The World Cup, Karen, Balty, a bit of Egypt...plus more on Jack Norworth.

Click here to listen.

We had a great time this week with our guest, and long time friend Karen.

Of course, we talk about the World Cup. We headed over to the Duke of Edinburgh Pub to watch the final and joined a crowd in there. It was standing room only, but fortunately we got their very early to grab a table. Ashok joined Karen, Greg and Simon and we had a great few hours, supporting both teams along the way. We chatted about Paul the octopus that has predicted the correct outcome for 8 games in a row. That can't be chance!

Earlier in the week we joined Karen up in her local stomping grounds of San Francisco and we had dinner at the House of Prime Rib on Van Ness. Fun was had by all, and boy those prime ribs were good, as were the Yorkshire puddings! Apparently, the alcohol was pretty enticing too.

Karen joined us today to talk about her blog, http://baltazarfishegyptdiaries.blogspot.com. She's an aspiring children's author and she also talks about the trials of trying to find an agent and be published. The blog is linked to the main character of her current work in progress, Baltazar Fish. The blog is being written in the first person, and is set as a prequel to the novel. We discuss Egypt a little, as Karen's travels there inspired her book.

Earlier in the week, Greg, Simon and a friend, also called Simon watched Monty Python's Holy Grail, so there are a smattering of quotes from the movie in this week's podcast.

We then go over some of the recent news articles. Our favorite was a crocodile on the loose in Frankfurt. As Greg said: "The more you know, the less you care."

Before closing we go back to the previous week's story of the Jack Norworth memorial stonebeing placed at his burial sight. This project was undertaken by 2 friends, JP Myers and Chris Epting, both guests on the show. The event to put the new stone in place was on July 11th, 2010 and photos were taken. There are some articles and photos about and from the event.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=106832&id=118727941506682

http://picasaweb.google.com/fultonavenue/July11th2010NorworthMemorialMarker#

http://dailyme.com/story/2010071100002916/seventh-inning-special-belting-102-year-old-hit.html

Post Podcast recording we headed over to one of the more incredible local restaurants, Sent Sovi. We indulged. Boy did we ever. We laughed ourselves silly and ate like royalty for the evening. Worth every penny! We'll talk about this a little more on next week's podcast.

BMSMA.

G&S

The World Cup, Karen, Balty, a bit of Egypt...plus more on Jack Norworth.

Click here to listen.

We had a great time this week with our guest, and long time friend Karen.

Of course, we talk about the World Cup. We headed over to the Duke of Edinburgh Pub to watch the final and joined a crowd in there. It was standing room only, but fortunately we got their very early to grab a table. Ashok joined Karen, Greg and Simon and we had a great few hours, supporting both teams along the way. We chatted about Paul the octopus that has predicted the correct outcome for 8 games in a row. That can't be chance!

Earlier in the week we joined Karen up in her local stomping grounds of San Francisco and we had dinner at the House of Prime Rib on Van Ness. Fun was had by all, and boy those prime ribs were good, as were the Yorkshire puddings! Apparently, the alcohol was pretty enticing too.

Karen joined us today to talk about her blog, http://baltazarfishegyptdiaries.blogspot.com. She's an aspiring children's author and she also talks about the trials of trying to find an agent and be published. The blog is linked to the main character of her current work in progress, Baltazar Fish. The blog is being written in the first person, and is set as a prequel to the novel. We discuss Egypt a little, as Karen's travels there inspired her book.

Earlier in the week, Greg, Simon and a friend, also called Simon watched Monty Python's Holy Grail, so there are a smattering of quotes from the movie in this week's podcast.

We then go over some of the recent news articles. Our favorite was a crocodile on the loose in Frankfurt. As Greg said: "The more you know, the less you care."

Before closing we go back to the previous week's story of the Jack Norworth memorial stonebeing placed at his burial sight. This project was undertaken by 2 friends, JP Myers and Chris Epting, both guests on the show. The event to put the new stone in place was on July 11th, 2010 and photos were taken. There are some article and photos about and from the event.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=106832&id=118727941506682

http://picasaweb.google.com/fultonavenue/July11th2010NorworthMemorialMarker#

http://dailyme.com/story/2010071100002916/seventh-inning-special-belting-102-year-old-hit.html

Post Podcast recording we headed over to one of the more incredible local restaurants, Sent Sovi. We indulged. Boy did we ever. We laughed ourselves silly and ate like royalty for the evening. Worth every penny! We'll talk about this a little more on next week's podcast.

BMSMA.

G&S

Taken to the Ball Game

Click Here to Listen

This week is quite special! We have JP Myers on the show to tell us about the campaign to get Jack Norworth's memorial marker updated and spruced up. Who's he? He's the guy who wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," the famous baseball song sung at every game. (Jack also wrote "Shine On Harvest Moon," and here's a clip of it from a classic Laurel & Hardy film from 1939.) 

JP Myers & Jack Norworth, respectively.

But you already knew that.

When JP learned from Chris Epting (at Chris's book-signing event for his publication Los Angeles's Historic Ballparks) that Mr Norworth was laid to rest in nearby Anaheim, JP began to organize a campaign to make a difference. JP tells us all about it, what happened, who got involved, and what's going on. It's an amazing story!


Chris Epting himself has a new book out, Hello, It's Me: Dispatches from A Pop Culture Junkie, which is superb, so we talk about that a little, too.

 Greg (R) with Chris Epting (L)

 

After this we divert into some unusual subjects and for some reason end up talking about the Addams Family (we stray here because the actress who played Morticia, Carolyn Jones, is buried in the same cemetery as Mr Norworth, the Melrose Abbey Memorial Park Cemetery).

Greg (for some reason known only to him) ends up emulating an odd Cary Grant type voice (this clip is fun because Cary Grant's character is telling off Goldman Sachs) while we discuss various local steakhouses, Alexander's in particular, where they have a $1,500 steak!* Talk about instant depreciation! We tend to go for the less ethereal $50 steaks, and they're yummie.

* REGRETFUL RECANTATION CORNER: Greg may have remembered that ri-DONK-ulous steak price from a few years back. From a current glance of Alexander's dinner menu, the priciest thing on there right now looks like a trio of New York steaks at $155. Mere pocket change, blargh!



Simon recounts learning about various national behavior traits during his time as a tour leader back in the 90's and how people from different nations definitely do have characteristics (for better and worse) when in a foreign land en masse and how funny it is to see sometimes.


We are now on Skype...obviously since last week's AND this week's guests joined us via that delightful technology. Our address is, imaginatively enough, "whatthehelljusthappened" if you so desire to contact us and be on the show. We also heard from a listener from the UK, Simon P, a Facebook friend. 

That's the end of the bulk of the show...but wait, order now and we'll throw in this for free:


We also tease you with information about a podcast we pre-recorded just 2 days prior, during a flight to Coalinga to visit Harris Ranch, and the perils associated with lots of cows and a heat inversion, (hey, you're learning stuff here!) We're using newfangled technology to record in the plane now, so you'll enjoy a much better sound: just our voices without the throbbing drone of the engine. It's not studio quality, but it's a damn sight better than our first attempt! That podcast will be released shortly.

We're also hoping to take another flight on July 5th, up along the California coastline, to Shelter Cove, and will record another podcast there too....for later release. It's going to be spectacularrrrrrrrrr. 


We just thought it would be fun to tell you about all our upcoming podcasts, including future guest Jason and the glorious return of "Pam". July is going to be a busy month it seems.


Enjoy....we did!


BMSMA.


S&G

A definite musical theme.

Click here to Listen.

This week, we have a distinctive musical theme....no, not 'Musical" like Mama Mia and Cats......music as in rock type stuff. 


We start off the show with an experiment, using Skype for a long distance chat with someone in LA........by talking with Dairenn Lombard of the band StarFire. He tells us about his band and music, how we writes, how long he's been doing this and a little bit about the track we listen to.


After we finish talking with Darienn, we indulge the musical theme by discussing the fact that Rush have finally got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. (About bloody time). We also forgot to mention that our buddy Chris Epting was there, lucky bugger! Greg surprises us with a brief snippet of the track "YYZ" from the classic album, "Moving Pictures", then astounds us with a school rendition, from an 11 year old Japanese girl, of the same track. It is truly astounding. Now if school concerts were more along these lines than the bland regurgitation of mediocre classical music, I'm sure there'd be far greater interest. The big snag though would be that the kids performing would have to be as talented as this one to not make it sound as terrible as it could be, tortuous to consider, let alone listen to. Kudos to the kid's father for introducing her to decent music, rather than Lady Gaga and similar bullshit. (Yeh we tell it how it is!


We quickly move onto some current events/topics and have a serious chuckle along the way.


The Supreme Court has passed a ruling about the rights of individuals in Chicago to own hand guns.  It's amazing that the mayor of DC tried to predict chaos when the this was done in DC a few years ago, but that the crime rate has declined significantly. Funny how that happens! On that subject, we explore the degrees of separation since Justice Stevens, who is retiring today, and how Greg served him dinner once in Hawaii. How cool is that?!?!?!?!


After the passing of Senator Byrd at 92, we discuss how old is too old for our representatives?


The dad who tried to sell his child at Walmart for $25. Do we need to say more than "what a scumbag moron". As retribution,  he has been beaten up in prison. We guess that there is that criminals in prison actually have a code of ethics.


We can't have a show this week without mentioning the new iPhone going on sale. The lines were crazy! The new iPad 3G went on sale this week too. AT&T is up to it's sneaky tricks again though, since it's international roaming fees are simply outrageous. Don't believe us....read this McDuff.


We give a shout out to JP, who's off to help with his father's surgical procedure.

Catch you all next week, when we should, fingers crossed, be bringing you a flight podcast again, testing out a new fangled recorder connector, for a better sound.


KMSMA.


S&G

What do ice cream, Indian American politicians and the gulf oil leak have in common?

Click here to Listen

What do ice cream, Indian American politicians and the gulf oil leak have in common? Well quite a bit as it turns out.

This week we are joined once again by our illustrious friend Ashok.
We explore Greg and Ashok's weekend, although not in the biblical sense.

Greg was up in San Francisco, having a fabulous time.
He tells us about his new found favorite ice cream parlor, and mentions some of it's insane flavors. Don't believe us, read on mcDuff:

Then he went to an open air concert and saw one of the bands who performed at the recent opening of the World cup in S. Africa.....and can't remember the name of the band, so it must have been a really good weekend.

And he also indulged at Tonga Room, a strange restaurant in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel.

Ashok has spent the last couple of weekends performing at a play in San Jose, playing one of the major roles in it. It was a serious success and he tells us about it.

Staying on the Indian theme, we threw Ashok a curved ball and ask his opinion what impact the growing number of Indian Americans is having on the US political scene, and it diverts into us postulating about why there are so many Indian politicians in the first place.

Talking of immigration....a Nebraska town has passed strict anti illegal legislation so perhaps a trend is being started that gives a finger to the Federal Government for not doing it's job.

Yeh, we do mention the world cup, just a little.

We step outside, since today is the longest day of the year and we continue our exploration of the weird and wonderful world of our thoughts, discussing the beer Ashok and Greg are drinking, and stogies they are smoking. We follow this up chatting about corrupt politicians, impotent rage and millionaires.

KMSMA.

The closing music is "Dune Rider" by Eat Static (an Ozric Tentacles off shoot.)

G&S, along with Ashok.

Kaaalifornia here we come.

Click here to listen!

Welcome to a rather unusual podcast this week. The illustrious WTHJH crew (Gregamundo and Simon) drive down to LA (Pasadena and Huntington Beach) for a fun weekend, and recorded the podcast over several days.


We set off Friday morning, after numerous delays, for the spectaularrrrr drive down Highway 5.

We listened to the 1978 double album, progressive rock musical, by Jeff Wayne, the "War of the Worlds". It is a truly stupendous production. (Wikipedia entry for the album.)

Amazingly enough, the Central Valley of California was only in the mid 70s for the drive down, when it's usually 100 degrees F at this time of year (June). We stopped at the most stinky place along HW5, Coalinga, at a Denny's for what was supposed to be a quick lunch....5 minutes of eating took 1 hour and 10 minutes in total. We waited for 53 minutes before getting a salad!

Over the grape vine, we dropped down into the San Fernando Valley....which is famous, quietly for the industry that thrives there. (Bow Chick Wow Wow.)

Car pool so not to much of the infamous LA traffic. Got to Pasadena at 5pm and settled in quickly, setting up the podcasting gear in the hotel room. 

In the evening, met up with Wendy and Heather for a spot of dinner at the Pasadena Cheese Cake Factory. Busy, busy, busy. (2 West Colorado Blvd, Pasadena).

Saturday was the main event. We drifted over to the Wokano Restaurant for the marathon 8 hour get together.

Lots of food and drink was imbibed and fun was had by all. Lots of people were there, some for the duration. Some came when they could (having driven a long way too)....here's to you Timothy Ruzic!

At about 9 or 10pm, those left still standing adjourned back to Cheesecake factory....Simon was craving a cheesecake since yesterday's meal had too much food to actually have one then. It was soooooo good. Our waitress was Christie, who was an absolute delight and probably one of the most pleasant waitresses we've ever met. Thanks Christie!

On Sunday morning we bade farewell to Pasadena and drove to Huntington Beach to chat with Chris Epting to talk with him about his books, his writing and life in general......and we were fed delicious burgers on a pleasant sunny afternoon, 

...while getting fuss from his cute dog, Marylin....

 (and the family pet snake).

Then we had the drive back up to The Bay area....oh yuckie. LA traffic was just terrible and exactly what you hear about it.....even on a Sunday. There was limited car pool lanes and it was very slow moving. Because of the delay we decided to stop off at Harris Ranch, in Coalinga (once again) and had a delicious steak for dinner, since it was 6pm already and we were only half way back.

The Harris Ranch restaurant is right off HW 5 also has it's own landing strip....we feel an aerial podcast looming for this. Watch this space....that or keep listening!

All in all, a wonderful and fun weekend. Quite the experience!

KMSMA.

G&S

Voices ... Both In & Out of Our Heads

Click here to listen!

It's podcast time, people! This week:

• GAWK at Simon's dog Bae Jiao in a plastic collar!

• REGALE in Greg's tales of his semi-secret visit to LA to attend the VOICE 2010 voiceover/voice acting conference!

 

Greg with voice acting greats June Foray & Bob Bergen!

• HEAR Simon recount his amazing encounter with an asthmatic Asian!
• BALK in utter astonishment as taboo topics are traded like playing cards!

Let us know what you think! Email us at wthjh@yahoo.com.

The end music was a little different today. This time it was a snippet from Massive Attack's "Angel". What, no Ozrics to take us out? Nope, we all need a change once in a while. (Best played really loud. Then it is, as Greg puts it, very visceral music.)

Related Links

• Smurf Justice for June Foray: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Smurf-Justice-for-June-Foray/133253433355400

KMSMA

Peace out!

G&S