podcast

2 Kool 2 B 4-gotten

97X, Concert Listings, Music, podcast

Sorry to start on a few sad notes, but John Erhardt of Wussy/Ass Ponys passed away last Monday. His longtime friend and bandmate Chuck Cleaver wrote a very loving tribute to him on Wussy’s Facebook page.

John gave us a beauty that we’ll never see again. A combination of love, friendship, stability and that amazing swirling sound. Truly a wonder. A backdrop to everything that we are, in the band and in life.

Chuck Cleaver

You can read more in this blog post. I did want to share a couple of comments from friends of mine who knew him personally:

A very lovely man. Present, mindful, caring. A supportive person to be around. Hearts will ache.

Phil Roberto

John Erhardt was a fabulous DP (Director of Photography) and cinematographer, as well as a phenomenal musician. He shot film and video, and has been a fixture in Cincinnati’s film community for decades. A joyful, humble, talent, with a wonderful personality. Losing him has been a shock to our community.

Beth Fowler

Friends of John have organized a memorial fund:

The untimely and sudden passing of our friend John Erhardt has us all asking, “What can we do to honor his memory? How can we continue John’s legacy to have a positive and lasting impact on others?”

As John’s wife, Denise, and his daughter, Elizabeth, experience their grief, they are determined to channel what they are feeling into a way to help those who struggle with mental health, as John did.

To support the cause, a fund is being established to assist organizations whose focus is advocating for and helping individuals and their families who contend with the disease of mental illness.

Below is a link to the GoFundMe – please donate if you can. Thanks.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/john-erhardt-memorial-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet

Speaking of untimely deaths and mental health struggles, Sunday marked the 2nd anniversary of the passing of Frightened Rabbit lead singer Scott Hutchison. We still miss him dearly.

Scott’s family established the Tiny Changes charity focused on mental health among young people in his native Scotland. Please donate if you can. And if you’re not familiar with Frightened Rabbit, you need to listen to their magnum opus album The Midnight Organ Fight right now!

We also lost “The Innovator” and “The Originator”… Little Richard. Check out this NPR tribute for 10 songs that showcase his genius.

2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten | Lucinda Williams | Photos by Birney Imes from Katy Clune on Vimeo.

The hope that is left after all your hopes are gone — that is pure hope, rooted in the heart.

Brother David Steindl-Rast

On a brighter note…

Per Rolling Stone, Jason Isbell is doing an acoustic live stream of his new album Reunions on Friday at 8 p.m. EDT via fans.com. It’s a freebie but donations for Jason’s crew and MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund are encouraged.

Bands in Town has a very robust list of live stream concerts, and you can filter by date, genre and popularity. I’ll be tuned in for the Japanese Breakfast gig on Thursday night. (That’s a ticketed show.) Here’s another Thursday night show:

https://youtu.be/KRa8ZH_iOXo

Tunes I’ve been digging

Lost in the Country is the solo debut from Dave Benton, who goes by the name Trace Mountains. A very War on Drugs vibe to it. Good stuff.

Get your kicks with Robert Pollard

Uproxx just published this oral history of the 1995 Guided By Voices album Alien Lanes.

Must be the power chords…

I’m with Phil Morrison on this one.

Worth another listen

Horsebreaker Star, the 1995 release from Grant McLennan (Go-Betweens) is one of my go-to throwbacks.

Worth another look

Tom Petty. 1978. ’nuff said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJv2dOWa-3o&feature=youtu.be

Jesse Malin mentioned this clip on his most recent home gig… he was a kid in the audience for this SNL appearance by Fear.

Shameless self-promotion

Via Google Meet, Dave and I chatted with Howard Cohen (lead singer of Cereal Killers) about college parties, wrecked cars, Sudsy Malone’s, 97Xposure, his side hustle as a jingle/voiceover artist (you’ve heard his voice, guaranteed). You can check out the episode on this website for some bonus content including Howard’s book recommendations, or on Podbean, Spotify or Apple podcasts.

  • Howard
  • Socially-distant Dave (NOT the lead singer of Foghat)
  • Damian’s ultra high-tech setup

Weekly warriors

The past two weeks, Jesse Malin had his old buddy Rob Clores on keyboards. So good.

In Episode 7, Jesse opened up his set with a Flaming Lips cover…

Rob gives a nice shout-out to Jacqui and Dave’s Parlor & Patio series toward the end!

And check out Bill Janovitz doing a couple of New Order covers (“Age of Consent” and “Leave Me Alone”) with his daughter Lucy… at about the 1:13:00 mark of his 2-hour-plus show on Facebook!

Take care, my friends!

Episode 35: Howard Cohen, Cereal Killer

97X, Music, podcast

A self-described “97X listener/scenester/scruffy little punky New Wave dude,” Howard started playing in bands as a teenager and has never stopped rocking. His current band, Cereal Killers, played their first gig at Sudsy Malone’s on Short Vine in 1989, and their current set list consists predominantly of songs that graced the 97X airwaves back in the day: punk, New Wave, garage rock… We chat with Howard about dropping The Village People for Generation X, college parties and car wrecks (they go together), what 97Xposure meant to his bands, the Modern Rock 500, and his side hustle as a jingle singer/voiceover artist.

Cereal Killers at their first gig, December 15th, 1989 at Sudsy Malone’s.

Cereal Killers at their most recent gig, at MadTree Brewing in Oakley. [Photos from this gallery by Joe Simon for the Cincinnati Enquirer]

Howard’s on the right in the photo above

If this jingle has ever gotten stuck in your head, blame Howard (and Rob Fetters)

Howard’s day job is Field Sales Rep for Great Lakes Brewing Company, Ohio’s oldest and largest craft brewery. (He’s on furlough at present.) In 2018, Great Lakes announced an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), making every employee a shareholder.

Howard is an avid, voracious reader and has volunteered for several Books by the Banks events. (Read more in this Soapbox Cincinnati feature from 2011). In this short bonus clip, he suggests a couple of recent books that may be of interest to 97X fans.

For this episode of the podcast, as well as all recordings done since March, Dave and Damian have been practicing safe social distancing. Here’s Dave at his home set-up:

And here’s Damian’s janky set-up in the Party Dungeon.

  • Note the books (and cat litter bucket) used for the mic stand.

Not-so-Live music

97X, Concert Listings, Music, podcast

If the world weren’t upside down, I would’ve been at the Robyn Hitchcock show at Southgate this past Sunday, and Greg Dulli’s gig at the Woodward on Wednesday. Instead I was stuck in my basement, staring at the same four walls. #FML.

Oh well, let’s make the best of it. Here’s another grab bag o’ recorded tunes and musical ephemera.

I love Chuck Cleaver, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I’ve loved him for decades, since his Ass Ponys days. So shame on me for taking so long to let you know that Wussy band members have been doing a weekly stream on Fridays at 7. Hat tip to list member Dr. David Reid for the tipoff. Last week’s show with Chuck and Lisa was exactly what you’d expect from them: weird, wacky… and absolutely beautiful. Lisa’s questions for Chuck were especially enjoyable… and they do a few Ass Ponys songs too!

Chuck Cleaver photo from this CityBeat article, shot by Chuck’s daughter Anna Stockton

The Broken Record podcast is consistently great. I absolutely loved this episode, which features an interview with Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley of Drive-By Truckers and stripped down versions of a few songs from their new album:

Curt Smith from Tears for Fears did a version of “Mad World” with his daughter Diva. Check it out on the Facebooks.

Bert Averre, the guitarist for The Knack, posted a fun video for “Bye Corona” (3 guesses as to the tune…) Bassist Prescott Niles joins him at the end.

I’m going to keep touting Waxahatchee until you admit that her album Saint Cloud is one of the best of 2020. Here’s her Tiny Desk (at home) concert with her boyfriend Kevin Morby, which features two songs from Saint Cloud, a Morby tune and a Songs:Ohia cover.

Billie Joe Armstrong has been doing a cover song every week and posting it on Green Day’s YouTube Channel. He calls it “No Fun Mondays”… and his cover of “Manic Monday” features Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles. He also riffs on Tommy James & The Shondells, Johnny Thunders, The Avengers and Adam Schlesinger.

Shameless self-promotion

Rob Fetters is never boring. I caught up with him to chat about his free house concert live streams (latest edition is below), get some Zen advice on coping with COVID fears, and hear his story about Ted Nugent… you can check out the episode on this website (which features bonus content) or on Podbean, Spotify or Apple podcasts.

“Paul is dead.” But John Curley is alive and well.

True story: a few days ago, the Afghan Whigs promoted our podcast interview with John Curley on their official Facebook page… but the way the photo and podcast description appeared, a few fans feared that it was some sort of obituary:

Sorry to scare you, Prissy! But the inadvertent “clickbait” resulted in a record-setting number of downloads for our podcast. Thanks social media!

Worth another listen

Heard this song on Sirius XMU Wednesday, and it brought back some fond memories of my 97X days:

That song is the title track from Bettie Serveert’s 1993 album Palomine. It holds up quite well. Check it out:

Worth another look

Swedish sisters with angelic voices? Yes please!

You’ve probably seen this video before, of an all-star crew doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but watching Prince’s absolutely ungodly guitar work and seeing him play with Tom Petty always makes me smile.

Weekly warriors

Have a great week!

Rob Fetters is Cheap. Free even.

97X, Music, podcast

In this coronavirus “Local Lockdown Lixx” bonus episode of the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast, singer/songwriter/guitarist Rob Fetters (The Raisins, The Bears, psychodots and solo releases) talks about the free house concert live streams he’s been doing every weekend, provides some Zen guidance on how to cope during COVID craziness… and tells the tale of a time long ago when Ted Nugent brought him from darkness to light. [Back then Ted called himself “The Motor City Madman” but was semi-sane. Now he’s a batsh*t crazy, gun-totin’, Trump-votin’ nutjob. – Ed.]

You’ll find links to Rob’s upcoming house concerts via his website, RobFetters.net. (His next show is Saturday, May 2 at 9 p.m. EDT.) You’ll also find links to the YouTube recordings of previous shows, and a great video for his song “Not the End” — also posted below.

(Due to scheduling conflicts, Dave couldn’t participate in this interview. You’re stuck with the schmuck, Damian.)

Bonus content for the bonus episode: Here’s Rob talking about how the “Not the End” video came together rather quickly a few weeks ago.

Rob’s been writing songs, playing guitar and singing for a looooong time. Adrian Belew produced The Raisins self-titled debut back in 1983. That platter featured the song “Fear is Never Boring” – a perennial 97X favorite. Here’s the original video:

Here’s the same tune, performed at the psychodots farewell show (with Bam Powell sitting in) back in November of 2018. (Shot/edited by Robert Mills, the same guy who did the “Not the End” video.)

2018 Psychodots- Fear is Never Boring from millsfilms on Vimeo.

But Rob was even in bands before the Raisins. In his teens, he was in a band called the Red Hot Tots… which would also be a great name for a side dish at Applebee’s.

Legendary Mad magazine illustrator Mort Drucker, who died on April 9th, did the album cover art for The Bears self-titled debut album. Here’s a CityBeat article about how that happened.

Rob’s house concerts are most assuredly NOT hippie-strumming-acoustic-guitar affairs…

Rob is plugged in and amped up (in more ways than one… the energy of that guy!) and can add backing tracks via his studio-like wizardry. Check out his most recent show below and you’ll see what we mean.

Live! (on tape)

97X, Concert Listings, Music, podcast

Let’s focus on the positives of the music world. Our favorite artists now have more time than ever to create new music. (Unless they lost their day job… or they need to get a day job to make up for lost touring income… welp, that positivity didn’t last long, did it?)

But hey, Lucinda Williams has a new album out today called Good Souls Better Angels, and new Lu is always good news. This record is gritty, greasy, gutsy and guitar-driven. Check it out on Spotify. Read the profile in the NYT. Here’s a track from it called “Man Without a Soul”:

It isn’t difficult to figure out who Lu has in mind with lyrics like this:

You bring nothing good to this world
Beyond a web of cheating and stealing
You hide behind your wall of lies
But it’s coming down, yeah, it’s coming down

Want more new album good news? X has a new album! It’s their first disc in 27 years, and it features the original lineup of John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake (best drummer name ever). Read more about it and stream the entire disc on Slicing Up Eyeballs, a great website for middle aged modern rockers.

The Pretenders also have a cool new song out. Here’s the video:

Liz Longley put on a great show last Friday. It was in Liz’s living room in Pennsylvania, when it was supposed to be in list members Dave & Jacqui’s home in Ft. Thomas, but Dave & Jacqui made the best of it:

Liz Longley was here… virtually.

An Apple a day

Folks are going cuckoo for the new Fiona Apple album too, and rightfully so. Title track is below, and here’s a lengthy New Yorker profile.

The new releases from Laura Marling, Half Waif, Watkins Family Hour, Peel Dream Machine, The Chats, The Strokes, Lilly Hiatt, Catholic Action, and Why Bonnie are also worth a spin.

Coming up: the usual suspects

I’ll let you fish for yourself on the virtual gigs. NPR, Billboard and several other outlets have a running list of all the shows on the interwebs – YouGram, InstaFace, BookTube, etc. And if you’ve read this blog, you know about most of the standing gigs:

  • Grateful Dead Fridays at 8 on their YouTube channel.
  • Jesse Malin Saturdays at 4 on YouTube
  • Bill Janovitz Saturdays at 4:30 on Facebook
  • Josh Ritter does a gig Tuesdays at 8 on YouTube.
  • Radiohead streams a concert Thursdays at 5 on YouTube.
  • Amanda Shires (with Jason Isbell) does “Iso-Lounging” pretty much every day at 6 on YouTube.
  • Rob Fetters plays every weekend on YouTube (link via his website)

Speaking of Mr. Fetters, when he cancelled his gig at Roebling Point Books, they refunded the money that same day. Classy move! We’ve already discussed TicketBastard’s B.S. “refund” policy. Other promoters seem to be following their lead. The National’s Homecoming announced that refunds would be coming “in the next few days” on 4/3, and then on 4/20 there was another email saying we’d get a refund “within 30 days”. C’mon, man, millions of folks are out of work, and you’re going to sit on their hard-earned cash (Homecoming tix were about $120 for the weekend) for months?

Wait, I was supposed to stay positive, wasn’t I? Better fire up The Hold Steady batsignal:

That helped. I’m feeling much better now…

Gigs, interviews, and clips…

Jesse Malin also talks about PMA – Positive Mental Attitude – in this 8-minute interview on WFUV.

Instagram is the worst of the virtual venues… the viewing area is tiny already, and then all the comments cover up half of that area. But this Waxahatchee set is stellar:

Here’s an R.E.M. gig from 1984: https://youtu.be/kRTH8eqZbPM

Shameless self-promotion

The new episode of the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast features an interview with Robin James, a 97X listener who is now a philosophy prof. at UNC-Charlotte and is working on a book about 97X.

Have a great weekend!

Episode 34: Robin James, philosopher of Music

97X, Music, podcast

Robin James is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte and the author of three books… with a book about 97X in the works. She grew up listening to the station from age 11 on, including her time as an oboe major (yes!) at Miami University. Robin still has a fond place in her heart for the 97X/woxy.com music community, and the DIY ethos that made it truly unique. Dave and Damian talk to Robin about her research for the 97X book, the Modern Rock 500 and intersection of philosophy and music.

You can check out some of Robin’s writing on her blog, It’s Her Factory. She also wrote a great piece about the Modern Rock 500 for Belt Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:

As a teen, the Modern Rock 500 was the closest thing I had to a catechismic text. I grew up on the other side of Butler County from WOXY, on the outskirts of Cincinnati. Every year I recorded parts of the broadcast on cassette and listened to the top of the countdown late into Memorial Day night. Radio led me to music I would otherwise never be allowed to buy or hear live (if I could even get a ride to Looney T-Birds, Everybody’s Records, Bogart’s, or Sudsy Malone’s).

My dad didn’t like music, and I didn’t have older siblings, so the Modern Rock 500 was the curriculum I used to educate myself about cool music and its history.

https://beltmag.com/woxy-modern-rock-500/

In May of 2021, Robin is scheduled to give a talk on the Modern Rock 500 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland – a draft of that presentation is here.

You can also visit Robin’s Soundcloud to listen to a few of her lectures and some original compositions.

In our podcast, Dave and Robin mentioned the 97X Mission Statement. Here it is, direct from Dave’s basement:

Music is My Happy Place

Concert Listings, Music, podcast

To paraphrase Bill Medley: Now I’ve had… the quaran-time of my life… and I never want to feel this way again!

Music is about the only thing keeping me from going completely bonkers. I hope you are holding up well. Here’s the rundown on tunes for lockdown.

Liz Longley “at” Parlor & Patio tonight at 7:30!

List members Dave and Jacqui are turning their Parlor & Patio house concert featuring Liz Longley into a virtual event tonight at 7:30. Here’s the Eventbrite link. Just like usual Parlor & Patio shows, all ticket proceeds go directly to the artist.

Grateful Dead movie at 8 p.m. tonight

The Grateful Dead’s Shakedown Stream happens every Friday at 8 p.m. EDT on their YouTube channel. Tonight it’s a screening of the 1977 concert flick The Grateful Dead Movie. Future installments will include never-before-seen concerts from the band’s archive, as well as previously released shows.

Even when there are no shows, TicketBastard is still screwing us out of our money.

Excerpt from a CityBeat article: Most recently, Ticketmaster, which sells more than $30 billion in tickets per year, has made changes to its refund policy. According to The New York Times, the policy included refunds for postponed, rescheduled, and canceled events as recently as a few weeks ago. However, they’ve appeared to quietly adjust the policy, which now reads: “Refunds are available if your event is canceled.”

Weekly Warriors

Hats off to Rob Fetters, Jesse Malin and Bill Janovitz for doing an in-home set every damn week. And they’re so damn good. Fetters talked about The Bears album cover that Mort Drucker (R.I.P.) created (show is below — read more about that Mort Drucker cover art on CityBeat.) Malin covered The Hold Steady, the Replacements, the Rolling Stones and more (show is below). Janovitz covered John Prine, Tom Waits, George Jones and Big Thief… and he makes a different cocktail at the start of each show. (Link to his show is here on FB.)

Fetters is Fridays at 9 p.m. via a link from his website. Jesse Malin is Saturdays at 4 p.m. on YouTube. Bill Janovitz is Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. on his band Buffalo Tom’s Facebook page.

Celebrities, they’re just like us… or maybe just me

Bojack Horseman is one of my favorite shows, and it turns out Bojack and I are both in the non-Radiohead camp. Check out this magnified screen grab from a recent episode:

But I know list members Kevin Sullivan and Doug Hill-Harriss are still cuckoo for them. Doug also sent along a link to some Radio.com live shows. The Black Keys are on tonight at 9.

Other gigs include Sylvan Esso tonight at 8 and Brett Newski at 9. Get the links from NPR’s list.

Dan’s with the Band… and the other band

Dan Lewis is mad at me because I didn’t mention that Jesse Malin’s old band D Generation opened up for KISS at that show where he was backstage. And the guy giving the tour said “Nice guys, but they’re not very good.” Jesse has come a long way.

Tributes to Prine, part the second

Elvis Costello wrote a nice blog post about JP. And here’s Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires talking (and singing) about John.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxwJ2qQs4ZE&t=42s

Amanda Shires has a whole series of performances called Iso-Lounging on her YouTube channel.

Gigs, interviews, and clips…

https://youtu.be/uAYQUbh8HHA

Love Chvrches… here’s a nice “separate but together” song from them:

Shameless self-promotion

The 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast featuring our interview with John Curley of the Afghan Whigs is now live.

Hang in there friends. We’ll meet again someday.

Episode 33: John Curley of the Afghan Whigs

97X, Music, podcast

Musician. Producer. Recording Engineer. Photographer. Non-traditional college student… John Curley is best known for his work with the Afghan Whigs, but he’s also played in a few local bands, and produced and/or engineered music for hundreds, mostly at Ultrasuede Studio. He’s still playing, still producing, but recently went back to college as well. We chat with John about all those things — and the worst radio promotion the Afghan Whigs ever did — in this episode.

John Curley, WXPN/former 97X DJ Dan Reed, and Greg Dulli
The Afghan Whigs original lineup.
John at Ultrasuede Studio (Photo credit: Anna Bentley, the Cincinnati Enquirer)

After 25 years in Camp Washington, John’s Ultrasuede studio (formerly the historic QCA Studio A) was forced out in 2018 when a new owner bought the building . Check out this CityBeat article about Ultrasuede’s final days on Spring Grove Avenue.

Photo credit: John Curley

At the Spring Grove address, John produced and/or engineered essential recordings by numerous acts, including Joe’s band Wussy, The Greenhornes, White Stripes, Ronnie Spector, Patti Smith, Ass Ponys, Buffalo Killers, Magnolia Mountain, Pearlene, Heartless Bastards and Barrence Whitfield & The Savages. His early production successes include the Whigs’ covers EP Uptown Avondale and album tracks such as Congregation’s “Miles Iz Ded” and Gentlemen’s “If I Were Going.” He even recorded the violin-like whine that opens the Whigs’ Black Love album by ambient mic’ing the railroad tracks that wind past the studio and recording the sound of a freight train’s squealing brakes, which were later cross-faded in the mix with a Hammond B-3 organ.

From this CityBeat article

John is now producing music at The Lodge in Dayton, Kentucky. Here’s a nice article by Gil Kaufman about John’s move there.

The Lodge co-owner Scott Beseler and John Curley. Photo from this WCPO.com article.

Working with original bands to make great recordings since vinyl was cool the first time.

From the Ultrasuede Studio website

This Week in Not-Quite-Live Music

Concert Listings, podcast

It’s another week of stay-at-home “family bonding”! Heaven help us all…

But you can still put your eyeballs and/or earballs on some good tunes. Here’s Rob Fetter’s gig from Friday:

Josh Ritter from last week:

Bill Janovitz’s second virtual happy hour (complete with instructions for making a Manhattan) is here:

https://www.facebook.com/buffalotomband/videos/645046236319883/
Bill donated $ from the tip jar to Partners in Health, an organization fighting coronavirus in impoverished countries.

The documentary about Chuck Prophet doing a live performance of his album Temple Beautiful with an orchestra is here:

And Bob Dylan released a 17-minute tune about the JFK assassination…

The new album from Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud, is heartily endorsed by list members Rico, Bruce and yours truly. An early contender for album of the year.

New releases from Lilly Hiatt, Clem Snide and Cable Ties are also worth a spin or three.

Tanya Donnelly has a new album coming out with the Parkington Sisters as her backing band. Here’s a nice video from the Parkington Sisters:

The Broken Record podcast is one of my favorites – so far this season they’ve chatted with legends such as Bob Weir, Robbie Robertson and Booker T, as well as whippersnappers like Run The Jewels. And the 97X Rumblings from the Big Bush podcast has a new episode out too.

On a sadder note, John Prine is in critical condition.

That sucks, big time. Take care, my friends.

Episode 32: Mighty Joe Sampson – the student has become the teacher

97X, podcast

Joe Sampson joined 97X as a Miami University student intern (a.k.a. “Breakfast Club co-producer”) in 1993 and stuck around as a weekender after he graduated before moving on to short stint as a writer for CityBeat, and a 12-year career as a news producer at Channel 19 and later Channel 9 in Cincinnati. He now has come full circle as a Miami U. professor. We chat with “Mighty Joe” about his late nights with “Mama Jazz,” 97X softball teams, and his undying love for both Steve Baker and another 97X student intern.

Day in Eden: Joe is in the 3rd row, in the red hat… next to Dave, who is doing his best “Schneider from One Day at at Time” impersonation.
Joe in his MU dorm room, circa 1992. He wanted us to note the presence of both Foghat and firehose posters…

Joe is now a Senior Clinical Professor of Journalism (sounds fancy!) at Miami University. His students have won several regional and national journalism awards over the years.

“It’s a major award!!!”
Joe is back row center… back row right is Ringo Jones, lead singer of the band Mad Anthony.

As far as we can tell, Joe and his wife Alison are the only former 97X Breakfast Club co-producers who are now married to each other. Alison was a co-producer for Dave and Rictile in the mid-90s as “Connie Consuelo.”

Rumblings from the Big Bush was NOT Joe’s podcast debut. He and another MU prof created a podcast about “being Muslim in the Midwest” as part of a cultural exchange program with the Goethe Institut in Germany.

Lest you think Joe is all work and no play, here’s a photo of him posing with a bunny.