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. :)

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!!

Blog: http://emptychecking.blogspot.com

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!

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!:

Episode 206 - BOX SETS!

In this episode, I talk about one of my favorite musical formats--the CD Box Set! That's right! It's a theme episode!!! Enjoy!

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

Time Index:

...there's just one topic. If you want to be a jerk and skip the intro, the "show" starts at 6:57. But...really? You don't have just short of 7 minutes to hear about my day? Wow...

The music in this episode is all from my Departure album:

Deeper Than Oceans
Lectio Divina

Photos:

Here's the cover photo for your weird collection of them that I should probably be concerned about, but instead I take it as a compliment.

The photos are all of box sets...here's a bunch of mine that are of more-or-less vinyl record size.

Here's the start of the box sets that sit atop my shelves for the rest of my CD collection. One the far left is the Tony Bennett set I mention in the show--look at ALL THOSE CDs that I got for like $70! (Also, that's one of the microphones I use to record the show, atop the David Bowie boxes.)

Continuing along the stuff on top of my CD collection...also pictured are a lamp I made in Jr High from a Coke bottle (which doesn't have a socket on it, presently) and Boba Fett...

More of the sets... Also pictured are a Drive By Truckers puzzle that I bought for some reason but never opened. And off to the right is a piece of glass from Le Studio in Canada, where Rush recorded a bunch of albums...so it's next to the Rush box sets.

...and more...

Episode 205 - Love & Mercy to Brian Wilson

I had a different episode ready to go, but given the day's news I needed to talk about Brian Wilson. This isn't a typical episode. It's very emotional, my thoughts are somewhat random and cloudy, and it's a little raw. But I needed to do something to pay tribute to one of my all-time heroes. I hope you enjoy it.

email: db@derekbrink.com

Photos:

Here's the cover photo. Do you happen to notice that the font I have always used for this show happens to match the typeface and color scheme of Brian's book, not to mention the cover for "Pet Sounds?" Do you wonder if that's a coincidence?

Here's an alternate angle of the pile of Brian stuff that I posted on my Facebook/Insta. I pretty much just grabbed all the stuff I could immediately get my hands on, threw it into a pile on my table, and took photos.

I also shared this on my Facebook. This is my original, first pressing copy of Smiley Smile. One of the prizes of my collection.

This one was shared on my Facebook, too... This is my autographed flat from Brian's last solo album, "No Pier Pressure." Also in the frame is my ticket-stub from seeing Brian play all of "Pet Sounds" back in 2016, which looking back on it now is one of my favorite concert memories and definitely should've been in my Fab 15... 

Episode 204 - And We All Hate Ourselves

It has been a MONTH! But we're back!

In this episode, I talk about a bunch of music I saw on Everybody's Live with John Mulaney, then I talk about the Karate Kid/Cobra Kai and Doctor Who. (I GO OFF when I'm talking about Doctor Who!) I had fun making it. Now it's your turn to have fun listening to it. Enjoy!

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

Time Index:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 6:23 - Music Break - "S*** About Shakespeare"
• 6:54 - Music from Everybody's Live
  • 9:14 - Kim Deal (and Kim Gordon)
  • 11:51 - Daniel Hope/Spring 1/Max Richter
  • 15:34 - John Cage and Maggie Rogers
  • 19:21 - Alanis Morissette
  • 21:41 - Sleater-Kinney (and the Muffs)
• 23:50 - Music Break - "Napalm"
• 24:20 - Stuff I Watched
  • 24:20 - Karate Kid/Cobra Kai
  • 31:42 - Doctor Who
• 54:05 - Music Break - "What Matters Most (South of Savannah)"
• 54:35 - Outro

Photos:

Here's your cover photo. Etc. It should be "Episode 204," but I noticed it too late to fix it. Oh well.

Here's the Karate Kid. Etc. ...at what point do I buy the Cobra Kai DVDs? Stay tuned, I guess...

Here's where I last had hope for Doctor Who...then the last couple years--and especially THIS year--happened...and...well...it's in the show.

Here's all the music I talked about. I didn't want to go into more detail here for roughly 2-4 minute segments.

Here's my autographed Kim Deal record! I think it's neat! I'm going to keep the plastic on, where she tore it, and stick it in a frame!