Well, it’s not dumb… but those videos of soldiers coming home and surprising their kids gets me EVERY time in the feely parts.
What is the hardest you can ever remember laughing?
About a year ago, give or take several months, wifey and I were driving. We were listening to the comedy station and it was a Patton Oswalt bit about a fat guy trying on pants. He compared it to a dying soldier. I can’t begin to do it justice, but we were laughing to hard we had to pull over to compose ourselves. I SO wish I could link it here, but I was looking for it recently and couldn’t find it.
Btw… this comedy radio channel is brilliant! Where was this my whole life, and why has no one tried it before?
When was the last time you cried?
We covered that above
What is your emotional rescue?
Bob Dylan music. Specifically, Blood on the Tracks is my go to for everything. I listen at least once a week. Can not possibly say enough good things about early Bob Dylan. Btw, those hipsters who want to say ‘before he went electric’ are just wrong. His best stuff is his early electric work (1965-66) and Blood on the Tracks came a full ten years after that. It is, however, almost totally acoustic.
Describe a new emotion you have just invented?
This happened about 5 days ago. I saw a photo of a guy doing something dumb that went viral. In his face, I could see he was already regretting it. He was ‘pre-gretting’ it. Or… ‘pregretting’
So that is my new emotion AND word – pregretting®
You are welcome to use that, America. My compliments!
I didn’t like any of the questions from my idiot editor. So, I am going to my old fallback. Setting my phone to full random on songs. Going to tell my relationship to each song or band, in the order that they come up.
Bury Me – Dwight Yoakum
I just love this guy, and I am not a country fan by most definitions. To me, his music is folk music. I finally got to see him a couple years ago, at Red Rocks no less, and it was fantastic. I don’t know how I came about his music, but for years I have been performing ‘Fast as You’ with my band, and alone camping.
It’s funny to me that he is an actor. Being actor is about being a face. Yet, find me one publicity photo of his face. You can’t. Wait… I googled a pic of him without that hat. Never mind, Dwight, put that hat right back on.
I got to listen to him do a longform interview on the ACS. He was stupidly likeable. He didn’t just tell great stories, he sang old jingles and played guitar.
Estimated Prophet – Grateful Dead
One of the few Bobby songs that we all love and appreciate. And their ain’t many. Over the years, I have finally come to really appreciate Bob. Basically, it took Jerry dying to realize what a treasure we always had in Bobby. We took him for granted, and I will personally cop to it. However, may I note that this was a big song he was doing when I was following the band in summers of ’90 and ’91. He would do this caterwauling at the end that was just sad. We used to call him ‘Bobby Cheese’. Ok, maybe not ‘we’…. So much as ‘me’.
Side note, this comes from the album Terrapin Station. My god I love this album. Terrapin isn’t just my favorite Dead song… it is a super rare moment where the recorded original version is just perfection. Most of their catalogue never really got great until it was played live.
Nice Boys – Guns & Roses
This is from the album before Appetite. Can I tell you something? I was listening to Guns & Roses BEFORE Appetite for Destruction came out. Credit goes to Tim Ashton, of course. They had an EP called ‘live like a fucking suicide’. It was later re-released as side two of ‘Lies’.
Hello… sorry – Todd Snider
I love Todd Snider, he is a folk troubadour, a la Arlo Guthrie, and his father before him. This isn’t a song, but an intro to one of his wonderful live collections… where he tells as many stories as he does sing songs. Got to see him live a few years ago, and it was everything I hoped it would be. One of my favorite clips you can find online is this. Too Soon To Tell.
Buckets of Rain – Bob Dylan
well, it’s no surprise the list featured the Dead and Bob Dylan. I still listen to Dylan almost daily. This is from the masterpiece ‘Blood on the Tracks’. This is a rather jaunty look at his miserable divorce… which the whole album is about. Young Bob Dylan was a God, and I am thrilled he got the Pulitzer. To me, 1974’s Blood on the Tracks is a mystery, of sorts. This is the music Bob Dylan was making up to 1966. This should be the successor to ‘Blonde on Blonde’. However, Bob went weird for almost a decade. For Bob to ‘go weird’… well that is saying something. Lay Lady Lay? What the hell was that? What was that thing he was doing with his voice?
It’s like Bob went in to witness protection from 1966 to 1974. Then, he comes back with Blood on the Tracks… and it is like he was never gone.
Seinfeld. Every hour that goes by lends itself to a Seinfeld reference. I have read a book by a writer on that show, and he mentions that show was unique. Larry David wanted real stories from people’s lives for the show. He didn’t want things made up that would seem funny. Other shows, the writer said, stayed FAR away from real life because everyone was afraid of getting sued. The book was by Fred Stoller. I forget the title, but if you hop over to my ‘what I am reading’ section and do a control F on the name ‘Stoller’, it will come up.
What song do you quote/reference the most?
Bob Dylan. Anything, and everything, off ‘Blood on the Tracks’. Now, why didn’t you ask me what book I most reference? You don’t even care, do you? Well, I’ll tell you anyway… and you likely know this by now – Alice in Wonderland.
What TV series has/had the best music/soundtrack?
The music around the Sopranos was always just perfect. Lot of ambiance and tension. Just hearing that opening sequence and watching Tony drive across the bridge, you knew great and amazing things were going to happen in the next hour.
What movie has/had the best music/soundtrack?
No question here, no race to the top – Blues Brothers takes it far and away. Ok, listen, that was short. You ain’t getting more. I started a new job and I am on day 2 of a 10 day in a row swing. Going from not working, to ten days in a row… or even TWO days in a row… well, I am going to bed now. I love you, have a great weekend!
I am Correct 
