Muse

You're not oversharing. You are not oversharing. Boring people came up with that. Boring people made that up. They made up oversharing because they're too boring to handle an interesting conversation. You're not oversharing. Keep sharing. I want to hear everything. I want to hear it all. And then I want to hear a little bit more. Make the boring people uncomfortable. Share. Keep up the good work, everyone.

I was shaking, my tummy was shaking, my head was shaking, my arms were shaking, and my legs, my feet, too.

Hey, you know, if we knocked down that wall, it would really open the place up. You know, clean up the blood, maybe add some French doors, maybe a ping pong table right there. You know, I'm just riffing.

Hey, dummies. A while back, you guys explained that SCUBA is an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Appearance. Did you know that the word tuba is also an acronym? That stands for terrible underwater breathing apparatus.

All right, hello, good morning, and welcome everyone to a Tuesday edition of TVTL, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

Welcome to my show. Oh, I'm thrilled to be here.

My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. I want whatever you've taken in addition to whatever I've already taken. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it's a nice, beautiful, sunny morning as we are recording this.

Oh, ma, pa, it's just beautiful.

Hopefully that will continue, although the weather forecast does not indicate that will be the case. The good news, though, my friends, it's always sunny and warm here inside the podcast studio as we arrive at episode 4215 in a collector's series. Let the fun begin. Sad news. Bill Walton has passed away, the NBA Hall of Famer and announcer and just genuine weirdo. And we say that in the absolute best sense of the word.

And it sails away out through the universe like a radio wave that goes past Saturn and Jupiter, Pluto, through the black hole, and into many other galaxies yet named.

Bill Walton was 71 years old. We'll talk about him a little bit. Also, what is going on with the Seattle Times rants and raves, which are still Andrew Walsh-less, weeks into this project? What's happening? I want an update on that. Oh, speaking of my friend, Andrew Firedall Walsh, he is the longest-running co-bro of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships, and he is joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

Good morning. While listening to that intro tape, I had such an—I wonder if you—I was watching you on the screen to see if maybe you felt this, too. I had an overwhelming sense of missing NoHo Hank during that intro. Like, I haven't heard NoHo Hank's voice in so long, of course, from the TV show Barry. He's the guy who wants to clean up all the blood and maybe put a ping pong table over here. Like, there's never been another character like that on television. And just hearing that little clip makes me want to watch Barry again. Or better yet, watch this spinoff all about NoHo Hank, although I don't remember what happens with him in the show. And maybe a spinoff wouldn't be an option. Did you name, like, Anthony Carraway or something, the guy that plays him? I'm terrible with stuff like that. That rings a bell. I think you told me that when I was watching Barry. But, yeah, what a character.

Well, you know, I need to – I should actually – Anthony Carragan, excuse me, is who plays NoHo Hank. I should really re-engage with that program because I got – I thought I was going to watch a funny little HBO show about a guy who is trying to leave a life of crime and gets into local theater and is really bad at it but loves it, starring Bill Hader. That's what I thought. That's what I was signing up for. And it just, it gets dark, and you'd probably say it gets more interesting as it gets more dark. But I'm not a complicated guy. I'm a Toll House cookie, milk chocolate. Give me some milk right down the middle. I don't need your cacao. I don't need your dark chocolate. I don't need to think and consider hard feelings. And so as Barry, and I don't think I'm, I can't spoil Barry for people, right? I mean, just the general premise of the show.

I don't think you can spoil the premise of the show, certainly.

Well, maybe not the premise, but I only watched like the first season because as more and more people were dying and more and more people who I thought were sort of like off limits, which again, that's good television. You're eliminating the characters who I as a viewer assumed you could never eliminate. that's better than the alternative which is it's totally predictable right but as it got darker and darker uh

I sort of just, it became harder for me to watch or I forgot to get back to it, but you're right. What I've lost in that is more no-ho Hank time because that character is absolutely, how do we say it? Sui generis? Sui generis indeed, yeah. Sui! That's when you've got some pigs, but you're loaning them to your neighbor and you're being very sui generis.

Exactly. I had a different journey with that show. I actually didn't love, I think we already talked about this. I kind of didn't love it when it seemed like it was just going to be, you know, a face value kind of fish out of water thing. I did like it as it got darker, but I completely understand if you had a certain kind of expectation going in and you're just like, I'm in the mood to sit down and watch something that is like, I don't know, Veep-esque or something that is like kind of like, you know, intricate, but mostly going to make me smile. And then you're getting into a world that is more like Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad, where there's a lot of like violence.

Like, I didn't know Barry was going to be the bad guy.

Yeah, I mean, well, that's what makes it such a good show is, like, you know, the moral relativism of everything. It's just, it's really, really good, but I understand completely why if you think you're sitting down to watch something that's fun, this can be a really heavy, heavy thing to watch. But, my God, yeah, it is so good. I think maybe just, like, if you revisit it, you'll know better what you're getting into next time.

Yes, I should get back into it. i currently have to work my way through a dvds worth of some show called angarda which i think it is gaelic i think it means one-handed but also it means the name of the police in ireland my mom when she came over uh this weekend brought with her uh a lot of things andrew and a lot of stories but um i mean stories for me to tell you about the time that we had but she brought over a DVD that she checked out from the library Of yet another BBC show About a guy who is a police Officer he comes back to his hometown Where his dad has been the police chief for many years And turns out his dad is Crooked as Walt would say Crooked as a bag of pretzels And I'm like well it depends on the kind of pretzel dad And also the

I mean I don't want to I don't want to nitpick but the bag isn't I know I picked that nit the other night and I felt bad As I was going to bed You could just say a pretzel.

Yeah, and also pretzel rod.

Yeah, sure. So then, okay, well, let's workshop this. So really what it should be would be like he's more crooked. And honestly, are pretzels crooked or twisted?

He said twist. You know what? No, he says twists. Okay, okay. In other words, the plot has a lot of twists. So I've actually, I want to apologize because what, the guy's dad is crooked on the show. He's corrupt.

Okay.

But the way my dad usually uses this idiom that he invented, is that an idiom?

I think it is an idiom, but I would wonder if he invented this because now I'm starting to think it's more, has more twists.

What an idiom.

That would be a great job. Has more twists than a bag of pretzels than I rescind my earlier thing because, yeah.

People are saying that and very strongly.

I actually go to this website for idioms all the time when I'm trying to think of clever show titles. But I would understand that because the bag does Contain a bunch of twists assuming They're twisted things that makes more That makes more sense so when we used

To watch this show called Baptiste Early on in the project when my dad And I were just in one tiny little room He Would say probably once a Night this show's got more twists than A bag of pretzels yeah and there's plenty

Of usage of that on the internet That is more twists Than a bag of pretzels is the

I feel like, you know, more twists than Mary Lou Retton winning the gold at Los Angeles. Isn't that easier? That's better.

I mean, certainly.

Fall off the tongue.

Hey, I've never heard anybody punch something down before. I've heard of punching up a joke. This has been really instructive.

Hey, give me a couple of weeks and I can punch any of this down.

Is that what they do in writer's rooms? Yes. Hey, we have a script. It's pretty funny, but we're just looking to punch it down a little bit. It's almost like too funny.

Right now, it's actually working too well, Luke. What could you do to make this worse? Anyway, so my mom brought over this DVD that she checked out from the library, which completely justified my purchase of a DVD player some months ago to watch an incredible documentary, Streetwise, which I thought was only available through the Criterion Collection. And then after I purchased a DVD Blu-ray player and the DVD, people informed me it's on YouTube.

Yeah, I saw that too, but I thought you were going to say sarcastically, good thing I paid for BritBox, because didn't you subscribe to BritBox specifically so you could watch all of these shows with your dad specifically?

This was a long conversation over the weekend with both of my parents. Well, thank God we bought you.

Yeah. What a benefit to the community of my television. Because BritBox is like all of these services, they promise you the world, Andrew, but then it's actually pretty limited. So, here's how, BritBox to me is like shopping for an outfit at, it's like getting groceries at Grocery Outlet. Or like shopping for clothes at TJ Maxx or Ross. You cannot go into it with a specific thing in mind Because you probably won't find it But if you go in with an open heart To a world of possibilities You'll probably find something cool and interesting So you can't always know that this show you want to watch That's from the BBC or ITV or whatever Will just be there on BritBox in its completion It's kind of hit and miss Which feels like it happens with all the streamers And I'll tell you what's no help Googling what streamer has this show Unless we're talking about, you know, like a very, very popular, unless we're talking about the holdovers or something, the leftovers rather, like some kind of prestige television that we all know is on like HBO, right? If you're talking about anything else that's harder to find and you Google, hey, what streaming service is this on? You are no closer to knowing what streaming service, because it'll list like 30 places and you'll go to those places and either literally won't be on there or it's on there, but you have to buy it for $19.99.

Oh, yeah, okay, yeah.

Like it never just tells me, oh, hey, it's on Hulu, you have Hulu, it's free. It's always like the beginning of a process of disappointment. Like, hey, who's streaming this thing that I want to watch? And then it'll show me like Amazon Prime. I'm like, well, cool, I'm paying for that. And then you go and it's like actually not there. Or, yeah, they have it, but you have to pay 20 bucks for it and buy it. You know, it's like so all that is to say.

They move around a lot more than I think. Like 30 Rock was a mainstay on Netflix for a while. And then bingo, it all of a sudden moves on over to Hulu. Rango. And then, yeah, and then it's just, like, it's shocking the speed at which these entire back catalogs will just, you know, switch horses midstream. Exactly.

Which you always do. They always say that's what you want to do. Exactly. Hey, can I deeply sidetrack today's show? Since yesterday's show, I was saying it's a holiday. Let's keep it tight. Today, it's not a holiday.

Just an hour.

Today, it's not a holiday. Let's keep it flabby. Yeah. I am really enjoying this new podcast From the New York Times audio division Called The Interview It's with our friend Lulu Garcia Navarro And then David Mar How do you say his last name? Mar Casey?

I was talking about him the other day Because I had just read his byline In that Marlon Wayans interview And I'm already forgetting it

I think it's Anyway, however you say that guy's last name um they interview this week so it's it's just kind of a longer form interview although it's not long enough for me I wish it was like an hour and a half they're very good conversations but they're incredibly informative and I was listening to the one with a guy named Ted Sarandos who's like the CEO of Netflix and something he said that was amazing to me was that when he first started working there with I'm forgetting his name it's Reed something who was literally the founder of netflix he said to him at this time when netflix whole business was mailing dvds this guy reed whatever his name is the founder said to ted sarandos the future of all media is going to be streaming things into people's homes and this is when they were mailing dvds out and this was years before there was any bandwidth there was any like the capacity to do this and i thought that makes so much more sense how netflix actually succeeded because i thought that netflix was just like the you know the the chumps who thought well everyone's going to be using dvds forever and ever and then they just had to like try to throw some streaming up there and they got lucky uh not according to ted sarandos no that was always the plan like when the company started the dvds were basically just like a placeholder for the streaming service that they always intended to do wow that's really interesting yeah that is not how i perceived the whole thing but here's what i really want to talk to you about andrew there's nothing new under the sun right i think this show the interview has done a new thing under the sun and I love it Jerry I love it here's how the show works they start off and they interview the person maybe you heard I think you read the

Marlon Wayans thing right I did yeah because I was reading it I thought it was just like kind of a classic sort of it started off as a little bit of a profile but then just a Q&A and sometimes you read those in the times and I was just like enjoying the Q&A but it was so conversational It was so conversational, and they're, like, they're writing out the transcript of them joking around in a way that you don't see in print much, and then, like, at some point, I see it's, like, click here to listen to the whole podcast. I'm, like, oh, this is a transcription of a podcast.

It's really good. It's a really good show, but what they do, that is so genius. And in all of our time, Andrew. being like talk show producers and radio types and whatnot we never thought to do this but it's so smart so it starts with they do the interview it's obviously like a studio interview with some person who's well known or notable they didn't that edited version of the interview let's say is like 25 minutes 30 minutes then they call them back about three four days later and they do a

phone interview with them and it's phone tape oh interesting because i i know i was reading a follow-up interview with marlon wayans but i didn't know that that's kind of like the audio

element of it that's cool it's on the phone you and i are suckers for phone tape we love phone tape which is very out of step generally with how people make radio and podcasting now and what they do is there's a little sort of um you know there's a moment of reflection so what they do is they do the full interview and then they take a few days and then they call the person back up and then the interviewer has been reflecting on some of the parts of the conversation and the person being interviewed and they have like a 10 minute I mean it ends up being a 10 minute phone conversation where they just kind of like unpack a couple of things that they'd both been thinking about in

the intervening time that's really smart because that is almost any such a good idea almost any conversation you have of any kind of import you will then probably revisit that conversation in your head and think about things oh I could have said this or not even I could have said this that that is a feeling that people have a lot but also there's just kind of like oh yeah like something the other person said can really resonate with you or it can he sort of plants a seed that starts to grow over time um and i love the idea of going back and exploring that and like you say also big fan of phone tape i'm so glad i can't believe that new york times is leaning into phone tape honestly

it just sort of seems like everything is at least on that show yeah that's smart yeah it's really really really well done you know uh you're right andrew any important conversations that happen And they do bear some reflection. Like, I wish that yesterday when I sang the Scamanda song, I would not have sung it in the style of Toto's Rosanna because you had just done it. And then I was, like, echoing back to you how you were. So I sang Scamanda wrong yesterday. And, like, for instance, if we were on the phone right now and you said, hey, Luke, how did you feel about the car? I'd say I didn't feel great about my performance of Scamanda.

Hold on. Do you want me to call you? I can call you. I have a cell phone right here.

Really?

Are you going to call me on my real phone? I'm just going to call you on your real phone. Let's just do this here.

I'm going to mute my mic when the call comes in.

Hello? Hey, Luke. It's Andrew from TBTL. Hey there. Hey, how you doing? How have the last few days been? Pretty good. I enjoyed our conversation on Monday. It was kind of wide-ranging, even though we're supposed to keep the show sort of short. Anything stand out to you?

Well, I have been kind of thinking about a couple of things, if I could do them differently. I would. And, of course, I mean, when I told you about the song Scamanda that my brain made up, which was based on the song Amanda by the band Boston, but also the podcast Scamanda I've been listening to. And you tend to do this thing when the song Amanda comes up where you'll sing it in the style of Rosanna from the band Toto.

Rosanna, Rosanna.

And so yesterday when I was trying to sing my Scamanda song, which should have been Scamanda. That's how it should have been, but I did. I did. Scamanda, Scamanda.

So I regret that. Now, do you know my story? I was actually trying not to bring this up again on Monday's show because we were trying to be a little bit disciplined on time. I have great news, Andrew.

Today can be very flabby.

Good. I've told this also before, so it can be both flabby and repetitive. But do you happen to remember my personal journey with the song Rosanna, what I thought they were singing when I was a kid, and how it ties into another popular 80s song and religion?

Yes. Hold on. Let me –

Okay.

I'm getting – okay. I'm trying to make sure all the audio is working correctly here. So there was a girl that you had a crush on named Amanda.

Yes, but that's unrelated to this. Right.

but just I want to make sure I'm thinking again, Andrew, we're keeping it flabby today, okay? Let me go with it. Hurry up, hurry up. Would you do like go-kart races and imagine that you were impressing Amanda?

Yes, I had various imaginary people that I various real people who I imagined were watching me as I would race my go-kart around the above ground pool, yes.

Okay, and the I feel like you combine Rosanna Rosanna with something else that is a song from that time like you've added you've sort of you've you've

hybridized two songs right oh you are right this isn't even what i was getting at though but you are right i think i used to there's another like there's a song that goes take me all the way yes and i would confuse i'd start singing rosanna and then i'd slip into that i think that is rosanna

Thank you. Oh, OK. Well, then I'm doing well. Here's what I remember about the song Rosanna when I was a kid. Now, keep in mind, my family was, you know, very involved in the church, the Catholic church. And I thought that they were singing Hosanna or Hosanna, which is like some sort of a that's some sort of a worship song. Right. Yeah. And the reason it didn't occur to me that that would be sort of a strange thing to have on the radio was because I was young and I kind of didn't know the difference between pop culture and what our culture in the home was. But also, there was a very famous song, Kyrie Eleison, which had some sort of connection to worship as well, right? But that was a popular Top 40 song.

It was. It was by Mr. Mister. Okay. And it was – yeah, that's such a – it's such an interesting song for it to be a hit on pop radio because it's very much kind of rooted in sort of biblical – I don't know anything. I don't know if the – I don't necessarily think the band Mr. Mister of Take These Broken Wings fame, if they were like particularly religious. I don't know why they picked whatever those words are, Kyrie Eleza. It's like Greek, right, or something. It's some kind of –

Oh, I figured it was Latin because –

Oh, maybe Latin. No, you're probably right, it's probably Latin I don't know why they picked those lyrics But they did and it was a huge hit song So I can see why you'd be confused About what the line between Pop music success and liturgy

Yes, exactly I was going into CCD That was like what we call our Sunday school I don't know what CCD stood for Are you familiar with CCD?

Yeah, isn't it Catholic Catholic Church Dude

Yes, Catholic Church dude. Anyway, Luke, I got to go. It's been fun catching up with you.

Oh, yeah. Thank you for calling me back. I really appreciate it.

Sure. Give us an opportunity to kind of reflect back on our earlier conversation.

This is so much more of a rich conversation now because of the time we had to reflect

on things. It really was. Good. Do you want to do a podcast? Oh, he hung up on me.

We was hoping for some razzle-dazzle. Razzle-dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle-dazzle. On your mark. On your mark.

Hey, let's thank some dazzling donors like Ryan Driscoll in Nampa Know-How, Idaho. These are the donors who are donating a dazzling amount of dough. And it's very, very, very much appreciated. Ryan says, hello, friendos. I've been a donor for years, but I'm so happy to finally dazzle and do my part in freeing TBTL from the Carvana mothership. i mean we like we made no money off of carvana probably but what we did was we had something to push against now conceptually as an ad free show like carvana served a purpose just not the

one any of us expected the fact that it gave us something to complain about you mean like yeah

like now we can cite it as like thank god we're not going back to the carvana ads like that's

actually very useful i will say i continued to listen to the dan lebitard show long after they left espn but one of the one of the big changes that is kind of hard to quantify as a listener was like when they no longer could complain and basically like fight on air against their bosses and their overlords at espn they tried to find other ways to sort of falsely create that sort of tension but it just was never the same like when you knew like he was literally like levitar was literally making headlines because he was always at war with the executives at ESPN. There was a tension there that really made the show good.

Should we try to start some kind of a war with John Sklaroff?

Oh, I'm at war with John Sklaroff. He was making my new computer. He said I bought a gaming computer. He was implying. Forever war. Yes, exactly. So anyway.

Ryan says, as my business is the vehicle, which is allowing me to dazzle, I must mention that if you're in historic downtown Nampa, Idaho, Prefunk Beer Bar is a must visit. we pride ourselves in being a safe and inclusive place with a coffee shop vibe that just happens to have craft beer focus. And we're celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year. I would love to meet more tens. So shoot us a message on Facebook or Instagram and I will find a time to meet up. Hell yes. Pre-funk beer bar in Nampa, Idaho. Check it out. In the words of Steve Brule,

you know, if Tom Brady ever goes to Nampa, they're going to have to start calling it Nampa.

Oh God. Makes sense. Ryan I'm sorry about that

I need to send a little chunk of his dazzling donation back after that I am looking on the Prefunk Beer Facebook page right now yeah this looks like a very cool place and also I love

the community aspect of it absolutely coffee if that's your thing craft beer if that's your thing good friends great oldies it's all there at Prefunk Beer Bar in

nampa idaho can i double because you i don't know that they serve coffee i think they have a coffee shop vibe oh can you i mean i guess almost every place can put on a pot of coffee but i think

they're saying that i'm just wondering if they have a keurig in the back it's not a keurig it's a gun that you know when we're talking about keurigaleza that was a weird period of time in pop music where most of the music on the radio made me feel sad even though it was pop music because you had that song was very mournful

and what is that I was trying to think is Mr. Mr. are they the band that all by the way sorry sorry about this this is not the place to be doing this Ryan but is Mr. Mr. also the band that has the song about like missing his dad who's

passed on in the living years by Mike and the Mechanics and I always get them confused Mike and the Mechanics they also had a song i think called silent running which was very like it was like the soundtrack to a dystopian future like it's literally it's like a pop song that's playing on the radio everywhere about how like the government's gonna hunt you down this is what we were putting on the radio in the 80s i don't know what sort of low slash high level malaise we were suffering from but you had like mr. mr. going take these broken wings and learn to fly it's like everything was just like you know everything was just kind of mournful and downbeat yeah not everything but a chunk of it certainly

was you're right too much of it as far as i'm concerned i think mr mr has the double m's that mike and the mechanics also has and also you're right like the music is kind of or at least their their songs that i knew were kind of in the same vein huh yeah anyway um i don't know if they have

coffee at uh pre-funk beer bar but i'm sure they have something great for you please visit them If you're in Nampa, Idaho, Mike, excuse me, Ryan also says, Mike and the mechanics also say, I also want to extend my thanks to Luke, Andrew and all the other TBTL players over the years. I found this show while working the night shift at a lab in Bothell for now or a lifetime. And y'all have been a constant companion from the late nights of 15 years ago to the now of my 11 and I living our dreams out in Idaho. So thanks for everything y'all do to cure global loneliness. Power out. Oh, Ryan, what a nice message. And how cool for you, like, that you're getting to live out your dreams with your 11 and you're running pre-funk beer bar and loving on the TV. Ten years, by the way. You know, I've got family in the restaurant business. Please do visit Pollo Loco in Portland. The restaurant business and the beer bar business, man, it's a tough game.

Is it Pollo Loco or Pollo Bravo?

Whatever, Andrew. El Pollo something.

I think you just sent everybody to a chicken chain in Los Angeles. Whatever. They get it. I can't believe I picked up on that one. There was just something that would... We've been talking about Pollo Loco recently.

Pollo Bravo. Thank you. The brave chicken. Not the crazy chicken.

Not the crazy chicken, which, boy, if they ever meet, watch out. You get it.

But we're here to talk about Pre-Funk Beer Bar and Ryan Driscoll in Nampa, Idaho And say thank you so much to Ryan for supporting the show And let's go support Ryan if you're anywhere in the neighborhood

Absolutely, Ryan and the Rockanics

What's the policy on show titles that are drawn from the conversation during the Dazzling Donors? Is that some kind of an FCC violation? It's a gray area Maestro?

On your mark On your mark Get set Get set Now ready Ready, go! Everybody rattle, dattle.

Everybody rattle, dattle. It's Stephanie Broad of Portland, Oregon.

Hey, Stephanie. Long-time listener and supporter.

Stephanie says, hi, hi. My goodness, I'm really doing this super, super last minute. But I am a new mom. Hey, congrats. Went back to work at the beginning of January. So I am adjusting to time management. Stephanie, the fact that you're even able to remember the alphabet and type any words into a computer is amazing, considering being a new mom and going back to work. That sounds very, very, very overwhelming. So, you know, no judgment on the timing of this. Last year, I shouted out my lovely brother-in-law, Josiah Johnson, one of the founding members of The Head and the Heart. Of course. Josiah, Josiah. Are you auditioning for the band?

I am, but I only sing things that can be the syllable, I guess, equivalent of Rosanna.

The scantion of the head and the wrist. Yes. Drew Walsh, new addition to the band. And his solo stuff, please go check out his music if you like a good time. This year I want to mention two artists friends.

who could use some love. One is Josh Gates and Linnea Hanson. So Josh Gates is at joshgatesart.com and Linnea Hanson is at linnea.art. And Linnea, by the way, is spelled L-I-N-N-E-A-H. Linnea.art.

Hold on, Luke, can I just have one second here?

Please.

Linnea, Linnea. Okay, go ahead.

What can you do with Josh Gates?

Sorry, Josh. You should have thought about that before you were named Josh.

First of all, I'm at both of these websites, both of Josh's and Linnea's, and what I will tell you is I have no talent. I have zero talent in the world.

You're going to have to go to these websites to find that out.

You asshole. You asshole. You can do it with any words. You can do it with any words. I'm looking at these paintings that Linnea has done and that Josh has done and they are phenomenal. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. These are so good. So good and so impressive. Let's see.

The very first painting that I see on Linnea's website includes that plant that is hot right now. A Monstera? A Monstera plant. Are you seeing that too? I don't know if you're seeing that. Yeah.

Yeah. Stephanie, good recommendation. Stephanie says, on the subject of Josh and Linnea, Josh does beautiful watercolors, and Linnea makes absolutely amazing pottery in addition to her paintings. They're both lovely people that deserve some more recognition. Also, thank you, guys, all three of you, for making my days better. And then Stephanie is going to list some favorite books of 2023, in case anyone is making a list out there. Definitely do go check out the Josh Gates website. Yes, I'm flipping through it right now. and LinneaHansonLinnea.art

They're both tremendously talented individuals. I'm not just saying that. These are really... Yeah, I want to crawl into this website.

Stephanie says, Stephanie really enjoyed I'm Afraid of Men by Vivek Shreya. The book Bright by Dwanwad Pimwana. The book 2666 by Roberto Bellano. The book Lemon by Kwon Yo Sun. and the book The Trouble with Happiness by Tove Deletzevin. I bet you I got under 20% of those names, right?

When I was throwing this out there as the Dazzling Donor today, usually if there's maybe something that you should read ahead, like complicated names.

If there's maybe five names I've never seen before.

I would try to flag that for you before you go in cold. I didn't notice it.

Actually, it went okay, except for I think I got Tove's name wrong. I'm guessing it might be Tove or Tove, and it's Ditlevson. The Trouble with Happiness. And Stephanie encourages everyone to support your local indie bookstore. So there you go. There are some book recommendations and some art recommendations from New Mother, recently back in the workforce, and all-around expert time manager, Stephanie, in Portland, Oregon. Thank you, Stephanie, for supporting the program. Indeed. Hello, and welcome to Top Story. What a bummer. Bill Walton has passed away at the age of 71. I will tell you this. I used to not like Bill Walton, Andrew, because I suffered from the thing that everybody suffers from when their team is playing in nationally televised games, which is this sensation that the announcers have it out for your team. I know that. And it can't be true because every fan base thinks that the announcers have it out for their team. And these are contradictory notions. They can't, I mean, I guess they could have it out for the concept of the sport. Like, Bill Walton could have just hated basketball and both the Lakers and the Sonics. But I think what it was was I was a very sensitive, sensitive boy when it came to sports. And I would watch the Sonics games. And when they would get to a certain level of the playoffs, the games would be nationally televised. And Bill Walton would be one of the announcers. And I would be mad at him because I would think he wasn't sticking up enough for Sean Kemp or something.

Having said that, Joe Buck really is the worst. But go ahead.

Because of which particular team?

I just feel like he is. I mean, I haven't heard actually a Joe Buck call in a while, but I just remember feeling like, oh, even if I'm listening to a nationally broadcast game that I don't have any kind of fandom stakes in, I feel like he just roots for a team. And I can't remember if there's specific teams or not. I get the impression that they're usually like he's going to root for like the, you know, I could be wrong about this. I'm a bit out over my skis, as you love to say. Famously But I sort of feel like he's just going to root For like the Yankees Or like whatever the big team is Here's why Joe Buck will always have a place in my heart because in his autobiography he wrote about the fact that he suffered um an injury or some kind of a negative medical impact on his vocal cords as the result of a hair transplant that he got whoa and i love the honesty about yeah and what he said in interviews was i was very vain and i did not want to uh be bald or look like i didn't have any hair and i chose this thing and it endangered the thing that i actually need for my career which is my voice and it was kind of a lesson uh for me and i thought well buddy you are definitely laying it out there with that yeah absolutely so uh you know he's always teamed up with troy aikman right on the football side they're usually the they team up buck and aikman that sounds right i'm not sure

i think because but but joe buck also calls baseball games too right i'm pretty bad at this But I think I picture him, or I feel like whatever reaction I'm having here, which I'm desperately trying to Google to see if anything I said was right. Oh, his name is actually Joe Book. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, so I don't even know. I have a feeling I'm going to get a lot of emails.

I think his dad was the St. Louis. Was his dad the Louis? The St. Louis announcer for many years, Jack Buck?

Oh, maybe. I have no idea about that. But anyway, I'm looking to see if he has, like, team affiliations or something. But I just sort of feel like I would listen to him and be like, really, you're just going to like straight up just kind of advocate for one team over the other.

Well, I felt like Bill Walton was doing that when I was a kid, but that was just because I was a kid and very sensitive. And as I got older, I started to appreciate just the true kind of oddity that was Bill Walton. And by the way, I'm reading a little bit about his life. He passed away from cancer with his family at age 71, something he had been dealing with for some time, apparently. But one of the things about Bill Walton That I knew was that he was on those John Wooden UCLA teams That were just like phenomenal Like he played They won 30 games in a row I think Or they were undefeated for multiple seasons Like they had some records that have literally never been Eclipsed even in the modern era For just success as a team Those UCLA teams that were just phenomenal But also he clashed with John Wooden Why? Because he opposed the Vietnam War And I'm like Good for you dude like you're this you know this kind of like gawky kid that's playing college basketball in the most storied program in america for a guy who is the most sort of like uh venerated college basketball coach and is very like you know flat top you know you know play defense like you know pass the ball whatever whatever the sort of like 1950s ethics of the world are they're represented that kind of idea of like you know apple pie and mom and uh america is the greatest country in the world etc all of that sort of propaganda from the 50s that's embodied in john wooden and then you got this guy bill walton that's like actually we shouldn't go to vietnam and like that's a pretty

ballsy thing to do it i think at that point yeah absolutely i didn't you know john wooden is a name that i always think of because i came up on the show and i had no oh you know why it came up on the show do you remember when i was when i was broadcasting this podcast with you luke from briefly kcrw in la one of the studios i would go in had something tacked to the wall that was like the wooden try it was like his trying oh yeah pyramid of something i had of like success and i had no idea what it was and i had no idea who wooden was and i remember our boy um drew mcfrizz kind of being like how has andrew lived to be 40 years old has no idea who who this guy is so i i It was unfamiliar what his whole reputation was, but he's like he was school, like barking at the players.

Exactly. And was tremendously successful. And so, again, was, you know, was was and still to this day is considered by some to be the the standard by which all other college basketball coaches are measured. I feel like looking at the pyramid of success as I am now, the fact that one of the top things is faith through prayer.

It's not Reagan. I was just going to be Ronald Reagan.

let's just lay out the pyramid of success very quickly, the top two parts so that the very tip of the pyramid is actually divided into two sections, one side is faith through prayer, the other side is patience good things take time that's the top of the pyramid, and then you work your way down through competitive greatness which is below that, then poise and confidence then there's three kind of tiles that are laid out, condition, skill team spirit, below that self-control alertness, initiative intendedness, and then at the very bottom The foundation of the pyramid is industriousness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, and white supremacy. Wait, that's enthusiasm. I'm sorry, enthusiasm. It's the last one. Like, God bless. But, I mean, yeah, all of the things listed here are great if you can do them. Do you think there were people that were like, God, I don't know if I want to be good at basketball. And then they read this pyramid. They're like, wait a minute. Friendship? Industriousness? Condition?

I should be in good shape to do this?

All right.

Great point, John Wooden. And I think the question on everybody's mind right now is, why the hell was this tacked up in a studio at KCRW in 2015? Who was saying, you know what, if we really want to make...

Who are the likely suspects of KCRW in the day who would have been a John Wooden enthusiast?

I feel like somebody was like, you know what, which way LA... Francis Anderton? Which Way L.A. is good, but you know what's going to make Which Way L.A. great is John Wooden's Pyramid of Success.

You think Radio Steve did it? Steve Chiatakis?

Yeah, exactly.

I could see Warren Olney did have a certain John Wooden Pyramid of Success kind of energy.

I could see it. I mean, generationally, I could see that.

He's from that era. Yeah. Anyway, Bill Walton was was an interesting dude, and he really did seem to be somebody who who, you know, just kind of lived their life the way that they wanted to. He also was a really good basketball player, which I know this sounds crazy to say, but I didn't really know the extent. He was the number one overall pick in the NBA draft as a rookie. He was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers, and then he went on to actually win, lead the Portland Trailblazers to their only NBA championship to this day, 1977. and he was the MVP of the finals and then the next year he was the MVP of the entire league then he had injuries because let's be honest the human body probably not designed to be 611 and so he was you know at a point where a lot of other people might would have been like well look I was the MVP of the league I was the MVP of the finals we won the championship but no he got back you know got back in the training room or whatever and then came on with Boston and then won the sixth man award which is to say the first guy off the bench which is also I think a lesson in humility right like he was the big star and then he said I still want to be productive and useful and he went and he backed up like Robert Parrish and uh and guys like that in Boston and then he won the sixth man award and then he became an announcer which he said he thought he would be really bad at because he was too weird but then he just leaned into that and that became his shtick

can I say I don't know anything about basketball my friend so when you say that like is it his decision that he wants to be the man off the bench or that's more of a coach's decision right

yes but i think he could have if he had more ego gone to a different team yeah still a starter like he wanted to go play for boston because they were really good and he wanted to contribute even if it meant he wasn't in the starting five he kind of probably started at other places where they were lousy but that wasn't what he wanted to do apparently he wanted to go you know win games and and i think there's something kind of cool about somebody who can because not everybody can do that right there are you know in in all sports particularly in basketball because there's so much that you can just do by yourself in basketball as a player like put the team on your back as they say yeah you can like create shots for yourself you can you basketball is a team sport but it also is more individualistic than a lot of the other sports and there are players who there are plenty of players who in fact i would wonder i wonder what the stats are of players who were both the League MVP, and also got the Sixth Man Award. I bet you that is a very, I bet you that's a short list

of people. Potentially a list of one.

Potentially a list of one Wookie looking, Grateful Dead fan named Bill Walton. Anyway, I just, I came to really go from kind of like loathing him when I was a young kid to just like really enjoying his announcing and like, he would sometimes do college games too, randomly. Like he just all of, and all of the people eulogizing him today are just talking about His just joy for life that he had And that he just always had a huge smile on his face And that he was just, you know He was very authentically himself And I think as a person who somehow carved Some Sad living Question mark out of this Being myself I guess and talking to you Andrew My friend just like having authentic conversations I find it inspiring when other people Are able to do that in an overwhelming Kind of context That usually doesn't allow for that Or doesn't reward that like there's a lot of very boring basketball announcers i mean there are some cool ones too i mean there's there's charles barkley and and um and shack and those guys that are doing the tnt stuff but like i bill walton i think was very kind of ahead of his time in terms of just being who he wanted to be whether he was playing under john wooden and he was protesting the vietnam war or saying whatever crazy stuff he was saying in that clip that we played where you can hear

that he's making the other announcers laugh sails away out through the universe like a radio wave that goes past Saturn and Jupiter, Pluto, through the black hole and into many other galaxies yet named.

That's pretty good improv, honestly. Yeah, seriously. I think he's talking about standing in the batter's box and maybe envisioning a home run.

I don't know. He says something about, like, standing in the box or something. So I think he's talking about baseball there. I don't know exactly how that plays into what he was talking about in the moment.

Well, R.I.P. Bill Walton.

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man, it's not from a female.

Any emails or V-mails, sir?

Sure. Sure. I'm going to play this one here. Sorry, I was trying to get my files in order here. Oh, I want to mention something. I'll try to mention this before the Blurs days later this week, too. If you want to submit a Blurs day or a birthday, if you want to say it the boring way, message to somebody, please send them to me, Andrew at tbtl.net. I was going through a bunch of old voicemails today because often the voicemail line or sometimes the voicemail line, we fall behind on that. It's not as an expedient way of getting a hold of us. And I'd heard several people call in blurs days, either either for the or a couple of people called in blurs days, either for themselves or somebody in their lives. And this was like weeks and weeks and weeks ago. And we don't play voicemails during the blurs day segment. So I do feel bad for those folks. But I would like to reiterate, if you ever want to submit a blurs day for yourself or for somebody, email me. Andrew at TBTL dot net. The voicemail line is for things like this. I had mentioned on the show that Genevieve has been learning French for some time now, and she finds it funny. I have no expertise in this. I don't know how to speak French at all. But Genevieve has explained to me that the French language has this sort of laborious way of creating words where it uses so much description. I think this came up with something you were talking about, like the French word for table is object.

The thing that sits in the room that you place the food on or whatever.

Exactly. So here is what Schaefer wanted to add to that conversation.

Hey, fellas, Schaefer here. First-time caller, long-time listener. Love the show.

I did not notice this when I was listening. Is this Schaefer in Austin? It is, yes. Has the spot in Austin? The front page, I think, is the name of the bar. But I love the – I didn't notice this when I listened to this on my phone earlier today. I love the sound quality. It sort of sounds like he's calling in from a different era, maybe, or from a military base or something. It sounds good, but it's like a real crunchy phone line. I love it.

Hey, fellas. Schaefer here. First time caller, long time listener. Love the show. I was doing some catching up, and I heard Andrew saying that he and Genevieve enjoy French phrases that use a lot of words to say one thing. And I thought I'd share my favorite of those, the French phrase for grapefruit soda. It literally translates to carbonated beverage with a base of grapefruit, which in French is boisson gaseous abaste pamplemousse, grapefruit soda. Save that one for your next cocktail party. I know we all go to a lot of those. Thanks, guys. Take care.

Pamplemousse. I only know that from the band. LaCroix.

Innocent. Huh? That's what they have on the LaCroix cans.

innocent have you ever noticed that i don't think i have i don't drink a lot of la croix i just know that you know if i am someplace where they have it i will take a pump la mousse and i didn't know

what it was until i tasted it um i think i mean la croix is the la croix is from wisconsin right

is that the are they from i don't know i don't know about that i'll let you maybe they are really

french are they are they actually french the um the maybe they really are from france because they on the cans of la croix it will say innocent why because la croix is innocent of uh innocent of sugars calories sodium and artificial ingredients but like that's such a weird way to it just says innocent on the can and that seems very french to me too like that sounds like we've accused la croix of a crime i know la croix like there was a one-armed can that did it what well i like it not said i like the la croix just like was like standing in like a waterfall

and then just like jumps yeah like the fugitive well weirdly fanta's catchphrase is jacuse um so it's kind of similar so i'm looking at where's la croix from uh yeah lacrosse wisconsin i think you might have said did you say minnesota or wisconsin i'm not sure i forget but so they're

at wait they're actually so they're from la croix this is an american brand of sparkling water uh

that originated in LaCroix, I don't know if I'm saying this correctly, but the town is spelled differently. La. It's LaCrosse. No, you're saying it right. LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Yeah.

So they, that's very fascinating because it's, it's intentionally very, first of all, they're changing the spelling and they're going with, instead of LaCrosse, they're calling it LaCroix, which is, you know, just a French way of saying LaCrosse, but it's very clever because it comes off as European.

And putting Innocent on it definitely feels like somebody mailed this over to you from France, even though it's coming from Wisconsin.

Okay, so here's the deal. We are about two minutes away from doing something that I secretly wanted to accomplish today, which was actually turning a slightly shorter show than our Monday holiday show. I kind of did, too.

I legitimately did. So let's do this. Come on. Time is money. Let's do it. Okay, but I did want to say. I literally had that thought at the top of the show. It would be hilarious. if today's show was shorter than yesterday's show on a non-holiday.

I will say, though, LaCroix, I feel like, ushered in the era of, as you would say, bubble water or sparkling water. And now it's no longer the go-to. I almost wonder if they – I feel like everything was LaCroix at first, and now there's so much competition. I wonder how LaCroix is doing in the marketplace.

Do you le care? Do you even le care about how LaCroix is doing? All right, get that music. Let's go. Andrew, I love that you and I have decided to troll the listeners in the same fashion.

We're both sitting on that.

That's a really good dynamic. Let's try to deprive the listeners of the thing they're paying for because we think it's funny. All right. Thank you so much, dear listeners, for being part of TBTL today. We are going to be back here tomorrow with more Imaginary Radio. In the meantime, have a great Tuesday. Take care of yourselves. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

And good luck to all.

Hey, Lou and Andrew, this is a listener, Lee, here. Either good news or bad news, my friend Madison says you guys are not an alpha male podcast. Take it as you wish. Power out. Power out.