Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
"Big Bowl of Wrong." This, along with "Pies of depravity" are my new phrases of choice.
"Pies of depravity" evolved from an e-conversation between Sir Brewster and Sir Mary in the private room at TheMondoProject. It's kind of a long story and it is the kind of long story I wish had been told out here in the open, public area of the site. It didn't happen that way, but I do have a new phrase and I am going to use it at every opportunity.
"Big bowl of wrong" is a phrase I must credit to Jeff Garlin. Garlin, for those of you like myself not in the know, is a feature player on HBO's hit, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I have heard nothing but great things about Curb, but I have never seen an episode. It's on my "To-Do" list.
So Guster, whom I have written about countless times, and Jeff Garlin have joined forces to produce a podcast mini-series. Brian Rosenworcel and Ryan Miller of Guster and Garlin recorded the conversation as the band was wrapping up work on their brilliant Ganging Up on the Sun album. That conversation, nearly an hour long, has been broken up into five parts and is being offered as a free download through iTunes. A new episode will be released each Monday in October (yep, there are five of them this month), the first having been released today.
If you are wondering where the music of Guster and the acting of Garlin intersect, Garlin provides the answer in the opening moments of the first episode: Ben Vereen. Brian later provides the real answer as the show continues. Those unfamiliar with Guster, and with the number of Guster-related pieces I have written I cannot imagine anyone at Blogcritics could be, might not be aware of their keen sense of humor. That sense of humor sometimes surfaces in their songs and is always evident in their live performances.
The big topic in this week's episode: comedies that were funny at the time but haven't held up over time as well as "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me." There are references to Woody Allen, Annie Hall, Steely Dan, Dean Martin, John Wayne, Fletch, Blazing Saddles, and Ricky Nelson.
That is a lot of ground to cover in just over eight minutes, but the conversation flows pretty well. The pairing of Garlin and Guster might not seem natural but the banter on the podcast is. I can't wait until next week.
