Anne Levine Show

What if Everything is Wrong?

Anne Levine and Michael Hill-Levine

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What if everything they taught you in school (in America) was wrong? This question forms the heart of a wide-ranging, thought-provoking conversation that challenges our accepted narratives about American history, cultural terminology, and the media we consume.

Anne and Michael kick things off by dissecting the term "gay enclave" as it's applied to Provincetown, questioning whether this coastal town at the tip of Cape Cod truly fits the definition of an enclave. This linguistic exploration quickly evolves into a more profound examination of historical misconceptions, particularly surrounding the Pilgrims' arrival in America. The hosts dismantle the sanitized version many of us learned in school—revealing that the Pilgrims weren't fleeing religious persecution but were themselves religious extremists seeking freedom to implement their strict practices. They also expose the underwhelming reality of Plymouth Rock and the often-omitted fact that the Pilgrims first landed in Provincetown, not Plymouth.

The conversation takes a humorous turn as Anne shares her experience being hired to sing breakup songs at a wedding, highlighting how people often embrace cultural elements without understanding their true meaning. This theme of misinterpretation connects beautifully to the earlier historical discussion, reinforcing how narratives can become disconnected from reality.

In their streaming recommendations segment, the hosts offer a blistering critique of "Doc" while enthusiastically endorsing "The Residence"—a fast-paced, dialogue-driven murder mystery set in the White House during an Australian state dinner. With its all-star cast including Uzo Aduba, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jane Curtin, this show exemplifies smart, engaging television that respects its audience's intelligence.

Throughout the episode, Anne and Michael model the kind of thoughtful skepticism and curiosity that helps us navigate an increasingly complex world. Their warm, witty banter creates a space where serious topics and lighthearted moments coexist beautifully. Join them on this journey of questioning what we think we know—you might just discover something surprising about the stories we tell ourselves. Also, it's wonderful to see how highly the AI thinks of us and our "warm, witty banter."

Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/

Speaker 2:

Hello, Welcome to the Ann Levine Show. It's Tuesday, September 16th 2025. And I'm joined by Michael over there.

Speaker 1:

Hello, hello.

Speaker 2:

And we are coming to you from WOMR 92.1 FM in Provincetown Massachusetts.

Speaker 1:

That's right, and 91.3 FM WFMR Orleans and we're streaming worldwide at WOMRorg and we're glad you're listening.

Speaker 2:

We certainly are.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us WOMR folks is a labor of love. Okay, that's why we're here. Yeah, because we love, we do. We love the Cape, we love the community. That's why everybody is here at this station. So you've got to keep that in mind no other reasons. No, I think sometimes people forget, you know, I mean, it's a community radio station and you know there's reasons for that.

Speaker 2:

What are the reasons, Michael? Well, I just mentioned it.

Speaker 1:

You know the whole community thing, so each one of those people is pretty much a different reason. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2:

You know what I heard said a lot. What'd you heard Over the summer from various sources describing Provincetown?

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

As a quote gay enclave.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, All right. What's gay enclave? Okay, yeah, all right. What's an enclave? It's a place where people gather, I guess, although there's got to be something else that distinguishes it from, like you know a house or something. I mean, do you know what the no, that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 2:

It's just like it was like this subtitle Okay, here we go.

Speaker 1:

It's a portion of territory within or surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are culturally or ethnically distinct.

Speaker 2:

Okay, Okay, well, alright, so I get that, but what is Provincetown surrounded by, except Provincetown you?

Speaker 1:

know what I mean? Well, yeah, that's very true. It's surrounded by Truro on one side. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2:

I can see. I can see an enclave being like an enclave within. So like say, in New York City there's the Hungarian enclave on the Upper. East Side. Okay, yeah, but saying Provincetown is a gay enclave, it's not.

Speaker 1:

I don't really think that's true enclave yeah, you know what it's not.

Speaker 2:

I don't really think that's true. Yeah, I mean, it's a gay city, slash town. Yeah, exactly, it's not part of a larger area.

Speaker 1:

Right, yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, it's Cape Cod, right, it's Provincetown. That's what I'm thinking. Ta-da, that's what I'm thinking, ta-da, that's what I'm thinking.

Speaker 2:

Where the?

Speaker 1:

pilgrims landed. That's right. Oh, speaking of which, I mean, you know, all those people who taught things in school that were really wrong.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the pilgrims so welcomed here, woo. That whole story. I'd like to look at a current history book about 1620.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's, you know, that's yeah, like a public school, American public school textbook or something, Right, I mean?

Speaker 2:

does it still say. And then the pilgrims arrived, a ship of lovely people escaping religious prosecution in England. And they finally got here after a harrowing trip in their tiny, unseaworthy vessel called the Mayflower, and were welcomed and cared for by the indigenous population.

Speaker 1:

Taught how to fish and grow corn. Yes, about all those things.

Speaker 2:

The first Thanksgiving which happened? I don't know a few weeks after they got here, which started a horrendous tradition.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful beautiful event.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, where everyone sat down at huge picnic benches and enjoyed turkey Huge communal feast. With stuffing and corn.

Speaker 1:

The abundance, of you know which was.

Speaker 2:

it's just overflowing, yes, that's right, yeah, so I want to know if that's still the story yeah, because that is pretty much what we were told, yeah that's totally what we were told um. Do you remember the, the princess pocahontas? Oh yeah um the princess pocahontas, powhatan's daughter stared at the white man. Come across the water. Do you remember that?

Speaker 1:

I do remember that. Yes, oh, my goodness, I haven't heard it in a long time I was brainwashed in school and that is still stuck on repeat, Just the whole thing. I mean okay, Number one the Puritans were not escaping religious persecution.

Speaker 2:

No, they were just religious lunatics.

Speaker 1:

They were persecutors trying to find a way and a place to do what they wanted to do without getting in trouble for it, Right so?

Speaker 2:

yeah, so the startings of America.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hmm, and the Plymouth Rock is not Plymouth Rock. By the way, it's probably the 12th. Well, I know 12th Plymouth Rock or something like that. You know Well, because it's People keep stealing it.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's the whole thing about Plymouth Rock. It is the most uninspiring, underwhelming, deflating thing to go see.

Speaker 1:

It's not like the Blarney Stone right, which is actually a very big rock.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, Plymouth Rock is stealable.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's like okay, there's a paving stone with a number on it.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's a little more than a paving stone.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, it could be at the end of anybody's driveway around here, though, you know, with their house number on it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but this maybe weighs 50 pounds.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, that's it. Yeah, so it can be stolen and it doesn't say anything on it except 1620. Right, so your whole life you're hearing about this in school and it's this huge thing and it's this important.

Speaker 1:

And it's where they landed.

Speaker 2:

Which is also a lie.

Speaker 1:

Specifically, what we were told is where the pilgrims landed.

Speaker 2:

And then you get there and it's like what this is. Is this it? Or is this like the marker to where I enter to see the actual Plymouth Rock Right, Right exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Is this a warm-up rock?

Speaker 2:

It's ridiculous. Yeah, exactly, yeah, Exactly. And of course they didn't, they, the pilgrims. They didn't land in Plymouth, no, they landed in Provincetown to start with which is what put me in mind of this and they moved a little down the beach to Orleans where an enclave of natives greeted them with an appropriate welcome. Right Greeted them with an appropriate welcome. Right With I mean insect repelling Sticks and arrows and whatever else they could throw at them. Yeah, because who the? Hell are you?

Speaker 1:

and why are you coming into my house?

Speaker 2:

Can you imagine that stinking, creaking, uh, diseased disease ridden these disgusting people, these white? Yeah, oh, I mean, you know, I could arguably speak the same language to them, although I don't know what old english was comprised of oh man, it's really, it's really hard to understand actually, yeah, yeah but anyway, I could probably communicate with them to some degree.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but forget it. It's like if I was sitting I don't know on the beach here looking out at Cape Cod Bay and I know I'm being a hypocrite, because my family part of my family anyway was on one of these oh yeah, I was on one of those boats, yeah like the Mayflower actually, but regardless. I mean, I'm actually embarrassed by that, but anyway. I just sitting on the beach and then this thing appears on the horizon yeah, because what the hell is that?

Speaker 2:

yeah and then, oh my god, there are beings on it there are aliens pasty, weird-looking things.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, who knows where they came from.

Speaker 2:

In heavy black they could be spirits.

Speaker 1:

They're so pale. Well from the underworld though. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then but here's the thing about the whole story Michael and I did a little investigating of this whole thing over the weekend. Yeah investigating of this whole thing over the weekend. So they get here 100. How many left? Uh, 170 total, was that it?

Speaker 1:

uh, including crew on the mayflower itself, right? No, it was like 127.

Speaker 2:

Okay so the crew, the passenger, the whole thing, 127 people. Um, I don't know how many died en route, maybe 15 or so yeah, not a yeah.

Speaker 1:

But then by springtime half of them were gone. That's right. There were like 50 of them left, or something like that, because they couldn't make it through the winter.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I want to know what the heck these 50 people did to create this situation.

Speaker 1:

the united states of america yeah, well, I mean, I guess they weren't the only ones right someone's saw. Yeah, you know, they're there. Oh, hey, we can go there too. So that's, you know it's just that you know.

Speaker 2:

By the time anyone knew know how long would it have been. So they get here and go through whatever they go through. Then at some point someone gets a message back to England Well, that had to take a year or two. It had to take a while yeah, for the message to get back.

Speaker 1:

Although there may have been other, you know already planned trips before message even got back. Other cruises Right Other people like you know what. We're doing. It, too. They're doing it. We're going to do it too. We trust the science. Right, we're going to get there. Yeah Right, we're going to go by the stars. We're going to, you know, use our sextant and everything.

Speaker 2:

We're going to get there, which you know they did, and I want to know what was what was known at that point about. I mean, are we post galileo at this point or are we still is?

Speaker 1:

the world flat? Not sure the world was really, I mean generally speaking, never flat. No, I'm serious that I'm saying what people thought obviously, that is exactly what I am saying. I think there is no point in time at which the general population considered the earth to be flat.

Speaker 2:

Well, Well, what happened to Galileo then? Oh no, His thing was that center of heliocentric.

Speaker 1:

That's right. Yeah, that was a different situation. Exactly when he figured out, he went after the church with that one who said we are the center of the universe, right.

Speaker 2:

And he was like actually the sun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then there's all this other stuff, but in this enclave, right, it's the sun. Exactly this is the sun enclave would be the pilgrims certainly.

Speaker 1:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

This is a pilgrim enclave.

Speaker 1:

And that is true. That's exactly what they would be at that point. They would be surrounded by a larger territory whose inhabitants are very definitely culturally and ethnically different.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I'm interested to know a little more about our history and I know at various times I've been more in touch with it. But how did Provincetown come to be the one of the sort of, one of the only, I'm going to say gay population centers? I mean, you know, you've got cities like, say, san Francisco, like New York City, like Tel Aviv, where there are huge gay populations, are enclaves, right, but how does Provincetown become one of them?

Speaker 1:

I think, in the same way Key West did did by being a difficult place to get to, oh, that's interesting See a place that not everybody's going to try to get to because it's not easy, you know. And once you get there, what do you got? You know you got a narrow strip of land with what on it, right?

Speaker 2:

A beach.

Speaker 1:

Some fishermen, right, yeah, so you know they're like they could and that was a great place to be and you know it worked out pretty good. And I think the same thing for the Keys, because they are as far out as you go in them and it is therefore the hardest place to get to at that time, you know and you're thinking that that's good for a sort of community sort of hiding place like well, I mean yeah, at those times you kind of needed that right because people would kill you.

Speaker 2:

Oh no, I know. I'm not, you know, I'm not aware of why a gay community would want to be off the beaten path. Right, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I think that's why those two places in particular are picked. New York City is a little different in that you can hide amongst everybody fairly well because there are so many people Right except, like you've got the village, which I don't even know what it is now. Well see, that's the thing, the village has changed over time, so it's become different things right, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, preach.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean it was you know where you lived was the meatpacking district. Yeah, so it was. And now the Whitney is there.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's so stupid. You know it's like every designer has a store there. Yeah, and unimaginable. You know there are these whatchamacallit restaurants, you know Michelin-starred restaurants, and I want Hogs and Heifers, which was the biker bar on Washington.

Speaker 1:

There you go.

Speaker 2:

I want Tortilla Fl Heifers, which was the biker bar on Washington. There you go. I want Tortilla Flats.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, I would have loved to have done that.

Speaker 2:

And I want the Alamo, which was this Tex-Mex dive where a certain person named T Swift used to snort Coke day and night and wait for people he knew to wander in. That's a he by the way. Yeah, did I. Was I not saying he?

Speaker 1:

No, I just want to mention there's another very well-known, t Swift. Oh, that is not a he who probably wasn't doing coke in the village in the 80s, yeah.

Speaker 2:

No, I wasn't speaking about her. I was speaking about someone very different, Very very different. Yeah, no, the T-Swift that I know personally, she's more of a local T-Swift yeah. Oh, that's too funny. I didn't think of that for one second. Well, people, it has been quite a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean sorry. We were on the disabled list last week.

Speaker 2:

Neither one of us was able to do anything. I'm just going to say, I'm going to have to say that my spine, Hates you.

Speaker 1:

Okay Right, it's not fond of you anyway, I have severe stenosis. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I'm young to have this.

Speaker 1:

Yes, you are.

Speaker 2:

And I've had it for a long time. But it's at the point now where I'm very often literally handicapped. I can barely walk, I can barely move, and sometimes I'm just like stuck in a chair or in bed, crying because it hurts so much. Yeah, so last week was one of them weeks, and then I had to go to the spine doctor and get an injection and I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Whatever, and then the way they moved you to give you the injection messed you up for another week.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so anyhow, I am sorry, but I do have occasional.

Speaker 1:

It's crazy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

This is crazy.

Speaker 2:

Occasional days when I'm benched. Oh man, you know, we started off with when a man Loves a Woman, right, and I did the Bette Midler version because I was obsessed by it when the rose came out. Yeah, and I was telling Michael about some of the crazy gigs that I had in New York, and this was after I got out of college and I started my professional singing career.

Speaker 1:

That's right, and maybe some people don't know you've had a professional singing career.

Speaker 2:

Well.

Speaker 1:

Right If they haven't been here before or have not been paying attention.

Speaker 2:

Welcome, you know, hello, I'm Ann Levine and that's Michael over there. Hello, as our friend Nicholas has named him, that's right. So I sang in this performance class I took. I had a few sort of hits. One of them was when a man loves a woman, and I went off of the Bette Midler version because it was from a female point of view.

Speaker 1:

Right, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And super sarcastic, which it needs to be, coming from a female point of view. It's not this sort of oh longing. I would do anything for this woman. It's like listen to this guy.

Speaker 1:

Listen to what he said, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And here I am, brokenhearted and crying because he lied to me and he broke my heart and he ruined my life. Okay, so I was singing with Jed Dessler, he was accompanying me and he was doing a gig at a nightclub called J's, which was a pretty well-known jazz club. Okay, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

And it was a very sort of. It was an elevated place for me to be doing a gig at all, but Jed was playing there and he said why don't you come in and do a couple of tunes?

Speaker 2:

oh, okay, there you go and I was like, oh yeah, and so I did when a man Loves a Woman, and I did Blow Ill Wind, okay. Anyway, there were people in the audience who approached Jed after the gig and said we're getting married on Long Island in the spring or whatever, and we would love for you to do the music for our wedding.

Speaker 1:

Oh, very nice yeah.

Speaker 2:

And then they said and we'd like that woman, ann Levine, to come and sing. When a man Loves a Woman. Right yeah when a man loves a woman, right? Yeah, so I had been up there like lamenting, having been in this relationship with someone who promised me the moon but ended up, you know, destroying me yeah and they're like we want that at our wedding exactly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't understand.

Speaker 2:

It was, and so they offered me quite a bit of money at that time. Yeah, it was a lot of money to go out there and sing like two songs, Two songs yeah heck yeah, and it ended up being a horrendous day.

Speaker 2:

It was hot, it was hot, it was spring. I don't even remember how we got out there. Did we take the Long Island Railroad? Did we all go in people's cars? I don't know, but it was way out on Long Island. It was hot as hell and it was long. You know I'm there to do two songs. The rest of the band is playing through this whole thing, you know. So during the ceremony, cocktails dinner right, Right yeah. And my big appearance wasn't until the end of all that.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, someone wants to dance to it and they're like, okay, get the girl yeah, get the girl.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um, it's so funny for me to call myself a girl, whatever that meant then anyhow. So, um, I do this song and the whole time I'm thinking this is not appropriate. Yeah. I am singing inappropriate songs. I'm singing this and then I'm singing Blow Ill Wind yeah.

Speaker 1:

Which is so bizarre for a wedding, isn't it? Oh my God? I mean just the title itself. You don't have to listen to anything else. You say ill wind at a wedding, and come on, Are you kidding? I know. And so yeah, I don't understand it either.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so all about how things are horrible. Yeah, two songs about how horrible things are, and they hired me to come and sing them Anyway I was thinking about. There's another song and this is a Bette Midler adjacent story. It's her hero song. Okay, did you ever know that you're my hero, that one. Yeah, oh then you're my hero, that one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, that song which is played all the time. Yeah, it must have been cold there in my shadow.

Speaker 1:

It's like, not about. It's like you're my hero, even though, right, no one knows who, who you are, and I'm keeping you back there in the dark.

Speaker 2:

you know I'm not gonna let the light ever you let you ever see the light of day, but you are my hero because of it right exactly yeah it's just, and I got to be the big, famous one and the fabulous one with the fabulous life, and there you were right, exactly making it all happen right and then dying of cancer and beaches, but anyway, um, that's another that I was asked to sing at a funeral.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and, of course, from the people who asked me, who invited me, and it was very kind, and this was someone this was a person very close to me and my family who passed away and I was asked by the family to sing this song at the funeral. Oh, wow, and I couldn't do it. I didn't want to say this, but you don't get it. Listen to the lyrics. This isn't what you want to say about this person that we're honoring. No, this isn't what you want to say about this person that we're honoring.

Speaker 2:

No, you know, this person that we're honoring was a luminary. Was this larger than life amazing?

Speaker 1:

Right, not someone who is kept in the shadows Right.

Speaker 2:

And whose job was to help you know the more famous, whatever Right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's odd, I don't know. I did I. We talked about this before and the biggest slow dance song when I was growing up was free bird, which was hey, uh, you know, let's, uh, let's do it, but I ain't sticking around bye, so weird, and they're all just glomming on to each other. You know, and come on.

Speaker 2:

Well, also that song was hilarious because you'd start out if I leave you tomorrow. Everything's slow and you can do that, stupid white kid slow dance Buckle shining slow dance. Side to side.

Speaker 1:

Right the Davy Jones.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But then it breaks down and goes boom, speeds up Right and you're in a big rock song. Fast, you know hard, a fast, hard song it turns into.

Speaker 1:

But real hardcore.

Speaker 2:

Then everyone has to awkwardly.

Speaker 1:

I know? I know a lot of the guys are like Well, do we hold hands? Now we're going faster, but are we still going to hold?

Speaker 2:

hands. Yeah, and what kind of face. And how do you move to something this fast when there are two of you?

Speaker 1:

And then there's like three couples in the whole bunch and, like I mentioned, different corners, who are still going to do the slow dance. They're not going to speed up at all.

Speaker 2:

Well, because they're grinding and whatnot.

Speaker 1:

Right, exactly, they're not paying any attention anyway. No.

Speaker 2:

So I got to say the whole thing. I want to know these days, right, what are kids at a prom, or not even a prom at a school dance, right? Do they even have school dances the way we had them?

Speaker 1:

That's a good question. I don't know. I mean, were they these, just these stupid events where someone, first of all someone, would play records when Right? Well, now, that might actually still be happening, you know, because it's very likely that they have a DJ Right Rather than a band.

Speaker 2:

Oh, definitely. I mean we had bands, but we would also have people. I mean I remember there were dances I went to in the summers here where someone would be playing records.

Speaker 1:

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there were. No, that was what there was. If you didn't have a band, right Of course. Yeah, and when I think about that now, like someone up there like changing records, yeah, how did?

Speaker 1:

that even work. Hey, you got to be quick, you know.

Speaker 2:

Well, I want to know what songs.

Speaker 1:

And you could stack some of them.

Speaker 2:

What do they listen to? Oh, my God, stacking records. Yeah, but you'd play like what? Whole sides of an album?

Speaker 1:

No, you could you know you get the 45s? You put the little thing in the middle oh 45s, you put the little thing in the middle. 45s, you put the little thing in the middle of it and you can like stack 10 of them up on there and then you know, and then then you have right, it's gonna take you 20 minutes to redo the whole situation well if you've got singles right.

Speaker 2:

But I don't know, I never had that many. I don't know.

Speaker 1:

No, I didn't either, but I mean I've, I've been to places where I've seen that happen yeah yeah, and I'm. I was an album guy myself. So you know, you put three albums on there and you listen to three sides of you know three albums and then you can flip them over and listen to the other three sides.

Speaker 2:

That's what I would do well, I want to know if there's what is today's version of the white kid school dance. I want to know if that exists I'm sure it does and what music they play. What are the big?

Speaker 1:

songs. It's going to be some sort of hip-hop song, I imagine, because it's the most danceable we were into. Dream On on right, yeah, free bird. Yep, not neither one of those dancing songs.

Speaker 2:

I know, I know and, and like some three dog night right, you could dance a lot of that black and white. Yeah, you can't chic dance Chicago.

Speaker 1:

Eli's Coming. That's not going to work for that one, but 25 or 6 to 4. Oh, yeah, good one, da-da-da-da-da.

Speaker 2:

Da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh, my God, yeah Da After that you know ever. Oh, really, yeah, that particular chord progression, yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Very, very in there, oh, Lottie. Well, I watched some wild and crazy quote TV. I don't even know what you call this stuff anymore. I watched some streaming shows.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, now, we already mentioned fisk in the previous we did and I recommend that yeah and we have other recommendations, you know about fisk as well. People have you know, have written you and said oh yeah oh yeah right.

Speaker 2:

This is the thing. Do this one A lot of people are into it. In fact, I've got to write to Jacob Moon and say, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We are spreading the gospel of Fisk.

Speaker 1:

We are Yep. Are we going to talk about Jacob again a little later?

Speaker 2:

Oh, about upcoming events.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the current cinema situation.

Speaker 2:

Well, go ahead and talk about it.

Speaker 1:

Well, jacob Moon on Facebook was the guy who started this big group for Ontario folks going to see Spinal Tap 2. The end continues and he's been to see it right and is absolutely. I was so happy for him. I wrote him the night before he went. I'm like that hour before the movie started, I'm like I'm so excited for you and he wrote me back.

Speaker 1:

He's like you have got to see it, man, you have got to see it. So yeah, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm very, very happy that it's there well, I cannot wait.

Speaker 2:

And I guess, michael, you saw I saw christopher gas on, yeah, on fallon no, it was billboard.

Speaker 1:

Uh interviewed uh, michael mccain and christopher guest as their you know, as their characters, uh-huh, uh, like a 20-minute interview.

Speaker 2:

Nigel Tufnell.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I don't know the other one's name. Yeah, but anyway, yes, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And they talked about Paul McCartney and working with him. It was hilarious, absolutely hilarious.

Speaker 2:

I can't wait. Yeah, I can't.

Speaker 1:

It looks so much fun. Oh and then, yeah, and they did do Jimmy Kimmel, where everybody you know. They came on, the song started, they were playing Big Bottom and the song started and a bass guitar started and then he introduced the bass player blah, blah, blah, and then the next guy playing bass and then there were like seven bass players on this song. Perfect, no regular guitars, just a all bass players, all bass drummer and a keyboardist.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it was absolutely hilarious I've got to look that up on youtube. Yeah, it's yeah it's there, you.

Speaker 1:

It is so funny and they look great. These guys look great. These guys look. You know they look old, obviously. You know. He even mentioned that in the billboard thing. He was like who's the old man up on stage? And it's like, oh, that's me.

Speaker 2:

How long ago is that? 40 years ago.

Speaker 1:

I think so yeah.

Speaker 2:

That it came out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh Lord, I know.

Speaker 2:

Well.

Speaker 1:

So you can go see it, folks. It's going to be great Spinal tap. The end continues. That's such a great. The end continues Chock full of cameos from everybody.

Speaker 2:

Everyone you've ever thought of is in this movie.

Speaker 1:

And if they weren't in it, they asked to be.

Speaker 2:

Right, because, yeah, they were turned down. Yeah, amazing, yeah. Well, I was bored and I thought let me see what's streaming. That might be interesting, okay, and I fell upon Doc. Oh yeah, yeah, now, doc is a medical procedural and that's one of my jams Right up your alley.

Speaker 1:

So I figured.

Speaker 2:

well, at least you know that part of it will interest me, okay, so here's what I have to say. Okay, so here's what I have to say Doc. Doc is one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I keep looking at it and thinking this cannot actually be happening. I saw part of it and I'm like no, no, this is, and I was confused as to who was what, because I'm like that's not a doctor, that's an idiot, right, yeah, but yet they persist. Ok, good for them.

Speaker 2:

Well.

Speaker 1:

But yeah.

Speaker 2:

So and I didn't know this, then I mean I've found out a bunch of stuff about it, like going back and doing some research on it. Yeah, but it's got a 4.1 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, which?

Speaker 2:

if I had seen, I never would have even looked at a single episode. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1:

But here's but because it's, you know, because it is your kind of thing, you like these medical dramas and stuff. You know it was not a bad idea. Well one of the oh my goodness.

Speaker 2:

One of the hardest, heaviest dramas, streaming dramas of all time, and this was HBO, I think okay limited series deadwood oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah okay, and one of the great female protagonists was played by moie parker okay yeah, and she played. Oh, what was her name? The name of her character, um well, I I can't remember the name of the character, but her character alma alma garrett. Okay, was her, yeah well, and she was the widow of a super wealthy guy in Deadwood Right and she was a laudanum addict.

Speaker 1:

I think she was in Dexter. Even I remember her from that.

Speaker 2:

Molly Parker. Yeah Well, anyway, she played this. You know, when I first saw her I was like wait a second. Who is that? Who is that?

Speaker 1:

I didn't recognize her when I saw her in this particular show, Right in Doc.

Speaker 2:

And so I looked up and was like, oh my God, she's the laudanum addict. Yeah, I had no idea, looking at her, who she was Deadwood Coddenham addict yeah, had no idea, looking at her, who she was From Deadwood. And of course, everyone on Deadwood was like a filth. You know invictive-throwing, filthy, messy, screwed-up.

Speaker 1:

You know person Well yeah, I mean, that was the whole theme.

Speaker 2:

Right and she had her whole thing. She had this romance with Timothy Oliphant.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

And who was the star of that, anyway, and it's one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time. Yeah, and it's a bit of a love-hate thing with it.

Speaker 1:

Along with Ian McShane. Ian McShane, yeah, I forgot his last name.

Speaker 2:

Wow, something earlier this week that dark tall, dark devil of a man Okay so suddenly I'm seeing this woman and to me Molly Parker is simply a frontier woman. She's a frontier woman. She's a frontier woman. She's from the American West. Okay 19th century. And she's this tough, hard woman who's addicted to laudanum and lives out there with all the bad boys and dead boys.

Speaker 1:

Handle her own, that's right.

Speaker 2:

Right and so well. Now she's in a lab coat, being one of the finest diagnosticians.

Speaker 1:

Without a memory.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that's the premise. This is so dumb to me.

Speaker 2:

The premise of Doc. Now, doc is based on a true story of an Italian doctor who was in a car accident and had I can't remember what kind of amnesia it's called, but when a certain amount of time is lost to you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, right.

Speaker 2:

Right. So in the case of the television one and I'm going to riddle this with spoilers so if you're interested in seeing Doc, I have two things to say. One is don't. And the other is, you know, plug your ears or change the channel channel. Anyhow, she gets in a car accident and it has, suffers traumatic brain injury and loses eight years of her life right, and finds out that she's one of the most horrible people that ever lived, that she's divorced, so be dissociative.

Speaker 1:

Amnesia is what it sounds like, but yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So she wakes up and she thinks oh, there's my husband and it's like honey, we divorced six years ago. And oh, there's my daughter. She's gotten so old and she doesn't live with you anymore because you're a horrible witch and so anyhow. But she can remember everything about medicine and she doesn't live with you anymore because you're a horrible witch and so anyhow, but she can remember everything about medicine.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, very weird.

Speaker 2:

Everything and she ends up, while she still has bandages on her head, getting rehired by the hospital.

Speaker 1:

Or psychogenic amnesia or something.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, very weird. So the whole thing is just nuts. Now, what is interesting about this show is what interests me about any doctor show, and which is why I actually made it through an entire season.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right.

Speaker 2:

Is that there's a lot of really interesting medical stuff and things you haven't heard of, conditions you haven't heard of, okay, surgeries that are possible. Did you know you can get a partial spleen transplant? I didn't, I didn't. That may not be interesting to you out there, or it might be, and for that reason I find it what's the word? Interesting. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean because there's some real life applications you might know something about, but every time I look at Molly Parker or Alma Garrett, right, yep, all I can think of is there's a frontier woman in the main hospital of Minneapolis. What is she doing here?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, where's her?

Speaker 2:

little house on the prairie dress.

Speaker 1:

Where's her bonnet? That is a darn good question.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, she looks insane.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I did not recognize her at all. Right, and that is very weird for me, because I have an uncanny ability to recognize people. Yes, you do, and this woman I'm. I had to ask you who it was repeatedly, because I'm like I don't know, I didn't know who it was and you kept telling me and I'm like it doesn't look that way.

Speaker 2:

No, she's totally unrecognizable and she looks ridiculously out of place in this show.

Speaker 1:

Agreed. Yeah, I don't know if that's whose idea that was, but I think that's deliberate and I don't understand that either.

Speaker 2:

Well, and also season two is coming up, starring Felicity Muffman.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah, Well, she was in. Was she in the this past season? No, oh okay.

Speaker 2:

No, so I think this is her first gig since the school.

Speaker 1:

It's one of them, anyway, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

She may have been in a couple other things, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So amazing how quickly that went away. All right now here's a show.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know she did her time, though you know she did it all, so she you know. Yeah, so she, you know she did, she did it all, so she, you know yeah, so she, you know, paid for the crime.

Speaker 2:

No, I know, it was just kind of a huge thing that she was in prison, yeah, etc.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, and I don't think people were jumping to hire her um no, I mean, and ricky Gervais mentioned her making license plates during the Golden Globes yeah, it was pretty. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, here's another show and this one I wholeheartedly recommend, and it's called the Residents. Oh yes, and it's about Another, shonda Rhimes show yes, and it's about the White House and a murder that takes place at the White House during a state dinner Right For the Prime Minister of Australia. The star is Uzo Aduba, who you may remember as Crazy Eyes from. Orange is the New Black.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

So she's sort of the central character.

Speaker 1:

She plays the detective Some kind of like you know someone with a Sherlock Holmesian sort of reputation.

Speaker 2:

Right and she's a bird watcher.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

And then here we have again an ensemble cast.

Speaker 1:

Everybody.

Speaker 2:

That is a list of luminaries, starting with Giancarlo Esposito Right, who you may remember as Gustavo Fring, the proprietor of Hermanos the chicken brothers. Was it Pollo Hermanos?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, pollo Hermanos, yes, and Breaking Bad, breaking Bad, yep.

Speaker 2:

So he is at the center of this Randall Park.

Speaker 1:

Oh God, I love him too. Yeah, he's so funny to me.

Speaker 2:

Susan Kalichi Watson. Ken Marino, who plays Harry Hollinger, and I swear to god, is sometimes Alec Baldwin and sometimes not. Yeah, yeah, I get that. Bronson Pinchot, oh my God, yes, who is Didier Gotthard, who's the executive pastry chef? Yeah, and he's Swiss trained and that whole thing is hilarious.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Kylie Minogue as herself. Yeah, yeah yeah, kylie Minogue as herself. Yep, yep, yep, because it's the Australian state dinner and she's there, you know, to represent, that's right, jane Curtin.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, she is so much fun in this. Jane is having another moment, by the way.

Speaker 2:

Yes, because I've seen her in a couple things recently and it's awesome well, she plays the president's mother-in-law and the president is married to a man. Um yeah, she hates the president um, you just say the words.

Speaker 1:

The president, she like, wants to gag yeah, and she is.

Speaker 2:

She plays the most despicable character.

Speaker 1:

She's awesome absolutely hateful um al franken, yes, as, oddly enough, a senator.

Speaker 2:

Yes investigating the security failure.

Speaker 1:

Right of the state dinner.

Speaker 2:

Right and where a murder had taken place. Yeah, and then you got Jason Lee. My name is Earl Right, almost famous, and he plays the sort of Billy Carter Right, the drunken wash-up brother of the president. Yeah, I love it, billy Carter. Anyway, this is the dialogue of this show is so fast-paced, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2:

It's all about the dialogue and, if you like, interesting, complex it complex I don't need complex. I don't even know how to describe how you you watch some of this with me.

Speaker 1:

Describe it uh, it's, you know it's a farce is what it is. Oh, it's hilarious, but it's a. It's a. It's one that's done with a very serious painted with a very serious brush. It's very funny, but it doesn't look like it's meant to be funny at all. See, there's a contradiction in what it looks like and what it sounds like with what is going on in it, which is absurd and interesting, because whodunit, whodunit, and why they done, done it.

Speaker 2:

Do you have an idea about whodunit?

Speaker 1:

I don't yet, do you.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Well, I can tell you Okay, I have't yet. Okay Interesting Do you? Yes, okay, and I. Well, I can tell you who I.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I have an idea. Who Bronson.

Speaker 2:

Oh, the Swiss pastry chef. Yes, now see, here's one of the lines. If you know anything about the Swiss, about Swiss Germans, there's hilarious stuff in the dialogue about Swiss Germans and about the language, the Swiss German language. Am I making it sound boring? It's delicious, it is so funny, it's so fast-paced. Occasionally I've had to rewind to catch a line. Yeah, because you're laughing from a previous line. Exactly, yeah, and it's like a British, I don't know. It's like noises off.

Speaker 1:

Right, that's what I mean. It's a farce. It's one of those insanely illogical nutty, it's a door slammer.

Speaker 2:

yeah, and all of the production values, the, the sets, the costumes, the, the whole thing is gorgeous the color yeah, the details, um, and I don't know who wrote this damn thing, but the number of people in it, the number of characters, the number of suspects and their backstories, I mean how anyone? I would think that you would absolutely need several spreadsheets to write this thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I would think so too. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah All thing?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I would think so too. You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, oh, yeah, I mean you.

Speaker 1:

No, it was a complex thing to write, obviously because there's so many. It's red herrings everywhere you look for one thing Well, yes, yes. They give you all of these options so as to distract you from whatever option is real. So it's wonderful in that way.

Speaker 2:

And there are hilarious references to so many things. I mean the whole. There are hilarious references to Australia.

Speaker 1:

Right, oh yeah, and.

Speaker 2:

Australians to Australia and Australians yeah because it's the whole Australian dinner thing and you know various. I don't know. I can already picture people listeners, I know that would love this. Yeah, yep, absolutely listeners, I know that would love this. Yeah, yep, absolutely. I'm looking at you Chicago Illinois. I'm looking at you Silver Lake.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Come on, people. You know I just had this thing about. I just had this thing happen to me where I was listening to Handsome Pod. As many of you know, that occupies a lot of my time. And I listened to certain episodes over and over and I had stopped for a while.

Speaker 1:

I had given it's because we were in a fight. We were, we were in a fight with Fortune.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, she was supposed to come to the Cape this summer. Yeah, because I sent a letter to her road manager. Not a letter, I sent an email to her road manager.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Are you kidding me?

Speaker 1:

No, I'm not even.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I was just oh, shoot, okay, I didn't even get to Project Runway.

Speaker 1:

Oh no, we'll have to talk about that next time because it's not done. Yeah Right, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

I mean I don't know if they've released the rest of it or not.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, maybe not. Yeah, sorry about that, it was just. I mean, you can keep on going if you want to. We can, you know, continue.

Speaker 2:

Well, this is. This is Edie Brickell and New Bohemians from her Ghost of a Dog album, which came out in 1990.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I never liked Edie Brickell and New Bohemians and I was going to just talk about this, which is I've heard Tig rave about this album so many times and I've always thought, ugh, no, next, not interested in Edie Brickell.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I heard her telling May over and over again you've got to listen to this album. It's a masterpiece. And I was like ha, no way, not possible. Okay, did you listen to this album?

Speaker 1:

It's a masterpiece and I was like ha, no way, not possible. Okay, did you listen to it?

Speaker 2:

then yes, and here is 10,000 Angels off of Ghost of a Dog from 1990. And I have to agree, this album is a masterpiece. Listening to one song in isolation, doesn't? It's a really great album. So I recommend it, and I was going to talk about things that you recommend or that get recommended to you over and over again right and you blow it off. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, I do.

Speaker 1:

And then suddenly, but yeah, we're not blowing it off, so that's the thing. You know we gotta end, because that's how you know, that's what happens here at this time.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's, it's, I know I know it's that time. So thank you so much for listening, for listening every week. This is a really hard, hard world to live in and everyone is struggling, everyone. So, for all of you, take good care of yourselves and put lights on. Put lights on for yourself. We love you. I was embarrassed to see my face turning red.

Speaker 2:

I heard the angels laughing with my head and I said said, come to me, I really want you come to me, cause I need you now. Come to me, I really want you Come to me and I will go Anywhere with you, anywhere with you.

Speaker 1:

Anywhere with you. Guitar solo Ten thousand demons I'm scratching at my feet, churning at my soul, ripping apart my belief.

Speaker 2:

Ten thousand angels are flying through my heart, whispering secrets and tearing me apart.

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