these Daisies strapped to our knees????? —- There's that. Doompy Poomp Doompy* Poomp again I don't know what it's doing . ...He just does whatever he wants…

THE WORD “NONE” •ChallengersComics.com has changed! •Why you should read EIGHT BILLION GENIES, I HATE THIS PLACE and BATMAN (starting at #125). •Our JLA/Avengers plans IF we get any copies. •Paint drinker. •Goddammit, please stop stealing our action figures!!! •Checking in with Jeanna, the ‘while driving' edition. •Our modified Tuesday night email. •Just how well did our “NEW PRINTING” signs work?  Contest of Challengers #574

The Swing Station was a pile of mud bricks with a thatched roof on the east side of the Mule Mountains. The windows had no glass, only torn curtains that would flutter in their mud sockets on the rare occasions that there was a breeze. But there was no breeze today, and the Bisbee-Grantham station baked in the sun. Give it another hundred years of days like, thought Miguel, and the Bisbee-Grantham station would turn into a proper brick building. The only things that separated the building from a ruin were the large corral of strong horses out back and the telegraph line running through the station and on to Grantham.Miguel’s job as Station Agent was to mind the horses, see that the place had plenty of water, and operate the telegraph. Which meant that most of the time, he sat in the heat of the station waiting for that angry piece of metal to clack to life. All day long, he would listen to it tell tales of coaches traveling up and down the line. Two hours ago it had told him that a stagecoach with four passengers had left Bisbee headed this way. He has spent those two hours staring at the fat flies chasing the smell of the morning’s fried beans. They flew in slow clockwise arcs around the room while Miguel and the mestizo kid who helped with the horses endured the heat. There was a book open next to him on the desk, but in the heat of the day, the thought of turning the pages was ridiculous. It was all he could do to sit at the desk, chin propped in his hand, and breathe through his mouth.When one of the flies dropped dead on his desk with a fat plop, Miguel nudged the mestizo boy, who was asleep next to the desk. The boy rubbed his face and looked at Miguel. Miguel said, “Sais” and the boy nodded and went outside.There were twenty-three horses in the corral. The boy cut six out and formed them up into a team, moving the huge animals, and rigging the harness and yoke with ease and skill. When he was done he took the long reins and walked behind the animals as he moved them around to the front of the station. The stage would be here soon, and if it was to keep the schedule, it would need this fresh team of horses.As the horses stood waiting, the boy walked around with a bag of oats giving each of them a handful in turn. It was a long run from here to Grantham. This was the last station on the line.Inside, Miguel closed his eyes and drifted somewhere just on this side of consciousness. Even as he dozed, he was aware that something was wrong. The stage should’ve been here by now. He struggled to open his eyes and check his timepiece, but he told himself it didn’t matter. There was nothing he could do about it anyway. If something was wrong, he should be rested for when trouble came.At the first sound of the far-off stagecoach, his cheek slipped from his palm and his face dropped onto the desk, causing the dead fly to bounce. In a minor miracle, the fly came back to life long enough to buzz off the desk and drop dead on the dirt floor. Miguel jumped bolt upright and rubbed his chin. That sound wasn’t the stage. It was coming from the wrong direction and was two horses at most. He could hear the boards of an empty wagon ringing from the jolts from the road. He walked to the doorway and fought to shove it open against the accumulated dirt.On the road from Grantham, he saw a man in a broad hat driving an empty wagon. The man waved hello as he pulled into the yard and Miguel waved back. The mestizo boy only had eyes for the horses.Miguel recognized him as the owner of the Miller general store. What was his name again, Virgil? He remembered Virgil’s pretty wife and son working with him and his even prettier daughter that argued with all the customers with the innocent mayhem of a six-year-old girl.“Mr. Miller!” said Miguel.Virgil opened his mouth to return the greeting but just then, they heard the rumble of the stage coming down the hill from Bisbee. The first blast of the horn might have been mistaken for a trick of the wind. But the horn kept sounding and sounding its urgent call.Everyone stared uphill in anticipation of the stage’s appearance on the road down out of the mountains. The mestizo boy cinched one of the horses tighter. The stage always blew the horn for fresh horses. The boy and the animals were both well-conditioned.The horn and the clattering of the stagecoach grew louder and louder. Just over the next rise now. Then the boom of a shotgun echoed off the hills. The horses' heads jerked up. Miguel stepped back through the door and grabbed his rifle, cocking it as he re-emerged. “Get inside,” he said to the mestizo boy who hitched the team to the rail and did as he was told.“Mr. Miller, I do not know what we are about to receive,” Miguel called from the doorway, “but I think you should step inside.”As Virgil ran to the building, the horn fell silent. The stagecoach burst over the rise with a thunderous clatter. It came down the grade at a hideous speed, lurching wildly, tottering on the left wheels and then the right, in danger of tipping over at any moment. They saw the driver fighting to control the panicked animals, but no one was riding shotgun. Behind the stage were three Mescaleros, ragged–looking, but on fast horses and riding as if they had been born in the saddle.As the stagecoach roared passed, the driver looked to Miguel with fear-filled eyes, the silent plea of a man who has seen death gaining on him. The Stage hit the flat in front of the station and bounced hard before settling back to earth with a crash.Miguel put the rifle to his shoulder and fired at one of the Mescalero’s. A miss. Before he could fire again the lead Indian shot the driver from the top of the stage. As the driver’s body pinwheeled into the dust and scrub, the stagecoach hurled, driverless, downhill towards the plain. Miguel fired three more shots out of frustration. None of them had a chance of hitting.Miguel heard a clatter from the corral and saw Virgil riding after the stagecoach on Miguel’s horse. As Virgil disappeared down the road, Miguel yelled at the boy, “Goddammit, saddle me another horse!” ~ ~ ~Virgil lashed the horse with the reins, shouting encouragement to the animal as he rode. he hadn’t had much experience with chasing people. In his old life, he had been the one being chased. As he rode through the dust kicked up by the stagecoach, he had time to feel the fool. Of course, a stagecoach getting robbed was bad for all business, general stores included, but stopping robberies was the stage line’s business first, the Law's business second and none of Virgil’s business at all. But Virgil could do no other. He had seen a glimpse of terrified faces in the window of the out-of-control stage as it roared by. Lost souls if ever he had seen them. His heart had gone out to them. It wouldn’t have happened when he was younger, but now that he had a family, he looked at strangers and instead of seeing threats and opportunities, he saw sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, each a patch in the quilt of humanity.Them as he used to ride with, would have said he had gone soft, and mark him for a shopkeeper. But that wasn’t true. When he was younger, he had been driven by anger and by fear. Now he was surprised to find he was driven by love. If desperate men were allowed to do this to strangers, one day they might do it to someone he cared about.Besides, that station agent didn’t stand a chance. Playing with that rifle, wasting shots. A rifle was an honest man’s weapon and no good at a gallop. A man should only fire a shot that had a chance of hitting, especially with a fancy repeating rifle like that. When things went bad, ammo was always scarce. Miguel was a sportsman; a hunter, no killer of men.The Mescalero’s had pistols, but now there was no one left on the stage for them to shoot. They thought they had won their prize, and just needed to run it to ground.As Virgil came over the next rise he could see the bandits racing along with the stage, trying to find a place in the narrow road to get alongside. But the road was winding downward through the foothills with a cliff on one side, and a steep drop on the other.As Virgil came up from the rear, none of the Indians looked back. There must’ve been more of them to start with, thought Virgil. The man riding shotgun would have gotten a few from the stage, and now these Mescaleros were too angry to let it go.Virgil saw that the road bottomed out and opened up ahead. He took the reins in his teeth and drew both of his heavy pistols. He pointed them both on the same side of the horse’s head. Less likely to shoot the poor animal out from under himself that way. He had a moment to hope the horse wouldn’t spook at gunfire in his ear.As the stagecoach bottomed out on the flat, Virgil came within in range of the first man. He brought the Army revolvers to bear and cocked them. He stabilized his hands, doing his best to let them float free as his body and the horse flailed along through space.Virgil fired four shots as he swung the guns in an arc through the path of the Mescalero back to front. The first shot went wide the second and third hit. The fourth would’ve had a chance, but the Mescalero was already dead and falling from his saddle.As Virgil galloped past the riderless horse, he heard gunshots from up ahead. The second Mescalero was alongside the stagecoach firing back at him. Beyond him, Virgil saw the third Indian lifting his pistol to fire into the stagecoach team.Virgil had just enough time to think it was a cowardly thing, and not what proper Apaches would do. They could be fierce and cruel, but the ones Virgil had known had prided themselves on their horsemanship, and the care of useful animals. As Virgil shot the second one from his saddle, the one in the lead shot two of the stagecoach horses in their traces. This slewed the rest of the team around to the left. It happened so suddenly that the Mescalero couldn’t get clear. His horse was knocked sideways off the road and he flew from the saddle.Horses screamed, leather and wood snapped. Dead animals and shattered tackle ground into the Earth as the stage skewed left, then capsized. The Coach smashed into the earth, and shuttered to a stop, scattering trunks and luggage and debris as it went. Virgil slowed his horse and shot the third Mescalero through the head as he writhed on the ground, struggling to catch his breath. The horses were ruined. Piled up in rope and leather, and broken legs. One screamed intermittently, and the other two survivors panted, wide-eyed, in pain, resigned to death in that infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering way that all horses seemed to have.Virgil dismounted and shot them one a time, careful not to miss. He heard moans from inside the stage but took the time to reload his pistols before he went to help. His hands were practiced, and he slotted the cartridges home, without looking down, keeping his eyes locked on the Bisbee road, looking for more marauders.From the stage, he heard a voice say, “I hope you’re not going to do that to me.” Virgil turned and saw a badly battered man in a tweed suit drop down from the side of the capsized stagecoach. The man struggled as if he was drunk, but maintained his footing. He reached into the inside of his jacket, pulled out a bottle of patent medicine, and took a long swig. Then he added, “although, under the circumstances, it might be a blessing. Dr. Aloysius Krupp at your service.” He reached up to tip a hat he wasn’t wearing, lost his balance, and fell down unconscious.Virgil shook his head and squinted at the road. Still no one on the ridge. He finished reloading the second pistol and walked to the coach. Along the way, he stepped gently over Dr. Krupp, who was snoring quietly in the sun. He climbed up the side of the stagecoach and looked through the broken window at the human wreckage inside.In a pile, there was a large man in a black suit, a hat with a fancy silver hatband, a carpet bag, a lady’s hatbox, a man with a preacher’s collar, a young woman in a fine pink dress, a tattered Bible, and a deck of cards scattered around the compartment.The man in the fine black suit moaned. Virgil guessed it was because the other two passengers were sitting on him. He said, “Mister, you okay?”The question was answered with a louder groan. The woman came to her senses, swiveled her head around and tried to make sense of her predicament. Virgil asked, “Ma'am, can you rise?”The woman looked up at him and scowled in displeasure. But it was not meant for him. She removed one of the Preacher’s hands from her bosom and then slapped the unconscious man across the face saying, “No free rides! Not even for a man of the cloth!” Then she looked up at Virgil and asked, “Sir, can you extricate me?” As she shifted her weight in an attempt to rise something in the pile dug into the man in the suit, who groaned even louder. This in turn woke the freshly slapped preacher who exclaimed, “Has the Lord God Almighty seen fit to deliver us from the savages?”“Aw Christ, give it a rest,” said the man in the suit. “And would somebody get their elbow out my balls!”“Hang on,” said Virgil.He dropped down, cut some of the reins from the shattered team, and collected his horse. He looped one end of the severed reins around his saddle horn and then rode alongside the stage. He tied a loop in the far end and dropped it into the broken window. Then he pounded on the side calling out to the survivors within, “One at a time.”The first one he extracted from the stagecoach was the lady... if she could be called that. She had dark hair and green eyes. As she emerged from the wreckage she revealed herself to be an expensive beauty. Virgil helped her down, trying not to look at her cleavage so he would not feel the guilt of it when he thought of his wife.Next came the preacher, who cried out overmuch for deliverance and fell to his knees in loud and effusive prayer. The last man, in his dark suit, replaced the hat with the silver hatband on his head, held his handkerchief to his broken nose, and leapt down with surprising agility for a man of his size.Dr. Krupp recovered consciousness and took another swig from the flask. He offered it to the Preacher, saying, “A most remarkable tonic for the nerves and spleen. It will settle you right down after an ordeal.”The preacher broke into a hymn, and the man with the silver hatband shook his head and looked to Virgil. “Nevermind God,” he said, “Thank you, sir. We’re lucky you came along.” Virgil tipped his hat and looked back to the road. Still nothing.Virgil felt exposed, but they only had the one horse, so the group wasn't going anywhere very fast. As he listened to their chatter he began to think that *having* rescued them would be more difficult than just rescuing them.The lady picked her way through the luggage that was scattered behind the wreck of the stagecoach. The Preacher continued, hammer and tongs, praying “And for your deliverance, oh Lord, in your benevolence you sent a mighty champion, who slew the Philistines!”Dr. Krupp barked,” you blathering charlatan! Those weren’t philistines, those were savages. Fearsome Indians!”There was a clatter of hooves and Virgil looked up and saw Miguel, riding the left horse of the fresh team. Miguel looked at the dead horses and the dazed passengers and he said, “Verga.” He looked to Virgil and asked, “Señor, did you kill all of the Indians?”Virgil said, “I got two of ‘em. The third one got tangled in the horses when it went over. But they’re not Indians. They just look like Indians. Maybe that one’s purebred, but they’re all border trash. Rustlers more than Indians.”“How can you be so certain, sir?” asked the man in the dark suit.Virgil shrugged, “Look at them. That one is a straight cowboy. And there’s not so many Indians left. These as call themselves Mescaleros, but they’re not much more than desperate men coming from across the border to raid and fall back. Besides, Apaches steal horses, children, women. They aim to take scalps, count coup. They don’t just steal money. They don’t have much use for it.”“What’s your name, sir? How do you have a knowledge of the savage tribes hereabouts?”“My name ain’t important, we need to get you people off this road.”Dr. Krupp staggered over and said, “Mr. Miller, as a token of my gratitude, allow me to present you with a bottle Doctor Amadeus Bartoleermeer the 2nd’s All-Purpose Miracle Cure. The 9th Wonder of the medieval world — thought to be lost to the ages — known to the Greeks as Panacea and among the ancient Pharaohs as…”Virgil look at the bottle from the man’s outstretched hand and asked, “you a real Doctor… Bartoleermeer?”The expensive lady snapped, saying, “No, he’s just a salesman.”“A Doctor of Philosophy. And a customer, a patient first and foremost! Let me tell you of my treatment and my miraculous results with this marvelous elixir.”Miguel climbed up and checked the strongbox that was still chained to the top of the stagecoach. Then he inspected the wheels and the axles and found that all of them were unbroken. He said, “I’d call it a miracle except for the two men who were killed. By rights, all the passengers should be dead and this coach should be kindling.”“And the horses,” Virgil said.“And the horses,” allowed Miguel. “Give me a hand and we’ll put this rig to rights.” Then he cut the tangle of harness holding the dead team to the stage. With Virgil’s help he backed the fresh team around and made it fast to the top of the wagon axles. Then Miguel stood beside the team with the reins and snapped them over the horses with a whistle and a click.As the team pulled, Miguel set his boot heels in the dirt and gave drag on the reins so the horses would not lunge forward, snapping the tackle. The load came on little by little. The ropes creaked, and the stagecoach groaned, but it came up on two wheels. It tipped past its center of gravity and crashed back onto all four wheels. Though it rocked back and forth violently, the battered coach held together.After they had hitched the new team and salvaged what they could of the baggage Virgil quietly asked Miguel, “Leave me out of tellin’, if you would.”Miguel was confused “But you are a hero, and the passengers - they will talk no matter what I say!”Virgil shook his head. “They didn’t see anything. When they tell it, it'll the both of us. When you’re asked, just say I rode with you. I was first to the wreck. Lotta confusion, can’t be sure who did what.”Miguel shook his head. “I don’t understand, but I will do as you ask.” They shook hands and Miguel drove the stage on to Grantham. When the stage was over the hill, Virgil looted the bodies for cartridges. He refilled the empty spaces in his bullet loops and filled another belt besides. Only then did he ride back to collect his wagon, and head on to tend to his business with the flour merchant in Bisbee. Get full access to Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 141 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “River Deep Mountain High'”, and at the career of Ike and Tina Turner.  Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Also, this episode was recorded before the sad death of the great Ronnie Spector, whose records are featured a couple of times in this episode, which is partly about her abusive ex-husband. Her life paralleled Tina Turner's quite closely, and if you haven't heard the episode I did about her last year, you can find it at https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-110-be-my-baby-by-the-ronettes/. I wish I'd had the opportunity to fit a tribute into this episode too. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Wild Thing" by the Troggs. 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/ Resources As usual, all the songs excerpted in the podcast can be heard in full at Mixcloud. Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era by Ken Emerson is a good overview of the Brill Building scene, and I referred to it for the material about Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. I've referred to two biographies of Phil Spector in this episode, Phil Spector: Out of His Head by Richard Williams and He's a Rebel by Mark Ribkowsky. Tina Turner has written two autobiographies. I Tina is now out of print but is slightly more interesting, as it contains interview material with other people in her life. My Love Story is the more recent one and covers her whole life up to 2019. Ike Turner's autobiography Takin' Back My Name is a despicable, self-serving, work of self-justification, and I do not recommend anyone buy or read it. But I did use it for quotes in the episode so it goes on the list. Ike Turner: King of Rhythm by John Collis is more even-handed, and contains a useful discography. That Kat Sure Could Play! is a four-CD compilation of Ike Turner's work up to 1957. The TAMI and Big TNT shows are available on a Blu-Ray containing both performances. There are many compilations available with some of the hits Spector produced, but I recommend getting Back to Mono, a four-CD overview of his career containing all the major singles put out by Philles. There are sadly no good compilations of Ike and Tina Turner's career, as they recorded for multiple labels, and would regularly rerecord the hits in new versions for each new label, so any compilation you find will have the actual hit version of one or two tracks, plus a bunch of shoddy remakes. However, the hit version of "River Deep, Mountain High" is on the album of the same name, which is a worthwhile album to get,. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today's episode is unfortunately another one of those which will require a content warning, because we're going to be talking about Ike and Tina Turner. For those of you who don't know, Ike Turner was possibly the most famously abusive spouse in the whole history of music, and it is literally impossible to talk about the duo's career without talking about that abuse. I am going to try not to go into too many of the details -- if nothing else, the details are very readily available for those who want to seek them out, not least in Tina's two autobiographies, so there's no sense in retraumatising people who've experienced domestic abuse by going over them needlessly -- but it would be dishonest to try to tell the story without talking about it at all. This is not going to be an episode *about* Ike Turner's brutal treatment of Tina Turner -- it's an episode about the record, and about music, and about their musical career -- but the environment in which "River Deep, Mountain High" was created was so full of toxic, abusive, destructive men that Ike Turner may only be the third-worst person credited on the record, and so that abuse will come up. If discussion of domestic abuse, gun violence, cocaine addiction, and suicide attempts are likely to cause you problems, you might want to read the transcript rather than listen to the podcast. That said, let's get on with the story. One of the problems I'm hitting at this point of the narrative is that starting with "I Fought the Law" we've hit a run of incredibly intertangled stories  The three most recent episodes, this one, and nine of the next twelve, all really make up one big narrative about what happened when folk-rock and psychedelia hit the Hollywood scene and the Sunset Strip nightclubs started providing the raw material for the entertainment industry to turn into pop culture. We're going to be focusing on a small number of individuals, and that causes problems when trying to tell a linear narrative, because people don't live their lives sequentially -- it's not the case that everything happened to Phil Spector, and *then* everything happened to Cass Elliot, and *then* everything happened to Brian Wilson. All these people were living their lives and interacting and influencing each other, and so sometimes we'll have to mention something that will be dealt with in a future episode. So I'll say here and now that we *will* be doing an episode on the Lovin' Spoonful in two weeks. So when I say now that in late 1965 the Lovin' Spoonful were one of the biggest bands around, and possibly the hottest band in the country, you'll have to take that on trust. But they were, and in late 1965 their hit "Do You Believe in Magic?" had made the top ten: [Excerpt: The Lovin' Spoonful, "Do You Believe in Magic?"] Phil Spector, as always, was trying to stay aware of the latest trends in music, and he was floundering somewhat. Since the Beatles had hit America in 1964, the hits had dried up -- he'd produced a few minor hit records in 1964, but the only hits he'd made in 1965 had been with the Righteous Brothers -- none of his other acts were charting. And then the Righteous Brothers left him, after only a year. In late 1965, he had no hit acts and no prospect of having any. There was only one thing to do -- he needed to start making his own folk-rock records. And the Lovin' Spoonful gave him an idea how to do that. Their records were identifiably coming from the same kind of place as people like the Byrds or the Mamas and the Papas, but they were pop songs, not protest songs -- the Lovin' Spoonful weren't doing Dylan covers or anything intellectual, but joyous pop confections of a kind that anyone could relate to. Spector knew how to make pop records like that. But to do that, he needed a band. Even though he had been annoyed at the way that people had paid more attention to the Righteous Brothers, as white men, than they had to the other vocalists he'd made hit records with (who, as Black women, had been regarded by a sexist and racist public as interchangeable puppets being controlled by a Svengali rather than as artists in their own right), he knew he was going to have to work with a group of white male vocalist-instrumentalists if he wanted to have his own Lovin' Spoonful. And the group he chose was a group from Greenwich Village called MFQ. MFQ had originally named themselves the Modern Folk Quartet, as a parallel to the much better-known Modern Jazz Quartet, and consisted of Cyrus Faryar, Henry Diltz, Jerry Yester, and Chip Douglas, all of whom were multi-instrumentalists who would switch between guitar, banjo, mandolin, and bass depending on the song. They had combined Kingston Trio style clean-cut folk with Four Freshmen style modern harmonies -- Yester, who was a veteran of the New Christy Minstrels, said of the group's vocals that "the only vocals that competed with us back then was Curt Boettcher's group", and  they had been taken under the wing of manager Herb Cohen, who had got them a record deal with Warner Brothers. They recorded two albums of folk songs, the first of which was produced by Jim Dickson, the Byrds' co-manager: [Excerpt: The Modern Folk Quartet, "Sassafras"] But after their second album, they had decided to go along with the trends and switch to folk-rock. They'd started playing with electric instruments, and after a few shows where John Sebastian, the lead singer of the Lovin' Spoonful, had sat in with them on drums, they'd got themselves a full-time drummer, "Fast" Eddie Hoh, and renamed themselves the Modern Folk Quintet, but they always shortened that to just MFQ. Spector was convinced that this group could be another Lovin' Spoonful if they had the right song, and MFQ in turn were eager to become something more than an unsuccessful folk group. Spector had the group rehearsing in his house for weeks at a stretch before taking them into the studio. The song that Spector chose to have the group record was written by a young songwriter he was working with named Harry Nilsson. Nilsson was as yet a complete unknown, who had not written a hit and was still working a day job, but he had a talent for melody, and he also had a unique songwriting sensibility combining humour and heartbreak. For example, he'd written a song that Spector had recorded with the Ronettes, "Here I Sit", which had been inspired by the famous graffito from public toilet walls -- "Here I sit, broken-hearted/Paid a dime and only farted": [Excerpt: The Ronettes, "Here I Sit"] That ability to take taboo bodily functions and turn them into innocent-sounding love lyrics is also at play in the song that Spector chose to have the MFQ record. "This Could be the Night" was written by Nilsson from the perspective of someone who is hoping to lose his virginity -- he feels like he's sitting on dynamite, and he's going to "give her some", but it still sounds innocent enough to get past the radio censors of the mid-sixties: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "This Could Be the Night (demo)"] Spector took that song, and recorded a version of it which found the perfect balance between Spector's own wall of sound and the Lovin' Spoonful's "Good Time Music" sound: [Excerpt: MFQ, "This Could be the Night"] Brian Wilson was, according to many people, in the studio while that was being recorded, and for decades it would remain a favourite song of Wilson's -- he recorded a solo version of it in the 1990s, and when he started touring solo for the first time in 1998 he included the song in his earliest live performances. He also tried to record it with his wife's group, American Spring, in the early 1970s, but was unable to, because while he could remember almost all of the song, he couldn't get hold of the lyrics. And the reason he couldn't get hold of the lyrics is that the record itself went unreleased, because Phil Spector had found a new performer he was focusing on instead. It happened during the filming of the Big TNT Show, a sequel to the TAMI Show, released by American International Pictures, for which "This Could Be the Night" was eventually used as a theme song. The MFQ were actually performers at the Big TNT Show, which Spector was musical director and associate producer of, but their performances were cut out of the finished film, leaving just their record being played over the credits. The Big TNT Show generally gets less respect than the TAMI Show, but it's a rather remarkable document of the American music scene at the very end of 1965, and it's far more diverse than the TAMI show. It opens with, of all people, David McCallum -- the actor who played Ilya Kuryakin on The Man From UNCLE -- conducting a band of session musicians playing an instrumental version of "Satisfaction": [Excerpt: David McCallum, "Satisfaction"] And then, in front of an audience which included Ron and Russel Mael, later of Sparks, and Frank Zappa, who is very clearly visible in audience shots, came performances of every then-current form of popular music. Ray Charles, Petula Clark, Bo Diddley, the Byrds, the Lovin' Spoonful, Roger Miller, the Ronettes, and Donovan all did multiple songs, though the oddest contribution was from Joan Baez, who as well as doing some of her normal folk repertoire also performed "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" with Spector on piano: [Excerpt: Joan Baez and Phil Spector, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"] But the headline act on the eventual finished film was the least-known act on the bill, a duo who had not had a top forty hit for four years at this point, and who were only on the bill as a last-minute fill-in for an act who dropped out, but who were a sensational live act. So sensational that when Phil Spector saw them, he knew he needed to sign them -- or at least he needed to sign one of them: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner with the Ikettes, "Please, Please, Please"] Because Ike and Tina Turner's performance at the Big TNT Show was, if anything, even more impressive than James Brown's performance on the TAMI Show the previous year. The last we saw of Ike Turner was way back in episode eleven. If you don't remember that, from more than three years ago, at the time Turner was the leader of a small band called the Kings of Rhythm. They'd been told by their friend B.B. King that if you wanted to make a record, the person you go to was Sam Phillips at Memphis Recording Services, and they'd recorded "Rocket '88", often cited as the first ever rock and roll record, under the name of their sax player and vocalist Jackie Brenston: [Excerpt: Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats, "Rocket '88"] We looked at some of the repercussions from that recording throughout the first year and a half or so of the podcast, but we didn't look any more at the career of Ike Turner himself. While "Rocket '88" was a minor hit, the group hadn't followed it up, and Brenston had left to go solo. For a while Ike wasn't really very successful at all -- though he was still performing around Memphis, and a young man named Elvis Presley was taking notes at some of the shows. But things started to change for Ike when he once again turned up at Sam Phillips' studio -- this time because B.B. King was recording there. At the time, Sun Records had still not started as its own label, and Phillips' studio was being used for records made by all sorts of independent blues labels, including Modern Records, and Joe Bihari was producing a session for B.B. King, who had signed to Modern. The piano player on the session also had a connection to "Rocket '88" -- when Jackie Brenston had quit Ike's band to go solo, he'd put together a new band to tour as the Delta Cats, and Phineas Newborn Jr had ended up playing Turner's piano part on stage, before Brenston's career collapsed and Newborn became King's pianist. But Phineas Newborn was a very technical, dry, jazz pianist -- a wonderful player, but someone who was best suited to playing more cerebral material, as his own recordings as a bandleader from a few years later show: [Excerpt: Phineas Newborn Jr, "Barbados"] Bihari wasn't happy with what Newborn was playing, and the group took a break from recording to get something to eat and try to figure out the problem. While they were busy, Turner went over to the piano and started playing. Bihari said that that was exactly what they wanted, and Turner took over playing the part. In his autobiography, Turner variously remembers the song King was recording there as "You Know I Love You" and "Three O'Clock Blues", neither of which, as far as I can tell, were actually recorded at Phillips' studio, and both of which seem to have been recorded later -- it's difficult to say for sure because there were very few decent records kept of these things at the time. But we do know that Turner played on a lot of King's records in the early fifties, including on "Three O'Clock Blues", King's first big hit: [Excerpt: B.B. King, "Three O'Clock Blues"] For the next while, Turner was on salary at Modern Records, playing piano on sessions, acting as a talent scout, and also apparently writing many of the songs that Modern's artists would record, though those songs were all copyrighted under the name "Taub", a pseudonym for the Bihari brothers, as well as being a de facto arranger and producer for the company. He worked on many records made in and around Memphis, both for Modern Records and for other labels who drew from the same pool of artists and musicians. Records he played on and produced or arranged include several of Bobby "Blue" Bland's early records -- though Turner's claim in his autobiography that he played on Bland's version of "Stormy Monday" appears to be incorrect, as that wasn't recorded until a decade later. He did, though, play on Bland's “Drifting from Town to Town”, a rewrite of Charles Brown's “Driftin' Blues”, on which, as on many sessions run by Turner, the guitarist was Matt “Guitar” Murphy, who later found fame with the Blues Brothers: [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland with Ike Turner and his Orchestra, "Driftin' Blues"] Though I've also seen the piano part on that credited as being by Johnny Ace – there's often some confusion as to whether Turner or Ace played on a session, as they played with many of the same artists, but that one was later rereleased as by Bobby “Blue” Bland with Ike Turner and his Orchestra, so it's safe to say that Ike's on that one. He also played on several records by Howlin' Wolf, including "How Many More Years", recorded at Sam Phillips' studio: [Excerpt: Howlin' Wolf, "How Many More Years?"] Over the next few years he played with many artists we've covered already in the podcast, like Richard Berry and the Flairs, on whose recordings he played guitar rather than piano: [Excerpt: The Flairs, "Baby Wants"] He also played guitar on records by Elmore James: [Excerpt: Elmore James, "Please Find My Baby"] and played with Little Junior Parker, Little Milton, Johnny Ace, Roscoe Gordon, and many, many more. As well as making blues records, he also made R&B records in the style of Gene and Eunice with his then-wife Bonnie: [Excerpt: Bonnie and Ike Turner, "My Heart Belongs to You"] Bonnie was his fourth wife, all of them bigamous -- or at least, I *think* she was his fourth. I have seen two different lists Turner gave of his wives, both of them made up of entirely different people, though it doesn't help that many of them also went by nicknames. But Turner started getting married when he was fourteen, and as he would often put it "you gave a preacher two dollars, the papers cost three dollars, that was it. In those days Blacks didn't bother with divorces." (One thing you will see a lot with Turner, unfortunately, is his habit of taking his own personal misbehaviours and claiming they were either universal, or at least that they were universal among Black people, or among men. It's certainly true that some people in the Southeastern US had a more lackadaisical attitude towards remarrying without divorce at the time than we might expect, but it was in no way a Black thing specifically -- it was a people-like-Ike-Turner thing -- see for example the very similar behaviour of Jerry Lee Lewis. I'm trying, when I quote him, not to include too many of these generalisations, but I thought it important to include that one early on to show the kind of self-justification to which he was prone throughout his entire life.) It's largely because Bonnie played piano and was singing with his band that Turner switched to playing guitar, but there was another reason – while he disliked the attention he got on stage, he also didn't want a repeat of what had happened with Jackie Brenston, where Brenston as lead vocalist and frontman had claimed credit for what Ike thought of as his own record. Anyone who saw Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm was going to know that Ike Turner was the man who was making it all happen, and so he was going to play guitar up front rather than be on the piano in the background. So Turner took guitar lessons from Earl Hooker, one of the great blues guitarists of the period, who had played with Turner's piano inspiration Pinetop Perkins before recording solo tracks like "Sweet Angel": [Excerpt: Earl Hooker, "Sweet Angel"] Turner was always happier in the studio than performing live -- despite his astonishing ego, he was also a rather shy person who didn't like attention -- and he'd been happy working on salary for Modern and freelancing on occasion for other labels like Chess and Duke. But then the Biharis had brought him out to LA, where Modern Records was based, and as Joel Bihari put it "Ike did a great job for us, but he was a country boy. We brought him to L.A., and he just couldn't take city life. He only stayed a month, then left for East St. Louis to form his own band. He told me he was going back there to become a star." For once, Turner's memory of events lined up with what other people said about him. In his autobiography, he described what happened -- "Down in Mississippi, life is slow. Tomorrow, you are going to plough this field. The next day, you going to cut down these trees. You stop and you go on about your business. Next day, you start back on sawing trees or whatever you doing. Here I am in California, and this chick, this receptionist, is saying "Hold on, Mr Bihari, line 2... hold line 3... Hey Joe, Mr Something or other on the phone for you." I thought "What goddamn time does this stop?"" So Turner did head to East St. Louis -- which is a suburb of St. Louis proper, across the Mississippi river from it, and in Illinois rather than Missouri, and at the time a thriving industrial town in its own right, with over eighty thousand people living there. Hardly the laid-back country atmosphere that Turner was talking about, but still also far from LA both geographically and culturally. He put together a new lineup of the Kings of Rhythm, with a returning Jackie Brenston, who were soon recording for pretty much every label that was putting out blues and R&B tracks at that point, releasing records on RPM, Sue, Flair, Federal, and Modern as well as several smaller labels. usually with either Brenston or the group's drummer Billy Gayles singing lead: [Excerpt: Billy Gayles with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, "Just One More Time"] None of these records was a success, but the Kings of Rhythm were becoming the most successful band in East St. Louis. In the mid-fifties the only group that was as popular in the greater St. Louis metro area was the Johnny Johnson trio -- which soon became the Chuck Berry trio, and went on to greater things, while the Kings of Rhythm remained on the club circuit. But Turner was also becoming notorious for his temper -- he got the nickname "Pistol-Whippin' Ike Turner" for the way he would attack people with his gun, He also though was successful enough that he built his own home studio, and that was where he recorded "Boxtop". a calypso song whose middle eight seems to have been nicked from "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" and whose general feel owes more than a little to "Love is Strange": [Excerpt: Ike Turner, Carlson Oliver, and Little Ann, "Boxtop"] The female vocals on that track were by Turner's new backing vocalist, who at the time went by the stage name "Little Ann". Anna Mae Bullock had started going to see the Kings of Rhythm regularly when she was seventeen, because her sister was dating one of the members of the band, and she had become a fan almost immediately. She later described her first experience seeing the group: "The first time I saw Ike on stage he was at his very best, sharply dressed in a dark suit and tie. Ike wasn't conventionally handsome – actually, he wasn't handsome at all – and he certainly wasn't my type. Remember, I was a schoolgirl, all of seventeen, looking at a man. I was used to high school boys who were clean-cut, athletic, and dressed in denim, so Ike's processed hair, diamond ring, and skinny body – he was all edges and sharp cheekbones – looked old to me, even though he was only twenty-five. I'd never seen anyone that thin! I couldn't help thinking, God, he's ugly." Turner didn't find Bullock attractive either -- one of the few things both have always agreed on in all their public statements about their later relationship was that neither was ever particularly attracted to the other sexually -- and at first this had caused problems for Anna Mae. There was a spot in the show where Turner would invite a girl from the audience up on stage to sing, a different one every night, usually someone he'd decided he wanted to sleep with. Anna Mae desperately wanted to be one of the girls that would get up on stage, but Turner never picked her. But then one day she got her chance. Her sister's boyfriend was teasing her sister, trying to get her to sing in this spot, and passed her the microphone. Her sister didn't want to sing, so Anna Mae grabbed the mic instead, and started singing -- the song she sang was B.B. King's "You Know I Love You", the same song that Turner always remembered as being recorded at Sun studios, and on which Turner had played piano: [Excerpt: B.B. King, "You Know I Love You"] Turner suddenly took notice of Anna Mae. As he would later say, everyone *says* they can sing, but it turned out that Anna Mae could. He took her on as an occasional backing singer, not at first as a full member of the band, but as a sort of apprentice, who he would teach how to use her talents more commercially. Turner always said that during this period, he would get Little Richard to help teach Anna Mae how to sing in a more uncontrolled, exuberant, style like he did, and Richard has backed this up, though Anna Mae never said anything about this. We do know though that Richard was a huge fan of Turner's -- the intro to "Good Golly Miss Molly": [Excerpt: Little Richard, "Good Golly Miss Molly"] was taken almost exactly from the intro to "Rocket '88": [Excerpt: Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats, "Rocket '88"] and Richard later wrote the introduction to Turner's autobiography. So it's possible -- but both men were inveterate exaggerators, and Anna Mae only joined Ike's band a few months before Richard's conversion and retirement from music, and during a point when he was a massive star, so it seems unlikely. Anna Mae started dating Raymond Hill, a saxophone player in the group, and became pregnant by him -- but then Hill broke his ankle, and used that as an excuse to move back to Clarksdale, Mississippi, to be with his family, abandoning his pregnant teenage girlfriend, and it seems to be around this point that Turner and Anna Mae became romantically and sexually involved. Certainly, one of Ike's girlfriends, Lorraine Taylor, seems to have believed they were involved while Anna Mae was pregnant, and indeed that Turner, rather than Hill, was the father. Taylor threatened Bullock with Turner's gun, before turning it on herself and attempting suicide, though luckily she survived. She gave birth to Turner's son, Ike Junior, a couple of months after Bullock gave birth to her own son, Craig. But even after they got involved, Anna Mae was still mostly just doing odd bits of backing vocals, like on "Boxtop", recorded in 1958, or on 1959's "That's All I Need", released on Sue Records: [Excerpt: Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, "That's All I Need"] And it seemed that would be all that Anna Mae Bullock would do, until Ike Turner lent Art Lassiter eighty dollars he didn't want to pay back. Lassiter was a singer who was often backed by his own vocal trio, the Artettes, patterned after Ray Charles' Raelettes. He had performed with Turner's band on a semi-regular basis, since 1955 when he had recorded "As Long as I Have You" with his vocal group the Trojans, backed by "Ike Turner and his Orchestra": [Excerpt: The Trojans, Ike Turner and His Orchestra, "As Long as I Have You"] He'd recorded a few more tracks with Turner since then, both solo and under group names like The Rockers: [Excerpt: The Rockers, "Why Don't You Believe?"] In 1960, Lassiter needed new tyres for his car, and borrowed eighty dollars from Turner in order to get them -- a relatively substantial amount of money for a working musician back then. He told Turner that he would pay him back at a recording session they had booked, where Lassiter was going to record a song Turner had written, "A Fool in Love", with Turner's band and the Artettes. But Lassiter never showed up -- he didn't have the eighty dollars, and Turner found himself sat in a recording studio with a bunch of musicians he was paying for, paying twenty-five dollars an hour for the studio time, and with no singer there to record. At the time, he was still under the impression that Lassiter might eventually show up, if not at that session, then at least at a future one, but until he did, there was nothing he could do and he was getting angry. Bullock suggested that they cut the track without Lassiter. They were using a studio with a multi-track machine -- only two tracks, but that would be enough. They could cut the backing track on one track, and she could record a guide vocal on the other track, since she'd been around when Turner was teaching Lassiter the song. At least that way they wouldn't have wasted all the money. Turner saw the wisdom of the idea -- he said in his autobiography "This was the first time I got hip to two-track stereo" -- and after consulting with the engineer on the session, he decided to go ahead with Bullock's plan. The plan still caused problems, because they were recording the song in a key written for a man, so Bullock had to yell more than sing, causing problems for the engineer, who according to Turner kept saying things like "Goddammit, don't holler in my microphone". But it was only a demo vocal, after all, and they got it cut -- and as Lassiter didn't show up, Turner took Lassiter's backing vocal group as his own new group, renaming the Artettes to the Ikettes, and they became the first of a whole series of lineups of Ikettes who would record with Turner for the rest of his life. The intention was still to get Lassiter to sing lead on the record, but then Turner played an acetate of it at a club night where he was DJing as well as performing, and the kids apparently went wild: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "A Fool in Love"] Turner took the demo to Juggy Murray at Sue Records, still with the intention of replacing Anna Mae's vocal with Lassiter's, but Murray insisted that that was the best thing about the record, and that it should be released exactly as it was, that it was a guaranteed hit. Although -- while that's the story that's told all the time about that record by everyone involved in the recording and release, and seems uncontested, there does seem to be one minor problem with the story, which is that the Ikettes sing "you know you love him, you can't understand/Why he treats you like he do when he's such a good man". I'm willing to be proved wrong, of course, but my suspicion is that Ike Turner wasn't such a progressive thinker that he was writing songs about male-male relationships in 1960. It's possible that the Ikettes were recorded on the same track as Tina's guide vocals, but if the intention was to overdub a new lead from Lassiter on an otherwise finished track, it would have made more sense for them to sing their finished backing vocal part. It seems more likely to me that they decided in the studio that the record was going to go out with Anna Mae singing lead, and the idea of Murray insisting is a later exaggeration. One thing that doesn't seem to be an exaggeration, though, is that initially Murray wanted the record to go out as by Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm featuring Little Ann, but Turner had other ideas. While Murray insisted "the girl is the star", Turner knew what happened when other people were the credited stars on his records. He didn't want another Jackie Brenston, having a hit and immediately leaving Turner right back where he started. If Little Ann was the credited singer, Little Ann would become a star and Ike Turner would have to find a new singer. So he came up with a pseudonym. Turner was a fan of jungle women in film serials and TV, and he thought a wild-woman persona would suit Anna Mae's yelled vocal, and so he named his new star after Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, a female Tarzan knock-off comic character created by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger in the thirties, but who Turner probably knew from a TV series that had been on in 1955 and 56. He gave her his surname, changed "Sheena" slightly to make the new name alliterative and always at least claimed to have registered a trademark on the name he came up with, so if Anna Mae ever left the band he could just get a new singer to use the name. Anna Mae Bullock was now Tina Turner, and the record went out as by "Ike and Tina Turner": [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "A Fool in Love"] That went to number two on the R&B charts, and hit the top thirty on the pop charts, too. But there were already problems. After Ike had had a second son with Lorraine, he then got Tina pregnant with another of his children, still seeing both women. He had already started behaving abusively towards Tina, and as well as being pregnant, she was suffering from jaundice -- she says in the first of her two autobiographies that she distinctly remembered lying in her hospital bed, hearing "A Fool in Love" on the radio, and thinking "What's love got to do with it?", though as with all such self-mythologising we should take this with a pinch of salt. Turner was in need of money to pay for lawyers -- he had been arrested for financial crimes involving forged cheques -- and Juggy Murray wouldn't give him an advance until he delivered a follow-up to "A Fool in Love", so he insisted that Tina sneak herself out of the hospital and go into the studio, jaundiced and pregnant, to record the follow-up. Then, as soon as the jaundice had cleared up, they went on a four-month tour, with Tina heavily pregnant, to make enough money to pay Ike's legal bills. Turner worked his band relentlessly -- he would accept literally any gig, even tiny clubs with only a hundred people in the audience, reasoning that it was better for the band's image to play  small venues that had to turn people away because they were packed to capacity, than to play large venues that were only half full. While "A Fool in Love" had a substantial white audience, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue was almost the epitome of the chitlin' circuit act, playing exciting, funky, tightly-choreographed shows for almost entirely Black audiences in much the same way as James Brown, and Ike Turner was in control of every aspect of the show. When Tina had to go into hospital to give birth, rather than give up the money from gigging, Ike hired a sex worker who bore a slight resemblance to Tina to be the new onstage "Tina Turner" until the real one was able to perform again. One of the Ikettes told the real Tina, who discharged herself from hospital, travelled to the venue, beat up the fake Tina, and took her place on stage two days after giving birth. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue, with the Kings of Rhythm backing Tina, the Ikettes, and male singer Jimmy Thomas, all of whom had solo spots, were an astonishing live act, but they were only intermittently successful on record. None of the three follow-ups to "A Fool in Love" did better than number eighty-two on the charts, and two of them didn't even make the R&B charts, though "I Idolize You" did make the R&B top five. Their next big hit came courtesy of Mickey and Sylvia. You may remember us talking about Mickey and Sylvia way back in episode forty-nine, from back in 2019, but if you don't, they were one of a series of R&B duet acts, like Gene and Eunice, who came up after the success of Shirley and Lee, and their big hit was "Love is Strange": [Excerpt: Mickey and Sylvia, "Love is Strange"] By 1961, their career had more or less ended, but they'd recorded a song co-written by the great R&B songwriter Rose Marie McCoy, which had gone unreleased: [Excerpt: Mickey and Sylvia, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine"] When that was shelved they remade it as an Ike and Tina Turner record, with Mickey and Sylvia being Ike -- Sylvia took on all the roles that Ike would normally do in the studio, arranging the track and playing lead guitar, as well as joining the Ikettes on backing vocals, while Mickey did the spoken answering vocals that most listeners assumed were Ike, and which Ike would replicate on stage. The result, unsurprisingly, sounded more like a Mickey and Sylvia record than anything Ike and Tina had ever released before, though it's very obviously Tina on lead vocals: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine"] That made the top twenty on the pop charts -- though it would be their last top forty hit for nearly a decade as Ike and Tina Turner. They did though have a couple of other hits as the Ikettes, with Ike Turner putting the girl group's name on the label so he could record for multiple labels. The first of these, "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)" was a song Ike had written which would later go on to become something of an R&B standard. It featured Dolores Johnson on lead vocals, but Tina sang backing vocals and got a rare co-production credit: [Excerpt: The Ikettes, "I'm Blue (The Gong Gong Song)"] The other Ikettes top forty hit was in 1965, with a song written by Steve Venet and Tommy Boyce -- a songwriter we will be hearing more about in three weeks -- and produced by Venet: [Excerpt: The Ikettes, "Peaches 'n' Cream"] Ike wasn't keen on that record at first, but soon came round to it when it hit the charts. The success of that record caused that lineup of Ikettes to split from Ike and Tina -- the Ikettes had become a successful act in their own right, and Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars wanted to book them, but that would have meant they wouldn't be available for Ike and Tina shows. So Ike sent a different group of three girls out on the road with Clark's tour, keeping the original Ikettes back to record and tour with him, and didn't pay them any royalties on their records. They resented being unable to capitalise on their big hit, so they quit. At first they tried to keep the Ikettes name for themselves, and got Tina Turner's sister Alline to manage them, but eventually they changed their name to the Mirettes, and released a few semi-successful records. Ike got another trio of Ikettes to replace them, and carried on with Pat Arnold, Gloria Scott, and Maxine Smith as the new Ikettes,. One Ikette did remain pretty much throughout -- a woman called Ann Thomas, who Ike Turner was sleeping with, and who he would much later marry, but who he always claimed was never allowed to sing with the others, but was just there for her looks. By this point Ike and Tina had married, though Ike had not divorced any of his previous wives (though he paid some of them off when Ike and Tina became big). Ike and Tina's marriage in Tijuana was not remembered by either of them as a particularly happy experience -- Ike would always later insist that it wasn't a legal marriage at all, and in fact that it was the only one of his many, many, marriages that hadn't been, and was just a joke. He was regularly abusing her in the most horrific ways, but at this point the duo still seemed to the public to be perfectly matched. They actually only ended up on the Big TNT Show as a last-minute thing -- another act was sick, though none of my references mention who it was who got sick, just that someone was needed to fill in for them, and as Ike and Tina were now based in LA -- the country boy Ike had finally become a city boy after all -- and would take any job on no notice, they got the gig. Phil Spector was impressed, and he decided that he could revitalise his career by producing a hit for Tina Turner. There was only one thing wrong -- Tina Turner wasn't an act. *Ike* and Tina Turner was an act. And Ike Turner was a control freak, just like Spector was -- the two men had essentially the same personality, and Spector didn't want to work with someone else who would want to be in charge. After some negotiation, they came to an agreement -- Spector could produce a Tina Turner record, but it would be released as an Ike and Tina Turner record. Ike would be paid twenty thousand dollars for his services, and those services would consist of staying well away from the studio and not interfering. Spector was going to go back to the old formulas that had worked for him, and work with the people who had contributed to his past successes, rather than leaving anything to chance. Jack Nitzsche had had a bit of a falling out with him and not worked on some of the singles he'd produced recently, but he was back. And Spector was going to work with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich again. He'd fallen out with Barry and Greenwich when "Chapel of Love" had been a hit for the Dixie Cups rather than for one of Spector's own artists, and he'd been working with Mann and Weill and Goffin and King instead. But he knew that it was Barry and Greenwich who were the ones who had worked best with him, and who understood his musical needs best, so he actually travelled to see them in New York instead of getting them to come to him in LA, as a peace offering and a sign of how much he valued their input. The only problem was that Spector hadn't realised that Barry and Greenwich had actually split up.  They were still working together in the studio, and indeed had just produced a minor hit single for a new act on Bert Berns' label BANG, for which Greenwich had written the horn arrangement: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Solitary Man"] We'll hear more about Neil Diamond, and about Jeff Barry's work with him, in three weeks. But Barry and Greenwich were going through a divorce and weren't writing together any more, and came back together for one last writing session with Spector, at which, apparently, Ellie Greenwich would cry every time they wrote a line about love. The session produced four songs, of which two became singles. Barry produced a version of "I Can Hear Music", written at these sessions, for the Ronettes, who Spector was no longer interested in producing himself: [Excerpt: The Ronettes, "I Can Hear Music"] That only made number ninety-nine on the charts, but the song was later a hit for the Beach Boys and has become recognised as a classic. The other song they wrote in those sessions, though, was the one that Spector wanted to give to Tina Turner. "River Deep, Mountain High" was a true three-way collaboration -- Greenwich came up with the music for the verses, Spector for the choruses, and Barry wrote the lyrics and tweaked the melody slightly. Spector, Barry, and Greenwich spent two weeks in their writing session, mostly spent on "River Deep, Mountain High". Spector later said of the writing "Every time we'd write a love line, Ellie would start to cry. I couldn't figure out what was happening, and then I realised… it was a very uncomfortable situation. We wrote that, and we wrote ‘I Can Hear Music'…. We wrote three or four hit songs on that one writing session. “The whole thing about ‘River Deep' was the way I could feel that strong bass line. That's how it started. And then Jeff came up with the opening line. I wanted a tender song about a chick who loved somebody very much, but a different way of expressing it. So we came up with the rag doll and ‘I'm going to cuddle you like a little puppy'. And the idea was really built for Tina, just like ‘Lovin' Feelin” was built for the Righteous Brothers.” Spector spent weeks recording, remixing, rerecording, and reremixing the backing track, arranged by Nitzsche, creating the most thunderous, overblown, example of the Wall of Sound he had ever created, before getting Tina into the studio. He also spent weeks rehearsing Tina on the song, and according to her most of what he did was "carefully stripping away all traces of Ike from my performance" -- she was belting the song and adding embellishments, the way Ike Turner had always taught her to, and Spector kept insisting that she just sing the melody -- something that she had never had the opportunity to do before, and which she thought was wonderful. It was so different from anything else that she'd recorded that after each session, when Ike would ask her about the song, she would go completely blank -- she couldn't hold this pop song in her head except when she was running through it with Spector. Eventually she did remember it, and when she did Ike was not impressed, though the record became one of the definitive pop records of all time: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "River Deep, Mountain High"] Spector was putting everything on the line for this record, which was intended to be his great comeback and masterpiece. That one track cost more than twenty thousand dollars to record -- an absolute fortune at a time when a single would normally be recorded in one or two sessions at most. It also required a lot of work on Tina's part. She later estimated that she had sung the opening line of the song a thousand times before Spector allowed her to move on to the second line, and talked about how she got so hot and sweaty singing the song over and over that she had to take her blouse off in the studio and sing the song in her bra. She later said "I still don't know what he wanted. I still don't know if I pleased him. But I never stopped trying." Spector produced a total of six tracks with Tina, including the other two songs written at those Barry and Greenwich sessions, "I'll Never Need More Than This", which became the second single released off the "River Deep, Mountain High" album, and "Hold On Baby", plus cover versions of Arthur Alexander's "Every Day I Have to Cry Some", Pomus and Shuman's "Save the Last Dance", and "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knocking Everyday)" a Holland-Dozier-Holland song which had originally been released as a Martha and the Vandellas B-side. The planned album was to be padded out with six tracks produced by Ike Turner, mostly remakes of the duo's earlier hits, and was planned for release after the single became the hit everyone knew it would. The single hit the Hot One Hundred soon after it was released: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "River Deep, Mountain High"] ...and got no higher up the charts than number eighty-eight. The failure of the record basically destroyed Spector, and while he had been an abusive husband before this, now he became much worse, as he essentially retired from music for four years, and became increasingly paranoid and aggressive towards the industry that he thought was not respectful enough of his genius. There have been several different hypotheses as to why "River Deep Mountain High" was not a success. Some have said that it was simply because DJs were fed up of Spector refusing to pay payola, and had been looking for a reason to take him down a peg. Ike Turner thought it was due to racism, saying later “See, what's wrong with America, I think, is that rather than accept something for its value… what it's doing, America mixes race in it. You can't call that record R&B. But because it's Tina… if you had not put Tina's name on there and put ‘Joe Blow', then the Top 40 stations would have accepted it for being a pop record. But Tina Turner… they want to brand her as being an R&B artist. I think the main reason that ‘River Deep' didn't make it here in America was that the R&B stations wouldn't play it because they thought it was pop, and the pop stations wouldn't play it because they thought it was R&B. And it didn't get played at all. The only record I've heard that could come close to that record is a record by the Beach Boys called ‘Good Vibrations'. I think these are the two records that I've heard in my life that I really like, you know?” Meanwhile, Jeff Barry thought it was partly the DJs but also faults in the record caused by Phil Spector's egomania, saying "he has a self-destructive thing going for him, which is part of the reason that the mix on ‘River Deep' is terrible, he buried the lead and he knows he buried the lead and he cannot stop himself from doing that… if you listen to his records in sequence, the lead goes further and further in and to me what he is saying is, ‘It is not the song I wrote with Jeff and Ellie, it is not the song – just listen to those strings. I want more musicians, it's me, listen to that bass sound. …' That, to me, is what hurts in the long run... Also, I do think that the song is not as clear on the record as it should be, mix-wise. I don't want to use the word overproduced, because it isn't, it's just undermixed." There's possibly an element of all three of these factors in play. As we've discussed, 1965 seems to have been the year that the resegregation of American radio began, and the start of the long slow process of redefining genres so that rock and roll, still considered a predominantly Black music at the beginning of the sixties, was by the end of the decade considered an almost entirely white music. And it's also the case that "River Deep, Mountain High" was the most extreme production Spector ever committed to vinyl, and that Spector had made a lot of enemies in the music business. It's also, though, the case  that it was a genuinely great record: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "River Deep, Mountain High"] However, in the UK, it was promoted by Decca executive Tony Hall, who was a figure who straddled both sides of the entertainment world -- as part of his work as a music publicist he had been a presenter on Oh Boy!, written a column in Record Mirror, and presented a Radio Luxembourg show. Hall put his not-inconsiderable weight behind promoting the record, and it ended up reaching number two in the UK -- being successful enough that the album was also released over here, though it wouldn't come out in the US for several years. The record also attracted the attention of the Rolling Stones, who invited Ike and Tina to be their support act on a UK tour, which also featured the Yardbirds, and this would be a major change for the duo in all sorts of ways. Firstly, it got them properly in contact with British musicians -- and the Stones would get Ike and Tina as support artists several times over the next few years -- and also made the UK and Europe part of their regular tour itinerary. It also gave the duo their first big white rock audience, and over the next several years they would pivot more and more to performing music aimed at that audience, rather than the chitlin' circuit they'd been playing for previously. Ike was very conscious of wanting to move away from the blues and R&B -- while that was where he'd made his living as a musician, it wasn't music he actually liked, and he would often talk later about how much he respected Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, and how his favourite music was country music. Tina had also never been a fan of blues or R&B, and wanted to perform songs by the white British performers they were meeting. The tour also, though, gave Tina her first real thoughts of escape. She loved the UK and Europe, and started thinking about what life could be like for her not just being Ike Turner's wife and working fifty-one weeks a year at whatever gigs came along. But it also made that escape a little more difficult, because on the tour Tina lost one of her few confidantes in the organisation. Tina had helped Pat Arnold get away from her own abusive partner, and the two had become very close, but Arnold was increasingly uncomfortable being around Ike's abuse of Tina, and couldn't help her friend the way she'd been helped. She decided she needed to get out of a toxic situation, and decided to stay in England, where she'd struck up an affair with Mick Jagger, and where she found that there were many opportunities for her as a Black woman that simply hadn't been there in the US. (This is not to say that Britain doesn't have problems with racism -- it very much does, but those problems are *different* problems than the ones that the US had at that point, and Arnold found Britain's attitude more congenial to her personally). There was also another aspect, which a lot of Black female singers of her generation have mentioned and which probably applies here. Many Black women have said that they were astonished on visiting Britain to be hailed as great singers, when they thought of themselves as merely average. Britain does not have the kind of Black churches which had taught generations of Black American women to sing gospel, and so singers who in the US thought of themselves as merely OK would be far, far, better than any singers in the UK -- the technical standards were just so much lower here. (This is something that was still true at least as late as the mid-eighties. Bob Geldof talks in his autobiography about attending the recording session for "We Are the World" after having previously recorded "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and being astonished at how much more technically skilled the American stars were and how much more seriously they took their craft.) And Arnold wasn't just an adequate singer -- she was and is a genuinely great talent -- and so she quickly found herself in demand in the UK. Jagger got her signed to Immediate Records, a new label that had been started up by the Stones manager Andrew Oldham, and where Jimmy Page was the staff producer. She was given a new name, P.P. Arnold, which was meant to remind people of another American import, P.J. Proby, but which she disliked because the initials spelled "peepee". Her first single on the label, produced by Jagger, did nothing, but her second single, written by a then-unknown songwriter named Cat Stevens, became a big hit: [Excerpt: P.P. Arnold, "The First Cut is the Deepest"] She toured with a backing band, The Nice, and made records as a backing singer with artists like the Small Faces. She also recorded a duet with the unknown singer Rod Stewart, though that wasn't a success: [Excerpt: Rod Stewart and P.P. Arnold, "Come Home Baby"] We'll be hearing more about P.P. Arnold in future episodes, but the upshot of her success was that Tina had even fewer people to support her. The next few years were increasingly difficult for Tina, as Ike turned to cocaine use in a big way, became increasingly violent, and his abuse of her became much more violent. The descriptions of his behaviour in Tina's two volumes of autobiography are utterly harrowing, and I won't go into them in detail, except to say that nobody should have to suffer what she did. Ike's autobiography, on the other hand, has him attempting to defend himself, even while admitting to several of the most heinous allegations, by saying he didn't beat his wife any more than most men did. Now the sad thing is that this may well be true, at least among his peer group. Turner's behaviour was no worse than behaviour from, say, James Brown or Brian Jones or Phil Spector or Jerry Lee Lewis, and it may well be that behaviour like this was common enough among people he knew that Turner's behaviour didn't stand out at all. His abuse has become much better-known, because the person he was attacking happened to become one of the biggest stars in the world, while the women they attacked didn't. But that of course doesn't make what Ike did to Tina any better -- it just makes it infinitely sadder that so many more people suffered that way. In 1968, Tina actually tried to take her own life -- and she was so fearful of Ike that when she overdosed, she timed it so that she thought she would be able to at least get on stage and start the first song before collapsing, knowing that their contract required her to do that for Ike to get paid. As it was, one of the Ikettes noticed the tablets she had taken had made her so out of it she'd drawn a line across her face with her eyebrow pencil. She was hospitalised, and according to both Ike and Tina's reports, she was comatose and her heart actually stopped beating, but then Ike started yelling at her, saying if she wanted to die why didn't she do it by jumping in front of a truck, rather than leaving him with hospital bills, and telling her to go ahead and die if this was how she was going to treat him -- and she was so scared of Ike her heart started up again. (This does not seem medically likely to me, but I wasn't there, and they both were). Of course, Ike frames this as compassion and tough love. I would have different words for it myself. Tina would make several more suicide attempts over the years, but even as Tina's life was falling apart, the duo's professional career was on the up. They started playing more shows in the UK, and they toured the US as support for the Rolling Stones. They also started having hits again, after switching to performing funked-up cover versions of contemporary hits. They had a minor hit with a double-sided single of the Beatles' "Come Together" and the Stones' "Honky-Tonk Women", then a bigger one with a version of Sly and the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher", then had their biggest hit ever with "Proud Mary". It's likely we'll be looking at Creedence Clearwater Revival's original version of that song at some point, but while Ike Turner disliked the original, Tina liked it, and Ike also became convinced of the song's merits by hearing a version by The Checkmates Ltd: [Excerpt: The Checkmates Ltd, "Proud Mary"] That was produced by Phil Spector, who came briefly out of his self-imposed exile from the music business in 1969 to produce a couple of singles for the Checkmates and Ronnie Spector. That version inspired Ike and Tina's recording of the song, which went to number four on the charts and won them a Grammy award in 1971: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "Proud Mary"] Ike was also investing the money they were making into their music. He built his own state-of-the-art studio, Bolic Sound, which Tina always claimed was a nod to her maiden name, Bullock, but which he later always said was a coincidence. Several other acts hired the studio, especially people in Frank Zappa's orbit -- Flo and Eddie recorded their first album as a duo there, and Zappa recorded big chunks of Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe('), two of his most successful albums, at the studio. Acts hiring Bolic Sound also got Tina and the Ikettes on backing vocals if they wanted them, and so for example Tina is one of the backing vocalists on Zappa's "Cosmik Debris": [Excerpt: Frank Zappa, "Cosmik Debris"] One of the most difficult things she ever had to sing in her life was this passage in Zappa's song "Montana", which took the Ikettes several days' rehearsal to get right. [Excerpt: Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, "Montana"] She was apparently so excited at having got that passage right that she called Ike out of his own session to come in and listen, but Ike was very much unimpressed, and insisted that Tina and the Ikettes not get credit on the records they made with Zappa. Zappa later said “I don't know how she managed to stick with that guy for so long. He treated her terribly and she's a really nice lady. We were recording down there on a Sunday. She wasn't involved with the session, but she came in on Sunday with a whole pot of stew that she brought for everyone working in the studio. Like out of nowhere, here's Tina Turner coming in with a rag on her head bringing a pot of stew. It was really nice.” By this point, Ike was unimpressed by anything other than cocaine and women, who he mostly got to sleep with him by having truly gargantuan amounts of cocaine around. As Ike was descending further into paranoia and abuse, though, Tina was coming into her own. She wrote "Nutbush City Limits" about the town where she grew up, and it reached number 22 on the charts -- higher than any song Ike ever wrote: [Excerpt: Ike and Tina Turner, "Nutbush City Limits"] Of course, Ike would later claim that he wrote the music and let Tina keep all the credit. Tina was also asked by the Who to appear in the film version of their rock opera Tommy, where her performance of "Acid Queen" was one of the highlights: [Excerpt: Tina Turner, "Acid Queen"] And while she was filming that in London, she was invited to guest on a TV show with Ann-Margret, who was a huge fan of Ike and Tina, and duetted with Tina -- but not Ike -- on a medley of her hits: [Excerpt: Tina Turner and Ann-Margret, "Nutbush City Limits/Honky Tonk Woman"] Just as with "River Deep, Mountain High", Tina was wanted for her own talents, independent of Ike. She was starting to see that as well as being an abusive husband, he was also not necessary for her to have a career. She was also starting to find parts of her life that she could have for herself, independent of her husband. She'd been introduced to Buddhist meditation by a friend, and took it up in a big way, much to Ike's disapproval. Things finally came to a head in July 1976, in Dallas, when Ike started beating her up and for the first time she fought back. She pretended to reconcile with him, waited for him to fall asleep, and ran across a busy interstate, almost getting hit by a ten-wheel truck, to get to another hotel she could see in the distance. Luckily, even though she had no money, and she was a Black woman in Dallas, not a city known for its enlightened attitudes in the 1970s, the manager of the Ramada Inn took pity on her and let her stay there for a while until she could get in touch with Buddhist friends. She spent the next few months living off the kindness of strangers, before making arrangements with Rhonda Graam, who had started working for Ike and Tina in 1964 as a fan, but had soon become indispensable to the organisation. Graam sided with Tina, and while still supposedly working for Ike she started putting together appearances for Tina on TV shows like Cher's. Cher was a fan of Tina's work, and was another woman trying to build a career after leaving an abusive husband who had been her musical partner: [Excerpt: Cher and Tina Turner, "Makin' Music is My Business"] Graam became Tina's full-time assistant, as well as her best friend, and remained part of her life until Graam's death a year ago. She also got Tina booked in to club gigs, but for a long time they found it hard to get bookings -- promoters would say she was "only half the act". Ike still wanted the duo to work together professionally, if not be a couple, but Tina absolutely refused, and Ike had gangster friends of his shoot up Graam's car, and Tina heard rumours that he was planning to hire a hit man to come after her. Tina filed for divorce, and gave Ike everything -- all the money the couple had earned together in sixteen years of work, all the property, all the intellectual property -- except for two cars, one of which Ike had given her and one which Sammy Davis Jr. had given her, and the one truly important thing -- the right to use the name "Tina Turner", which Ike had the trademark on. Ike had apparently been planning to hire someone else to perform as "Tina Turner" and carry on as if nothing had changed. Slowly, Tina built her career back up, though it was not without its missteps. She got a new manager, who also managed Olivia Newton-John, and the manager brought in a song he thought was perfect for Tina. She turned it down, and Newton-John recorded it instead: [Excerpt: Olivia Newton-John, "Physical"] But even while she was still playing small clubs, her old fans from the British rock scene were boosting her career. In 1981, after Rod Stewart saw her playing a club gig and singing his song "Hot Legs", he invited her to guest with him and perform the song on Saturday Night Live: [Excerpt: Rod Stewart and Tina Turner, "Hot Legs"] The Rolling Stones invited Tina to be their support act on a US tour, and to sing "Honky Tonk Women" on stage with them, and eventually when David Bowie, who was at the height of his fame at that point, told his record label he was going to see her on a night that EMI wanted to do an event for him, half the record industry showed up to the gig. She had already recorded a remake of the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" with the British Electric Foundation -- a side project for two of the members of Heaven 17 -- in 1982, for one of their albums: [Excerpt: British Electric Foundation, "Ball of Confusion"] Now they were brought in to produce a new single for her, a remake of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together": [Excerpt: Tina Turner, "Let's Stay Together"] That made the top thirty in the US, and was a moderate hit in many places, making the top ten in the UK. She followed it up with another BEF production, a remake of "Help!" by the Beatles, which appears only to have been released in mainland Europe. But then came the big hit: [Excerpt: Tina Turner, "What's Love Got to Do With It?"] wenty-six years after she started performing with Ike, Tina Turner was suddenly a major star. She had a string of successes throughout the eighties and nineties, with more hit records, film appearances, a successful autobiography, a film based on the autobiography, and record-setting concert appearan

Ho ho ho! The gift that keeps on giving. For a few minutes, then it is the gift that keeps on apologizing, that normally never happens to it. Then it becomes the gift that keeps on offering you a coffee and when you decline, it calls you a Lyft. The gift that keeps on being a consummate gentleman. Tis the season of giving, folks. Strap in because this is the last episode before Jimbo explores a new continent and comes back with a whole new batch of content. Tune in! Also, get the answer to that age old question "now? Again? For real? Goddammit."@roadsodaspod on instagramCorrespondence? Comments? Improvements? How dare you. Email us at roadsodaspod@gmail.com

Goddammit, Marty. SPUTNIK: Have you been involved in an altercation in the self-checkout line of the Space Fry’s again? GREEB: Look— SPUTNIK: Are you facing both criminal and civil charges as a result of your behavior? GREEB: Look, I said I was sorry— SPUTNIK: I’m Gorglax Sputnik. GREEB: [slightly defeated] And I’m Marty Greeb. SPUTNIK: […]

Pop Punk The Aughts Episode 4: Addicted The man in the suit climbed to his feet sans stilts and pants and he stood before the boys in boxer shorts with dollar signs on them. "Whoa. I don't remember Muggsy being THIS short," exclaimed Cameron. "I'm not him, asshole!" The man yelled. "He's just my hero. That's why I wear his jersey. My name's Frederick McCormick and this here's my circus." "We were told you had some pop punk acts here. Is it just the bears or…" Memphis trailed off. "Oh those are just for the tourists," Frederick said, dusting himself off. He walked over to the nearby wall, slid back a panel and pressed a button to an intercom. "Hey Jerry, can I get a new pair of pants?" Frederick spoke into the speaker. "Regular-size pleased. Oh and have somebody reset the bears. We're doing something different with our guests." A garbled "Right away, Boss" came back through the speaker. "Now, how do you boys feel about Simple Plan?" Frederick said with an eerie smile. "Oh, fuck me. Not again." John grumbled as he finished tying his shoes. "Are they here? We heard that Jeff guy is pretty cool," Cameron said. "Right this way, gentleman" Frederick said with a bow. It was soon interrupted by a man in a panda suit appearing from a hidden door. He handed Frederick a pair of dress pants. "Goddammit, Jerry. Not while I'm being dramatic." What happens next? Stay tuned. Highlights: Deja Vu; Green Water; More Dumb Names; To The Face; It's Always Winter in Hockey; Open Mouth, Insert Dong; Such a Great Joke; Wrestling is back!; Dino Don Vito Bravo; You Motherfucker; JCVD BVDs; Shrinky Dinx; Resting Mah Chin; Scooby Dude; Spying On Kids!; TV Smashers; Red Peters; Welcome to My Life; Fan Pop Facts; Jeff!; So Drunk; Fwins --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Jesse & Nat share their experiences at Riot Fest & Furnace Fest respectively 1/2 way through the episode Jesse’s mic decided to go terrible. Super apologize for that. Shouldn’t happen moving forward. Show Links Furnace Fest Riot Fest Seinfeld “The Airport” — Wikipedia Alkaline Trio “Goddammit” — Wikipedia Celebrating Mexican Independence Day, Chicago-style — Chicago Tribune James Baldwin — Wikipedia Thursday “War All the Time” — YouTube Astronoid — Spotify Sublime’s extremely problematic “Wrong Way” lyrics A New Found Glory’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” — Wikipedia Sunny Day Real Estate’s “LP2” & “How It Feels To Be Something On” — Wikipedia Pitchfork Music Fest Thursday cover Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” — YouTube Andrew WK deletes social media and postpones tour dates John Bunch of Further Seems Forever — Wikipedia David Bazan of Pedro the Lion on his change of faith “Emo is Awesome / Emo is Evil 1” compilation Nat’s Weekly Pick — Elliott Smith’s “Elliott Smith” — Wikipedia Jesse’s Weekly Pick — Taking Back Sunday “Tidal Wave” — Wikipedia

Getting Weird, with Ashley Good Episode 059 - "Goddammit, I am that mulleted man..." This week I ramble about acid reflux and house guests, having one-sided rivalries with celebrities, and make a feeble attempt to connect all of this to Terence McKenna's Novelty Theory. Thanks for believing in me! *** Support Getting Weird! Order your copy of JUST ADD WATER, here: https://www.amazon.com/Just-Add-Water-Ashley-Good/dp/1777270332 Poseidn 3D Cocktails: poseidn.com Promo Code: READYSET10 Need glasses? Want to look like me? Or both? Save 25% on a complete pair of Clearly brand glasses from Clearly.ca with the code READY25 (Excludes RayBan, Oakley, Bolon, Arnette, Coach, Michael Kors, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, Versace, Emporio Armani, Ralph by Ralph Lauren, Dior, and Vogue.) *** Song: ROMES - Chillthefuckout. To listen to songs from past episodes, check out the Spotify playlist -- https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6KwOnYz1kJSJ7bQydwVYZX?si=1WUZZX6URAq-C2gk1NMemw&utm *** Contact the show at gettingweirdwithashleygood@gmail.com Follow Getting Weird on Instagram @gettingweirdwithashleygood Learn more about my other projects at ashleygood.ca and blackframes.ca

[Discussing Episode 141, 142, 143, & 143] This time on Conversations & Catapults, the Host and Players talk about the Marchands, SWIM's winter jobs, and playing 12000 NPCs in one scene! Instagram | Twitter | Discord | Patreon This show is made possible by our Patrons. This episode hosted by Nathan! If you enjoyed this episode, consider donating yourself or leaving a review for us on Apple Podcasts! Conversations & Catapults Part 14    

A big hello from Portland, Oregon. Welcome to another episode of B2B Marketing & More. I have a very exciting guest: Ramon Ray. I actually met Ramon like literally four or five years ago at South by Southwest. And then we got connected on social media channels, but we never met in person until, well, now we are still not meeting in person! Ramon's with me on Zoom and he's a founder of a SmartHustle.com. And I'm going to ask him how to hustle intelligently. He's an author, writer and even producers. By the way, he started four companies and sold two of them. All right! So he deserves to have a conversation with us. So Ramon, welcome to my show.   Ramon Ray: Hey Pam, thanks for having me here and good to reconnect with you after so many years. But I'm so glad you're still in the flow and groove of what you do and I am, as well. So it's an honor to be here and share this time with you and your community. So thank you, Pam. I appreciate it.   Pam Didner: Thank you so much. And you talking about smart hustle and I would like to ask you, and personally, I need that as well: how do we hustle smartly? I know that's probably not right adjective but can you give us a definition of that?   Ramon Ray: Everybody, Pam, I think that we get it's a given except for a few people are in the hustle. They work hard. All of us try to wake up early. We do everything we can, we're always working, working, working. But I think the concept of smart hustle, you know, what do they say? Work smarter not harder. Yeah. We've heard that many times before, but I think it's just the aspect of the strategy. How can I connect the dots? You and I had a conversation offline before we came on. That's part of the smart hustle. Okay. I do this; somebody does that; how can we either work together or how can I support them? How can I add value to them? You know, I have a spoon, they have a teabag, huh? Let's find somebody that has water.   Pam Didner: Or a cup, for that matter (both laugh).   Ramon Ray: I think we should do the cup first before we find the water yet. Let's find the cup first. But my point being, that's the smart, smart hustle where my passion is inspiring and educating because owners to grow their businesses. And of course, as you know, working with B2B brands. So that's what it means. It means to not just work harder, but kind of look for opportunities, create your own serendipity. It means to have an attitude of service to others and knowing that by me serving others and adding value to them, the same will be done to me.   Pam Didner: Yes. So I really liked that in terms of connecting the dots, especially that when you network with someone or you are meeting someone or even just, you know, ex-colleagues and then see what you can do to actually help them or help each other. I think that's really the bottom line that way you are talking about is that.   Ramon Ray: Correct. And that's networking. Right? I found that the big part of my smart hustle has been the power of networking. And networking is not always “here's my business card. Give me your business card.” No, that that's, that's transactional idioticy. But it's more so, “okay, let me listen.” Going back to our example: “Pam said spoon, she said teabag, she said water, but she didn't mention cup yet. You know what? I have three cups.” It's silly, but you people understand that's the listening. How can I add value? And then, you know what, maybe we can work together or loosely, whatever that may mean.   Pam Didner: Yeah. And the way I look at hustle, I tend to look at from a different perspective in terms of how can I be productive? For example, um, you know, Tim Ferris has a book, like what four work hours per week, something to that extent. And, um, even with that, I read that book, you know, years ago, even with that, smart hustle requires a lot of thinking. Like I work all the time, 24-7, but if I really want to scale back, I need to think through what are the things I don't want to do. And I have to prioritize like a hard core prioritization. And then I also have to think through like how I can get other people to help me. So from my perspective, small hustling is actually not that easy to do. And if you want to be productive, what is your thought on that?   Ramon Ray: No. I agree with you a hundred percent and I think that it's, it's a key thing that it does take, especially depends on where you're at. It's that aspect of being scrappy. Yes. Being scrappy. But if you're just a scrappy, you'll always be kind of low level. You'll always be fighting for survival.   Pam Didner: You only focus on technical.   Ramon Ray: Yes. And fighting, fighting. You want to be scrappy. You want to be nimble, but you want to be that scrappiness where it's always a 10x, always a plus one. A scrappiness, but with thought. And I think you said that best and that's really the key. Let me consider how I can do something. Yes. But always understand leverage. And not leverage in a bad way. I think, to your point, you're right. Let me think. “Okay. I need to do this action today. Is it worth me spending time with this?” And to underline what you said, Pam, saying no to things is important, as well. You can't, I mean, I I'm pulled--I'm sure you are--a thousand different ways. I'm asked to do free things, fee things or not. So every moment is an evaluation. “Okay. Is this the best use of my time? Or should I just do this? Because this person's awesome and I want to just serve them.” That's fine too. But at least that you went into it thinking. It's kind of like them, as I tell when I'm out with my friends, I'll just say, when my wife and were like “Honey, where do you want to eat at?” “Well, you know, I don't know. I don't know.” And we're driving and I'm like, “Sweetheart, we need to decide soon because in two minutes there's no more restaurants.” So by not deciding the decision is made for us. That was a lot packed in there, but being thoughtful, learning how to say no, and also as best we can making some decision, uh, proactive about it so you can have some control of that.   Pam Didner: Yeah, I do agree. I do agree with that specifically. And, um, you know, I've been hustling just like you, both of us are working for ourselves and, uh, we have our own company. In every single moment, we have to make a decision in terms of how we want to use that specific hour or the time. And. I always feel like I'm trying to do too much, you know. As a content marketer, for example, I started writing blog and then I will like, “oh, I need to try a different format.” So I launched my YouTube channel. And I was like, “oh my God, I need to understand a little bit about podcasts and launch a podcast. All of a sudden I have three different formats of content I need to produce. And I think over a period of time, I end up overwhelmed myself. (And I started a webinar, as well). When 2021 started, I kind of gave myself a goal that what are the things can I pare down that I should not do it. And I also take into account in terms of, okay, what is the business impact if I'm not doing that. Right? Webinar was actually very good for me to gather a lot of leads, but I was not able to spend time to nurture those leads. Right. So I decided, you know what, maybe I should not get more leads. Maybe I should just focus on the existing pipelines that I have and continue to grow that. So a couple of months ago, I decided not to do webinars anymore. So I totally understand.   Ramon Ray: What I like about that Pam was the aspect of deciding--Seth Godin says this quite a bit--to what extent do you want to scale? Which I think is important because I think as the small business owners we are, I've been on a similar journey to learn what can I do? Now, I have a team of five, but I also have to think what do I want people to do at my size that's revenue generating because both of us doing content for ourselves, ironically, Pam, I've taken back a lot of the content doing that I do for editorial. Now for our clients, I've expanded enough that I can have other people do it. But for myself, I realized, you know what, me paying somebody even 500 a month, a thousand a month to promote Ramon, since I don't have a clear dot to the revenue.   Pam Didner: To connect to the revenue or the next stage! How are you going to nurture it? Does that make sense doing it?   Ramon Ray: Correct. I'm like, you know what? I think this is, even though I'm the cheapest person, for this stage, it's better that I just do a lot of that from that's my own brand myself, unless I can prove, “oh, every time Ramon does a silly video, it generates $10,000.” That's another story; but I don't have that proof yet. So I agree with your journey and I think that's the smartness of it. What should I be doing? What should I delegate to others? Or what should I not do at this time? Or never? Smart.   Pam Didner: So, you know, speaking of growing revenue, do you actually have a framework that you can help either small business owners or the marketing professional in terms of what they should do to grow revenue--either, you know, through marketing efforts or working with sales or working stuff on their own?   Ramon Ray: Yeah, for sure. And it's probably not as smart as a framework as you can do. However, from my limited experience, I think, and I would talk to the small business owners, but also talk to many of your audience--those were the B2B marketers leveraging the power of content. Here's what I've seen in my experience. I think that a) What is it that your audience really wants? That's one that's important.   Pam Didner: So you have to understand your audience well, and you have to define your audience. I, 100% agree with that. Do you know how many small business owners I talk to from time to time or they come to me and ask specific questions? I always ask “who is your target audience?” And, uh, I would say 85% of them cannot articulate that very well. They try to serve everybody.   Ramon Ray: Something like “we're targeting female founders” is a favorite one I hear. And I get it. I understand it. But female founders, can you at least tell me, are they South American? Are they US-based? Are they in retail or are they in manufacturing? At least that, so I think who are you serving? But I think also Pam, the hard thing is to break through the noise because everybody is doing content. Pam's doing it. Ramon is doing it. New York Times is doing it. Inc Magazine is doing it. So I think that that's point number two, really which is where are you going to hone in on that you do best; that's two. And I think three Pam now what's that funnel that nurturing that you can do to educate them until going directly to sales until they're ready to make a purchase? And I think that's the best we can do to build up that fan base--to build up that funnel of people who see you as a thought leader. Of course direct sales is important, but I think those were in the content game--oh, and I must say Pam as well—please, content should be interesting. I'm not saying if you're, if you're dealing with children who have cancer, there, you may not want to have it “ha ha ha.” But for our tech people, right, sometimes they're so straight-laced, they're so serious. They're so on brand it's boring!   Pam Didner: It's hard for us B2B marketers to break out of that mold. I'm the guilty one as well, but I always advise my client if you cannot make it interesting, of course you need a good writer to make that happen. And the one thing is make it relevant, make it useful. At minimal, you know, don't do self-serving content, but make it relevant to your target audience. Even you just do a show and tell about your product. Well, you know what? You don't actually have a creative or funny way to say it, but at least tailor that communication or the contents to address the audience's pain points and challenges.   Ramon Ray: Yes. And Pam remember the customer. So many of the brands I work with, they have amazing customers, but I think they have a challenge either finding them, identifying them, getting permission to use their stuff.   Pam Didner: Yeah. Getting the permission to actually use the logo or even have a case study created.   Ramon Ray: And in the case study, even that, have it a little loose it's okay to say, you know, to have fun with it. But you're right. I think the customers, that's the story, shine a light on them. And then we as businesses, we look less at the product to some degree we do, but oh, I'm an accountant, they're an accountant. They use their product to grow 10%. Let me have a look at it. So I think that's kind of some way to consider that as well.   Pam Didner: Yeah. So creating interesting content is always incredibly challenging. And another thing that comes to play in terms of content is the creative. And I also have come to realize on the B2B side, if you want to create a campaign that's creative and also try to break through the clutter. It does take time. It does take time to plan in it, to also execute it. And the problem is marketers. We don't have. Like we are always under the press deadline. “We need to get the blog done. What? We need to turn in around in 24 hours so legal can review it and approve it. Goddammit!”   Ramon Ray: Legal! Pam, legal! Always slowing us down, Pam! Continue on, but I just have to say legal people (sighs). Oh, go ahead. Go ahead.   Pam Didner: Yeah, but because of that, I think a lot of time on the B2B side, our hand are tied. Like there's so many review process that you have to go through. You know, even you have a creative idea, sometimes you have to pare that down whole lot more, just in reality that your management might have an issue, your salespeople might have issue, your PR team definitely. Or the legal team might actually have something to say. So I understand where you're coming from, at the same time, I also understand the reality on the B2B side, especially enterprise. There's just a lot of factors they have to take into account before they can actually finalize the content. And by the time that so many people approved it, all of a sudden the content is not fun anymore (laughs).   Ramon Ray: Yeah. So, but I dunno, Pam, there seems like a business opportunity for you, Pam. What we, you know, fun. We use that word of course liberally, you know, it didn't have to be a comedian. But Pam, I think that is one thing I'm, you're on the marketing end as I am of all these things-- telephone services, cable services, computer services, all the stuff that we use as consumers or B2B, even airlines, whatever. And a lot of it is just. Blah. So at the same, so that's one, I think, way there is anybody willing to kind of break through the clutter. Is anybody willing to kind of, uh, you know, I, I, they have to be cautious. There's so many ways to offend people nowadays, you know, but it's just, that is a key point.   Pam Didner: I totally agree. Yeah, exactly to me is just like, there's a fine line that B2B marketers, they have to walk. Yeah. And trying to find that fine line. From my perspective, I always tell my clients at minimal, can you address your target audience's pain point and challenges? Start it from that. That should be the very beginning, you know? And then from there, how far can you take it? That's a creative discussion. So, um, working with marketing in terms of creating the content and also grow revenue is actually very hard for marketing--especially when you do top of the funnel marketing outreach--to quantify or determine what is the conversion, or how does that impact, you know, your sales contribution. Do you have any suggestion in terms of what we should do? If the marketing people all focus on top of the funnel, how do they quantify in terms of their contribution to sales?   Ramon Ray: It's very tough, Pam, extremely tough. But I think the best thing that could be done--any many people try this--is to have the tightest tracking you can. I think that's what I've learned from some of the best companies, a webinar just by itself is okay. But I mean, and it's a pain because influencers like me, right? we don't want to use your tracking all the time. We just throw up and say, “go to grass.com” and you're like, “no, Ramon go to grass.com/question mark slash this.” So it's hard, but that's really the best way. Because if you're able to track every piece of content you put out, your smart analytics team can then say, oh, this went to it. But here's the other thing that happens. And I'm getting a little out of my comfort zone, but I know you can help me with this. The thing about last attribution, I worked for a software company once and it made me so pissed off Pam, because I'd be like metaphorically. I'd be like, “wait a minute. I went to the webinar and what the appetite I did Ramon does, but then six months ago—“   Pam Didner: --at the last attribution. But you are the first attribution that people come in to and you're not getting credit for that.   Ramon Ray: Yes! “You're giving it to Don because he closed the sale, but you forgot what we did six months ago, three months ago, two years ago.” And I know who can say. So I think that's the thing with these campaigns. Payment's hard, but I do know one thing, I think for sure, we know, year to year, quarter to quarter if you see your social engagement higher; year to year, quarter to quarter, you see more fans, more followers, more Facebook, more watch time. I know marketers won't like it; you want to see direct proof. But that is some indicator that clearly people are paying attention, if that makes sense. And I'll give credit--again if I have competing clients, forgive me, but credit where credit is due--HubSpot years ago, they were the leaders in marketing automation. I think many of us even, I hadn't even know they were a software company, Pam, because they were the leaders in the SEO website tracking and things like this. So giving them credit, HubSpot is an example of using a massive amount of content for that. So I got to give them great.   Pam Didner: Yes. I agree with you. And, um, I think the couple of things that you said resonate with me tremendously and I've been preaching, but I'm using a slightly different terminology. So you mentioned about that if you want to try and get, especially top of the funnel and also the purchasing cycle is very long, you need to make sure that you have a very tight tracking methods or the process. The terms I've been using is “backend integration.” Basically, if you really want to track it from the top, you know, from the very beginning when people come to your website or even from the time that they register for your webinar, if you want to have the tracking mechanism in place, you need to make sure your marketing automation tools are very much connected with a CRM or any other tools that you are using for different marketing channels; those tools needs to be somehow connected otherwise, it has no way to track it. And that's actually very, very hard. I think a lot of marketers they feel sure is that they cannot do that very tight tracking. In order to do that, their back end needs to be integrated. And at the end of the day it's about MarTech stack—how you build that stack and how they are all talking to each other.   Ramon Ray: For sure. And Pam, can I add one more thing? I just wanna add the value of things looking good. Another thing that I see some marketers make is the mistake of, and I want to be careful calling out tools here cause I know there's a lot of competing people who listen, but I'll just call out a tool because it's so famous, Zoom. Many marketers use Zoom for their webinars and things, but I noticed they leave the default. So one tip is when people go there, put images, put graphics, put your logo, make it look pretty. Sounds weird, but I've been to many webinars, Pam, where they just kind of they say “we're having a webinar with our executive,” but they don't put the guy or the gal's face. They don't take the time to make it look good. So I just wanted to add that, that when you're doing something like that, make it look legit, make it look good.   Pam Didner: Yeah. You need to, when you create a registration page--doesn't matter if it's on the Zoom on the landing page, attention to detail. Right? Use the opportunity to promote your brand and use the opportunity to have a logo there, you know, to get people's attention or even have the image of your events. I got it. Yeah, you're totally right.   Ramon Ray: When people have me and Pam for the next webinar, we charged them what Pam, a hundred thousand dollars or so? (Pam laughs)   Pam Didner: You charge them $100,000. I charged them, I don't know, 50 bucks.   Ramon Ray: Have our faces there to cause human face. So that's just a small tip, but I've seen too many times, people either afraid or too cautious of that. But GAP does it; Nike does it. Yeah. It's the face.   Pam Didner: So, you know, what you are talking about, I think there's another term that I use on the B2B world is your “customer experience.” Right. If you actually going to promote your webinar and, uh, when you are promoting on social media channel and make sure your copy is very compelling, make sure your image is great; but when they register, come to your website, make sure they get exactly the coherent, seamless experience, and then you'll have exactly the similar logo and image and the, when they log in to listen to your webinar, provide a similar as seamless experience, as well. Yeah, I hear you. So there's a couple of things I want to just summarize, uh, before I let you go. There's one thing that you mentioned, I really like in terms of like what B2B marketers, especially for long purchasing cycle, they can leverage the content to drive traffic to the website. Once you do that, you need to find a way to nurture them. Right. Not just like, okay, get them and get them into your database and you let it go. And then you move on to the next campaigns. Really try to understand your audience and then find a weight and a very single focus in terms of building your nurturing campaign to nurture them to the point that they can be qualified as a lead. And I liked that a lot. And I think that is one thing that marketers tend to overlook, including myself. We like to get a lot of leads, but we are not necessarily spending time to actually try to make an effort to nurture them. So I really liked that. And that's one of my biggest takeaway by talking with you. And also, uh, deliver that seamless customer experience--   it doesn't matter what kind of promotion that you aren't doing, just make sure you pay attention entrance of a customer experience. Awesome. Awesome. Anything that you want to add?   Ramon Ray: Yeah. Just to say, Pam, it's, it's been a delight to meet you and see you soar and work with you. I'm so excited and I'm so excited we can get reconnected today. And I just encourage my specialty of course, is the small business. B2B is a big category, but for the smaller businesses is my region. So I encourage the marketers listening to you, small business is very. It's different than of course the enterprise--you sell one thing and you get money. We're very fragmented, but I think it's a, it's a great market and we, small business owners need you. We need the products and services you're providing. So Pam, it's been great being on your podcast and thanks for letting me shine with you today. Thank you.   Pam Didner: Yes. Yes. So how can people find you?   Ramon Ray: Best way is Ramon ray.com R A M O N R A Y.com. Let me know how I can serve you or team up with Pam and do something together. We're here to serve you.   Pam Didner: I would love that. So, this is fantastic. It's wonderful talking to you, Ramon. I hope that we will see each other soon, like in person.   Ramon Ray: I hope so, indeed. Let's make it happen.   Pam Didner: All right. Take care.

Christina Vitagliano shares her story from enduring child abuse to going on to start a multimillion-dollar business and publishing her own memoir. She breaks down the ripple effects that child abuse had on her life and why some of the effects of child abuse hit much so much harder in adulthood. Support the Podcast Light After Trauma website   Christina's Website   Transcript:   Alyssa Scolari [00:23]: Hey, warriors. Welcome back to another episode of Light After Trauma. I'm your host, Alyssa Scolari, and we have with us today, Christina Vitagliano. Now, Christina is an author, entrepreneur and the founder of a successful family entertainment concept, Monster Mini Golf. Having spent three decades working on her memoir, Christina hopes to share her story and touch the hearts of readers with her account of childhood abuse, empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and learn to thrive, despite their trauma. Her passion is to provide affordable, fun entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. Monster Mini Golf is a multi-million dollar company with 30 locations across the USA and Canada. Without any further ado, I would love to introduce our guest today. We're going to be talking about childhood trauma with Christina. Welcome, Christina, how are you today? Christina Vitagliano [01:31]: I am good. How are you? Alyssa Scolari [01:33]: I am good. Really happy just to update the listeners. I just learned that while Christina is currently in Vegas, she's originally from the New England area, which I love. As all the listeners know, I'm a Jersey girl through and through, even though I live in PA now. Christina's accent feels like a warm cup of tea for me. Thank you for being here. I'm really happy to have you on the show. Christina Vitagliano [02:02]: Oh, thank you for inviting me. Alyssa Scolari [02:04]: Yeah, of course. You're spreading awareness about, I think, one of the most taboo topics in the field, people really shy away from talking about child abuse. Christina Vitagliano [02:19]: They do. Alyssa Scolari [02:21]: You are doing anything but shying away from that. Christina Vitagliano [02:26]: Took me a while, but yes. Alyssa Scolari [02:28]: I think that's important to point out, right? That it doesn't happen overnight for sure. Christina Vitagliano [02:33]: No. Alyssa Scolari [02:35]: I guess let's start with take me back to how you even became somebody who spreads awareness on childhood abuse. What is your story? Where did you come from? How did you get to where you are today? Christina Vitagliano [02:53]: Well, a quick overview. It started when I was about four years old and it lasted until I left home, which was around 16/17 years old. Actually I didn't move out until I was 18, but it was that whole period. Alyssa Scolari [03:06]: That was the whole period that you ... So you started being abused around the age of four? Christina Vitagliano [03:06]: Yep. Alyssa Scolari [03:06]: Okay. Christina Vitagliano [03:11]: Then I left home around 18 or when I legally could, I was out the door. Then I didn't tell anybody. I didn't talk about it. I didn't do anything. I'm sorry. That's my doorbell. Until I decided to sit down and write about it, which was about 20 something years ago. I sat down and just put it all on paper and then I sat on that for the last 20 years, and then finally published my memoir this year. Alyssa Scolari [03:42]: Wow. Christina Vitagliano [03:43]: Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [03:45]: Okay. You escaped your abusive environment. Now, when you were in your abusive environment, did you know at the time that that was abuse? When did you make that connection like, "Oh, this is what's happening here." Christina Vitagliano [03:58]: Well, God, at four years old I try to ... I remember ... I have a very, very good memory on some things, but I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch yesterday, but- Alyssa Scolari [04:06]: Same here. Christina Vitagliano [04:06]: ... I do. I have such vivid ... That's a curse and a blessing at times, but very vivid memories. I remember being that young, knowing that what was happening wasn't right. I didn't know why it wasn't right. I didn't know ... Because you're four. I mean, you only know so much, but whatever it was, was wrong. On the flip side, I didn't want to mess up our family. My mom ... This was my stepdad and they had just gotten married. My big thing was, "Don't make mom unhappy because she was so unhappy before and now this man makes her happy and I don't want to mess things up." You know? That's how it started. I think once you start down that path, and I don't know why, you just continue down that path of, "I am going to handle this myself. I'm not going to mess things up for anybody." I was terrified that I would get taken away from the family and thrown into an orphanage, which to me was worse than what I was dealing with. Kind of short version of that whole story. Alyssa Scolari [05:16]: You're speaking such universal feelings and thoughts that children have, which is children have this concept that the devil you know ... And even adults, right? Christina Vitagliano [05:16]: Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [05:28]: The devil you know is better than the one that you don't. I think so many children endure what they need to endure for the sake of keeping the family together and not risking being pulled away from their family. Christina Vitagliano [05:48]: Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think as a child, it's instinctive that you want to make your mom or your dad, whoever it is you're bonded to, or even if it's both of them, instinctively your job is to make sure that you do what you're supposed to do and make them happy because that makes you happy. I don't know. I mean, it's a vicious circle, but that's not true. You shouldn't do some things just to make other people happy. It took me 30 years to figure that out. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [06:21]: Yeah. Honestly, it takes some of us so much longer because that's what we think. You're right. It's, "I want to make this person happy. I see how happy my mom is. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news. I don't want to stir the pot." It's so difficult. How did you get ... Was it just that with age you began to change and then when you became a teenager, you were like, "I got to get out of here." Christina Vitagliano [06:49]: No. A couple of things. Like you said, you know it was wrong. I did know it was wrong at a very young age, and as you get older, boy, do you learn it's more wrong. I mean, so now this ridiculous thing of, "Wow, I'm going to protect everybody else." The wrong part gets so hard and as you get older, much harder because you learn more, but you keep dealing with it. Then when I met my now husband, he was the first one that I ever told and he's the first one that ever approached me and said, "Hey, what's wrong with you?" I mean, short version, you know? Alyssa Scolari [07:25]: Right. Christina Vitagliano [07:25]: Hey, what the hell's wrong with you? He just did it in such a blunt way. We were young. We had been dating for maybe, I don't know, weeks. I had been previously married and divorced. Didn't tell him, didn't tell anybody I'd ever dated. Now I was about 30 years old, so I don't know if it was him in my face being so blunt and the only one who said, "What the hell happened to you?" Or if it was a combination of that and at 30 years old, you kind of ... I don't know what it is. You hit these milestones in life. 30 is one of them though. You say, "What am I doing with my life?" You think you're an adult and you're not an adult at 30 because that's bullshit. I don't even know if I'm an adult at my age and I'm in my 50s. It's just, you start to question yourself as to what you think you know and, "Hey, maybe it's time I stand up and stop doing what I've been doing to myself." You're abusing yourself really for so many years. I listened to one of your podcasts where you went through your relationship and I was like, "Dear God, how many of us have been down that same exact path with the same exact reasoning within ourselves?" Then one day you wake up and say, "Holy cow, I'm a dummy." In a good way though, it's a good thing to say because you realize you don't need to be that dummy all the time, you know? Alyssa Scolari [08:50]: Right. It's not like I'm a dummy in a disparaging- Christina Vitagliano [08:55]: No. Alyssa Scolari [08:55]: ... a self-disparaging way. It's almost like you wake up one day and the pieces fall together and you're like, "Oh, God." Christina Vitagliano [09:04]: Where was I, man? I know. Alyssa Scolari [09:07]: Right. I feel so disconnected from the person that I was when I was in it and in those bad relationships. You also realize that the bad relationships that you then continue to have in your teens and 20s are because you didn't really know any better. Christina Vitagliano [09:28]: Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [09:29]: [crosstalk 00:09:29]. Christina Vitagliano [09:29]: Or you've conditioned yourself to be who you are and it's instinctive, "Well, I'm going to make this person happy. I don't want to upset the applecart." I do that to this day. I still do that. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [09:42]: Oh, yes. The chronic people-pleasing and not wanting to upset anybody. There are people ... I say this all the time, especially with, oh, one of my clients in particular where we talk about the red flags and how all the red flags look green. Even the red flags that are so bad, they're on fire we choose to look past. Christina Vitagliano [10:03]: Yep. It's almost you'll do anything to avoid turmoil. I don't even know why that is, but it is a common thing like, "Oh, geez, I don't want to make anything bad." You know? I don't know. Alyssa Scolari [10:14]: Yeah. I think it's because we're taught when we're so young that other people's feelings matter more than our trauma and what happens to us. That's the narrative that we carry around, that it doesn't matter. Yes. I'm unhappy and yes, maybe this person is hurting me, but this person is giving me love, some sort of love. Even if it's not what I really truly need or want, it's something and something is better than nothing. At the end of the day, my partner's feelings matter more than mine so I stay. Christina Vitagliano [10:50]: I remember. I went through a similar relationship that you spoke of in one of your podcasts and I thought to myself, "Oh, you can relate to every single word that you were saying." Then you wake up one day and say, "Hey, I know this sucks. I know I'm in a bad relationship. I know that he's really f'ing with me. You know what I mean? But I'm afraid to live alone. I'm terrified to be on my own. What would I do by myself?" Then one day you wake up and say, "I don't care what I do by myself." I remember saying to myself, "If I sit in a room and I'm stuck watching TV for 12 hours a day because I have nothing else to do, I don't have any friends anymore because he's alienated everybody, then that's okay with me." As soon as you decide that whatever it is, is okay, and is better than what you were dealing with, the door opens. Then you're just like, "Well, this is all good." You realize everything you thought was complete bullshit." Because it's not that bad out there by yourself. You know? Alyssa Scolari [11:52]: Yeah. Eventually you'll get to a point ... Well, I shouldn't say everybody because some people spend their whole lives in- Christina Vitagliano [12:00]: Oh, you're right. Alyssa Scolari [12:01]: ... one toxic relationship to the next, which breaks my heart and is part of the reason why we sit here and talk about this. It's just about awareness. Yeah. I think some people do get to a point where the pain of being in the situation is greater than the pain that it would take to change. That's when change comes. I guess I'm wondering for you, what do you think got you to a point where you were like, "Okay. I'm going to sit down and I'm going to write all of this out." Because you said this was what? Like 20 years ago that you wrote all this down? Christina Vitagliano [12:37]: Yeah. I don't know because once my ... It wasn't my husband then, but once he asked me, "Hey, what happened to you?" When I answered that, you've held that in for that long. Now all of a sudden it's raw and it's in your face and he's the kind of guy that just asked and asked and asked. He won't stop asking. Alyssa Scolari [12:57]: He doesn't let it go. Christina Vitagliano [12:58]: He doesn't let it go, and I'm the person, and on the flip side, I'm still the people-pleaser so I answered all of those questions that I probably didn't want to answer at the time, but I did, which is a good thing I think in the long run because it was ... But once it was all out there, I was like, "Wow." As I'm talking about it, I'm teaching myself, "Wow. There's a lot of things I should have done differently and I don't want anyone else to have to deal with any of this. If you could help anybody at that point, you're like, "Holy cow, nobody should have to deal with some of this." I started to put it down on paper and I said, "I'm going to start from the beginning." And I just kept going. My husband, he teases me. He said, "For six months, all I saw was the back of your head on the computer." Because it's all I was doing, was writing, writing, writing. Then when I got done, I was like, "All right, now I want to publish this." Now, of course knew nothing about publishing, and 20 something years ago, self-publishing didn't really exist like it does now. I learned, "Holy cow, I have to have this professionally edited." Then I learned that cost about $5,000 plus at the time. I didn't have any money. Then that was the next hurdle. How do you get from this raw bunch of words to it being fine-tuned and ready to go to a publisher? Then, will anybody even want to publish it? I sat on that. I didn't have the $5,000. I had left my career when I married my husband because I didn't want to be a workaholic. There's a lot of things I think that when you come out of an abusive relationship, whether it's child abuse or whatever that's happened over a long period of time, you're not just affected with who you are mentally, but I don't know, my vice was working. I didn't drink. I didn't do any drugs, nothing like that, but I worked because work consumed my brain. When this all came out, I learned that I also have to fix that. I can't be working 70 hours a week and married to my job because if you're going to have a relationship, that person deserves some of you too. I wasn't capable of doing both of them. I knew that. I literally quit my career. Said, "I'm going to give this relationship thing a shot because I failed so many other times." I left that and went to work with my husband and started doing some things in odds and ends. Of course, we had no money. We're living on like peanut butter. After I wrote the book, I'm like, "I need $5,000. I don't have $5,000." I created a company called Monster Mini Golf and- Alyssa Scolari [15:34]: That's how you became the accidental entrepreneur. Christina Vitagliano [15:37]: Yes. In my head I was like, "I'm going to raise $5,000. I can do mini golf indoors, me and a friend, and when I raise the five grand, maybe I can get it published and then I'll be able to make enough money to live on too in the meantime. That was almost 20 years ago. Now we have 30 Monster Mini Golf locations. We franchised it. We've got two crazy locations in casinos in Vegas here, one with KISS and one with the Twilight Zone. I got sucked in and I became a workaholic and my husband owns this company with me so I kind of turned him into one now. Now he wants to be the workaholic and I don't want to be so that's its own battle. Yeah. Then when the pandemic hit, I sat down and said, "Oh, okay, we're closed. There's nothing to do. Hey, self-publishing is amazing. Look at all of this." I self-published. Alyssa Scolari [16:38]: Yeah. Yes. Now you have this book out titled Every 9 Minutes. Christina Vitagliano [16:45]: Yep. Yep. Alyssa Scolari [16:46]: Can you tell us a little bit about this book? Is this detailing your life- Christina Vitagliano [16:51]: It is. Alyssa Scolari [16:52]: ... and what you went through? Christina Vitagliano [16:54]: It is. It's titled Every 9 Minutes because every nine minutes there is a reported case of child abuse in the United States. Just in the United States, the rest of the world I can't even imagine, and that's reported. Alyssa Scolari [17:10]: Right. That's what's reported. Christina Vitagliano [17:12]: Child abuse, I think the majority is not ... I never reported mine because it's so taboo and you just condition nobody tells anybody about it and all kinds of very bad things are wrong with the whole subject. Anyway, that's where the title came from. The book is a memoir. I've changed a lot of names. I've changed a lot of places, just because respect for people that I ... Other people, good people. But I kept my name in it. It starts in 1969, which is when I'm four years old and it ends when I met my husband and how the whole thing came to light and I talked it. It spans 30 years, but I think a lot of people ... And I apologize with my dogs upstairs. I think- Alyssa Scolari [17:57]: Oh, is that what that is? Is that your dog? Christina Vitagliano [17:59]: We have two bulldog pups and they're insane. I think a lot of folks will ... And it's getting better. People will talk about child abuse and they'll talk about their experience of abuse. I think when I wrote this book, it spans that long because it's not just about the abuse. It's about the effect that the abuse has on you for that period of time. Alyssa Scolari [18:24]: That is so important that you said that because yes, when we talk about abuse, we cannot just talk about the incidents themselves. Christina Vitagliano [18:36]: No. Alyssa Scolari [18:36]: Because they have ripple effects onto your life for decades and ages to come. I love that you said that. I mean, it's so important not to just talk about, "Oh, this is what happens to me." But then what happened after. Christina Vitagliano [18:50]: This is what happened to me as a result of what happened to me. Alyssa Scolari [18:52]: Yes. Yeah. Christina Vitagliano [18:54]: This is why all these things happen. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [18:57]: You said it best. You said it best. Christina Vitagliano [19:01]: A lot of people don't talk about that because ... and there's nothing ... I think it's because when somebody hears that subject, it just is like, "Wow." It's so big on its own that people have to get what happened out. To me, and this is a really weird thing, what was happening was the abuse became so routine to me that, yeah, I'm like, "I can handle that crap." It's everything else that's happening to me that I couldn't figure out until I was old enough to say, "Oh, it's all because of that crap." You know? Alyssa Scolari [19:35]: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, you're exactly right. I think it's so important and I guess one of the questions that I have for you is, what is your goal with this book? Are you trying to show people that they're not alone? Are you trying to show people that they can survive this? What was the goal for publishing this? Christina Vitagliano [20:02]: Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head there. A few things. One, we're not alone. Two, I'm okay to talk about it if you guys can't, because there's a lot of people who can't talk about it. It doesn't matter whether we should or shouldn't. They just never will be able to. Sometimes knowing that somebody else is talking about it makes life a little bit better and yes, you can ... You know what's weird? I don't like the word survive it because I hate surviving shit. Surviving, it hurts. I don't want to hurt anymore and it's going to hurt forever and ever that never goes away. I think you have to try to overcome the intensity of it and overcome, you will never overcome it, but you have to outbalance it. You know what I mean? Yes, it's there, but I'm going to stay a step above it and keep it in check. Surviving it is bullshit because you never survive it. That's crap I think. Alyssa Scolari [21:02]: Yeah. Absolutely. I like what you said there, that it's not so much about surviving it as it is about managing the intensity of it. It's about not letting the memories and the flashbacks and the feelings and the urges swallow you whole and take over your entire life. Christina Vitagliano [21:23]: Yep. There are ... And it's weird. I think ... Some of it, I wrote about and some of it I don't because you can't write everything and you don't want to share literally everything. It's a hard subject to actually write about because people have a hard time reading about it too. You had to balance, "Hey, I have to share it and I don't want to share everything." I remember my editor when she went through it and you go through a child abuse scene in the book. She would come back to me and she would say, "Okay. Well, this is good. Change this. You have errors here and whatever." Then once in a while, she'll go, "Hey, detail this scene more." I'm like, "No. I'm not going to detail that scene more. Are you out of your mind? It's amazing that those words are there." But it was- Alyssa Scolari [22:03]: Right. Like, "You're lucky I even got this much. There's no way I can detail this." Christina Vitagliano [22:09]: Man, that was, I think ... You're like, "How was it writing it?" Writing it was one thing, dealing with the editing and having somebody above you or with you on your team say, "This is good but if you really want to share, and you want somebody to understand that you can outbalance this or do whatever, you have to show them what happened." Some of that stuff came back to me four and five times and finally ... It was over Christmas, this past Christmas before I published, right before I published. I sat on that book for about six weeks because of her notes. I was like, "I can't do it. I can't do what she's asking me to do." Another part of me was saying, "If you want this to be published and you want to share it and you want people to see what happened to actually make the point come across, then you have to do what she asked." It took six weeks and one day I got up. Just like I think we always ... Hey, you get up and all the puzzle pieces fell into place or kind of, and I said, "I'm going to give it a shot." I did, and when I got done it was like I had to go shower. I'm like, "I just got to walk away from that. Just don't ask me to read it again." You got the words, but somebody else read it now because I've just lived it too many times. Alyssa Scolari [23:24]: Yeah. That's I think another really important point, is I'm sure as you were writing it, or even going through the editing process, you find yourself right back in it. Christina Vitagliano [23:36]: Oh, it's brutal. The editing process was the worst because when you edit ... My book is about 370 pages. It started at 600 because for me to break from the time I was four, until whenever I thought the end was, I literally had to go through my entire life. Then somebody picks it up and says, "We don't need to know what you had for lunch one day." But I couldn't get from AA to B. We had to get rid of all that crap. Because it took me 20 years to publish, by the time I actually got it published, I had read that thing so many times it's just reliving it and reliving it and reliving it. Yes, it was good, but in some ways now, and I'm going to be honest, I'm very, very angry at things that I ... They just make you angry. It's like, "Why did these people let this happen? Why are these people today still siding with that guy?" Family members that were like "Oh, he's a saint." I'm like, "You're choosing not to see reality." That's a very hard thing to deal with. I have to be the person that says, "Well, that's your problem now." My issue is let's help people who want to be helped and band together. Alyssa Scolari [24:52]: That's the hardest part, is it's the reactions of the other people, right? Christina Vitagliano [24:52]: Oh, it's horrible. Alyssa Scolari [25:03]: You're bearing your soul and then there are people that go, "What are you talking about? He was a great guy. What are you doing this for?" That pure unfiltered rage, rage that you must feel like ... Yet, in this moment, you're in these moments where you are being almost like ... not forced, but you have the pressure on to share more and be a little bit more vulnerable. Then you're met with opposition from people, family members or friends or people who know you that are like, "What are you talking about? This is a good guy." In those moments, what kept you going? How did you stay true to the fact that this was right for you? Christina Vitagliano [25:55]: Anger. Alyssa Scolari [25:57]: Turning that rage into something productive. Christina Vitagliano [25:59]: Yeah. You say persevere, survive, overcome. Yeah, sure. All of that. Anger. I'm like, "No. You're wrong." More that I'm not the only one. I mean, nobody talks about this and in this day and age where we have ... And I will give ... Like well, let's say the millennials, because they want to cancel everything. On the flip side, people are speaking out more than anything in the world, but they won't speak about this. How do you want to do everything in the world and fix it all, ooh, but not that subject? That's too cool. That's too taboo. I don't want to do that. I want to get to the point where screaming about this too. Alyssa Scolari [26:39]: Yes. Christina Vitagliano [26:39]: You know? Alyssa Scolari [26:41]: Yeah. We're going to scream about this too. Christina Vitagliano [26:44]: Yeah. We're at that point where if enough of us are yelling, somebody will, people will say, "Okay. Well, it is about time." Celebrities have definitely been more vocal about it, and I think that's great that they are. I think being a normal person and not that celebrity and everybody protects ... not protects them, but they have the voice. I think that when you see a celebrity come out and say, "I was abused or this is happening in Hollywood." You're like, "Well, that's good. I'm glad somebody is talking about it." But you still feel like, "I'm just a normal person and nobody listened to me." I want to be the normal person that speaks out kind of. You know? Alyssa Scolari [27:24]: Yes. The thing is survivors of childhood abuse, we've all got rage and if we're not taking that rage and if we're not using it to speak up and speak out about this taboo topic and shout it from the rooftops, what child abuse is, how it affects people in the long-term, what this does to us, then that rage is still going to be there. It's still going to go somewhere and nine times out of 10, we're going to take it out on ourselves in ways that are self-destructive. Christina Vitagliano [27:56]: You are a hundred percent correct. Yep. Alyssa Scolari [27:59]: That rage has to go somewhere. There's so much power in using your voice, whether it's through writing, whether it's through speaking, taking that rage that you're talking about, which I'm glad you said it, because honestly that is what keeps us going. Rage. Christina Vitagliano [28:15]: It is. [crosstalk 00:28:15]. Alyssa Scolari [28:15]: Pure rage. Christina Vitagliano [28:17]: Yep. You have to keep it in check because we can't go running around with knives and guns, even though your head says, "Well, I wish I could." But you can't. Alyssa Scolari [28:24]: I wish I could. Christina Vitagliano [28:25]: I wish I could. Alyssa Scolari [28:25]: I wish I could. Christina Vitagliano [28:27]: Yep. Alyssa Scolari [28:27]: I wish I could. Christina Vitagliano [28:28]: Yep, but this isn't the cartoons. Alyssa Scolari [28:29]: Right. You have managed to take all of that anger, all of that grief and turn it into something that this is your voice. Your voice. I have to ask you, when you look back on the years in which you were enduring abuse, were there times where you just wanted to completely give up? Christina Vitagliano [28:59]: Oh, of course. Yes. Just yes. Yeah. I think more as ... That's weird because even after I've talked about it and it was out in the open and I wrote it down before I published, more as I got older. I think there's something about this subject, well abusive of any kind, the older you get, it seems like because you get smarter and wisdom kicks in. I think when you're younger, you don't realize how bad it is or how wrong it is. Then you get more educated on people and then you realize how jaded adults are and they're teaching their children the wrong thing. You get angrier. In some ways it's harder to deal with the older I get, but because you're smarter and because you've learned a lot, you learn to balance it better. It's not easy by any means though. Alyssa Scolari [30:05]: I love that you're saying this because this is what happens. It's fantastic because I think that so many people scratch their heads over why adults tend to be so distraught about abuse that happened to them when they were younger. I think a lot of people ... I've seen a lot of people, even people when talking about themselves, and even me personally, when I started a lot of my memories were repressed. When I started to have all of these memories, I was an adult. There were moments that I've had, and I know a lot of my clients have had, where it's like, "Why am I so upset about this now? Why am I more upset about this today than I was 25 years ago when this happened?" It's because the older you get, the more you know, the more you understand and the more you feel and the more you have language to be able to put to what you feel. It's actually very, very natural. It's actually harder when you're older, so [crosstalk 00:31:16]. Christina Vitagliano [31:15]: Yeah. What makes me anger is as you know all of that and you say to yourself, "Goddammit, that's why these adults are abusing children because they know that." I got angrier and still get angry because I'm like, "Well, this person was a full grown adult and what they were doing was bad, but they were a hundred percent aware of what they were doing too and I think that's what makes you angrier as you get older, is you really, really did something terrible to a child with full knowledge of what you were doing. You know? Alyssa Scolari [31:53]: Yes. There's no excuse. No excuse for it. You knew, you know, you took full advantage. Christina Vitagliano [32:01]: You chose to do that. That's a choice. You know what I mean? It's not a sickness. That's a bunch of bullshit. You've chosen to do that. If it was carried on from your parents, then that's a shame, but this is why we're standing here today talking about it so that maybe it doesn't keep going because nobody seems to care that it is going. Alyssa Scolari [32:21]: Yeah. You know? When you talk about the whole, it's a sickness type thing. You know what? Whether it's a sickness or not, I don't give a fuck because you know what? I have a sickness. I have complex trauma and do I walk around hurting people? No. Christina Vitagliano [32:37]: Exactly. I don't care if it's a sickness. It still shouldn't happen. You know? Alyssa Scolari [32:42]: There's no excuse. It's not an excuse. Christina Vitagliano [32:43]: No. No. Alyssa Scolari [32:44]: Right? Christina Vitagliano [32:45]: Yep. Alyssa Scolari [32:46]: It wouldn't be an excuse for me to get drunk and get in my car because I had a night where I was traumatized. That's not an excuse, so why- Christina Vitagliano [32:57]: Yeah. Why is it okay for these other people? Alyssa Scolari [32:58]: ... why do we make excuses? Why do we excuse child abusers so often? It's infuriating. I could scream about it from the rooftops. Christina Vitagliano [33:09]: It really is. It really is. Alyssa Scolari [33:11]: It really is. This book that you've written, it feels like it's a message, not just for other people, but also for your younger self. Like a message to hang on because look at ... Could you ever have imagined the life that you have for yourself now? Would you ever have pictured it? Christina Vitagliano [33:29]: No. Not in a million years. Not even close. Yeah. Yeah, so weird. Alyssa Scolari [33:36]: I'm going to ask you another pretty candid question. Knowing what you know now about how your life was going to turn out, are you glad you stayed? Are you glad you hung on? Christina Vitagliano [33:52]: Through all of it, you mean? Alyssa Scolari [33:53]: Mm-hmm [affirmative]. Christina Vitagliano [33:55]: Yeah. I mean, not glad that it happened obviously, but yes. Yes. I always ... Part of me, I think survived ... And this is my individual case, I think is because my father was so jealous in some weird way that if I got a better grade in school than his crazy son did, that would piss him off. I learned, "Oh, well, then fuck you. I'm going to piss you off." In a lot of ways, I was like, "Oh, yeah, he's failing and you want me to fail too? I'm not going to fail." There's a lot of things that ... And I think a lot of us do that is, "Oh, you don't like that. There's a way I can piss you off, but not piss you off." You know what I mean? Alyssa Scolari [34:41]: Yeah. Christina Vitagliano [34:41]: I just became this driven, crazy person to not be like the rest of my family. I don't want to say there's good that comes out of bad because nobody wants to go through that bad. Nobody should ever go through that bad, but because of the abuse there are, I don't know, things about me that I'm glad that they're like that, you know? I don't know. It's a hard thing to explain. Not that I'm thankful for him for anything, but you know? Alyssa Scolari [35:17]: No. Right. We're not thankful. It's not like we're glad that it happened because it taught us a lesson. Christina Vitagliano [35:24]: [crosstalk 00:35:24]. Alyssa Scolari [35:23]: None of that. It's just a matter of I think for the people out there who are in this, in the thick of it and just want to give up and want to end their lives, and want to throw in the towel and say, "Fuck it." It's like, I think about you and your story and you've managed to go from being severely abused, to getting out, getting married, starting a multi-million dollar business, writing a book, being a voice for those who don't have a voice. I think to myself like, "If that's not a message for the listeners out there to keep going, I don't know what is." Because look at where you're at now. It's so inspirational and it gives so much hope, even though, you're very real about, listen, some days are bullshit. Some of this sucks. This sucks. It's still infuriating and I'm not over it because we don't get over it. We do not get over it, but we learn how to not let it consume us. Christina Vitagliano [36:43]: Yeah. That's the balance. Alyssa Scolari [36:46]: That's the balance. Christina Vitagliano [36:49]: Yep. It is. Alyssa Scolari [36:52]: Now, if people ... Because I just feel like this book ... First of all, for the listeners out there, this book has like well over a hundred reviews, I think I was looking on Amazon. Christina Vitagliano [36:52]: Yeah. Yeah. Alyssa Scolari [37:06]: Yeah. This book has well over ... almost 120 reviews on Amazon, extremely high-rated book. If people want to find more about you, want to find your book, what's the best place they should go? Should they go right to Amazon? You tell us. Christina Vitagliano [37:29]: Amazon's definitely the easiest so if you're in Amazon and search Every 9 Minutes, it pops up. My social media, I'm always obviously promoting my book, but if you look up Every 9 Minutes on anything, Twitter or anybody, it'll obviously pop up. My website and all my social media handles are 123ChristinaV, so whether you're on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, or my website is 123christinav.com, you can find me there. You can message me from anything anywhere. I'm very responsive. Alyssa Scolari [38:03]: Fantastic. You said that's 123ChristinaV? Christina Vitagliano [38:08]: Yep. And .com is my website. Yep. Alyssa Scolari [38:13]: Okay. Okay. For the listeners out there, I'm going to link that in the show notes. Head on over to the show notes so you can find that. You'll have access there to everything. Christina is also ... She's a speaker. She does so much. Check out this book. The link will be in there. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. Christina Vitagliano [38:36]: Thank you. Alyssa Scolari [38:37]: It was an honor to talk to you. I think you're shedding light on the ripple effects of childhood abuse and you're screaming it from the rooftops. Christina Vitagliano [38:47]: Thank you for having me. Alyssa Scolari [38:49]: Of course. It was a pleasure. Thanks for listening everyone. For more information, please head over to lightaftertrauma.com or you can also follow us on social media. On Instagram, we are @lightaftertrauma and on Twitter it is @lightafterpod. Lastly, please head over to patreon.com/lightaftertrauma to support our show. We are asking for $5 a month, which is the equivalent to a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Please head on over. Again, that's patreon.com/lightaftertrauma. Thank you. We appreciate your support.

In this episode we are debuting a more action packed and shorter format! From now on we will be releasing episodes weekly! In this episode we discuss what happened over Jared's wild birthday weekend that required a few days to recover from.  We also debut a new segment where Jeff and Jared debate a topic called 2 Dipshits Debate! We also have our usual clips! We react to a woman who clearly didn't pay attention in history class, a man who looks like he swallowed a million bees on tik tok, and an example of why New York City Subways are the worst! Time Stamps: Intro: 0:00 History Challenged Woman Clip 2:07 Jared's Birthday Summary 13:12 Overweight Tik Tok Shows How He Can Breath 24:06 2 Dipshits Debate 30:28 New York Poops 36:49   ***Transcript*** Sub sluts and homos. Wow. You are now turned into the new weekly episode of Jeff of Jared's save the world world. We made the random fucking decision to go back to weekly episodes and it totally was not planned, but you know, literally two days ago. So, you know, it will be shorter than past episodes, but would you rather get us once a week for 40 minutes or twice a week for an hour and 20? I think, you know, once a week. Yeah. 40 minutes is enough to make it come. And once every week is better than twice a week, you're getting two loads instead of just one, you know what fuck off. Um, now you guys can make a weekly routine of coming home from work, locking yourself in your bathroom door. Pretend you're taking a shit and drifting away to the soothing sounds of our voices without all the way. Let's start this shit off. [00:01:00] Peaches: What do you think about Hitler? Um, I don't know who that is or what he does. I'm assuming that's some kind of rapper, but, um, give me some kind of big rapper a name y'all come up with all type of names, but whoever he is. Um, I liked his name to be hipper. You do the live stream during that is the best. Jared: So this is coming from a fucking Instagram live and someone did like a Q and a question and asked, what do you think of Hitler? And obviously she said she was some kind of wrapper and. I guess she's kind of right. I heard his last joint did 6 million or some shit. Oh my God. [00:02:00] I fucking spitting straight gas. I heard they made a movie after it. What was it called? A boy in the striped pajamas. Oh, was that his first album? That was his first. That was his first us album that really made it. Uh, really, really send us message across, uh, w where is he originally from? He's I think he's from the think he's from Czechoslovakia and Czechoslovakia. Okay. We'll fucking spin them. Fucking bars, maybe, maybe. Yeah. You know, I heard he was part of, one of the best Dubose in hip hop history, fucking MC Hitler, DJ style, DJ style. Him has a really good heads, but TJ Stalin was like, like Hitler was like, you know, like he stole and pass the torch to Hiller. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Type of deal. That was his DJ, but you know what? You're right. Um, Hiller really fucking fucked. The torture ran with it [00:03:00] really set the crowds on fire with this performance. Yeah. Yeah. But before his death, he was working on a crazy concept album called gorilla man gorilla, man. Yeah. Just wild fucking concept, gorillas and men just rapping. Fuck it happened featuring rhombi. Yeah. Yeah. This is how it does help, but it was the last  last big thing before you. Okay. And you did a song with MC Hitler. Okay. You know, I prefer it as over and we're kind of here's. My favorite album was blitz Creek. I hear the C's not very popular in Poland. Yeah. Oh man. But he, she generally does not know who he is. No, she doesn't. She's going to be saying is fucking and phrase a rock band. And she's like, I really liked his name. Hitler, Hitler. Let me tell you something. Hitler would not have liked her. No, [00:04:00] let me just say he prefers blonde. Right. What do you think she was doing in high school? When this happened? She probably stuck it out. The quiet kid. God. Hey, pinches the sucker, the quantum kids, Dick it's history class. Come learn about world war II. Sorry. God dammit. It sounds like a water park in here. Again, like a fucking toddler running through the shallow end Millway pool. Tom Ms. Johnson never quiet. Cause you sit in class, like thank you, peaches. Well, it's got a Hawk. Oh my God. I can't help myself. You put me next to, well, it's [00:05:00] your fault, you know, I guess what's going to happen. You know, I got the ADHD always down in hard deck. Yeah. Oh, wait, fuck. This is me. Yeah. Oh God. Oh fuck. All right. We're going to cut all this out because I'm an idiot. Nope. No. Okay. But who run into rap metal? Uh, between Hitler or Mac Miller? Let's see here. I think back is the better rapper. So I think he went in the battle, but something tells me about it. Background, it's going to win a war. That's actually what caused them to start the Holocaust? Is he lost a fucking wrap-up. No, it was that it was, he was working out in the gym and the giant Jewish guy had all the women. That's what family guy has, but I have a feeling they're going to do like a remake of eight mile [00:06:00] fucking, it would be really hard to do that with backfill there being dead. That would be incredible though. Bring them back. I mean, obviously we have to get Hitler for it. I think he might be dead remake, eat my would call it octopus saying God damn it. He's just rapping in the final battle. And he loses the Mac Miller easily. As I have had enough of this shit. I felt good to buy respect. You'll pay Mac, Malcolm McCormick. But he'll say your name is Mac Miller, but your real name is Malcolm. Goddammit it, how Mac Miller respond to that? Like yo bro, like, you know, it's just fine, you know, let's just do some model, honestly. Let's be honest. He probably would be too fucking stone to be able to respond to me. [00:07:00] Like, you know, my name is Malcolm. Do you like lane? Jesus Christ. Did he like it? Yeah, he liked a lot of trucks. Oh man. I don't think he met a drug. He didn't find it. Well, ma'am I just have to say Hitler is not a rapper now. Hitler is not a rapper. No, he's a, he's a record producer. He didn't do any of the dirty work himself. He just helped other people do. Fuck. No, I'm just, I'm just sorry everyone. Watch this. He made the magic happen. He's the one he's putting the pussy on the table. The other people are the ones fucking it. You know, he could remake some looting. I [00:08:00] won't call it 99. Man man, Wu it's for the children. We just dropped lower on the totem pole to hell. Every episode we released, we're going to be we're closer to going. Well, at least we have a month of Def. Yeah, not yet. It's still on an episode last, uh, I really don't know how to transition from this last segment to the next one, but you know, let's just talk about my birthday party. Yeah. We're going from death to your birthday. We're going from Nazi, Germany, and only somewhat related, you know, to speak German and you loved German food and. You don't have brown eyes. I don't, some people say they turn blue in the summer, but [00:09:00] did your religion there? Jeopardy. Wait, are we talking like serious religion right now? We're going to go to this conversation. Okay. Nevermind. I just had this conversation with somebody. Wait, what's your religion there, Jeff? Yeah, it was pretty much that. And I was like, uh, Oh, you don't believe in Jesus Christ. Did they try to give me a lecture of how it's done? We don't have to get it cause it's not fun. It is not funny. It was not a good conversation. Did the fucking lighten up? Oh God. I'm so sorry that somebody else thinks differently than you can go get late. Get your Dick sucker to go pick up a homeless man. Go pick up a hitchhiker. Sorry, not a homeless man. Don't pick up a hitchhiker. Number one role of hitchhiking is they got to suck your Dick. So, you know, just face fuck that man, all the way from here to Kalamazoo. You do have to talk about that real quick. Oh yeah. So I guess we could put on my birthday talk. So, um, you know, I've talked about how I do the customer [00:10:00] visits for my work. I'm not mentioning that place because you can not call my HR department. You fucking assholes. Um, and you, I sent you a text, an audio message because for the first time, in my 26 years of life, I saw a fucking hitchhiker. And I contemplated taking him with me to this customer visit just so I could face fucking number one rule. This is Rick. I only, we're only told one person from the company was coming. What, who is this guy? I was like, oh, this is Rick. He's my gimp, my walking flashlight, ironically down the road, there wasn't a place called the lion's den that wasn't adult Superstore. So I could have gone in there and gone to him like a fuck-up BDSM mouth. But like in little, like the little gimp mask ball. So I show up with my gimp on a leash. The best thing, no, you don't get him anything besides the fucking leash. Come on. This is my homeless [00:11:00] person. Come on Rick. You're not supposed to go over there. Come on Mondays. You're good. After this, we'll give you some kibbles and bits. Make them share my cat bed with my cats. Don't get us. This is your new brother. Why are you face fucking my brother, mom. Judge freeze. It sounds like he's sticking his Dick in a Potter. A bottle of Jif. Rick said, how long do we, how long does he have to do this before he needs? Uh, he can have his kibbles and bedside dried com. Facebook that I need to Facebook that can, uh, Jeff, you know, cause choosy moms. Okay. Yeah. Not Skippy. Nope. Choosy [00:12:00] moms choose Jif. Yep. What's the other one. Jesus loves me. He loves me a bunch because he packed skip in my lunch. That's what you sing to him as he's sucking peanut butter off your Dick, Eddie, you back to my birthday. Yeah. Uh, so they threw a surprise party, kind of a surprise party. Let's be honest. I knew about it. Yeah. Not, not for any other reason besides the fact. Yeah. Why fucking told me, she's like, we need to go visit Jeff at work on your burgers. So I get there, I failed miserably acting surprised, like, oh, I didn't know what to do. So I just went to sarcastic as fuck, especially because it was in the back room and I was walking towards it. No blindfold, no nothing. I just saw everyone sitting there. So, you know, that kind of really takes the surprise factor away. I was like, oh my [00:13:00] God, I'm so fucking, that was great because we all ate food when you walked in, because like everybody who was there to do that, it got spoiled for you. Um, so when, when you walked in, we were like, oh, we should, I really wish I would've said this son of a bitch. Yeah. They let just anyone in this park. Um, but the party was hope themed because of our new business, new business, Jeff, Jared abortions, family-friendly abortions fucking may speak. So they have a dentist's office. They had to take the whole thing where they take the ball from going back and forth on some sort of fucking retard. Like I wonder where this one's going to go. Just want to go to the same place every time. Really make sure you're not returning. [00:14:00] What do you try to pull that shit off over here? All right. This kid, this kid needs to be looked at. This kid might be special needs. He started to take the ball off course. He can't figure it out. Prescribing him a helmet. Yeah. They just had to sit there and they just had a monitor kids playing with it. Helmets, you know, back in the day they didn't, they didn't have disorders back in the eighties. They just had retarded or not retarded. Pretty much autism is pretty much a new thing. Let's be real here. They did not diagnose that shit back in the day, really showed up. You know, we, I'm glad our fucking understanding of disabilities is approved to where we can actually raise children to be, you know, like, I don't want to say normal because, but, you know, There, there was like a four, there was like so many different forms of it. Now that back in the eighties and nineties, they just called you a retard pretty much. Now, now we actually know, be [00:15:00] like, oh, this kid's bipolar. Okay. This kid has ADHD or no, no, but he's a retired. Um, but speaking of needing a helmet, uh, so I think my grandpa needs one. I can't believe that we were in a back party room with, in the room. Like it's separated by the breast of the bar, by glass, with a door in the middle. And my grandpa walks into the glass like a fucking pinching kitchen. The fuck. Is this a Windex commercial? I almost yelled at you. Like God dammit, Jeffrey. I told you not to use the window. Like your grandpa going to like, oh, they shouldn't be a part of one of those, one of those commercials. And then just being like, no, no, no, you watch, you just watch the ones you're going to want to put this on, buddy. I love you. Grandpa just [00:16:00] walked into that bitch and then walked through the open door. Like it was nothing then pretended to happen. And then a woman came over kiss afterwards. You always went to a waterpark that night being like, so I'm Jared, I'm getting late. Bye. Hope you had a great party. I'm going to go get some sex. And he comes back into fucking cartwheels. Doesn't hit the doors. He does a fucking backflip at 75 for the 75, like Aww, grandpa does statue. Was he having to be doing cartwheels? How good was that? Buzzy, you can move like you're 25 again. Good. I feel like that would be like a cheat code for the Olympics. You know, just get some pussy beforehand. You're just doing back flips and back backflips. Gold medal. What's your, what's your secret Tucci? Who would you like to [00:17:00] say for this? I would like to think coochie. You want, you don't want to think your country for giving you that? No. Oh, you mean your country? No, me, I blow coochie. Wait, did I just say me? I speak, I don't speak, speak shit, but like your thing, like that thing. So it was going to be spoken. Yeah, I'm glad you switched it up because, well, we had the decorations and everything. Like, you know, what's funny. We, the 24 hots what he thought. I still have those decorations in my room right now, but we were talking about it. I got to the hall cans. I fucking spoiled the hall cans. Then me and your wife started talking about it. And I was like, I'm buying him this. It's a surprise. And really with this Cousy, he knows about the whole case. He doesn't know about the koozie and she just goes, well, now it's gotta be Hoke. Famed. I found all the halt decorations. [00:18:00] It made me look like I was special. Like I got a birthday party here this week. It's for my best friend and he's starting 26. It's his 25th birthday party. And it's whole theme there. That is a lot of information all at the same time. So like I had like a child's fucking cake. It was all the Avengers on, it said happy birthday with the fucking whole gun. Everybody wore shirts. Everyone on board vendors, shirts. Fucking book of stickers that were marvels. I'm walking around the bar with a fucking whole can. That holds beer. You get, you can't take that off at all. Oh. And then, and then we proved or. Or abortion a thing, right? Yes. So you, you put a balloon in your belly acting like you're pregnant. I was like, [00:19:00] perfect. I popped that fucking bullet. Yeah. It's super fucked up because we know who was at the party. I didn't even think about that. If anyone needs to use that business and sorry. No fucking blow. Um, my hangover lasted two fucking days. Really? Yeah. I felt it like until Monday morning, Monday morning. Oh my God. Wait. That's more than two days. You just have Monday morning, Monday mornings. I stopped. So the last full Saturday full Sutton. Yeah. Fuck. Yeah. Uh, so there was a live band there. And my surprise gift was a, a guitar that I asked for on our wedding registry, but never got so thank you to everyone who contributed that. I love it. Um, the funny thing is I'm walking around the fucking bar with whole cans in the guitar. There's [00:20:00] live fucking music going on, and I wanted to go up to this dude with my whole cans on. How am I guitar and be like, Hey guys, sing a song. I'm special needs. Okay. Don't be like, anyways, here's wonder what one with my fucking whole cans, trying to not even fucking play. Guitar, right. People start booing you. Hey, fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. It's my birthday. It's whole date. I started trying to fight people with my whole game. It was one was styled, like foam. The other deep, the other ones were cloth. Your fist will be taken care of. I'm a fucking plug. I should've bought you that. Fuck. Yeah. Where your fingers go through it and you move it. Like it's a fucking hole. That would be amazing. Fuck the infinity gauntlet. That's the kind of [00:21:00] gift you need. Yeah. So my, my hangover surprisingly, the last one day, especially surprising because, uh, I talked about him at the bachelor party. My buddy Coleman came over to my apartment afterwards and he bought a whole bottle of wild Turkey. A couple shots not to mention. I had most of a 12 pack of truly at the house and he's like, well, let's shut on a truly. So we do that, that we start drinking. He, um, he makes us a whiskey drink. He pours half the fucking bottle between three cups. Yeah, it was disgusting. I finished that. I'm blackout drunk. You know me, I don't get blackouts. I did not remember a goddamn thing. Apparently I had this, like, you know, the Trinity thing where it's a bunch of pictures that make a big ass picture. I have one of those. I started ripping one off and trying to swing at the other fucking bakers. So they fucking took the pictures off the wall because I was not enjoying the view. But then also, uh, you, uh, your wife calls [00:22:00] me at two 30 in the morning and I'm passed out fucking what's that drunk at this point. Cause we'd kill. I killed 12 beers and I mean, you killed a flask full of 107 per bourbon. And apparently you miss me so much. She had her role. I was like, I want Jeff here. I miss Jeff. He should be here. I was so fucking drunk. I don't remember doing that. Then I kicked him in the face. So she went to like lay at the foot of the bed to watch Grey's anatomy, fucking dumb show. Um, just, you know, when I'm drunk, my lights kicked. I didn't get, I didn't do it on purpose. I can't control it. Um, but anyhow, moving on, you know, it was a great birthday. Great birthday. I appreciate it, everyone. Appreciate everyone who gave a gift or contributed. Thank you for getting me the whole cans and making it whole theme. I appreciate it. [00:23:00] Like how excited I was the fact that we were throwing you a whole, like I'm 25. I'm about to be 25 years old. And I threw my in, I helped throw my best rent. A whole Cleaver. Yes, we are winning life or losing. I can't, I can't decide. We're fucking winning. Next clip here. We got, uh, what looks to be Jabba the Hutt on Tik TOK. So just looking at the screen here, as you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, this man looked like he got stung by a bunch of BS and he's got the breathing issue to where, you know, people on my 600 pound life. They're like, let got to drive through a window. Can I get up tall chase, crispy chicken sandwich, large fry. Sounds like somebody's trying to [00:24:00] It really doesn't sound like you're fucking getting landscaping done outside your house. Okay. And then apple pie. Don't forget the tokes zero. Oh, oh yeah. Cause that Coke, zero is really going to help you though chest. So someone did a Q and a thing where they asked them, how do you breathe? Here's his answer? Yeah. Well, when he said it gives him the oxygen, it sounds like you didn't give him enough oxygen to complete that bucket words. Based on the straining of his voice. I don't think that man's getting enough ox skin or he's getting way too fucking much because he looks like the Michelin man [00:25:00] floated that Thanksgiving day fucking pillow. The fucking, my pillow guy is fucking doing right now, trying to assemble all the pillows together to get Donald Trump reelected or put back in there. Well, he's doing crack. You just imagine the, my pillow guy, just smoking crack with putting this fucking, I don't want to say monstrosity, but you know, the Frankenstein, a pillows together. Yeah. How do you think this guy gets Chloe? How did he think this guy gets clothes made? I don't know. How does it get close to the underwear dude? Like they don't make, they don't make underwear for a fucking caravan. Yeah. I imagine it takes the entire sweatshop. Yeah. All right, guys, that they just use recycled parachutes for military points. [00:26:00] Good. Do you think this is one of those like really fat dudes that gets like bathed in a trough? Like the other people you think about that? Like his dad sprays him outside with the hose? Yeah. His dad's just like, come on Rick, get uptake. Talk it's time for your hall. And it's her fault. It's that fucking bitches fault. And this is why we're divorced. Now. This is why we're divorced. Now. She always gave him a book and cookie, I would always say now, and this is, this is this. This is what I get. This is what I get spraying my boy off in the front yard. Hey, are you looking at, fuck you don't fucking look at me going through a lot. All right. I got to fucking watch this 800 pound man. We gotta get them. McDonald's Mac sauce out between right between the ears. Fuck. Do you get this between you? Go on. Come on Rick. We know you got chocolate fudge between your that's it, the fucking skid [00:27:00] marks that dude leaves his entire mattress as a skid mark. Oh God. He's probably got an entire double mattress in between his crotch. It's got to smell like ball, sweat and cheese dude. Oh dude. I was light bulb. Totally. I don't have a sheet on it either. He is a giant fucking bedbug. He's like, well, I'll call Kiehl's about man. Come on my bed, boy. Go kill. Go get me a double cheese. He keeps losing because fucking Batman just puts poison in the food or something. But you know, he's thinking God for the ox skin, but let's be honest home boy, [00:28:00] fucking God left you a long time ago. Just like the visibility of your Dick. Oh my masters. You just guys. Two for being like not being able to breathe. Well, the word mask, cause like, like this guy can't breathe, but this guy can't breathe. Fuck. Let's be honest. He's not going outside. He doesn't need to wear a mask. He probably doesn't even know, go for the thing. You have to fucking call AAA to get them out of the house. I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry. So they have to get the fat guy out of the fucking house when it's burning. That's what I assume what happened to this guy? He was in a fucking, I just imagined he'd be a roasted marshmallow. He already looks like a melting ice cream. God's grace is wearing them with this man. Oh man. What do you think this dude's name it. Oh [00:29:00] no. Steven it's Steven. What fits for everything he does. I mean, you take it. I try to just think of the names I've heard on my 600 pound life. And Steven's a popular one. I think Eric, cause this is what I'm going with. Oh my God. That's such a fucking air, such a fucking Eric. My name is Eric. What's your last name? Paul. I'm called Cashman.  names this man's got a catch breath in between his fucking names caught my breath. Yeah. Shut the fuck. Jesus. You know this dude, he does look like he's from Florida. Speaking of which I think it's time for our new segment where me and Jeff debate a topic called to dip shits. And you suggested this one, cause you originally [00:30:00] wanted to make a watch ass my ass, but we couldn't agree on it. We have to debate about it. Right. It's similar to our ketchup and mustard debate. Um, so Jeff hates the state of Florida, dude. It's just, people are fucking, I'll have my chance. I'll have my chance. You'll have your chance. Um, I say Florida is the best state to on the face of this. It is literally God's down there. God's definition of America. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Um, so basically we're going to get like, what 90 seconds are we going to actually time this out? Yeah, we can do, we can time, time at 90 seconds, we've got 90 seconds to make our point. And once that 90 seconds is up, you have to shut the fuck up. And then we're going to like you guys on Instagram boat on who wins, we're going to post these as separate. And you had to pay her. So 90 seconds, do you want to go first? You go first. Okay. [00:31:00] Ready? Yep. No. All right. Listen, Florida is the best state, no state income tax. Pretty big. Hot weather, all the fucking meth you could ask for unlimited entertainment, hot women. I mean like literally you can literally take a boat ride. You can go ride a jet ski, go swimming, wrestle an alligator, watch crack addict, rip his own fucking balls off so much to fucking do. There's so much to fucking do sand. You can play in the swamp and do it all. What makes it the best? Is the fact that it's basically just a Republican California, like let's be honest. It's Tampa is basically just LA with a Trump 20, 24 paint job, which is absolutely incredible because instead of like stupid fucking young Tik TOK influences of fat, I mean, so stupid young take talk, influencers, all you get is fat old alcoholic. And, you know, people who just like sit out at the beach and drink all day because they're tired, tired, sorry, almost a retarded, um, [00:32:00] who just yell fucking nonsense at you all day. Like, Hey, listen to the fucking AC DC on a fucking boom box radio wall, drink a Budweiser before the fucking high tide comes in. Yeah. And look, you know, you have the best celebrities that live there. You have totally same people. You have whole cogen, Tom cruise, John Travolta, DJ Khalid, Chris Jericho, a real who's who of fucking America? Maybe 20 years ago, but real spoon time's up buddy? I rest my fucking kid. Fine. Every state should be Florida. All right. I don't feel like I'm gonna have to sensor a lot of this. Yep. This is why Florida. Okay. All the points that you pointed out, this is what makes a Florida terrible. The women, dumbest shit. You okay? You can be as hot as you want, but if you don't have a brain, she's walking into the ocean getting fucking eight, I'm going swimming, hot weather, terrible [00:33:00] fucking awful, going outside and burning to death, getting melanoma. You really think that's a good idea. You really think that's a good idea. Positive.  Trump. The only reason Trump goes there, because it's the biggest fucking retard state on planet earth, all the retards go there. You move there. If you choose to move to Florida, you are a retard. I do not care. You choose if you're from there. Sorry. I'm sorry about your luck. It's not your fault. You were born there. You had never left. It's totally fine. If you choose to go and live in Florida, visiting Florida, absolutely wonderful state. Go visit you. Go watch all that shit. But if you live there, you're joining it. And Hulk Hogan racist, Tom cruise, short John Travolta, just because he thinks he hung out with Samuel Jackson and the fucking seventies. He can use the N word. It's not a Chris Jericho, giant alcoholic. DJ Khalid does not please his wife whatsoever with his mouth. He's a little bitch about that. Um, I mean it's true. Yeah. Yeah. You have fat old alcoholic. But he wouldn't live around that. Do you really want to live around that 24 7? Do you want to be able to walk? I want to be able to walk into a gas station and be like, you know what? Everything's fine. [00:34:00] Everything's good. I don't have to worry about a crackhead coming up to me asking me for fucking bath salts, dude. We live in Ohio. Yeah. Yeah. But at least in Ohio, nobody fucking knows about it in Florida, Florida, man. It's fucking everywhere. You see shit about that all the time. Nobody gives a shit about Ohio, but. You make excellent points. I would say that it's better that people know about it in that Florida. Man's a meme because people will just come here like, oh, I hear Cincinnati is a nice area. And then all of a sudden they'll get fucking robbed at a seven 11. We know it happens. Yeah. But, but you know how much more it happens in Florida than it does and fucking Ohio depends on what part. Yeah. But it's like photos, fucking party, state. Yeah. Florida's party state. I love it. I'm here for it. They're probably fucking God. They're probably don't need each other's fucking dead relatives, ashes, and shit like that. Trying to get up. We see that, like there isn't a fucking heroin epidemic in Ohio. [00:35:00] Yes. But it's not that known, is it? Yeah. You ever hear about Ohio man? Yeah. No, you don't Ohio is this Everett, Ohio, everybody shits on Ohio for good reason. Everyone sheds in Ohio. So any place sees Ohio. They're like, Hey, you know what? It's good. What's happening in Florida. It's basically just Ohio with beaches. I, you know what I love that love Ohio. I love the beaches. We're going to agree to disagree because we're going to, to agree to disagree, but you guys tell us who won this debate. I'm just saying battled alcoholics, you know, Trump 20, 24 make America great. Again again, I'm just saying you can't walk into a gas station without being asked for a hand job in exchange for five bucks. What's wrong with that? That's just being a good neighbor. Yeah. That's, you know, gas, the Huff, the gas [00:36:00] over the original snap smell after a little bit. You'll be all right. All right. So, you know, I think we can both agree though, that Florida is much better than New York. Yes. A hundred percent. I think that's what we agree on. So this, this clip has no audio, so we'll, we'll give you a play by play for the audio. So we're in the New York subway climb off the floor guy, just kind of off the floor. This janitor is trying to mop the floor and this homeless man starts shitting in his mop bucket. Dude, I love the people were just like, are pointing like, Hey, you better, you better get him. Yeah. And then the janitor goes over to the front of him. And the homeless dude is like, Hey, I'm shitting over here. And he has, he's like offended. The guy tried to interrupt. Dude just gives up, can he continues taking a shit? And he's like, I'm going to quit my fucking job. Hang on. Let's go back. Yeah, if you go right here, if you go, if you got like right here, [00:37:00] you see him sit back here. Look right here. He's pissing painting his fucking pants. He's pissing and shitting. Can we just mentioned, I forgot to mention he has got some tits look like those are solid. Look at look at, look at w where are we full screen? This bitch ass DAS. He's got stain. He's got mommy, Moomoo, milkers. What the fuck? Piss on this shirt before he put it on, probably he's probably sweaty as the Dave Chappelle and say, that's a great pair of New York boots. Damn, but, uh, I wanted to play a song here. Um, can you pull up empire state of mind? Instrumental? Absolutely. I'll just cut all this part out. Should've put the link on, but I didn't think about it until now. [00:38:00] We're kids at the quarter. Where homeless people just say, fuck. I wasn't expecting the music I did so much better. Oh fuck. A New [00:39:00] York shit. Okay. Well, I got to quit for you. Yeah. This is what you can do to this man. On your hands and knees. Look at me, Griffin. I'm milking me a child move for me. That's what you're going to do to him. You know, she forgot one step. She was supposed to eat his pussy first fucking milkers on that dude. Holy shit. So some of the best hits I've ever seen that's for damn sure. But you know, even though he's on the subway, you can definitely tell he's not fucking eating fresh. Yeah. Well, those sounds you can tell this dude needs some fucking Indian food he found in the trash. She could take him or Charlotte [00:40:00] I mean, maybe I'm not going to make it to the bathroom. I do not blame the worker here at all, though. He just stands back while this guy makes chocolate milk with a smile in the face he was making. That was a face of orgasmic pleasure as he was shitting in that bucket. He's you guys didn't see it on the audio version obviously. Cause you're not fucking oh no, I'm stupid, but he's just sitting there like, oh, I'm like, you know, Really fucking pleasing shit. He was having one of those ones where it leaves and you're like, fuck. Yeah, that guy's got a shitty fucking job. It's so funny. It's the same subway. There's God, there's a guy trying to get. The love of his life, that New York is the perfect place for them. And then she fucking sees this and then breaks the motherfucker's heart. I can totally see it. Come on now. Come on to the city with me. Let's go. Yeah, [00:41:00] beautiful city. It's the empire state. Yes. Right there. Suck my Dick in your face. Yeah. Just does that until he comes, come mushroom kingdom. Did you hear all that named last week? No getting milked in the mushroom kingdom. I like it. I like it. Yeah. We did confirm that there was no cord like that though. There was no poor, you know, I won't say New York might be still better than China. At least he had the fucking kindness to shit in a bucket and not just on the street, no fence Chinese, but you kind of have a problem there. The real pandemic is you fucking shitting on the phone streets. Oh man. [00:42:00] Okay. Anything else? No. Uh, let us know if you liked this new format or if you prefer the old one. I kind of like this shorter, quicker. Yeah. That'd be 10 times easier. We're able to do more. Yeah. We're able to keep up with a weekly schedule. I like it. I think this is awesome. I mean, fuck we were, we've been recording. Maybe 50, 30 minutes. Yeah. Okay. I mean, shit, I'm Jeff. I'm Jared. We're saving the world one episode at a time. And if you don't like that, I'll shove your face in that fucking mop bucket full of shit. All right. We gotta apologize. Apologize where you do that. We apologize the guys with Jaeger tits, apologize to the Jews and anyone personally that doesn't find world war two, the Holocaust jokes. Funny, sorry. Ben Miller. Your family. Yes. Sorry to people with special needs. For me, trying to impersonate you with whole cancer. I'm very sorry about that. Uh, sorry to fat people who can't breathe and need ox [00:43:00] skin. Uh, Jared, I'm sorry for, for being right about, I'm not sorry for being right about Florida. We're sorry to the word oxygen. It's this motherfucker can't seem to get it right. I'll skim. Yeah, but by, you know, by the time, by the time he finds out where we live and the, by the time he walks and makes it. we're going to be like in our thirties. That's what it'll be. It's probably going to have a heart attack. Um, follow me on the internet. Make fun of Eric, honestly. Honestly, I have the shit we said it's probably not anything mean, or that he's seen on tape and you meet her. The reason that he's been in his bedroom for the last 15 years and stopped going to fucking school [00:44:00] um, We're sorry, we're sorry in Jared's dad. I don't know why, but I feel like we're gonna have to apologize to you at some point. He probably, sorry. Jared said. Yeah. Okay. Um, all right. I'm Jeff. I'm Jared. And we're saving the world one episode at a time. You don't like that. Well, I'll show you I'll shove your head in a mop bucket full of shit and New York stay tuned for next week when we shoot in a mop bucket in New York. Yeah. Bang.

Just a quick catch up and rant about living.

Dread-ed Nu-Mmetal Episode 4: Hed PE “Bartender” The boys loaded up the rental van and headed toward Huntington Beach, CA where they attended the American Bartending School. Sloe Gin Fizzes in hand, Memphis, Cameron and John decided to check out a local kickball league game but as quick as you could say “red ball to the dick” Cameron took a tumble and spilled his drink all over the blue team's coach. He also just happened to be the PE teacher at the local high school and damned if he didn't have that magic whistle that makes everyone do push ups. Will the boys escape this PE teacher who's lost his head or will they be forced to do jumping jacks until they puke? Stay tuned. Highlights include: Goddammit, J-Doggg!; Pumpkin that took a poop; Spell it RIGHT!; Chizad knows what's up; Don't mess with Gregzilla; Sobs-fest; ICP again?; Best friends in a canoe; Crow hop that sumbitch; BIRMINGHAM; These dreads are literally killing me; Disappointing the Dutch; Tijuana Culture; Lots of Butts; Sportsball; Beast Mode; Crackhead Poser; You don't know REHAB! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Happy Friday! Mindfielders sorry for the late episode this week but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have gone to your local! Goddammit. This week: Why cant Batman go down…you know there?? Karl Anderson FOR SHAME!!! What is a real punk bar? Becky Cloonan is a God..ess. Loki Episode 1Comics Reviewed:Flash - 771TMNT - 117Nightwing - 81Static Season One - 1X-Men - 21Excalibur - 21Legends of the Dark Knight - 2 / Digital 11Iron Man - 9Bunny Mask - 16 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton - 1his is Dangerous,Joshua Michael, Colin and Tony Morales As always you can find us for free on Youtube, Amazon Podcasts, Soundcloud, any and all Google or Apple Podcast streamers, Stitcher…i can go on…of even the website. Mindfieldscomicspodcast.com or here too…#comics #art #comicbooks #comic #marvel #dccomics #marvelcomics #drawing #illustration #dc #comicart #batman #comicbook #spiderman #artist #manga #sketch #igcomicfamily #anime #cartoon #digitalart #cosplay #avengers #artwork #igcomics #draw #comiccollector #comicstrip #love #bhfyp

Every so often at The Breakdown, we have a catastrophic IT failure. Usually on the days when the most work has gone into the production. Goddammit. So tomorrow, I'll bring you the Week that Went. Hopefully, the news is happier tomorrow than the news I thought I was bringing you today. And thank you for your patience.

April Book Club is Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk. Ian, Gavin, and Andrew discuss the book and why it may be the only book where the film was better. Maybe it wasn’t really about anything, but maybe it was about nothing. We also have a short recap of the Varusteleka Remote Military March that some panellists participated in. Intro Hello to all you patriots out there in podcast land and welcome to Episode 294 of Canadian Patriot Podcast. The number one book review podcast in Canada. Recorded April 26th, 2021. I am Andrew’s sense of regret in selecting this month’s book Gavin Ian “I’m not Talking about my spirit animal OR Fight Club” We’d love to hear your feedback about the show. Please visit  canadianpatriotpodcast.com/feedback/ or email us at feedback@canadianpatriotpodcast.com A version of the show is Available on Stitcher at and iTunes http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=77508&refid=stpr and iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/canadian-patriot-podcast/id1067964521?mt=2 We need your help, to support Canadian Patriot Podcast visit patreon.com/cpp and become a Patreon. You can get a better quality version of the show for just $1 per episode. Show you’re not a communist,  buy a CPP T-Shirt, for just $19.99 + shipping and theft. Visit canadianpatriotpodcast.com home page and follow the link on the right. What are we drinking Ian - Jasmine Tea and Atrazine-free, granite filtered well water (Bear with me - Reasons)Gavin - Signal Hill & PepsiAndrew - Water Patriot Challenge We’re asking patriots to do 5 things everyday; Exercise for at least 45 minutes Practice a skill for at least 10 minutes Read a book for at least 15 minutes Drink at least 2 liters of water Complete 1 task that will improve your life Grab the template from our website and post it in your social media Section 74 Challenges GoFundMe link… https://www.gofundme.com/f/s74-appeals?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet   To get involved email s74process@gmail.com Varusteleka Remote Military March https://www.varusteleka.com/en/event/varustelekas-remote-military-march-vrmm-23-25-4-2021/67502   When: Friday APR 23rd - Sunday APR 25th of 2021.   Divisions: Open: Your choice of clothing and shoes. At least 10 kg / 22 lbs rucksack from start to finish Military: Combat uniform, boots that cover the ankle, at least 10 kg / 22 lbs rucksack from start to finish Recon: Minimum requirements as in the Military Division. In addition, you must spend the night outside (under a tarp, in a tent or lavvu, or something along these lines) and march back during the following day. The marching distances can be chosen from the available ones below, for example 50 + 50 clicks. ATTENTION! Please be aware of your own performance level and health. If you are unsure or do not have the experience required, do not take on this challenge.   Marching distances: 25 km or 50 km (15.6 or 31.1 miles). The route is up to your choice but should include both paved and unpaved roads. The route should avoid areas that might be heavily crowded   Code of conduct: Alone or in small groups, minding situational distances. If possible, some sort of trailing or GPS tracking would be nice. Share your experiences on social media by using hashtags: #varusteleka #etäsotilasmarssi #remotemilitarymarch #VES21 #VRMM21 Fight Club Missing the quote Andrew was really hoping for   Which means a lot of you have been breakin' the first two rules of Fight Club. Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. Goddammit, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables, slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man; no purpose or place. We have no Great War, no Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised by television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won't; and we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.   Missing narrator’s name … he’s not Tyler Durden, but also he is, but maybe he isn’t   "I'm breaking my attachment to physical power and possessions," Tyler whispered, "because only through destroying myself can I discover the greater power of my spirit."   Mona Lisa quote; Nothing is static. Even the Mona Lisa is falling apart.   Is it about nihilism, or existentialism, is it about anything at all?  Book Club May Rules for Radicals Saul Alinsky June A Handful of Hard Men Hannes Wessels     Shilling Buy an Official Big Luau Shirt on Amazon so we get affiliate revenue Outro We’re on discord now https://discord.gg/rwA4yeeaC8 Andrew - https://ragnaroktactical.ca/ Visit us at www.canadianpatriotpodcast.com We value your opinions so please visit www.canadianpatriotpodcast.com/feedback/ or email us at feedback@canadianpatriotpodcast.com and let us know what you think. Apologies to Rod Giltaca Remember “You are the True North Strong and Free”

Join me Rowan Oaken, the Bob Ross of Hocus Pocus, in this Week's Sabbat Special episode of Season of the Witch with Rowan Oaken. In this week's episode I will be talking all things Beltane or Beltaine however you want to spell it. Yes, that means May Bushes, May Queens, May Wine and of course penis jokes. Come join me as we discover some of the origins of folklore of this festival and also investigate some of the different ways that we can observe it in the 21st century where Going A-May-ing isn't a thing. Goddammit. Also learn about how freaking wickernman my upbringing was. Wanting to find that May Wine recipe? Join me on the Cheese Witch Coven, where we will be having our next Live this Sunday at 8:30BST. Come cheese out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/156201159705298 Come chat with me on Instagram @sotwwithrowan --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sotwwithrowan/message

This week on No Bad Ideas: Airplanes! Stowaways! Performance art! Carbon dating! For our first bad idea, Gabriel brings us the story of a woman who has made a habit out of sneaking into airplanes all over the world. The gang does their best to turn it into an epic space western opera of one woman's struggle to preserve her freedom from the evil empire. Then, Sarah presents the story of a woman who is trying to decide whether she should break up with her immature boyfriend or not. The team turns it into a tale of an epic relationship drama in the world of archeology. All of that, plus: people who just want to be left alone, crude etchings, little kids who meet mythic figures, radical new origin stories, and the worst version of Carmen Sandiego in the world. Idea #1 Idea #2 Join our Share the Magic campaign to promote our new show, Unseen, for opportunity to win exclusive Unseen merchandise! Support the show: http://patreon.com/NoBadIdeas See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Notes A group of college students set out to make a slasher movie but when real bodies start piling up who will survive these halls of horror?! Slasher by Rob Fields Buy the new "Babysitter Massacre" book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P4ZF9LG/ Get Cool Merchandise http://store.weeklyspooky Support us on Patreon http://patreon.com/IncrediblyHandsome Support Weekly Spooky by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/weekly-spooky Contact Us/Submit a Story twitter.com/WeeklySpooky facebook.com/WeeklySpooky WeeklySpooky@gmail.com Music by Ray Mattis http://raymattispresents.bandcamp.com Produced by Daniel Wilder This episode sponsored by HenFlix.com For everything else visit WeeklySpooky.com Transcript: Prologue The group that was to breathe new life into the Strickfield University Film Society gathered in the movie room at Wilder Hall, the student union building. When Professor James Corgen arrived to conduct the meeting, he sat on top of his desk and looked at the others.  “I see we’re missing somebody,” he said.  “I’m sure Jennie will be here shortly,” Jessie, his busty, red-headed daughter, assured him.  The professor appeared annoyed. “I’m not talking about your sister.” Just then, another girl entered the movie room. “Sorry I’m late. I got delayed.” Jessie turned to her. “It’s okay, Vickie, you didn’t miss anything. In fact, we’re heading out shortly.” Professor Corgen looked at Vickie. “You did read the script, right?” “Trust me, I know my lines,” Vickie assured him.  “I know why Vickie got delayed.” Bethany Mirren looked over at the others and made an obscene pantomime of giving oral sex, getting a few chuckles out of some of the males present.  Jessie pointed right past Bethany. “Hey! Don’t want to work with Vickie Valentine? There’s the door! We’ve only got one shot at making this movie. Just say the word and we’ll recast you.” Bethany flashed a toothy smile. “Your ad said you needed big-breasted girls for your movie. It just surprises me that you’d hire a porn star.” “That porn star can actually act!” Jessie fired back. “She’s already starred in a horror movie for the North Ridgeway University Film Club. The Murder Club is kicking ass all over the film festival circuit. My contact at North Ridgeway told me it’ll be getting a limited theatrical run in a few months. I want our movie to get that same prestige, especially if we want to keep the Strickfield University Film Society going.” “We’ve lost a lot of money over the past six months,” Professor Corgen explained. “Dean Roth won’t set aside any more money in the budget for us unless we can start making some of our own. We have just enough money left to make our movie. My daughter here wrote a script, which is both excellent and an homage to cheesy, exploitation horror. I don’t personally care for horror movies, but I feel Jessie’s going to do well with it. She’ll be in the movie with all of you, but will also be directing Slasher, the title. I’m merely here as an adviser. I don’t want any animosity between any of you, especially with Vickie Valentine here.” Jessie pointed to Bethany. “You in? Or out?” Bethany shrugged. “I’m in.” Jessie smiled. “Excellent! Now . . .” Professor Corgen picked up a bag and opened it. “All of your smartphones are turned off and go in there. No interruptions due to someone getting a text!” Some were reluctant in handing over their phones, but they were all collected.  Jessie took an excited breath. “Okay, let’s head on over to the old Performance Hall. It won’t be torn down for a month yet. Dean Roth gave us permission to shoot Slasher there. Everything will be up and running, including the showers in the basement dressing room. If none of you want to go home, you can crash in one of the many old classrooms. Are we ready?” Cody King stood up. “Let’s go!” Everybody left the room and exited Wilder Hall. They walked across campus until they came to the boarded-up building that was once Performance Hall. The building had seen better days and was why a new building had been constructed. When Jessie was looking for locations to shoot Slasher, she had to convince Dean Jerry Roth to allow the Film Society to have the former performance arts building until it was time to be leveled. He finally consented and wrote her the permit she needed. He also had signs posted that only the Film Society had access to the building.  When they reached the front doors, Jessie unlocked them and they all went inside. Jessie was so excited to be shooting her first feature film that she could barely contain herself. She took a deep breath and turned to everybody. “Okay, people, our first scene is already set up. Head down the hall to make-up, and then we’ll start.” The first day of shooting for Slasher was about to begin . . . 1 Jessie sat on the edge of the stage and looked over her copy of the script. Before long, she heard a door opening to her far left and saw her father coming in.  “We’re shooting the opening scene in here,” she informed him.  He came and sat next to her. “You’re going to do just fine, Jessie. I suppose I’m curious. Why did you cast an adult film actress?”  “I told you, Dad, she really can act. I had a chance to see her in The Murder Club at North Ridgeway University a few months ago and knew she’d be perfect for Slasher. I met Vickie that night and showed her the script, which she loved. I can’t pay my actors much, but I’m glad she took the role anyway. Vickie’s trying to do more legitimate movies and get out of porn. I want to help give her that chance.” He put a comforting arm around her. “Okay, it’s your movie. I said I’d back you.” Jessie opened her script again. “Like I said, we’re shooting the first scene. I couldn’t find anybody to play the Scream Queen killer, so I’m playing two roles.” She picked up the blank white mask that signified the killer. “I still can’t reach Jennie. Do you know if she’s coming?” Her father looked grim. “I didn’t want to tell you, but your sister won’t be joining us for our meetings again . . . ever.” Jessie looked worried. “What’s going on?” He sighed. “She’s the reason we’re having our money problems. I discovered she’s been embezzling money from the Film Society.” Her mouth opened wide. “Oh, my god!” Then they heard a noise. Professor Corgen quickly stood up and walked into the stage area. “Somebody’s up in the catwalk.” Jessie found a flashlight and joined her father. She turned on the flashlight and pointed it upward. “I don’t see anybody.” “I’m telling you, I saw somebody moving around up there, Jessie.” Jessie slowly shined the light around a few more times. “I still don’t –” Suddenly . . . the figure appeared! The figure was obviously feminine, with a build similar to Jessie. The figure had the same red hair as Jessie’s and wore a sexy, form-fitting white dress that showed off how full and ample her breasts were. However, this female figure wore the very same mask that Jessie held in her hands. This girl was dressed as the Scream Queen, the killer of Slasher. She looked down at Jessie and her father for a long moment before she produced a bow and arrow. Before either of them could react, the Scream Queen took quick aim and shot the arrow – right through Professor Corgen’s heart!  Jessie screamed as her father fell forward – dead before he hit the floor! Jessie looked up to the catwalk on impulse, but the Scream Queen was gone. Jessie held her dead father to her and sobbed.   It was several minutes before the cast came in, ready to shoot the first scene. When they saw what had happened, they either gasped or screamed.  Jessie turned to them. “Get out of here! Call the police!” Stanley Farnsworth quickly turned and left. It wasn’t long before he was back. “The doors are all chained up and the windows are boarded up! We can’t get out!” “Oh, bullshit!” Cody King snapped. “Get outta the way!” The cast members reached the main doors to find they were indeed chained tightly shut from the inside. They went and checked the other doors. Hope quickly turned to despair when they found the other doors were chained in the exact same manner.  “We’re fucking trapped in here!” Cody yelled. “Bullshit!” “People, come on, we need to keep it together here,” Vickie Valentine said. “Let’s go back and check on Jessie.” They went back to the stage and found Jessie still holding her father’s body. Vickie lowered herself and convinced Jessie to put her father down. Jessie did and became angry. “I told you people to call the police!” “Let’s all go together,” Nate Henry piped up. “There should be a phone in the office.”  “What about the bag with our phones?” Stanley inquired.  Jessie looked dismal. “Dad put them away somewhere. I don’t know where.” Vickie stood up and helped Jessie to her feet. “We go to the office, then.”  2 The seven of them entered the main office and found the landline phone. Stanley picked up the receiver and punched 9-1-1. Then he turned to the others with a grim look. “It’s dead!”  “Bullshit!” Cody snatched the receiver from Stanley. After putting it to his ear . . . “The worm’s right! The killer probably cut the line.” He slammed the receiver back onto the cradle. “Fuck!” Vickie quickly cried, “Easy, people. We can’t be losing our shit here! Not now!” Bethany sneered at Vickie. “Just because you’re the porn queen doesn’t mean you’re the queen.” Cody turned to Vickie. “Don’t lose our shit?! We’re trapped in this fucking building! The phone ain’t working! We are so fucked!”  Lizzie Jones finally got her words in. “I’ve actually been looking for a weapon or something, but . . . I can’t find so much as a single tool! I even went to a few of the other rooms nearby. There’s nothing to use as a weapon to protect ourselves in here! The killer’s thought of everything.” Stanley groaned. “We need to – Ohshit!!” Everybody else screamed and panicked as the Scream Queen now stood in the doorway – armed with a chainsaw! With one quick movement, she yanked the cord to bring the lethal weapon to life. Before Stanley could turn to move away, the killer thrust the chainsaw underneath his groin and worked right up the middle. Blood sprayed and splattered everywhere. The Scream Queen’s once-fully-white outfit and mask and exposed skin were being blood-splattered. When the killer finished, the two halves of Stanley fell to the floor.  The Scream Queen gave them a long, blank look before she turned and disappeared. The remaining six were too shocked to run after her.  “What the fucking fuck?!” Bethany screamed. Then she whimpered when she finally realized that she had Stanley’s blood splattered on her. “Eeew!” Jessie suddenly pointed to Lizzie. “You say there aren’t any weapons? I don’t believe that for a second! I’m sure the murdering cunt pretending to be the Scream Queen wants us to think that. There have to be things we can find to use as weapons. We just need to search the other rooms in the building.” “I’m all for looking,” Vickie offered.  Bethany pointed to the doorway. “Hey, porn queen, in case you were sleeping through all this shit, that fucking psycho bitch is still out there!” Vickie glared at her. “No shit, airhead! We can’t just stay in here with our heads up our asses! You people can stay here if you want. I’m going with Jessie.” “We really shouldn’t be splitting up,” Nate stated.  “Like Vickie said, we can’t just stay in here,” Lizzie recalled.  “Hold it! I’ll go with you and Jessie.”  As Nate reached out to take Vickie’s hand, she slapped it away. “Hands off! I’m married!”  “Sorry.” Jessie turned to the others. “You three stay on this floor and look around. We’ll head up to the second floor. Plus, we still have the basement to check.” She turned to Nate and Vickie. “Let’s go.” Jessie, Nate, and Vickie split from the others and headed for the second floor.   3 Bethany and Cody were looking through drawers, closets, and other places where they might find weapons. Lizzie noticed that Bethany wasn’t really making much of an effort. She seemed to be opening things slowly, all while keeping her eyes on Cody. She also noticed that the rich girl had conveniently unbuttoned enough buttons on her top to reveal the ample cleavage in between her two surgically-enhanced breasts.  Truth be told, Cody really had an eye for Lizzie and kept checking out her ass whenever she wasn’t looking. Bethany noticed this and couldn’t understand why he would want to hook up with a future Suzy Homemaker, when he could have her hot and naked. All he had to do was just claim her. She had no problem answering Jessie’s ad for big-breasted girls to act in her movie. Bethany knew she had the biggest ones out of every girl in the cast. Hell, even Vickie Valentine’s natural ones didn’t measure up to hers. Bethany had spent a pretty penny on her breasts to turn lots of heads. Yet, Cody was wanting Lizzie? Oh, but Bethany wasn’t giving up so fast. After all, she was from the infamously-rich Mirren clan . . . and Mirrens always got what they wanted.  Well, Bethany knew she couldn’t just strip naked for Cody, not with Lizzie right there. She would certainly continue to work her charms on him. Oh yes, he would definitely give in to her. If he was a good lay, she would keep him for as long as she would continue to want to play with him.  “Everything good, Lizzie?” Cody whispered.  Lizzie, the lookout person, whispered back, “I’m not seeing anything.”  Lizzie kept looking one way, then the other. In truth, she wanted to help search for weapons, but spoiled Bethany just had to have her way. She’d had enough of Bethany’s hem-hawing. Before she could turn to tell Bethany to trade places with her, the blood-splattered Scream Queen was suddenly right there in front of her.  Lizzie screamed when the Scream Queen grabbed her T-shirt and ripped it open to expose her bouncing breasts. Then the Scream Queen grabbed Lizzie by her long dark hair with the left hand and sank the blade of a boxcutter into her flesh just below her ribs with the right. With a few swift, precise movements, Lizzie’s stomach had been sliced open. Still holding Lizzie’s hair, the Scream Queen forced Lizzie to quickly drop to her knees – causing her internal organs to drop right out of her stomach with a loud, sickening PLOP!! Lizzie’s corpse fell onto its side.   Cody charged through the door, knocking the Scream Queen to the floor. The Scream Queen quickly got to her feet and ran away.  Bethany shot out of the doorway. When she saw what was left of Lizzie, she quickly cradled Cody’s arm. “Holy shit! What are we going to do now?” “We gotta keep looking for shit,” Cody said. “We don’t know if the others’ll be back or not. We gotta look out for ourselves now and find a way outta here.” “Please don’t leave me!” she moaned.  “Shhh! Shut up! Come on.” Bethany nodded and held Cody’s hand. He squeezed her hand and led the way.  4 Jessie, Nate, and Vickie were on the second floor. They stuck together as they carefully examined classroom after classroom. They couldn’t find anything available to be used as a weapon. Not even so much as a pen.  Vickie groaned in frustration. Nate put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I know. This psycho seems to have thought of everything.” Jessie groaned in frustration herself. “Why is that sick bitch doing this?!” “You’re guess is as good as mine,” Nate replied. Vickie shook her head quickly. “We just . . . Goddammit, we just came here to shoot a horror movie!” She grabbed her hair and groaned again. “Am I being punished for being a porn star? My parents have never agreed with me doing porn to pay for school, but they supported my decision. I’m trying to get out, I really am.” Jessie stepped in front of her. “Look at me, Vickie! Look at me!” Vickie slowly focused on her. “I see you.” “You do what you have to do to pay for college, I get it. I know Strickfield University’s not the cheapest college. I don’t think the Scream Queen is targeting you specifically. You’d be dead already – just you.” She hugged Vickie. “For what it’s worth, thank you for much for agreeing to be in my movie.” Vickie hugged her back. “Thank you for asking me.” Then they came apart. “I don’t want to die. I’m a senior this year, and I want to graduate. I’m finally at a point to where I can leave porn and do something meaningful.” “What are you majoring in?” Nate asked.  Suddenly, there was a loud racket down the hallway from them, which made them gasp!  “We have to go check it out,” Jessie whispered.  “Are you crazy? The Scream Queen might be down there!” Vickie whispered back.  “Someone might be in trouble,” Nate offered.  Vickie really didn’t want to go, but she nodded. They all cautiously moved down the hallway, checking every room along the way. Soon, they reached the room where they were sure they heard the noise. They entered the bloody room and found the remains of murdered crew members everywhere.  Nate had to quickly cover Vickie’s mouth to keep her from screaming. Jessie had to whisper to her to get her to calm down. When she did, Nate removed his hand. Then Nate saw glass bottles of water on the desk. Being really thirsty, he picked one up and opened it. He’d only taken two swallows before he quickly spit it out, just missing Vickie. But he couldn’t tell her that what he had just consumed was not water.  It was a highly corrosive acid! Vickie screamed in terror as Nate fell to his knees. His face, throat, and the flesh on his chest and stomach had melted away completely. Blood was pooling around his corpse quickly.  Suddenly, the Scream Queen appeared with a bloody fire ax in her hands.  “Fuck you!” Jessie shouted.  The Scream Queen raised and swung the ax at Jessie’s neck. Jessie ducked – barely! When she came up, the girls both shoved the killer to the floor and ran out of the room.  5 Cody and Bethany were exploring the basement now. They still hadn’t found any weapons, in spite of all the rooms they had checked.  Bethany’s arm was still wrapped around Cody’s as she continued to cling to him. “Why? What did we do wrong, Cody?” Cody sighed and gave her a brief, comforting hug. “I don’t know. What I do know is we gotta get the fuck outta here.” They walked into the dressing rooms. Seeing nothing, they turned and walked into the shower room. Bethany was really scared now. “God damn it!” She held herself as she backed herself into a corner and seemed ready to cry.  Cody moved to her and held her to him. “Hey! Don’t come apart on me here. Come on, blondie, stay with me here. Stay with me . . .” Cody moved his hands to the sides of Bethany’s face and began kissing her hungrily. Bethany snatched him to her and kissed him with equal hunger. Bethany let him finish unbuttoning her top to expose her abundantly large breasts. Cody had seen Vickie Valentine’s natural breasts many times when he’d watch her adult movies, but Bethany’s enhanced ones were much bigger. And to a guy, bigger was always better, right? Also, he would have liked to have hooked up with Lizzie, but . . . she was dead. For all Cody would have known, they were all going to die.  Fuck it . . . he thought.  Cody and Bethany undressed each other. Then Bethany turned on all the showers. As far as they were concerned, there was no Scream Queen in this steamy world. At least not for a few adulterous rounds of pleasure. For them, the sex was everything they’d both imagined.  They were so into each other that they never heard or saw the figure appearing at the shower entrance. As Bethany was having her third orgasm, she opened her eyes and screamed!  6 Cody screamed himself when Jessie yelled, “Are you two fucking kidding me?!” Vickie appeared next to Jessie. “Really?! We got a fucking killer running around in here, and you two are . . . are . . . This!” After Bethany turned off the showers, the naked couple grabbed for their clothes. Bethany took her time in getting dressed. Once more, she let her pride and status as a Mirren get the better of her. Still topless, she turned to Vickie and pushed up on her breasts.  “Get a good look, porn slut,” she purred. “They’re so much bigger and better than yours.” Vickie just looked at her. “Yeah, and . . . ? Unlike you, people are willing to pay damn good money to see me fuck in the shower. What’s your excuse?” Bethany just sneered at her. Then she turned her back to the opposite entrance and finally started to put her top back on. As she went to button it up, she screamed when the loud roar of a very large drill tore through the air. Bethany gasped and started choking on her own blood when the huge drill bit went into her back and come out just below her prides and joy. Blood spilled from Bethany’s lacerations – some going down a nearby drain. Bethany finally fell forward off the drill bit and died.  The Scream Queen came into the room and revved the drill in front of the last three still alive. The Scream Queen slipped on the wet floor and fell, allowing Jessie, Vickie, and Cody to escape. The Scream Queen got up and moved with amazing speed to retrieve the drill off the floor and begin pursuit.  7 Jessie, Cody, and Vickie made it to the stairway and ran up two steps at a time. Back on the first floor, they ran down the hallway. The raging drill made it quite clear that the Scream Queen was right behind them. As they made the turn to the stairwell, they just missed being hit with the drill that the Scream Queen had thrown. The drill had stopped when it hit the floor. They ran up to the second floor and kept moving. So far, the Scream Queen wasn’t in sight.  When they reached the catwalk doors, Cody opened one and motioned for the girls to go in before he followed. They were careful in moving across the catwalk above the stage. The house lights suddenly came on, which made them all scream. As they reached the opposite doors, one of them opened. The Scream Queen stepped in. This time, she had a spear in her hands. Vickie quickly grabbed the spear and struggled to take it from the killer. Finally, she had seized it. The Scream Queen just stood there and seemed to be watching. Without warning, Vickie turned and drove the spear under Cody’s chin with enough force so that the tip came right out through the top of his head. Cody shook and gurgled for a few moments before Vickie just shoved him right off the catwalk. Cody’s head landed on the hard wooden floor where the sickening sound of 19his skull shattering was heard.  Jessie gasped and looked at Vickie. “Why?!”  On impulse, Jessie reached out and ripped the Scream Queen’s mask right off. Her knees wobbled when she saw the face of the killer! “What the fuck?!” she whispered loudly. Jessie held the bloody mask in her hands as she stared into what seemed to be her own reflection . . . a second Jessie Corgen!  8 The second Jessie Corgen laughed gleefully. “Hi, sis! Miss me?” Vickie grinned an evil grin. “You don’t recognize Jennie, your own twin sister?” “You killed Dad!” Jessie cried. “Why, Jennie?!” Jennie quickly raised her finger. “Why?! Didn’t you hear Daddy earlier? He found out I was embezzling money from the Film Society. Guess I got a little too greedy. Also . . . why should I have to wait until he dies to get all those millions? When I can have it all now!” Jessie shouted, “That’s what this was about? Greed?! You were so goddamn greedy that you killed our father – for Film Society money?!” Jennie laughed. “Stealing money from the Film Society was bonus money . . . but no. You know Daddy had a pretty fucking hefty life insurance policy – worth millions!” Jessie put the rest of the pieces together. “With Dad dead, you’ll be the only beneficiary. You’ll be set for life. The Film Society will close down for good, and you’ll be on your way to a tropical paradise where you can live out the rest of your life. And you even had to go so far to make sure the Film Society’s horror movie would never be made. Anything to make sure Dean Roth would have no choice but to close the Film Society down, right?” “Oh, you’re wrong about one thing, sis,” Jennie purred.  To Jessie’s surprise, Jennie eased Vickie to her for a passionate kiss. Then they turned to Jessie.  “Remember when I told Nate I was married? Jennie’s my wife,” Vickie revealed. “We eloped around the time we came up with this plan.” “Which means we will be living in paradise,” Jennie added. “A little money and a crooked lawyer and I also got the will changed. All of Daddy’s money and insurance will go to us – as in Vickie and me. I’ll never have to bust my ass for anyone ever again. Also, my sweetheart will be done with porn.” She moved away from Vickie and towards Jessie. “Sorry, sis . . . Nothing personal.” Jennie reached out and shoved Jessie hard off the catwalk.  9 Jessie screamed only for a moment, until she landed on the back of her head and was still forever. Blood began pooling around her head and neck.  Jennie turned to face Vickie, who stood with her back to the railing. “No more loose ends, love.” Vickie gave Jennie a sinister smirk. “Wrong, honey.” Suddenly, Vickie grabbed Jennie and flipped her over the railing. Jennie screamed all the way down until she landed and broke her neck.  Vickie looked down and smirked again. “Sorry, honey, but there’s only going to be enough money for one person – me! Till death do we part.”  As Vickie left the catwalk and headed downstairs, she pulled a set of keys out of her pocket, which would unlock the chains and the doors. Vickie Valentine – the unlikely sole survivor – stepped outside. She pulled out her smartphone from in between her breasts, turned it on, and called the police. Truly, Vickie was indeed a great actress; the police bought everything. Vickie would only have to wait a short time to collect all of the money, graduate from Strickfield University, and say goodbye to the porn industry forever. Epilogue The cast and crew were pleased at their screening of Slasher, which played at the Strickfield Centennial Theatre downtown. This particular screening was invitation only, which included the cast and crew along with the Film Society backers who contributed enough to get tickets to the screening as a perk.  The end credits began to role and the house lights came up. Jessie and Jennie Corgen were sitting with their father, who congratulated them on a job well done. Jessie motioned to the cast and crew members present to make their way to the lobby for a meet-and-greet.  Many of the cast posed for pictures. However, Vickie Valentine would end up signing copies of her adult movies that people happened to bring with them, in addition to posing for pictures.  This screening was to celebrate that Slasher had made it onto the film festival circuit. Once it would finish there, it would play on the midnight movie circuit, followed by a limited theatrical run. In all, the Strickfield University Film Society would earn enough money to both keep their doors open on campus and have a budget to film the sequel, which the Corgen Twins had already written the script for. They knew they were going to re-sign their cast and crew to help make it. Vickie Valentine was already guaranteed her role as the star – and accepted it on the spot.  Vickie Valentine would now be able to leave the porn industry and become a premier horror movie starlet. Not only had she agreed to star in Slasher II: Valentine’s Day, she would also go on to star in other horror movies for other independent studios. She hadn’t forgotten that Slasher had made her a star and made it a point to make herself available whenever the Corgen Twins offered her a role.  Bethany Mirren, Vickie’s rival, had actually been approached by Vickie’s former agent about a career in porn. Bethany would never admit it, but she had actually considered it. However, it was no secret to the other cast and crew that she and Cody were seeing each other. The secret they shared between themselves was that they actually did have sex during their shower scene; they just didn’t seem to want to be apart after that.  When it came to the rest of the cast, Nate Henry and Stanley Farnsworth would receive individual offers to appear in or star in other independent movies. Only Lizzie Jones had actually been signed to a Hollywood contract out of all of them and would go on to win Oscars.  As for the Corgen Twins, many of their movies are still playing on the midnight movie circuit to this day. And many, many more are on their way . . . Support Weekly Spooky - Scary Stories to Keep You Up at Night by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/weekly-spooky Find out more at http://weeklyspooky.com

In honor of black history month we decided to dedicate each episode this month to works of black thought leaders. In this weeks episode we discuss Fred Hampton and his speech,"Its a class struggle goddammit" Read the full speech here: https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/its-a-class-struggle-goddammit-fred-hampton Find us here: linktr.ee/leftoverspod

You know what, it might be true or not but the fact is that it started and now we are celebrating it. Well most of us nope most of you are celebrating it. Follow us on our social media handle!!! And yes, I will be travelling abroad for study purposes. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bryan-patricia/message

Today's short-ish and sweet episode is all about numbers. Ages, dates, calendars, days, nights, counting systems, maps, sizes, graphs, distances, and everything in between and all around! We also discuss mountains, rats, riots, cereal, crack, porn, the Anglo-Zanzibar war, dog buttons, fitbits, and investing. I really don't have time to be writing more of a blurb here because it's 1:32 in the morning and this just needs to get done, you know? I have class tomorrow for eight hours. Goddammit.

WELCOME TO SEASON TEN, GODDAMMIT! The Grinning Streak begins! We couldn't do it alone, either--so here's MIKE HANFORD (The Sloppy Boys, The Birthday Boys, Questions for Lennon) to help us exceed our natural LIMITS! Yee-haw, babyyyyy! ALSO IN THIS EPISODE: Scarlet is simpatico. Slop poppers! Slop rockets! Howdy, y'all! It's me, Vesty Gal! BONUS SEGMENT: TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT I FELL ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL! Get yourself some IABD shirts! Wear a logo on your chest!: https://www.teepublic.com/user/itsallbeendonepodcast Catch us on the 'net!: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1593559714014720 Twitter: @beendonepod Thanks to The Orange Groves (theorangegroves.com) for hosting us. Subscribe to their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theorangegroves and join their discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/GdTsg8C !

Thank you very much to Devin for commissioning this episode!The endings of these damn books have made me cry almost every time, and this is no exception. Goddammit, Diane. Thanks for listening, and I might see you with some more episodes in a few months!

Thank you so much to Jaime for commissioning this episode! Y'all I am totally hooked on this show and I'm really agitated that the next episode isn't going to be until January. Goddammit.

i hate being owed money and no i am not planning on doing what the contractor did to the blackwell brothers cause im actually a big coward --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rusty-ralston/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rusty-ralston/support

Oh, wow, they pulled the whole "it's all a dream" type thing. What a fuckin' cop-out. This is a dumb podcast. Why do you even listen to this? No, wait! Come back, COME BACK! WE LOVE YOU! Aw, shit. They're gone. Goddammit. Peregrin sits down, Brim borrows a book, Valerie finds some answers and Biijou meets a druid.   Music Attributions Slow Burn by Kevin MacLeod (Severance's Theme) Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4372-slow-burn License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (Edith's Theme) Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4710-midnight-tale License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Stealth Groover by Kevin MacLeod (Urbri's Theme) Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4415-stealth-groover License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Serpentine Trek by Kevin MacLeod (Smoke's Theme) Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4337-serpentine-trek License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

"Goddammit, I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good!" Episode 21 and the boys take their first trip to 1983 to watch a very young Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy as they try and stop WOPR from accidentally starting World War 3 in WarGames. Quiz has reset and already the competition spirit is rife, so grab a drink, relax and lets go back to 1983! Follow 80s Adventure on facebook facebook.com/80sadventure Follow 80s Adventure on Twitter twitter.com/80sadventure Check out the website 80sadventure.com Email 80s Adventure podcast@80sadventure.com Support 80s Adventure on Patreon patreon.com/80sadventure 80s Adventure Merchandise shop.80sadventure.co.uk

We hope you had a safe and fun Halloween, because it's the REAL scary season now kids... ELECTION 2020! They say hindsight is 2020 and this will be the ultimate test of that axiom! At least that huge bowl of Halloween candy you have left over from the lack of trick-or-treating this year will be there for you Tuesday evening! For once, Monday morning is less stressful than Taco Tuesday! 1. €œIt€s Election Time€ by Morning Sidekick 2. €œAny Functioning Adult 2020€ by Lauren Mayer 3. News of the Stupid! 4. €œVote, Goddammit€ by Steve Goodie Morning Sidekick is at MorningSidekick.com Lauren Mayer is at LaurenMayer.com and Steve Goodie is at SteveGoodie.com Thank you to our Patreon backers for helping make this show possible!!! Coming soon for backers, Seamonkey's ShoEboX interview!!

The guys talk news and how much they loathe Antonio Brown. Then they give their six trades they think is happening, and predict the future (literally). News breaks during and after the podcast in a chaotic episode.

It’s 21 days until the election at the time of recording. Dan and Maureen have gotten into the groove, now. They’re battle hardened. Do you think those two chumps from 2016 could have handled COVID Trump? They could not. This new Dan and Maureen can.Kind of. Well, they aren’t crying as much as usual.The President is on a lot of drugs and is flying around the country, like some kind of 70s rock star. Maureen knows a lot about those. Trump has big 1973 energy. Also, Maureen would like to know how election night is going to play out, but Dan will not tell her. Goddammit, Dan.Pass to the left, SaysWhovia. It’s almost time to vote.

On this week's Stack podcast: Batman #100, Locke & Key: …In Pale Battalions Go… #2, Amazing Spider-Man #850, Transformers/Back to the Future #1, American Vampire 1976 #1, Getting It Together #1, Wolverine #6, X-Force #13, Marauders #13, Sonic The Hedgehog: Bad Guys #1, We Only Find Them When They're Dead #2, Far Sector #8, Adventureman #4, Backtrack #7, Black Widow #2, Exosisters #10, DCeased: Dead Planet #4, Inkblot #2, Champions #1, and Decorum #5. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Full Transcript: Alex:                 What is up? You're all welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. And on The Stack, we've got it packed… Alex:                 … stack for you today. We've got [crosstalk 00:00:17], use. Justin:              It's a packed stack. Alex:                 Big issues is coming out, so let's jump right into it. Talking about Batman number 100, from DC Comics run by James Tynion IV, art by Jorge Jimenez, Carlo Pagulayan and Guillem March. This is the culmination of the Joker world. Justin:              Culmination. Alex:                 It's all been coming down to this. Big stuff happens here as the Batman takes on Joker [Mono-e-Mono 00:00:44], for all [crosstalk 00:00:49], translators. For all the [inaudible 00:00:52], there's some twists, there's some turns here, there's backup stories. What [inaudible 00:00:56]… Oh God. Pete:                Oh no, Alex. Justin:              Oh, wow. Don't die. [crosstalk 00:01:01]. Alex:                 That's a [inaudible 00:01:01], Joker guest. Justin:              Joker mist. Alex:                 Joker mist. Pete:                Oh, man. Alex:                 Yeah, I'm a joker mystique myself. Pete:                Smart. Justin:              Oh, nice. Just to clear up your throat? Alex:                 Mm-hmm (affirmative). No, you got to build up a tolerance, so that way… exactly. Justin:              Yeah, that's smart. Pete:                Oh, yeah. Alex:                 What do you guys think about this issue and what do you think about the storyline as a whole? Justin:              I liked it. Especially the battle, the Joker, bat uniform and that Joker becoming Batman, I thought was a nice thing here. There's some funny lines in here of Alfred's Corp saying he wishes he was the [crosstalk 00:01:40], butler. Had it up for [crosstalk 00:01:42]. Alex:                 That's not funny. Justin:              No, man. Alex:                 That was painful. Justin:              An underwater butler, so fun. How do you make tea? All the waters. It's all water. Pete:                Yeah, I felt like, first off the art's fantastic. I feel like the landing didn't stick as hard as I would have liked it. Normally, when we have these big buildups, these huge fights. The wrap-up is great, but there was a lot of weird stuff that happened. I felt like there was this epic showdown and then it wasn't between the Joker and Batman because Harley Quinn showed up and then made it be like, “Yo, one of us are going to die tonight,” which is holy shit, raising the stakes, but it wasn't like the classic showdown. It was a real switch of status of Joker trying to be Batman. I did like the things that Joker was saying during the fight. I thought that was classic cool Joker shit. Pete:                But the stuff I was a little disappointed with was the wrap-up and the Batman talking to the Clown Hunter, I felt like that could have been a little bit better. I had a weird feeling after that was over. Also, it was crazy to me that Catwoman seemed to be making moves, but then there was just a shot of her watching fights, which was weird to me. But I really think that overall, this was a really cool arc, very awesome twists and turns, a lot of fun. The Alfred shit to me was a little too rough, too soon. Seeing the corpse shit was really hard, but I- Justin:              I was going to say, it's great to see Alfred back in his good shape, in perfect form. This is the Alfred I want to see. Pete:                The Nightwing shit was bad-ass. Nightwing got a lot to do a lot of respect in this. So that was cool. Alex:                 I love the Oracle stuff. It was so much fun having Barbara back as Oracle. That was great. It just really shows the deep well of love that James Tynan has for DC Comics history that really came out on this issue. I agree with you that the execution of the ending felt a little asterisky, particularly given how big everything is built over the past couple of issues. But James Tynan came out on Twitter and said, “This was supposed to be as ending.” This was supposed to be his last issue of Batman, and then when he found out he would be ongoing on it, he had to scramble and change his plans and changes all outline to serve some other masters and serve some other storylines that are happening. Alex:                 So I think it's not purposeful, but that is a victim of circumstances, more than anything that rather than making it this big exclamation point, it became the dot, dot, dot in the middle of the ongoing Batman story. And I do like the place that he finds Batman at the end of this, I actually did really like Clown Hunter story. The idea that he- Pete:                I like Clown Hunter story, for sure. I felt like Batman just lectured Clown Hunter in a weird way. Alex:                 What I think was different about this, this almost pivots off of what Jeff Johns is doing over in three Jokers, is this idea that Batman keeps bringing in these orphans, breaking them, ruining their lives, and then being like, “Well, time for new orphan,” that he's doing something different here, which is similar to what they did with the signal as well. Is I think smart, and it's a progression of the character that personally I like. Yeah. Justin:              I mean, I agree. I also think despite the change in plan for James Tynion, I feel like his point was rather than have Batman play Joker's game the entire time in the end of this is like I haven't been… I'm not going to take the bait. And I thought that was a nice… Batman's usual tactic or at least for the past few years is he takes the bait and then suffers horrible consequences, but he endures because he's Batman and I actually liked- Alex:                 He got stabbed in the back-up bunch. That's suffering. Justin:              I know, but rather than be like, “All right, I'm going to give it all up for the corpse of my butler,” he's like, “You know what? I'm not going to do that.” And I liked the different take on that for one. I agree the Clown Hunter stuff, I thought what was actually good. I agree with you, Alex. It's nice if we're going to walk away with this new character, I think that's cool. Clown Hunter is a cool character. It's like if Damian Wayne took the other path and didn't become a Robin, it feels like. The one thing with the Joker little epilogue at the end, Joker, he's become this chemist. Why is he such a chemist? I don't know why that makes sense. It's like [crosstalk 00:06:31]- Alex:                 I appreciate your- Justin:              … gas that perfectly turns you into a Joker so much so that no one will be able to tell the difference in my body versus your body. Pete:                But also he's really into newspapers and likes to get his news, old timey, just sitting down, stacking newspapers, go through each one, see that headlines, soak it all in. So it's this mix of, he's up to date on all the latest chemical stuff, but likes to get his news old school. Alex:                 It's crazy. It's crazy stuff is what I tell you, but [crosstalk 00:07:06]- Justin:              Yeah. A lot of fans are definitely going to identify with Pete's point he just made the with the newspapers. Alex:                 This is a very good issue though. And I think this whole arc was good. Definitely pick it up in trade or individually if you like. Alex:                 Next up, Locke and Key in Pale Battalions, going number two from IDW storytellers, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. This is continuing a story of back in the day from Locke and Key as we follow John Locke. But a different John Locke, the last, as he goes to fight in the war, he has aged himself. Yup. He's using one of the magical keys. And this issue, we see things from the German perspective of the war as they are tagged. Justin:              Creating a way to put that. Alex:                 But again, we talk about this every time. There were two different World Wars. One of them was the World War, the second one with Nazis. This is the first World War, which was also with the Germans, but it's not creepy in exactly the same way. Pete [crosstalk 00:08:04]. Oh my God. Pete:                Different Wars. Justin:              DC, Wolverine one, Pete. The Balkans were powder gig. And then all of a sudden the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand really set off a series of chain of events within tangling alliances that led all of these different countries to declare war on each other. And then of course, a further countries guy, eventually entangled. And here we are with John Locke, [AGM 00:08:26], self up to take part. Alex:                 There you go. So this comes from the German perspective, which is not a creepy thing to say. And we see John [crosstalk 00:08:33]- Pete:                It's a creepy thing to say. Alex:                 Stop it. John Locke is attacking them. Just again as with the first issue, a bunch of classic Gabriel Rodriguez pages in here, this page with… and this is getting into spoilers, but there's a page where he uses the crown of shadows to attack that is just terrifying in exactly the right way. The twist at the end, which I won't spoil, it's so smart, so well done and clearly points to not just where they're going with this series, but also with Helen Gun, which is the Sandman Crossover. So I love seeing that path there. Pete, what do you think about this one? Pete:                It's really fantastic. I mean, the art is unbelievable. It's crazy storytelling. I mean, the fact that I'm caring about these fucked up soldiers is way back to the days. It's really impressive to the art and the storytelling. But this is really interesting what happens at the end and how it makes sense to why we are seeing this in such a cool way. I'm very impressed with this comic. It's just so excited when there's a new Locke and Key comic, because you're like, “What the fuck is going to happen? How scared or freaked out am I going to get?” And it constantly delivers. Justin:              And the fact that they were able to just tell a legit war story, I mean, this is a straight up war comic. There's not a lot of Locke and Key bells and whistles to it. We get a little bit of that, but it really is just a war story being told from the Locke and Key perspective, and obviously the German perspective, which I think we all find totally normal. And it's just a really good issue and the way they do find another, especially the art finds another angle on horror, war horror is so smart. Pete:                And it's interesting that, it seems like in this issue, we got to shout out to the TV show with that fire key that I don't think was from the book. I think it was from the TV show, right? Alex:                 Yeah. The matchstick key. I can't remember honestly the continuity there. I think it was something they came up with, but didn't use, that they ended up using on the TV show first, versus in the comic book itself. I could be wrong about that. But yeah, that is interesting to see. And it's great, it's just good stuff. Always- Justin:              It's great stuff. Alex:                 … an incredible issue out of the gate every single time. Next up, one I'm very excited to talk about, Amazing Spider-Man number 858 AK number 49, from Marvel written by Nick Spencer, Kurt Busiek, Tradd Moore and Saladin Ahmed, art by Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos and Mark Bagley, Chris Justin:              Bachalo, Tradd Moore and Aaron Kuder. So this is a conclusion of the Sin Eaters storyline, The Return of the Green Goblin and also a couple of backups stories. Justin, I'm curious to hear from you. You seem to really like the Sin Eater storyline in particular, but what's your take on the ending here? Justin:              It got a little muddled with the Green Goblin stuff. I thought the first couple issues of the Sin Eater Arc I thought were so good, so smart, felt very timely and responding to the world. It was such a total change from Nick Spencer jokey Spider-Man into this like very serious Sin Eater storyline. So it felt like a hard right turn into Peter Parker dealing with the Green Goblin stuff and so much more historical and it felt far less present to the modern world. And weird the way that he becomes like a juggernaut but with no… like a [crosstalk 00:12:24], hair. Alex:                 Could you talk about that for a second? So the- Justin:              Just a raged out, no neck dude. Alex:                 Well, the weird thing is, so the Sin Eater, when he shoots people, now he gains their powers, right? So he shoots the juggernaut and then I liked generally speaking, just the voice of anything, the design of this, because he gets this juggernaut- Justin:              Sorry to hear you [crosstalk 00:12:45]- Alex:                 … Vini head, which is pretty gross. But the juggernaut doesn't have a head like that. He has a normal head and he just wears a helmet. So what was going on there? Justin:              I like the idea that maybe juggernaut just smooshed a little bit into his old- Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              The clothes fit the man. Pete:                I think that how he starts to… your body forms to the helmet after a little while, and then it's like, you take a turtle and it looks like you still are wearing it a little bit. And I think that's what happened here. Justin:              Pete, at this point, your feet have taken on the shape of your punisher's slippers, right? Pete:                Yeah, exactly. Exactly, yeah. Alex:                 I did like the Green Goblin's stuff in this issue. I think Nick Spencer did a good job of driving up the, and I'm using this word appropriately here, creepiness of the character. Justin:              Especially once all the other spider family characters were there, I was like, “Woof.” Alex:                 Oh yeah. That whole Gwen stuff was crazy. Justin:              Gross [crosstalk 00:13:40]. Alex:                 The exact right way though. The way that Norman Osborn is gross that I don't think we've seen him this way in a very long time, but it's weird. I'm curious to see what happens to the next issue, because it seems like we're finally getting into all of the kindred stuff, which is this villain that he's been building up over the course of all the issues. Justin:              But I got to say the fact that the reveal wasn't an issue. I was like, “Come on, man.” Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              It really felt like now is the time to do it and it feels like we've missed our shot to finally get the reveal. Alex:                 Particularly the way the end… sorry, Pete. I was just going to add that particularly the way the ending is paced and obviously the spoiler for the ending, but in the mix, everything that's happening with Spider-Man, with the Green Goblin, with everybody, with Kindred walking towards this grave and walking up. And it definitely felt like this is the point where we see kindred walking, looking at a grave and now we know who Kindred is, and instead we still have no idea. What were you going to say, Pete? Pete:                Oh, I was just going to say, yeah, there's nothing like the old, “Hanging out next to a grave. You don't know who I am, moment,” that everybody loves. Yeah, it's a little frustrated. We don't have more information, especially after all we've been through, but I also really liked the backup stories. I'm a sucker for Chris Bachalo's art and also- Justin:              [inaudible 00:15:06], wars are also very good. Pete:                Yeah. The Ford shoes store with that art is so glorious and fantastic. Alex:                 Pete, Doug Wizard. Do you love a good Doug Wizard? Pete:                Yeah. I mean, come on, dogs and wizards together. What's not to love? Alex:                 No way. Could I throw out at you before we talk too much about the backup stories? Theories about the identity of kindred. Pete? Pete:                I'm trying to think of… What was the care bear with the little cloud on it? That's who I think it is. Alex:                 Okay, great. Great. Justin, do you have any theories? Justin:              I mean, what are the third rails we're going to touch here? It's been built up so much, it has to be a big character. Is it the dude who killed uncle Ben? Alex:                 Hmm. I guess I can do that. I'll throw out one. This is not my theory. I read this today. What? Pete:                I think it's Doc Cock. Alex:                 Doc Cock? Joe Chill. It's Joe Chill. I love this theory. I read this, I think it was on Nerdist or something today. They had a bunch of theories of who [crosstalk 00:16:22]. Justin:              I've heard of that. Alex:                 The theory was, Pete, you are going to 100%, absolutely hate this theory, but I'm so excited about it. The theory is, it's Peter Parker, but it's Peter Parker from the pre one more day continuity because they fucked up the Mafesto curse by Maryy Jane and Peter Parker getting back together. So it split up the reality, and so Peter Parker who made that deal is now kindred tried to get it back. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              If we can finally undo that bullshit- Pete:                That would be glorious. Justin:              That feels so arch and unnecessary. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:17:09]. But I love the idea. I love the idea of it being Peter Parker, baby. I think that would be interesting. Pete:                Or Peter Porker. Justin:              Ooh, interesting. But here's the thing. So much of Kindred is like, “I was buried. I was under the ground.” It has to feel like it has to be a dead character come back to life. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 And it sounds graves. Justin:              Maybe it's their marriage. It's like- Alex:                 Yeah, there you go. The physical representation. As we all know, marriage is covered in giant centipedes. Alex:                 Let's move on to another title. Transformer is back to the future, number one from IDW, written by Ken and Scott, art by Juan Semeru. So this is exactly what you'd expect from the title. This is the Transformers, muck it up the back to the future continuity. And I'll get into a huge spoiler here, but I was getting very worried that they wouldn't do the thing that they do on the last page for most of the issue, but when they did, I was like, “Ah, thank you.” Pete:                Yeah, glorious. Glorious last page reveal. This was fun. This was cool. I liked how they took the things that we know. We got different perspectives, a little POV and the mall scene. I thought that was really fun, and great use of clashing these two worlds together in a way that made sense. Justin:              Yeah. I think this makes perfect sense. No one would ever be like, “This is an unnatural blending of two different properties.” Pete:                Yeah. I mean, who doesn't love seeing [crosstalk 00:18:45]- Alex:                 Oh, go ahead. Justin:              No, as they say in the famous line, “One point 21 megatrons.” Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I do [crosstalk 00:18:54], think we're doing a good job here. I think when they finally get to it, to spoil a little bit of the book, but they do a back to the future too, with the transformers weaving their way through back to the future continuity saying, “Ooh, we could use some time travel to really take down the autobots,” and then of course, they finally do. We get the classic view of Hill Valley Square, except transformers have taken over the entire world. Beef Tatton, of course, is working for them. And Marty has tried to get away. It's just silly fun stuff. I had a much better time once they finally got to it, in the second half of the issue versus the first half of the issue- Pete:                Don't fucking do that. Don't break it up [crosstalk 00:19:35]. Alex:                 But I do. Justin:              It definitely felt like mashing up your toys when you're a kid in a fun way. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I agree. Next up, American Vampire 1976 number one, from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque. And we talked to Scott Snyder about this when he was at our live show a couple of weeks ago. So definitely go and listen to that podcast. But this is, as you could imagine for the title continuing and finishing the saga of American Vampire now in the '70s, there's disco, there's big Afros, everything that you'd expect going out on the title. This is also, I will say as much as I love this, and as much as I love Rafael Albuquerque's art in particular, this is definitely a deep dive into my subconscious to be like, “Who's that character from American Vampire?” I haven't read this in a while. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, personally. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, speaking of the Albuquerque's art. I mean, it's just so nice to be back in his warm embrace. I mean, this art is glorious. They're having fun. The classic, killing vampires with disco. I mean, you don't get tired of that, that's just fun stuff. Yeah, I think this was a cool wrap up. There's a lot of tie ins that I didn't remember, like you were saying solves, but I still enjoyed them. And yeah, I think it's a great saying that comes out of this book, “Fuck history, shred it and forget it.” You know what I mean? Justin:              Yeah. And that's how you failed social studies, right? Pete:                Hard, failed hard. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I mean, seeing this altogether, the team back together that is, is so nice. Skinner is such an iconic character, even though he's not really in American Vampire anymore. It's just great to have this book back. There are so many great shots, the moment where Travis Kid is looking over his shoulder, it's just such a good blend, Scott and Rafiel working together, you don't get anywhere else. Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah. It's great. Yeah, they're really getting it together. And so is our next book, Getting it Together, number one from [crosstalk 00:21:59]. Justin:              How did you come up with that? Wow. Alex:                 I mean, it was just up here. It was just up here in my brain and it came out of my mouth co-created and written by Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny Define and Sina Grace. We of course had Sina Grace and Omar Spahi on our live show. Justin:              Oh, when? Alex:                 Just this very week. Justin:              Oh, weird. Alex:                 So go back to this [inaudible 00:22:20], interview, despite the unfortunate tech problems. But I really enjoyed this book. If you did miss our live show, it's basically a more modern friend set in San Francisco. That's a little sexier and a little more inclusive, both from a cultural and sexual standpoint. And I thought it was fun. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. What do you guys think about it? Justin:              I agree [inaudible 00:22:46], a lot. I talked about this my comparison on the podcast of, Being a Bit Like Scott Pilgrim, a more modern and more, I guess, real, version of Scott Pilgrim where the characters are fun and interesting. They're making jokes and they're dealing with their mistakes in their lives. And I liked it a lot. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, unlike Friends, this is a little bit more, less shiny and more real, they get into things. So it's enjoyable. It's nice to just see a great image comic that focuses on relationships and the ebbs and flows of life and how we'd put up with each other's shit or don't and yeah, I think it's really well done. You got some interesting characters, some really fun, cool moments. Yeah, it's a solid book. Justin:              And who's your favorite friend? Real quick. Pete:                Oh, yeah. Alex:                 Good question. Pete:                Favorite friend on the TV show [crosstalk 00:23:49]- Alex:                 Go with Joey on this. Pete:                I'm going to say Alex. Alex:                 Gunther? Pete:                Nice. Alex:                 Wow. Justin:              Again, makes sense. You're the Gunther of this podcast. I got to say Pete was right. It's Joey. Joey is the best friend. [crosstalk 00:24:00]. Also, the seasons, he's the only one that isn't deeply unlikable by the end. Pete:                Well, I do like the Power of a Good Hug here. It's a nice thing that's in this book here, and [crosstalk 00:24:15]- Alex:                 I mean, I just want to follow up though what Justin said, that's why Joey was the perfect spinoff and works so well. Justin:              Yes. I can't believe it's still going strong, 15 seasons later. Alex:                 Incredible. Just a quick shout out before we move on. Jenny Define's art is great. In particular character designs are very good in this book. They're very unique, they're very different. They seem more realistic than your typical character designs and I think she does a good job here. Alex:                 Let's move on to our 10 of Swords Block. Three books came out today. We are going to talk about them as a little bit of a block, because this is an interesting event. And Justin, you haven't really been here to talk about this too much yet. Pete:                Wait- Alex:                 Yes, Pete, what's up? Pete:                Wait, I just wanted to point out, it's important that you read these in order. I fucked up the order [crosstalk 00:25:00]. Justin:              Like a lot of things, it's important you do them in the correct order, like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, putting- Pete:                No, you can have breakfast any time, mother fucker. Don't pull that shit. Justin:              Okay. Alex:                 Matter of life, death? Justin:              That birth, life, death. Alex:                 Yeah. Man, I'm very excited to hear what order you read these in. But just to read off all three titles right now. Wolverine number six written by Benjamin Percy and art by Viktor Bogdanovic. X-Force number three, also written by Benjamin Percy and art by Viktor Bogdanovic. Marauders, number 13 written by Vita Ayala and art by Matteo Lolli. So as you can probably tell here, the first two issues are basically one story. They're showing how Wolverine gets his sword. He's going after the Muramasa blade, which of course is the only thing that can kill him, as we learned from that very weird storyline, where he comes back from hell all the time. But that's sword he needs to go and battle for other worlds. And then Marauders 13 is a little more of a one-shot as it's showing how Storm gets her sword from Wakanda, which of course is a very personal mission for her. What do you think about the storyline so far? How'd you feel about these issues in particular? And Pete, what order did you read the bid? Pete:                Well, I'm just noticing now there's the part three of 22, part [crosstalk 00:26:20]. If I would have taken the time, I could have paid attention and then not read it, but I read it. Justin:              You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can read the cover to know what you're doing. Pete:                Yeah. I read part five first. I did the Marauders and then I did Wolverine and then I did Acts of Swords. Justin:              So that's all right. [crosstalk 00:26:44]- Alex:                 Not as bad as it could have been. You could have read Marauders in the middle or X-Force first and then Wolverine. Justin:              The Last page of Marauders gives it away a little bit for Wolverine and then you [crosstalk 00:26:56]. Justin:              Yes. Wolverine, it does get it together. See, I read the fifth panel on the sixth page of Marauders and I jumped over to X-Force and read the seventh panel on. [crosstalk 00:27:05]. Yeah, I know. Alex:                 Now, wait. Do you want to hear from Pete because you've been pretty dead on the exponent general and down on that storyline for the first two parts? Well, I think pretty positive about everything so far. I've been really enjoying this storyline. But you like these issues, right, Pete? Pete:                Yeah. So yeah, I guess what you wanted to talk about how you're a more positive person than me and you can see the sunshine. Alex:                 Yeah, I'm like ray of sunshine and you're not. Pete:                Yeah. I got a clouded like a ping pang thing going on. So yeah, what I like about this is, it's not 80 different fucking things happening at once. It's not fuck Island and you can't kill anybody anymore and golden eggs of humans, as well as the fact that you're no longer a part of everything. You give humans drugs on the side. It's just dealing with this 10 of Swords, like, “Okay, there's a showdown coming up, you've got to go get your weapon of choice and go get in your spot so that when it's go time, you're ready to go.” So it's like, “Great, this is what I want. I don't want this.” There's so much shit happening in X-Men right now we can just deal with this side story. And I was so happy, we just got three stories that make sense, that kind of like, okay, it's each person's journey to get to their place, so the raid to try to save the world. Justin:              It's like a prequel to the Choose Your Fighter screen on Street Fighter II. Pete:                Exactly. You're choosing what weapon and why. [crosstalk 00:28:49]. Yeah, I love it. Alex:                 I liked that you refer to this Wolverine story as nice and simple and straightforward where it's just classic Wolverine goes to Japan, goes down to hell, burns all of the flash off of his skeleton, meets a guy from other worlds who killed people who were the children of apocalypse. And has come back to getr an immortal blade that contains a person's soul that is also wanted by the beast who runs the hand, who wants to give them as wedding gifts, except the beast also hates Wolverine and Muramasa, so wants to eat their souls. Just classic which is very simple [crosstalk 00:29:31]. Pete:                Yeah, give me straightforward story that I can fucking follow, man. Alex:                 Totally. All you need to do is read every expert book and every Daredevil book, and you got it. Pete:                But if you don't know that Wolverine, when he dies, goes to hell and have to be reborn every time. I like the fact that they were picking up on that and playing with it a little bit here and… yeah, it sounds insane, but with Hickman's, all the stuff that he's changed, it's nice to just have a simple and say [crosstalk 00:30:02]- Alex:                 Go back to basics. Yeah. Justin:              Let me ask you, how many of the text pages did you read? Pete:                None. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Not a fucking one. Justin:              I actually liked a lot of the text pages, especially in the Marauders book, which feels like a good way for them to keep the more fantastical aspects of the Hickman, X-Men world in these books. These much more straightforward titles where we are just assembling the Circle of Swords characters back on Krakola. And yeah, it's like these are two shot in a one shot where fun stuff happens. Alex:                 I enjoyed these. I had fun. I still like this crossover. My only little qualms- Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 … with the Wolverine one- Justin:              Of course, I like something you fucking [crosstalk 00:30:55]. Alex:                 No. I mean, here's the thing. Is that, I don't like the Wolverine Goes to Hell thing at all. I do not like that as a part of Wolverine mythology. Justin:              I don't like that he can be- Pete:                I also don't like that Spider-Man made a deal with the fucking devil. [crosstalk 00:31:09]- Alex:                 Hold on. Wait, Justin, are you to call out the skeleton thing? Justin:              Yes. I don't like that either. Alex:                 What is that? Justin:              He can't just go back to skeleton and grow back. He's not Lobo, another Wolverine. Pete:                You don't know, that's not true. Alex:                 Yeah. That bothers me as well. I think Benjamin Percy, a great writer, the art is great. Justin:              I'm sorry about this [crosstalk 00:31:27]- Alex:                 I love having this new, a [oracco 00:31:32], opposite to Wolverine. This person, new has adamantium skin or armor or whatever is going on there. Justin:              Let's just say it's a microfiber. Alex:                 It's a great Wolverine villa. It's just a really good setup there. But those little things are just like, “Oh, this is so annoying to be,” but I pushed past them. Anyway, the Storm story I thought was very good. It's such a very smart thing to have her be like, “Goddammit, I got to go back to Wakanda with my ex-husband and ask for a sword somehow.” Vita Ayala puts great history of Storm in there. The art is excellent to the change of [inaudible 00:32:07], styles are great. I thought this was a very, very good issue in particular. So overall I'm a big fan of this storyline so far. Pete:                Yeah, me too. Yeah, and- Alex:                 Moving on… Oh, go ahead, Pete. Pete:                It was really cool to find out about the sword and the way they gave us the story. And yeah, and it was also tough because we're in Wakanda, rest in peace, Chadwick, Bozeman. There was that still, the amazing tribute thing. And then he didn't show up till later was cool and well placed and just caught her red-handed in the worst possible moment. But the conversation they had was great, and then the ending of the book with the other two waiting there was really fantastic, really setting things up and again it's excited for this 10 Swords event. I'm very excited for this and I hope this event can propel the X-Men into a place that is, I don't know, a little cleaner and less insane. Alex:                 I 100% guarantee you they're going to celebrate winning the 10 of Swords challenge with a big old fuck party at both ends. Justin:              Yes. And oracco fuck party is wow. Alex:                 That's fucked up. Justin:              I just hope they're not bringing 10 knives to 10 different gunfights. Alex:                 Oh man. That'd be bad. Son of a Hedgehog Bad Guy is number one from ITW story by Ian Flynn and art by Jack Lawrence. This is well outside of my wheelhouse. Justin:              What do you mean Alex? Alex:                 What I mean is Son of the Hedgehog is one of those characters, I was like, “What is he doing? He's running fast and spitting rings out of his body. This is dumb, and I hate this game. I'm not going to play.” Justin:              You don't like… because were an Nintendo person? Alex:                 Yeah, I was a Nintendo guy. Justin:              See, I was Nintendo too, and I feel the same way, because I was like, “He's just so fast.” Mario is not fast. He jumps, that's his whole thing. Pete:                First off, I was a Nintendo guy as well, but Sonic was fun. It was crazy, but it was a fun game. You all are [crosstalk 00:34:18]- Justin:              Alex and I are like Sonic, too fast, slow down. [crosstalk 00:34:22]. Why are you obsessed with rings? Be happy with the simple life, be happy with the simple life Sonic. [inaudible 00:34:29], all these golden rings, Pete:                All that aside, I felt like this was a very clean, fun idea of like, “All right, let's set up some villains. Let's set things up in a way that makes sense and moves things forward.” And I thought it was cool to see this team come together. Alex:                 Yeah. Ian Flynn knows what he's doing with these licensed properties. And like you said, taking a bunch of bad guys, even if I don't know a lot about them, he writes them well, he delineates them. Jack Lawrence's art is cartoony in front of the right way. Pete:                Perfectly, yeah. Alex:                 I'm just getting fun, all ages title. Even if I don't personally feel a connection with Son of the Hedgehog. Justin:              Now, Pete, how do you like this hedgehog when he's basically the flash with spikes? Pete:                No, he's nothing like that. There's no bullshit speed force or a fucking one of the treadmills- Alex:                 The screen force is like a bunch of rings that he spits out when he's hit. It's the same thing. Pete:                No, it's not true. Alex:                 Same concept. Pete:                No. Alex:                 Okay. Pete:                Yeah. I have no problem with Sonic, unlike you guys. I think this is a fun book, really well drawn. It's cool. Alex:                 We don't have a problem with it. It's a problem with you, Pete. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 We Only Find Them When They're Dead. Number two from Boom! Studios, written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Simone Di Meo. This is continuing the story of a bunch of salvagers who fly around the universe, carving meat off of gods. They want to find a live god, they only find dead gods. I got to say that carving meat thing is probably my favorite part of the book right now, just in terms of how weird and gross it is. How are you guys feeling about it, two issues in? Pete:                Well, I'm definitely going to change my will. And I want people to carve meat out of me and eat it. Justin:              Oh yeah. I can't wait for a filly Pete steak. Pete:                It's going to be fun. Justin:              Suck it up at Pete steak. Pete:                Oh boy. Justin:              Suck it up on Pete Steak. Pete:                Yeah. The art is fantastic in this book, it's very interesting as we piece together what's going on and this world where they live off dead gods. Yeah, this is very interesting different fun, space book, cool characters, good relationships. It'll be interesting to see how this goes, but I'm on board. I think this is a fun book. Justin:              Pete, when we do eventually eat you because you asked in your will, would you mind if I use regular cheese instead of cheez whiz? Pete:                No. You got use whiz. Also, I'll have a specific condiment, like the old country suite, [inaudible 00:37:20], dipping sauce, you know what I mean? Justin:              And that'll be made from your hair or something? Pete:                No, from the country [crosstalk 00:37:28]- Alex:                 No, of course, you're going to be a French dip. You got the [foreign language 00:37:30] Pete:                Oh, yeah. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Nothing like the good old you. Justin:              This reminds me, I've been watching the show, Raised by Wolves. [crosstalk 00:37:41]- Pete:                God, how many times are you going to talk about [crosstalk 00:37:44]? What the fuck? Alex:                 No, keep bringing it up, I want to talk about it every time. Let's do it. Justin:              [crosstalk 00:37:46]. I haven't quite finished it yet. Very excited. Two episodes left. This reminded me of that in a good way, a nice- Pete:                Save it for a weekend geek, you asshole. Justin:              Okay. But anyway, this is very similar. Totally, I think. Alex:                 Yeah, this is good stuff. This is just a big, hard Sci-Fi and I'm very impressed with this new world here. It's sometimes difficult to get through exactly what's happening, but I'm always intrigued to find out what's next. Alex:                 Talking about another hard Sci-Fi book, Far Sector, number eight from DC comics written by new MacArthur, genius grant recipients, N.K. Jemisin, art and color by Jamal Campbell. Yeah, take that other DC comics writers. This is tying up the storyline, but opening up some new mysteries. We have Green Lantern on this planet. She is fighting some digital beings. Finally, shuts them down, but as mentioned, it opens up new histories here. Every issue is just very good. How do you guys feel about this one? Pete:                Yeah. I mean the art is amaze balls. Every issue is very impressive. I love the aliens reference, little George Carlin quote. I mean this book continues to impress. The main character is fantastic. You root for the whole time. This is a fun mystery, who done it thing, that's slowly unraveling. I just constantly impressed with how different this is from Green Lantern books and how much more I like it than Green Lantern books. Justin:              Yeah. I think, in this issue, it occurred to me just the sense of place and characters is so unique in this book. You really feel like this city is difficult for the characters to understand or the main character to understand. That's as much of a part of the mystery as anything else. And I think it's very rare for a comic book to give that off. Alex:                 Yeah. Particularly when you have a Green Lantern comic book where they're usually flitting from planet to planet or going to [OA 00:39:54], and they're going somewhere else and then back to OA and then over to earth, that we're sitting here and living in this place is I think very smart and very good. This is a don't miss book every month. Alex:                 Next up, this is what I know you were excited about Justin, Adventure Man, number four from Image Comics. Script by Matt Fraction, pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson. In this issue, we're having our new adventure man, is dealing with the fact that she is much larger than she was previously. Justin:              And denser. Alex:                 And denser. Pete:                Denser. Alex:                 And we find out a lot more about the history of what went on with the previous Adventure Man. How'd you feel about this one? Justin:              I like this book a lot. Obviously, the art by the Dodsons is fantastic. And the way the story really takes its time, I said this on the main podcast as well, it really takes its time- Alex:                 You sure did. Justin:              … and we get to really explore the powers and origin of the character that so many books have to blow pass in one issue. And with this series, we get to really be like, to her discovering her powers. It reminds me of the first couple of Spider-Man movies and really like languishing in the origin and enjoying it, which is something that I've missed in a lot of new comic books. Alex:                 Yeah. I mean, some people might just say, “Get to it already,” but I see what you say. Justin:              I hear you on that. But with this, it feels like we get to see the characters really enjoying the world that they're in and enjoying this. This is moment of discovery of- Alex:                 Enjoying the journey. Justin:              Yeah. And enjoying the beginning of the journey. As for this character, I think it's cool. Alex:                 I agree. Pete:                The arts, fantastic. You've got some great action, some fun storytelling, great character development. This is a really pro comic that is just taking it's time and being confident in the art and the storytelling. Alex:                 Well, and it's also, I don't know if it's going to pan out this way, but it's a really good all ages comic book at the same time. This is something that you could read with kids and have no problem. It's a little complex, but it's fun stuff. It gets a little dark, but good book across the board. Next up, Backtrack, number seven from Oni Press written by Brian Joines, art by Jake Elphick. We had Brian Joines on the live show a couple of weeks back. [crosstalk 00:42:20]- Justin:              Wait, did you did you say Backtrack or Backstack? Alex:                 Backtrack. Pete:                Okay, [inaudible 00:42:25]. Justin:              Backtstack. Alex:                 So this is a car race through time. And in this issue, they find their [inaudible 00:42:30], cells not back in time, but forward in time, in the future, dealing with some big stuff here. I really like this issue a lot. This is a big mythology issue, building out exactly what's been going out of the background while they were doing this race. And I enjoyed finally getting to that stuff, as well as this glimpse of this future timeline. How did you two feel about it? Pete:                Yeah. I mean, this is just over the top fun, the art is unbelievable and it's nice to see even in the future, you can just cocky robots, you just shoot them down. You know what I mean? Don't let those robots talk shit to you. Just shoot them in the face until they fall down. It's good stuff. Justin:              Wow. Bad attitude when it comes to [inaudible 00:43:18]. You're the kind of guy that would shoot up C-3PO in Empire Strikes Back. Pete:                No, come on. Oh, well 3CPO, yeah. [crosstalk 00:43:26]. Alex:                 As will Smith said in the classic movie, I, Robot, “Oh, hell no.” Justin:              Yeah. That's what we were all thinking. Thanks for saying it, Alex. Alex:                 Anytime. Justin:              When we had Brian on the show, we talked a lot about how the racing, the balance between the racing and the other side of the story is really well handled. And even in this issue, where there's so much about the mythology and just developing the world around these characters, we still have a lot of time for the energy of the race. And I think that the momentum behind the book is really part of that and I appreciate that. Alex:                 Yeah, they do- Justin:              The colors in this book are also really exciting. Alex:                 Yeah, they do a great job of bouncing my story and action and it keep things grounded, even though it's such a chronic crazy over the top idea. Justin:              It makes me, just when I'm driving my kids to school in the morning, I just feel the same way. I'm just going crazy. Pulling to a stop at a red light and slowly, getting in traffic and then stopping again. Alex:                 Oh, man. That's really cool. You should try going through time. Next up, let's talk about one of my favorite Marvel books that is rapidly going to the top of my stack, Black Widow, number two from Marvel, read by Kelly Thompson, art by Elena Casagrande. We've got a little hint of what's been going on with Black Widow in the last issue as something happened to her. And now she's being manipulated by Arcade. This issue Hawkeye, and with the soldier tracking her down. They find out she's living a happy family life, but of course, Black Widow still got a Black Widow with some hero stuff. This is great. This is such a great twist on Black Widow. This is such a different story for her, and I'm very excited to see where this goes. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. Our expectations that we talked about at the first issue where it's like, “Oh, it's not the Black Widow book. Oh, she's dealing with her past, she's being taken advantage of. She's going to kill people to get back on top,” and to find that new spin on it like this. And I love the perspective shift, switching to Hawkeye and Bucky, Winter Soldier, just like trying to figure this out. And I do hope they get to the Winter Soldier Black Widow over relationship that was such a great relationship back in the Edward Baker run, and was just untimely dispatched with at the end of that run. And I would love to see that become a thing again, despite the fact that she has no memory at all. Pete:                What do you guys think? This is the kind of the question. Do they interfere here or do they literally let her live this happy life that she seemed so pleasant and content with? Alex:                 Well, since she's being manipulated by Arcade and the Kabbalah villains, I would say they probably should get her out, but they don't know that part yet. Pete:                They don't. I just wanted to go on record here and say if you guys see me living a brainwashed life, please don't hesitate to pull me out of that. Alex:                 Oh, I thought you're going to say let you stay in it. Pete:                No. Justin:              Do you think some of the younger henchmen that deal with Arcade are like, “What are you named after, dude?” Pete:                Yeah, definitely. Justin:              What is it? Core quarters? You put quarters in the machine? Alex:                 Apple Arcade. Come on, that's a thing. Everybody loves Apple Arcade. We are all subscribers. Justin:              That's 100% true. Alex:                 Yeah. What's your favorite game on Apple Arcade? Real quick. Don't even look it up. Just mention one. Justin:              Sorry. I'm just running through my favorite quippy shows. Let me just list those. Alex:                 Exorsisters, number 10 from Image Comics written by Ian Boothby and art by Gisèle Lagacé. This is the culmination of illustration [crosstalk 00:47:18], of the firsthand issues. We talked about this series on and off. This is about two sisters, as you probably figured out from the title. One of them is real, one of them is not. And they're battling forces of heaven and hell. Great climax in this issue. I thought just like a big, fun battle that didn't lose the sense of humor that it has throughout. I enjoyed this title quite a bit. How do you guys feel? Justin:              Yeah, I feel the same way. The art has the classic Betty and Veronica, Archie vibe to it, well dealing with these big demonic characters, heaven and hell coming together around these sisters, these not technically sisters, sisters. It's very fun. Alex:                 Yeah, it's fun. Even in the middle of the fight, she's like, “Do you want to tag in?” It's just, they're having a good time, even though there's big stakes and things happening and I really liked the sister's relationship. Yeah, I think this is really a fun book that makes an interesting turn at the end. But yeah, this is well done, well drawn. You can run those ones when you look at the cover, you're like, “Oh, I get what this is.” And then you're pleasantly rewarded for that. Alex:                 Next up, Deceased, Dead Planet, number four from TC Comics written by Tom Taylor, art by Trevor Harrison. If you haven't been following along, we've been loving this title. This takes place in a world ravaged by the anti-life equation. They have found out that cyborg holds maybe the cure to the virus that it has going around. So this issue they're tracking down, Metron trying to get information from him to put it all together. Another great issue of this title. What'd you guys think about it? Pete:                I mean, this comic is insane. This is so much fun. It's nonstop action and fun moments between heroes, great kiss. Some bad-ass reveal at the end, last page. Tom Taylor is killing this book. Justin:              Yeah, I really liked the way the Superman and Batman are done in this storyline. It's one of the rare Elle swirled these storylines where I really think the heroes stand on their own. I could see these characters continuing on outside of this comic or just really living in this deceased world for a long time. Alex:                 That's great. I agree. Next up, Inkblot, number two from Image Comics written by Emma Kubert and art by Rusty Gladdest. Pete, you're a big fan of this one. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 It's a fantasy book with a tiny little black cat. This issue takes a very different bed. Introduces subdue characters, keeps the same cat. How do you feel about this? Pete:                This is fun book. I don't know what it is about this adorable cat, but- Alex:                 Is some of the cat is very… I can't stop looking at it. Pete:                I don't know if it's the eyes or the cuteness or just the way it's drawn. Alex:                 It's probably the eyes, because the eyes are the only distinguishing features. Pete:                But I really love it. I know it's ridiculous, but just seeing this guy who just says ‘Meow,” is just great and saves the day. Guys, just because dragons are big and scary doesn't mean they have big and scary problems. Sometimes you just have a small problem kike your old rat stuck in the nose. Alex:                 You worshiped the cat? The weight of the cat. Pete:                Let's weigh the cat guys. Alex:                 You're a cat guy though, Pete. That's the thing. That's a secret that nobody knows. Pete:                Well, I was a dog person my whole life, but now I have a cat. And so it's just me and Inkblot living the dream. Alex:                 I like this issue. I just want to know what's going on with this book, because as far as I can tell the second issue wasn't really connected to the first issue, [crosstalk 00:51:24]- Pete:                Yeah, one and done type of scenarios. Alex:                 Yeah. But the first issue ended in a cliff hanger where they were going to continue the story. So I'd love to get back to that. No, that'd be cool. I think the art is very good. I like the world. There's a glorious picture of a bunch of [ellis 00:51:42], standing in front of this, I don't know if it's a portal or what it is in these tree branches that is gorgeous. So I want to know more about this world, but I feel like we're two issues in, and it's not quite giving me enough information at this point. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Well, I don't know what more you need. You got adorable cat who's solving crimes and helping people out. I mean, what the fuck else you want, man? Justin:              [crosstalk 00:52:08]. Getting that rat. Pete:                Got to get that rat. Justin:              Got to get that rat. That's what I said to my coffee mug in the morning, I drink my cup of coffee and I'm like, “Ah, time to get that rat.” Champions, number one written by Eve L. Ewing, art by Simone Di Meo. This is picking up on the champions outlawed storyline that I think began 35 years ago. I'm not 100% sure, but the champions have been… they're not allowed to be superheroes anymore. Kids aren't allowed to be super heroes and being a little mean, but this is obviously a victim of the pandemic where things have gotten very, very delayed. Justin:              Finally, we are picking up on this though. What do you think about this take on Marvel's Young Heroes? Pete:                I mean, it just sucks that they're no longer allowed to be heroes and they're trying to be… there's sting operations to get them. I mean, it's heartbreaking stuff, you know what I mean? They earn their stripes, they should be a part of the team. Justin:              Exactly. If I were in living in this world, I would want to [crosstalk 00:53:14]- Pete:                You are living in this world. Justin:              … 11, 12 year olds running around, shooting stuff through lasers. Alex:                 Yeah, being in charge of things, making big time decisions. I love it. Justin:              Once the team comes together and this book starts moving, I like this a lot. I'm the Van [Astervicks 00:53:32], formerly Marvel boy, former new warrior. The fact that he's the bad guy here, now he's called Justice. I don't know if he's just this way now. That was interesting. And I guess, I'm not super familiar with the dynamics of this team. I like the way the reveal at the end, and I'm curious how, if this book does have that same vibe of the new warriors that I liked back in the '90s. Alex:                 Yeah. It's not quite there yet. It feels like the middle of whatever happened previously, whatever's coming next, but once it comes together, I am interested to read it as well. Alex:                 Last but not least, Decorum, number five written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mike Huddleston. This might be my favorite issue of Decorum, so far personally. Justin:              100%. I like how we always save this book for last. Alex:                 All right, so at this book, who knows what really is going on? But in this issue, we are following our former courier character was now training at a school for assassins. And we follow her as she trains at that school over the course of many, many years. Man, this issue was great. Just a ton of fun, perfectly relayed out by Mike Huddleston phenomenal. Like I do, it's taken us a while to get here, but just a joy to read from beginning to end. Justin:              Yeah. I agree. I think Hickman, especially on his non big to work really pops when there's a very clear format to the story so that he can live in that format and tell the wildest stories he can think of. I like to imagine that right after Krakola finishes, making love to a neighboring Island, Krakola falls asleep and dreams the comic book, Decorum. Alex:                 Wow. Justin:              Hmm, wow. Alex:                 There's some- Justin:              Delilah will be here all night, listening to your heartbreaking story. Pete:                There's some amazing art, some amazing coloring and shading in this book. Really beautiful stuff, but it's also repetitive and it's also like you're getting these symbols, the graphics, the [crosstalk 00:55:56]- Justin:              There's some amazing shading. There's some amazing shading right there for people to pick. Pete:                I get it, man. You like symbols now, and now every book has to have these little pages, in between pages that don't have much, but have a little bit whatever- Justin:              Dude, dude, dude, it is not now. He's been doing that same shit for years. Alex:                 Yes. Pete:                Okay, cool. I guess I'm just catching on to it, but I don't know. I guess if you like it and it's in every book, you get used to it or grow to expect it. But I think the art is glorious, especially with… even though it's repetitive of the same shit, the kind of goriness of it is fantastic. And then you get the, okay, she finally steps up and what that means and the aftermath. So interesting, cool storytelling, but really took its time and art's great. Alex:                 Alright, there you go. No better place to wrap up than that. If you would like to support this podcast, patrion.com/comic book club, also do a live show every Tuesday ni

In this episode we talk about how we traveled to Tulum, Mexico on a budget with a pre-teen and a teenager. It was awful. It was wonderful. We ran into some wildlife, weird energy, and police with machine guns. Luckily, we made it home alive and we lived to tell the tale. This is a long-ass podcast so be prepared for us to ramble on for about an hour, but to be honest it was all comedy gold so there wasn't much to edit out. Enjoy our trip to Tulum. It's almost like you were there with us! Stay tuned for more travel stories because we have a bunch!

Please consider making a donation at https://tinyurl.com/gwdonate2020 CWs: Bulimia (1:14:47-1:15:32), racism (1:29:32-1:30:52, 1:52:47).   On the season two finale of The Gleewatch, Sam and Hannah are joined by New York City resident Rathna  "New York", the twenty-second and final episode of Glee's second season. Topics of discussion include: “Why is this cash-strapped glee club staying in New York for an extra week?", "Goddammit, are they really forcing Hannah to remember the musicals she did in high school again?", "Why are all these children allowed to be unsupervised?", and "Is it unprofessional to get horny in the middle of a performance?" Thanks to all our guests and listeners for making this season as fun as it was! We hope that you've enjoyed listening and participating. We'll be taking a few months off between seasons 2 and 3 for the sake of our sanities, but you can expect us back in August or September for more of Ryan Murphy's brain worms. If you like the show, be sure to subscribe via your podcast provider of choice, leave a review on iTunes, and even tell a friend or two about us! You can also follow us on Twitter @TheGleeWatch or email us at thegleewatch@gmail.com. Our theme music is by Sebastian Black, and we have no sponsors because the world is falling apart; why would we ever try interacting with it?

Tomar control de la dirección de tu vida, también trae responsabilidades. Es hora de que te tomes el proyecto de ser bilingüe en serio y que le des cuerpo y alma. Are you ready to take charge and own your English?

Welcome to the DC TV Report for the week ending Saturday June 3rd, 2017, as submitted by Edward O'Hare, nickname To Be Determined. 3 new episodes this week, including a penultimate episode and a finale. Lots of excitement ahead: Gotham - Penultimate Episode – The Shaman executed the remaining leaders of the Court of Owls and put Bruce in charge of detonating a bomb that would release the Tetch virus and wipe Gotham's slate clean. Lee kidnapped Jim and buried him alive in a park with a walkie-talkie and the Tetch virus. Harvey let Alfred beat the bomb's location out of Hugo Strange. Harvey tried finding Jim's coffin but time ran out, so Jim took the virus, punched his way out of the grave and ran for the bomb. Ed got Babs, Tabitha, Butch and even Selena to help him track down Oswald. Things looked bad for Pengy until Fish Mooney dropped in (Goddammit! WHY IS SHE STILL ALIVE!!!), and snatched him away from Ed. Last Minute Reveal: Lee stopped Jim and Alfred shot the Shaman, but not before the Tetch bomb went off. Bruce watched the Shaman die after mentioning something about “the Demon's Head.” Bruce blamed Alfred for ruining his mission before being carried away by the cops!   Lucifer - Season 2 Finale – Chet's body was found in a lot and Chloe was on the case. One of crew that disposed of the body also turned up roasted. Turns out Chet's brother, Hector, did it and was out to kill Charlotte. Amenadiel realized he was God's favorite and had second thoughts about using the Flaming Sword of Eden. Charlotte tortured Dr. Linda and met with Chloe at a carnival. Amenadiel slowed time to help Maze get Linda to a hospital. Luci used that time to save Charlotte from Hector and cut open a void with the sword for Charlotte to enter and create a new life for herself. Later that night, Luci was ready to tell Chloe the whole truth until he was knocked out from behind. Last Minute Reveal: Lucifer woke up half-naked in the desert… with his wings!   iZombie - Liv baked a brain pot pie from a D&D Dungeon Master who was poisoned. The FBI took over the case because the victim was also a high-level hacker. This led to an awkward moment between Clive and his old flame Dale. Major found hate mail Ravi was hiding and set up a blind date with a girl named Shawna. Peyton asked Floyd Baracus for help looking into the death of James Weckler. He refused and then was shot at a fundraiser. Blaine experimented with a blue-soaked brain. Don stole some and went crazy. Ravi told the Zombie Haters about his cure to try and convince them not to kidnap Zombies. Instead Harley Johns kidnapped Don and asked Ravi to try his cure on him. Last Minute Reveal: A car pulled into Seattle and Mr. Boss popped out of the trunk, ready to settle some debts!