Marriage in trouble

[NeedHelpinLville]

Can someone help me find a starting point in these archives, or give me advice on how to begin enjoying TBSOWFMU with my husband? He's a big fan, and I'm having difficultly sharing his joy. It's putting a real strain on our marriage. Please help!

Thanks FOT,
Left out in Lawrenceville

[bruce]

http://wfmu.org/playlists/BS

Just scroll all the way down

[Laurie]

February 7, 2006. Interview with the Puppy Bowl "ref." Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing for a week. It helps if you actually watched the Puppy Bowl, mind you, but it is funny stuff.

January 31, 2006 is a lovely starting point, if you ask me. I love the Marky Ramone calls almost as much as the Gene Simmons calls.

Also, try listening to your husband's Stereolaffs CDs. If he doesn't have any, WHICH HE SHOULD, make him buy them all. Start with Hippy Justice. Give it a shot.

xoxo,
a FEMALE FOT OMG!!!

[Jon Solomon]

February 7, 2006. Interview with the Puppy Bowl "ref." Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing for a week. It helps if you actually watched the Puppy Bowl, mind you, but it is funny stuff.

January 31, 2006 is a lovely starting point, if you ask me. I love the Marky Ramone calls almost as much as the Gene Simmons calls.

Also, try listening to your husband's Stereolaffs CDs. If he doesn't have any, WHICH HE SHOULD, make him buy them all. Start with Hippy Justice. Give it a shot.

xoxo,
a FEMALE FOT OMG!!!

I own two of the Stereolaffs Cds. I tried to put one of them ("Chain Fights...") on when we were driving to Washington, DC earlier this summer and was asked to turn it off because it made my wife (NeedHelpInLvlle) "uncomfortable."

Jon in Lawrenceville

[Sarah]

As I said in the chat last night, I recommend total immersion.  Start at the beginning of the archives and work your way through.  At some point, you'll find that you've seen the light. 

Yours sincerely,

Another female FOT

[Omar]

Can someone help me find a starting point in these archives, or give me advice on how to begin enjoying TBSOWFMU with my husband? He's a big fan, and I'm having difficultly sharing his joy. It's putting a real strain on our marriage. Please help!

Thanks FOT,
Left out in Lawrenceville

Perhaps a good entry point might be one of Tom's delicious takedowns?  I'm thinking of the dismantling of the Abercrombie douche on the 3/14/06 show.  This is a great way to get a full-on taste of Tom at his best outside the realm of regular callers, who may require more backstory to fully appreciate (PBR, Bryce, etc.).

I'll second Laurie's recommendation of the Hippy Justice Best-Of CD -- it's simply the finest collection of S&W calls available.  If you can't get into the likes of Hippy Johnny, Old Skull, Darren, Timmy von Trimble, and Kid eBay, it may be a lost cause. 

I think you would also thoroughly enjoy the years-long evolution of the Petey-Tom relationship, although it would require dipping into many, many archived shows to absorb an appropriate dose.  Tom's interaction with young callers is really wonderful.

Once you get used the comedic universe of the show, I think it will start to click.  Newbridge can be jarring and confusing at first, but once you've hung around for a while, its charms and glorious eccentricities emerge, becoming an addictive source of neverending FUN.

[buffcoat]

I think the Best Show is a little esoteric.  Either you get it or you don't.  And more people I've introduced it to don't get it than do.  We who do are just fortunate to have found something that works so well for us.

I bet if you did a poll of people who like the Best Show, many of their TV and music preferences would be similarly aligned.  If you look at the pics on the post-your-pic thread, the FOT are pretty similar in terms of being either younger or older hipsters, many of whom are involved in the arts or technology in some way. 

I wonder sometimes if I'm the only completely nonartistic, in-his-30s corporate dude who listens to the show.  I'm a golf-playing consultant, fer cryin' out loud.  Sometimes I feel like the punk kid who shows up at the Jehovah's Witness convention by mistake.

So, NeedHelp, my advice is by all means give it several more tries - but don't get too frustrated trying to force yourself to like it.  It may be your cup of tea, but it may not.

[Laurie]

Perhaps a good entry point might be one of Tom's delicious takedowns?  I'm thinking of the dismantling of the Abercrombie douche on the 3/14/06 show.  This is a great way to get a full-on taste of Tom at his best outside the realm of regular callers, who may require more backstory to fully appreciate (PBR, Bryce, etc.).

Yes! Seconded! I was thisclose to recommending that one! That was a good one.

[Sarah]

Sometimes I feel like the punk kid who shows up at the Jehovah's Witness convention by mistake.

Surely, more like a Jehovah's Witness at a punk convention?

[Stan]

 Since I brought him up in the chat last night here's a picture of one of the old school FoT, Yet_Another_Tom_S. As I recall, he could only listen to the show via the archives at work as his wife didn't like the show. You are missed YATS, I hope you are well.

[John Junk]

I miss YATS too!  It's really hard to listen to the best show around other people.  I find it almost excructiating and I feel the need to explain things to them, like it's a soap opera or something.  I think a good gateway is an interview or something, like if you and your husband like "indie rock" you should listen to the interview with the guy that wrote Our Band Could Be Your Life, or you could listen to the interview with Jimmy McDonaugh, author of the Neil Young biography "Shakey".  That's how I started listening to the show.  I had no idea what it was about, but I was waiting for the interview to start and I got sucked into the best show universe along the way.

[Jason]

I vaguely remember YATS leaving for a reason. Like it was a definitive decision he didn't just disappear.

[buffcoat]

Sarah - that would have been the easy parallel - I was going for double irony!

[Emerson]

Next Open Phone Tuesday, the two of you should call in and seek guidance from the source. Assuming it's not a put-on, it could be a fascinating call, which Tom seems to want more of.

Otherwise, following the Petey saga seems to work for a lot of people, particularly those who aren't college radio nerds and don't howl at an offhand Lyres reference.

~EmD

[Jon Solomon]

Next Open Phone Tuesday, the two of you should call in and seek guidance from the source. Assuming it's not a put-on, it could be a fascinating call, which Tom seems to want more of.

Otherwise, following the Petey saga seems to work for a lot of people, particularly those who aren't college radio nerds and don't howl at an offhand Lyres reference.

~EmD

Two follow-up points:

-At Tom's instruction my wife started this thread after making a call into the Tuesday 8/22 Best Show.

-Ordered a copy of "Hippy Justice" this morning. That Old Skull bit is one of my favorites.

Nobody gets on the guest list,

Jon in Lawrenceville