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EP 103: SPINAL TAP - But, This One Goes to Eleven. It's ONE Louder.

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Good Morning!!!

This week I finally got Wendy to watch This is Spinal Tap! Such an iconic film with soooo many quotable lines you just can't stop laughing at this washed up band and their delusions of making a comeback. No script, just adlibbed - as Al Roker said "we would not have 'The Office' if it weren't for Spinal Tap."  Love me some Al Roker lol.

Enjoy!!!

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Wendy:

Foreign. Good morning.

Bridget:

I am Bridget.

Wendy:

And I'm Wendy.

Bridget:

And this is Flicking Beans. I haven't seen you in forever.

Wendy:

I know. It's been so long. It's almost been a month.

Bridget:

Tell everybody what you did. Where you been?

Wendy:

Yeah. So I went on a trip with our camper, and it was like, our first long trip. We drove all the way out to North Carolina.

Bridget:

Oh, wow.

Wendy:

And it was awesome. And nothing. Catastrophe happened, so that was good.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

My anxiety was a lot better on the ride back after. You know, we went through the mountains and experienced all that beautiful. The weather there. Oh, I'm obsessed with it. It was, like, 75 and sunny the whole time. It was just. We had a. It's like the land of waterfalls. Okay. There's a bajillion waterfalls in this area because it's in the Appalachian Mountains. And some of them are really easy to get to, and some of them take a little bit of a hike. And we went to, like, the easy one. You can drive right up to it, basically. So that's cool. And then we decided to go on a hike. And the hike said it was, like, moderate. Well, that. Don't do that.

Bridget:

It's subjectively moderate.

Wendy:

Subjectively moderate. It was so. I mean, it probably is, like, in the middle of hikes, but I don't hike, so I don't know what that means. And the last, like, mile of it was straight up, and I overdid it, and I. When I got to the top, I just was not feeling right. And on the way back down, I had to stop and lay down because I just felt like I could not go on. Like, I couldn't even sit. I needed to rest so much.

Bridget:

Was it lay down? Like, I am not getting up ever.

Wendy:

Kind of. There's photo evidence of it, which Maybe I'll put that on Instagram. And then all of a sudden, I was laying down, realized that I was gonna vomit and had to puke out the side of the mountain.

Bridget:

Oh, God.

Wendy:

But it's a good story, though.

Bridget:

You need to definitely lay on your left side if you are. If you have to vomit.

Wendy:

That's right.

Bridget:

So you don't choke on it.

Wendy:

Yeah. But I made it out alive, even though I had to stop for breaks, like, every five minutes on the way back. But, yeah.

Bridget:

Yeah. I'd hate to see you go down like the drummer. One of the drummers.

Wendy:

Exactly.

Bridget:

Well, that was someone else's vomit.

Wendy:

Oh, yeah. So you also did some traveling while we were out.

Bridget:

Goodness gracious. I'm a city girl now. I Went to NYC Baby sisters trip. I loved it. I loved it. And we only did about half the things that we could have done. Yeah, there's so much a hundred things that we could have done. So we already want to go back. And we were near Times Square and stayed in 127 year old hotel, which was very cool because you could tell how they renovated it. I am that weird that I took a lot of pictures of buildings and in our hotel going down the stairs, you had old marble stairs. And then you could see here and there they were replaced with a new marble slab. So many layers of paint and the slowest elevator ever. Yeah. And in the lobby there's a beautiful little seating area with tons of books. And on the other side of the room there's a full bar but a sign that says for decorative purposes only.

Wendy:

They don't have a liquor license.

Bridget:

I. I'm pretty sure the bottles are all empty.

Wendy:

Oh yeah.

Bridget:

The ice machine was behind the bar so, you know, we could feel, I guess like we worked there. And the other thing about the hotel, I know I should be talking about New York City, but the hotel maybe made me giggle and you know, pretty much the first thing I saw. But I'm sitting on the toilet in the bathroom as one does. And next to me I could have hit my elbow on it very close. Next to me was a huge window. So I opened it and realized there was no screen. I'm looking straight down into a creepy alley, no screen. And I could see into the rooms across the way a little bit. Yeah, definitely an Asian guy's legs. But anyway, yeah, we did Statue of Liberty. We did the 911 museum. Powerful.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

So well planned out that every single thing I got chills, goosebumps. Right now. Everything is so. Has such deep meaning as to why like the reflecting pools. We had the audio tour. Highly recommend. You had headphones on so you didn't have to worry about not hearing him in a crowd or whatever. You always thought he was right behind you, but I mean he gave us so much more information on, you know, why are there exactly this many trees over here? What they represent or who they represent. It was just. I mean the outside is one thing, but inside the museum it's super. It's super heavy and touching and you're surrounded by people who you don't know if they have a relative or a friend or somebody that passed away during that much of the city is sick. Whether you were involved in the building or not, just by running away. They're, you know, they're still finding people who have respiratory issues and whatnot. Okay. But here's the thing. We had this lady in our group.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Who was trying to engage one on one with our tour guide the whole time. So A, we're not hearing her questions and B, the tour guide is saying, oh. Huh? Oh, that's a good question. And she bothered everyone. She was a fake face blonde. And she kept pointing to the fact that she was here 11 weeks after 9. 11. Okay. What significance is that other than she saw rubble? Yeah, I mean, I get that.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Do you have to share that with everyone? You don't know. It's triggering for a lot of people. Maybe they had someone die in a different kind of incident and they're remember, you know. Anyway, we went through the museum and then when the tour was over, we had time to explore on our owns and they provided a lot of extra exits so that if something was too much for a person, they could get out of there immediately.

Wendy:

Man, I wish they had that in the Holocaust, you see. Oh, maybe they do. I never noticed.

Bridget:

I wish they had that a lot of places. Oh, I'd like to see that too. So we're going through. Well, we split up. We. We did it on our own. And get to a certain place. It's kind of a walk, a circle thing. And we get to a certain place and no photos are allowed. A little bit more sacred. Hello. And I stopped and was watching one of the videos on the wall. And here she comes. She into this room where everyone has reverence but her. And she's talking to her partner. Oh, yeah. When I was here 11 weeks after. Oh my goodness. And I literally said sh. Which she did not hear.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

And I almost approached her right up in her face. But what do you do? You just. I just moved on. What do you do? But I rolled my eyes. Insensitive.

Wendy:

Absolutely. Yeah. Making it about her.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Everything.

Bridget:

No one was talking.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Unless you maybe whispered something if you were with someone. But oh my gosh. It really does show really well the impact. There are tiny things like a pair of glasses or a bus pass, and they saved everything. So it's. It's memorable.

Wendy:

I went to New York City like a couple of months before 911 happened. That's the only time it. I've been there. I. I have pictures like with the tower still there and then they weren't there. And I've always wanted to go back and see that.

Bridget:

Highly recommend.

Wendy:

We've had several opportunities over the last few years to go to NYC and The pandemic ruined all of them.

Bridget:

Yep, yep.

Wendy:

Sounds really. Sounds amazing.

Bridget:

Yeah. We also went to the public library, which is like a huge castle full made of marble. We were in there for maybe an hour or two. Never found books. Really? No idea. It was like we kept going around in circles.

Wendy:

Yeah. Have you seen the Sex and the City movie?

Bridget:

No. Okay.

Wendy:

She gets married there or they plan.

Bridget:

To get in the library.

Wendy:

In the library. Yeah.

Bridget:

Because there's nothing around.

Wendy:

Yeah. And it's beautiful.

Bridget:

It is, it is. Truly. We went to a Museum and St. Patrick's Cathedral and that was gorgeous. Just gorgeous. And I'm not religious, but I can't get enough of Renaissance sculptures. Even if it's Mary and Jesus. You still get chills if you're not religious.

Wendy:

Yeah, absolutely. All those huge cathedrals that took hundreds or thousands of years to build.

Bridget:

And every single kind of craftsperson had a part in that. You know, wood, metal, obviously. Bricklayers, masons, I guess.

Wendy:

Yep.

Bridget:

And sculptors, artists, stained glass work.

Wendy:

Oh yeah, I love stained glass.

Bridget:

Oh, it was incredible. Gave you a certain also kind of reverence.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

That was the other thing that I really loved about it. And that's a super good example of the cathedral because there was such a mix of old and new right next to each other. I took a lot of pictures of architecture.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Especially the weird stuff that to me was the takeaway of what this city is.

Wendy:

Mix of old and new and run down and great extravagance, right?

Bridget:

Oh God, yeah. The millionaires billionaire row.

Wendy:

Yeah. I mean, to even just buy a small apartment there, it costs more than a house here. Like a lot more.

Bridget:

Guess what the average rent is in Manhattan or the Chelsea area.

Wendy:

I'm going to say like four grand for a studio.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Up to 13,000 for a three bedroom.

Wendy:

Wow.

Bridget:

Every month.

Wendy:

Who's. Who's doing that? 13 grand a month.

Bridget:

I could see having a studio. Yeah, A studio. If you were maybe a couple that really gets along well and have slight build.

Wendy:

Right. I used to have fantasies of running off to New York, of course, because all the movies are set there. You know, all the shows that you want to be in. So that's kind of fun too when you see stuff that you've seen in movies.

Bridget:

Woohoo. Coffee break. Let's talk about our beans.

Wendy:

Hey, Bean flickers, have you followed us yet? We are on Instagram and Facebook at flicking beans pod. Make sure you like and subscribe and leave us a review.

Bridget:

They should come see Des Moines. Yeah.

Wendy:

They're gonna be like, wow, Your grocery stores are huge.

Bridget:

Their target is bizarre and funny. We had to run in there because I forgot socks. And it's just a corner of a building and it has an escalator. Everything was locked up. Like deodorant was locked up.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

You had to wave your hand over a sensor for someone to come by and unlock it. We were just blown away. It's like deodorant shampoo.

Wendy:

Yeah. I guess, like if you're homeless, you might pop in there and steal some deodorant.

Bridget:

I guess you probably would.

Wendy:

There's.

Bridget:

But they must lose a lot.

Wendy:

Yeah. So. Yeah, it's easy to steal.

Bridget:

It's like in Seinfeld, all old people steal batteries.

Wendy:

I actually have a Seinfeld reference for my movie.

Bridget:

Oh, yeah? Okay. Well, we should say what it is. The movie is a classic, amazing movie called this is Spinal Tap.

Wendy:

Yes. And it's from 1984. So me and this movie are the same age.

Bridget:

Oh, wow.

Wendy:

Yeah. I didn't realize that it was that old because I didn't really hear about it till later because it became a cult classic, I guess. Then I started hearing about it.

Bridget:

But the first time I saw it, my friend Peter knew the movie theater owner. They arranged just for us and our beers, a late night showing at the theater. So we all sat up in the balcony and basically he was watching me to see if I could fig. Figure out or how long it took me to figure out it wasn't a real band. Yeah. I knew right away when I saw Rob Reiner.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

I was like, that's Rob Reiner. And he's going by a different name and, you know, noticing right away the actors.

Wendy:

Yeah. Had Michael McKean been like, in a lot of stuff at this point or. He was still Fresh Face because he's in tons of stuff now. But I didn't know if in 1984 if he would necessarily recognize.

Bridget:

I don't know what they're doing. Span of years was on snl, but they were all on it.

Wendy:

Okay.

Bridget:

So it's a mockumentary. Al Roker said as they were talking about the new one that's coming out, which has gotta be ridiculous.

Wendy:

I can't wait.

Bridget:

Because they're way old. He said that. That we would not have the Office, for example, if it wasn't for this.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Because most of the lines are ad libbed. Hilarious.

Wendy:

Yeah. There's actually no script.

Bridget:

No.

Wendy:

It's just out an outline of scenes starting and ending.

Bridget:

They did research things like possible interview questions so that they could have A sort of answer. Ready?

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

So they had to prep for ad libbing, which you don't always think about.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

You always just think, oh, well, it was just off the cuff. But no, they. They tried to embody that rock star thing.

Wendy:

Yeah. The parts where they're just sitting down doing the interview, like outside were my favorite.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

And there were some lines in there, like there's been what, like 37 people in Spinal Tap. And that made us think. They made me think of our band.

Bridget:

Yes. Yes. But they didn't all die or.

Wendy:

No.

Bridget:

Choke on their own vomit or self combust. Leaving a globule. Actually just a green globule. It happens a lot, you know, but people just don't report it. Says David St. Hubbins. And oh, yes, he's really a saint. He's not well known. Oh, what's he a saint of? Quality footwear. Oh.

Wendy:

I didn't remember that.

Bridget:

Oh, my God. So basically the whole thing is a satire on so many different bands.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Even how they start out as being like a folk group, they move on to be like the Beatles.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And in this iteration where they are now, they're kind of washed up and going on a final tour, which isn't going so well.

Wendy:

No. They show up to places and they're canceled almost throughout the whole thing.

Bridget:

And plus their album cover is rejected by the record company because it's what, A greased up woman on all fours with a leash and a man's hand saying smell the glove. Yes. Yes. And Fran Drescher, she's hosting Bobby Flechter. Fleckman. Bobby Fleckman. And so she says, both Kmart and Sears have rejected this. They refuse to sell it. Not only that, but did you happen to notice that everybody in the band has cold sores at that party?

Wendy:

Yes, I very much.

Bridget:

There was something that was cut out. I found out that was. They had an opening opening act that was all girl band and they cut that. But that's where the cold sores all came from because they all caught herpes.

Wendy:

That's great.

Bridget:

You don't hear much about herpes anymore. Anyway, another iconic quote. When they changed the record album to just a black cover. How much more black could it be? The answer is none. Yeah, none more black. It's like a mirror actually in it.

Wendy:

Right before that when they're talking about the woman and how they don't like it because it's sexist.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

Which I don't remember which one says It. But he goes, what's wrong with being sexy?

Bridget:

Nigel.

Wendy:

Nigel. Okay.

Bridget:

That's one of my favorite favorite quotes, too.

Wendy:

I make a quick side note about Fran Drescher.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

For a second. There's this Instagram account, and it's called what Fran Wore, and it's literally just outfits a Fran Drescher wore on the nanny.

Bridget:

I love it.

Wendy:

But they. And they just keep posting all these different ones and, like, explain what it is and whether or not she kept it. Some of the stuff has become iconic in some ways and copied later on. And I think it's so fascinating. It's so niche.

Bridget:

Yeah. It was always little suits and, like, pencil skirts and huge shoulder pads, but all crazy. I think I'd like to follow that.

Wendy:

Yeah, you should.

Bridget:

Oh, my God.

Wendy:

What Fran Wore.

Bridget:

What Fran Wore. Okay.

Wendy:

She reminds me of wine country. And I was gonna talk about that.

Bridget:

Fran. Fine. Another of my favorite parts is in the dressing room when Nigel is just complaining about the bread and cheese plate because the bread is small and the meat's bigger than the bread. You have to fold it and then fold it, and then.

Wendy:

Yeah, but then the bread doesn't fold.

Bridget:

And then he picks up the olive. And one doesn't have a pimento in it. See, there's a little guy in here. And this one, nothing. But he says he'll push through it and it won't affect his performance.

Wendy:

Because I'm a professional.

Bridget:

Exactly.

Wendy:

Yes.

Bridget:

Life motto, right?

Wendy:

That is something. Not from this movie, but I do say that all the time. Don't worry, I'm a professional.

Bridget:

You can't not like the scene where he's showing his guitars to Martin DeBurgo, the interviewer, obviously, Rob Reiner. And one in particular. He said, you can't point at it or look at it. Definitely not touch it. And the other one was where he said it was a Les Paul guitar. And this is literally something Les Paul said about a guitar. That the note would keep ringing. Even if he went out to get a bite to eat and came back, it would still be ringing. So that's actual quote from Les Paul. But now the amp, on the other.

Wendy:

Hand, the most famous part of this movie. This is the part that I know because it's been parodied so many times.

Bridget:

Everyone knows. And the phrase I also learned from Al Roker is in the Oxford English Dictionary. That is awesome. And the phrase is.

Wendy:

But this one goes up to 11.

Bridget:

All the dials go to 11. Marty says, why not just make 10 the highest?

Wendy:

Yeah, just make 10 louder.

Bridget:

And he said, but this one goes to 11. So it was just this great circular conversation. There's a lot of that. Circular conversations. The Stonehenge disaster.

Wendy:

Yeah. That I read was based on some real life stories. Yes. Yeah.

Bridget:

I think Judas Priest had big Stonehenge scenery. The artist correctly read the sketch, which had inches instead of feet.

Wendy:

Yes.

Bridget:

And their save was to have little people dancing around it.

Wendy:

Not just little people. Little people dressed like leprechauns. It was so bad.

Bridget:

God, it was terrible. Very cringy. There's the song where they're all trying to. They all like emerge from these weird pods, but Derek Smalls is trapped in his. He can't get out. So he tries to play through while the tech guy is back there unplugging and plugging it back in. As you do. Yes. But then hammering on it during the song, which is really loud. And only after the rest of them retreat back into their pods does he burst out. And then he realizes that he tries to get back in, but it's. It's only his arm. And what else do you do but raise your guitar in a rock and roll stance?

Wendy:

The music in this is really great. And they all. They wrote it all and recorded it all.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

So that's pretty cool. And so funny. The scene where I think it's Nigel sitting at the piano and talking about making his, you know, next album and I have to do everything in the key of D because it's A.

Bridget:

And the song was called Lick My Love Pump. He's got Mozart and Bach influences, so it's really a mock piece. It was pretty too.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Oh my gosh. So enter the Yoko.

Wendy:

Uhhuh. Yeah. You see it come in as soon as she is around.

Bridget:

As soon as she's on the phone with him and says, I can tell that you. You've had too much sugar. Can tell in your voice. His larynx is fat. That's what she said. So yeah, we've got her in there and she takes over as being the manager. They're being canceled in all these gigs like Boston. And they say that's okay. It's not a big college town. And the gig downgrade to less and less great venues. It's the army base where Nigel quits. He walks off the stage. And the reason is because the. The army radio transmissions, whatever, are. Are interfering. Like they shouldn't even be. It's like when they don't turn down the TVs. Yeah, yeah, it was like that. So it was like feedback and everything. David St. Hubbins Nigel Tufnell, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls and whatever. Drummer of the minute. Yeah, Stumpy, Stumpy Joe, Stumpy Pete. Makes you wonder if they have one arm like the Def Leppard.

Wendy:

Yeah, that's exactly what I was picturing.

Bridget:

Oh, my God, that's perfect. I hadn't thought of that until just now. Diburgo is interviewing David after Nigel walks off. And he's saying, you know, basically, I think he's repeating all the things that the girlfriend says to him, like, bands switch out members all the time, blah, blah, blah, like, it's fine. And I probably won't miss him any more than I miss all these. He lists off so many drummers. So many drummers. De Burgo says, I can't really believe that. And he says, well, I'd probably care more if I wasn't so heavily sedated. Oh, my God, yes. Truth. And the next gig they come to is literally at an amusement park. And she goes, they were supposed to list Spinal Tap first and the Puppet show second. And that is sad a**. Obviously, if they don't have Nigel, they can't play some of the songs. So they decide to do a jazz exploration.

Wendy:

Oh, it's so bad. I hated it. I hate that stuff.

Bridget:

Oh, I hated it too.

Wendy:

So did everybody else. I need a melody again.

Bridget:

Back to that little outdoor interview scene when Marty de Virgo says, let's talk about some of your reviews a little bit. And he says, regarding. He was reading regarding intravenous to Milo. This tasteless cover is a good indication of the lack of musical intervention within. The musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted. They're treading water in a sea of sexuality and bad poetry. And Nigel says, that's nitpicking, isn't it? And then he mentions the review for Shark Sandwich is a mere two words sandwich. Later, Derek Smalls says, you know, we've grown musically. I mean, you listen to some of the rubbish we did early on. It was stupid, you know. Now, I mean, a song like Sex Farm, we've taken the sophisticated view of the idea of sex, you know, and music. And Marty says, putting it on a farm, it just never ends. The funny lines in this.

Wendy:

I read that they shot over a hundred hours of footage. Oh, God, 100 hours. They had to cut down into two.

Bridget:

I want to see the rest of it.

Wendy:

Right those.

Bridget:

Ha.

Wendy:

There has to be some good stuff in that. I wonder, do you have the dvd? Because maybe there's some commentary or.

Bridget:

Oh, I've. I've watched it with commentary.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

It's awesome. It's awesome. I loved that. We need that to come back on our streaming.

Wendy:

Yeah. Speaking of commentary, I did my notes a little bit different on this one. I wanted to walk on the treadmill while I was watching it and. But I knew I wouldn't be able to, like, take notes, so I just turned my voice recorder on and talked into it while the. The movie was playing. Then I just kept taking my notes that way. Then I had AI transcribe it.

Bridget:

Oh, that's nice.

Wendy:

So that's how I got this. And also outline it for me. So I. All the points that I said, it'll be like, these are main points that you made. So that was really cool. I think I'm gonna keep doing that by thought and listeners. You could tell me whether this is something interesting at all to you when. If we start our Patreon, that could be something that you get by signing up for. That is my direct commentary. Oh, but you're. You're also gonna get things like, oh, remind me to go get this from the store on there. So it's up to you. I don't know if that's interesting to anyone at all, but I'm just throwing it out there. So let us know if that is something that you would want to hear.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Or not even pay for it. I could just put it out there as content, but I love it.

Bridget:

Yeah, I wanted to also. I think it's near the end and Nigel has come back and they find out that their song Sex Farm is topping the charts in Japan. So it all begins again, the sadness and the delusion of this band. One of David St. Hubbins quotes, he says, and this is deep. I believe virtually everything I read. And I think that's what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn't believe anything. Oh, my God. I'm not going to comment on that in America right now, but that would take all day. The very last lines in the movie when he asks, well, if you weren't doing Spinal Tap, what would you have done? And it's Nigel's. That is the end of the movie. He goes on to say, you know, he might work in a shop or something. Sell Chapeaus. Aberdeen. No, we're all out. Do you wear black? What size are you? And he says, that's the sort of thing I could probably muster up. And Burgo says, well, do you think you'd be happy doing that in the very last line of the movie? I don't know. What are the hours? I just cannot get enough of this movie.

Wendy:

I wrote down a line that I can't remember where it came from. There's a fine line between stupid and clever.

Bridget:

It's so true.

Wendy:

It's so true. Like sometimes something stupid really feels like it's smart. In hindsight you're like, that was not cite the bear proofed garbage cans. There's like a small percentage of where the overlap of smart bears and dumb people. I'll have to show you sometime. But we got a trail cam and we put it up while we were in North Carolina and we got all kinds of like little raccoons and possums and even a coyote. He was right in our campground.

Bridget:

Oh, my God. Scary.

Wendy:

That might have been my favorite part to be doing.

Bridget:

I think we did it. We flicked some beads.

Wendy:

Okay, love you. Bye.

Bridget:

Bye.

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Bridget

Co-host
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Wendy

Co-host