Hola, Sneakers! During this week’s episode, Ian states that you do not want to be referred to “Sneakers”, but we can’t believe that to be true! We’re not sure when we started referring to you as “Sneakers”, but it’s been quite awhile and, frankly, tradition will always win out over hurt feelings!
On this week’s show: Let’s start with math; let’s fix schooling; classroom hi-jinks; dog interruption; it’s a gift; hangin’ on the telephone; I.D. error; magical circular arguments; demonic position; emotional cleansing; neologism; mixtapes; book limits; last week’s questions – Sneakers respond; death to robots; the shape-shifter flaw; when life gives you Lenos; the art gets what the art wants; the late shows; and, finally, forget about it.
Question of the Week: Do you watch late night television? Do you feel they’ve become too political?
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I can absolutely second the recommendation of Michael Marshall Smith’s ‘Only Forward’ – it’s one of my favourite books of all time. Starts off sort-of ‘Douglas Adams meets Philip K. Dick with some Raymond Chandler thrown in’ and then just turns inside-out about two-thirds of the way through. And the main character loves cats. What’s not to like? I love it – re-read it every year or two.
His follow-ups (but not sequels) ‘Spares’ and ‘One of Us’ are also very good – his writing is often pretty dark in places though. I can’t get into his horror writing as Michael Marshall, but I’ll have to read ‘The Servants’ again, as I can’t remember the twist ending now…
The book really sounds interesting! I might have to wait a bit before I order it though…
Wow… I think I was given my copy free!
If I see one somewhere I’ll send to to you gratis, Dave. A quick google search of this site will bring up your address, I’m sure!
Thanks so much for another interesting and fun show. Once again, I knew none of these songs beforehand. You want opinions? Too bad, here they are anyway…
Cardinal – A nice arrangement, and good drumming, but I really, really disliked this song, from the infantile lyrics to the Bee Gees-on-valium melody. Forgive me, Dedricks. You guys obviously hear something that I tried to, but can’t.
Unit 4 + 2 – pretty generic, but worth including just to set up Mary’s excellent Gang of Four joke later in the show.
Joanna Newsom – Her Truman Capote-on-helium vocals have always been a big turn-off for me – until now. I loved this. First great song of the episode.
The Pussycats – on first listen, it sounded fine, but very typical of its era and genre. Second time, I realised it was much better than I’d originally thought. Very interesting and moving chord sequence and melody. Great to hear the demo too.
The Young Knives – This was great, slightly shambolic fun. Liked it a lot.
Pavement – Fabulous! Nigel Godrich really knows how to bring out the best in his musicians, whether they acknowledge it or not.
Morrissey – Nicely produced and a hummable tune, but overall it felt a bit Smiths-lite, with little of the lyrical wit of Mozza at his best.
The Free Design – yeah, okay, but a little too pretty.
Parquet Courts – Yes! Great post-New Wave vibe, with a fantastically tight rhythm section.
Denim – Meh… If you want to hear sub-standard Lou Reed, there’s plenty sub-standard Lou Reed out there already.
Hope Mary’s test went well!
Oops – wrong page! Meant this for Listening Party 10…
I watch two late night shows, but not late at night. I PVR the eastern time zone broadcast of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and watch it earlier in the evening. I watch The Daily Show with Trevor Noah the next day on the Internet. I like his international perspective on politics and culture and his diverse roster of correspondents (currently Roy Wood Jr., Deci Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Dulcé Sloan and Jaboukie Young-White).
I only watch clips of the other shows on YouTube: Seth Meyer’s A Closer Look or Jokes Seth Can’t Tell. James Corden’s musical segments. Jimmy Fallon’s Thank You Notes or Hashtags. I don’t bother with their interviews. When celebrities are doing the rounds to promote a project, I don’t need to see them more than once. I find Colbert is the sharpest and wittiest of the hosts when it comes to interviewing.
Proud sneaker here! ;0
Hooray!
Just wanted to let you know how much I love the show and look forward to it coming out every Saturday. You guys do a great job and I’m always entertained.