I mean… if somebody calls and just shouts racial slurs for three minutes I won’t be using it. But you know what I mean. If it’s reasonable and engaging, I’ll probably include it in a future show. It’s set up for voicemail, no human will ever answer the number. You’ll hear my pre-recorded raspy hillbilly voice, a beep, and then it’s your turn to go to town with it. A few things I’m looking for:
- Questions for the host.
- General comments about the show.
- Suggestions for topics.
I’m hoping you guys can send the Surf Report podcast off on some “who could’ve predicted that shit?!” jags. It could be fun! Maybe. If you have something for the hotline, call it now! It’s a Google Voice thing, which I barely understand. But I’m reasonably sure I have it set up correctly. Call in today: 1-570-290-8151.
I’m going to Kansas City on Sunday. When they first started talking about this, it was going to be 11 or 12 days. Now it’s flying there on Sunday, working Mon/Tue/Wed, flying back on Thursday. That’s better. I don’t even know if I have 12 days worth of clothes. I might’ve been wearing my Magnolia Thunderpussy t-shirt by Day 10.
The thing that makes me slightly uneasy about this is… I don’t know what I’ll be doing out there. I’m not sure what the expectations are. It’ll be fine, but the unknowns never fail to make me a little anxious.
The good points: the $75 per day meal budget. It doesn’t include alcohol, so I’ll just have to go with various high-end meats. Ha! When I went to Rhode Island a couple of years ago, I never got anywhere near the $75 threshold. Breakfast and lunch were always covered, so I was only paying for dinner. And even with the high-end meats we never got close. I plan to do better this time.
Also, it’ll just be nice going somewhere I’ve never been. I’m all for exploring. I hope we’ll have some time to poke around a little. The schedule lists a daily stop time of 5 pm. If that’s true, it could be interesting. Maybe we’ll be able to get into some shenanigans. Regardless, I’ll keep detailed notes and tell you all about it when I return.
Almost immediately after we get back, Toney and I and the two boys are going to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. We’re just driving over there. I’ve been there before, but the other three have not. I think the younglings will like it, and Toney will tolerate the whole thing. It’ll be a quickie trip, something we’ve been wanting to do for several years. The boys are obsessed with music and I believe they’ll have fun. I’m just looking forward to the Toto room and the Little River Band alcove.
One thing I remember about that place which I found baffling: almost no Bob Dylan stuff, but SHITLOADS of Todd Rundgren paraphernalia. Seems weird to me. Hey, whatever. Todd released a good album or two amongst his thirty or so. And he’s a great producer, I hear.
Another thing that sticks out in my mind: drawings of football players by Jimi Hendrix from his high school days. I love stuff like that. Yeah… it’s cool (I guess) to see his guitars. But just stuff from his everyday normal life has a bigger impact. For me, anyway. The drawings aren’t very good (but not terrible), and look like something you’d see tacked to a wall in any high school art class. It humanizes the myth if you know what I mean.
I also remember some handwritten original lyrics by Paul Westerberg of The Replacements. Maybe “Left of the Dial?” I can’t remember the specific song but thought it was cool that they included it. A small amount of respect, anyway…
Have you been to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame? What sticks out in your mind? Tell us about it, won’t you?
Also, what’s the most memorable thing you’ve seen in a museum? Something that truly blew your mind? When I was a kid we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY and they had a telephone receiver you could pick up and Babe Ruth was on the other end wishing you a great day, or somesuch. I thought that was incredibly cool. I’ve been back many times in more recent years, and that telephone is long gone. Why?? They do, however, have boxes that you can open and the faint smell of popcorn or hotdogs will waft out. Fairly bizarre.
Whatever you have on especially memorable museum displays… please tell us about it in the comments. I can also remember seeing bloody items from the Lincoln assassination when I was in sixth grade. That made an impact. What do you have on this one? Please use the comments.
It’s weird, ’cause I’ve seen all sorts of “important” works of art and historic items. But some unusual ones just stick out in my mind for some reason.
And speaking of the podcast, I released a new episode yesterday with some original rockin’ intro/outro music. Straight out of Argentina, baby! Check it out here. This is the summary:
In this one, I share some classic stories from my vast work history. A couple have never even been discussed at the website if you can believe it. You’ll hear about the shoplifter who attempted to escape by hanging off the side of an airbrushed van, a boss who probably should’ve been in movies, the guy who thought his phone was on mute during a conference call, a middle o’ the night visitor at the Toll Bridge, and a giant ball of dough on the heating duct. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for listening!
And I’m calling it a day, my friends.
Have a fantastic rest o’ the week.
And don’t forget about the hotline!
Now playing in the bunker
Support us by doing your shopping on Amazon! In Canada? Here’s your link. Thank you, guys!
Intro song is the same song, just reworked.
I was only there once in 1999. They had the big Elvis collection there at the time. And it was amazing to me you could touch the guitars (there was an Allman Brothers and Queen display right out in the open). There was no enclosure and they were not stored in some sort of case.
I seem to remember going to Sunrise Museum in Charleston, former home of Governor MacCorkle! I think I was five, and it was kindergarten with Mrs Penn. Class trip. I remember seeing stuffed dead kittens and puppies doing everyday things like gardening and building sheds. Some kind of taxidermy thing. Or maybe I dreamed that. Dont know.
Your “dream” sounds a bit like a “nightmare” to me.
Im pretty sure my mom was a chaperone and for some reason we wore trsin conductor hats made of paper bags. Then again, it was over 50 years ago.
Train
I am thinking of the gas station stories now. Good stuff from the old days.
…and Im going to drive 1200 miles to kick your front door down if you ever mention Mister Mister again, lol! That was my favorite podcast I ever heard, old friend! You are falling into your element! Great stuff!
It’s a shame the podcast hotline number couldn’t have been: 867-5309!
I’ve never been to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, but I might venture up there someday.
Most of my memorable museum displays are from “The National Museum of the United States Air Force” in nearby Dayton, Ohio. Some items would be:
-A chunk of the Berlin wall and the history about the Berlin Airlift right after WWII.
-Moon rock from Apollo 15 and the Command Module–it was the only “all Air Force” crew.
-They have a concentration camp uniform and several hand-made articles and photographs from the Holocaust. Very heart-breaking to see those things and to realize what people are capable of doing to each other.
-They also have the airplane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. It is a B-29 called “Bockscar”. It’s a very somber feeling to see it.
I would recommend the Air Force Museum over the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame any old day. It is the world’s largest display of military aircraft (yes–even bigger than the Smithsonian!) It is definitely worth a look-see if you like aviation and military history.
I’d prefer BEechwood 4-5789. There are also some rap and hip-hop phone numbers. I suppose the phone number you’d like the hotline to have says more about your age and musical tastes than it does about the hotline. By the way, you can call me up and have a date any old time.
John
I once saw someone spend the whole 7.5 hour day talking to another employee.
I went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame almost 20 years ago. There was a collection of John Lennon’s drawings there at the time which was disappointing. Coolest thing I saw was a ZZ Top guitar made out of car engine parts.
I think I would have preferred to tour the WW II submarine nearby, but it was closed for the season.
I had a similar experience, I wanted to see the sub. I only saw the museum gift shop because I didn’t want to pay admission, since I was there for the sub!
At the crime museum in Gatlinburg I saw John Wayne Gacys wallet with his Radio Shack Member card, I think there was a Meyers one too. It was ina display with his leather jacket and a couple of clown suits. They also had one of Bundy’s VW beetles.
The coolest thing was the South American shrunken heads at my local historical society museum.
At the Whitney in NYC I saw a realistic wax sculpture of an avuncular-looking man. It was a candle, so his head was partially melted, and he was 8 feet tall.
At the Visionary Museum in Baltimore, a model of the Lusitania made out of toothpicks.
Of course when I was a kid the coolest thing in the world was the dinosaur skeletons. I remember also liking Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, but I don’t recall any specifics.
Hey chill, I like the idea of a Visionary Museum. I used to spend time in Baltimore — a wonderful city with a colorful history — but I missed the VM by about 15 years (and Camden Yards by a dozen).
And I’m sure you’ll take this in the whimsical spirit in which I intend it: I know how to act avuncular, but I’ll be damned if I know how to look avuncular. I mean without actually placing a candle in the midst of my thinning hair. I assume you mean an old guy who doesn’t look grumpy but I could be way off.
This was more fun when the site was haunted in the night by Brits and bastards from OZ. It’s quiet out here.
John
I guess when I say he looked avuncular, I mean that he resembled my Uncle Bill. Although Uncle Bill was nowhere near eight feet tall.
And yes, this place used to be a lot weirder before we lost Jimmy Kuhn (for example).
Yeah. It’s oh dark thirty out here on the coast. Here’s seven and a half minutes of night music from David Bromberg for no reason other than beauty. . .
John
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muG8kDYbZ5Q
At the Smithsonian years ago, I got oddly misty-eyed seeing Ted Baxter’s anchorman jacket. I think it was green. It was surprisingly small, and the sleeves were kinda shabby. Weird that I had any emotional reaction, seeing as I never liked the character or found him funny. I guess it was the mundane reality of something I had seen many times on TV.
Back in ’92 I became a docent at the American History museum. I’m decent with a sewing needle so I was privileged with working behind the scene in costume conservation. My job was to make sure Ted Baxters jacket would survive. Nothing was refurbished to look new, it was stabilized to continue to look like it did the day it came through the door. Cleaning was primarily a good vacuuming, I wish like hell I had kept a camera in my bag and photoed every thing I worked on.
The Smithsonian has never failed me; my favorite is the American History museum. It’s cool seeing George Washington’s favorite chair, and Martha’s dresses. I always thought it was cool that something so old could survive to this day, and makes me wonder what items today will be curated and last two hundred years. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Buffalo Bill Museum of the West in Cody, Wyoming which houses the Smithsonian’s largest gun collection.
I might have to call and leave a message some day, I’m excited to see what messages people leave!
The most memorable museum exhibit for me was the “Shoe Room” at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. It’s just a room, piled up with hundreds of pairs of shoes confiscated from incoming concentration camp prisoners. The hundreds of other, far more graphic ways the museum communicated the horrors of the holocaust somehow were far less powerful than the sight and old-leather smell of those shoes.
When we visited the RRHOF they had a Springsteen display upstairs that was really cool. I also liked watching the movie thing
La Louvre or the Smithsonian should have been my most memorable moments but on those vacations I just wanted to be outside and not looking at an overwhelming amount of things. Might be diferent if I went back now. More recently I was in the War museum and killing fields in Cambodia – pretty gut wrenching to see what people are capable of. I’m pretty sure I will never visit a music related museum – just not interested. As a kid unfortunately ‘Ripley’s believe it or not’ sticks out in my head. I must have been about 10 when I was in Niagra falls (Cdn side) and could not believe how tacky and ridiculous it was. “Here lies John Blake – stepped on the gas instead of the brake”.
The Van Guy.