Who better to tell the story of the incredible rise of hip-hop and Miami bass music than 3 middle class private school kids that never spent much time on "the streets?" (mostly because our moms wouldn't let us near those parts of town..)
Our good friend Ruben joins us as we talk about our very sheltered recollections of the music and culture that rose around us and engulfed the country soon thereafter.
Ruben adds an anecdote about how a friendly neighborhood record store owner broadened his horizons by defying the law and selling him a banned cassette. I guess former Florida sheriff Nick Navarro thought things needed to be more Ayatollah Khomeini Iran-like in 1989 USA.
Musical Interludes: "Welcome to the Planet of Bass" by Maggotron, "Get it Girl" By 2 Live Crew, "Beat Street Breakdown" by Grandmaster Melle Mel
For further info, check out Pierre's movie suggestion about the rise and creation of the famous 80s bass sound: The Bass that ate Miami
Like many other things, Pierre and I share fond memories of professional wrestling from our childhood. Specifically, The WWF (World Wrestling Federation, not the World Wildlife Fund) from the mid to late 80s. What many term "The Golden Age," this era offered a rare collection of talent and personalities. A far cry from today's generic wrestling that's more about sideshow, flashy intros, and out of the ring soap operas.
It just doesn't get better than this:
So reminisce with us as we take a fond look back at a time where giant steroid pumped, oiled-up men in speedos and boots smashed their bodies into each other for wholesome family entertainment. And Pierre introduces a new segment to see how many wrestlers from the 80s Travis thinks are dead.
Musical Interludes: "Land of 1000 Dances" by the WWF Wrestlers, "Captain Lou's History of Music/Captain Lou" by Captain Lou Albano, "Cara Mia" by Nikolai Volkoff.
Growing up as kid in the 80s had a unique undercurrent of knowing that at any moment nuclear Armageddon could be at hand, and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do about it. By the time Pierre and I were in school they'd given up on the bogus "Duck and Cover" morale movies fom the 50s and 60s and pretty much everyone agreed that if shit goes down, we're all fucked, and if you're lucky you'll die instantly. Have a nice day.
To reinforce this fear and paranoia, two fantastic movies came out around the same time. One, an NRA-member's wet dream about armed-to-the-hilt rural high school kids completely fucking up the Commies' plans to take over 'Merica, and the other, intorudcing us to the internet, hacking, and the possibility that WWIII could start via computer glitch. Oops. Have a nice day!
Musical Interludes: "Hang me up to dry" by Cold War Kids, "Red Dawn Theme" from the movie, "History Lesson" by The Beepers, "Cold War" by Janelle Monáe
Just a few weeks ago Pierre and I reminisced about the 80s and Nancy Reagan's Say No To Drugs movement aimed at middle class 8 year olds watching He-Man and Thundercats.
One of the main things we noted was that the onslaught of PSAs and weird, awkward anti-drug propaganda has seemingly dried up, or become much more subtle in today's media climate.
Well, last night during the Super Bowl, the SNTD movement came back with a vengance, slapping America upside the head with an uncomfortable, awkward anti-heroin spot. It caught everybody off-gaurd, and is the talk of social media and email chains everywhere today.
In that sense, it was profoundly effective... I guess? You be the judge
In contrast to popular rumors, no, those two characters in the title are not one in the same. The super cool and talented Ms. Bellinger joins us from glitzy L.A. as our first ever YIRTS guest.
We kick back and have some silly laughs about fun stuff like sexual harassment, cyber-bullying, sexism in showbiz, and the 1993 Waco Tragedy. Good times and lulz all around! =D
Then we get dead serious and discuss acclaimed docudrama My Demon Lover, which was a guiding force in Gillian's young life and development. We also get her to dish on working with Red Letter Media and her lead role in Feeding Frenzy.
Finally, we try to find out why native Texans are so damn proud to be from Texas and Pierre pretends to relate. He's such a nice guy.
Check out everything Gillian is up to:
Musical Interludes: "All my exes live in Texas" (which is more or less accurate for Travis) by George Strait, "Our Love is in Love" by Jack Packard, "My Demon Lover Trailer" from the movie, "Let Go" by Intimate Strangers (which is actually starting to grow on me - I need help)
