This is a small taste of the show overall, the bits and bobs that I found interesting and funny, insightful and relevant. To hear everything that happened, check out the podcast version of the show. If you want a quick read along with random self inserts and my personal thoughts, you've come to the right place.
Call in Point:
(This is the broadstroke canvas on which I base my call, obviously these notes are going to be longer and more detailed.)
Over at the Taylor household last night, princess Angi had her personal stylist come over to do her hair last night. You see, she's way too famous to be seen out in public and so her "friend," the hair professional, needs to come to her. I should note that Abe got his hair did yesterday as well. After we got done with our daily dose of Abe yelling at Angi for being extra, we got to the meat of the topic. As they sat around gossiping, Jay the Straight strolled in and somehow the talk turned to concerts. Specifically, physical ticket stubs, which for some insane reason people are suddenly into collecting. In what I'm assuming is some kind of nostalgia fever dream, idiots want and need these things. The move from physical items to printed or digital tickets has sent them into a frenzy. However, this does create an interesting topic worth discussing. Angi wanted to hear from the roadies to see what ticket stubs they have lying around that are prized to them. Personally, I think she was just casing people so she could fuel her secondary job as ticket stub thief in the night. Abe explained that his best would probably be his Pearl Jam from Soldiers Field when they were feuding with Ticketmaster. The tickets were mailed, you could only get two, etc. Abe should really start looking into unloading them on Ebay though because these things are going for big bucks now. In fact, if you have a signed ticket or an unbroken one, you're open for even more money. Just think of all the DogeCoin Abe could buy with that and then sell it to pay for things for The Ivory Tower that he'll never move into. Turning to the phones, roadie Dan has Bush and 38. Special ticket stubs but his prize is an uncut STP ticket. Jason has Bon Jovi and Cinderella was his first concert when he was a kid. Andy has an autographed Ozzy Osbourne ticket stub from the Scareagon in the 90's. Not only that though, he also has a picture with him from a meet and greet that they did at Tower Records before the show. Drummer Chris has about a dozen Pantera ticket stubs. Fred has an Eric Clapton stub that also doubles as Stevie Ray Vaughn's last show. Dan has a ticket from the Grand Ole Opry where an unknown Garth Brooks was opening for Minnie Pearl. John has a Monsters of Rock '89 stub. Maureen has a ticket from a 1977 Black Sabbath show where the opening act was Van Halen and they came onto the stage on Harley's. As for me, I have a ticket from NIN during The Downward Spiral tour which doubled as my first concert at 13. Let's close this out by mentioning Abe also has a ticket stub from Tom Petty's last show as well.
All the Rest:
Let's combine something that happened earlier in the morning with something that came later. My reasoning is simple, I think Angi is walking into a self sabotage trap. You see, now that people are back at the station, that also means the big boss is there. He has an affectionate love toward Abe that only rivals Abe's fancy of Stamos. Now that Abe is the hot new piece in the building, Angi has become chopped liver and she is pretty jealous. Actually, she wants Abe to be happy and so she's happy that he's happy. What I think is really going on though is Angi is attempting to hide her disdain for the fact that the boss is out to get her. See, what happened was yesterday, Angi got in trouble with him. She got an email with an attached audio clip suggesting she listen to it. After repeated plays, she couldn't seem to find anything wrong with it. In fact, it seemed like it was some of the best work that she and Abe had done. The issue was that Angi was yapping and guess what, once she pops, she can't stop. Her rambling led to her not paying attention and she went over the allotted time for that particular segment. This is a problem on her end because it's her job to be watching the clock and she messed up. Abe was upset of course as he was dragged into Angi's mess. She did try to salvage his sinking by pointing out she was the sacrificial mess up here and he didn't deserve any form of punishment. This is kind of karma for her I guess as she spent all this time complaining about them being the only people in the building. Well, now everyone is slowly returning and guess what, issues are already arising. However, instead of hitting her with a rolled up ratings report, a better solution has been found. Much like those acts who get buzzed and dragged offstage, Angi is now in that boat. The boss is sitting on a nuclear button and any time she starts to go over, he can and will shut her down. The beauty of this shut off is that she's being played off by theTitanictheme song. She's currently on talking probation but she should be a bit better now that she knows to look out for it. At last count, she's already been played off three times since I started doing these notes. God, this is going to be fun to watch unfold.
As music was one of the big talking points of the morning, it would make sense to dip back into the open pool. The secondary music topic of the day had to do with cover songs. For example, Angi loves it when people cover songs by The Beatles. So in keeping with the idea that some covers are better than the original, Angi had a list to go through. Before that though, Abe revealed his favorite cover is Guns N' Roses version of "Live and Let Die." As for Angi, The Bangles cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter" is her go to jam. As for the list though, it breaks down like this.
10. "Respect" by Aretha Franklin
9. "With a Little Help from My Friends" by Joe Cocker
8. "Mister Tambourine Man" by The Byrds
7. "I Fought the Law" by The Clash
6. "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin
5. "Jolene" by The White Stripes (Angi doesn't agree)
4. "The Man Who Sold the World" by Nirvana (Angi likes both versions)
3. "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley
2. "Hurt" by Johnny Cash (Angi and Abe like the Nine Inch Nails version better but the Johnny Cash video is better in this one.)
1. "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix
After Abe made a point that every Beatles song done by Ringo should be covered, Angi went to the phones. Roadie Eric said that "Knocking on Heaven's Door" by Guns N' Roses is his jam. Bill loves Chris Cornell's cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U." Tyler adores Limp Bizkit's cover of "Behind Blue Eyes." Andre really digs Bad Wolves cover of "Zombie." Mark gets down with "Whiskey in a Jar" by Metallica. Drummer Chris totally sees "Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann as the best. Abe chimed in with a song I totally agree with and that's Shinedown's cover of "Simple Man." Angry Bob added that "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and "Whiskey in a Jar" are high up for him. Suzanna loves Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You." As for Tim, he loves Van Halen's cover of "Pretty Woman." Over on Twitter, Zack added that his favorites are "Cat Scratch Fever" by Pantera and "Welcome to the Machine" by Shadows Fall. My absolute choice would be Ryan Adam's cover of "Wonderwall." He also did an outstanding job covering all of Taylor Swift's "1989" album. Also high on my list, Tori Amos' cover album "Strange Little Girls." She does a really cool cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood."
Request Wars:
Current Champion: Mike
Challenger Song Choice: "The King of Kings"
GOAT Song Choice: "Ace of Spades"
Observation: Mario came to play today, bringing a bucket of piss just in case the burns were too much for Mike (spoiler: God, they so were.) This was what a true Request Wars fight looks like but honestly, I'd have to say Mario massacred Mike.
Winner: King Mario
10 o' Clock Toast:
Middle Seat Guy. He got into a fight on a plane over an armrest that was being snatched from him.
Show Quotes and Tidbits:
"No, no, we're not soliciting for Frank Thomas to follow you on Twitter." - Angi
"It looked like a garbage bag full of junk, like a big snake." - Abe
"If the Cubs lose, Abe is the mush" - Angi