The Space [inbetween] - What We're Watching, Reading & Listening to

This Week on #ForWhatitsWorthwithBlakeMelnick, our next instalment of #WhatWereWatchingReadingandListeningto on #TheSpaceinbetween.

As in the past, I'm joined by my co-host, #CameronBrown to discuss our recommendations for what to watch; what to read, and what to listen to as the Summer draws to a close.

We have some great picks for you - #TeskeyBrothers, #AlwaysattheCarlyle #InsideMan and many more ...For What it's Worth.

Accompanying playlist https://spotify.link/v46xVcjBnCb

The music for this episode, "High Water"  is written and performed by our current artist in residence, #DouglasCameron

You can find out more about Douglas by visiting our show blog and by listening to our episode, #TheOldGuitar

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Transcript

The Space - What We're Watching; What We're Reading and What We're Listening to 

[00:00:00] Blake Melnick: Well, welcome to this week's episode of. 

[00:00:35] The space in between.

[00:00:38] I'm your host Blake Melnick. And we have another installment in our series. What we're watching, what we're reading and what we're listening to to carry you through the end of the summer and into the fall. I'll be joined by my co-host Cameron brown, who is in Toronto and we'll dial him in right now. 

Cam, how are you today? 

[00:00:57] Cameron Brown: Not too bad. How about you out west? 

[00:00:59] Blake Melnick: We're going [00:01:00] through a bit of a heat wave at the moment. Some sort of ocean currents that are affecting the heat. So we're up above 30. We were 32 last night around four o'clock. So people are sweating because not a lot of people have air conditioning out here.

[00:01:14] For sure. 

[00:01:16] Cameron Brown: We had that same weather here in Toronto now. and Muskoka the last week, but it's cooled down 

[00:01:21] Blake Melnick: It's been a beautiful summer out here. 26 during the day, 15 at night, almost every day and not a cloud in the sky.

[00:01:28] It's good to have you back on the show again and do another episode, another installment of what we're watching, what we're reading and what we're listening to. We typically do this early on in the season or before Christmas. But, you know, better, late than never. And This will give people something to do. through, to the end of the summer and into the fall. What are you watching that's of interest these days? 

[00:01:49] Cameron Brown: I discovered like a great Streaming service. It's called Tubi. T. U. B. I. All small caps. If you stream on Amazon or Apple, you [00:02:00] can simply go to their main contents page and type in T. U. B. I. It's a free service.

[00:02:06] They give you a lot of old movies, a lot of classic TV shows and why it's free is that they put in commercials. But I got to tell you, the commercials are really quick. It's not like you've got time to get up and go and put on some popcorn. They might start with three and then a little while later you get two and a little later you get one.

[00:02:25] One of the things I found on Tubi was a documentary called Always at the Carlisle and the Carlisle is a hotel in New York, that's very discreet very private Has hosted guests like George Clooney, Jeff Goldblum, Lenny Kravitz, Sofia Coppola, Roger Federer David Bowie and Politicians and high-profile people like the Kennedy's and the lady guy.

[00:02:52] And it's just fascinating because this hotel is really cool to look at. It's a lot of art deco.[00:03:00] They interview different employees who are like, I'm not sure I can say that, or I'm not sure I could tell you that, but it's great. And you get a lot of these same people I just mentioned talking about how great the place is.

[00:03:13] So if you're a fan of like only murders in the building. This is our kind of like the Arkonian 'cause people can go in there and they can stay there for three months. They're talking to the actor John Ham at one point, and they ask him, do you stay here often?

[00:03:27] And he says not really. And they say, oh how come? He says, because you could pay for someone's school. , we're staying 

[00:03:36] Blake Melnick: here. Yeah. I was going to ask you how much does it cost per night to stay there? 

[00:03:40] Cameron Brown: In the thousands, right? But it's a very interesting documentary with all these different celebrities and different people talking about.

[00:03:47] How impressed they were. There was this one woman who worked on the front desk and she had to fill in the next day at six and she was getting ready to leave at midnight. And she said, I'm not sure if I'll get back in time. So they [00:04:00] said. Okay, you can stay in the main suite. And she said just staying there was really cool because the view was great of Central Park and all of New York.

[00:04:08] Also, I realized that Princess Diana had stayed there. So it's a really cool thing and a lot of the stories are are very interesting because of who's telling them and who's talking about them and So if you get Tubi, or if you don't get to be, you should because Again, you can find some great old classic movies and TV shows, but just to go and see Always at the Carlyle is worth your hour and a half.

[00:04:32] Blake Melnick: When did this documentary come out? 

[00:04:34] I believe it was 2019. Oh, so it's recent. Yeah, it's fairly current. And at different points in the in the documentary, both guests, people like Roger Federer and some of the employees are like, I don't know if I want to tell you too much about this documentary.

[00:04:51] It's great. You're doing it. But. We really don't want to be that popular. We really want to be discreet. You'd have to be pretty rich [00:05:00] to be staying there. But a lot of great stories, I don't know if you know of the piano player, Bobby Short. 

[00:05:05] I do.

[00:05:06] Yes. 

[00:05:07] Cameron Brown: Yeah. So there's a place in the In the car lot called Bemelins, and he was one of the guys that would play there on a constant basis. And at one point they talk about how Billy Joel came in and was not ignoring his, but not really in the conversation with the people he was with, and finally came up and asked can I sit beside you and watch you play?

[00:05:28] Blake Melnick: Cool. So it was interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not available on any of the other subscription services, Netflix and crave and that kind of thing. 

[00:05:35] Cameron Brown: I don't have Netflix anymore, but I believe you might be able to find it there. Otherwise, as I say, Tubi is a free service that you can access through Apple, Hulu, Amazon, any one of the different services.

[00:05:48] Blake Melnick: Great. Yeah. That sounds really interesting. I'll have to check that one out. 

[00:05:53] Cameron Brown: For sure. How about you? What have you 

[00:05:57] Blake Melnick: I've been getting a little tired of these blockbuster [00:06:00] movies that are constantly on the streaming services.

[00:06:02] Please, no more John Wick. . So anyway, I was out looking for some independent films with good scripts and a strong cast, and I came across... One that's worthy of mention. The second one I have is not really an indie film.

[00:06:16] But the first one is called A Little White Lie. It's a comedy film written and directed by Michael Marin and based on the novel Shriver by Chris Belden which he published in 2013. This is a great little story. The script is brilliant. It stars Michael Shannon, who you might remember from Pearl Harbor, Vanilla Sky, and 8 Mile alongside Kate Hudson, who I love daughter of Goldie Hawn, who of course made her name for herself in the film Almost Famous, and recently appeared in another great film called Glass Onion alongside Edward Norton and Daniel Craig.

[00:06:50] Don Johnson is in it, of Miami Vice and fame. But it's a great little story. About a handyman who's living in New York City [00:07:00] and he's mistaken for the famous and famously reclusive writer Shriver. And he receives a letter in the mail. Inviting him to a university, a small university in the Midwest where he's asked to deliver a keynote address to save the school's literary festival.

[00:07:17] He gets this letter and he says maybe I should just go. And his best pal convinced him to go. So that's the premise of the of the film. It's very funny. It's charming. It's extraordinarily well written. And what I really liked about it was. There are parts in the film where Michael Shannon is reading to Kate Hudson.

[00:07:39] And the language is just incredible. It just draws you right in. As soon as I finished watching this film I wanted to go write something. It really is that kind of an inspiring film. It came out in 2023, so it's pretty new. It's on Netflix. Worth a watch. Amazing supporting cast as well.

[00:07:56] Emmett Walsh, who you might remember from Slap Shot, Raising Arizona, [00:08:00] Blade Runner, The Jerk. Film critic, Roger Ebert. Coined the phrase the Stanton Welsh effect, and he was of the opinion that any film with Welsh or Dean Stanton was worth watching. It also co-stars Wendy Mallick, who you might remember from The American President, Scrooged and Bugsy, and she's been on a lot of TV shows as well.

[00:08:18] Jimmy Simpson, Westworld, Black Mirror. It's always sunny in Philadelphia and Mark Boone Jr. who I loved in Sons of Anarchy, Memento and Batman Begins. So it's got an amazing cast, terrific script really charming story. 

[00:08:34] Cameron Brown: I was really impressed with his work. I just recently saw a documentary film called George and Tammy where he plays George Jones. Michael Shannon was amazing in that. 

[00:08:44] Blake Melnick: To me, he's stole the show. I don't want to give it away because it has a few twists and turns throughout the film, but he's brilliant in it and does a phenomenal job. I love this film. It made me laugh. It was smart, funny, clever worth the watch.[00:09:00] 

[00:09:00] Great. You got another one for me? 

[00:09:02] Cameron Brown: Yeah, I am. I been watching a lot of Disney plus and they have brought back a show that I used to love called King of the Hill. It's an adult animated sitcom created by Mike Judge, who's known for Beavis and Butthead and Silicon Valley, one of my favorite shows.

[00:09:20] And Greg Daniels, who wrote for Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, and was co-creator of The Office. And it's About a small town in Texas. It's Hank Hill, his wife, Peggy, and son, Bobby, and their neighbors. And it's just A slice of life went for 13 seasons and I've heard they're looking at resurrecting it.

[00:09:38] Time Magazine included it in their 100 greatest shows of all time back in 2007. And over the years, it got some really big-name guest stars that would come in and do an episode that had Alan Rickman Chuck Mangione, Carl Reiner Ani DeFranco. And up until his death, the last few seasons, it had Tom Petty.

[00:09:57] Tom Petty had this great role [00:10:00] as a kind of washed up trailer trash guy who was dating one of the character's daughters, Luanne. So it's really very funny. As I say, it's about to be resurrected on Hulu, I think, for at least another season and very funny, great half hour show to watch.

[00:10:16] Animated, but not for the kids, 

[00:10:17] Blake Melnick: right? It's not for the kids. Yeah, it was a great show. 

[00:10:21] Cameron Brown: What's next in your list? 

[00:10:23] Blake Melnick: I watched a great film that I missed years ago when it came out. It was on Netflix, it's called Inside Man. It's a 2006 American crime thriller directed by Spike Lee and written by Russell Giewitz. It centers on an elaborate bank heist that takes place on Wall Street over a 24-hour period. It stars Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe.

[00:10:47] Great cast. And I think it's the best film that Spike Lee's ever done. Really, eh? Yeah, I really do. It's so clever.

[00:10:54] It's not like the typical bank heist film because it's the why that you wait [00:11:00] for. I thought the cinematography and my hats off to Matt, Libetek, the cinematographer in this film.

[00:11:05] It was amazing, stylized, beautifully shot. And now it's become a television series. I haven't watched it yet, but this film is extraordinarily well written and filmed. The acting is excellent and a great cast. It's only on Netflix until August 31st. So if you want to catch it, you'll have to do it before then.

[00:11:24] For sure. 

[00:11:25] Now we're moving on to what we're reading. So over to you, Cam

[00:11:29] Cameron Brown: , I read a great book this summer called The Castle on Sunset, and it's all about the very famous hotel in Hollywood called the Chateau Marmont. Now, Chateau Marmont is famous for the fact that John Belushi died there.

[00:11:44] That's right. It is also the hotel where a very inebriated Jim Morrison, got out on the balcony and climbed to another balcony, but it's just fantastic. The full title is The Castle on Sunset, life, death, love.

[00:11:59] Art [00:12:00] and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmotte. And it's written by a guy named Sean Levy, who's written a few of these types of books. But it's really great because it gives you all these inside stories. 

[00:12:11] Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Boris Karloff, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable. They all stayed there while they were shooting films and rock bands, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, John Lennon would stay there because as one of them said you could trash your room as long as you paid for it in the end and you wouldn't be banned the next time.

[00:12:32] Come on back as long as you paid for it. And actually quite a few big movies, Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid The Color Purple, Rebel Without a Cause were written there. Oh, is that right? So it's, yeah. Yeah, it's really very interesting a lot of great stories in 

[00:12:46] Blake Melnick: I'm trying to remember, I've seen it referenced in films, and maybe it was in the biopic about Belushi that I saw, but I've seen the hotel featured in all kinds of different films 

[00:12:55] and I gather it was like the Carlisle, so you could stay there for a [00:13:00] year or two. Yeah. Long term stays. Yeah. 

[00:13:04] Cameron Brown: I believe Boris Karloff basically stayed there for most of the end of his career. And they became popular enough that what they did is they bought a piece of land next to them and then built cabins, which again, people would stay in.

[00:13:15] It was just enough out of the city limits to give those visiting actors and actresses and musicians a little bit of solitude, 

[00:13:24] Blake Melnick: It sounds fascinating. I'd like to go visit it one day. 

[00:13:28] So my choice, and I know this book might not appeal to you because it centers on golf, as you know I'm a big golfer, but one of the books I read this summer was The Legend of Bagger Vance and The Game of Life, written by Steven Pressfield and published in 1995. Many people will have seen the movie, which I also love, starring Will Smith, Matt Damon, and Jack Lemmon.

[00:13:49] It was a great film but until this summer I hadn't read the book. We have a book house my daughter built out in front of her house. You take a book, you leave a book, and someone left a copy. [00:14:00] The novel is essentially an allegory about the importance of leading an authentic life. Using golf as a metaphor. It's set in the Depression of 1931 on the Gulf links of Crew Island off the shores of Savannah, Georgia.

[00:14:13] Two legends of the game, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, meet for a 36-hole showdown to bring attention to the new golf club and to create economic benefit for the community. Members of the town council wanted one of their own to participate in the event, a local golf legend and decorated war hero named Randolph Junah

[00:14:32] who would represent the values of the South. . Junah lived on his family's plantation, but had not been seen much since returning from the war. The town council sent a young boy named Hardy, who is also the narrator of this tale, to speak with Junah. At Junah's rundown plantation, he finds him drunk around a table with a number of black field hands and another large black man named Bagger Vance.

[00:14:55] After much cajoling from Hardy, Junah agrees to participate in the event with [00:15:00] bagger Vance serving as his caddy. Bagger Vance is a mystical mythical figure. Who helps Junah through his emotional issues and the trauma from the war. By helping him find his authentic swing. And it's really about finding one's authentic self. So even if you're not a golfer, this book has great value.

[00:15:21] It's short it's well-written it's a great tale. You know, whenever my golf game starts to deteriorate, I watched bagger ran the movie. Now that I have the book, I can read the book as well. Because it does force you to reflect on your life. Harvey Penick, the great golf writer, said it's one of the best golf books ever written because, it focuses on the things that most golfers struggle with.

[00:15:44] Arnold Palmer once said, golf is a game of inches, and the most important are the six inches between your ears. 

[00:15:53] Cameron Brown: And remind me, what's the title of this book again? It's 

[00:15:56] called The Legend of Bagger Vance, and in quotes, Golf [00:16:00] and the Game of Life. 

[00:16:01] We have a common friend named Bill who, it sounds like, if he hasn't read this book, would love this book.

[00:16:07] Blake Melnick: Absolutely. And again, the film is well worth watching, whenever your golf game starts to 

[00:16:11] go downhill. But on this film, watch it before your next round. Yeah, that's for sure. 

[00:16:17] I read a great biography this past winter after I had my hip replacement was bedridden for a while. Someone gave me a copy of Matthew McConaughey's book, Greenlight.

[00:16:28] He exiled himself in the desert for almost two months while writing it. And it's basically, it's a collection of stories. Poems, even prayers about peoples and places and different films he worked on. He says, it's my collection of stories, prayers, poems, people, places, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers.

[00:16:49] And it reminds me years and years ago, I bought my mother Michael Caine's autobiography, What's It All About? And I remember asking her [00:17:00] what do you think? She goes, it's great. It's Conversational and welcoming. You feel like you're in the room with him. This is the same way with the Matthew McConaughey book.

[00:17:08] You feel like he's sitting there talking to you. Yeah. All right. And also apparently the audio book is selling really great because he does the reading for you. And I've always liked him as an actor and he's a very entertaining guy. This book is great. You'll be reading a chapter and then there's a post it note.

[00:17:25] on the next page of something he wrote down. He'll explain that. Then you get back to the story. Really highly recommend it.

[00:17:31] I heard him interviewed. I think it was on CBC. It might have been a podcast. In fact, I heard him interviewed about this book and he was charming in the interview as well.

[00:17:39] And it did sound like a great read. So it's something I'd like to read for sure. He's a charming, authentic guy. Maybe smokes too much bud that's part of his charm too. 

[00:17:50] Cameron Brown: I don't know if he's up there with Seth Rogen, but yeah, I can understand that. 

[00:17:54] Blake Melnick: Maybe not. 

[00:17:55] My next recommended read is called Igniting a Bold New Democracy [00:18:00] by Dr. Ruth Backstrom, who was a recent guest on the show. I absolutely love this book. I find these days that whenever I look at the news or any of my newsfeeds, it's a doom and gloom picture. People and experts are great at pointing out the problems in the world. But very few of them are offering solutions.

[00:18:18] So what I loved about this book besides the fact that it's extremely well written, it's historically based Dr. Backstrom traces. The dysfunctional aspects of democracy, particularly in the United States, from its roots going back to the early sixties right through to now, gives you that historical context so you understand how we got to where we are 

[00:18:40] but beyond that, Dr. Backstrom put forth solutions. to solve some of the problems that democracies, not just the U. S., but in democracies around the world are experiencing right now. Specifically the disconnect between politicians and the political system and the will of the people. And she [00:19:00] provides us with solutions and how to bring that back that are infinitely, doable and workable. And Dr. Backstrom puts together a list of organizations that are working on elements. Of what she is proposing as solutions to repair our democracies. And she provides you with contact information. So that you can reach out to these folks and get involved. 

[00:19:17] I love the book. I really enjoyed her interview. I'd highly recommend it. I have a number of signed copies. If people want one, I have to get a link up so people can buy them, anybody concerned about the current state of our democratic systems should read this book. And it 

[00:19:31] Cameron Brown: sounds like she gives some suggestions about 

[00:19:33] Blake Melnick: The reader can do right and provide you with a way to get involved directly with the contacts, with the organizations So if it's something that people are passionate about and they want to get involved she provides the mechanisms for doing that 

[00:19:48] I'd like to see this book on every high school curriculum It was certainly in the advanced levels and first year university political science courses. It will At the very least, [00:20:00] ignite a deep and meaningful discussion. Amazing.

[00:20:03] Now let's shift to what we're listening to.

[00:20:05] What do you listen to these days? 

[00:20:07] Cameron Brown: I was up at the cottage the long weekend. We had a family reunion and my nephew, Andrew gave me a suggestion. He said, listen to a guy named Neal Francis. And Neal spells his first name with an a, not an I. The album in particular I listened to that everybody enjoyed was called changes and it found its way on to a number of, top 100 lists back in 2019. Blake it's a mixture of Chicago blues and seventies rock and roll. You hear a lot of Leon Russell, Dr. John. And Curtis Mayfield in it. He's got a great voice. I've been listening to it constantly since Andrew turned me onto it.

[00:20:44] Really strong piano player , and it kicks. I don't want to say the bad word, but it kicks. 

[00:20:50] Blake Melnick: Yeah. And he does he have a lot of records out or is he fairly new? 

[00:20:54] Cameron Brown: Relatively new. I'd say he's been around maybe now for just under a half dozen years [00:21:00] Changes was I believe one of his first albums and I Understand he's releasing a new one later this year I think anyone who likes I wouldn't say Elton John, he's a little bit too poppy so it's not quite like Elton John, more like a Billy Preston, early Billy Joel perhaps he's got a great sound, great voice, and a good band behind him as well.

[00:21:21] Blake Melnick: Cool. All right. Check him out. Neil Francis. What have you been listening to? I've been listening to Radio Paradise. Our mutual friend, Victor Fisher contacted me a couple of weeks ago and said you should listen to Radio Paradise. I've been listening to it for 15 years.

[00:21:38] They would make for a great interview for the podcast. So based on his advice, I downloaded the app and started to listen to radio paradise. And really, it's an amazing, find for me. As you know, I'm not a big fan of algorithm- based curation like Spotify and iTunes. So radio paradise is interesting because it sits between. Old time radio and the [00:22:00] algorithm, curated playlist of Spotify and iTunes.

[00:22:02] It is a radio station. It's been around for a long time. I can't believe I'd never listened to it before. It was started in February 2000 by Bill Goldsmith and his wife, Rebecca Goldsmith. It originally operated from their home in Paradise, California. And of course, if you remember, Paradise, California was decimated by a fire a number of years ago.

[00:22:23] I actually had a chance to tour it after the fire. It was a disaster. The station is now located in Eureka, California. Yep. Bill Goldsmith was a fascinating guy. So we started radio paradise in 2000, but he's the guy that pioneered the world's first full-time live radio stream on the internet in 1996.

[00:22:43] This man's been around for a long time. I found a great quote from their website that says Radio Paradise lives on transcending time and distance. It's a labor of love and shared across generations. What I've come to love about this station is [00:23:00] it's a place where you can further your music education.

[00:23:03] They have playlists and they're large playlists. There's a there's a mellow playlist, there's a rock playlist, there's an eclectic playlist, there's a global playlist. Like the radio, it's constantly on. So whenever you open the app, it's there and plays. If you want to pause a song you can simply pause it will stay paused for you while continuing to play for others.

[00:23:26] When you're listening to a song and you like a song. Radio paradise has an amazing user feedback mechanism. A 10 point scale the top of witches god-like and transcending the bottom of which is Sucko - Barfo

[00:23:38] these are curated playlist, but with input from the listeners. So there's about 500, 000 registered listeners of Radio Paradise now. And everybody weighs in on the song. So the community itself helps to curate those playlists. If you're listening to the playlist and there's a song that you absolutely hate [00:24:00] on it, you can say, don't play this for me again.

[00:24:02] So it has a little bit of individual tailoring where you can say, I don't want to ever hear that song in that playlist. If you listen to the playlist again, others will hear it, but you won't. So I really like that. And it's free. It's all run by donations if you love it. Give them some money which I'm going to do shortly because I do love this thing.

[00:24:21] But the app is absolutely phenomenal. The quality of the sound, and this is another reason I like it a lot, is the quality of the sound is so much better than Spotify and iTunes. You can set it to be lossless, so there is no degradation at all. It's as good as a CD on your stereo at home. The app has a couple of really nice features.

[00:24:44] One is that you can set it to only operate or come on when you have Wi Fi,. You can also set it to operate as soon as you plug your phone into your car and it just pops up as if it were a radio station. , you can skip songs that you don't like here's the thing.

[00:24:59] The reason I [00:25:00] don't like Spotify or don't like Spotify as much or iTunes is that It doesn't provide you with an education into music. The nice thing about Radio Paradise, and you use their main mix, it plays all kinds of different music. From jazz, to rock, to blues, to classical, to country. It really starts to further your knowledge about music and listen to things that you normally wouldn't listen to.

[00:25:26] And if you like something, you can download these playlists. So you can help to curate it for the community. You can identify the songs that you like. It broadens your musical horizons. I think it's absolutely fabulous. I think everybody should have a listen to radio paradise. It's absolutely fantastic. I really highly recommend it. Give it a listen, see what you think. And I hope we'll get these folks on the show. I'd really like to have a chat with them. I think it's a great story. 

[00:25:55] Cameron Brown: Sounds very cool.

[00:25:56] I was watching Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon, and they [00:26:00] had Bruce Springsteen on as a guest host for one night, and then the rest of the week, he was the musical guest. And it wasn't with the E Street Band, he last year. put together an album called Only the Strong Survive.

[00:26:14] And it's a collection of soul favorites. There's even a gospel tune on there. And whether you like Springsteen or not, this is a great album. He does songs like The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore. On the night shift, the night shift and a couple of the songs that he does with Sam Moore, who if some people know is Sam of Sam and Dave.

[00:26:37] Ah. And it's, yeah, and it's really great. It's a whole different kind of sound than he has with the E Street Band. Brings back all these great songs. I just, I can't recommend it enough. I gave it to a friend of ours when she retired and I said, I know you're not a big Springsteen fan, but I think you'll like this.

[00:26:56] She does a lot of driving periodically to visit her mother who's out [00:27:00] of town and she played it and she said, I love it. 

[00:27:02] Blake Melnick: . And when was this record released? 

[00:27:04] Cameron Brown: It must have been last year because that's when he was really promoting it. Yeah. Yeah. Early 2023. 

[00:27:09] Blake Melnick: Now he did another record some time ago Called Devils and Dust. where he recorded a lot of Woody Guthrie songs and Pete Seeger songs.

[00:27:17] That old authentic folk stuff, which was also a really good record. 

[00:27:22] So any particular tracks stand out for you on this record? 

[00:27:27] Cameron Brown: Yeah, the sun ain't gonna shine anymore. It's just fantastic. It's got that great sort of big brass sound and stuff like that. The night shift, which was an old Commodore song, it's a really great cover of that.

[00:27:42] It really shows a man's voice and how it's matured over the years. I know he's on tour right now. I don't know if he's doing any of these songs. Hopefully he is. I'd certainly want to hear them if I was there. But yeah it's a great album. Again, if you're not a Springsteen fan, do yourself a favor and listen to this because you don't have [00:28:00] to be one to , to enjoy it.

[00:28:01] Blake Melnick: 

[00:28:01] I'm not a massive Springsteen fan, but there are things that Springsteen does that I really like. So I'm going to pick that one up for sure. 

[00:28:09] My next discovery, came from Radio Paradise. is a guy by the name of Greg Brown. Now, I'd never heard of Greg Brown before. And I was listening to Radio Paradise and they played a song and I was absolutely hooked. The song was called Spring Wind and it was this incredibly beautiful ballad.

[00:28:29] Greg Brown has this deep resonant voice. He's very funny. He's an excellent songwriter. A good guitar player. But I've never heard of him. He's recorded over 30 albums, right? His first was in 1974 called hackle Barney, which is where he is from in Iowa. And his last record was in 2012. This guy's a real talent.

[00:28:51] I'm a little shocked that I have never. heard of him before. I know obviously lots of people have and he's been around for a long time, I bought a record [00:29:00] after I heard the song Spring Wind and it's called If I Had Known, and there's his essential recordings from 1980 to 1996.

[00:29:07] Terrific. Really good. Worth a listen if you haven't heard them. The two songs that caught my attention immediately, of course, was Spring Wind and Boomtown. song about how communities and we all have experienced this that start out as a very inexpensive place to live.

[00:29:24] And all of a sudden they become boom towns and everybody floods in from the outside and displaces all the people that live there. And they have to move out to the suburbs because they can't afford homes in these boom towns great record. Greg Brown. He's a bit of a troubadour.

[00:29:38] He probably sells about 50, 000 copies of the albums he puts out. So he's not extraordinarily well known, but enough to making a living out of it. But he is quite amazing and worth a listen. 

[00:29:51] Cameron Brown: He Sounds to me like, as you're describing him, a little bit like an artist we both like, John Prine.

[00:29:56] Is he like a little bit like, Brian in his signwriting not necessarily the [00:30:00] sound

[00:30:00] Blake Melnick: , he's very much like John Prine. I would certainly put him in that category. He is a folk player. , he's got a great voice and I love his lyrics.

[00:30:07] I want to talk about one other band. I know we've talked about them in the past, but it's a new discovery for you. And that's the Teskey brothers. 

[00:30:16] Cameron Brown: Yeah. Andrew again, my nephew, who's a great music lover recommended them as well, Australian guys, I love their music, a great sound although I don't really go to concerts anymore, they would be one I would go to see.

[00:30:29] Blake Melnick: I just saw them on Friday night at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, and it was a great show. 

[00:30:35] These guys are a fairly new band. I think they only have three records out and the most recent, the winding way was released in 2023. 

[00:30:43] I talked about them in a previous episode. I had the album Run Home Slow, which is a wonderful record. Josh Teskey his voice is absolutely amazing. If you close your eyes, you swear to God, your listing to Otis Redding or Joe Cocker. He's got that incredibly soulful voice. [00:31:00] Probably one of the best voices I've ever heard in music period. 

[00:31:03] The finale was incredible. I'm going to post a video of that moment on the show. Facebook page. They sang the song, hold me one of the hit songs from running home. Slow. Josh Teskey came out to the front of the stage and started singing acapella. And everybody in the audience started singing. Halfway through the song, He began riffing off the audience with his incredible soulful voice. He really sounded like Otis Redding. These guys are terrific. They had a lot of fun. They really engaged their audience. , if you haven't listened to the Teskey Brothers, go get yourself a record.

[00:31:37] Cameron Brown: For sure, and I would say run home slow is the one to get. Loved it right from first listen. .

[00:31:43] Blake Melnick: Cam I'm going to suggest that we do what we did for the Little Feat episode and create an accompanying playlist for this episode in Spotify. That includes the Teskey brothers, the new Springsteen album, Neil Francis, and Greg brown. 

[00:31:57] Cameron Brown: For sure. I'm definitely going to check out Greg Brown, who [00:32:00] is by the way, no relation. 

[00:32:01] Blake Melnick: You could have said he was you could have said he's my uncle. 

[00:32:06] Cameron Brown: Getting all emails from the family. What are you talking about? 

[00:32:09] Blake Melnick: Well, that brings us to the end of our show. And we've given our listeners a lot to watch, to read and listen to that will carry them through the summer and into the fall. And we will include a link to the Spotify playlist. In the show notes. For what it's worth.