FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH with Blake Melnick
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH with Blake Melnick
This, That, and the Other
A severed arm on a Florida dock, a 1950s game show built on lies, a Civil War–era courtroom straining under fear, and a band that still sounds alive in the studio - our latest conversation tackles a common theme: what honesty costs and why it still matters. We jump from sun-baked noir vibe of Bad Monkey’s to Robert Redford’s Quiz Show and The Conspirator, connecting the dots between satire, image, justice, and the quiet ways power shapes a narrative. Along the way, we dig into Duster’s stylish 70s chase energy and ask how a beloved, well-reviewed series gets cancelled before it finds its audience.
On the reading front, we explore The Gift of Not Belonging by Rami Kaminsky and the intriguing idea of the “outrovert”-socially fluid yet resistant to group think. Paired with Henry Winkler’s The Fonz and Beyond, we explore shedding labels, reinventing your creative path, and finding people who see you clearly. Both books turn belonging into a choice, not a box.
Then the headphones go on. Little Feat’s Strike Up the Band brings that live-in-the-room swagger - soulful, grooving, and unmistakably human—with Scott Sharrard’s soulful warmth and Tony Leone’s next-level drumming, honouring Richie Hayward’s legacy. We spotlight the grassroots surge of Sons of Legion and revisit Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats for a jolt of gospel-drenched soul that feels like a revival you can dance to. Across screens, pages, and tracks, we keep coming back to one thing: authenticity over image, craft over clout, and stories that ring true.
Stream the episode, hit our “This, That, and the Other” Spotify playlist, and drop your watch-read-listen trio in the comments. If it grabs us, we might feature your picks next time. And if you’re enjoying the show, tap follow, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review - your notes help others find the conversation ...for what it' worth
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This, That and the Other
Blake Melnick: [00:00:00] Well, welcome back to the Space in between. I'm Blake Melnick and with me is always my good friend and co-host Cameron Brown.
Cameron Brown: Hey everyone. Today's episode is called this, that, and the Other, where we share what's been on our screens, on our nightstands and in our headphones.
Blake Melnick: These episodes are a bit of a creative check-in a mixture of what we're watching, reading and listening to, and how it all connects in the spaces in between. So what we're watching, I'll kick this off my pick This month is Bad Monkey on Apple tv, starring Vince Vaughn and created by Bill Lawrence.
Vaughn Plays Andrew Yancy, a former detective in the Florida Keys, who's been demoted to a restaurant inspector. When a severed arm washes up on the fisherman's catch, he gets pulled into this wild [00:01:00] web of corruption, greed, and local weirdness that only Florida can deliver.
Cameron Brown: Yeah, it's got that Carl Hiaasen Energy. You know, it's offbeat little dark and hilarious all at once.
Blake Melnick: Yeah, exactly. Bill Lawrence, who did Ted Law and Scrubs brings this perfect mix of satire and sincerity. The show plays like a Sun-baked noir, the kind of place where everyone's a little crooked, but strangely human. Vaughn's great in it. Funny, flawed, trying to do the right thing in a messed-up world. It's funny and sharp, but it's also about what happens when you try to do the right thing in a crooked system.
It's Florida noir meets absurdist comedy.
Cameron Brown: You know, for my picks, I went Old school, two films by the late Robert Redford that feel oddly relevant right now. Quiz Show and the Conspirator. Now Quiz show digs into the 1950s television scandal, where a popular quiz program was rigged and how ordinary people got pulled into [00:02:00] lying for fame. Ralph Fines plays Charles Van Dorn, this brilliant academic who becomes a TV hero until the truth unravels. It's about how easily integrity slips when the World rewards image.
Blake Melnick: That seems to be our world these days.
Cameron Brown: Yeah.
Blake Melnick: Well, that's a great one, and you can feel the moral corrosion creeping in, uh, polite, elegant deceit.
Cameron Brown: Definitely. there's the, uh, the conspirator, which is Blake about Mary the Lone Woman tried in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Now, Robin Wright placed her beautifully stoic, tragic. It's a courtroom drama about justice. Vengeance and how a government behaves under fear. What ties these films together and even actually connects to Bad Monkey is the tension between truth and survival. Who controls the story and at what cost?
Blake Melnick: Yeah, I love that connection. From TV [00:03:00] scandals to political trials, to Florida crime scenes. It's all about people navigating a morally gray world. I also have another honorable mention before we move on, and that is for the series Duster on Max, created by JJ Abrams and Latoya Morgan, starring Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson.
It Set in the 1970s Southwest. Holloway is a getaway driver, Hilson's an FBI agent, and they're both chasing the same crime syndicate. It's really all about car chases and swagger, and moral tensions shot with that grainy seventies vibe. Critics call it a retro romp. Fun, stylish, and surprisingly heartfelt shame.
It was canceled after only one season, it was so well received 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Great reviews. Unfortunately, there was no marketing behind the series when it was released, so by the time people twigged to it, and how good it was, they'd already made a decision to cancel it. So I'm kind of hoping that, if we get enough people to tune in and [00:04:00] watch it, they'll consider bringing it back.
but it's well worth a watch.
Cameron Brown: Yeah, I loved it too. It. Ooze his atmosphere. , It feels like a love letter to pulp cinema. Quentin Tarantino would've loved
Blake Melnick: I agree a hundred percent. Less violent, but it has that same sort of, uh, feel to it. I agree with you. Yeah. So between Bad Monkey Quiz Show, the conspirator and Duster, there's a clear thread, truth, deception, and the messy business of being human. let's move on to
the stories that stay with us long after we've turned the last page. My pick is the gift of Not Belonging by Rami Kaminsky. It's part memoir, part philosophy, a meditation on how not fitting in can actually be a source of creativity and empathy. So the key idea here is really belonging versus individuality. And the personal connection is that times when not belonging has led to new insights or new directions. I came across a [00:05:00] research paper that Dr. Kaminsky had written where he was saying that on the spectrum or scale between, introverts and extroverts is something called an Otrovert
a third category. This is social science, and it focuses on being socially functional, while, not merging fully with group identities. So an otrovert, is not an introvert, and they do have qualities of extrovertism
But what they're not comfortable with is groupthink. So while they can move between groups, they don't associate with the group mindset. When I read this first article, I was fascinated by it. And I went and did some of the diagnostic tests and discovered that I am an indeed an Otrovert and that encouraged me to read his book and I absolutely love it. It's a really easy read. It's got a lot of philosophy in it. If you like existentialism, [00:06:00] there's lots of references to Camus and Sartre , but I did find it's a really interesting perspective on this scale that we're all familiar with that was developed by Carl Jung.
I wanna get, Dr. Kaminsky on the show. I have reached out to him. , He has connected with me, but as of yet, has not agreed to be on the show. But regardless of whether he decides to come on as a guest, I am going to do an episode on this particular topic.
Cameron Brown: That's such a great theme. Mine connects in a weird way, I've been reading The Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler. Now, it's not just nostalgia, but it's about reinvention, dyslexia, and finding purpose after fame. Of course, everyone knows Henry Winkler as the Fonz, and he did that character so well. That after the series ended, he couldn't find any other work. Everyone just saw him as the Fonz. He was typecast, actually is his CoStar Ron [00:07:00] Howard that offered him a role in the movie night shift and he said. You can play the cool guy or you can play the nerd. And he said, you know what? I've played enough of the cool guy. I'll take the nerd just to show I can do something different. And actually, that was a movie that introduced Michael Keaton to the world
Blake Melnick: Ah.
Cameron Brown: Yeah, so , it is a fascinating read and just how hard it is to break out of the mold.
Blake Melnick: I love that both books deal with identity. One from outside in the other, from inside out. And maybe belonging isn't about fitting in, it's about finding the people who see you clearly. Okay. So yeah, so the other, what we're listening to.
Cameron Brown: Yeah. The emotional stuff the sounds sort of get under your skin.
Blake Melnick: I've been deep into the new Little Feat record called Strike Up the Band released in 2025 They've still got that swampy funky groove, but there's a mature element to this record. It's almost like they've come full circle. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, they don't [00:08:00] make records like this anymore.
What was interesting about this record was number one, all of the band members, , were in the studio together recording the record. So essentially it was recorded live in the studio.
Cameron Brown: Hmm.
Blake Melnick: The addition of Scott Sherrard as vocalist and league guitar player gives this record a wonderful, soulful bent, , in terms of top tracks for me, too high to cut my hair.
They did a video about this. It's fantastic and I love the title track. Strike Up the band where Lark and Poe joined them for that. , It's a timeless record. It's really well recorded. There's a lot of variety and as I mentioned, there's a lot of soul and r and b in this, as a result of Scott Sherrard.
And the other thing that really impressed me about this record was the drumming of Tony Leone. Very hard to fill the shoes of Richie Hayward, one of the greatest drummers of all time. And it's. Taken Leone some time to get there, but I feel in this record, he has gone next level on his drumming, and boy does he [00:09:00] sound and feel like Richie Hayward. I think this record should win the best Blues album of the year.
I've also been following this relatively new band. I want people to get turned onto. called Sons of Legion Adam McGinnis and Daddy Jack Crenshaw. this is a self-made band. When I first listened to them, they had no manager, no agent, no record deal. Everything was being self-promoted, on. Social media much like Walk Off the Earth. And I stumbled across them on Facebook and I listened to a track and I went, boy, these guys, I. Are unbelievable. They've got that raw road tested feel that kind of reminds you that music's meant to be lived, not just streamed.
So when I first heard this, I reached out to, , my friend Denise Ross at Live Nation and said, you know. You gotta listen to these guys. These guys are amazing. I think they're the next up and coming. great band. She got [00:10:00] back to me almost immediately and she said, you know what? I've heard the buzz. And in fact.
I'm trying to, help get them tour dates in Canada.
She got back to me a little while later and said, , I initially booked them in a smaller venue in Toronto. They sold that so quickly that I changed the venue to the horseshoe.
They sold out immediately there too. So all in preparation for what was. Going to be a tour in 2025.
Unfortunately, one of the band members Daddy, Jack, got quite ill. I'm not exactly sure, what happened, but he was rushed into emergency surgery. He's out of it now getting better. They've rea announced their tour for 2026. They will be playing in Toronto. They'll also be playing in Vancouver. Their music is soulful, blues oriented, southern rock oriented. They're lead vocalists. I think he gives Eddie Vedder a run for his money. His voice is absolutely incredible. This is a terrific band.
I think they are going to be the next big thing.
Cameron Brown: Just to comment on Little Feet, the thing I like about [00:11:00] Little Feet is they bring in new people. The people that they bring in are top notch, and it's just as if the original band is still all there,
Blake Melnick: They still have, Sam Clayton on percussion and Kenny Gradney on base, and Fred Tackett of course, too. But losing Richie Hayward and losing Paul Barrare, and of course Lowell George way back in the seventies.
But you're right, they continue to deliver. That Little Feat sound. And certainly in my discussions with Bill Payne on the show, one of my favorite guests, , he said, look, we make room for all the new musicians that come in. I asked him whether he thought, when he goes, will Little Feed still exist?
And he said, Little Feat's about the sound. It's not about the individuals and because they've been so fluid in allowing other musicians in bringing their own bent to the music. I think Little Feat will always survive. Why this band is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is beyond me. there's no band that has the sound of Little [00:12:00] Feat.
Cameron Brown: Exactly. I've been revisiting Nathaniel Relift and The Night Sweats, both their debut album and live at Red Rocks 2020. record hits like a revival meeting. It's like gospel, sweaty, soulful, full of redemption. If someone said, who would you compare them to? They're pretty unique. But imagine The Band and Dire Straits all mixed in together, and when you're listening to them, whether it's a studio album or not, much like Little Feet. You hear that live sound
Blake Melnick: Right.
Cameron Brown: you know, it's like being at the concert.
Blake Melnick: I've been to Red Rocks. It's certainly a spectacular venue, and I thought that live record was amazing. I've seen them live, not in Red Rocks, but in Vancouver. , Daniel Raitliff is, an amazing vocalist. He really, , brings the crowd alive.
I was super impressed when I went to see the show. All our pics. This episode from shows to books to music circle, back to the same thing. Authenticity, real people, messy stories, honest emotion.
Cameron Brown: [00:13:00] If we zoom out, what's the thread running through all this? Blake?
Blake Melnick: I think it's all about truth, right? In art and music in ourselves, whether it's a rigged game show, a political trial, or a rock band still playing straight from the soul or a deeper understanding of oneself. It's about honesty and what it costs.
Cameron Brown: Yeah, I couldn't have said it any better.
Blake Melnick: So that's our, this, that, and the other. What's yours? Tell us what you're watching, reading and listening to, and maybe we'll feature your picks next time on the show. And for anyone who wants to hear the music from today's picks we have a, this, that, and the other playlist on Spotify.
You'll find the link in the show notes and on our show blog. For what it's worth, and we'll see you next time on the space in between.
Cameron Brown: I'm loving it. that sounds like sort of a twilight zone, you know.
[00:14:00]
