Muse

Now, we've known each other for quite some time in the professional realm. I'd like to push things forward in the friendship realm. What's the friendship realm? Well, you've heard of a realm? Hmm. Yeah? Yes. Well, this is like a friendship one. A group of people basically getting together, calling each other friends.

T-B-T-L Guess what day it is? Guess what day it is?

It's Friday. Friday! Gotta get down on Friday. Everybody's looking forward to the weekend.

Guys, I'm calling you from a karaoke bar bathroom. Somebody just put on Bohemian Rhapsody. Save me, please. No dad wants to have this talk with his son, but you're just not eating enough hot dogs. That's the saddest thing I've ever heard. I'm so funny. I can't believe my dad didn't think I could make it as a stand-up comedian.

See you later, suckers. I'm taking myself on a hot air balloon ride.

Alright, hello, good morning, and welcome everyone to a Friday edition of TBTL, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

We're getting medium play on three independent radio stations in Central Europe.

My name is Luke Burbank, I am your host. Just took a giant slug of caffeine-free chamomile tea, and it didn't settle right. But I got it together now. Very excited to be coming to you on this Friday morning from the studios of Walsh, Walsh and Dormat, where I'm getting to spend some quality time with some of my favorite people, including Theo Murray. There is something about the soul of a cat. Who I have rousted from his special spot, and now he is standing in the hallway, not happy about it. We'll see how this goes on episode 3,528 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. Theo has re-entered the room This is a positive sign Andrew is doing all sorts of cat whispering over there With body language And pantomime I think we're going to be just fine It's possible that we have identified The world's most intense Cheesesteak ad

It's cheesy, it's delicious And kids go nuts for it

It's something that's been airing during the San Francisco Giants Baseball games So our listeners in the Bay Area are probably well familiar with this very, very serious commercial about cheesesteaks involving a San Francisco Giants player. Anyway, we'll talk about that. And also the senator who is still got some learning to do on the subject of Instagram and also Finstagram. It's called the Internet, and it's a fresh new way to check out sites, buy clothing and surf music. Also, internet searches for white vans have gone up by something like almost 8,000% because they apparently are shoes that people are wearing in the Squid Games. So we may talk about that too. Oh, speaking of the white vans and being back at it.

Damn. Fireball. Back at it again with the white vans.

This guy is the longest running Cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He is Andrew Walsh, and he's joining me right now from just across the table with an 18-year-old cat sitting on his lap. Good morning, my friend. How are you?

Good morning. I think he's 20. Whoa! Yeah, he's old, man. And he's needy, and he's awake right now, but he seems happy sitting on my lap.

Honestly, this is adorable. Like, you and this cat. We have a bond. I mean, there's no doubt about it. And Theo's just kind of itching his face on the table as he sits on your lap. It's very, very cute.

He's kind of slobbering, though. Can you see that? No, come on.

I have a lot of... We talk about your dogological clock. I think I have a catological clock. Oh, really? Yeah, because everybody I know is getting cute cats. Oh, yeah. Kevin and Anita got a pretzel. Adelaide got a little cat named Blue. Oh, I didn't know that. Yes, who is just as cute as a button. How long has she had Blue? Like two weeks. Is she Blue? She's white. She's some kind of a, some sort of Siamese brand. Is that a brand?

Yeah, it's a brand. Kind of cat? Yeah, it's a flavor. Probably Big Blue Eyes then, right? Maybe that's where the name comes from. I don't, I mean, you know kids. Maybe I should just, you know kids.

We're just happy she didn't name it Lil Uzi Vert.

You're right. Truer words have never been spoken. Hey, I don't want to get us too off track, and I don't think I have to play it. But really briefly, did you happen to notice that four non-blondes were trending on Twitter yesterday?

I missed that.

I'm trying to figure out. I don't think that was targeted towards me. I don't think I've been dropping a lot of four non-blondes hints on the Internet lately. Yesterday, I saw two things relevant to our interest. Well, my interest may be trending on Twitter. Chris Hayes was trending. What? Yeah, he's taking shots at the Tucker Carlson. Oh, yeah. That whole thing. And then Four Non Blondes. So no offense, but I clicked the Four Non Blondes one first. I wanted to see what was going on. And it turns out there is some new movie, which, by the way, Resident Evil. I was halfway. Welcome to Raccoon City. Look, I was halfway through the trailer before I realized it wasn't a video game. I wasn't sure if I was watching a video, because wasn't Resident Evil originally a video game, and now we just think of it as a movie franchise? Is this true?

I think it was a video game. I'm the worst person to ask on both of these topics, because I don't know about video games, and I don't know about horror films. But, yeah, I'm looking at the Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City.

I know the name is, all right, you know, I was actually going to not play this, but here, I'll do it. What they've done is, I don't know if it's a slow, I don't really think it's a slowed down version of the song. I think it's just, they took the vocal tracks during the slower part of the song. It's going to start with some pretty violent sounds here.

You've got to help us, Claire. Let the world know what's really going on.

What's going on? What's going on? Got it. There's violence here and then.

25 years and my life is still We have to continue Shall we go? What were Umbrella doing here? This is where they're experimenting on him

We don't have to keep going I'm pulling down the wrong thing. Sorry about that. Yeah. So anyway, four, nine blondes trending again is relevant now.

I'm waiting for them to do every 10 years. A different generation discovers the song. What's going on?

I love that song. I found that that is one song. One time I was a one of my first times going to this bar. I like called the res, you know, the res sure dive bar. Not too far from my house.

I want to mention it is named for the reservoir across the street. Not the fact that we forced indigenous people to live on small amounts of land.

Right, right. In fact, I think it might even technically be called the Reservoir Tavern, maybe. Sign says res. Anyway, it's the type of place where I go in and I want to just blend in and not be a problem and not be a dork. And I remember the first time I went in there several years ago, it was probably a late afternoon kind of deal, like a Friday. Fridays are for Andy's. One of those situations. And, you know, I probably got got off work and maybe Wednesdays are for Walsh. No, no, I'm taking over the whole damn week. Any day that ends in Y, my friend. But I remember kind of going in there and wanting to, again, just be my best dive bar self. It's funny. You know what I'm talking about. As embarrassing as it is to admit, you know what I'm talking about. And I think it was my first time in there. And I kind of went in and I just started playing songs in the jukebox using my using my phone. Right. They have one of those systems. How much Tom Waits do they have? I played the entire Diamonds on My Windshield three times in a row. But I was just kind of like trying to match the tone of the place, you know, just kind of keep it keep it all appropriate or whatever. And, you know, I was making some conversation with the bartender, an older woman who I recently learned passed away on the job. Terrible. Anyway, that was sad. I just remembered that this moment. Anyway, at the end of her shift, maybe I'd been there an hour and a half or maybe a couple of hours or something, and she was wrapping up and transferring things to the bartender who was taking over for her. And I think the new bartender said something like, oh, what is this song? And then they both kind of looked at me like, have you been playing the music? And I can't remember what it – you know what it was? It might have been a John Prine actually, maybe that Iris Dement John Prine song or something. And then the one said to the other, oh, yeah, he's been playing great music the whole time. Oh, my gosh.

That is the greatest thing that can happen when you're low-key running the jukebox.

One bartender to another. Talk about me in third person. But then she turned to me and said, except for the Four Non Blondes song. I swear to God, that's a true story. Like, you hear that one a lot. And I think that's what it is. Like, they must hear the same songs over and over and over. And probably Four Non Blondes is probably on that list.

You know, there's a place that I tend to go in Portland called My Father's Place, which is not far from where I live. And, you know, if you go, that one uses AMI. Yeah, I like AMI. You've got AMI, you've got touch tunes, and it'll show you the, like, you know, most played songs here. And I swear, For Non Blondes, What's Going On is one of the most played songs. Oh, yeah, I believe it. It must be a good song.

It's a go-to for people. I want to apologize for my voice. Oh, yeah, again. Once again, a Seattle sports team and a certain amount of whiskey has done some damage to my vocal cords. Last night, when we were watching the football game together, Andrew, you actually said to me, and I appreciated this.

Oh, your voice was getting bad last night.

Some of it was yelling about the game, and some of it was trying to be heard over the din of the bar that we were at. It was so loud in there. And now I'm drinking my chamomile tea. I think I am now officially a person who needs to do things like. Yeah, you don't have a cough button here either.

Vocal rest. And I can't like just even if I muted you. What if I point at you? And then I mute you. But then I have to be quiet to mute both of us and mute Theo. And mute Theo, yes.

No, I am officially now a person who cannot yell at a sporting event without having the repercussion. I remember, you know, interviewing people or sort of being around people who are singers and are, you know, kind of really sort of take care of their voice. And they'll be like, they're on vocal rest. I've literally had it where we had a singer come to Livewire and they were like, no one can talk to this person before they sing their own vocal rest. And I always thought that was a little extra. I now get it.

Well, I think that you probably your vocal cords probably never fully recovered from the damage of last weekend, is my guess, which is why it was probably easy. And it's, you know, again, short week, Luke. This is a quick turnaround time for my voice. Exactly. Sunday to Thursday. Obviously, a lot of thoughts on that game. But I think we have time to do a no point next week. Right. Well, will we remember this game next week? Hopefully not.

yeah so anyway uh yeah you last night you were like uh dude your voice is going again yeah as i was screaming again i tell all my 45 year old guys i guess you just can't i am at the age now where i can't just like lose my mind yelling for three hours and then have it be fine the next day so if you see me out on the streets and you approach me i'm talking to the listeners now and I and me and mostly you and you make eye contact I am not okay with it no if you see me like just kind of walking almost like a having a monastic sense to me it's I'm on vocal rest

you are wearing a big brown kind of robe kind of a very shapeless Addy told me that's what's in oh yeah that's what that's on blue um yeah I feel like I don't know are there any external like can we get you a muffler or something is there anything external well the good news is I no

longer watch football oh that's good after last that was it you're done so that will help a lot and you know I don't think I'm gonna understand hockey even though our friend John tried to try to explain it to us by drawing us a diagram and he was explaining it in actually a very clear

way that I retained zero I know it was one of those things and then some more people met us and they saw the napkin so then he gave another lesson based on the same napkin by the end he who's drawing the same lines over and over so many times that the napkin was just in shreds. That's like when you're doing Pictionary

and the people aren't getting it, and you just keep emphasizing the thing you've already drawn. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know if I'm going to be able to fully... I mean, I'm happy that Seattle has a hockey team. I just don't know if my brain or my heart have room for one more sport. Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. Or my relationships, honestly. Like, you know, this baseball and football thing is already pushing it.

Yeah. Just generally. Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. Like, and again, I didn't grow up being obsessed or even really interested in sports at all. And so it's a relatively new thing in my life, maybe going back 10, 15 years now. And now I love it. I mean, this sounds weird, but I love that I love football and I love that I love baseball. It's brought a lot into my life. A lot of that is pain, but it's something. But, like, I don't feel like there's anything missing. I can't explain it to you. You know, I'm not trying to be, like, anti-soccer. You know, Seattle, I think, has a soccer team. No, of course, Seattle is a soccer team that is, you know, that's got a great fan base and actually a pretty successful one. I'm not even joking about that, right? Like, I mean, I really don't know much about soccer.

I think that the Sounders are really initially sort of the model for successful MLS teams.

Yeah. And so, you know, and even even the storm, you know, the Seattle storm, like there are other things I could get into. And now with this new hockey team, but like I just don't feel like there's anything missing. And then if I do fall in love with another sport, all it does is take more time, chunks of time out of my life. You know, a couple of years ago, Genevieve was getting a little bit more into college football because of her connection to the U-Dub. The Boundless W. The Boundless W. Again, I always say that wrong, right? I say the U-Dub, but it should be the U-Dub. Yes. Okay, so I'll say it like that from now on. Totally normal. Because Genevieve worked at the U-Dub. Anyway, she started to watch a little bit. And then I started to watch the Cougs. And then for, I don't know, a season or two ago, suddenly it was. like wait a second are we doing this on saturdays too right like when are we gonna make out is what she said to me and i said just calm down there's plenty of time for making out for making out i

think part of it is what i really like about watching sports is knowing the history of that sport or at least my personal history so i love watching football because i have been watching the seahawks for you know 40 years of my life and i love to make jokes that are not that funny about like Dan Dornick or in in the world of baseball like oh Jack Picante like so I don't have any of that reference point with hockey yeah I mean other than like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux I can't tell you anything or anyone who's ever done a hockey yeah done a hockey you were clearly

watching that napkin carefully it was the third time John outlined it that I realized it's called

do a hockey but you know what i mean like i don't have any i just don't have any institutional memory around the sport and so i mean i guess you could look at that as a fun thing like oh wow i'm learning something new this is all new information this is an exciting endeavor but for me it's like just not having a reference point for any of the stuff that's happening in terms of who used to do it who was a funny person who you know who had a silly name etc like those are all the things that make sports fun for me yeah like the context and the history and i don't have that for hockey again i just also don't need how many games do they play in a hockey season it's a lot right it's like basketball sort of right so it's like i don't need another like 82 game event in the winter time i mean maybe i do emotionally but i don't need it in terms of like again telling becca sorry uh it's a kraken night right sorry we can't uh go somewhere you want to go watch the thing you want to watch i mean i already hit onto that too much at towards the end of the mariners season the the friday night game before i came up here to watch the uh the final weekend the friday night game and the saturday game or at least uh we went to the saturday game but a saturday game that i was monitoring which was uh the red socks and the orioles i think the friday night game i'm like hanging out with becca and i'm also low-key looking at the score on my phone as it's doing that kind of game day little animation that's telling you every single pitch if it's a ball or a strike and then Saturday I'm hanging out with my daughter and I'm low key monitoring that game the Red Sox Orioles game same thing we're having a really nice time but part of my brain is like oh my god I really need the Red Sox to lose today so that's already happening and I feel like I don't need to add another sport to the list of things that I'm more or less letting down my loved ones over

Especially if it ends up being another heartbreaking franchise. You know, there's that as well, too. And the thing is, and again, I'm not trying to talk you into this because I'm on the same page with you. I agree with everything you said. The only thing about getting into hockey now, you were saying that you don't have the institutional memory for the sport, which is true. But the cool thing about it would be you're learning with everybody else because it's a brand new team. You have a very built in on ramp here as opposed to like, let's say you moved to Boston. and everybody's a Bruins fan and they all have this memory of so-and-so. That's a good point. You know what I mean? So there is an argument there. And I'm actually, and again, maybe I'm just saying that because it's like one of those things where I'm enjoying hearing other people saying, I'm going to get into hockey. I'm really excited to learn about hockey. And there is an excitement there. And I'm happy for those people. But I just don't have whatever, there's nothing tugging at my heart in that direction.

I am amazed at how much the Kraken merchandise has taken off. When I was in Texas, I saw multiple people wearing like Kraken hats and t-shirts I mean part of it is because Kraken is a very en vogue Mythical creature right now And also it's like you know there's a new hockey team And they have a cool name and I guess a kind of cool logo I don't really have a thought one way or the other on the Kraken It's like a K right? Yes but it is a isn't it also a serpent? Yes I believe so But yeah I'm amazed at how widespread the love is The other thing is that the Las Vegas Golden Knights They really did a disservice to other cities That are getting a new hockey team Which is they went to the Stanley Cup, I believe The year they got a team So that's where the bar is So if the Kraken do anything less Than going to effectively the Super Bowl Of their sport, it'll feel like we didn't do it right

Are you sure that you were seeing

I'm sorry, we didn't do a hockey right

Are you sure those weren't some versions of the What is the Gatson flag? Was it like, don't tread on my Kraken? They're both serpent-esque It's very possible

Man, you see a lot of those when you get south of a certain point. Actually, you see a lot of them when you get north of a certain point, too. Like, you get out of any major American city. I'm talking a block, and you just see a lot of that stuff and a lot of Trump stuff really fast.

Yeah, it's funny. A while back when I was in Cleveland, we went to a flea market.

at maybe an hour outside of Cleveland, I had to remind myself that Ohio, of course, was part of the Confederacy, right? Oh, sure, yes. Because of all the flags, right? Well, right. I mean, you guys stood strong in— How did I forget my history? You stood strong in the War of Northern Aggression. Right, exactly, exactly. All right, maybe— Theo's not enjoying this. We've got to move on. All right, let's do this. Let's take a break. I'm going to clear my throat, and then we're going to be back with more TBTL in a moment. I'll let you clear your throat. all right let's thank some donors of the day these are the wonderful generous supportive folks who are making tbtl possible people like mary collins in seattle washington thank you mary Carl thank you Mary Carl Noramwena is in Issaquah thanks Carl appreciate you Melissa LeBlanc is in Wichita Kansas that means the white it does I don't know I thought I just think of Blanc and white I don't know LeBlanc I thought you meant Wichita that's amazing I've never heard that about Wichita And then another Melissa Melissa Mann is in Lidditz, Pennsylvania Am I saying that right? You know, I think this has come up before I think I recognize Melissa's name Lidditz, Pennsylvania Lidditz Thank you, Melissa I'm not going to call you Melissa number two Even though I'm tempted to It just so happens that you came Your name was on the same list as another Melissa Melissa LeBlanc Matt Estrada Matt number one Checking in from Tacoma, Washington, a Tacomi, and then Laura Butts is in Orlando, Florida. I am guessing that we saw Laura at our Waffle House show. I'm pretty sure we did. I'm pretty sure we did. That rings a bell. Or if you weren't there, Laura, there's somebody pretending to be you. Yeah, and you should look into that because identity theft is a problem. They also did not pay their bill at the Waffle House. So please contact me. There's somebody that's doing a lot of reputational damage to you, Laura Butz. And I paid that off, and, of course, interest rates being what they are. I mean, I know it's a decent time for this, but still, like, it has been kind of racking up. Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, Laura, we need you to double your donation next year to make up for the bill that Andrew picked up for you at the Waffle House. Laura, thank you for donating to the show. Thanks to all of our donors of the day. Thanks for making TBTL possible. We just absolutely could not do this without you. Thank you, baby. But everything's gonna be all right Thank you, baby

Hello and welcome to Top Story. Are you getting mildly turned on by my exposed legs? Oh, no, I can't see them. Oh, good. Because we're at a table. Yeah. It's actually better. And I got this big computer screen in front of me. I'm going for a jog after this around my beloved Green Lake. Beloved or beloved? What do you go with? I think you can do either. If I'm feeling poetic, I'll say beloved. I love Green Lake so much, and I love jogging around Green Lake. I miss it so much. I really do. Like, it's my favorite place on planet Earth to jog, which is interesting because it's, you know, it's fine. It's a lake in the middle of a city. It's not like I've been to more picturesque places. to do, you know, a little jogging, but there's just something very nostalgic. It's also very flat, which I like. So I'm going to do that after this because you live not too far from Green Lake, but it meant that I'm wearing running shorts. And what you didn't mention here is you also temporarily forgot that we have a meeting with a new boss. I don't know if it's our direct supervisor or our direct supervisor's supervisor. Either way, there's another person. This person is not our boss, but they're the boss of the content we create. Right. They're the chief content officer. Right, and so we're going to meet this person for the first time, and we're going to be doing it via Zoom, and you're like, oh, I forgot. I wouldn't usually be wearing my jogging. I offered to let you wear some of my clothes. I think it would be funny. You would look like a little kid in oversized clothes. Do you have a Bernie Kosar jersey? I do. It's huge. I'd kill for a photo of you in my Bernie Kosar jersey. You should do the meeting in that. We should do that just, and no comment. I'm just wearing a Bernie Kosar jersey, and we're talking to our new boss, and it's not even referenced. is it zoom by the way is it a zoom i'm assuming yeah i think it is yeah yeah i'm just i have looked more professional for meetings but anyway it's fine um uh this was a uh a little piece of tape that listener schaefer sent us it was uh from cnn it was uh richard blumenthal who is a senator talking to somebody from

from Facebook and it was clear I mean we talked about the other day on the show I think Facebook deserves a lot of a very fair criticism for all of the things about Facebook that are less than ideal and that and that are probably making our society function less well they all also of course run Instagram so we have talked about Insta and Finsta before on the show I remember who taught

us that who did teach us that it was the young woman that I believe she was just 16 years old who picked us up when we were hitchhiking. Oh, my gosh. She's the first person to pick us up. Yeah, Cassie.

Cassie? Yes, she picked us up in a Jeep. We were standing by a Casey's on the side of the road. She picked us up and then was talking about how she was trying to grow her Instagram following and also talking about Insta and Finsta, right?

Yep, exactly. And we had never heard of it before. And then the next day on the show, you and I talked all about Insta, Finsta, and I feel like there was a third one that she—

What do we remember about Finsta? Finsta is your fake Instagram What is the utility of it

So especially if you're a younger person And I think it was maybe Started for people who are still Under supervision of their parents They would have one Instagram account That I'm going to be exactly like This senator I'm going to be exactly like this politician Because I'm going to bumble my way through it One of them is What you're putting out into the world Kind of publicly and saying hey everybody this is me But then you have another account or two where you're kind of maybe doing more shitposting. It's kind of a burner account. Yeah. Or you're putting stuff in there that maybe you wouldn't want your parents to see. Maybe something slightly more racy. I don't know.

Right. I think that's the Finsta. OK. So Richard Blumenthal is grilling this Facebook executive by way of Zoom and calling for them to take down Finsta. Will you commit to ending Finsta?

Senator, again, let me explain. We don't actually do Finsta. What Finsta refers to is young people setting up accounts where they may want to have more privacy. You refer to it as privacy from their parents. In my interaction with teens, what I've found is that they sometimes like to have an account where they can interact just with a smaller group of friends. Well, Finsta is one of your products or services.

We're not talking about Google or Apple.

I know, Richard. Why did you double down?

It was okay. Right. You got the explanation.

Then he got high-handed with it. Excuse me. Yes. Finsta is like, this is such a thing I would do. Like being wrong, being loud wrong, and leaning into it.

Yes, yes. And also, and I know that this isn't the point, my guess is, you know, like he's got a point to make no matter who's standing up there. But when you have who I take to be an older man, kind of trying to dress down a woman who knows what she's talking about, but he doesn't. And he's talking over her to to argue with her on something that he's so just wrong about or in the dark about. It's tough to hear.

Somebody handed him, you know, somebody in his, on his staff, I think, handed him like a kind of a sheet. Like, here's what you need to know, Senator Blumenthal. And he read it, and he, like, so they said something like, teens are using Finsta, and sometimes it causes whatever deleterious effect. And so he's just got in his head that I'm going to get this person to commit to ending this Finsta thing. Yeah. He clearly is unaware of how it actually works.

slang for for a type of account okay it's not it's not that type of account oh buddy god stop we i'm not sure i understand exactly what you're asking what i can say is that based on what we've seen in terms of of teams using those kinds of accounts we've actually given them additional privacy options to to address to address those kinds of issues where they want more privacy now

she has more or less I think let him off the hook. She's being very professional. I have to say, I mean, you know, all the criticisms of Facebook being what they are. She seems like a very bright person and she is giving an answer to the question at least as much as he can. This is where Richard Blumenthal should call it good, but he doesn't.

So he can have more privacy.

Well, I don't think that's an answer to my question. Oh, God.

That was it. Then he played a... Then he started playing the cymbal, yeah. Oh, man, yeah, that is tough to hear it. I mean, it's tough to hear no matter what, but also I wonder if as we get older, you know, maybe it's even tougher because it's like, how many conversations am I going to have like that or have I had like that or whatever? Even just like, I'm cringing just thinking about my explanation. finsta a moment ago you know like in anyway there's something about righteous indignation

when it's i mean the thing is obviously there again i'm just saying for the third time now there is a lot of very legitimate criticism of facebook and instagram but there's something about righteous indignation yeah when it's so right incorrectly placed in terms of will you

agree right to end finsta yeah and you're right like it's like you know in the broad scheme of things i assume that i'm more on his side on this particular issue right like i yeah rough all right

speaking of things on the internet i saw this uh right before i came over here today and it's it's a story that i was interested in even though it's a little bit of a reach for us because it's something that non-bay as non-bay area residents is it's not our lived experience but it cracked me up it's in the san francisco gate the story behind nbc sports bay area's polarizing cheesesteak ad starring the Giants Alex Dickerson okay now part of why I vibe with this is because I think you listen to a lot of the baseball games I watch a lot of the baseball games now and there's this thing with with anytime you watch a baseball game or your local broadcast of a baseball game there will just be these ads that just run incessantly it also happens on the radio as well it's like there's a lot of time to fill there are nine innings there is a break between each inning there is a thing before the game a thing after the game there's just so much ad time to fill and so when one of these ads gets in a loop it just really really uh you know it

wears you down as a viewer or a listener yeah for me one of the tv ones that i keep that i've just been seeing a lot during the baseball season of course was the beacon plumbing with marshawn lynch you know i like marshawn lynch but that commercial is terrible just terrible yeah just terrible and i've seen it about 15 000 times so what i think

i think alex schultz writer for the san francisco chronicle i think he kind of wants to roast this commercial but he kind of can't because it's about like the military oh and you know all gave some and some gave all kind of thing so for cheesesteaks well that's part of the tone that's Sort of the tone problem.

I honestly don't know what we're getting into.

I'm reading from Alex's piece. For the uninitiated, this ad for a Bay Area cheesesteak chain that aims to deliver a real deal Philly-style sandwich played on NBC Sports Bay Area more times than anyone can count, meaning Giants fans would remember it even if it were 30 seconds of a still image, but that's very much not what the ad is. And the people who made it are quite aware. I'm going to describe the ad And then encourage you to watch it yourself Dickerson walks into one of the stores He's masked up And he politely fist bumps some customers Who, and I genuinely mean no offense To any of the parties involved It's just impossible to ignore Would have zero shot of recognizing a masked Dickerson at a cheesesteak chain Again, I really think this writer This writer, when he's talking to his friends It's just like This commercial is ridiculous But he can't put that in the San Francisco Chronicle He goes Dickerson begins a voiceover about his father Who was an F-14 fighter pilot in the Navy While there's B-roll of cheesesteaks mostly The music is somber We transition to a shot Where Dickerson is sitting at a table He has an uneaten cheesesteak in front of him Quote Knowing that he sacrificed so much for me To have the life I have It means the world to me He says of his father as he tears up Why is Dickerson talking about his father because the ad reveals the cheesesteak shop is promoting a hometown hero special where you can nominate folks for their exemplary community work, et cetera, et cetera. It's a lot to process at once. And then an unanticipated pivot happens. Dickerson takes an enormous goddamn chomp of a cheesesteak.

I was wondering if you see a cheesesteak in the first act. And the last Chekhov cheesesteak.

And the last two seconds of the ad are him saying, this is legitimately the best cheesesteak I've had outside of Philly. boom, fade to black, back to the ballgame. We're hungry, we're sad, now we're satisfied. Cheese steak in belly, Philly style. He's eating his feelings. So here we go. I'm going to play you this. Now we've fully set it up. Here we go.

My dad, he was a F-14 fighter pilot in the Navy, moved into a desk job that he didn't particularly like, but he was always there to support me and my sister. knowing that he sacrificed so much for me to have the life I have. You know, it means the world to me. Tell us about your hometown hero and the cheesesteak shop will do them right.

He's just, just the bite.

It's legitimately the best cheesesteak I've had outside of Philly.

I love it.

You really have the...

Yeah, you really kind of have to see it. I think the audio paid off. I'll say that as somebody who didn't see it.

It's so jarring to go from him having a truly emotional moment.

Yeah, like literally choking up.

Yes, which, so then this guy reaches out to the ad agency that did the commercial, which is amazing to me that it took an ad agency to do this. Like I think of ad agencies as being, you know, the ones that I work with are pretty savvy. You know what I mean? Like they're usually kind of smart, creative people and they usually create products. Even if I don't think I don't think the commercial is great. It's like there's a certain I'll just use that word again. There's a certain kind of savvy to the whole thing. This I thought for the life of me, this was just the guy from the cheesesteak shop. He just got his called up the Dodgers like a nephew with a camera called up. Excuse me, called up the Giants and was like, can we get someone over here eating a cheesesteak? Right, right. Like it feels so kind of amateurish to me. I can't believe this was an ad agency came up with it.

But I think that for any of these things, you need ad agencies to make the calls, to make the arrangements. To hire the production company. Can I play one for you now? Yes. So this is one that Mina Kimes was actually tweeting out as well, one of our favorite ESPN. She's still with ESPN, right? They're losing people like crazy.

Yeah, she's one of the last good people that they haven't fired yet.

Yeah, I heard Beaumont is gone. Is that true? Beaumont Jones is gone? Oh, I don't know about that, but Katie Nolan is gone. Katie Nolan is gone. Who I love. Yeah, I love her too. So anyway, Mina Kimes tweeted this out and said, I'm weeping. This is a commercial featuring two Cleveland Browns. They are linemen. And as you know, Luke, usually offensive linemen are usually the best actors on any football team. Obviously. And so here, let me actually set this up for you. It begins. This is for Spitzer Auto Group in Cleveland. And you got a Jack Conklin on one side. So, first of all, these are Cleveland Browns players, right? But the Spitzer logo and everything is blue. So it's very confusing because you have three people wearing football jerseys, blue football jerseys. Because they're not allowed to. They can't wear their Browns.

They're not on a spring for the licensing.

I don't know even if anybody allows that in commercials. Do they? Sometimes they'll have, like, jerseys that are sort of the colors of their team, but not exactly. But in this case, it's very confusing because there's Cleveland Browns. but we're looking at three men in blue jerseys. Who are Cleveland Browns? Two of them are. You have Jack Conklin on the left. He's the tackle, offensive tackle. You got Joel Batonio on the right. He's the guard. And in the middle, you have this dorky guy. His name is Andrew Spitzer, and he's the chief operating officer. And I need you to peep these rhymes, Luke, because I'm telling you, I did this for Vives, too. We're going to have to listen to it a couple of times To kind of really Untangle what they're going for With the rhymes What does Spitzer sell? It's an auto group, Spitzer Cars So take a listen to this

We are the Spitzer Offensive Live With the Spitzer Shield you get peace of mind Get the benefits that prevent any struggle Let's all do the Spitzer Shield Shuffle

My name is Jack And I protect your city's favorite Quarterback My name is Joel, and I guard the city of rock and roll. And it's all backed by our Spitzer Sheep. Featuring a lifetime powertrain warranty. Unlimited time, unlimited miles.

Online at Spitzer. I can't even talk. It is so bad. So they played that. I just blew my voice out again. Thanks a lot. They played that at the end of a team meeting.

Like, after, I don't know what point in the game week it was. But they actually that the team played that at the end of a team meeting and then they interviewed the press interviewed Miles Garrett about it. I'm not going to play that for you because the audio is I don't know. It's it's somewhat charming. But they're asking about they're asking him about how he feels about the commercial. He's like, it's just terrible. He's like, it's just awful. And they say, yeah, but is it kind of so bad? It's good. He's like, no, you have to be good before you can be so bad. You're good. That is just terrible. It's also amazing. It's so weird. Have you got the visuals?

I'm now watching it. Yes, I've got I've got eyes on Andrew Spitz.

But like and also so let's just break down really quickly. These also Andrew Spitzer looks like Bobby Hill from he does look a little bit like that. So let's just break down what they're going for, because is it protect and quarterback or is it? I see. I think it's my name is Jack. See, I think they're rhyming Jack with quarterback, but there's something about and also Joel is supposed to rhyme with rock and roll. But the way they're delivering the rhymes, it sounds like it doesn't rhyme at all.

My name is Jack, and I protect your city's favorite quarterback.

So, they're trying to rhyme Jack with quarterback. Jack with quarterback, but it really sounds more like he's rhyming Jack with protect, sort of, which you can kind of get away with. And then poor Joel. Oh, God, Joel. I like Joel, but jeez Louise. My name is Joel, and I guard the city of rock and roll. What?

And then he does, like, an air guitar while he says it. It is terrible. Also, is the kid – I'm going to call him a kid because he looks like he's about 12. Is Bobby Hill in charge of this thing? That's got to be – his dad – okay, I'm sorry. He's the COO. So Alan Spitzer – okay, so Alan – I'm looking on Twitter now. Alan Spitzer says, please check out our newest commercial. It's about the Spitzer Shield, our vehicle warranty with unlimited time and unlimited miles. It features my son, Andrew Spitzer. Okay, that makes more sense.

Andrew is the COO, though. It says it right here on the screen. He's the chief operating officer. They have a 12-year-old COO? They do. Dang it, Andrew.

Do I look like I know what a dang spitzer shield is? That is. The other thing that's so weird is it is a mild ripoff of the Super Bowl shuffle. It is, yes. Which is a different team's thing. Yes.

Don't they even say something about the shuffle in the first round? Yes. Yes, but they're doing the Super Bowl.

They're doing a Chicago Bears thing. That's it's rough. It's so great. It's really rough. I am. God bless the broken road that brought us to this. I love that the cheesesteak ad. It unlocks so many feelings. It inspired you to. But people on Twitter are really enjoying the cheesesteak shop ad. Somebody wrote, does any commercial have a more jarring tone shift than when Alex Dickerson is sharing a touching story about his dad and a loud sound effect interrupts with cheesesteak?

Also it was a good job That writer did a good job Describing the visuals Because again I was not watching along I was only listening But I could picture While he's saying Like the road That his father took And you're just saying B-roll of sizzling cheesesteaks

Yes Somebody wrote Somebody of the handle LOLKNBR wrote Does it get dusty In anyone else's living room When Alex Dickerson's Cheesesteak shop commercial Comes on No Me neither Just checking I love this stuff Because as I've already said it's like when you follow a team you become so familiar with these idiosyncratic silly i mean it's like yeah teachers impacting not for a day but for a lifetime it's like these just become so ingrained in you yep so i love dipping into the world of what's going on for giants fans with this all right uh before we uh get out of here and i deeply underwhelm our new supervisor with my outfit can you pretend that your camera is broken like it's catfish see i just feel like

that's a bad look for me then you see what i'm saying like i don't know how to mp not a white i'm just saying like sorry i don't know how to use audio video gear is that gonna be a problem

going forward what if i say i threw my back out and i'm lying on the floor to stretch it out and you just go like luke is here but he's gonna be yelling from off camera I'm helping off you.

Hey, I'm here. You want me to go first with music for your weekend? Yeah, let's do some music for your weekend before we get out of here. All right, cool. This is the song I threatened to play last week. Oh, right. Because what did I? Oh, I ended up playing Rihanna SOS last week. But this is a band called Ducks Limited. I know you got a little chuckle out of that last time. I believe they're a Toronto-based band. I don't know much about them, but they do have a new album that just came out, I think, earlier this month, and it's just great indie pop. This song is called Under the Rolling Moon, and Luke, I think you're going to like it.

Thank you. I'm going to get to the titular line there.

Under the Rolling Moon. That is so good. It's good, right? It feels like Tom Petty meets the Generationals.

Oh, interesting. Yeah, and a little Walkman-y maybe, a little maybe Surfer Bloody, just like that kind of stuff that I really, really like. By the way, have you mentioned this? Are you allowed to say what story you're working on here in Seattle? Oh, yeah. the very Vera Project. Yeah, because the only time I think I just saw a full-on show at the Vera Project was Surfer Blood, actually. You know what's hilarious? We had Surfer Blood on TBTL from Bumbershoot at the Vera Project stage. Oh, interesting. Yes. And they played a cover of Box Elder by Pavement. And I think that was the year before I joined TBTL because then you did another show there the next year with Kumail, I think. Kumail Nanjiani. And I was there for that one, I think. Right. I might be messing part of that up next time. Yeah, I am going to be at the Farrah Project the next couple of days, interviewing some of the young people there that are making music and learning about music. That's cool. Yeah, it's exciting. I'm stoked about it. All right. The song that I want to play is by a singer named Trey Burt, who I just found out about this week. I was listening to this podcast called Call and Response. It's hosted by a singer named Adia Victoria. And she talks to just a variety of people about music, and then she puts a playlist together. Oh, cool. It's one of those, like, sponsored things. I think it's like presented by Sonos or something, but we could use this sponsorship like that. I know to get us out of a couple of jams. Anyway, so she was interviewing this guy, Trey Burt, and I just really, really like his stuff. He's sort of compared sometimes to Bob Dylan or the tallest man on earth who sounds like Bob Dylan. Who's that? The tallest man on earth. That's a performer. That's a guy. He's from like, I want to say somewhere like Sweden or remember, there was that period of time where like everybody we were listening to, if it was like guitar music was coming out of Sweden, Peter, Bjorn and John, Peter, Bjorn, John, um, uh, uh, Jose Gonzalez, who's like Jens Leckman, I think Jens Leckman first aid kit first aid there. Oh, I didn't know they're from, they might be from the moon. I don't, I don't, I don't, I didn't remember. I thought they were American. I do. I know they're definitely, I'm pretty sure they're from. Somewhere in the Scandahoovian lands But anyway There was this period of time Where everything was Coming out of And the tallest man on earth Is one of those Folks The reason that I The tallest man on earth The first impression That he made on me was I was doing my hour Of stand up comedy At Sasquatch While the tallest man on earth Was playing And people were Rapidly leaving my show To go see the tallest man on earth Oh yeah I was hearing Strange I was like That sounds pretty good In the back of my mind I was like I would go to that too That sounds good So he's been around for a while then The guy, the tallest man on earth So this guy, Trey Burt Has a little bit of that sound to him Anyway, I want to play this song It's called Sweet Misery By this guy, Trey Burt

you can see the ring of darkness covering up the light but to see it has to admit that it's just passing by my friend in new york city she calls me time to time And I tell her made-up stories But never tell her lies And the weight of my heart It swings me left to right Like a wrecking ball on a six-foot chain Forever all my life It only goes to show Your sweet misery You can follow me down to the end of my path But you still got to get through me

All right, so that's a little Trey Burt. Kind of a nice little fall time sound. It's no Betonio, certainly. I mean, wait, is that Betonio or the other one? That's Joel Betonio. Who does the air guitar? Are they good linemen is the real question. The city of rock and roll. I think Joel Betonio is, yes. And I can't remember the other guy. I don't know. The other guy's the tackle. I think we're in a good position. I'm so jealous of you having a different football team that you can transfer your excitement. Sunday, rather. Or whenever it is they play. Yeah, you've still got Sunday. Yeah. You've been waiting all week for Sunday day. That's going to be a tough one, though. That's the Chargers. But anyway, all will be revealed on Monday. Yes, it will. We'll be talking about the no point. So that's Trey Burt, Sweet Misery. And our listener suggestion is from listener Steve, and it is short and sweet. By the way, do send in your Music for Your Weekend selections to me, please. Luke at tbtl.net. I mean, if I'm going to be honest, if you want to get a message to me, just hermit crab it into a Music for Your Weekend email because it's literally the only email I look at. That's not true. If you put Music for Your Weekend in the subject line, I will see it because I'm the one who actually.

digs through these and picks them out each week so this is it's Luke at tbtl.net by the way this is from listener Steve he says my new favorite song that has been on been playing on repeat is best friend does it matter so I think best friend is the name of this band or singer the song is does it matter it's real catchy and I like it thank you Steve for the suggestion this is going to bring us to the end of our broadcast week thanks for hanging out with us everybody we'll be back here on monday with more imaginary radio for you so please do join us for that until then go browns have a great weekend and please remember no mountain too tall and good luck to all

you're the only one i want to hold think we can manage that today god knows we won't make it to The water's rushing in Wish I knew exactly what I want to say What I know is that I'd give anything To see you on the subway We're getting way too old To do the silly chasing game That we play I give the world to see and talk to you in a taxi heading to the plane In this crumbling state around us You're the only one I want to I think we can manage that today God knows we won't make it to land where all Let's both give it all up in a second Just to see each other standing on a train I think we've got a little less than a decade I know what they say but it feels too late I'll hold your head close to my chest You can listen to me breathing slow

my name is joel and i guard the city of rock and roll power out