Thursday, September 25, 2025

Episode 212 - The Spinal Tap Episode

In this episode, I talk about all things Spinal Tap for the whole show! The original movie, the recent sequel, and a TON of stuff in-between that you might not even know exists! It was a lot of fun making this one. On a side note, I can't BEGIN to tell you how frustrating it was to realize this is episode 212 instead of 211, so that I could've said, "This episode goes two-eleven." Missed opportunity. 

Bandcamp: http://derekbrink.bandcamp.com 
email: db@derekbrink.com 

Time Index:

And here's your cover photo! Eagle-eyed viewers may notice that the book arrived in the time between when I recorded and posted this episode!



Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Episode 211 - I'm Out There, Please Find Me

In this episode, I talk about music from Sabrina Carpenter, Margo Price, David Byrne, and Yungblud, then I talk about Only Murders in the Building and the Trekkies documentaries (and just kinda Star Trek in general). I had fun. Now I demand that you do, too!

Bandcamp: http://derekbrink.bandcamp.com 
email: db@derekbrink.com 

Time Index:

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 11:19 - Forever Home
  • 11:50 - Recent Listening
    • 12:44 - Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend
    • 20:12 - Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman
    • 25:55 - David Byrne - Who Is The Sky?
    • 30:18 - Yungblud - Icons
  • 37:26 - The High Road
  • 37:56 - Recent Watching
    • 38:08 - OMITB
    • 46:20 - Trekkies/Star Trek
  • 59:37 - Chekov's Rights
  • 1:00:08 - Outro
I've decided to cut back on the photos, btw. It's a lot of work and takes up a lot of storage space. So I'll post photos when there's something I want to show in detail, but for the most part, I'm just going to post the cover photo here, unless there's some outcry. Hope everybody understands...but if not, cry out! The email address is above! :) 

But here's your cover photo for this episode:



Sunday, September 7, 2025

Episode 210 - I Can't Remember the Words that are Actually Words

After almost a three week accidental hiatus, I'm back with a slightly weird and slightly short episode! In this one I backtrack to correct my thinking on the recent releases by Coheed & Cambria and HAIM, then I talk about Mastodon, the Struts, and a bunch of Oktoberfest beers. I had fun. Maybe you can too!

Blog: http://emptychecking.blogspot.com 
Bandcamp: http://derekbrink.bandcamp.com 
email: db@derekbrink.com 

Time Index (sorry this is a little concise this week):

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 7:41 - Vagabond
  • 8:11 - Recent Listening - Including Coheed & Cambria, HAIM, Mastodon, and The Struts
  • 31:11 - Jean Jacket
  • 31:42 - Oktoberfest Beers!
  • 46:00 - Slainte
  • 46:30 - Outro
I only have the cover photo this week. It's been...and ordeal to even make this work.


Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Episode 209 - They Don't Seem Like that Kind of Guys (or Fisher Stevens Scares Cats)

In this episode, I talk about music from Murry Hammond, Hayes Carll, and The Wonder Years and then the movies The Phoenician Scheme, Throw Momma from the Train, and the TV show Columbo. I had a great time recording this one that I hope translates into your ears!

Bandcamp: http://derekbrink.bandcamp.com 
email: db@derekbrink.com


Time Index:

  • 0:00 - Intro (Including a defense of Taylor Swift)
  • 17:41 - TralfamadOverture
  • 18:11 - Recent Listening
    • 18:28 - Murry Hammond - Trail Songs of the Deep
    • 23:12 - Hayes Carll - We're Only Human
    • 28:55 - The Wonder Years (In general)
  • 35:52 - You've Got to Laugh
  • 36:22 - Recent Viewing
    • 36:47 - The Phoenician Scheme
    • 43:46 - Throw Momma from the Train
    • 48:25 - Columbo
  • 56:02 - If It's Raining
  • 56:32 - Outro
Photos:
Here's the cover photo. I can't BEGIN to express to you the amount of work it took just to get this simple photo edited! Microsoft apparently killed the Publisher software I've been using forever, trapping a bunch of art (including ALL of my CD covers!) in unusable files. So I had to find a workaround for that, and I'm not fully happy with where I landed. They're just holding DECADES of my work hostage with no notice at all, and I'm very frustrated and sad about it. Years of work might just be GONE. Anyway...here's the cover photo.

New Murry Hammond album. More upbeat than the previous one...but it'd almost have to be!

New Hayes Carll record. It's a sleepy little lesson, but still has all of his charm. Was hoping for a barn burner, but got a nice mellow listen instead. No real problem there...but that's what it is.

An old favorite from the 80s that I might not have SEEN since the 80s!

New Wes Anderson movie. Best one since Grand Budapest, IMO. Lots of fun, but still a lot of heart.

Somehow this picture ended up here. I'm not fixing it. I'm late to the party with this band, but I've really been enjoying getting into them.

I've been a Columbo fan for years. Presently deep into a rewatch. So I decided to talk about it. :)


Thursday, July 24, 2025

Episode 208 - The Fab 15 Feel Good Songs

You lucky ducks! It's a FAB 15 episode, featuring your Uncle Derek and Papa Dave! This week we're counting down our Fab 15 Feel Good Songs. Which was apparently a slightly more confusing topic than intended. But it's a fun listen and includes a nice review of the recent Devo show in St. Louis, up top! Join us, won't you?

REMINDER - THERE ARE SPOILERS ON THE BLOG, BUT NOT ON THE APPS!!

Bandcamp: http://derekbrink.bandcamp.com
email: db@derekbrink.com
Spotify Playlists: https://open.spotify.com/user/317eypfciiajkyay2kxloz3kreoa?si=f046115ad0514079 

Time Index:

  • 0:00 - Intro
  • 2:11 - Dave and Derek talk about Devo
  • 13:02 - Explanation of the topic and rules for the list
  • 18:57 - The list begins:
  • 19:04 - #15 - Feels So Good - Van Halen / Get Happy - Judy Garland
  • 26:27 - #14 - Happy Together - The Turtles / It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine) - REM
  • 32:02 - #13 - I'm A Believer - The Monkees / Baba O'Riley - The Who
  • 36:37 - #12 - You Make My Dreams Come True - Hall & Oates / Beautiful Day - U2
  • 42:00 - #11 - Steal My Sunshine - Len / Spirit of Radio - Rush
  • 47:40 - #10 - Wannabe - Spice Girls / Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
  • 52:39 - #9 - Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield / Let's Go Crazy - Prince
  • 57:41 - #8 - Do You Believe in Magic - The Lovin' Spoonful / Wannabe - Spice Girls
  • 1:02:37 - #7 - Livin' On a Prayer - Bon Jovi / Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
  • 1:12:21 - #6 - Happy - Pharell Williams / I'm a Believer - The Monkees
  • 1:14:50 - #5 - Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac / Wouldn't It Be Nice - Brian Wilson
  • 1:23:30 - #4 - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper / Roll with the Changes - REO Speedwagon
  • 1:27:58 - #3 - I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown / Walkin' on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
  • 1:35:14 - #2 - Celebration - Kool & the Gang / Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
  • 1:40:16 - #1 - Walkin' on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves / I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
  • 1:42:20 - Honorable Mentions
  • 1:54:08 - The FINAL 15 and picking a number 1 (other than the first two, this list is in no particular order):
    1. Walkin' On Sunshine
    2. I Got You (I Feel Good)
    3. Wannabe
    4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
    5. I'm a Believer
    6. Feels So Good
    7. Happy Together
    8. You Make My Dreams Come True
    9. Happy
    10. Don't Stop
    11. Celebration
    12. Shake It Off
    13. Let's Go Crazy
    14. Wouldn't It Be Nice
    15. Don't Stop Me Now
And here's the cover photo, because somebody would complain if I didn't post it...


SPECIAL UPLOADS

 I should really do this more often... If you only follow the show here, you often miss quick updates that I do from my phone that hit the podcast apps, but I always forget to post them here. In a matter of minutes, you're going to be getting a Fab 15...but before that, over the last few days, I uploaded things in tribute to Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Ozzy Osbourne, and (sorta) Hulk Hogan. It seemed weird not to have a record of those on the blog. So now they're here!



Sunday, July 6, 2025

Episode 207 - Americanre

In this episode, we catch up on some music from James McMurtry, Pulp, Neil Young, HAIM, and S.G. Goodman. It's a slightly shorter episode, but packed with fun! Enjoy!

Music: http://derekbrink.bandcamp.com
email: db@derekbrink.com

Time Index:

  • 0:00 - Intro 
  • 11:41 - You and You Alone
  • 12:11 - Recent Listening:
    • 12:47 - James McMurtry - The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy
    • 17:30 - Pulp - More
    • 21:51 - Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts - Talkin to the Trees
    • 25:00 - HAIM - I Quit
    • 34:32 - S.G. Goodman - Planting By the Signs
  • 38:54 - The High Road
  • 39:26 - Outro
Photos--I'm a little short on time, so I'm not captioning them this week. Sorry!: