One of the themes that is repeated often on this site isthe notion that some folks should not have to follow others. For instance,
during one tour in the 1960s, The Monkees hired Jimi Hendrix to open for them
and, famously, Jimi refused to open for The Who at Monterrey.
Needless to say, fans of The Monkees hated Jimi. Obviously, they weren’t ready for that yet.
Here at The Podcast of Awesomeness, we actually learn from history. We know we better than to go on after Hendrix, especially when we know he’s going to set his guitar on fire and smash it into a Marshall stack.
In this scenario my old friend Beth Shuba is our Jimi Hendrix. We knew we didn’t have the chops to follow her sordid tale about soccer and the female anatomy so we simply went underground for a week. We couldn’t top it, so we just let it go…
Actually, that’s not true. Donovan McNabb got traded and a one-day trip to Washington ended up lasting nearly a week. Moreover, while in D.C. I ran into frequent PoA guest, Chris Wilson, who was there on the tail end of the first leg of the Brutalist Bricks tour with his band Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. The plan to record the show back in Philadelphia at noon was postponed when Chris and I went searching for an all night bingo parlor.
Luck was not on our side since we didn't get to play bingo, but at least we found a place to help us stay hydrated.
Nevertheless, a week on the shelf still hasn’t been enough to erase Beth’s harrowing tale from our memory banks. It’s still burned in there and likely will be for the rest of our lives. Beth is like a rash in that sense.
We forged ahead anyway and acquitted ourselves reasonably well. At least that’s the way it sounded in the moment as we recorded the show. Why don’t you listen for yourself?
We must mention that the eighth episode was the very last one we recorded in the office/studio on the penthouse level in the Wachovia Center of the lonely floor we called home for the past couple of years. It seems as if our little space has been earmarked for better use, so we’re homeless.
In other words, if someone has a space we can use for an hour or so in order to record our little dog-and-pony show, send a shout. We’ll be right over.