Next Chapter

Ever feel like skipping ahead to see what's in store for the next chapter?Understandable, but it's probably best to let your next chapter unfold naturally. That's what we're doing this week--embracing next chapters and the music we listen to as we mentally settle into a new path. Welcome to Season 3, friends!

SONGS:

Broadcast: Before We Begin (2003)

Canned Head: Going Up the Country (1968 / 1970 Performance)

RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:

Broadcast Wants You to Stay Inside (Medium)

Untold Stories (Part 1) - The History of the Birmingham Music Scene in the 1960s (YouTube)

Broadcast Singer Trish Keenan Dies (Rolling Stone)

A true artist: The legacy of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan (Far Out Magazine)

Distant Call - Collected Demos 2000-2006 (Bandcamp)

Spell Blanket - Collected Demos 2006-2009 (Bandcamp)

Henry Thomas: Bull Doze Blues (1928)

Henry Thomas: Honey, Won’t You Allow Me One More Chance (1927)

Bob Dylan: Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance (1963)

Henry Thomas: Fishing Blues (1928)

Lovin’ Spoonful: Fishing Blues (1965)

Henry Thomas: Don’t Ease Me In (1927)

Grateful Dead: Don’t Ease Me In (1966)

Tommy Jones: Canned Heat Blues (1928)

Son House: Father of Folk Blues Album (1965)

Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson Website 

Alan Wilson: The Bridge Between Woodstock and the Delta Blues

Five Reasons Alan Wilson Remains a Guitar Legend

HAPPENINGS:

Devo: The First 50 Years! (Until June 20 at MutMuz Gallery)

ADVICE:

Download the Merlin Bird ID app

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

I'm Christine. And I'm Christina. In 2024, I moved to Texas from LA. And to keep in touch, Christine and I started a weekly game where we each pick a song that fits a chosen theme.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

This game deepened our understanding of each other and the songs that shape us, inspiring the podcast you're listening to now. Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love. And a lot of the time have never heard of.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Welcome to Stereothematica, your favorite atypical music podcast. Hello, Christine. Hello, Christina. Happy season three.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Oh yes, happy season three to you.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Have you done anything interesting lately?

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Um, as a matter of fact, guess who I met last night?

SPEAKER_03 0:47

Oh my god, please tell me.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Mark Mothers Baugh. What? Stop! I am lie, like real time reactive. Okay, she she did not tell me this. Okay. How did this happen? Okay, so maybe met. I don't know. Does saying hello and making eye count that counts, right? That counts. Where? Tell me the whole thing. Okay, so there's a Devo exhibit at his gallery in Chinatown. The Mutt Moose. I don't know how to pronounce it, but it's the Mutt Moose Gallery. That sounds good. And it was the last 50 years of Devo, and it just like photographs, all their iconic photographs, a lot of photographs you've never seen before. And so we're I'm I'm with my cousin, we're walking up down the alley, and you hear like music playing and lots of people outside. And it looks like there's a big crowd inside the gallery, outside. They have a little like drink area, they have clearly some t-shirts and posters. And then coming out, as we're going in, is Mark Mothersball. And he looks at me and I look at him and I say, Hello. He says, Hello. Oh my god. Thank you. And that was the extent of it. It was very exciting. And my cousin's like, why don't you talk to him? You have so much to talk about. You can't. You can't. You can't. Like, oh my God, I loved you. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

You just go. No.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

I I wouldn't. Yeah. I mean, look at me. I can't even, I it's hard for me to even articulate the experience.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

I feel like I'm going to cry. That's crazy. I can't. You you have kept this for me, and you're like, that's that's so nuts. I didn't even know you were going to this exhibit.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Yeah, I almost mentioned it last week when we talked, but I figured I I knew we'd be recording right after it. I didn't know he would be there either. Like I mean, you can have to guess. It's all away. I was it was like 50-50.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

So I recommend anyone in a way. Like it's going on until June 20th.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

Good call.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

It's if you like Devo, Devo Curious, check it out. It's a cool gallery. The Mutt Moose, uh, you can look that up. We'll we'll share it in the show notes. Please do. Was anyone wearing an energy dome? A few energy domes. Okay. Super hipsters. Yeah. A lot of people, you know, miles age and older and younger too, but a lot of like cool people. Just like a really nice crowd. Everyone super enthusiastic about like Devo, the energy.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Yeah. I feel like if you're a Devo fan, it like makes you're automatically a good person. I think so. Is that a I have too much?

SPEAKER_02 3:26

No. I I have definitely found that to be the case, at least like from last night and at the concert. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

That I've been to. Very cool. Yeah. Oh my God. I'm so jealous. I'm so happy for you more than anything. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I know I know you know what the big deal this is to me. So yeah. Have you met any of your heroes lately, Christina?

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Um, let's see. This morning I saw a glossy ibis at the swamp.

unknown 3:54

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Well, that's kind of exact. Uh yeah, I was having a blast looking at all the birds this morning. Um, no, nothing tops meeting, which you officially met, Mark Motherspaw. Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Okay, well, uh, truly that's derailed my whole day, but I'm gonna try to get back on track. And since it's our third season, I thought one way that we might just kind of have a cleansing new beginning. Yeah. And with that, I'm curious if you have any like approaches to a new beginning, whether it's a new job or a new friendship or a new chapter in your life. Like, are you a planner or just kind of a let's roll the dice and see how this goes kind of person?

SPEAKER_02 4:41

What do you think?

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Yeah, I do have a little bit of a feeling.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Uh over planner, over-researcher.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

I mean jobs, people, friends, anything, a restaurant. Before I go, I will read the menu and know what I'm ordering.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

Okay. Interesting approach. Okay. But it is very on brand for you.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Yeah. But I I I will say I'm willing to like, okay, I plan this out, but you know what? The special sounds kind of good.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love to hear a special. But I I the funny thing is, as you could also guess, since you're my foil, um, I don't plan. I don't when I have a new beginning, I I like to just see where the path will take me. Did you know I don't even watch movie trailers? I like refuse to watch them because I'm like, that will spoil the whole thing. Like, that's how committed to just vibes-based approach that I am. But it doesn't always work out for me, like spoiler alert. But I do like to I love surprises. I like, I like that element of kind of seeing where the path will take you.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah, I can see that. And I do like getting into a movie or a book without knowing anything about it sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

That's fun. Man, that reminds me of when you were recommending all fours to literally everyone.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

I know.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

It paid off. It was like the book of the summer.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

But it was like it only, I don't know, 10% in, and I it didn't get to the really dirty part.

SPEAKER_03 6:13

God, that was funny.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Yeah. Well.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Well, in the spirit of New Beginnings, this week's theme that I I selected is next chapter. I actually did not remember why I picked this theme, and I had to go back and check our text to see why I did. And I had a completely different idea of why I picked the theme. But what I said in our text was it was an honor of your birthday.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Huh. I kind of remember that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah. And it seems like a weird pick. What do you think? Do you think I was phoning it in?

SPEAKER_02 6:45

No, I mean, it's appropriate, like around my birthday, and I think that was all what else was going on in January of 2020. Something intensely depressing. Yeah. So a lot. And I think even though we were depressed because of the inauguration, I think. Right, exactly. It was like, well, we could still have an uplifting experience independent of that, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Yeah. I also think this might have just been an occasion that I wanted to share a song with you. And I tried to create a theme that actually would hold the pick well. And so, you know, that's where I'll I'll just kind of veer my ship. And without further ado, my selection for next chapter is Before We Begin by broadcast from their 2003 album, Ha Ha Sound. I I know I remember you saying you liked the song, but what was your initial reaction? And I I'll just share. The song is like intensely soothing to me, which is probably a good thing to be like soothed and calm when you're starting a new chapter. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah, no, I think so. And I I liked that it had that very like retro 60s feel, very ethereal. Maybe not something I would listen to on my own, but but definitely something I can see like in a movie or or like a scene in a TV show, and like feeling like, oh, this is perfect for this situation, and especially a new chapter or next chapter.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

That's funny. I do think it has a really good like movie or show quality to the song because it's like kind of dreamy, spacey, fuzzy, even. Yeah, and I I want to acknowledge for our listeners and for you, I feel like I've been doing a bad job of sharing information about the bands whose songs I select on some of the recent episodes. Because again, vibes and feelings are kind of the thing that rule my life. But I do really want to celebrate this band broadcast. I think they're pretty indie and haven't gotten a lot of attention, even though I think they're they're just so interesting and probably I have to imagine very influential on a lot of other bands that I like. And in case you're not familiar with them, broadcast is a male and female duo that formed in Birmingham, England. How would you say that if you were British?

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Birmingham.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Birmingham.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Birmingham. I get it.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

It depends on which part of England you live. Good call. Anyway, they formed in 1995, and the band members are named Trish Keenan, who does vocals, guitars, um, one guitar and keyboard, and then James Cargill, who plays bass. And they only ended up releasing three albums because Trish Keenan actually passed away in 2011 at age 42 due to complications from pneumonia after contracting H1N1, aka swine flu. Do you remember when that crisis was kind of happening? Yeah, but I've never heard of somebody like dying.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Especially somebody young dying.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

I mean, someone I know, and like I actually saw this band in uh 2009 at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, and I felt really lucky to see them. Like there's this super ethereal band that like to me felt very mysterious, and to see them perform really felt like oh my gosh. It's like for me, it was like it's broadcast. Like I'm seeing them at a music festival. Like in my head, they were kind of like almost mythological. Yeah, yeah. I I'm like curious if you've ever had this experience with a band.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a band. However, I could think of a comedian. Oh. That I recently had this experience with James A. Caster's most recent comedy show. He performs as Craig Simons, a fictional James A. Caster tribute act. Oh my god. And I just loved it so much. And I'd seen him before, I've seen his specials before, and I've seen him in person before. But you know, obviously we love his podcast off menu. But this was something special because of that, like that meta thing that he's doing. He's it was just like so brilliant how he explored the boundaries between like his persona and like his true self. And it just felt so intimate and real. And it was this like, I think for some people, like they found it alienating. And if you're not like a I think one of the um reviews was like, it's horrible for plus ones, because if you don't know his comedy and his background, you're just like gonna be like, what the fuck? But for someone like me who's like deep dived like everything he's ever done, I'm like just dying the whole time. And I was just like, this is the best thing I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

I love that. I think the neat thing for me about broadcast too is like there is that ethereal, almost like otherworldly, but this song in particular is like so sweet sounding and a really like great mix of their classic sound, the 1960s psych mixed with electronica. And I actually read this great blog post that I will link to by Sets and the C D. Oh my god, I just got the pun. Sets and the C D. Yeah, you have to say it out loud, okay? I'm not stupid. Anyway, it was on medium. And in this blog post, they introduced some of the lore about the Birmingham. I'm just gonna have to say it that way because I don't know how to say it the British way. Music scene. And in the 1960s, Birmingham had one of the most popular music scenes in England with the brum beat, and it was defined by their psychedelic sound. So that psych sound was what influenced Trish when she was developing her own musical style. And like some of my favorite songs by them are fuzzy, a bit distorted, and then like a bit dark and ominous. So that's why it's funny that this song is like it's very upbeat and melodic, and I still gravitate towards it. And so maybe that's kind of the new chapter influence coming out. The alternative side of that is that if you listen very closely to the lyrics, the sweetness of her voice and the melody are kind of betrayed by the lyrics. Beginning again is seemingly a chore that the singer has to do every day in their relationship to see how things will pan out that day. They say, you know, what's in tomorrow, fortune or sorrow. And then sadly, I'm sitting here thinking, Am I trying to hype myself up for having a good year? Thinking back to January 2025. You know?

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yep. No, I I it's funny because I think I even paid more close attention to the lyrics this time, you know, before before we record, I like to listen to the songs like even more closely sometimes. And thinking back to that, I'm like, oh yeah, these are really like perfect lyrics.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Yes, I know. And it's so it's so interesting because like it allows you to think, like, I don't know, let's say your new next chapter is like, and this was not the case for me, but like starting a new job or something. You're like, well, I'm still laboring, but maybe I'm in a position where I can like have a fresh start or whatever. But yeah, back in January 2025, there was that intense darkness looming over me, and I was, I'm sure, looking for some motivation. Maybe, who knows? Maybe I found it in this song. But while broadcast popularity may have been primarily with electronic and indie music fans, their legacy lives on. Warp Records actually released two demo albums in 2024. Distant Call collected demos from 2000 to 2006, and Spell Blanket collected demos from 2006 to 2009, which I hope introduced a new audience to their work. A new chapter for this band, too, if you'll humor me, even though after the release of these two albums, broadcast officially disbanded the same year. So Trish's other half of this duo, James Cargill, he went on to form the project Children of Alice with Julian House of the Focus Group, which is a band that Broadcast had collaborated with and former broadcast member Raj Stevens. And the name is actually an homage to Trish, as she cited Alice in Wonderland as one of her primary influences. So I can see that. Yeah, right? Like kind of I know a lot of people who are into psych are really into like Alice and Wonderland and mushrooms for obvious reasons. Yeah, exactly. But I think it's really cool. I love that homage and just the kind of next chapter for James, which is so neat. But that's all I got. And I am not joking when I say I literally can't wait for your explanation for your next chapter song because I've been thinking about it and wondering about it all day.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Really? Okay, well, let's just get right to it. Please. So, okay, my pick was as much about the lyrics as it was about how the music makes me feel, of course, because I too can be a vibes person. Thank you very much. So my next chapter song is Going Up the Country by Canned Heat. Do you remember what you texted after I shared this? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

Can you remind me? I didn't picture you as a country girl. And that's so that's funny that I said that because like I don't I I don't think this is a country song.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

That's that's exactly what I was wondering. Like, I never thought of this as a country song.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

I think I must have been like thinking, oh, I'm going up to the country. Like, like, let's get out of town and go to you know the sticks or something. I don't know. I yeah, who knows? Maybe that's such a weird response.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

But did you know the song? Yeah, for sure. Okay, okay, good kid. It's pretty popular, right? Yeah, no, it's very I think so. It's it's probably their most popular song, too. It is fun though. Yeah, so no, um, Cand Heat is not country music. Just it's just in the title, Christina.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

What if I was drunk and I was like, you're a country?

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Um, no, they they consider themselves blues rock. Oh and but okay, before I get into the song, you know, I need to share how I rediscovered it. Yes. So 2022, I'm at the Hollywood Bowl for the French electronic duo, polo and pan. Do you know them? I know them because you've mentioned them before. So the lighting, you know how like when the main act is gonna come on, the lighting changes, and in polo and pan, they have like they're kind of known for their psychedelic light shows. So it's starting to get groovy, the lighting's changing, and and you're expecting the band to come out. And then suddenly that unmistakable flute and even more unmistakable voice of Alan Wilson comes on. And and so polo and pan, they're known for sampling. So I'm assuming it's going to turn into something new, but the song keeps playing, and something just came over me, and I sang aloud with like complete abandon. I was probably the only one because not really like the polo and pan audience.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

They're they're not the audience or can't eat. Now, of course, it's Hollywood Bowl, and we've been there a while because I like to get there early. I may have finished an entire bottle of rose. Woo! But I gotta say, it was like such a pure moment, and it brought me back to another time, and I was just like, oh, immediately I downloaded the song because I hadn't listened to it for so many years.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Cute.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

So now going back to being a teenager, going up the country was my driving theme song. So, like as soon as I'd get in the car, I'd press play. Actually, have we ever talked about my first car? I know we've talked about yours.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

No, tell me.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Okay, so it was a blue, white-hooded Chevy Caprice classic.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

Oh shit. What year?

SPEAKER_02 19:34

I mean, I want to say 78, 79. So that was originally my grandma's car. And by the time I got it, like you turn it off and it would fart. I mean, that's what it sounded like. Like a it was just like all the exhaust. It was horrible. Wow. But like that car was my ticket to freedom and self-expression. I had flower stickers on it, and I drove around dude. I was driving around Huntington Beach as if it was Woodstock in 1969.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

I can totally picture this.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

But um, and and Woodstock is how I learned about the song, of course. Funny. Yeah. While like my friends were watching The Princess Bride and Dirty Dancing, I was renting all the 60s movies that I could get my hands on at the video store, the library, Easy Rider, The Trip, Alice's Restaurant, Psych Out. Woodstock was huge for me. When going up the country came on for the montage of people arriving at Woodstock, I was totally transfixed. I always love that gulp of air. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_03 21:02

I don't know. No, no.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

It's like he just breathes in right before he starts singing the fast part.

SPEAKER_03 21:08

And can I ask a question? Because I don't know any of the rest of their repertoire. Does he always sing like this or is it just for this song?

SPEAKER_02 21:16

So he's the other song that you probably know on the road again. Like William. That's his voice. No, no, it's not. It's a different song. I mean, I I don't blame you for for thinking that, but it's a different song, and we'll share that. Okay. And it's his, it's just his voice, what he was known for. He's a co-lead singer. Like they there's another lead singer, but the songs that I know, and I'm not like, you know, super fan of Canned Heat. It's really just these two songs.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

They're sung by Alan Wilson.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

Okay. And it's he sounds like that. And he just sounds that's his voice.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Yeah. It is kind of it's kind of crazy though, right? No, I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

It's it's kind of like it's ghostly almost.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Yeah, it it reminds me of like somebody. Like maybe in I don't know, Appalachia or something. It's like sitting on their front porch, I kind of you know, singing.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Yeah, no, for sure. But if there's something special about it, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, music critic Lindsay Planer called the song, which was on their third album, Living the Blues, a rural hippie anthem. Attracts. Yeah, right. You know, I as as a teenager, I definitely identified as a hippie or a flower child. Or at least that's what people called me.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

Sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

But I don't know, it it might seem presumptuous for a band of mostly white dudes from LA to call their album Living the Blues, but the record truly is full of homage to blues legends. Now, I wonder if you know who this is, but Goin' Up the Country is based on Bulldoze blues recorded in 1928 by your man from Texas, Henry Thomas.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

I definitely know who Henry Thomas is. Okay, see? Yeah. But I don't know Bulldoze blues.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Okay. But but still, you know Henry Thomas. Yeah, yeah, for sure. But yeah, Wilson kept Thomas's melody, but arranged it as a rock song. And he completely changed the lyrics. In the original, Thomas played the quills, an African-American folk instrument similar to the Panpipes. On Canned Heat's version, session musician Jim Horn recreated that part on the flute.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

But you know who else covered Henry Thomas? I have an inkling. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Of course, pod favorite Bob Dylan reinterpreted Thomas's Honey, Won't You Allow Me One More Chance? As Honey, just Allow Me One More Chance. Dang, Bob. Yeah. And so Love and Spoonful did a version of Fish and Blues. And unsurprisingly, The Grateful Dead covered Don't Ease Me In.

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Yeah, hippies from San Francisco.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Yeah, you can see that, right?

SPEAKER_03 23:56

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Now, I truly didn't know much about Wilson until I started prepping for this episode. He was also known as the blind owl because of his severe nearsightedness, but also his intelligence. He dropped out of Boston University during his sophomore year because he wanted to play music, not just study it. And by the early 60s, he was kind of known around the Cambridge music scene as a record collector and blues scholar. And then in 1964, he actually spent hours helping Delta Blue singer Sun House relearn songs from his old records.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Yeah, like scratchy old records. He would play them back for him and then demonstrate the guitar parts and help him revive like music that House hadn't performed in decades. Damn. Wilson got to play harmonica on Levy Camp Moan on House's 1965 album, Father of Folk Blues. And all these things I'm referencing, I'm going to put them in the show notes because they're all so just amazing to listen to, and you're all gonna love it. So shortly after Wilson moved to LA to help guitarist John Fahy with research on Delta Blues pioneer Charlie Patton, and it was at a record store he met fellow blues obsessive Bob Height, and then they formed Canned Heat in 1965. The band's name was taken from another blues icon, Tommy Johnson's 1928 song, Canned Heat Blues. You know what that is about? I actually am stressed thinking. I feel like you would know. Well, okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

You tell me, and then I'll tell you my reaction.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

It's about an alcoholic who turned to drinking sterno canned heat cooking fuel.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Okay, and this was my thought. Like, I wonder if the name canned heat comes from that, like truly the can. You know, you light it in fire and it's like a heat source. But drinking it is that's next level. Wilson drinking mouthwash.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

I know. Oh my god. I know I know stress. But sadly, Wilson died in 1970 of a drug overdose. He was found in a sleeping bag behind Bob Heights' Topenga Canyon home. And according to the manager who found him, he was smiling and looking at the sky. So that's I don't know. At least he was smiling.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Yeah, yeah, looking at the sky. I thought there were some nice scars out there in Topenga Canyon.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

I know. And he, I mean, he had been suffering with depression a lot, and just yeah. So um Wilson's death now on September 3rd was the beginning of a pretty shocking few months in rock history. Jimi Hendrix died on September 18th, and then Janice Joplin on October 4th, and all three were 27 years old.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Damn, I was gonna ask you if Wilson was in the 27 club. That's a huge bummer. Yep. That's so young. I know. Isn't it crazy to look back on like the photos of these people? And it's not like I think they looked old, but then you find out they died when they were 27, and you're like, what the fuck? I also the insane talent that they're able to have, and like it's like a meteor, just like such a short amount of time.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

It's insane. No, I know. It's I mean, Jim Morrison was the following year at 27. And then I mean, in our lifetimes, I mean, there's Amy Winehouse at 27. Kirk Cobain. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of people, a lot of people, weird, yeah. But in their years that they're alive, they're producing so much, and there is genius. I mean, I know we don't I don't like use that word, but but there is there is I'm not calling them geniuses, I'm saying there is genius and brilliance in what they're creating. But anyway, so you so you might ask why something so nostalgic for me represents a next chapter. I I still don't, I feel like I haven't quite answered.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

No, I'm still waiting.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Okay. So I think it goes back to essence, the essence of who you are and the importance of pursuing that. That's the next chapter for me, more than any big changes. I don't know. It's more about knowing what I really care about and keeping that as my north star. Okay, that's deep. But this song in particular is just such like it, it really does represent my teenage years when I was just like, you know, kind of rebellious and and figuring myself out and being true to myself. So I think that's why I chose this song.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

That's so cool. And then I can, you know, totally editorialize a little bit and be like the the car and like going off to college and like just having your next chapter and like a soundtrack playing along with it. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Cute. I love it. What a really neat interpretation and a fun song. I love this song.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Yeah, no, it's like maybe you hear me in talking about it.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

I can't even imagine. Well, I was going to ask, and now I know since he passed away at a very young age. I was like, oh, was he actually there singing?

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Oh no, yeah, it was it was the recorded version. Yeah. Also, interestingly enough, as I'm doing research about Alan, I'm like, is this guy autistic? And while he was not diagnosed, because you know, at that time people weren't really diagnosing autism. Right. People have talked about him saying that likely he was he was super socially awkward, super obsessed about the blues.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

The blues. He just really loved the blues.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

He's just really how we know. Yeah. And I mean, he he wasn't good with eye contact either. People have surmised that he probably was autistic. Yeah.

unknown 29:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

But okay. So um I feel like it's time, maybe. Yeah, it's it's gotta be time. Okay. In response to recent events, Derek Matica is issuing a statement on the Hold on, Christine.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Can I give you some unsolicited advice? Actually, I was thinking it'd be fun to start giving our listeners unsolicited advice each week. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Why not? It's the next chapter. I'm game for anything. Excellent. Here's some unsolicited advice then.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

Download the Merlin app. At the risk of encouraging more time using technology, I actually think it could help those of you seeking an opportunity to shake up your morning routine. Doom scrolling is out, bird identification is in. Even folks who don't like birds might find this app charming. Wake up, walk outside, turn on the Merlin sound ID, and revel in the natural beauty around you. Before you know it, you'll be saying, Hear that, it's a woodpecker. We're both Merlin users, right, Christine? Actually, I use bird sounds identifier, but I'll switch.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

This is unpaid promotion for the folks over at the Cornell Lab Ornithology. As a matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt if you donated, but we'll save the unsolicited advice about how to give charitably for another episode. Advice over. Christine, want to give the listeners a hint about what next week's theme will be? Next week, in the spirit of next chapters, we're gonna do some introductions.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Can't wait. Thanks for listening to Stereothematica. If you like what you're hearing, please consider a review, a rating, or sharing with a friend.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

And follow us on Instagram at Stereothematica, where you can share your favorite songs that signify a new chapter for you. We've also got our infinite Spotify playlist linked in our show notes.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

And visit stereothematica.com for more fun.