075. - Justin Gage

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week. Jason, does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. Want to make a podcast? Spotify's got a platform that lets you make one super easily, then distribute it everywhere, and even earn money. We like that. All in one place for totally free. It's called Spotify for Podcasters. And here's how it works. Spotify for podcasters lets you record and edit podcasts right from your cellular telephone or your computer. So no matter what your setup is like, you can start creating today. Then you can distribute your podcast to Spotify and everywhere else, those other places that podcasts are heard. Video podcasts are also available on Spotify. And when you want to take conversations with your fans to the next level, Q&As and polls are the best way to get them talking. With Spotify for podcasters, you can earn money in a variety of ways, including ads and... And podcast subscriptions. And best of all, it's totally free. Zero catch. We've been using it ever since we started How Long Gone. And ever since I discovered Spotify for Podcasters, I feel like having the option of turning off the Q&As and the polls on the user dashboard has really helped boost my creativity and take it to another level. I highly recommend giving it a try. Download the Spotify for Podcasters app or go to www.spotify.com slash podcasters to get started.

What's up, bitch? Hello, loser. How are you feeling today, Big TJ? I'm feeling a little hungover, actually. So last night, guys, I did a drop-in at Friend of the Show Decatur Dance House in the Outpost neighborhood of Hollywood, California. They were working on a rib project with the famous smoker, the Big Green Egg, and it was taking a long-ass time. Jason, could you maybe give us some intel on that? Well, yeah. Cooking ribs on a smoker or any type of meat that you are smoking does take a long time. And actually, ribs, compared to other types of barbecue, are probably some of the faster. cooking times compared to something like a smoked brisket or something like that, which could take 8 to 12 hours potentially and a lot of prep time before. So it is a long time. You smoke it for a couple hours at 250 degrees Fahrenheit and then you pull the ribs off, you wrap them in foil, you pour in a liquid of some sort. beer or apple juice or wine or something like that. The fact that it can be any of those things is kind of crazy to me. Yeah, I mean, it really is dealer's choice of what it is. All you're doing is steaming inside of there. So the first couple hours is to get some good smoke on it. And then the second is to kind of help it tenderize by steaming it. And then you do that for a couple hours. It's called the 2-2-1 method, where you smoke it for two hours, you wrap it in foil and steam it, so to speak, for two hours, and then you unwrap it, and then you kiss it directly back on there for one hour to develop the bark of the barbecue, put the sauce on, and let it get sticky.

Okay, big pit master, TJ. Look, I'm a baby back maniac at this point, and you asked, so don't act like I'm giving you this info against your will. I guess this is a good time to announce your new YouTube cooking show, Baby Back Maniac, for the Bon Appetit channel. Congratulations on that deal. Yeah, it worked out. I ordered Postmates delivery of M Cafe and enjoyed that while Jason, Dan, and KK slaved it over a hot kitchen. But I left before the final results, so I wanted to hear, was it good? It was good. Unfortunately, on the Big Green Egg, I had never used it before, and there were some pieces of equipment that we did not have that you're supposed to... There's a little thing that you set down, so the fire from the charcoal does not directly touch it, and he did not have that. So some of the parts did get a little too charred for my liking, unfortunately. I hate when something gets too charred for my liking. Yeah, so back to the drawing board. But in order to master making ribs or smoking meat like that, literally takes years or decades to really you know get to a level where you are happy with it i would say yes to be a true master yeah no of course i understand that you'll never reach that point but i like to watch you try um so so it was good it was good but not great it was good but not great i did make some uh some southern greens I would like to say I did watch you pour Hennessy into that pot, which I don't know if the recipe called for that, if you were just having a little cheeky moment with Dan. The recipe did not call for Hennessy. TJ felt crazy. You wanted to trick it. I've been seeing a lot of videos on TikTok where some people will do Hennessy cooking and recipe preparation, and I just wanted to feel like I was a part of that conversation as well.

I love feeling like part of something. I was unfortunately appropriating Henny culture, but, you know, it's fine. I was amongst Southern men, and it wasn't like we went to the store to, you know, buy a bottle of Hennessy just for this. fun parody thing obviously a man with decatur in his name keeps the henny on deckington yeah the henny was already on in in the liquor cabinet and it was mostly gone actually i was gonna say i was about to say there wasn't a full bottle either you know i mean that shit had had a little sip there had somebody been sipping many a nip had been taken from that bottle of of uh fine fine cone jack But yeah, adding a little alcohol to your greens will help get a little flavor, steam it up. Some people put vermouth in there, a real southern charm. They say to put a thimble full of vermouth in your collard greens. Wow, I didn't know that one. Yeah, I learned that one. That might be North Carolina style, though. I'm learning a lot from you today. We also made Annie's macaroni and cheese from a box, which I'm really having a renaissance time with. So like a faux healthy mac and cheese. Yeah, like, you know, the Kraft macaroni and cheese box that everyone grew up eating. The Annie's Natural Foods has made one, you know, a more organic, healthier, less processed version of it that pretty much tastes the exact same. So this is like your version of the Unreal candy that I love so much. This is just a slightly healthier version of my favorite Reese's peanut butter cups. 100%. Except the flavor of the Annie's mac and cheese, to me, you're not losing anything compared to the craft. Whereas with an Unreal candy, it does not hit quite the same. I would disagree only because I prefer a dark to a milk chocolate. the option of dark chocolate is not available from the Mars Corporation. So they had to freak it a little bit for us, you know, health nuts. Well, you know what? It was a fun night, and that's all that matters. And I'm glad you got some experience on the Big Green Egg, and I think it's something, honestly, all joking aside, you could probably get good at it. You just need to buy your own, you know.

Yeah, I mean, you know, I grill on a Weber grill, you know, at least once a week in the warmer months. So I'm very confident in my grilling abilities, but, you know, smoking ribs and true pit master BBQ is really, really hard to nail. A daytime to learn and a lifetime to master. That's how I feel about, yeah, skateboarding. But I am hungover because I was recording an episode of Failing Fit's podcast. Yes, and so Jason was locked in Decatur Dan's guest bedroom. With a bottle of seltzer water, a bottle of red wine, and a giant mason jar full of ice. And I was pouring up red wine spritzers. doing whatever that podcast was with those guys. It was three hours of recording, and I don't even really know what I said or what was discussed whatsoever. I talked for three hours, but we did not have a conversation, if that makes sense. Sure, and that's the difference, I think, between our podcasts. This is more of a conversation that's more of like a... argument it's a skewering gotcha gotcha moment style broadcast but there but the hatchet was buried we did we did reach a pod truce uh and it was it was beautiful to see i would i would like to say that as the i would say uh leader um of all of this i i don't think a truce can be reached without me involved so that's a good point i would i would need that paperwork to come to my team um before they were clearly trying to work Work this through behind your back. Exactly. They found you. They knew you were the weaker link. I'm more litigious than you, is what I would say. So they found Soft Big Bird, and they went at him. And you crossed enemy lines, and we didn't even discuss it that much beforehand, which I actually prefer, because I don't like to think about that. I don't like to think about these guys cribbing off of...

the genius that I discovered, Jason Stewart, them jeans, TJ. I pulled you out of the slums of Atwater and put you on Hollywood stage. These guys swoop in and just think they can crib off of that. Not only is it offensive, it's hurtful. It's hurtful, but I understand for your personal brand that you had to do it, and I respect you for it. I used to belong to the streets, and now I belong to black. Exactly. It's not official, but I think it's understood by both sides in this relationship. Well, I can't wait to hear that. When does the Vim Jeans How Long Gone Failing Fits crossover episode blast off into the World Wide Web? I think it should be up next week, maybe on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I don't have access to their Discord channel where they're... Thank God. Minions will produce some pool quotes and things like that. So we're confirming that you do breathe out of your nose, not your mouth. That's good to know. I think that I will personally monitor the Failing Fits Reddit thread to see the Jason, because each episode gets its own subreddit. Is that right? Maybe not subreddit. I don't know what these fucking nerds are. Yeah, a new thread is started for each episode. A new thread, yeah. And just a quick update from Chris Blackland. I did get up at 7 a.m. this morning to talk to some Danish radio station. got in touch with me to talk to me about Oliver, my swag surfer in Copenhagen. So I had a nice chat with these friendly Copenhagen residents. I believe it's like the NPR equivalent of their country. Yes. NPR. And for the record, Oliver refused to be interviewed for this program, but I was happy to offer my time, and they did say that it had become a little bit of a thing in their country. A little bit of a thing, yeah. Unfortunately, Oliver, we've been talking for the last few days. I've been trying to get a one-on-one pod with him, sans black, but I think he unfortunately may have gotten a little scared off or was afraid.

of what would happen if that happened or maybe he's just trying to forget that this whole thing ever happened forever and you know having me ask him questions about it for an hour and then broadcasting it to thousands of people would not be helpful for that yes that makes sense i'm going to i mean i will i i have they will send me the audio clip with a time stamp and i will share that on social media um yeah so what so what do you have a sneak sneak peek what'd you guys get into I mean, they were basically just like, how does this make you feel? And I was like, I don't give a shit. And they were like, that's nice to hear because people here really care. But he did describe Oliver as a guy he would, and this is obviously, this was in broken English, but not, he basically described Oliver as a guy he'd want to be next to in the bar because there'd be free drinks and chicks, which I thought was cool. Interesting. So that means Oliver's getting his little thang on at the club, which makes me like him more. Oliver is not only using and plagiarizing Chris Black's content output to better his career and his social media following and his Tumblr page, etc. He's also using it to get his little ding-dong wet. Yes, I don't know what the Danish word for ding-dong is. Black style. But, yeah, I guess he's sipping rosé at the club, and chicks love him. He also told them that they aren't the same glasses. They aren't Cutler and Gross. Oh, really? He did confirm that, which makes me feel a little better. That is a How Long Gone exclusive. But the fact that he knew that they weren't Cutler and Gross is also problematic, if that makes sense. So, you know, I'm just glad. I think this is the final nail in this coffin. I'm happy to put it to bed. And, you know, I hope this guy's livelihood isn't taken away because he stole some stupid tweets from me. It's not worth it. I don't want his livelihood taken away. I don't want him to, you know, jump off of a glacier or whatever they might have. I know they do have buildings over there, but, you know.

But he should feel a little bit of sting of punishment. He should get a bop on the nose or a rolled up newspaper swatted on his metaphorical bottom at the very least just to know that you can do a lot of things in this world nowadays, but you can't just completely plagiarize a known person's identity. you know, in almost every way possible online and not have everybody around you say, what the fuck are you doing? That's really weird. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So Oliver, one day we'll have you on the show. Hey, maybe you're actually a funny and cool guy. I mean, I already forgot about you, fam, to be honest, but Jason can do what he wants. You already know what the fuck going on. You know, Jason, we do have a guest today, an old friend of mine and an Atlanta graduate, much like myself. Justin Gage is his name. He is the proprietor of the excellent, excellent music website Aquarium Drunkard. He also is a popular music supervisor in Hollywood, and he owns the bar slash venue slash hotel called Gold Diggers in Hollywood. Slash recording studio. Slash Studio, yes, which we'll get into all of that. But Justin is a guy who I think has incredible taste in music, and I learn stuff from him all the time. And I think that he's been able to build his blog basically into a business and a destination and kind of like in a cool niche world of white people music that I really like. So we're going to give him a call. All right, let's give this white guy a call. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down.

the news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world and i know you particularly have quite a lot of questions a lot of questions but how often because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot how many times do they do three times a week and i i have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do that's just a guess the guardian is not some billionaire owned They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? You know, especially when it's not, you know, from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable, and that are just easy, but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics, but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated. but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer and quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada.

That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot. Because I can't do anything. You need some art hung? TaskRabbit. You need something put together? A cabinet? Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf? TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive. And that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code How long? Taskers book up faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code howlong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. How are you, bro? I'm good. I'm good. Just floating through the madness of 2020, as we all are. Adjusting to our seven-year-old's virtual learning. Dan, that's a real bummer, huh? Man, I have to imagine it's one of the more social times in one's development. So the fact that these children can't interact is, yeah, it's something else.

So is he on – is it like a Zoom situation or is it like a special program? Okay. I don't know if they developed some software. Well, yeah. This is full-on Zoom. It's through this technology called Schoology. So from 9 to 2 in the afternoon, he logs in and his class is on there with the teacher. Sounds just like Chris Black so far. Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of similarities to my own life as a 37-year-old man, so I'm happy for him. But that does sound unfortunate. Is he having a hard time focusing, or has it been okay? It's been great. He's thankfully very independent, but it's kind of bizarre in our house. I've got my office. My wife has her office. He's in his bedroom, so we're all on this. constant virtual Zoom land. We'll see each other in the kitchen for a snack or something. Your house has become a WeWork space. That's right. By default. You have roommates that you also have married and birthed. I hope the internet isn't slowing down. You're leaning hard on the World Wide Web. We've certainly had some challenges with bandwidth. I think it's getting a little better as this thing continues to drag on. But yeah, certainly in the beginning, everything was a little bit sluggish. Now, you obviously have the site, which we talked about in the intro, which we can get into, but you also do a serious XM show. Is it weekly or monthly? Yeah, it is every Wednesday night. Every Wednesday night. Were you always doing that remote or is that new? I would say it was 75% remote just from my home office studio. If I would have somebody big come in, like a couple years ago, John Cale, I wasn't going to have him come over to my duct tape together studio. So we did go into the SiriusXM offices off Wilshire. But most of the time, it's just mostly, yeah, here from home.

I mean, that seems ideal for that, in my opinion, but I'm glad that it wasn't a big shift since everything else has been a fucking shift. How does your show compare to the Howard Stern show on Sirius in terms of listenership? I just have a lot more listeners than Howard. That's about the only difference there. That's just a fact. I didn't see Harry Styles do Watermelon Sugar on the Aquarium Drummer Show. Have you dug into the Harry Styles album? I would love to get your take on this. I have not, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. It's an absolute fucking classic, and I actually think that you would like it more than you think you would. I have to be honest. It's much more musical, and I think that I read a whole story about how hard it was for him to break into the rock charts because of his history as a boy band guy, and historically that crossover is just impossible. But Watermelon Sugar was the number one song in the country for consecutive weeks. But I think you would like it more than you would want to admit to yourself. Well, if my son wasn't downstairs on his Zoom call, I could go poll him for his opinion, too. Are you putting him on? Is he downstairs listening to Dylan in between classes? Or is he listening to 6ix9ine like a cool three-year-old? Yeah, exactly. Is he listening to rap music like all other kids his age? So his birthday is this weekend. Virgo season, baby. That's right. That's right. We're having like this very small, two children are coming over this outdoor. Look, Justin, this is a super spreader positive show, so you don't have to lie. You can say exactly what's going on. So he did put together a playlist on Spotify for his birthday, and he watches, he's really into. He likes to build. They use a lot of stock library music in the background. He was like, what can I put on there that sounds like that? The closest thing I could find was the first couple of Daft Punk records. He's suddenly a super fan. I've found that a lot of friends of mine who have kids, they all really love Daft Punk. Really?

I get it. It's funky. It makes you want to dance. There's no bad words. And the production quality is excellent. I'll tell you one thing he's really into. And I didn't really even push this. I don't even know how this started. But he's really into Bob Marley. And I've heard that children really do gravitate toward reggae. And I don't know if it's kind of bouncy. I think it's an intelligence level thing. I mean, no shade to reggae, but reggae music is cool and fine, but if I'm fucked up or if I'm very high, then you're like, okay, I get it now. Totally. So enter the mind of a child. It takes on a different resonance for sure. Reggae makes a lot of sense. Daft Punk has surprised me. Reggae makes a lot of sense to me. I think you're right. The bounce of it, I do think that to me seems childlike in some ways. But yeah, I definitely, Chris, do play him a little Dylan. That doesn't escape his ears. We know. So I talk about Aquarium Drunkard a lot because it's my favorite music site. I've told you that many times. It's Chris's pitchfork. It's my pitchfork, exactly. You guys don't give unnecessary reviews to top 40 music. But I think, you know, it started in the era of the music blog and you've been able to turn it into a full industry almost, whereas most of those blogs have kind of gone away. And do you think that's because you just diversified or is that because you think you had a niche and just kind of stuck to what you knew? You know, I think it was from the get. It was just dictated to what I was interested in in the time. You know, it wasn't. you know, driven by whatever was trending or fashionable. So I think as it's grown, you know, it's 15 years now and having brought on a group of contributors and an editor, it stuck to that same ethos. And, you know, I think that that is probably the if there's any secret recipe to.

to its longevity, I think that it hasn't really changed in its vision or direction. What would you say that ethos is exactly? Only the good shit. Damn, that's my approach to life actually as well. So I'm glad that we can align on that. But I mean, I do think that the, you know, I just, I feel like you've created something that you're able to plug a lot of, it has more variety than maybe people would think as far as like what the actual, you know, I can think of like five or 10 marquee artists that I would tie to you. But also I think that it's able to splinter off in a way. And I think partly that's because of the contributors. Absolutely. The website turned 15 in May and someone was interviewing me about it. And I was just talking about how you almost have to take this 10,000 foot view of it at first to kind of wrap your head around because it's a lot of different stuff. But there is some sort of through line to the sauce. And I'm not sure if I can really even put my finger on it. there is some sort of connectivity between what we're covering. Yeah. I mean, I think it's the artwork. I think there's like a general, like you guys put a lot of effort and time, I think, into making like original stuff, which I don't think a lot of sites in your position would be doing. But also, yeah, I mean, I think you're the proprietor. You founded it and you're still involved. So it's like that is the through line probably. You know what I mean? Is that there's just somebody that is overseeing it and has been from day one with their personal taste. Yeah, I think that whether it's a visual aesthetic component or whatever it is, I think all of that stuff is really crucial in terms of just creating something that feels of a piece and whole, whether that's a website or a magazine or a bar, any kind of space, whether it's virtual or physical. What's up with this record collection, fam? It looks really OD.

What's that? You have too many records, bro. What are you going to do with that? Do you sell them? Do you buy them? Do you trade them? Or do you only buy them? No, I buy, I sell, I trade. In terms of what am I going to do with them, man, I don't ever want to have to sell my house and move because I don't want to have to go through that nightmare again. That just seems like a lot of fucking... I mean, are you ripping stuff? Are you going down that full rabbit hole? It depends. Obviously, some of this stuff never made it to CD, obviously digital. So some of that stuff I will rip from the vinyl, but it's nothing I enjoy doing. How many records do you think you have right now in total? I have no idea. I'm one of those people that can walk into a room, and I couldn't tell you how many people are in there. I mean, it's too many. It's thousands and thousands. What about if somebody was to hit you up on Discogs, hit you on the DMs and be like, I want to buy your whole collection. What's that price hitting for? I haven't really thought about it, man. That's a great question. We need to know because we might get an offer from one of our listeners. We have a high tax bracket on this listener on this podcast. So somebody can pull up with a quarter of a million. But has this been since high school or has this been like more as an adult? I mean, I've still got my first record, which was Michael Jackson's. thriller that my parents gave me when it came out and then i've still got the first record i bought with my own money which was licensed to ill so yeah it goes it goes pretty far back yeah that's that's impressive at least you're dedicated you know what i mean there's a there's there's another through line uh just full dedication so you've been supporting michael jackson for a long time is what you're saying a long time a long time that's interesting okay uh yeah yeah

But I did get rid of my poison and rat cassettes and CDs. What's your philosophy on playing or listening to an artist that has been canceled for bad things? Man, that's tough. If we were to really... If we were to really get into this... I don't think that you're getting booked to DJ a wedding and playing multiple R. Kelly requests, but those old classic MJ songs, some people are very against that being played in a public setting at a bar or a wedding or an event, and some people are totally fine with it. Yeah, I mean, those are the... some of the some of the songs of my life so i'm never gonna stop liking those but um jesus if you really wanted to dig into it i mean there's a we do i don't know a lot a lot of people's record collections would be gone if they really started that's yeah that's the reality of it and i think that like that is what is so interesting you know and and i mean when we saw each other you know we talked about some of this stuff that was going on at the time but i i do think that the you know Historically, if you look into the music business, it's not great. Or any Woody Allen movie or Tarantino or any artist. All types of art forms and creative cultures are full of some bad people. It's hard to separate the music from the person for me. I don't think that's true. yeah it is i mean actually though it's like i don't catch like you know ryan adams is my perfect example of this because i'm like i'm a long time fan i don't really i don't i think i don't think about it as much anymore because he's not in the zeitgeist the way he was Does that make sense? I, of course, love that music, but if he was putting out something new, that would implore me to revisit the catalog. If he's doing something on Twitter or he's doing something on Instagram, that would implore me to listen to his music. But when somebody is exiled, I'm not thinking about it as much as I was before. Let's just take Michael.

That's like, don't stop till you get enough comes on the radio. My first thought isn't about him being a monster in that documentary that came out last year. It's just, it's just the tune. So I guess maybe what you're saying, Chris, about it just being more in the zeitgeist, like obviously the Michael Jackson thing is nuts and horrible, but. Yeah, I feel the same way. If an old MJ song comes on, I am not thinking about him spreading his butthole for a three-year-old. But if an R. Kelly song does come on the radio, I'm pretty quickly thinking about him urinating on a child. Yeah, same. It's actually, I would agree with that. But I think the R. Kelly thing, I mean, the Michael Jackson thing is still kind of contested. The R. Kelly thing is agreed upon globally. That's true. That makes a difference, too. There's still a lot of Michael Jackson truthers out there. I mean, yeah, of course. You don't want that to go down. That could ruin your whole life if you've devoted your whole life to MJ. I mean, that's honestly true, but he really could dance. And Justin, you're from ATL, baby. That's right. So I think we should go through, just to educate Jason and also some of the listeners, I think that... we should do a little bit of a power ranking on music from Georgia. Because I feel like you're extremely well-versed in this, whereas I'm a little less so. And I think you can even remind me of some stuff. Really give our global audience what they want. Exactly. Extremely specific regional bands from Georgia. But no, that's the thing. That's what I'm trying to explain to you. It's not that regional. We're talking REM. We're talking Black Crows. We're talking Pylon. You know what I mean? One of my favorite debut records of all time, that debut from the B-52s. B-52s, Jason. That's a worldwide smash. It is. I like the B-52s. Mesopotamia, great song. But do we think that...

Justin, if you're looking at it now as like an L.A., you've lived in L.A. a long time, and I haven't been in Atlanta a long time. Are you thinking of Athens as more of the music city versus Atlanta? I think so. I went to school. I'm an undergraduate. I lived in Athens for four years. It was during the 90s, which just coincided with the Elephant Six really gaining all that traction. Olivia Trimmer Control and Neutromoke Hotel and Elf Power and all those bands. Yeah, I mean, when I think of more contemporary music over the last 25 years, 30 years, my head does go to Athens. But, you know, Atlanta, like, man, I'm a huge Deer Hunter fan. Same. You know, obviously Atlanta. Big Deer Hunter head. What do you think? Why Athens? I've always wondered this myself. Is it just a perfect kind of combo of timing and rent price and college being there? Why do you think a place like that? Because there's a few other cities in America like that, right? They become these hubs of indie rock, for lack of a better term. But they're not major cities necessarily. Is it something in the water or is there some factors that you can kind of chalk up? Yeah, well, I think if we're talking about the very early days of when you think of Athens music, late 70s, early 80s, I think things kind of coagulated in that there was the art school there. It was a sleepy college town. There wasn't a lot to do. Those people were putting bands together just to have something to do on the weekends for house parties. like deliberately moving there you know like you said trying to see if there was something in the water i mean that happened in atlanta i mean during my era of deer hunter black lips mastodon the same thing kind of happened like it's all of a sudden like people are moving there i'm like i think you guys got this shit confused like these these guys like went to high school here they didn't they didn't choose this it was chosen for them you know what i mean well i think the the the most prime example of that is seattle and in the grunge scene

Yeah, that's true. Of a non-major, major city becoming that musical hub where people from all over the world will travel to to get a piece of that sauce. Oh, yeah. I mean, in the 90s, Seattle was synonymous for alt-rock, grunge, whatever you want to call it. I mean, Seattle is also so remote to me. As far as a place, I mean, Olympia, Washington, for example, also is like an Athens kind of thing in some ways, which, again, all those factors feel the same to me, like small town, kind of sleepy. I imagine that the college brings people there, and then they find other people, and they start bands. It's that simple, I guess. But Seattle is like, I mean, that's kind of the middle of nowhere. Atlanta, it feels a little more central than that. You're just saying that because it's a Delta hub, Chris. No, that's not true. I like Seattle a lot, actually. I've been there a handful of times. I just don't think that it's far from. I guess when touring, when you start talking about touring, it's in the top corner. It's like being from Miami. You've got to go out of your way, really. Exactly. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Also, Athens, very close to Atlanta. And I don't know if it still is. When I was there in the 90s, extremely. I think my rent was – I was living with two other guys. I think it was like $130 a month or something. Jesus Christ. So you could have a job washing dishes and do your band. No problem. Your overhead was so low. Back then when you were paying $150 for rent, what was your job? How were you making that money? I was in school and I worked at a record store. I was a record store clerk. Oh, so you're a classic. Yeah, which record store did you work at? It was called Backtracks. It was on Clayton Street downtown. It's long since gone. So what was your vibe as a record store employee? Were you the omniscient, all-knowing dickhead or were you like the friendly, let me put you on kind of guy? I was the latter. I guess I was the youngest.

clerk there. I guess I started working there when I was 19 and it was this massive just crash course in music history. I often say that, you know, those clerks that I worked with, they kind of helped me recontextualize my parents' record collection. Like, you know, I went off to school and, you know, I was listening to what I thought was very underground music at the time. slant or jesus lizard or fugazi or whatever and you know working at that store these guys were like you know you haven't heard stevie wonder's talking book and i was like oh my dad had that record but then i i you know he was hearing it with new ears I do think there's that, I think when you're super in that, like that was at least how I was with like hardcore and punk. I definitely missed stuff because I was like, that's mainstream. I don't know. That tunnel vision. Yeah. And it's like so negative to be that way. You know what I mean? I wonder, I don't think kids today, I think they're exposed to so much more that it's a little easier to understand the nuance of stuff. But yeah, I was completely closed off, but, but with hardcore and punk for whatever reason, you know, like the Smiths and the cure and like Susie and the Banshees and shit is acceptable. Yeah. Like adjacent. Yeah. Yeah. Which I've still never really put my finger on why that is the case. And there's like this handful of almost always British, you know, bands that are acceptable to like. Right. But like hip hop wasn't really part. I mean, you know, and I mean, it was on the peripheral. But I don't, Jason, was that your experience too? Yeah, absolutely. All of my friends growing up who were super crazy, straight edge, gnarly metal, hardcore bros also listened to all of those bands. Smiths, Morrissey, everyone idolized them. Everyone had Morrissey haircuts and wore the same outfits. But also, everyone listened to a lot of very intense hip-hop as well. See, the hip-hop thing was not... really part of the vernacular until I got a little older. Well, speaking of hip-hop, I know that you're a big Beastie Boys fan. How would you convince Chris and I, who are not Beastie Boys fans, how would you convince us to maybe come along? As I mentioned, that was the first...

record i bought so that's that's kind of like a group that man they've been with me since i was a little kid it's in your dna at this point it is and you know if you listen to that first record they're just absolute clowns and i think being along with them for that ride where they got more uh experimental and and their interest broadened and uh you know you're able to grow really into buddhism and it yeah i felt like When I was listening to those Beastie Boys records in high school, I'm thinking about Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head and Ill Communication, they would name check so much stuff in their lyrics that I'd say, oh, I need to check out this guy, Lee Perry, or whatever it is, or where they would riff on Root Down. I was like, oh, this is a jazz record I need to check out. So I think part of the appeal at the time of the Beastie Boys, besides obviously the tunes was it was just really opening me up to to all these different things that they were talking about whether it was um records or musicians or uh you know talking about sports figures or they were just always loading their lyrics with all these references damn i didn't think about that i mean that makes sense of why it would take hold of you at a young age yeah whereas like a band like sublime did that for chris perhaps Bradley took you on a journey just like myself. You're the one that's from Orange County. That is your DNA, bro. The rich music history of Orange County, as you notice, we did not discuss because it would be like five shitty hardcore bands and then Sublime is from Long Beach. Sugar Ray. We have Sugar Ray. No doubt. Offspring. I could go on, but I won't. Thank you. Spare us. Did either of you read or listen to the audiobook, that Beastie Boys book that came out a couple years ago? What do you think? No, we did not, but people fucking love it. Man, it is so good. I would recommend the audiobook as, even if you don't like the Beastie Boys, the...

The amount of time they spend talking about growing up in New York City is fascinating. That part about them, they're one of those, and there's a few people I feel this way about, but I'm very happy they're famous because they're important in the cultural lexicon. It's just personally, I don't listen to it. I'm happy they're famous because they're cooler than 99% of famous people. Similar to maybe Jason Lee, where I'm not a huge fan of his acting, but I'm glad that he became a famous actor and was a professional skater and turned his weird life into a successful career. Yes, I would agree. I think that is cool. It gives you hope when you're a kid, for sure. Also from Huntington Beach, just saying. Oh, okay. There we go. Now I knew there had to be a tie-in. I also, Justin, want to talk about some of the music supervision work because we talk to people about their careers a lot on this podcast. And I think that music supervision is something people loosely understand. You know what I mean? They know that someone is putting music in their favorite television shows and movies and commercials. But I think the actual process behind it and what that... what is required besides someone like you has an encyclopedic knowledge of music in general. What is the process like? Let's say you're working on a TV show. What is that process like from start to finish? Yeah, well, every project is different, whether it's a TV show, a film, a commercial. I think one of the biggest misconceptions is it's just Having this encyclopedic knowledge of music, people don't think about the clearance and the licensing obstacles and just the myriad ways that those deals shake out in 2020 with just so many different avenues of how something is being viewed. You know, if you're working on a car commercial, there's the car commercial and then there's the...

the spot that they cut for YouTube. And then there's, you know, the 32nd or one minute, uh, Instagram bite size portion that they do. And, you know, all of that has to be accounted for when it comes to licensing it. And there's, there's a different amount of rights and money attached to anything that you're doing there. Does that mean now that the artist is actually making more money because there's, there's. just more usage even though it's for youtube and instagram versus just television or broadcast okay if you're asking me this 10 years ago i would say yes but in the last decade you know licensing your music um you know if you remember let's take it back 20 years 21 years when moby put out that album play that was one of the first artists that really embraced licensing their music before that it was if not verboten it was just it wasn't uh it wasn't cool you know that's a big part of that's a big part of Moby's books actually which I have read both of um but he talks about that how he like did that and and didn't really realize like how I mean that made him rich You know, that like solidified, I mean, he's, he is so rich and people are always like, why, how? And I'm like that one record, it was every song got licensed a hundred times for 10 years, 20 years still to this day. Yeah. I'm not sure if my stats are right, but say there's 20 cuts on that album. I want to say that, you know, 18 of those were licensed or something. That is a wild ass batting average. It's crazy. So you go from. Play coming out in 1999 to 2020, there's no stigma around licensing your music. It's one of the few revenue sources for musicians now. So 10 years ago, I feel like artists were able to get paid out more than they are now. Again, it's a revenue source and everyone is absolutely open to an extent to license their music. Back then, you would have to make somebody an offer. They couldn't refuse to use that song in a commercial. And nowadays, that's the only way they're going to pay their rent.

Very true. And I think it's also the same way us having erectile dysfunction pill ads on this podcast is a rite of passage. I think having a big license, like a car commercial or an Apple commercial in the early 2000s or mid-aughts, that was like a badge of honor, almost. It's cool to do that now. It's not just it pays the bills. Yeah, you're like, oh, I'm happy for you that you are able to... you know quit your job at starbucks now because you got this exactly yeah i think that's so i what i mean is justin are you seeing less resistance now when you approach is there any resistance when you approach artists or labels at this point no not really um obviously if it was some sort of product or service that uh they had an issue with you'd see pushback there but Man, in the midst of a pandemic, this really is one of the few revenue streams left. That and also exposure. Just getting that song. Maybe somebody hears that in a car commercial and then they go stream your record. Or even better, maybe they actually buy the record. I'm a big Shazam user. It's my favorite app. It really is. I think Shazam is truly one of the most underrated, brilliant apps of our time. You're a Zamsaddy. I'm a Zam daddy. Yes, Zam zaddy. I use it all the time, but I do think that Shazam now is integrated with Apple and Spotify and shit, so it makes a playlist for you and everything. It makes it very easy to go. All right, so let's just say for ease of conversation, it's a car commercial. So there's going to be three cuts of that. And you're saying that you're negotiating the price between the – you're not only choosing the music, but you're also in negotiations with the record label or song owner, if it's the artist, and the company that wants to license it. It depends on the project. So if I was doing – if I was working for a client through an ad agency, like let's say it was a car commercial, I did a –

a lexus commercial four years ago and a chris little georgia shout out i did i put a pylon song in there right i remember this because you got like some it was like a big look for them i mean that's like pylon i mean now they're doing a big you know anniversary record and stuff but at the time it was pretty quiet for them that's right and that's just you know found money for them a track that came out in 1981. And also, nobody other than you guys knows who this band is, just to let you know. That is not true. That is not true. But maybe. I am exaggerating a little bit, but also not. But the point is, I think the point is, though, of that example, which is good, is that you were able to pull something that... made a giant corporation happy, paid a band that you love a lot of money, and it exposed the band to a whole new audience, and it worked really well for the commercial. So it kind of hit everything you were trying to do. Right. And in that instance, I was solely doing the creative aspect. I wasn't having to do the clearance or the licensing. Their business affair took care of that. I was solely charged with finding the right sound to pair with the commercial. helping them connect the dots to the rights holders. Now, with an instance like that, too, is Lexus, is that brief clear to you, or do they not even have the language to describe what they want? Okay, that one specifically, I was working off storyboards. I knew that he was going to be shooting in Paris, and they were going to shoot during the day, and they were going to shoot at night. So I was throwing all kinds of stuff against it. You know, Serge Gainsbourg, you name it. But we ended up... Settling on that pylon track, cool. And that opening bass line, that was... what they they really latched onto that yeah and that's the other thing i think people should understand is that these songs get chopped up into many you know like it could literally be that baseline looped and that's the whole thing sometimes you know but but with the television show where there's a lot of ground to cover and a lot of time to fill um i i feel like that's probably is that a less pre is that did you feel less pressure doing that because it's kind of like a whole season and you're in bed with them a little more uh again it depends

On the situation, I got to work on one of the final seasons of Bourdain, and this one was all in Asia. And a lot of times this music stuff comes down to the wire. So, and that was seven countries in Asia. So, you know, licensing music from... a lot of artists that didn't speak English. You're having to work with a fixer, just the pure translation. And then you're having to deal with the different PROs, the performance rights organizations around the globe. So each one is its own unique beast. Did you get to build with Bourdain at all, or was this strictly through his people? I was invited to the wrap party and it was in New York city. And obviously I live in Los Angeles and I was like, I've got something else going on. And unfortunately he passed about six months after that. So I never got to meet him. Oh man, that's, that's a missed op for sure. But that's crazy. I mean, that's really interesting to work on that show and deal with that. Like that does sound like a big challenge. Just trying to make all that work is, it sounds like a lot of moving parts. Yeah. I mean, it can, sometimes you're doing this and. You're familiar with the artist or the label or the publisher, and it comes together very smoothly. But again, if you're doing something more complicated where you're dealing with a dozen artists in Asia, and you are having to work with a fixer just to translate what you're approaching, it's a different can of worms. Go ahead, Jason. A lot of people would consider... music supervisor to be like a really fun job um and and potentially easy because everyone thinks that they have great taste in music and all you have to do is pick that but like you know a big part of the job is is mostly just like the paperwork and the relationships and the back scratching and like i'll i'll let you sync this song if you do this other artist that i have on my roster that sucks blah blah blah what um you know do you do you think that

Music supervision is kind of a heavily guarded industry or career path because it is such a sweet gig if you're able to get it? I'm in a unique position. It's not my one job, my one source of income. So I'm only taking on projects that I feel genuinely passionate about. But yeah, if this is what I did day in, day out, Yeah, it would be a very different game. Since you're touching every part of the music business, how fucked is the industry, bro? Let's get real here. How bad is it? How bad has COVID made it? How do we get out? Man, it's tough. Unless this miracle vaccine drops soon, I think it's going to get a lot grimmer. We were discussing the lack of income revenue streams for artists. Before COVID, now you've taken out touring, which is just a killer for a lot of artists. So I don't know. I don't know where things are going to go from here. I mean, I can tell you from my own experience, I'm a partner in this project called Gold Diggers Sound in East Hollywood. We're a recording studio, club, bar, boutique hotel. We just kicked off. our live stream series. This is something I've been working on all summer to try to put the pieces together. We kick it off September 1st with Mary Lattimore. So I think everyone's trying to pivot and find ways to stay afloat amidst this. But yeah, I don't know. What have you been doing if you own or you are a partner in a live music venue? Are there any other ways for you to make money right now with this space? Have you been able to rent it out for filming or anything like that? We're in a unique position. We have two buildings. We have the recording studio. It's 8,000 square feet with nine studios in it and a soundstage. It's Ed Wood, the filmmaker's old studio. And then we have a building that is a bar.

slash club, 170 capacity with a nine-room boutique hotel upstairs. I've never been blacked out in that club in my entire life, by the way. Jason's very familiar with your establishment. I like to hear that. We've transformed the bar into a soundstage. You walk in there now and it's lighting, cameras, cables. We haven't opened our doors since March. 14th or something. So there's been no income coming in that way. So we've pivoted to we're doing this live stream series. Artists can, in addition to recording in the studios, the way that the club is set up, our studio partner, Dave Trumpio, he set up the club in terms of the audio that it sounds like a studio. So we're just trying to to figure out ways to to use what we've got i mean i think that i think that the the idea i mean i feel like everybody still wants to make records right now it's actually a great time no you can't go on tour so you should be making a record you know what i mean so like the idea of being able to move in somewhere and record there is probably maybe more attractive yeah how's the how's the recording studio biz going right now how's the booking schedule looking It's going pretty good. Again, we're in a unique position, so we have an artist in there right now. It's under NDA, but they have, for the past six weeks, they have essentially rented out the campus, and they're not leaving the campus. They're staying in the hotel. They are recording in the studio. All their meals are catered in, and that's how they're doing it. So they just took over. They can live there. They can record there. They have full reign of the entire space. Right. And they're getting tested, you know, still COVID daily. And I'm sure you guys have heard, but supposedly there's going to be some rapid COVID testing kits coming out in the next six weeks. And if those turn out to work, I think that could really change things. Yeah, totally. I mean, but that is crazy that somebody can, they don't have to leave.

That's a great way to make money right now because leaving is the problem. Yeah, it's like the NBA bubble. I heard Tyler Perry in Atlanta has created some sort of bubble where he brings in everyone for the productions he's doing. It's fucking wild. Apparently, he's just doing it all. It's just like no problem. Yeah, except for paying people. But yeah, otherwise, he's good. He developed a very cool system, and he also is now a billionaire. Yes, that was announced this week. I mean, the cult following of Tyler Perry knows the powers are great. They're very, very strong. Well, speaking of not being able to go anywhere, I get a feeling that you're a little bit of a fan of Japan. And now that you're not able to travel there anymore, where are you getting all of your inspiration from? I have been... reading a lot of the paul thoreau books you guys familiar with him yeah totally i've been yeah super deep dive on those just trying to yeah again i really miss travel um i just wrapped up ghost train to the eastern star which came out in 2008 which was him retracing his steps 30 years later um across europe and asia uh from the book that kind of broke his career in 1975. I'm about to start another one of his books. Chris, you might appreciate this. It's called Deep South, which I guess he takes his brand of Vanguard travel writing down to the Southeast. So yeah, I think I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been reading. Yeah. A lot of things set abroad. I just reread the sheltering sky. So, you know, my mind was in, saharan africa so you're you're mentally taking a vacation as much as you can you're going on a journey in your mind and i think that's awesome yeah and even with even with my kid we just watched that i think it's netflix or amazon that you know toughest race challenge with the hostess bear grills you guys know this no i thought the only one we hear about is the zach efron one so please inform us about the new bear grills vehicle so this

This is good. It's like 10 episodes. It's the Eco Challenge. It's 60 teams competing in Fiji over 10 days. 60 teams. That's a lot of fucking people. Yeah, it's intense. Yeah, if you like that kind of stuff, it's great. But again, it's being able to watch something where they're in Fiji. It's beautiful. They're facing all these physical and mental challenges. Yeah, I've been... I'm going astral with the traveling. Jason just turns on his iMac screensaver, and he disappears to wherever it takes him. Damn, I wish I had an iMac. He said he just smokes weed, and then he's, like you said, he's in Africa. He's in Asia. He's in Australia. What I do is I take off and go to Mars sometimes. Exactly. You blast off is what we'd call that. Well, that's good. I'm glad that you're doing that. I also know that you're very into running. Are you still – how's the quarantine? Are you pounding the pavement king? Yeah, it's good. I mean, I think that is – if anything has kept me sane throughout this, it's being able to do that. What's the running schedule? How many miles are we getting a week? Let's really – we really need to know the nitty-gritty here. I would say... Drop the Strava receipts, bitch. Yeah, if I can get it in six miles five days a week. Shit, that's pretty serious. Okay. Yeah. Again, that depends on schedule. Is that just the warm-up or is that the whole thing? That's the whole thing. That's the whole thing, baby. You got a kid and stuff. I get it. No, I think that is... has really, really helped. Obviously physically, but man, just mentally being able to get out there and just zone out for a little bit. Are you running in the hood or in your neighborhood or do you drive somewhere where it's a little more flat? No, I'm running in the neighborhood, man. Those hills. You're doing it Joe Rogan style. You got a fanny pack? I do not have a fanny pack. No fanny pack? No fanny pack. Where do you keep your knife?

Yeah, where do you keep your Gatorade chews and your knife? I don't understand. I mean, this is LA, man. This is the Wild Wild West. So when you're running, you're listening to music or a book on tape or something like that. Am I wrong? It depends. Most of the time, music. But more often than not, lately, I've just been not listening to anything. Just trying to shit. You're trying to get into some sort of clear space. It's the best way, but it's also the most difficult. It's just you and the damn road and your thoughts. I've tried, and man, it did not work. I mean, I just cannot. But it took you some time to work up to that. Yeah. Not everyone has demons inside of their head. I will say this latest heat wave has kept me off the pavement for a bit. What kind of shoes are we wearing? I am wearing Adidas as my wife's design director there, so I get half off. Oh, okay. I see. So we know where your brand loyalty lies. Let's talk about the inseam length, my friend. Are we sub five? What's going on? I feel like Justin could be... I feel like he could hit a three. Three-inch inseam. I'm not kidding. Justin? I'm up for anything, man. I'm open. I appreciate that attitude, but what is the inseam now? Where are we at on the jog now? Oh, man. Are we just talking about shorts here? Yeah, we're talking about shorts. I go pretty short. I'm like a four or five inch. See, that's what I thought. Good man. That's what we support on this show. That is kind of a hallmark of this program. Yeah, even the Patagonia baggies are too long for me to run in. Yeah, I got the two-inch marathon short from Nike earlier this year, and it's really easy to get used to even though it feels insane the first time you put it on. Yeah, I think that it's key to have those things short. I swear by it.

What kind of socks are we wearing? Because I'm big into specialty socks. Again, I've just got the Adidas. This guy is so fucking brand loyal. Look, they're paying her, not you. Okay, man? That's right. I know it's a family unit, though. I'm getting the socks for free, though, Chris. Oh, shit. All right, now we're talking. Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I didn't realize. That changes everything. You know what? Okay, speaking of running shoes, actually, I haven't worn these in a while. I just bought some New Balance 990s. Just to hang. Just to hang, yeah. I mean, honestly. A timeless shoe. It's one of the most comfortable. So Jason, I don't know if you know this. Jason wears a size 17 because he's very tall. Why would he know that? I don't know. It would be cool if he did. It's kind of the most interesting thing about you. So anyway, he wears a size 17 shoe. And it's really tough for him to find footwear, obviously. But New Balance, I feel like, Jason, they often have you covered. Yeah, I would say they offer the largest selection of freak show styles. Big people feet. Plus size footwear as well. For a bigger guy like myself. For a bigger guy like you. But I don't know if, I mean, did when... Justin, do you find yourself wearing shorts all the time in L.A.? Because after my temporary move here, I've been put on pants like twice, maybe. You've been hanging out with TJ too long. I put on jeans for the first time. Six months last night. Damn, you have a court date? Jury duty? What's the occasion? It was my buddy's birthday. We had a little hang, so I thought I'd put on hard pants, as I started to call them. Hard pants? Hard pants. That's exactly what they are, though. Putting on pants after this time here. You have some outdoor space at your house. You're not cooped up. No, man, we're really fortunate. Yeah, plenty of space here. What would you say your level of social distance hanging, where are you at on the scale of freak to irresponsible? I think I'm responsible with it. Responsible, but I also feel that you have to keep living.

That's the stance on this podcast as well. We're responsible, but I was watching Jason make ribs for five hours last night. Yeah, but that's just you and I in a backyard. That's true. That's true. Last episode, we had a guest, Leslie Arfin, who lives in Los Feliz, and she was ranking her LA grocery stores, and she put Gelson's number one. She put Whole Foods number one. Oh, I'm sorry. Whole Foods is number one. Gelson's is number two? Maybe. Yeah, I guess so. What were her thoughts on the Los Feliz Albertson? Because it has its own Instagram account. There's like a cult-like following. Actually, she said that it is such a shithole that she wouldn't be surprised if that location was where COVID actually started. Comparing it to that of a Wuhan wet market. Check this out. Best music of any grocery store I've ever been to. Really? Yes. Oh, this is a new development. Yeah, this is a new development in guys' grocery games. So you're saying that you're hearing stuff that you both know and you're discovering stuff, or you're saying it's just hit after hit? Man, it's just more like you'll go in there and they're playing Steely Dan or Jerry Rafferty. It's all stuff that... So there's a manager there who is putting in the time. He's building those title and Spotify playlists on his 15. That is good to know. That is some insider info. Everybody that works there looks like they're out of Central Casting. Like I said, it's got its own Instagram page. Wow, I didn't know that. But is that a place that you shop or are you saying that you just like the vibe? I like the vibe, yeah. And it's easy. I used to live in Los Feliz, so it was a four-minute walk from where I used to live. But yeah, she was talking about grocery stores. I'm here in Glassville Park, so I'm going to Sprouts a lot. Damn, Sprouts is a left-field contender. Jason, tell us what you know about Sprouts. Sprouts is, I think it's somewhere in between a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's.

That's fair. There's a lot of bulk items, lower price points, decent amount of vegetarian and vegan selections, while still maintaining a mainstream level of food as well. They opened one near my parents' house in Atlanta, and I never went in. I don't know. I just didn't ever feel compelled. Ultimately, it's mid, but it'll do in a pinch, I say. It has everything you need. Sure. Um, also, you know, speaking of food and cooking, do you, do you guys, were you guys at some point posting recipes or, or sharing recipes on, on, uh, on AD? Wow. Okay, man. Old school 2005 when I started it, it was, um, it was kind of a fluke. I was just, I just started this thing to, instead of having like an email chain with friends, um, this was just a way to post whatever I was reading or watching or listening, but I would also post some recipes. You like to share. That quickly dissolved, though, and just turned strictly to music. So are you still cooking it up? Yeah, we're still cooking. I think like everyone, we've gotten pretty burned out on cooking, so I feel like we're doing a lot more delivery than we were. That's all of us, sweetheart. It's not just you. I never gave up. I never sold out, bro. Still at it. I'm still at it. For better or worse, I don't know if, I mean, I feel like you're, I guess we all have a lot more time to burn, so you're doing that, which is nice. Yeah, I mean, it's probably not the most useful and productive way to spend my time, but, you know, it is what I love. Are you doing the thing where you've got a favorite cookbook, and you're like, all right, I'm just going to go page by page? Are you doing it like that, or is it more ad hoc, like freestyle? It is definitely more ad hoc freestyle. I never really cook recipes out of a cookbook. I usually will just browse around on the internet, get inspired by something, and then find a recipe that I think sounds the most in line with my sensibilities and current ingredients.

kind of build a little my own custom version of a recipe based on that. All right. I'm coming over tonight. What are we eating? No, honestly, he's downplaying it. Jason's an incredible cook, and I enjoy the fruits of his labor all the time. That wasn't a downplay. I was bragging about how cool I am and how good I am at cooking. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was confused. It was an upplay, if anything. And I need you, Justin, to put us on to some new music that we need to know about. Is there anything that the listeners should know? Because somebody put me onto something this week, and I was actually, it's called Lomelda, and the album is called Hannah. It's on a record label called Double Double Whammy. Okay. And I'm just really into it. All of the words you just said, I did not like. My listener of the show, Jake Gallagher, put me on, and I was like, this is actually very good. And I think that we have an expert on the line here. If you have anything you'd like to suggest, it's really been an earworm for you lately. We'd love for you to share. Yeah. All right. Let's see. I found something about a month ago. through the magic of Spotify, this guy, he's about 19 or 20. Uh, his name is Chico Bernadez and you can find him on Spotify or band camp. He is from Brazil. He's a, I guess you would classify him as a folk artist. Um, but it's great. Obviously all sung in Portuguese. I've been listening to that a lot. Um, I'm going to plug aquarium drunkard right now. We just released this morning. Um, a lanyard session with dirty projectors. That's a series that we do where artists do cover songs. And he did two tracks, um, from that, uh, that seminal self-titled, uh, Stan gets Gilberto album. Oh, wow. Cool. You know, I love that, that series because that was where I heard the greatest cover of, um, the Jim blossoms that I've ever heard. Oh, that white fence one. Yeah. That shit, Alison Road is a fucking classic, and real heads know that, but his cover of Alison Road, that really lit me up. Out of all the Gin Blossom covers over the years, this was the top. Exactly. But honestly, that series is great, and I feel like it's probably, are people usually pretty happy to participate because it's something new and kind of challenging? Yeah, and I think it's fun. I think from a...

from a listener standpoint, it kind of gives you a little window into, into what that artist, what, what, you know, what they're influenced by, what they're listening to. Um, and from the artist standpoint, I mean, it's, it goes from, you know, pretty standard covers to sometimes like wild, uh, yeah. Imaginations of, of, uh, just re-imagining the, the entire thing and reinterpreting in it. Some of the, some of the, yeah, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the, some of the fascinating fascinating. That's what I, I mean, that's, what's interesting is the, the, The White Fences cover of Jim Blossoms, to me, it stayed pretty true to the original, but it still felt very him, which I think is as hard to do as making it totally insane. I think those are the two things that interest me the most. So there's a new Dirty Projectors one that is up now on the site. Yeah, it came out this morning. Dave Longstriff, the main cat in that group, he just put out his latest EP. I believe last Friday. Um, what else? There's a, there's a group called paint based here in Los Angeles at Pedram from that band all laws. This is his own project. He just released like his second record, which is killer. Um, I like the name paint. Very cool. Yeah, it works. It works. Um, what else? There's a, there's a group from Norway. I've been listening to past few months called Orion's belt. They're worth checking out. Top five constellations. My guy's on his real international flavor with his books and his music, Jason. That's right. We need to branch out a little more because Jason only listens to Radiohead and Drake. And Apex Twin. So he needs to branch out a little bit. I listen to No Drake. Okay. So Radiohead and Apex Twin, though. That's it. That's it. Okay. Well, that's an A-side and a B-side. I've heard there's other music out there. Yeah, right. AquariumDrunkard.com. Exactly, is the website. Justin, thank you for joining us. It's been a pleasure, man. Yeah, great chatting with you guys. Good catching up. So yeah, AquariumDrunkard.com is the website. Social media is the same, I believe? Yeah, Twitter, Aquadrunkard. Instagram is just AquariumDrunkard, yeah.

Great. Yeah, and if you need to discover new music, bypass the big guys that give these number numerical reviews and go straight to my man here. You know what I'm saying? We're fucking with the big indies on this side. It's a number-free zone on this side. Exactly. That's right. But honestly, I love the site I've been reading for years. I think it's a really interesting place on the internet, so thanks for chatting to us about it, and we will talk to you soon. You bet. All right, later, Justin. See ya. Bye.