#4394 She Slings Slices Down By The Seaside

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live – Episode #4394 “She Slings Slices Down By The Seaside”

Release Date: February 3, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Duration: Approximately 86 minutes

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1. Introduction

The episode kicks off with Luke Burbank introducing the show from the Madrona Hill studio amidst a backdrop of snow and occasional sunbreaks. He shares personal anecdotes, including spending time with his daughter celebrating her birthday and rediscovering a nostalgic memory related to pizza.

Luke Burbank [01:05]: "I had a fun weekend, spending time with my daughter, celebrating her birthday a little bit early, and also unexpectedly, unlocking a childhood pizza related memory."

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2. Seattle Times Rants and Raves Column

Luke and Andrew delve into the Seattle Times' "Rants and Raves" column. Luke expresses skepticism about one of the raves, leading to a playful discussion about the credibility and content of these submissions. They highlight Andrew's unsuccessful attempt to contribute a rant and rave, critiquing the authenticity of a recent rave story published by the Times.

Andrew Walsh [56:56]: "Mine was a little unhinged. I wish I, I mean I could give another go at it."

Luke Burbank [67:00]: "It's an affront to me."

The hosts dissect a particularly dubious rave about a man gifting roses at Costco, questioning the plausibility and journalistic integrity behind such a story.

Andrew Walsh [60:44]: "How does one person who supposedly doesn't know this man... witness this entire arc?"

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3. The Blue Man Group and Arrested Development

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the Blue Man Group's retirement in New York City and its intersection with the TV show "Arrested Development." Luke reminisces about attending a Blue Man Group performance with young Ukrainian journalists during the Orange Revolution, highlighting cultural exchanges and personal reflections.

Andrew Walsh [23:56]: "This is one of those just bizarre times in my life that I can timestamp something so specific because it's just, none of it still doesn't make sense to me."

They explore the origins of the Blue Man Group, its evolution, and its portrayal in popular media, particularly in relation to "Arrested Development."

Luke Burbank [22:11]: "Savion Glover, line two."

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4. Colonoscopy Preparations and Dietary Choices

Luke shares his upcoming colonoscopy procedure, discussing the stringent dietary restrictions and the mental defiance involved in adhering to them. He humorously recounts sneaking a sleeve of Planters peanuts despite the preparation guidelines.

Luke Burbank [45:24]: "I found that this tired me like I don't know... I have real questions."

Andrew Walsh [43:00]: "Oh, you're already in the window."

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5. Visit to Seaside, Oregon and Nostalgic Pizza Memories

Luke narrates his trip to Sou'wester in Seaside, Oregon, celebrating a birthday and exploring communal living spaces. A significant highlight is his serendipitous visit to Chico's Pizza in Seaview, Washington, fulfilling a long-held high school memory.

Andrew Walsh [32:52]: "Oh, wow. Did you get one?"

Luke Burbank [35:17]: "The pizza absolutely slaps."

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6. The Brutalist Movie Experience

The hosts discuss their experiences watching the movie "The Brutalist," sharing mixed reactions and contemplating its themes related to architecture and shadow play. Luke expresses a desire to discuss the film further on an upcoming show, while Andrew reflects on the film's length and complexity.

Luke Burbank [37:06]: "It's very long, but I just sort of wanted to have my own thoughts about it for a little bit."

Andrew Walsh [46:21]: "Bro, this is Brian Windhorst, okay? He's like a... one of the top, top basketball sort of journalists."

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7. Rants and Raves Proposal

Frustrated by the Seattle Times' publication choices, Andrew proposes that TBTL subscribers submit their own rants and raves for the show's newsletter. The idea is to create a community-driven section where listeners can share genuine grievances and praises.

Andrew Walsh [67:49]: "Send us a rant and a rave and I'll see if I can make that."

Luke Burbank [69:07]: "I'm actually composing a rave to the Seattle Times."

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8. Discussion on Luka Doncic Trade

Towards the episode's conclusion, Luke and Andrew shift focus to a massive NBA trade involving Luka Doncic moving to the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite neither host being deeply versed in basketball, they navigate the surrounding media frenzy and speculation about the trade's implications.

Luke Burbank [73:03]: "It's one of the most shocking transactions in American sports history for the magnitude and the way it came out of the blue."

Andrew Walsh [75:01]: "I have never had my phone go crazy like this."

They analyze the trade's potential impact on Luka Doncic’s career, the Mavericks, and the Lakers, while also touching on broader sports media reactions.

Andrew Walsh [84:33]: "Is the Lakers getting a bad deal... Oh, how could this happen?"

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9. Appreciation and Thank Yous

The episode wraps up with heartfelt thanks to their donors and listeners from various locations across the United States and Canada. Luke and Andrew express gratitude towards individuals like Megan Dahl of Winthrop, Washington, Aaron Zennert of Mead, Washington, Nicole Newton of St. Paul, Minnesota, Jeff Dooley of Mansfield, Massachusetts, and Annette Streak of Brampton, Ontario.

Andrew Walsh [51:15]: "Nicole Newton in St. Paul, Minnesota."

Luke Burbank [53:07]: "Thanks, Jeff. Thanks to Annette Streak of Brampton, Ontario, Canada."

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10. Closing Remarks

In their signature humorous fashion, Luke and Andrew share a brief exchange about avoiding discussions on basketball and tease future episodes filled with their trademark "imaginary radio." They sign off with playful banter, maintaining the show's lighthearted and engaging tone.

Luke Burbank [85:57]: "And good luck to you all."

Andrew Walsh [85:54]: "Power out."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Luke Burbank [01:05]: "Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the pizza."

• Andrew Walsh [56:56]: "Mine was a little unhinged. I wish I, I mean I could give another go at it."

• Luke Burbank [33:38]: "Maybe you were at Town hall tomorrow night, which now in your estimation is last night, and you were like, oh, what is this thing?"

• Andrew Walsh [67:00]: "It's an injury to you as a writer."

• Luke Burbank [73:22]: "I don't understand basketball. I don't know anything about basketball, but what I know is that it has exploded my social media feeds."

• Andrew Walsh [82:30]: "This is Brian Windhorst, okay? He's like a... one of the top, top basketball sort of journalists."

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Conclusion

Episode #4394 of "TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live" offers a vibrant mix of personal stories, cultural critiques, humorous exchanges, and unexpected deep dives into topics like public radio phenomena, preparation for medical procedures, nostalgic culinary adventures, and the bewildering world of sports trades. Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh maintain their characteristic camaraderie and wit, making the episode both entertaining and relatable for listeners.

For those who haven't tuned in, this episode exemplifies TBTL's charm—two friends navigating life's quirks with humor, insight, and a touch of absurdity.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Hi. Kathy Mitchell here in the kitchen with a brand new, exciting product called the Griddleman. And I have a friend to help me introduce it to you. From Channel 5 News, Dr. Steve Bruhl. Have you ever bought a panini at a restaurant? What's a panini? Panini's a sandwich. Well, then why did you call it a panini? Well, panini's Italian. I think it means grilled in Italian. What's Italian? That's a country in Europe. It looks like a boot. Kind of shaved out. Like a cowboy boot? Kinda.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let's make you a sandwich.

[Luke Burbank]

You wanna hand me one of those spatulas over there? How about some meat? You like turkey?

[Andrew Walsh]

Who you calling turkey?

[Luke Burbank]

And then you can add whatever you like, your own little touches. You like pickles or. Yeah, okay, very good. Let's put some pickles. There you go. Very good. Very good. And now we're ready to go. We'll just lay that sandwich right on there. Do you like sandwiches? Have you had a panini before?

[Andrew Walsh]

And a cowboy boot. Tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

Problem is, I thought the show was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gonna be entertaining and interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

The fact is, it's just plain boring.

[Andrew Walsh]

It worked. It worked.

[Luke Burbank]

What? What worked?

[Andrew Walsh]

Our little plan. You see, first we get your attention with the boring stuff.

[Luke Burbank]

Then we hit you with the excitement.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bam.

[Luke Burbank]

Bam. What did you have to do? Did you do anything to spare your touche at all? I mean, was it just hard swing and keep moving?

[Andrew Walsh]

Nah, I don't. May, bring me a kiwi fruit pillow.

[Luke Burbank]

In a few hours.

[Andrew Walsh]

In. Aye.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't use foul language and I don't like to hear anyone else use it either. Oh, he's starting that funny talk again. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is this? Only my favorite podcast of all time.

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. I just want you to be normal. And clearly you're not. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where it's intermittently snowing here.

[Andrew Walsh]

Snow, snow, and more snow.

[Luke Burbank]

And then also with sunbreaks. It's that classic snow showers with sunbreaks that you've been hearing so much about in various meteorological circles. We're experiencing it today on this Monday as we arrive at episode 4394 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. I had a fun weekend, spending time with my daughter, celebrating her birthday a little bit early, and also unexpectedly, unlocking a childhood pizza Related memory. Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the pizza. We'll get into that. Also, we'll get into this Monday's Seattle Times Rants and Raves column. I'd like to point out to anybody watching this is really bunk journalism. I'm a little confused as to how I feel about one of the raves in the Rants and Raves. And I want to run this by the number one rants and raves observer in the podcasting community. This guy, also known as the longest running cobra of the show, also maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's just got his ear to the ground in so many different areas and he has a lot of tea to spill on this Monday morning. I hate to be a gossip.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just kidding. I love it.

[Luke Burbank]

He's Andrew Walter Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. I'm frantically searching all over the place for that little piece of tape we heard a moment ago from the Canadian Broadcasting Company about somebody's Touche. Were you able to protect your Tooche? I feel like we're gonna have a lot of touch talk later on in the week with your upcoming colonoscopy. So I feel like you should have the toosh tape ready to go, but I can't find. I don't know what I saved it under. I've looked up CBC Canadian. I've looked up both Tush and Touche. I'm finding nothing in my library.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we need to be carefully saving and preserving all backside related drops for. Really, I'm gonna, There's gonna be, there's gonna be a build starting on Wednesday when I'm going on an all liquid diet and not even like, oh, well, you can drink a milkshake clear liquid diet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Andrew.

[Luke Burbank]

Starting Wednesday and enrolling right into Thursday's show, which is going to be an adventure because I would like to talk to you on Thursday. I'd like to check in, tell you how I'm doing. That's the day of my procedure. But I'm increasingly hearing from folks both in and out of the medical profession and folks who've just been through it, that it may not be possible for me to sit here at this microphone for up to 15 minutes talking to you come Thursday morning, depending on what that thing is, what that fang is doing to my body.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's almost like when we had a plan to go hitchhiking and we were flooded with emails, concerned voicemails and emails and all kinds of communications from listeners saying, please, you don't understand what it's like out there. Don't do this. Well, we mostly went ahead with a hitchhiking plan. I mean, we did hitchhike. We had to bail ourselves out a little bit at the end there. But a lot of people are like, hey, listen, I've taken this roller coaster ride called colonoscopy before, by the way. That'd be a terrible roller coaster ride.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, Woody. As a theme, actually. Wait. Amazing. Think about just the tunnel implications.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. Well, that's what I was thinking.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, the entire thing is. It's essentially. It's made to be a amusement ride.

[Andrew Walsh]

As I was saying it, I realized, actually, it would be the perfect roller coaster ride, wouldn't it? But anyway, yeah, people are very concerned about you maybe not realizing just how intense and frightened frequent, potentially, the need to be on the throne may be. Speaking of thrones, by the way, I do have one other Watching it here. This is from. Remember, during the Game of Thrones days, There was a YouTube discussion show called Gay of Thrones. Do you remember this? This has tushy in here, too. Is this usable for you later this week? Can we talk about your tushy?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, if that's your tushy fierceness, you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can talk about my tushy, but it ain't my tushy.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. Oh, my God. That looks.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a stunt tushy, baby. Okay, I don't think that that's maybe the best tape I did find.

[Luke Burbank]

What did you have to do?

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you do anything to spare your tushe at all? I mean, did you do anything that was from as it Happens and it's apparent.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my goodness. The jazz flute billboard to end all jazz flute billboards, including the Andrew Walsh show.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. No, I bow to it. I mean, mine was more of an homage. Honestly. I have. That is saved as news. Dash, Kiwi dash, Swinger Dash. As it happens, I believe this person was. It was a news story about a guy in New Zealand who was trying to break a record for how many hours or days? I guess he was swinging. And I don't mean that in the adult.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, honestly.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, honestly, he's wondering about his tushy. His two sh. As she says. Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

That's funny, though. That must be. We got so much to talk about, and I don't know how we're gonna go down. And as it happens, Rabbit Hole, a CBC show that I'm guessing still exists in Canada.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think it's. I think it's carried Still.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, but we are paying 25 more, so listen to it now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

But. Oh, it's still on. Okay. See, you know what? That's, that's, that's interesting. My listening patterns have shifted to OPB down here because I'm close to Portland. And so I guess I assumed that it had maybe gone off the air in the US but that's just because I've listened to a different radio station. But we love that show. We Stan. That show. It. It represents a certain kind of public radio that is not getting made very much anymore, where you're. You're talking about real things, but also you're talking about people that are just on a swing for days and potentially on the telephone with them. And that show, to me, very much was carried on the shoulders of the hosts. Like it was a vibe more than it was about the information, or is, I should say, because it's not done yet. And that's the kind of stuff I like. That's the kind of show we're making here. Like, what we're actually doing. The content that we're talking about is immaterial. You got to buy in on Andrew and Luke, and there used to be a lot more public radio shows that kind of followed that principle. And I feel like that doesn't happen.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, that is the one thing you may have heard as It Happens in the Wild, but it might sound different because Barbara Budd is no longer a part of it. It's Carol off and a fella whose. Oh, here it is. Jeff Douglas. I think so. I don't even know. I mean, and I wonder, do you think the theme song has survived? Because that's one of those things.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it something that we can find out? Like, do they. Do they include that now for. For people who are just. Just tuning in today for the first time? Maybe you were at Town hall tomorrow night, which now in your estimation is last night, and you were like, oh, what is this thing? This tbtl? This is what it is. It's us talking about CBC shows and trying to figure out if we can play what's called the Billboard. So the billboard in public radio parlons is that thing, that first minute of the show where they're setting up what is going to happen on the program today. And then they usually say something to the effect of Stay with us. It all gets started right after this. And then you hear Lakshmi Singh or, you know, one of many Windsor Johnson or some. Some public radio newscaster at the network. Then they do their news for five minutes or whatever. And now we're back to the show. That little first minute is called in the industry, the Billboard. And we loved the as it Happens Billboard music, which was edgy for public radio probably at the time and, and a whole vibe. But I don't know if they would include that billboard in the podcast version of as it Happens.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I'm trying to figure out as well. And here's, you know what my struggle is right now. They make their audio very available on their website. I am just looking a main topic that is not absolutely soul crushing brutal on this. I mean it is just so brutal. If it's not about the politics of dealing with that. That awful country just south of the border of Canada or just all of the tragedies that have taken place lately, I'm just looking for something that is hopefully not here. How about this? How about TikTok? We can handle this. This is from January 17th. Here we go.

[Luke Burbank]

Hello, I'm Neil Kurgsall. Good evening.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm Chris Howden. This is as It Happens. Oh, God damn it. Oh, it is.

[Luke Burbank]

It's happening.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, it is happening.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay. Come on. Tonight dance exactly like Nobody's watching.

[Andrew Walsh]

The U.S. supreme Court upholds the federal.

[Luke Burbank]

Ban on TikTok, leaving Americans who rely.

[Andrew Walsh]

On that app for their livelihoods at.

[Luke Burbank]

A loss unhousing crisis. Some people who lost their homes, if we get lucky, Andrew, they're gonna come up about five seconds short on the copy and we're gonna get more jazz.

[Andrew Walsh]

Voice for the homelessness. Red all over. Our guest tells us the case against red dye number three is more nuanced than recent headlines suggest. But he says that does not mean.

[Luke Burbank]

Food dyes deserve a place on our plates.

[Andrew Walsh]

The arias of her expertise, the woman behind the world premiere of the earliest.

[Luke Burbank]

Known opera by an African American composer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very happy to dispel the myth that opera isn't a part of black culture. Less ooze, more Oz. All of Canada mourns, or at least some of Canada notices when Hershey announces the historic adequate candy known as the cherry blossom is leaving shelves forever.

[Luke Burbank]

And archenemies, if you know the unique.

[Andrew Walsh]

Pain of stepping on a piece of Lego, then you'll be stunned by a New Zealand woman's 100 meter barefoot sprint over thousands of pieces of the most painful toy ever made.

[Luke Burbank]

As it happens, the Friday edition radio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Knows it must have been soul crushing.

[Luke Burbank]

How did they get all of that in one minute?

[Andrew Walsh]

Not we're up to. We're up to a minute 40 now. This must Be.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I'm here for it. Honestly. I want to listen to that entire episode right now. That, that was great. Exactly the kind of hard hitting Canadian public broadcasting content that I need in my life right now. I need to hear about people running over Legos intentionally. I need to hear about black opera. I need to hear about. I need to hear about a million things that aren't the drumbeat of news in this country.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm trying to figure out if both of those hosts might be the regular hosts now. I wonder if I was reading old information that had Carol off still there as well. I know Barbara Budd is gone, but anyway, yeah, but they still maintained the spirit of the show. So I'll give both of those new. Even though I am very old and very reluctant to accept change in my life, I will say the spirit of that show is strong. And I was fooled at first. I didn't read the music having almost a quasi electronic, almost little feel or a little bit of a. I don't even know how to describe it. But before that flute kicked in, I thought they changed the, I thought they changed the music on us. And that would have been a real tough pill to swallow on a Monday morning.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't see, this is, I don't want to generalize here, but this is, I think, why Canadians are better than Americans. I just, I knew instinctively they hadn't changed the song because they're not. Because here's the thing, they're not probably talking about defunding the cbc. Therefore the shows on the CBC are not probably always going like how do we, how do we drive the ratings? How do we sweep more quarter hours? And then they're not bringing in some consultant who's going, well, a new theme song could really engage Gen Z. You know, I just feel like those are not conversations that they're making them have and I love that for them like this, you know, I mean I will say this, the quote unquote new Morning Edition theme which I think has now been out for five to ten years or whatever. Remember it being a big story when, when it, when it was first launched. I'm very used to it now. So it's, you know, it's like anything, you change something and then eventually it just becomes the regular thing and it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel nouveau or whatever. But like I love that kind of kitschy, kind of corny ass theme song of as it Happens. I loved hearing that. I don't know what time is it playing Kuow, like I don't know, like 10 o'clock at night or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't think it's that late because it would be very rare for me to find. I'm looking to see time here. I don't know if it says on the page I'm at. I'm thinking it's probably more like 7ish, but I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I. Yeah, I, I have a memory of it. Maybe it was the time of year, but I have a memory of hearing it at a late hour. Like I'm driving home from something. By late, I mean like, you know, it's dark outside, which again in the winter could be 7pm and just being.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're closer than I am. 9pm 9pm Okay, 9pm What's.

[Luke Burbank]

I would call that right in the middle. But like I just like the idea of hearing that theme song at 9pm as I'm just like driving from some place to some other place and just finding out about these things that are both meaningless but also give meaning to our lives. Like why would. I really do want to understand why this woman would run over those Legos? It does seem very incredibly painful. Like I immediately started thinking, does she have a callus? Has she developed a callus on her feet? That the only answer I can think of that is so intense that she does not feel these effects because you know, that is a, that's a sink. And you, you know, you not having young children maybe have never have you been through this. Have you stepped on a Lego in bare feet?

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean I.

[Luke Burbank]

Pale moonlight.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know, I know that it's. I know that it's a well worn sort of trope of that thing. And so I feel, I feel like I have experienced that sensation at some point, but probably for me it was more as a child that than an adult. Sure.

[Luke Burbank]

But it is, yeah, it's a singular experience and it is a horrible, horrible feeling. And the idea of somehow being able to tolerate a whole lot of that. Like, I mean, I have real questions. I may at some point today, Andrew, go back and try to find that. Can you send me the link to that episode, please?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I will try.

[Luke Burbank]

I might listen to that tonight. That might be some tonight listening for me now that I've wrapped up Chris Hayes's fine, fine book, the Sirens Call, which we'll be at Town hall tomorrow night talking about, which I'm very excited to be doing. I'm probably. This will come up tomorrow on the show a lot, Andrew, because we'll be much closer to the event. But it is going to be challenging for me to low key the TBTL aspect of our relationship. Because what's interesting is that this whole book is about our attention and where we direct our attention and the. And how we make those choices or how those choices are taken away from us in a way by these companies. And it's like we are this weird thing that mostly talks about CBC radio shows that has commanded way too much attention of this person named Chris Hayes. And Lord knows we're not meta. We don't have the world's greatest science minds trying to figure out how to endlessly scroll this thing. We're the opposite of these companies that are commoditizing our attention and selling it and. And harvesting it. It's just you and me and a CBC theme song.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's.

[Luke Burbank]

That's the model. And how in the heck is this working on anyone, let alone television's Chris Hayes?

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you gonna start the Q and A with the as it Happens theme song?

[Luke Burbank]

I am.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, legally walking out. Can you guys walk out to that? That would be pretty.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm gonna have. They. I don't think they have any walkout music. They're at Town Hall.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, picture this. I plan on.

[Luke Burbank]

They haven't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Picture this. It's me. I have a boombox. It's not even plugged in. I got eight D batteries in there. I have a cassette tape with the original Morning Edition theme song and the as it happens, two cassettes. It's a double decker.

[Luke Burbank]

I love it. You have a boombox also, for some reason you're carrying me and I'm the Martin Short character from Arrested Development or.

[Andrew Walsh]

Or what's. What's his name when he has the hair transplant and it rejects.

[Luke Burbank]

It's Tobias.

[Andrew Walsh]

Tobias. Yeah. I couldn't think of Tobias's name. I feel like Tobias is also carried around like a Muppet in that show quite a bit.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm sure at some point. Oh, you know, I don't know if we're gonna have this week is already shot for us. Andrew, you and I were talking before we came on air about the schedule. This week is going to be a busy one between Chris Hayes stopping by, hopefully, and colonoscopies and other announcements that we're making. It's like this week is already packed. But a story that I did want to see about getting to is the fact that the Blue Man Group is. Is retiring its act in New York City, which is where it was actually started. But what I thought was really funny was I guess maybe I'm just Kind of doing the article now. Maybe this is just as well, but they talk in this New York Times piece about arrested development using Blue Man Group. And I don't know if you had a chance to read the article yet.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I saw that teased sort of at the top of it, but I did not. So seemed like a pretty big part of the article that they mentioned it right away.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, well, one thing was. I didn't realize. I assumed Blue Man Group were like Czechoslovakian or something. There was something about the, like, they don't speak. It reminds me of this thing I've mentioned before called, like, Mummin shots, which was this, like, Eastern European or maybe French or, I don't know, Belgium, I think it might have been. It's anyway some European, real out there theater thing that I used to see, like, ads for in various coffee shops in the U District when I was an aspiring young lefty or whatever. I always assumed that the Blue Man Group was like, literally from some other country. And part of the not talking was because, like, they didn't speak English. No, there's like three dudes in New York who just were like, kind of like into outsider punk art and came up with this weird thing. And one of the things they noticed was that if you had a single Blue man, it was really weird to people. But if you had a group of them, people responded better, like. Because for a while it was just one of them was doing it. Like, this was literally part of some. It was not like, thought of as, like, this is our big thing. It was like, well, let's just do weird shit. Including one of us just dresses up like a kind of a blue guy and goes around doing stuff. And people responded really poorly to it in public. And then they started doing it as a trio. And then people like, well, I guess there's three of them. There must be some sort of a. Some sort of coherent thing happening here. But anyway, to the. To the arrest development stuff, Ms. Mitch. What's his name? Hurwitz. Yeah. The creator of the show went to the Blue Man Group because he wanted Tobias to become a Blue Man. And the creators of the Blue Man Group said, we can't allow this because the Blue Men don't speak and Tobias speaks. And we can't have breaking of that. Whatever that is, that conceit. And so that's why they decided that he was going to be an understudy for the Blue Man Group, which Mitch Herwood said is actually funnier to him anyway. And I thought, I love that. I've Talked about this a lot as it relates to something Stephen Colbert said about creativity. And really not just create maybe creativity in terms of like various creative projects, but maybe just in how we think about how our lives are going. Which is like, Stephen Colbert said that the times when he feels like he's his most creative is when he's getting put into a box. Like when they're trying to do a bit on his show and they can't do the bit the way he wanted. For some reason the celebrity can't make it or it's too expensive to use that piece of film or whatever. And then that's when you have to get creative and make a. And. And he said usually that's when you get. The good creativity comes out of that. And I was like, also imagine being Mitch Hurwitz. And you have this really funny idea that Tobias is going to become a Blue Man. And you're thinking, the Blue Man Group must be psyched about this attention. And then they're like, no, Blue Men don't talk. And that's when my brain just goes. And I'm going to use a swear. Who the fuck do you think you are, Blue Men? Like, I just would. I would just. I would. As the kids say, I would crash out in that moment. I'd just be so mad. Instead, it was like, well, what if he's an intern? And they're like, well, that would work. And he's like, that's actually funnier to me anyway. Like, what a good solution to what was a. No, but from the Blue Men, you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would have just immediately turned to Stomp.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what?

[Luke Burbank]

Does anybody have an oversized push broom and two garbage can lids?

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what? Blue Men, you don't. You. You don't want the Arrested Development treatment. We got Stomp waiting right around the corner. I gotta say, those two. I mean.

[Luke Burbank]

Savion Glover, line two.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know who that is.

[Luke Burbank]

Is that he had another famous Broadway dance show. I'm just working through Broadway hits of that era.

[Andrew Walsh]

For some reason, Stomp and Blue Men Group very much take up the same space in my brain. And, you know, like, I've seen this article on the horizon on the show sheets for a while and I've been sort of struggling because it's definitely not for me. And like, kind of capital N, F, M on that. And although I have seen the Blue Man Group perform live before. Have you been in the.

[Luke Burbank]

In theater made me. No. But in reading it, it kind of made me more interested in the whole thing because Yeah. I came to the idea of the Blue Man Group when it was already becoming kind of a parody of itself. Right. Like. And so I'll be honest with you, I've always sort of filed it under, like, kind of a corny thing that I wouldn't really get much enjoyment from, but in reading about its actual history, you know, and the fact that famously, Fred Armisen was a member of the Blue Man Group in Chicago. He's part of the Chicago, you know, group of. Because, you know, that's the thing. They're going away from New York City. They're not going away from their various other places. They're still very much in Vegas. And to me, that's also. That's a sort of a. That's a. Like a wind speed reading on what relatively cultured people care about versus, let's just be blunt, maybe less cultured people. I don't know. That's a weird way to put it. My point is the people that are going to Vegas will never, ever tire of the idea of the Blue Man Group and the people going to New York, to wherever, in, like, midtown Manhattan. This is. At some point, they just tired of it. I want to. But I want to take that back, even as I've just said it, because I have spent a lot of time in Times Square recently, and it is not an overly cultured population.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess. I guess I just mean it's interesting that the place where it was founded can no longer support it from a business model, from an attendance model, but it's thriving, apparently, in Las Vegas. And probably, you know, I don't want to start naming cities because then that'll indicate places that I think are of low culture. But, you know, it's not that the Blue Man Group is going away. It's just not going to be at this kind of weird, very. Actually small, little funky theater where it was founded in New York City.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can tell you exactly when I saw the Blue Man Group, Luke, because it was during the Orange Revolution.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Andrew Walsh]

The fall of 2004. Would you like to know why? I know I saw the Blue Man Group.

[Luke Burbank]

Were you there? Were you protesting? Were you in.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was in the square.

[Luke Burbank]

Which was. Which was the. Which was the square in question?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I believe I saw it in Boston. It must have been Boston. Yeah, but you actually saw this.

[Luke Burbank]

You saw them in the.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I said earlier. Yeah. No, I was in the room. I was in the theater. I saw the Blue Man Group, and it was exactly what I thought it was going to be, which was nfm. Not for me, as we say, to try to preserve people's feelings when they like things that we dislike. But this is where the just ultimate Gen Xer in me raises its gnarly head and just sort of. Sort of like. SPITS SARCASM VOICE yes, exactly. Like, I am not. I never thought I was going to be into it, but the reason we went was because. So I worked for New Hampshire Public Radio at the time, and my boss, a friend of mine and mentor, Mike Arnold, who I've talked about a lot on this show, whom you've met, Luke. He was part of some sort of like, kind of a cultural educational exchange with journalists in other parts of the world. And I don't exactly know what organization this was part of. And I know that he went overseas. I believe he visited maybe like the BBC a couple of times. I don't think he went over to Ukraine himself. I don't think he might have in his travels. But we definitely hosted. I believe it was two young journalists from Ukraine who visited us because it was all like in the. In the plans for them to visit the United States in the fall of 2004. And so they came over here, and I was relatively young myself at the time, but they came over during the Orange Revolution, which was astounding because we had a lot of questions for them, but the primary question was, why are.

[Luke Burbank]

You not here in Ukraine?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. And they were young, and I'm sure that they just felt like. I'm sure it must have been a moment where it was hard to pass up either an opportunity to go to the United States that had probably been on the books for them for maybe even a year or so, who knows? But then also watching their country's uprising like this and covering this as young journalists for, I believe, some sort of independent outlet. It was during the early days of sort of like, news organizations trying to kind of figure out exactly how to use new. What we called then new media as well and stuff. So, you know, it's 2004, so I think, like, they ran some sort of a news website that had various components to it and stuff. So it was a very fascinating time writ large. But it really was odd that we were hosting these two young Ukrainian journalists, but we also had to introduce them to American culture while they were here. And various people at the station volunteered to, like, take them out in certain nights or whatever. And I don't know how the hell this happened, but Veeves and I got roped into the thing that are least prepared to do, which is go see the Blue Man Group with these Ukrainians in Boston. And you know, like, like I said, it was not, it wasn't one of those things where I was like, well, I'm going in here, cynically. But then it opened my eyes to the art of the experience. It was when they were like flinging toilet paper. Like rolls of toilet paper come streaming down at some point to end the show. I remember just wanting to get the living hell out of there.

[Luke Burbank]

Imagine now those young Ukrainian journalists are now presumably more like middle aged Ukrainian journalists and they're, you know, they're, they're sort of having dinner and they've got their teenagers and they're saying, dad, where were you? What was it like? What are your memories of the Orange Revolution? He says, like, I don't know, but I went to illegal seafood one time and I thought you were going to.

[Andrew Walsh]

In Boston, we call it, me and my business partner call it the Blue Revolution, actually, because we associate the Orange Revolution with the Blue Man Group.

[Luke Burbank]

We associate it more with banging on these PVC pipes to create different tones.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

And getting a lot of paint on us. That's where I was when it happened. Oh, so had you been. Did you have to escape Ukraine because it was unsafe for you? No, no, no, it was totally voluntary.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I mean, we did have to dodge some toilet paper at one point.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, no, I mean, it was. But my memory of the revolution was there was toilet paper every.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. Yeah. I'm trying to see if there's any like, online footprint of anything that could back up the story. I'm telling you. But like, this was not something that I think we had an on air component for. And also 2004 is too early of a time for, for us to trust that whatever we, you know, whatever coverage NHPR did at the time would be online and available right now. But I really wish I could get you some more information on who these folks were, what the organization was, but it was a very, it's one of those just bizarre times in my life that I can timestamp something so specific because it's just, none of it still doesn't make sense to me.

[Luke Burbank]

I really missed out in my, in my time in public radio, which I say that like, I guess I still actually host a public radio show, but I really missed out on that whole kind of. And I'm going to make it sound like a grift and it's not. But like, there were definitely many people I worked with who had their jobs in public radio. And then their other job was signing up for fellowships in other places. Like it was a big rotation. It was about half of, half of the time it seemed per year for them was being some in some other country or some other place on a fellowship. And I was always envious of that. I never had the organizational skills to get it together for myself to apply for these things. It was a, it was a big part of the lifestyle was always going off to Germany for these. There was some series of like ones in Germany that everybody was going to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Our mutual friend who works at KoW just came back from Germany, I'm going to say like in the past year or so from that seriously sort of doing that. I didn't know that, I don't know that I'd heard of the Germany one before. So maybe that was, maybe it's even specifically a relationship that KOW has. I'm not sure. But yes, somebody that we both know is telling me how great it was.

[Luke Burbank]

Andrew, speaking of the cutting edge of media, do you like my new hat here?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, Astoria.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh yeah, Astoria, Oregon, which I was visiting yesterday with Addie. We had been out in Seaside, Oregon at this place called Sou'wester which is this kind of like little collection of cabins and like Airstreams and stuff that is very sort of cooperative and community run. They basically have this like very well stocked store that's like you just take whatever you want, just write down what you took and just settle up with us at the end it was, we were celebrating Eddie's birthday a little bit early and it was really fun. This place is, was really, really cool. A little, I will say this, it's definitely on the more cooperative, crunchy side than I usually go for just in terms of the stuff I'm drawn to. But it was really fun and I actually very much enjoyed it. There was a, a concert in the lodge on Saturday night that we went to this guy playing music under the name Lake Laconic. And it was just wonderful guy and his guitar and he had his brother come up and he had his, his girlfriend and his sister in law and they were just kind of doing some tunes and, and just like a really supportive little crowd in the room. And then you know, getting up in the morning, the next morning and going and getting coffee in this kind of communal area and stuff. I mean I really, really enjoyed it. But when we were walking around on the beach on a Saturday, I realized something, Andrew, which was I saw this big sign going out to the beach that said Sea View and, and that Unlocked a memory for me, which I just talked about actually on the hey Dummies video, which is when I was in high school. I always wore this. This red T shirt from this pizza place called Chico's Pizza, Seaview, Washington. And it had a little guy on it, and he was saying, seven days without pizza make one week. It's my favorite T shirt. I think at some point. I mean, this has come up on the show a bunch of times. I think at some point we Googled it to see if the place still existed. But I was like. Like, I don't know if this place is still here, but we got to go see. And I got on the Google map and I said, if this is within a mile, we're going to walk to it. Adelaide. She said, okay. And it turned out it was within a block. Turns out Seaview, Washington is a fairly compact little area. And so I'll be darned if Seaview Pizza, Chico's Pizza of Seaview, Washington, wasn't right there and thriving and still selling those T shirts. Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, wow. Did you get one? When you. When I was listening to the hey Dummies, I was like, man, it'd be cool to get. Get our hands on one of those T shirts. Oh, that's so great. Is that exactly the same style it used to be as well? And then, oh, that's great. I love that font. It's a very frivolous, chunky font. Seven days without pizza makes one week on the back. That's really. I'm so glad you got that. When you were describing in the video, I was like, oh, man, that'd be so cool to get a new one of those.

[Luke Burbank]

Much like the intro music on the cbc. This is unchanged by time. Andrew. And now, here was the thing, though. I was.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's exactly something they would say at the beginning of, as it happens. Seven days without pizza, one week. Sorry to interrupt you, but I just realized the synchronicity here.

[Luke Burbank]

I was being such a weirdo, though, in this pizza place, because I walked in and I was like, like, you're still here. And they were like, we believe. I mean, everybody, I want to say, was so nice at this place. But they were like, yeah, yeah, we're here. And I was like, do you have the T shirts? And they're like, you mean this one? I was like, are I go. Does he say seven days without pizza make water? They're like, yeah, he does. Like, you have no idea how big.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is to be.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, I was freaking out on these very nice employees.

[Andrew Walsh]

At Chico's, people, were the employees young or were they.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, interestingly enough, there was. There was a couple of employees who were very young. You know, everybody looks very young to me now, but I would say probably teens. Maybe one in their early 20s. And then an employee who was older than me and maybe a woman, like maybe in her mid-60s or something. And I assumed she was the manager, slash owner slash something. She had started there a week ago.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, okay, so she was in your institutional history.

[Luke Burbank]

She was training and doing a great job, by the way, but she was the one that was in training. And so anyway. But I was like, I. I was like, I just have to tell you, when I was in high school, I had this. I had that T shirt and I used to wear it, and I'd never even been here. I didn't even know if it was still a place. I just wore this T shirt all the time. And so anyway, me and my daughter were at Southwester. I was like, again, a much longer story. They were like, I. It wasn't like they were like, trying to hustle me along, but I do think my level of enthusiasm was. Was a surprise to these very nice employees at Chico's Pizza.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, you. Did you stick around and have pizza there? Are there a few tables or is it a full restaurant?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, and by the way, the pizza absolutely slaps.

[Andrew Walsh]

What did you get on the pizza?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I did half and half because I don't really eat meat, so I did. Well, first of all, I wanted to get a slice. Which shows you how, like, I don't know. I mean, I guess here's the thing. I didn't realize until the moment that I tried to order a slice from this place, how inculcated into urban life I am. This idea of a pizza slice is something that is to say a slice that you buy to eat. That slice is a deeply urban phenomenon. You will not find a place. There is probably a way to map voting habits with the amount of pizza you're allowed to buy at one time and take out of the store. Because if you get to suburban and exurban America, generally speaking, they would never have a slice of pizza for you. You would like. It would be insane. So I walked in, I was like, can we get a couple of slices? They were like, oh, we don't really do, like a slice.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, it's also just a very different kind of place. Like here in Seattle, there are tons of places that would not, you know, my bull. I'm going to call it my beloved. My beloved Spiros Pizza. Like, I don't think you go in there and get a slice because it's more of that, you know, sit down, green pizza style place.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a good point.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you know, the. Obviously, if I want a slice, there are places I can go for that too. There's Big Mario's, there's a place in the U District, but. So I always think there's a dichotomy between the type of pizza place it is. But yeah, you're probably right. You're less.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe it's less geographic, but.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I don't think you're totally wrong in that. I think it's going to be harder to find a place that slings slices outside of a city. Right. It's cheap.

[Luke Burbank]

Sling slices down by the seaside.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, by the way, this is a very. This is such a.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, is that a show title, by the way?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, but it reminds me.

[Luke Burbank]

Slings slices down by seaside.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's perfect. Did you see the Brutalist yet? Because there's a. He's practicing. Yeah, I saw it this weekend.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you trick Genevieve? Did you dig a hole around the movie theater and cover it with leaves? So then she fell into watching the Brutalist.

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess she wasn't as against it as I thought, but. So what happened was there's another new movie out that is intriguing and I can't think of the name of it right now, but our friends, Taylor the Cuddl.

[Luke Burbank]

Really? In conversation with the Brutalist.

[Andrew Walsh]

The massages, the.

[Luke Burbank]

Hug. The hug. A list.

[Andrew Walsh]

But no, our friends invited us to see a movie on Friday night and I couldn't make it, but I said I am planning on seeing. They invite us to see this other movie, I can't recall the name of it. And I said, I am planning on going to see the Brutalist tomorrow if you guys are interested. And whatever. One of our friends was interested and I think maybe that, you know, became kind of a thing Genevieve was in. I think Genevieve would have gone with me anyway. But it is very, very long. But one thing I've realized about it, and we won't go into detail here because I think you'll eventually see it. But one thing I started to realize is not to make this quick aside more complicated, but these friends who I was talking about going to see the movie with are a married couple and one of them had already seen it and he's a big film buff anyway. He's even a filmmaker, I think. So he's like, he's got a keen Eye to. But he didn't want to see it again because it's so long. But he wanted to meet up with us afterwards just to talk about it because he had seen it in the past couple years. I love that. And I feel like everybody like. And then our friend Nick Jar and I texted him something about seeing the Brutalist. He's like, we got to get on the phone and talk about it. And I had this same thing with at least one other person where everybody who sees the movie isn't exactly sure how to feel about it, and they just need to talk about it. Now. I ended up blowing off after movie drinks because I wanted to get home. It was a very long movie, and I just sort of wanted to have my. I just wanted to sit with my own thoughts about it for a little bit. So I did not end up having the sort of the. The roundtable discussion of the Brutalist. So now it's sort of leaking. Now that I've had, like, 48 hours to sort of have it, like, kind of settle in Now I do want to talk. I may have. I have all these questions about it, and I don't want to say too much to you because I think that I would like you to go in with not too much knowledge about it. But I will say one thing that you might find interesting, although maybe not. Maybe I give myself too much credit. You know, on the show recently, I mentioned that I don't know anything about architecture, but I do like the idea of people building in shadow or considering shadow and light play when they're built. Like, I think it came up because I was at that Icelandic airport, which was just astounding as the sunset it cast.

[Luke Burbank]

We had really different experiences in that airport.

[Andrew Walsh]

I totally did. It was. I mean, it was designed so beautifully. And they had this thing where the sun was setting while we were there, and there was some sort of skywalk of travelers walking across. And I don't even know where the travelers were, but it cast this shadow across this beautiful building. It was so cool. And I'm always like, I don't know anything about making buildings, but I love the idea of having to consider how will the sun interplay with this. That is a huge part of this movie and even a big reveal. We know that shadow is going to play a role in this building that he's constructing. And it's kind of teased throughout, how will the shadow be cast? And I was like, oh, this is very specifically up my alley.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, Thing now I've noticed. I just was googling it as you were talking. It is playing down the hill for me. I will give credit to this movie theater that's down in the town near me. That's the movie theater close to where you and John Sklaroff were staying. Like listen, peace and love. But an unremarkable town with an unremarkable movie theater in an surrounded by unremarkable parking lot. And yet they're playing the Brutalist.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't. It's like I don't know who the I might be. And again, I don't know why I'm being so kind of like sort of highfalutin today and talking about high and low culture and thinking I somehow embody high culture. I might be the only person who will go see the movie the Brutalist at that theater. I cannot again, I live and shop amongst the denizens of the areas around here. And I've never, I've never observed a person who. And I say this really without judgment. I've never seen a person in any of the places I've shopped who looks like a person who would go see the Brutalist.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know what was playing there when we were staying there? And I almost went because I really wanted to see this movie. And I did end up seeing it after the TV Talathon. But Kinds of Kindness was playing okay. And that makes the Brutalist. Even though the Brutalist is very long and I guess brutal in some parts, Kinds of Kindness is. I mean I really liked it. But I don't know if you've seen it yet. It is.

[Luke Burbank]

I haven't seen it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Rough watch. Like there are some rough scenes in this weird ass movie. And again, I loved it. But I was like, man, this little theater in this.

[Luke Burbank]

Was there anyone you didn't you. But you didn't see it at that theater. I'm curious. I mean, I guess that. I guess this is how it works with movies. You know, what is ever left of the theater industrial complex. You make a deal with Regal and Regal is not, you know, as we used to say in the Bible, not a respecter of persons. Regal is not going. Well, who's the demo here for the Brutalist? They're just going, it's on X number of screens and this is a Regal screen. And here we go. Now this is the bummer for me, Andrew. And if we can bring it back to my experience this week. This is the whole journey my brain went on when I realized it's playing just down the hill for me. I thought, you know, what if I get ahead, if I get all my stuff done today and I'm feeling pretty good about tomorrow night's event at Town hall and the rest of my week, maybe I'll reward myself by going down and watching the Brutalist tonight and by myself. And I'll get some popcorn.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And then I realized I can't eat popcorn.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you're already in the window.

[Luke Burbank]

The window started last freaking Thursday, dude.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I don't think I fully realized that.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I didn't either.

[Andrew Walsh]

Listen, as your attorney, I will tell you now, I mean, I think you have slightly different attitudes towards this.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I want the popcorn.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can't sit in a movie theater. I can't go in that theater and smell the popcorn and know I'm going to be sitting down for an epic three and a half hour movie with an intermission. Luke, I don't know if you realize that, like this. Oh, I heard that movie. Like, I don't think you can do it without popcorn. And that's not a reflection of the movie, it's just a reflection of willpower.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. And like, that's. I will be. I'm not probably as dialed into popcorn as you are, but it definitely would be half of the appeal for me.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

For this, like, okay, this movie's going to have its highs and its lows. It's going to be really long and. But I will be eating delicious popcorn. Like, that was part of my calculation. And yeah, I can't eat anything with seeds and nuts. And as a person who doesn't eat a lot of meat, it turns out I exist on a lot of things that are seeds and nuts. That's like, that's like a lot of the vegetables I like. That's cucumber off the list. Tomatoes off the list. Fruits that have seeds in them, which is, you know, how fruits propagate. Generally off the list.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I mean, only edible seeds. In other words, like, you could eat an apple. An apple has seeds in it. You can eat the apple. You just can't have seeds in your system.

[Luke Burbank]

Right, Correct. So I could eat an apple, which I will be. And just making sure that I'm not accidentally eating the seeds, which is pretty avoidable.

[Andrew Walsh]

An apple it is. But most. Not strawberries, like you say cucumbers. Like, no, I mean, the seeds are part of the deal.

[Luke Burbank]

And I also really like peanuts these days. I've been trying to get more protein and eat more things that are just like minimally processed and, you know, like a handful of salted peanuts. Is a pretty minimally processed thing that's off the list. I did kind of cheat, though. I was so I. This was the weirdest thing. So on Thursday I was driving down to Beaverton to do Livewire and I had just actually gone through and read the paperwork from the colonoscopy thing. And I'm a little bit surprised that anybody actually gets through this prep because it's rigorous and one of the things that was on there was like no seeds or nuts. But I had already gotten in my mind that I really wanted some peanuts. And I was driving down to get gas on my way down to Beaverton and I stopped and I got gas and I went into the mini mart and I was looking around and I just said like, I don't give a. I don't give a rat's patootie. I don't give a rat's. Touche, Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll beep it, I'll beep it.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm gonna. You know what I'm getting? I'm getting me a sleeve of them planters peanuts and I'm eating. You know, it's Thursday night. Am I technically within the seven day window of this procedure? Yes. Am I going to trust the universe that it's going to be okay? Also? Yes. And that felt like the biggest act of defiance. I felt like a political statement. Again, as we've pointed out, a lot of things feel political now that probably shouldn't. I was just like, I am not going to allow the people at the Pacific Surgery Clinic of Longview, Washington tell me that I can't eat these peanuts as I'm driving down to do Long Livewire, even though I am technically seven days before the procedure. And so I did, and they were delicious. They were almost more delicious because of the fact that they were somehow, you know, verbose it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. You know, all I understand is I think the day before you're just supposed to eat as many beets as possible. Right. Is that recommendations for the colonoscope?

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. Just to. Just to make sure that you get a completely clean bill of health. Well, the other thing, I ended up talking about this with the audience at the theater in Beaverton before we started. I do this all the time and it's so dumb of me. Of all the people that should understand the implications of this, me, the host of Livewire, should understand this. By the way, speaking of Livewire, we got an event on Saturday night at the Hotel Crocodile in Seattle, which I would be so fun if we saw some tens there. It's with the Singer, Emmy, pop. And it's going to be Saturday night. It's early six to eight. It's just a chill hangout with food and drinks. Please come see us. But anyway, I should know this. When I talk to the audience before the show starts about some embarrassing, weird thing, the guests of the radio show do not understand that what I was doing is not the radio show. You know what I mean? It becomes not that every single guest referenced colonoscopies for the rest of the night during the radio recording because. Because nobody except me and our producers understand what is and is not the radio show.

[Andrew Walsh]

So. And this is a good opportunity for all of our listeners to employ what they learned at the beginning of today's show. Will you have to reference it in the Billboard, Luke, in order for the references to make sense, or are they just going to cut them all out?

[Luke Burbank]

They'll cut around it. Because I was constant. I was furiously resetting and reframing because, like, so the first guest comes out and she made actually a very funny joke about it. And then I am listening for a new endpoint to the interview and I basically just like, I think. I think I kind of got us out of it whenever it came up. I then intentionally said something that probably sounded slightly non sequitur, but it was effectively resetting the conversation. So I was making it all cutoutable, I think, anyway, I hope. But yeah, I should know better than to talk about something that has no business being in the radio show because then everyone wants to reference it, especially.

[Andrew Walsh]

If it's something that is sort of like funny or interesting like that. That everybody's gonna have some.

[Luke Burbank]

Right? Yeah, that sticks. That kind of sticks out in your mind. But as. Again, as this gets closer. So, yeah, no popcorn for me, which also means no watching the Brutalist by myself. Although if it's there, well, no, I'm going to England then for a week. So I don't know, it may not be showing anymore when I get home. But yeah, I could also see it in England.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I mean, I don't know what your.

[Luke Burbank]

They call it. Cheerio. The Brutalist there. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe that's true. I'm not going to riff on that.

[Luke Burbank]

Country.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have the same two jokes I make over and over again. But I. Yeah, you know, it is one that. And I say this about most films because I definitely don't have the. You know, I've lost whatever patience it takes to like, actually sit down and watch a serious movie at home, especially three and a half hours worth of it. You Know, it's such a theater going experience for me. I mean, even the credits at the end, the way it's sort of of. They slant across. This sounds so cheesy, but they slant across the screen in a way that sort of reflects the. That reflects the sort of lines. Well, sort of, yes, the lines. I mean, yeah, honestly, just like the. The creation of the. The beginning and end credits are really cool. And I also think that the. The weird sort of skewed look at the credits has something to do with the. The movie will sometimes go into this sort of handheld effect that has some really. Again, I'm trying to hold myself back of talking about specific shots, but like, I don't know. Think honestly though, I don't want to build up your expectations too much to come back to this for one second because one of the reasons I think I really enjoyed it was I started to hear more people grumbling about it right when I went in. Both Genevieve and Libby, our buddy who we went with, were both saying, you know, I've read reviews that say kind of misses the mark in some ways. And so I started. My expectations going in were lowered in the like 48 hours before I hit the theater, which is good. Which is good. But now here I am sort of boosting it up and I kind of want you to like it. I don't know why I care, but like, I want you to. Well, I at least want you to enjoy the theater going experience. So I want to keep your expectations in check. Some people find it a frustrating movie for reasons that I understand as well. So anyway, I do. God damn. I just want. I don't want you to watch it on your phone, that's for damn sure. Promise me that.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I have a new app. I can watch it on my Apple watch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Yeah, right. I was sitting next to somebody at the Eagles the other day and I had texted her something. This isn't somebody I know super well, but kind of a buddy of mine there. And I had texted her something. And then a few minutes later, she got the buzz on her phone, or I'm sorry, on her watch, rather. And she's like, oh, I got your text messages. I was like, slow down, Inspector Gadget. And then I was like, it's 2025. Like, I'm wearing this analog watch. Like nobody. It's not even Apple watches aren't even slightly exotic anymore. Like, they're the most common thing in the world. I just am not familiar with that world. Thank you for being a Tam.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's thank Some donors, these folks are keeping TBTL in business with their donations. And this would not be possible without folks like Megan Dahl, who's there in Winthrop, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, the big egg. The Big egg, right.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, that's Winlock.

[Andrew Walsh]

God damn. I'm so.

[Luke Burbank]

Winthrop is the Blues festival and the half marathon that. That I once ran. And then our friend broadcast Barry was there, and I thought I did pretty well at this half marathon. I was feeling good, and I asked Barry how he did, and he said very sheepishly, well, I won for this first place. But Winthrop is just a really cool town there in. In. I guess we'll call it, not quite Central Washington, but maybe Southern Central Washington. Anyway, Megyn Dahl is there, and that's the most important part of Winthrop, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know I got the wrong town, but I am thinking now, what do you think the skyrocketing cost price on the world's largest eggs, how has that affected the Whitlock? Yes. That is now the world's most expensive egg, too, I must say. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, it only stands to reason if you think about the size of the egg and then the increase in cost. Yes. We also want to thank Aaron Zennert of Mead, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. Thank you, Aaron.

[Luke Burbank]

Mead, Washington.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. I don't have anything on Mead.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to think of Mead, Washington. I know there's. Let me. Let me get eyes on this. It's. It's in Washington state. Okay, we know that it's in Washington State, and we know I'm zooming out. I'm. I'm de. Enhancing, Andrew. De Enhance. Unenhance. Oh, you know what? Well, it's a. It's a. It's in the outskirts of Spokane, Washington. And that would make sense. There was very famously a high school in Spokane called Mead that is a powerhouse in many sports.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really?

[Luke Burbank]

But I don't think I knew that Mead was itself its own kind of suburb or designation. I just thought that was the name of a high school in Spokane. So that's where Aaron is. Thanks.

[Andrew Walsh]

You think Aaron is wearing, like, a singlet? Like, is Aaron a wrestler?

[Luke Burbank]

You said Aaron could be a wrestler also. Aaron could have gone to Shadow park, which is the other big high school out there that also has huge, huge success in the arena of sports. We just don't know. What we know about Aaron is that they're donating to tbtl, and we are thankful. Also thankful for Nicole Newton in St. Paul, Minnesota.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you know, I was somewhere recently that had burgers on the menu. I don't I don't know where I was and I don't think I was ordering a burger myself, but I noticed that here in Seattle, Washington, somebody is offering up a Juicy Lucy.

[Luke Burbank]

It's made the jump, huh?

[Andrew Walsh]

It's made the jump. I saw a Juicy Lucy. Something with cheese inside and outside.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, we love the Juicy Lucy and we love Nicole Newton. Thank you. Also, Jeff Dooley is in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

[Andrew Walsh]

Mansfield feels like a town that has a lot of, like, there's a lot of Mansfields, I feel like sprinkled around the country. I could be wrong about that.

[Luke Burbank]

That does sound fairly common. Well, it's a last name for blonde bombshells from the 50s.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sure.

[Luke Burbank]

And for towns, your Janes. It's about the only Mansfield I can think of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jeff, though, is singular in his support and generosity.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks, Jeff. Thanks to Annette Streak of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nice. We were saying nice things about Canada before. I'm glad we were.

[Luke Burbank]

We were then. And I mean, it's long overdue and it's a welcome change because the US for years we've, I think, think without meaning to, we've, we've treated Canada kind of maybe like a younger sibling or something. Like we, we think we're the big international powered. We've got it all figured out and Canada is a fun place to visit and they've got their, you know, exports, including Rick Moranis and John Candy and Drake.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's hilarious dog, huh?

[Luke Burbank]

And, and then, but now what we've realized is that Canada all along was the ones with their together.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

For the ups and downs in Canada. They've never done the kind of shit that we've recently done as a country.

[Andrew Walsh]

I need a toque, by the way. Is that how you say that? I learned that that's like a hat. Right. But I think it's just, I don't. I'm trying to figure out, is there a difference between a toque and just like a. Any kind of knit hat that we would wear here in the States that covers our ears and maybe has a tassel on top or maybe not.

[Luke Burbank]

See, I, I don't know. And it's confusing because when she's talking about toques on, as it happens, she's talking about your backside.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that was a touche. Touche. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

A touche is not a toque.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Do they make a toque for your tushe? A butt hat?

[Andrew Walsh]

You tell me. Ask the doctors. Anyway, in all seriousness, thank you, Annette.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, thanks, Annette. Also thanks to Jill Rosenberg in Madison, Wisconsin. What a wonderful place Madison, Wisconsin is.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know why I said wow. I think I said wow for a second second because I thought we had two Madison's, but one was Mansfield and the other is Madison.

[Luke Burbank]

And in different states.

[Andrew Walsh]

And in very different states. Thank you very much, Jill. I'm sorry I did that to your town.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks to all of our donors today for making TB chill possible. Couldn't do it without you. Hello and welcome to Top Story. I was cruising around for information this morning and I landed on the Seattle Times rants and raves column. This has been a, A, A, a recurring topic here on this show. Of course, Andrew submitted a rant and rave unsuccessfully. I, I still, I don't want to relitigate that, but I still find it shocking like that they didn't publish that. Like, I can't, I, I refuse to believe that they had rants and raves that were better than your rant and rave.

[Andrew Walsh]

Mine was a little unhinged. I wish I, I mean I could give another go at it. They might have been nervous about me taking direct aim at the city and like basically accusing them of, I'm going to say not the city, but the city's contractors adding illegal charges to. I am strongly in the belief that these extra garbage fee things are a willful act on behalf, on behalf of these garbage collection companies. Because once I brought that up to people, a lot of people are checking their bills and they see this, they have these errands earned $13.50 just randomly thrown under their bill when they're like, we had no extra trash and people aren't looking at their bills that much. But I think it kind of, that accusation opens up kind of, you know, I know. I don't know if the Seattle Times was willing to get too hot for the ransom possibly. I don't know. And also the way I wrote it was crazy.

[Luke Burbank]

Suddenly the, the Seattle Times, the actual garbage outside of the Seattle Times, it's just piling up and piling up. And you've got these, you got these, you know, waste management folks that are like, yeah, it's a real shame. We just keep finding ourselves with other things to pick up. Sorry. Yeah, like you're saying that that's the smoke that they might be worried about.

[Andrew Walsh]

That is exactly what they're worried about. You don't go up against big garbage. I'm willing to do it. But the Times, they don't have. Honestly honest that I do.

[Luke Burbank]

You're, you're, you're really the sort of, you Know what is it? Upton Sinclair of the, of the industry, you're willing to push back. Yeah. Well, the rants and raves today, the first one, there's. It's. We've got a rave and a rant, which again is I think the model that you. It was the. It was the idea that you put forward. Right. Was including. Although you included. You raved. Do you rave to yourself?

[Andrew Walsh]

I raved my. I ranted at the city garbage collection, then I raved myself. But rave to me for creating a new social media account where I can keep everybody honest.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, there's a rave and a rant here. Rave to the medical professionals and all the hard work they do. You're truly appreciated. Rant to making an appointment to see them. Don't tell me my appointment is at 10:15, but that I should be there by 10. If you want me there by 10, then just tell me my appointment is at 10. Wouldn't that be easier and make more sense? This is not even actually the thing I really want to get into, Andrew. I just felt like, out of respect, out of respect for our listeners and my sense of completism, I felt like I needed to read this one. 1. I don't have a strong opinion on that. It was the next one, though, that I thought was, let's just say, complicated. And it's interesting to me that the Seattle Times co signed this because. And I don't think that I genuinely have not made up my mind on this, but let's just read it. Rave to a man at Costco who saw an older woman giving out samples of food. She had no takers and looked rather sad. He went over, she smiled. He took a sample and went on his way to finish his shopping. Shopping on his way to checkout, he picked up 12 roses for his wife. He then went over to the sample lady and gave her a rose quote. For your lovely smile, he said. She touched his hand. They both teared up as she took the rose. The wife got 11 roses that day signed Mitch album.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, this is bananas.

[Luke Burbank]

Had you read this before I sent it to you?

[Andrew Walsh]

Not before you sent it to me, but I read it before. Just it's been in my head all show. I was reading. Glad to get to it today. I mean, I have so many questions. I don't want to steal the ball here if you want to go somewhere right away. But first of all, just like, how does one person who supposedly doesn't know this man, I mean, aside from. Let's just talk about the behavior in this Little story yet. How.

[Luke Burbank]

Who.

[Andrew Walsh]

What was the perspective that the writer to the Seattle Times had on this person? Was this person just wandering around following this guy and seeing this, this. And first of the person looks sad because nobody's taking their samples at Costco. I don't think that's a thing. Your mom would know better because I think she was in this business for a while. I don't think you feel personally affronted or by any chance my mom might.

[Luke Burbank]

Have, but she gets a little sideways.

[Andrew Walsh]

On things because somebody isn't taking your little pork skewer. That doesn't make sense. And what this has this style of. To me, we were talking about how the. About town. It's not called about town. And the New York talk of the town. Talk of the town and the New Yorker, how it's all always got that sort of like this is the Parade.

[Luke Burbank]

Magazine version, but it's got that removed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like this one reporter noticed. Like this feels like one reporter noticed. Because how in the world would a stranger have all of this story unless they were following this man or they.

[Luke Burbank]

Were the man or the man raving and is the man. Is the. If this is a man who self raved himself, but in the third person, I think we need bolo. We need to be on the lookout for this person because they are a. An absolute danger to society at large. I mean, you did this and then wrote about yourself glowingly. And then one or two things happened here. Either this is a complete fiction, like not even getting into the gender politics of it, of like, here's a rose for your beautiful smile.

[Andrew Walsh]

She touched his hand and they both teared up.

[Luke Burbank]

How you watched all of this. How long were you standing by the Liquid IV display at the Costco Writer? Like how. Like back to your point, how did somebody observe this entire arc? So in other words, this person was posted up in this part of the Costco for the entirety of this. First of all, watching this poor little. The tuppence for birds. This poor little bird woman and her sadness around no one wanting her samples. And then a man taking her sample and her smiling. Then that man finishing his shopping at Costco. Then him buying his roses for his wife. Did you ask him if they were for his wife?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's the other thing. How do you know who these roses are for? And this idea that the white. The wife. By the way, the wife or the husband is one of my least favorite constructions. But the wife got 11 roses. How do you know that these roses for the wife and not. Not a partner they might have been.

[Luke Burbank]

Or the gal who does his massage at the sketchy massage parlor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

That she received 11 roses that day.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like we're talking to you. Maybe Justin Tucker wrote this.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. I Aria of expertise for Justin Tucker. It turns out massage, questionable massage behavior. He's also an opera singer. That's why I tried to make it into. I was wondering that used to be the. Before this recent article came out. The thing about Justin Tucker used to be amazing kicker and sings opera and now we're adding something else to the list. But anyway, all that is to say, only when I read this out loud to you, Andrew, did I realize how preposterous this is as an event that somebody witnessed. There is no way somebody watched this happen the way that it is described here. Maybe some. Maybe one part of it happened and they then just kind of like fanfic the rest of it out. Maybe none of it happened again. A distant third possibility is that this is. This I'm. This is some guy who thinks he's quite the hero and was so chuffed with his behavior that he then needed to make sure the world knew about it, but then had to pretend like he was a person observing himself again. If so big if true, because that person is really messed up. But the Seattle Times publishing it. Yeah, to me is like, have they. Have they fully surrendered this to some sort of a like AI program? Did a human being read this and think a this is what. Well, in a way it is what we needed because we're getting content out of it, but thought that the reading public of Seattle needed this obviously complete bullshit story.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is. I mean, first of all, it is notable that there are only two R ants and raves in this one. I do think that they publish this every single day. And so. And sometimes they'll have up to five or six, I think. And was this today's or yesterdays that.

[Luke Burbank]

We'Re reading today's as I. Yeah, it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is February, so maybe they were a little bit light on it. Also, I'm really confused about the art illustration.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, the illustration. You mean a greyhound with a megaphone doesn't scream weird gendered Costco interaction on a soapbox?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't understand what's. Maybe they just swapped it. This is by. And I'm going to Gabriel Campagnario. Is that his name? And he does like the sketchbook in the Seattle Times or whatever. I don't want to. I don't want to specifically take aim at him because I actually kind of generally like his stuff. I think. Or at least I like him. I like a newspaper having this role. However, this is a bizarre illustration for this particular ransom rage that they're just.

[Luke Burbank]

That was like, we need something to put here. Well, this dog has a megaphone, so I guess you could say it's raving.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I feel like that's the decision around it. So anyway, that's kind of. But I will say, this rave, I mean, I want to read it again. Like, it stinks to high heaven.

[Luke Burbank]

It just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Every part of this, and I'm going to say it again, stinks to high heaven for your lovely smile, he said. She touched his hand and they both teared up as she took the rose. The wife got 11 roses that day. Bullshit. Straight to jail.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, straight to jail. Like, again, I. I mean, I just. What? I. I just don't think this happened. No, I think that. I think somebody. Somebody wants. Wanted to write a schmaltzy story.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow. You went further with that.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. I just kept committing over and over again, even to my own astonishment. But, like, I really, like. It's crazy to me. I feel like some sort of weirdo wanted to get into the pages of the Seattle Times. And then they wrote this up. Like, wouldn't it be amazing if this had happened and it worked and it got past the editors? The very editors who thwarted your attempts at a self rave found this. I mean, ultimately, what this is really, Andrew, is a in. It's an injury to you as a writer.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's an affront to me.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a rejection. It's a rejection at the most primal level of your ranting and raving that this got through and yours didn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey, I have an idea. This is an idea that I'm just having right now because I was starting, I was searching my own mail to see if I could pull up the rant and rave that I sent in. But honestly, I can't find it. And I'm kind of glad of that. I think maybe I don't want to revisit that. It pains me every time to realize that I wrote this. But you know what I'd love to do for the newsletter this week is let's publish our own TBTL 10s rants and raves. I'm not promising every single one that is sent in gets published. What a great idea. But like, everybody, andrewbtl.net, send in rants, send in raves. Maybe send in, you know, a rant and rave combo. Keep it to about the length of a Seattle Times Rant and rave. You heard the one we just read. It's about that.

[Luke Burbank]

And unlike the Seattle Times, keep it to actual events.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. No real thoughts. Don't go pranking me. I don't like to be pranked. Like, give us some real. And of course, you know, we have listener Mary, who's like, kind of like the queen of rants and raves. She writes into the Seattle Times all the time and has given us advice on getting published in the Rants and raves. So I really expect to hear from her on this. But yes, send us a rant and a rave and I'll see if I can make that. I mean, shit, man. This is. Honestly, I love the Rant and rave thing. I've told you. Like, when I had my old radio show, I tried to do a radio version called what's your damage? Right? And people would call in. That didn't take off. It turns out people didn't listen to the show.

[Luke Burbank]

Rant. Rant. The people not calling in for what's your damage?

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, I could see this if we get enough of these. I could see it being a regular once a month thing or whatever. Tbt. I love it. Can we riff right now? Or maybe that's sets us up for failure, but I wonder what we should call it. I'll think on that a little bit. Because it can't be rants and raves. It should be something TBTL related. We do something after these messages called ad kilades and admonishments, which is pretty good. Very specific to that show, obviously.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm actually. I'm sorry if I sound distracted. I'm composing a. I'm composing a rave to the Seattle Times. Rave to the man I saw selling his pocket watch in order to buy combs for his wife.

[Andrew Walsh]

How about just. What if I just write in rave to the Seattle Times editorial desk for just publishing this batshit story without even thinking twice about it?

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, how about. Okay, but how about a rant? Yeah, how about a rant that. I mean, this is. Now we're really, really sort of like pushing. I don't know if it's the fourth wall or the envelope. I don't know what's being pushed here, here, but, like, what if it was rant to the Seattle Times for publishing a story about some roses in a Costco that what it. What it lacked in terms of nuance about how genders interact, it made up for in just sheer unbelievability. Like the. The just like, from a practical standpoint, there's no way somebody watched this entire thing unfold unless they were posted up for what, 45 minutes in the same spot? And just on the what on the hopes the guy would circle back with one of his 12 roses.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I am rereading now the rant that I sent in. And while I this was from May 9th of last year. Boy, time just keeps marching on. I and while I'm still not proud of this, it actually seems less cringe compared to what they just published.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the Young Gray Lady. I don't know. We call this the Old Time rant.

[Luke Burbank]

The Young Green Lady. The Old Green Lady.

[Andrew Walsh]

We just talked about that. Rant to the garbage collectors who keep adding unexplained extra garbage charges on my bill each month. Rant to the person at the Seattle Public Utilities says they they can't reverse the charges anymore because I've challenged them too many times. Rave to my new social media account where I am now documenting my bins to prove that I'm not breaking any rules on pickup day. Double check your invoices, folks. You might be paying extra fees too. I mean, relating it now, it's not as cringy as I remember.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not that cringe. And it is an important message. Like it actually contains some sort of nutritional value. If you live in Seattle and you know the city is picking up your garbage, which would be pretty much everybody, there might be some junk fees on there. Right. Like, that's. There was a lot, a lot to like about that post. None of which, by the way, exists in this Costco story. Which, and I don't think this is how it works, but I would be unsurprised to find that this becomes not just because of the TBTL attention, the, the white hot laser of attention. We're focusing on it. But I could also see if there was a comment section for ransomware. Is there a comment section, Andrew?

[Andrew Walsh]

There is not, unfortunately.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. I could, I could see this being the most popular rave in years.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's mine. Not the Costco. The Costco Costco one. Because it could create such a.

[Luke Burbank]

No, because schmaltz. And people love schmaltz. I'm saying.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're saying unironically.

[Luke Burbank]

It could end up unironically. I'm saying if there was, if there was a sort of an upvote on this, my guess is there will be. There would have been like a huge upvote for it. My guess would be that the, that the average Seattle Times reader who sees this, particularly sometimes reader of a certain age would just go like, aw, isn't that nice? I think it unironically would probably be one of the more popular raves that they've seen in a while.

[Andrew Walsh]

Would I be popular with Joanie Bolter if I email this to her with my list of complaints and asked her how in the world she thinks this got into the pages of the Seattle Times?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm considering that she hasn't worked there for a long time and I'm sure.

[Andrew Walsh]

Never went anywhere near the rant and raves.

[Luke Burbank]

And raves. I'd send it to Tim Egan and then ask if he can. If he can print it out and hand it to Joanie Balter.

[Andrew Walsh]

And did Danny Westneat write this? In fact, I'm wondering, maybe I will use the man.

[Luke Burbank]

Listen, I will tolerate no Danny Westneat criticism on this show. He's an old friend of mine.

[Andrew Walsh]

Better get used to it.

[Luke Burbank]

That's for your other shows, mister. All right, all right, all right. We better. We better wrap this up before. Before we tear. We tear our friendship apart here on the page in the pages of tbtl. I feel like I really want to. I don't have. I don't understand anything about it, but I really need to talk to you about the Luca Duncich trade.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dude.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, I don't understand basketball. I don't know anything about basketball, but what I know is that it has exploded my social media feeds.

[Andrew Walsh]

Luke. Okay, so we're in extra times here. I killed the music. I'm not. Because what I'm about to do is not talk about sports. In fact, I've been thinking about our listeners who don't like us talking about sports, because my experience with this was fascinating to me. And I was thinking about it all day Sunday, because here's what happened. I was up late on Saturday. I told you, I went to go see that movie. And then I peeled off my friend. Friends went to, like, Hattie's Hat or something. And I took a bus home. Actually, that's not true. I waited for a bus. It was going to take forever. So I ended up calling a car. Sorry to almost lie there. That's what they call, what they call it virtue signaling there. So I took a car home and I had some Andy times by myself. And that is not as dirty as it sounds. And at one point, I look at my phone. It's pretty late on Saturday night. And I follow a lot of people who are into sports because I like their chatter about baseball and football. And if, if there's Basketball talk. I just don't usually pay attention to it. My timeline is suddenly just exploding with people losing their shit about an NBA trade. And I'm familiar with the names involved, but I don't understand any. I don't know any of the dynamics. I have no context for it. All I know is people are flipping out. People are saying, my mind is blown. The world will never be the same again. How could this happen? I see our friend Nick Jarn eventually. Oh, man.

[Luke Burbank]

He the target demo for this.

[Andrew Walsh]

He's the target demo. He tweets or blue skies. He posts. I have never heard from so many people I haven't heard from in a long time. Texting me tonight to talk about this trade. I'm reading all of this stuff, but I'm not reading any articles. And never once does anybody indicate in any way why it's so significant. Kent. Or what it is. I forget about it. I go to bed for the night. I wake up the next morning, I turn on, like, sports radio. It's all the national shows. The national shows are. Their heads are spinning. They're like, this could be the biggest trade in NBA history, certainly in the last hundred years. They're freaking out, but still nobody is saying why. Nobody is like, is it a good trade for one, a bad trade for another? Like, everybody is apparently the person who broke shams or whatever. Like, everybody thought his. His account was hacked when this news was breaking. Like, professionals thought that. So it was just like. It's so funny to see the world of basketball just shaking at its core and me just being like, I don't know what the hell's going on. I don't really care. I'm just really enjoying people freaking their shit out.

[Luke Burbank]

This is Brian Windhorst, okay? He's like a. One of the top, top basketball sort of journalist. And he's one of the folks who gets the. The tips and the. And the. And the. Whatever, the news before the rest of us get it. And this is him talking about it on talking to Big Cat from Barstool. And this was the thing that really, like, this is a guy who's actually a pretty. He's a good journalist. He's not overly hyperbolic. He's a smart person. And this is how he's described Windy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bat phone basically was like, hey, can you please come on for 10 minutes to tell us what's going on?

[Luke Burbank]

You have not slept.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're all the way in LA now.

[Luke Burbank]

What the hell's going on?

[Andrew Walsh]

Cat? In my career, never have I had my phone Go crazy like this. I'm talking about players, head coaches, assistant coaches, executives, referees, agents, lawyers, workout guys.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, and they all had the exact same question. Question.

[Andrew Walsh]

We don't understand. What don't we understand what's going on?

[Luke Burbank]

And I don't have a great answer.

[Andrew Walsh]

This was.

[Luke Burbank]

This is one of the most shocking transactions I've.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I. I mean, I can't speak to the NHL or whatever.

[Luke Burbank]

It's one of the most shocking transactions in American sports history for the magnitude and the way it came out of the blue. I mean.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I still don't. You know, I. I still.

[Luke Burbank]

But I'm. We're no closer to, like, exactly. I mean, it's this guy, Luka Doncic, who was of Dallas Maverick and a really, really good player, and he gets traded to the Lakers for. Well, there was a bunch of. I think there was maybe three teams involved, but he ends up as a Laker. Yeah, the Jazz was kind of a bank shot. And then the. The Lakers end up losing their center, Anthony Davis, who's a really good player in his own right, but is older than Luka Doncic. Luka Doncic is 25 years old, considered to be in the prime of his career, and just a really, really kind of like, you know, generational talent who's always apparently loved LeBron James's game and emulated him. There's this huge mutual respect and appreciation between the two of them. It's also Los Angeles. It's the, you know, kind of. Other than maybe the Knicks, it's obviously the biggest basketball market. So I still. I mean, to me, it's like, yeah, okay, you just had basically one of the best players in the NBA, Luka Duncan, just get shipped by his team. It made no sense based in the way that these kind of blockbuster things usually unfold, which is that the player is unhappy, they're asking to go somewhere, or it just. It came so out of the blue. But again, the way that the sports media world that I tend to engage with is responding, it's just extra surreal to me because unlike if this was a football trade, I would have at least. Least. They wouldn't be good thoughts, but I would have some thoughts.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would.

[Luke Burbank]

I would understand instinctively that, like, oh, like, if.

[Andrew Walsh]

If. If.

[Luke Burbank]

If the. If the Kansas City Chiefs traded for Josh Allen, but they were. They still had Patrick Mahomes, I would be like, well, okay, why you have a good quarterback? I don't even know that. Like, I don't know what the need in the backcourt is of Luka Dunchich for the Lakers. In other words, I, I don't. I don't know the X's and O's of this. What I know is that people like Brian Windhorst are saying it's the biggest trade in the history of American sports.

[Andrew Walsh]

American sports now. Yeah. And so, though, and you probably have sussed this out at this point, because I just turned on the AM radio yesterday while I was like, making the coffee and hot chocolate for my volunteer gig. And that's where it was weird yesterday. Like when baseball season ends and I don't have a morning baseball game to listen to on Sunday mornings, that's always a very weird feeling, but it slips into football, like, games pretty quickly after that. Yesterday was a very weird day where I had no football or baseball to watch or listen to while I kind of did my morning Sunday routine. And so I'm just listening to AM sports radio and I was telling these exactly what I told you. I'm just like, everybody is freaking out and I don't really know why yet. And these would come in, she's like, I still can't get over that trade. We're just like riffing about it all morning. We don't know shit about it. But finally I did sort of hear that. I guess the. If you're looking at it from a winners or losers standpoint, I guess it's like Mavs fans that are going to be pretty miffed if this doesn't work out because basically the age difference, even though apparently Luka was not like super motivated or taking care of himself physically in a way that the team wanted, he's still a younger, I guess, sort of phenomenal player for them. And then shipping them off to the Lakers, shipping him off to the Lakers for an older player. It sort of sounds like the Mavs are the ones who are taking a really, really big risk here. So that, that's about all that was the.

[Luke Burbank]

That was the thought that I had, which was, you know, again, and just in the very, very sort of 30,000 foot view of this, which is based on Nick Wright saying things online or whatever. But like, yeah, is that. I mean, also, the Mavs fans are just devastated because they had this generational talent who's 25 years old. And then the team just said, all right, well, we'll see you later. That was some of the speculation is that he was not popular for whatever reason with the organization. Maybe not the other players, but with the, like, you know, the front office, they must have, you know, there must have been things about him that they, that they thought were going to become issues. And yeah, that his, his conditioning isn't great. I mean, I don't know. The guy scored 70 points in a game last year. So whatever he's doing, it seems to be kind of working. Here was my thought. And I love how I went from saying I have no thoughts on this. I don't know basketball, and I still don't to going like wither Bronnie James. Because think about this. This Donic is a. Is a. He's a guard. And I feel like I've just started to see this kind of Bronnie James, Bronnie James slept on narrative is starting to emerge, which is like, if Bronnie James does anything good in a game now, it immediately blows up on TikTok.

[Andrew Walsh]

So he's out of the G League now. He's playing with the NBA.

[Luke Burbank]

I believe he's been playing with the late. With the real team. I think he played the entire fourth quarter in a game recently. I. I don't know if he's going back and forth between the G League and the pro. But like, it's like I'll just see these clips like Bronnie James and one. And it's just like Bronnie James getting fouled and making the layup. And then cut to LeBron who's in street clothes, like, which by the way, LeBron orchestrated this. So I guess I don't feel that bad for him. But on the other hand, it also must just be annoying that like your kids out there in public and then it's like he does a thing and then it's. The camera just goes right on you and your street clothes just being like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is LeBron senior not playing playing? Is he?

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, he. I think he's. I think he's hurt or something. Again, what I know is these clips ice, these 30 second clips. I see where it's like, you know, or like Bronnie played the whole fourth quarter of this game. It's like it feels like there's this burbling thing up. Burbling up thing, which is like, well, maybe Bronny James isn't so bad. Whereas, like the big fun. The fun thing was to just shit on Bronny James at the beginning. Like he's so bad now. I feel like there's a few Bronny James stands that are emerging. Like it's just a more interesting story if he's actually kind of competent.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I mean, the, the counter narrative always emerges and becomes more fun anyway.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly Right. So whatever the narrative is, it's only a matter of time before the counter narrative emerges. And what I was thinking, though, is, like, if Bonnie James was getting any minutes with the Lakers, I can't imagine the addition of Luka Donchi just gonna help that. That can only. That can only cost him whatever minuscule minutes he's getting. Like, I feel like it's a quick trip back to the G League for old Bronnie.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see. That's interesting for the. For the kid. Whereas, as I, you know, people were saying, this sort of adds to. Because. Because LeBron is, you know, getting pretty old now. Right? He's only a couple years younger than us. Right. Or is he? Yeah, I mean, he's lived.

[Luke Burbank]

I would say he's lived very differently than we have. So I don't know if those numbers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wait, how so.

[Luke Burbank]

The relevance of those numbers.

[Andrew Walsh]

But I'm not. That doesn't track for me. But I haven't had a nightshade in a decade.

[Luke Burbank]

I haven't had one for four days.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that is true.

[Luke Burbank]

You really haven't dying.

[Andrew Walsh]

You really haven't. But. But anyway, yeah, I guess people were saying this sort of extends. It was kind of unclear how he's going to continue to perform over the next couple of seasons, but it sort of sounds like, well, if you pair him up with Doncic. Doncic or Doncic.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought it was Doncic. I don't know. Now that I'm saying it out loud, I just sound a fool either way. But sort of like, somehow this gives a little bit more life to the waning days of his career, of LeBron's career, because pairing those two up together will be not an unstoppable force, but certainly a better situation than he had with AD Apparently. But again, I don't even know what positions are in basketball, so I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

Some websites are saying that they think it will have a minimal impact on Bronnie's minutes because Bronnie doesn't really get the play in the important parts of the game anyway, generally speaking. So his. His garbage time will. Will. Will remain, you know, available to him because they're not going to be playing Luca in those moments. But. Yeah. Well, I'm glad we got that out of our.

[Andrew Walsh]

I really did. Boy, I kind of forgot about that yesterday. I almost texted you.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm like, I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Not unlike the brutalist. I need to talk about this with somebody. And not the details of the trade, but just how bizarre it was to see the world just so Shooken and me just not having under any understanding why at all.

[Luke Burbank]

Not to mention it is good to see the city of Los Angeles and one of their pro sports team finally get a high value player to come to town.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, goodness. All right, that's gonna do it for today's show. But I have some incredible news. We'll be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. And we sure hope you can join us for that. In the meantime, have a great Monday. Take care of yourselves. And please remember, don't mount too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to you all.

[Luke Burbank]

You should be banned from talking basketball.

[Andrew Walsh]

Power out.