Quimby's Bookstore Podcast #6 Up, With Caseen Gaines and His Book Inside Pee-Wee’s Playhouse

So I finished mixing down the sixth episode of the Quimby's Bookstore Podcast, which features an interview with Caseen Gaines, the author of Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse: The Untold, Unauthorized, and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenomenon. Click here or on the picture above and you can go listen to it.

Caseen talked to a lot of people involved in the show, as well as many fans, and it's really a fun book. And I must say, I didn't really watch the show that much as a kid when it was on (late 80s, early 90s) but I loved the first Pee-Wee movie as well as the Christmas special. In some ways I do sort of feel like Pee-Wee Herman is a part of my childhood, which added to making this interview special for me. I guess what I'm saying is that it was kind of like sitting down with someone and just reminiscing about stuff you loved when you were younger but with the added benefit of adding the social commentary that you can do as an adult. Intelligent observations about pop culture, so satisfying.

Relevant topics touched on in the with Caseen: public persona, breaking the fourth wall, the concept of hommage vs. rip off, tribute vs authorization and so on. It was a super fun interview because Caseen is charismatic, funny and extremely articulate. He's a high school teacher, and I bet sitting in his class is super fun.

You can listen to this episode at quimbys.podbean.com or find it (and subscribe) to the podcast on I-tunes, or even go to podbean where it provides a link to I-tunes if you need some guidance. You have options for streaming live or downloading, depending on what your preferance are, or if you're not a Mac person and still want to listen to it. At the podbean site I also included some links to things we talk about in the interview.

Sidenote: I realized something lately, and that is that I think my favorite thing to do is sit around with my friends and talk about/make fun of media. Some people like to travel, some people like to knit, some people like to decoupage, some people like to cook. I like to sit around with engaging people and talk about media, which sometimes devolves into making fun of certain things in the entertainment industry. (Hence a totally different podcast I do with my friend Sacha here.) That explains why I love things like MST3K, Amelie Gillette's "Hater" stuff in The Onion, or just the parts of Beavis and Butthead when they were making fun of the music videos -- people making fun of things (when the making fun of is warranted) is amusing to me. And I feel like the creative endeavors that I take the most amount of joy in usually include elements of comedy and music. And I am not talking about the Capitol Steps. They sound like a parody of bands that do comic musical performances about politics, except that they are actually a band that does comic performances about politics.


ANYWAY, click on the above picture and go listen to it and leave a comment on I-Tunes that YOU THINK IT'S AWESOME.

More Names For The Cats

The Double Headed Heart Shaped Kitty Monster

Once again, the post-it is full. Specifically I am referring to the post-it that I hang on the fridge, next to the grocery list, the one that I write down the ridiculous names I call my cats. That means it's time to type it up and post it on my blog. In case you're new to this, the deal is that I have 2 kitties. Tamago is the male, and he's quite a fat slob chunky charlie. His sister Oshinko is smaller and slimmer. Both are black cats, and both are my little lovers who cuddle with me and steal my heart. They probably don't know their names since I rarely call them the same name twice. See if you can tell which names are for Tamago and which names are for Oshinko, and which are names for both of them as a unit.

Obese-Wan Kenobi
King Mushenkamen
Portly Gentleman
Paws to Reflect
Turkey Lurky
Night Beast
Blub Chub
Blub Hub
Blubber
Turkey & Turkey Incorporated
Fat Caliper Claw
Chaloopa
Fat Walrus
Bananas
Lettuce
Oh This Isn't the Grocery List?

New Episode of Ray of Blight Podcast Available For Your Listening Pleasure

The second episode of the pop music podcast I do with Sacha Mullin called "Ray of Blight" is up! It's available at podbean and I-Tunes for streaming or downloading as a you see fit, and of course it's free.

This week we talk about the surreal musical releases offered by actors.

A small sampling of relevant subtopics: Donna Summer, Molly Ringwald, David Hasselhoff, anonymous *Nsync fan fiction, Raise Your Voice staring Hilary Duff, Many Mamas, Many Papas, Esther Rolle, Drunk Text, Minnie Driver, Spotify, Hal featuring Gillian Anderson, Charlotte Rae and Friends, Don Johnson, Ken Nordine, The Alice in Wonderland TV Musical, Celebrity Vinyl by Tom Hamling, Melissa Joan Hart, Yentle, Britney Spears, Jewel Staite, Lindsay Lohan albums, Russell Crowe, You've Got the Touch, Maaya Sakamoto, The Brady Bunch Theme performed jazzy and majestic, Philip K. Dick, Ringo, Jack Wagner, a chocolate lab snout, HR Giger, celebrity classification, well rounded entertainers, The Golden Age of cinema, boy band archetypes, Venn diagrams and more.

(Can't find it on I-Tunes? Click here to go to podbean, then look to the right, scroll down a little, and there's an icon that says "subscribe with I-Tunes.")