#4404 Bad Coach: Port Of Call

Summary

Episode #4404 Summary: "Bad Coach: Port Of Call"

Release Date: February 17, 2025
Hosts: Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh
Podcast: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live

In Episode #4404 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh navigate a week filled with technical challenges, travel adventures, guest interactions, and lively discussions on food and pop culture. Released on February 17, 2025, this episode offers listeners an engaging blend of humor, personal anecdotes, and insightful conversations.

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1. Introduction and Week's Recap (00:00 – 02:13)

The episode kicks off with the hosts engaging in their characteristic banter, setting a light-hearted tone. Luke warmly welcomes listeners back from the studio at Madrona Hill, reflecting on his recent trip to England and the uneventful flight home.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (00:57): "T B T L."
• Luke Burbank (01:02): "Hello. Did you say hello?"

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2. Technical Challenges: New Computer Setup (03:00 – 09:50)

A significant portion of the episode delves into Andrew’s experience with setting up a new computer for the show. Despite his enthusiasm for technology, Andrew faces unexpected hurdles with the Riverside recording software essential for their podcasting workflow.

Key Points:

• New Equipment: Andrew received an Acer computer recommended by Riverside, intended to streamline their recording process.
• Initial Frustrations: Upon unpacking, extensive system updates are required, dampening his initial excitement.
• Driver Issues: Installing necessary drivers for audio equipment proves time-consuming and complex.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (07:27): "But anyway, I'm currently ducking a system update on my laptop. It wants me to go to, like, I don't know, Sierra or some shit. Yeah, it's like, no, thank you."
• Andrew Walsh (08:12): "I'm on the Riverside website. I open it, I log in. You know, Internet is fine, I'm connected to everything. But there's one little step that never even occurred to me wouldn't work."

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3. Overcoming Riverside Connection Issues (09:00 – 13:10)

Andrew shares his ordeal of trying to connect to the Riverside studio, battling persistent technical prompts and ultimately discovering that incorrect computer time settings were the culprit behind the connection failures.

Key Points:

• Persistent Prompts: Riverside keeps asking if he’s using headphones, disrupting the connection process.
• Troubleshooting Steps: Disabling ad blockers, trying different browsers, and adjusting firewall settings.
• Solution: Realizing that the computer’s clock was misconfigured, Andrew resets it, resolving the connectivity issue.

Notable Quotes:

• Andrew Walsh (13:06): "If anybody's setting up a new computer and something is boggling your mind, check your clock. Check your."

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4. Guest Interaction: Taxi Chronicles Podcast (19:00 – 33:35)

Luke recounts an interesting interaction with Simon, the host of the Taxi Chronicles podcast, during his Uber ride back from London. Their conversation naturally segues into a collaborative podcast recording within the cab, highlighting the intersection of their podcasting worlds.

Key Points:

• Meeting Simon: Luke meets Simon in his Uber, discovering Simon’s own podcasting venture.
• Impromptu Recording: They engage in a spontaneous podcast session while en route to the airport.
• Discussion Topics: They talk about podcasting techniques, consistency, and the challenges of building an audience.

Notable Quotes:

• Simon (21:03): "Yes, I love this show. I love you guys. And I make no apologies for leaving as many voicemails as I do."
• Andrew Walsh (33:35): "He was like, like, it's wild what people will sort of admit to in the back of a cab to a virtual stranger."

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5. Flight Story: Almost Missing the Flight (33:35 – 43:41)

Luke shares a dramatic recount of nearly missing his flight from London to Portland. Navigating tight schedules, last-minute security checks, and unexpected delays, Luke’s story is both humorous and tension-filled.

Key Points:

• Pre-Flight Chaos: Delays with hotel checkout and coordinating with the Uber driver Simon.
• Security Scare: A prolonged security check nearly derails his plans.
• Final Boarding: Despite the chaos, Luke successfully boards his flight with minutes to spare.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank (27:41): "It's literally exactly what you'd think. It's a lot of, like, guys."
• Andrew Walsh (43:31): "And I'm telling you, we have rules. Like, Thursdays are our blurs days. I mean, I love it."

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6. Shoutouts and Listener Interactions (43:41 – 60:18)

The hosts take time to acknowledge their listeners and supporters, including Stephanie Lee from Brooklyn and Nick Slevies from Connecticut. They highlight Stephanie’s financial coaching business and Nick’s enthusiastic support for the show.

Key Points:

• Stephanie Lee: Promotes her tax prep business, emphasizing a no-judgment policy.
• Nick Slevies: Recognized for his frequent voicemails and active engagement with the show.
• Community Focus: Emphasis on the importance of listener support and community building.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank (54:27): "Shout out to my 11 Peter, my chief marketing officer in chief who came up with the name Peter Peter Solid my friend."
• Andrew Walsh (58:30): "Check out Chula."

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7. Food and Spiciness: Culinary Adventures (60:18 – 69:45)

Andrew and Luke delve into a spirited discussion about their experiences with spicy and Indian cuisine, sharing personal anecdotes about overly spicy meals and strategies to handle extreme heat in food.

Key Points:

• Luke’s Garlic Focaccia: Describes an excessively garlicky focaccia that was almost inedible.
• Andrew’s Spicy Larb: Recounts ordering a highly spicy larb that left him coughing and struggling to finish.
• Spice Tolerance: Both discuss their varying tolerances and preferences for spiciness in food.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank (62:57): "They were falling out. Oh yeah, that says, I mean listen."
• Andrew Walsh (66:39): "Gutty works."

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8. Pop Culture: Super Bowl Halftime Show (69:45 – 79:25)

The hosts engage in an animated debate over recent Super Bowl halftime performances, focusing on Kendrick Lamar and Katy Perry. They reflect on the emotional impact and cultural significance of these performances, comparing them to past shows.

Key Points:

• Kendrick Lamar’s Performance: Andrew praises its emotional depth and cultural relevance.
• Katy Perry’s Performance: Luke critiques it for being shallow, contrasting it with previous memorable shows like Prince's.
• Audience Reception: They discuss how different audiences perceive and react to various performances.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank (71:11): "But I think he's a really, really smart guy. And, yeah, it was an exciting."
• Andrew Walsh (74:39): "Yeah, I. I was in a fugue state, like, but a lot of it was about, like, me weirdly, like, kind of turning into, like, a pod bro who's, like, hyping people up."

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9. Closing Remarks: Personal Notes and Final Thoughts (79:25 – End)

As the episode winds down, Luke and Andrew share personal updates, express gratitude to their listeners, and inject final bits of humor and warmth into their closing statements.

Key Points:

• Personal Updates: Luke wishes a happy birthday to his daughter, Addie, adding a heartfelt touch.
• Final Shoutouts: Continued appreciation for listener support and community interaction.
• Light-Hearted Banter: The hosts conclude with humor about their coffee consumption and mutual appreciation.

Notable Quotes:

• Luke Burbank (80:18): "I have figured out that these. This the. The absolute most number of the coffee that I can have in the morning is 4."
• Andrew Walsh (81:13): "And good luck to all. Power out."

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Episode Highlights

• Technical Triumph: Overcoming Riverside connection issues by resetting the computer clock.
• Unexpected Collaborations: Engaging with Simon from Taxi Chronicles, blending their podcasting worlds.
• Humorous Travel Tales: Luke’s near-miss with his flight, filled with comedic tension.
• Community Appreciation: Heartfelt shoutouts to dedicated listeners like Stephanie and Nick.
• Culinary Challenges: Brave attempts at handling extremely spicy and garlicky dishes.
• Pop Culture Insights: Deep dive into the emotional and cultural impact of Super Bowl halftime shows.

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Final Thoughts

Episode #4404 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live showcases Luke and Andrew's ability to blend personal stories with broader cultural discussions seamlessly. Their candid approach to sharing challenges and triumphs, coupled with engaging interactions, makes this episode both entertaining and relatable. Whether you're a regular listener or tuning in for the first time, this episode offers a comprehensive look into the dynamic world of TBTL.

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Transcript

[Dimitri]

It's weird when you introduce somebody that you say, like, this is. And then their name, you know, like, this is Frank. It sounds pretty normal when you think about it. This walk up with a person and be like, hey, guys, this. This stuff right here is Frank. Excuse me. What is that? This. This is Frank. Oh, that's what that is. J. It's like when you call somebody on the phone, you know, they say, hello. You have to say, this is hello. This is Dimitri. Can't be like, hello, I am Dimitri. But then if you go up to someone in person, the rule flips. Then it's the exact opposite, actually. You know, if I walk up to you, then I have to say, hi, I am Dimitri. I can't walk up to you and go, this is Dimitri.

[Andrew Walsh]

T B T L.

[Luke Burbank]

Hello. Did you say hello?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, I said hello, but that's close enough.

[Luke Burbank]

Making friendly conversations like this is a big part of greeting and serving guests. By greeting the guest warmly and holding brief conversations as you serve them, you say to our guests, we're glad you're here. For one thing, I have no shame before another mortal. All my shame is between myself and Christ. I never drop my eyes to another human being.

[Andrew Walsh]

You guys think I'm some kind of wimp, but I'm not. I am tough, and I'm strong, and.

[Luke Burbank]

I love to splash around in chilly water.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're hungry, you're confused.

[Luke Burbank]

Your face is streaked with dry tears, and you don't even remember when you started crying.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a pretty boring story.

[Luke Burbank]

I wouldn't tell that to anyone else.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I could feel it going south.

[Luke Burbank]

As I was saying it. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of TBTL show that just might be too beautiful to live. Do you need an extra little bit of lovin'my? Name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. Hi, everyone. Welcome to my farm. Coming to you from the Madrona Hill studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bring it back home, baby. Bring it back home.

[Luke Burbank]

On a wet, gray day. But didn't know you like to get wet, though. Feels amazing to be back here in the comfortable confines of the studio. Spent, of course, all of last week in England. And my flight home, which I had been talking about on the show in anticipation of it. Flight home, pretty uneventful. Ride to the airport, get on the magic carpet and ride eventful. And we'll talk about that here on episode 4404 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. Also, I said something on the show last week that I was able to reconsider over the weekend. And I. Well, I wish I hadn't done that. I'm gonna. I'm gonna print an official retraction which I, I don't like to do on this show. I make no apologies, generally speaking, but I would like to officially retract something from last week upon further consultation with trusted advisors, aka YouTube. So stick around for that and stick around for this guy. He is, as you might know, the longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's been doing a lot of work on sort of self affirmation. And this is an actual recording of him getting hyped for the show on this Monday morning before we started officially rolling.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am extraordinary.

[Luke Burbank]

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

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. Before we launch into your adventures and potentially, I don't know, you're skyrocketing to fame late last week, can I just tell you this? It sounds on paper like a really bad idea, but I think I can make it pay off. Can I tell you a little story about troubleshooting, about technology troubleshooting at the beginning of the show on a Monday?

[Luke Burbank]

Is this related to your new equipment?

[Andrew Walsh]

It is. And I was going to tell you this before the show. I've honestly been struggling with this because this is a story that I wanted to tell you specifically because you kind of, you know me very well when it comes to my relationship with technology and sort of systemically, like when there's an issue in the audio chain or whatever, sort of systemically, like sort of rooting it out.

[Luke Burbank]

And then, then I slid into my computer chair and with a few clicks of my mouse, I became a mom on the net.

[Andrew Walsh]

Mom's on the net. So I will try.

[Luke Burbank]

You've been mom and on that net while I was gone.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, God dang. I will try to make this quick, but not by just trying to talk too quickly. So here's the deal. Without any further ado, as you just alluded to, I got a new computer delivered to my house on Friday. This is the first time you and I are using it for TBTL purposes. This computer is, for whatever it's worth, not a computer that I do a lot of work on. It's not a computer I carry around. It's not a computer that I'm going to be doing a lot of editing on. It mostly has one role, has a couple of secondary roles, but mostly one role in this lifetime. This New computer. And it is to talk to you via a program called Riverside. It's what we use to record our show. It's a little. It's like a souped up zoom. Right. We've talked about it.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a great way to describe it. That's precisely what it is. I was trying to explain. I'm not interrupting. I'm not trying to interrupt your story. I was trying to explain Riverside to somebody in London the other day. More on that in a minute. But that's a great description. Souped up zoom.

[Andrew Walsh]

Souped up zoom. That's why we always have to eat soup during the show.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it's a very weird requirement, but, you know, who are we to question it?

[Andrew Walsh]

You do what you got to do in the digital age. So I get this computer and I don't know what you would assume about me, you know, that I do like my technology and I like my technological toys. I like the idea of a new computer. You might think that a day when a new computer arrives for me, I might be like a kid on Christmas, just like ripping open the packaging and like just digging into it and trying to get it set up as fast as possible. But at this late. I mean, this might just be another story of low T. But at this.

[Luke Burbank]

Late stage of my life, so many are these days, between the two of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Us, I just feel like when a new computer arrives, it's sort of exciting, but it's also a bit of a. Like, I gotta do a lot of work to get this computer into the shape I need it to be in. Because, number one, like I say, I'm old. I've been using PCs for a long time. There are just certain, like, setup things that I like to. Every new generation of a computer or an operating system has kind of new ways of doing things and usually they're not helpful in any way. So I have to spend a lot of time rolling back time on some of these technologies.

[Luke Burbank]

And this might account for why you, I think, will sometimes. How do I put this gently? You will definitely take your time in replacing pieces of equipment. It's, it's, you know, we. Fortunately we have it in the budget at tbtb. It's critical to our work. But the idea that you're gonna have to relearn or learn a bunch of new stuff. I could, I have the privilege of not dealing with any of this. I could imagine it could be a little bit like, you know what? I'd rather deal with that next week.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And it's just so even if it was just my own computer, just sort of getting it set up in a way that I am used to. It's almost. Well, I think people know this. Like, when you get a new phone, it could even be the same kind of phone. I guess they're pretty good at, like, kind of rolling everything over. I assume, like a new iPhone out of the box is almost a seamless experience now with your old phone.

[Luke Burbank]

But anyway, I'm currently ducking a system update on my laptop. It wants me to go to, like, I don't know, Sierra or some shit. Yeah, it's like, no, thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

So.

[Luke Burbank]

So I know what you're talking about.

[Andrew Walsh]

So anyway, I get this computer and. And I also have. So just getting it set up standard for me is going to take a little bit of time. But then I've got a. You know, none of. I don't want to make any of this stuff sound like rocket science. Obviously, a lot of people have podcasts and use this equipment, and I'm using relatively modern equipment now. But I do have various drivers. I got it installed for my audio boxes and this camera.

[Luke Burbank]

There's a mini.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's a mini driver. Exactly. The Atom driver. He's so moody, Luke.

[Luke Burbank]

He sure is.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it's one of the sexy.

[Luke Burbank]

Don't. You never know where you stand with him. But that's why I can't resist.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's why you got to keep on updating that driver. Yeah. So anyway, I on this thing arrived on Friday, and I think by Friday evening I'm like, okay, I'll sit down and start working on this. So it's maybe, maybe I. I mess around with it for an hour upstairs, getting it in kind of working shape. It has to automatically do a bunch of updates. You get a brand new computer, the first thing you have to do is like an hour.

[Luke Burbank]

Horribly outdated. It's embarrassingly anachronistic.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Right out of the box.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're like, this thing is still warm from the factory floor. Why do I have to do it?

[Luke Burbank]

Pulled it out of the oven and it's needs a 50 update.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can still smell a child's tears on the keyboard for goodness.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Too dark on a Monday. Sorry, Just wanted a reality check. So. So anyway, then I bring it down to the studio. I'm like, okay, here's the real test. So then I start plugging in the equipment into it and like, kind of routing it through all my audio stuff. And like, so far, I gotta say it. It's taking me a little bit of time, but I haven't gotten to that point where I'm just at loggerheads with the technology. There's always something, right? Like, and you're cruising along and you're like, ah, but this one audio thing won't interact properly with the sound card. Or I can't get this to route through my board. Or like, there's always just something. And it's usually like you go digging in menus, you can't figure it out.

[Luke Burbank]

See, this is where you and I are so different. And I'm so glad that you have the job responsibilities you do, because. And this has been, you know, mentioned on the show a lot of times, but the second that I see can, like some instruction that's go update the driver, I'm out.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're just throwing it away. You're like, maybe.

[Luke Burbank]

I just. Honestly, I'm getting. I'm getting an even newer computer. Like, oh, I got this one on Friday. What if I'm. What if a computer from Monday doesn't need me to do that? And you're methodical about it and you always get to a solution. You're like, you know what? You're like. You're like, Walt reading the instructions on everything. My dad, who is here right now helping out on. On some house stuff. My mom was here last night. This morning, Andrew, as I dashed out here to the studio, I said, okay, Mom, I'm going to go tv, go to tbt. She said, all right, you know, mention me if you get a chance. And I said, really, mom, do you think you're not getting talked about on the show enough? She goes, I don't know. It's something to talk about.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here it is.

[Luke Burbank]

So there you go, Mom. Sus, mission accomplished. You got your shout out. But anyway, my dad is like a direction reader and I always think that's crazy. And yet he usually gets necessary information from it. I feel like is the. In the same way that you. In working the steps, in working the program.

[Andrew Walsh]

Working the program.

[Luke Burbank]

It works if you work it.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

You get to a good outcome.

[Andrew Walsh]

So, yeah, the difference is I do not like reading instructions like I like. That's the only. Like, I. I do avoid that like the plague. I'm just sort of a. I learn by doing sort of guy. So on Friday evening, everything is working smoothly. I'm actually really surprised at how everything is working smoothly. I have the computer up and running. It's got a new kind of port, but I'm excited to see that I can still hardwire in. So I have Blazing fast Internet speeds. Internet is working. It's not the water. Everything is just like working really well. So I'm online and then I open up Riverside. Now this is the big test, right? The one role of this computer is to talk to.

[Luke Burbank]

If I remember right, you said this is the actual recommended computer for this particular task. Like somebody either in a subreddit or on the Riverside website. This is like you're buying the, the sort of the particular machine that is supposed to work the best with this system.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I went on the Riverside website before buying a computer because that's the other thing about me and computers. Like, when I have a computer that I want to like do a lot of editing and video editing on, I know that I need something that is very powerful. So I look at these gaming laptops and so. But then for this other computer, I didn't want to spend $2,000 on a computer that's only purpose is to add soup to. What do we say? Souped up zoom, you know, just to use souped up zoom. And so, so I did a micro amount of research. I saw that Riverside recommends Acer brand is. And they're like, if you're on a budget, Acer is a good brand. I'm like, okay, yeah, let's, let's go with that for this one computer. So anyway, I am, I have this thing all plugged in. I'm on Riverside. One other thing here is I need Riverside before today's inaugural TBTL launch. I did need this Riverside to work for Saturday because I was recording Spotless with Hannah. I don't know if, you know, I use Riverside for that, but now, you know, if you need Spotless to contribute to the TBTL budget because I'm using the technology, let me know. But I have a little bit of a conundrum here. If this computer doesn't work, which is now it's all plugged into everything, the old computer is ripped out of here. But can I get this thing to work with Riverside? Well, I'm on the Riverside website. I open it, I log in. You know, Internet is fine, I'm connected to everything. But there's one little step that never even occurred to me wouldn't work, which is joining the studio. In other words, I'm on the website, I can see all of our old videos, I'm logged in, everything is fine. But then it's that moment where it's kind of like, okay, do you want to start a new recording session? And you're like, yes. And it says, luke, what does it.

[Luke Burbank]

Always ask you, are you using headphones?

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's like, yeah, I'm using headphones.

[Luke Burbank]

Dude, shut your mouth. I'm talking about tbtl. We can dig it. Like, we use headphones every day and have been for about 17 years on the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there's no way to remember that setting. It's always like, are you using headphones? And I think it always defaults to the, no, I'm not using headphones. So you always gotta. So I'm like, okay, yes, I'm using headphones. Join the studio. I click join and the wheel just spins and spins and spins. And then it says, cannot connect to the studio. Now, keep in mind, I am online. It's not like I can't reach this website. I'm on the website. It just can't get me into this little virtual room where you and I record. And I'm like, well, what in the world could that possibly be? Why would everything work? And so then it's like, if you. If you want help with this, here's our troubleshooting guide. And also click here if you want tech help. Now, I was talking about tech help from this specific company just last week.

[Luke Burbank]

And you had written them a sternly. Yes, a sternly worded letter, which may not be helping your fortunes at this point.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, that was a little bit on my head, or in my mind, I should say. And I'm like, okay, well, let me first check out, like, the troubleshooting. And it's like, well, how do you have fast enough Internet? I'm like, yes, I have very fast Internet. Okay, turn off any ad blockers or any extensions you might have running in the browser. Okay, I've turned all those off. Good call. I had some of those running. Still didn't work. It says we work in two different browsers, both Chrome and Microsoft Edge. I'm like, oh, I didn't know this thing worked in Edge. Let me try it. Same computer, different browser, same exact process. Gets to that last step and it won't connect. It's telling me, look at your firewall settings. And I'm like, I don't know much about firewalls. But I go in there, I just turn off all the firewalls. Windows is screaming at me, don't turn off your firewalls. You're exposed. I'm like, I'm just trying something here with Riverside.

[Luke Burbank]

All the cookies.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm just accepting all the cookies. I'm taking down the firewall. I'm just, like, taking down my pants in the town square. Saying, well, this worked. You love me now. Riverside.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I'm following all of these things and it's still not connecting. And now I've been working on it for another hour or two and I'm thinking, okay, I got to reach out to support again to tech support from Riverside. And I'm like, I know that no matter how much detail I put in and say I've done all of these steps, they're just going to write back, here's our troubleshooting guide on this. And I'm already getting kind of pre concerned about this. And I'm like composing it in the back of my head while I'm troubleshooting. And I'm like, I've done everything. Nothing makes sense. And I just don't want to send an email into the void. So it's not the void. They do respond usually within a few hours, but it's always just the obvious answer of here, check our guide on this here. And I'm like, I just can't. I'm not an emotional place to handle that. Also, I'm supposed to record with Hannah tomorrow. Do I have to take this all apart and install my old computer again? And then as I'm just tinkering around and trying everything that makes sense, I'm trying everything that makes sense, I look in the bottom right hand corner of my computer screen and I noticed that, that the time is way off, right? And I'm like, okay, well this came from a different part of the country or world, so that makes sense. But it wasn't just off by a certain hour. It was just like. It was like. I remember it was like 6:30 at night. And it was saying, it's like 10:15 or something. You know what I mean? Like, the minutes were off, the hour was off. And I'm like, well, that's weird. So I just quickly on the computer itself, just check the time settings. Says, well, it looks like you're set to Pacific time. Do you want to turn that off or turn it on? I'm like, I don't know. I'll just turn it off and on quickly, see if it resets the clock. I switch it off and on, it resets the clock. Suddenly all of my problems are solved. I can get into Riverside. I don't know why the clock setting on my computer. Like, there's no tech, no tech help in the world would have said, check your computer time, see if it's off a little bit. Like, I don't know why, but it must have been some sort of a security threat. Maybe there was something going on with my computer where the machines at Riverside was like, this is sketchy. There's something sketchy about the information I'm getting from this computer. We're shutting it down. And I could not believe I would have never landed there except I just happened to look down at the time and it was wrong. And out of a last ditch effort I just fixed the clock. Doc, now we're talking and it's about.

[Luke Burbank]

What time on Friday night.

[Andrew Walsh]

At this point it wasn't super late. It was like 6:30 at night. But I had other things I wanted to be doing. You know, I just. Doing this.

[Luke Burbank]

I've had something not nearly as sort of important like the entire operation of this show, but I've had something similar happen where my computer is being really weird with the Internet. Like it's telling me that any website, including like New York Times is un. Is on an insecure network or. And it won't let me get to anything. And it had to do with basically my computer not knowing what time it was. I don't understand why that is so critical to the operation sometimes. Like, I don't know why it needs to know that, but it's even on my Mac that has been an issue. But, but good solvent. You must have really, it must have been a relief when you got it all worked out and when you, you knew that we could actually do this show on Monday.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I mean it still sort of boggles the mind that that was it. And again, like, I guess this story is a little anticlimactic because it all just worked out in the end. But like the clock, that was it. And again, like sort of me already pre worrying about not even me sending in my query, but me pre worrying about the response that was going to come back from Riverside on a weekend if I didn't have to wait until Monday morning or what have you and then for it just to be a clock. So anyway, first of all, if anybody's setting up a new computer and something is boggling your mind, check your clock. Check your. Hey everybody, check your clock, Flavor Flav. It's daylight savings.

[Luke Burbank]

Did you not watch the dummies video recorded?

[Andrew Walsh]

I had to.

[Luke Burbank]

With our friend Bean Baxter.

[Andrew Walsh]

Had to.

[Luke Burbank]

Had to or got to?

[Andrew Walsh]

I got to. But I edited it on the old.

[Luke Burbank]

By the way, shout out. Yeah, shout out to our buddy Bean from the cup of tea in a chat podcast. Who, who I had a little, a little breakfast with there on Friday in London. And, and I, I apparently I hear through the grapevine that they. We were shouted out on their show.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh good, she was.

[Luke Burbank]

Which he was off to record shortly after we had our breakfast until I realized I don't know where his co host Allie, I don't know where she lives but unless she's in. Oh, in Maine. Okay, that's a lot different. Then I assume she might still be on the west coast. And I was doing the math and I was like, it's like six in the morning there or something. You know, when they were dialing up I was like, that is ambitious.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, they record very early because. Or I think very early in Maine time, I want to say. And I. So, so you. Well, you would know better I guess being recorded after you guys got together in the.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, they were recording at noon London. So just deduct eight hours from that.

[Andrew Walsh]

So there you go. And I'll tell you what, I subscribe to their emails and sometimes they send out requests for like hey, join us for like, like they have quizzes on their show and you know, I love quiz quizzes and I don't know if it would be some sort of weird friend nepotism to have me on the show doing a quiz, but such an EPO baby. I've thought of like, you know, sending a note saying I'll throw my hat in the ring if you ever want to have me on and you guys want to quiz me about something, let's give it a shot. But the thing is it's always like, but you have to be available at 6am on Sunday morning. And I'm like, well, I don't want anything that bad. Literally.

[Luke Burbank]

I know for a fact. I was thinking about that. I was like, I was like, we're doing TBTL at like 6 o'clock in England when, when we're doing it. And then like he's doing it at noon and I'm like, I don't. What's the math on this? Yeah, crazy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very right.

[Luke Burbank]

It was really fun to get to see our pal Bean. And we talked of course all about the podcasting industry and the radio industry and what have you. And I don't know, maybe the time got away from me a little bit Andrew or I don't know, just I somehow speaking of time differences and speaking of not watching one's clocks, I. My flight from London back to Portland was scheduled to leave at 2:20 in the afternoon, England time and you and I had done some pre taping so I basically all I had to do Friday morning was get go for a little jog get a little coffee with Bean and then make my way to Heathrow. And I thought I had it all worked out and somehow I didn't because, well, first of all, it took a little while to check out of the hotel. There was a bit of a line and then a slight snafu with the bill, which we got all worked out. And anyway, so then I call an Uber and I go out there and I get into the Uber and it's a very nice gentleman. Simon is driving the Uber. He's waiting for me patiently.

[Andrew Walsh]

Simon. Is there a more British cab name.

[Luke Burbank]

Than there probably is not? And, and it was super nice. I got this one. Oh, by the way, because of my super heavy luggage finally arrived. I've now got that in tow and Simon's hoisting it into the, the back of the, of the cab and, and we jump in and we're off. And I look at the, on the back seat of both the driver and passenger side, it's got a little QR code and like a little like, logo and it says, ask your driver about the, about the Taxi Chronicles podcast. And I was like. So I scan it and then I say to the driver, hey, can you tell me more about the Taxi Chronicles podcast? And he says, absolutely. I do a podcast in this cab. Would you like to be on it? And I was like, sure, absolutely. And of course, somewhere in the back of my mind I'm like, this guy has no idea that he has just stumbled into a podcast with a professional podcaster. Like, what a lucky day. And then he says, are you using headphones?

[Andrew Walsh]

Did he ask you, are you using headphones?

[Luke Burbank]

This would be one of the times I wasn't. But of course he says, like literally goes, oh, I had a vlogger in here earlier. I was not even the first content creator in his cab that day.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'm just glad to hear that we're using the term vlogger still. I wasn't sure in the tick tock.

[Luke Burbank]

I actually, you know what, I'm paraphrasing. He might have said, he might have used another term. But what I knew was that I, I, what I learned was that I was not even the first person who does some version of this in the cab that day, being on the podcast. So, you know, I say to him, or, you know, we, we, we start chatting and we're talking about podcasting, I'm telling him about tbtl. And then at some point, and it's all very casual, we're having fun again. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, boy, this guy just really. This guy just really lucked out here. He doesn't just have any old, any old passenger back here. He's got like a guy who really knows what he's doing. And then my eyes kind of drift down, I think maybe to the clock on his. This is all being filmed on his phone, by the way. The technology these days, Andrew. I don't know the audio. I don't think the show's been posted yet, so I don't know how the audio is. There was a little microphone that was attached to the phone, kind of like a really small little shotgun mic. And then this, you know, I could see the camera on the phone was set up so that it, you know, I could see Simon and myself and what was happening behind us. It looked really great, honestly. Like, the. What you can do now on these phones is pretty remarkable.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have you gone and listened to any of his other earlier podcasts just to get us.

[Luke Burbank]

That would actually. That's a really good point. That would be an easy way for me to understand what's going on. But I, I didn't, I think, to do that this morning.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm on the YouTube page now, just so you know. I've been clicking around.

[Luke Burbank]

So here's what happens, though. I'm. I'm broadcasting away from the back seat of this vehicle and I'm giving it my all and my eye drifts down to the clock and suddenly it occurs to me in the moment that I am in real danger of not making this flight. Like I have somehow through lollygagging and military time or whatever. I mean, is it always called military time that the sort of 24 hour clock?

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't think so. I don't think they call it military time in other.

[Luke Burbank]

In England, we call it military time here, international time. International, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

And of course, listening to the BBC, it always confused me because they'd always.

[Luke Burbank]

Say, oh, 8 Greenwich, meantime. Well, whatever you calls it, it was confusing me, I guess, because all of a sudden I realized. And also I look down at the, you know, the, the Uber app is saying, like, here's when we're going to be dropping you off at Heathrow. And I realized that that number is like 136. The flight takes off at 220, so that is far less than an hour for an international flight, which of course has a few more hoops to jump through.

[Andrew Walsh]

Heathrow, a nice small little airport. I'm assuming it's a little regional thing.

[Luke Burbank]

It's mostly puddle jumpers kind of in and out of there.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's called John Wayne Heathrow Airport.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a super duper cash kind of a thing. And so now I. But I'm still podcasting. I'm still being interviewed about, like, what kind of mics do you use for your show? And I'm like, at this point, I have completely. My brain has completely bifurcated itself from talking about TBTL and the industry and whatever it is I'm talking about. At one point, we start talking about, like, Ivermectin. Andrew, I'm not even kidding you. Which was not where I saw this going, but I assume you led the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Conversation in that direction.

[Luke Burbank]

As I. As I always do. You know, it's one of my hobby horses. It's actually how I. It's how I deworm my hobby horse, Ivermectin. So. But the whole time I'm like, you know what it reminded me of? I guess maybe with slightly lower stakes. This is a. Speaking of intestinal distress, this is a weird place to take it. The time when I was doing. Wait, wait, don't tell me live on stage, but was also extremely uncomfortable in my stomach region and somehow was like, I guess I have no choice but to believe I was just making noise with my mouth. It was somewhat relevant to what we were doing, but I have no memory of what I said, and I had no memory of being in my body because all I could think about was that I was very close to having a number two accident on stage in front of everyone at the Chase Bank Auditorium. This felt a little bit like that, in that I'm. I'm still trying to kind of be in on this podcast, but I'm mostly just like, you know, how much is it to rebook an international flight? Am I going to stay overnight at Heathrow? Becca and I had Valentine's Day plans on Saturday night, like, including reservations. Am I going to miss that? Like, I'm just. I'm spinning through. How did I. I end up in this situation? I had plenty of time this morning. How am I. How is it this close to the flight? Like, what did I do wrong? But meanwhile, I'm still podcasting away.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I wish you would have brought that up. I wish you would have the part.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm telling you about.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, sorry. Yeah. Like, just, just. That seems like an interesting part of the podcast when the person is just like, stops talking about mics and is just like, wait a second, I'm going to be late for my flight home.

[Luke Burbank]

It's literally exactly what I did. I reached a point where I was like, like, I cannot keep this under my hat any longer. Like, and even if it ruins the podcast or even if it means the podcast is over, I have to speak my truth here, which is, hey, Simon, I think I'm gonna miss this flight. And that is when Simon, who I learned is ex British military, goes into what I can only describe as some sort of Mission Impossible style, evasive action, military trained driving protocol that becomes, let's just call it extra legal. And we're still podcasting, we're still talking. So I'm like, he's, he's going around these trucks, he's going into all the. Here's the other thing that adds to the, my feeling of, of kind of apprehension is, you know, the lanes are different there, obviously. It's like you're in the left lane and you're. The driver's on the other side. And whereas when you and I were driving in Australia, and that is also the case mostly, you and I were just on that big long Stewart highway, just kind of driving and driving and driving. When you're in London, you're constantly like in the left lane. And then you sharply, if you're Simon, you're like sharply swinging left into the left lane again. So you're taking the left into the left lane, which my American brain is trained to think we've just gone into the oncoming traffic, you know, and we're doing, we're going around these roundabouts and we're like. And again, I'm very appreciative of the fact that this has kicked Simon into another gear because this is really helping me. But again, we're still, we're still podcasting along and I'm like, I'm. All I really want to talk about is am I going to make this flight or not? But we're again, we're continuing talking about the podcasting industry and, and how do you stay motivated? So we're just podcasting away until. And I'm watching obsessively the drop off clock. You know, like when you gain a minute. Again, this is very, I think, outside of your experience because you just don't cut things close like this. And boy, was I wishing that I was an Andrew in this moment. Andrew. I was like, God, why, why do I have to be this way? But like, if you have been in this kind of situation before or, you know, the, the app of the rideshare will tell you when you're like, estimated drop off is. And it becomes, or, you know, if you've ever just been driving in your car with ways on or one of these things, that obsessive thing of like, are we gaining time? Is this thing counting down? You know, like, in other words, it was 136. Is it 134 now? Is it 133? Are we. Are we speeding up this process or are we losing time at some point? He goes, what terminal are you in? And I was like, ah, Heathrow. He goes, no, there's like a big difference. And I go, okay. I go. He goes, is it Terminal 2? I go, probably. So I go into my British Airways reservation and somewhere far in the info, it's like, it's Terminal 5. And I go to Terminal 5. He goes, that's not good. I'm like, oh, no. I go, how much time does that? He goes, I don't know, maybe 10 minutes. And we are not in a mode, Andrew, where we have 10 minutes to mess around with. Like, it's already a pretty unlikely scenario that we're going to get through all of this. And so I switched the drop off. Amazingly, it doesn't actually add as much time as we were thinking. Maybe it adds three or four minutes on the, like, estimation. But the sort of end of the story is we pull up to Terminal 5. I am. I think it's at that point maybe we've gained five or six minutes, let's say it's. It's. I think it's like 50 minutes until my flight. Now, if I'm at sea tac, I'm fine with this. I'm cool as a cucumber. This is okay, but I'm not. I'm at Heathrow. I have this massive bag, which is another thing. The irony is if I would have just not gotten that bag, I could have just sprinted right to. I had to go through, you know, the check in. I have to get rid of this bag. And this is where I lost all. Chill, Andrew. Like, I just threw myself at the mercy of British Airways. Oh, by the way, another thing. And this is the world we live in in. The car is pulling up to the terminal or whatever, and because of the fractured media environment where it's abc, Always be contenting. Simon hands me his phone. Like, he's like, okay, well, we'll say goodbye to Luke. Where can we find you? Tbtl.net thanks, everyone. And he hits end and he goes. He hands me the phone and he goes, well, first he. He takes a picture of us, like, I guess for the thumbnail of the podcast, and then he Hands me the phone. And he goes, okay. And he starts the video goes, just do one quick promo where you say who you are and. And. And where you're from and what we talked about. And now the car is parked. It's like, it's. It's here. And I'm like, hey, it's. I. For some reason, this is stuck in my mind. I don't know if anyone will ever see this, but I'm like, hi, It's Luke from tbtl.net have you ever heard us identify the show as such, Andrew? Like, where did that even come from? It came from a very feral, like, primal place of, I'm gonna miss this flight and have to pay $3,000.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not the worst instinct, though. If you don't have a lot of time to say what we are, just tell them where to go, I guess. And also, net gets funnier every day.

[Luke Burbank]

So I'm like, It's Luke from tbtl.net I just got done talking to Simon here on Taxi Taxi Chronicles. I keep wanting to call it Taxi Cab Confessions. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Although I will say his most popular videos. And this is what you're up against. Here is season seven, episode 68. So by the way, he's cranking this out. He really is a true foot fetish. That was. That's a popular.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, wait until he posts our episode. A lot of it was about foot.

[Andrew Walsh]

Fetish life of a dominatrix. That was season 7, episode 72, and season 11, episode 85. National Indian Squash player Abhay Singh was in the. In the. I mean, can you compete with this?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. We'll find out. We'll see what the. What the views and the likes are like if. If and when our episode ever goes up. But anyway, so I. I will say.

[Andrew Walsh]

This, and I'm not saying this to diminish your experience or Simon's experience, but this is a rare case where I am very relieved to see that the numbers do not dwarf hours. Let me just put it that way. As far as.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that was a big part of the conversation, which I don't know. Again, how much of this will end up on the Internet, if anyone will watch it again. I was in a fugue state, like, but a lot of it was about, like, me weirdly, like, kind of turning into, like, a pod bro who's, like, hyping people up. Like, you got to be consistent. You gotta rise and grind and saying kind of like, hey, if you want. If you're trying to do a podcast, like, I Don't know who I think that the potential audience is, but it was a lot of me being like, if you're trying to do a podcast, focus on narrow casting and make sure you do, you're consistent. You got to like, if you say you're going to post every week, you got to post every week. And he was saying. Simon was, yeah, that's something that I keep kind of messing up at. Like, he's like, I kind of. And he was like. And I tried this other podcast and didn't really work. Like, he was very like, sort of self aware about the journey. And he was like, yeah. And then I was like, it was a certain kind of podcast and didn't get a lot of traction. So then I was like, well, I'm in this Uber all day, so. So I. At least, you know, the content creation is while I'm working anyway and stuff, you know. So all that is to say, yeah, it would, it would have been, it would have been a certain kind of experience to go to the website later and realize like, oh man, this is crushing something that we do five days a week professionally.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I was curious. I'm like, is this going to be one of those just like thousands upon thousands or millions of views? It's not, but I will give him Credit. He's got 1300 videos posted, so he's cranking them out.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I forget what he. There was. Oh, the other thing he has, he's got. And he's got a bunch more that I don't know if he's even posted like episodes of. Basically what he said was. And this was, I. I was relating to him our conversation at some point on TBTL about the HBO show Taxicab Confessions, which my initial memory of it was, well, that's gotta all be faked. And then it like, maybe there was some fakery, but it actually was less faked than, than, than I had thought. He was like, oh yeah, yeah, people got get really real in the back. And I was like, well, because they probably had a few drinks, like, no, no, no, I don't interview anyone who's been drinking. Which is probably a good ethical like bright line. But he was saying like he was telling me that people have like confessed to like killing people like that. Like, he was like, like, it's wild what people will sort of admit to in the back of a cab to a virtual stranger. So that was just kind of made me think, well, maybe the taxi confession thing was onto something. You know, as far as like the wild stories that I Thought were probably just like faked, but maybe people just, there's something about it feeling semi anonymous and people have stuff they want to get off their chest or whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

But did you admit any secrets, like the fact that your co host uses shotgun microphones instead of studio mics?

[Luke Burbank]

I admitted that my co host usually has to spend at least one night setting up a new computer for doing the show, for doing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Very simple process.

[Luke Burbank]

I get to the British Airways, I get to the British Airways, like check in to go to check my bag and I just throw myself at their mercy. And I just say to the person, like, because there's like a, there's a line. It's not a crazy line, but it's not no line, if that makes sense. It's like I want to say eight people with their bags, they're waiting to snake through and I just say, I am so sorry, I am about to miss my flight. Is there any way I could see a baggage agent? And this person looks around very sweetly and goes, goes, yeah, go up there to like whatever, 14 or something. So I'm like, thank you so much. Thank you so much. So I go up and luckily there's like a potted plant that's kind of obscuring me from the people that are waiting in the real line.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is there a guy with binoculars and a fedora hiding behind the plant?

[Luke Burbank]

So I'm like, I'm doing this move where I'm like, I'm kind of hiding behind the plant because I don't want them to see that I'm just fully cutting the line and I don't want them to be like, like. But I'm also like ready to. Just as soon as the people that are being helped at position 14 are done. I am like beelining it so that no one from the real line like comes in front of me. And it actually worked out sort of perfectly because nobody saw me when I was in the, in the jungle that is Heathrow until those folks left. I beelined her for 14 and I just said to her as I was getting close, I was like, the woman at the front said it was okay if I, you know, if I, if I went directly to you. I'm about to miss my flight and thank goodness I got a really nice British Airways baggage person.

[Andrew Walsh]

And aren't you glad I got you that camo colored browns pullover sweatshirt. Now it really made this mission. You just blended in with.

[Luke Burbank]

You could see it under the ghillie suit I was wearing. And people have often asked, why do I wear that ghillie suit now, you know, to the airport. It's like, for moments just like this. And so I get the, like, my whole thing was I was like, if they will let this gigantic ass suitcase that's caused me so much hassle this trip with very little payoff. If they just get this on the plane, if they'll agree to put it on the plane, then I know I'm in okay shape because that means usually the cutoff time for the luggage is before the cutoff time for the humans. And so, again, this person was really helpful, and she's like, okay, you have about. And luckily, like, from when I finished cutting my promo for the show to when I'm talking to this person, it's been like, I don't know, two minutes. Like, it's been very fast. And she says, okay, you have about 50 minutes, but you got to take a train. It's in B47, yada yada. So I'm like, okay, well, she checks the bag, and I'm just like, you know, I'm. I'm. I'm sort of cautiously optimistic where I'm not walking, but I'm not sprinting. I'm like, sort of. I'm speed walking. I'm, like, cutting around people. I'm walking, you know, I'm going down the escalator that's already going down, but I'm walking down it, trying to get to the train. I hear somebody mutter, when this train pulls up, somebody says to their friend, this train takes about 20 minutes. And I'm like, no way. Like, is that even possible? It didn't. Thankfully, it took 90 seconds, if that, to get to our thing, although they did a security sweep. I've never seen this before. Like, when you take those, you know, at SeaTac or anywhere else, a lot of times there are these little underground trains or trams that are getting you from one terminal to the next. And the train pulls up, and I'm, of course, like, watching every second. And then it just here, like, the doors open. Everyone gets off, but the doors are on the opposite side. So the doors that are in front of us remain closed. We cannot access this. This tram. And then it just says security check. And then we're just waiting and waiting for what feels like an eternity. I'm going to say it was maybe three minutes, but it's just for this random guy who, let's just say, didn't seem to have a real fire lit underneath him, is just kind of walking through each of these. You know, there's maybe Five or six of these cars just like looking around, making sure nobody's left. Anything weird? There's nothing weird going on. It's kind of checking it, checking it. And then he finally gets off and then he like hits some button or says something on the walkie. And then finally it's like the other far doors close. I'm just like. And then like 20 seconds later, our doors open. So it was like, it just. I was like, please don't let there be a security event. Please don't let someone have just accidentally left, like, their bag. Not because of anything terroristic, but that, like, shuts down the trams, that Heathrow or the. Whatever. I get to the, I, I get to the, the B terminal and I'm walking and a guy goes sprinting past me towards the gate that I'm walking towards. And I'm like, well, that's not a great sign. He's. He's probably on my flight, but he is. He's not being a cool, chill guy like I am. He is like in a full dead on sprint. And I finally get to B47 and there is no one there, which is also never a great sign because we're still at this point, 35 minutes before the flight is supposed to take off. So again, under normal circumstances, this is a long, long time. Under international circumstances, maybe not so much. But, like, I get there, they, like, I scan my ticket, I get them, everything's cool. Yeah. Go out there, down this escalator, I get onto the. I start walking up, I get to the jet bridge, I get to the back of the jet bridge, huge line of people still waiting to get on the plane. And I'm thinking, I could have waited another 20 minutes. I could have. I could have probably, you know, had one more cup of coffee with Bean or whatever, because it went from my whole life is flashing before my eyes to, are you kidding me with this line? Are you kidding me with this? This is. This is how you treat US British Airways. So suffice it to say, I got on the airplane.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is security? What is, what is their version of TSA? Like? Is it very similar? It's.

[Luke Burbank]

It's very similar. In fact, I don't think it's called tsa, probably it's called bsa, British Securities. I don't know. It's. It was, for all intents and purposes, the same thing. Same kind of machinery, same kind of, you know, whatever. And again, I got really, really lucky that, you know, considering it was a Friday afternoon, it was not one of those kind of weird days where for whatever reason, there's a ripple in the system. And, like, you've got. If anything had gone wrong in this process, like, if any of these lines had been, like, blown up, it would just be. It would have been game over. And again, I don't know what my recourse would have been. I already had enough trouble dealing with this whole situation of trying to. Because to stay. To get further into the weeds quickly. Like, the ticket was purchased by. Through American Airlines, but through the CBS travel tool. But then they put me on British Airways, so kind of nobody was in charge of this. It would have been a absolute nightmare to try to rebook this if they would even let me.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

And I would not want to deal with Larry Allardo over this. Like, he's like, really? Really? You missed your flight. So it was a major relief. And that also the nice thing about.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was, was your hotel too close to European Disneyland for his taste as well?

[Luke Burbank]

It's possible. You know, it's one Chunnel ride from Euro Disney. Flag it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Same guy. The guy. No, no.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, well, yes. But that. It was a. It was someone in the chain of command who had flagged that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I see.

[Luke Burbank]

But, but, but. Good memory. But then what it also did was remember last week, I was like, obsessing over the chess game of where am I going to sit on the airplane? And the. You know, I was good. Like, am I going to be on a. In a window seat in. Because I was in bad coach. That never changed. I remained in bad coach. But am I going to be in a window seat of bad coach? But maybe someone in front of me will lean back and that will be terrible. Or do I pick an aisle seat at the front of bad coach for more legroom or whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

Luckily, the Bad Coach Port of Call.

[Luke Burbank]

Great Harvey Keitel film. Incredible.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. We already did the.

[Luke Burbank]

That's Nelson.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, the T. Nelson joke. I think on Friday.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think that worked. I think yours.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think yours was better weekend to think about it.

[Luke Burbank]

I like yours. I like yours better. So I. The good news was that, like, just the very act of being allowed onto the airplane was such a relief that I immediately, like, lost any apprehension about where I was sitting. I was like, I just want to be on this airplane. And so I get to. This was the weirdest thing, though. I've never experienced this before. The. It turns out the seats on this flight, Andrew, did not reflect the seat map that I had been looking at for this flight because I was Deeply aware of the exact seat that I was in, which was 30h. And what that was was the middle section of the front row of Bad Coach. It was on the aisle. And I would have rather have been over on one of those side section of the same area. Like in other words, closer to the window in. In the little side grouping, the far right of the airplane. I would have rather. But that was all taken when I made. When I was moving around my seats. So I get to my row 30 and there's an empty seat next to a woman and her very cute daughter. The woman also was wearing a Courtney Barnett T shirt, which I knew we were going to be fast friends. I sit down in the seat. I'm kind of unpacking my stuff, getting ready. I'm super stoked just to be on the plane. And the flight attendant very nicely comes to me and says, you know, what's your seat number? And I'm like, 30 hech. I'm trying to fit in. And she's like, oh, that's actually over here. And it was literally the seat that I was hoping to have been in the whole time, which it said was taken on the seat map, which was in the exact same row but over closer to the window of the airplane and in a better spot. Because for the vagaries of this airplane, what I had basically was I'd say 15ft of legroom. Like it was the exit door. So basically it's like my seat, a middle seat with no one in it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Geez Louise.

[Luke Burbank]

The window seat that had a very nice, very mellow dude that was reading Foreign Service magazine. And then, you know, the, the emergency exit window and like the restrooms, but in front of me, seriously, 15ft, like no other seats, like I could have. And, and, and it was, it was perfect. It was, it was not an overpacked flight. In fact, most of the people in the other, almost everyone had like at least an empty seat next to them or room to spread out or whatever. It was like not a lot of.

[Andrew Walsh]

People trying to get back to the United States these days. I wondered, Andrew, if that might seem.

[Luke Burbank]

Like maybe a supply demand issue. Not as much demand. Can I get overabundance of supply?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. How are the flights out of this place, by the way? Are those pretty packed?

[Luke Burbank]

People are. People are like climbing into the wheel well.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, so here I am. I'm back. I'm home. I'm. I'm excited to be here. Does it is really nice to get to do the show from here after a week of being on the road just with all my kind of the proper equipment and, you know, just the comforts of home. So I'm, I'm, I'm very happy to be back. And, and, and I barely made it. I will, I will see if TBT gets a bump from whenever Taxi Chronicles drops. Although I'll say Simon talking to you. Simon was promising me up and down he was going to post the show by Monday so I could promote it. And I have yet to see it. So. Your move, Simon.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm also like, I haven't even seen yours yet and I'm already like, kind of worried about the production quality of this. I see some people are get in the front seat for this.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't do that. But I, I centered myself and I'm just. Yeah. Not only literally, but figur.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some of these look like. Oh, if you're in the front seat, it looks like it's a pretty good interview. Some of these look like. And again, I haven't seen yours yet. It's not posted. But I just worry about this shot as it's like kind of a close up on him in the front seat and then we're picking up the person in the back seat. I'm hearing. I haven't even clicked on these yet and I'm hearing a lot of car noise. I'm worried about mic placement.

[Luke Burbank]

You haven't clicked on it. How are you hearing car noise?

[Andrew Walsh]

In my head.

[Luke Burbank]

Why don't you click on it?

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, let's try. Well, the dominatrix one. I'm going to click on a recent.

[Luke Burbank]

One which I'm assuming will be the same.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I'm looking at now I'm looking at the most recent one ones here we have. I'm gonna go with somebody in the back seat. This is two people in the back seat.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, let's hear.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

We're back with another rider, another episode. Today we have Tiffany and Frank.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. All the way from America, from Philadelphia. That place where Tom Hank did his famous movie. Frank is an engineer and Tiffany is a teacher. So what brought you to England?

[Andrew Walsh]

Vacation.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, but you could have gone. Oh, any place in the world. What brought you to England? Ah, this is true.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is very true. I want to say now this guy in the back seat, the, the Philly guy.

[Luke Burbank]

Frank.

[Andrew Walsh]

Frank. He's holding. He's actually holding a microphone. Simon gave him an actual microphone.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't. We didn't do that for me. He had a shock. So in other words, that's already Not a. That's not a useful comparison because what we had during my session, Andrew, was, like I said, a little kind of directional, very miniature shotgun microphone mounted on the telephone.

[Andrew Walsh]

So the question becomes front seat. Pointed at him, right?

[Luke Burbank]

No, pointed, actually more towards me. And I. I want to tell you, I was. I was positioned right in the center of the shot. I was kind of sitting in the middle seat now of the Uber, and I was projecting heartily. So if there's a chance that it was going to work out, I was giving it my all. But who knows? I'm not. I'm not. I haven't. I've yet to see the final product.

[Andrew Walsh]

This might be a better example, and then we can move on. But this is From Hula to the World. Stage one, Hawaiian Dancer's inspirational Journey. I was like, maybe young teenager.

[Luke Burbank]

I actually started when I was much.

[Andrew Walsh]

Younger, but then I stopped until.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, until I was a young teenager. And basically I was forced into it. That's not bad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, it's not too bad.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, it sounds like you're in a taxi cab, right? So was that your parents say, you gotta do this?

[Andrew Walsh]

My aunt, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Your aunt, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

So he is quite a bit louder. I was kind of thinking about that if the microphone is closest to him.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I did the majority of the talking, which you'll be really shocked to hear.

[Andrew Walsh]

Andrew, do you think that he. Does he want to send me the tape and I can sweeten it a bit. Like, what's your.

[Luke Burbank]

How's your new computer? Sweetening.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. Did he. Oh, did you mention to him Riverside? You must have. I think when I was giving, literally, story before you go. Yeah, I was evangelizing.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, yeah, like I said, I was. I was out of my body for a significant part of the drive after I realized how. How dangerous this was actually for me in terms of missing the flight. But I do think I was talking about Riverside. We use a program called Riverside and. And how, you know, it really does allow for doing a lot of stuff that used to cost a lot of money and be prohibitively expensive in terms of equipment and everything. My point being, it's much easier to do a podcast now from a technical standpoint than it used to be, which I was. Again, somehow I got it in my mind that his audience is a bunch of aspiring podcasters who just don't know what to do. And I don't know where I got that from, but that was the thrust of what I was saying. It was like a. It was like a really ineffective TED Talk aimed at the aspiring podcast. And. And you know, again, we've already blown through one deadline, which was supposed to be posted by Monday, so maybe we'll never see the light of day. I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, don't take that as a reflection. Exactly what I was.

[Luke Burbank]

I never do. I never do. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark. Get set, get set now. Ready, ready, go. Everybody rattle dazzle. All right, let's thank some dazzling donors. That's right. We have entered our dazzling donor era. These donors are donating a dazzling amount of dough. And I also think I tried to explain the financial structure of TBTL to Simon. Again, I don't know how much. How interesting this was to the Taxicab Chronicles audience, but it's very interesting to our audience, I think, because it's really how TBTL exists. We want to thank Stephanie Lee in Brooklyn, New York.

[Andrew Walsh]

Stephanie Lee. Stephanie is personally responsible for getting the song Gloria in my head, like non stop for a couple of weeks.

[Luke Burbank]

Like the Van Morrison song?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, the. The disco song.

[Luke Burbank]

Gloria.

[Andrew Walsh]

Laura Brannigan was her name, and I.

[Luke Burbank]

Think you're thinking of Zap Brannigan, Sheepdog. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Stephanie said that she had heard in a 10 of the week form, had mentioned hearing Gloria on at the salon, and I was like, I know that song. I've heard it a million times in my life, but I've never really paid attention to it. So I found the video link for the newsletter and I watched it and then I just became entranced with the lyrics. I'm still a little confused as to what's going on in Gloria, but I spent a solid two weeks listening to Laura Brannigan's greatest hits. Luke. That's not somebody who I thought I was.

[Luke Burbank]

It's interesting that the G L O R I A Gloria song was already out, but. But what was her name again?

[Andrew Walsh]

Laura Brannigan.

[Luke Burbank]

Laura Brannigan and her co collaborators thought there's still. There's still some desire in the marketplace for another song about someone named Gloria. You'd think one would probably like, you know, sort of slake that thirst.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I. And it's a. It's a really good song. I don't go for music of that kind of era and genre that much. I guess maybe the genre more than era because I. I don't know if it's disco, but there's a disco ball in the video. So I'm gonna put it in the sort of disco era.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that's. I think I. If you were to wake me up out of a sleep and say that where's that song where's it fall in the genres? I would say disco.

[Andrew Walsh]

I might listen to it again today.

[Luke Burbank]

Anyway, Stephanie Lee's in Brooklyn, New York and says hello imaginary friendos. My message is promoting my financial coaching and tax prep business. This is such a great name. Frequently Taxed questions.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love it.

[Luke Burbank]

Shout out to my 11 Peter, my chief marketing officer in chief who came up with the name Peter Peter Solid my friend. You've earned your paycheck for the week. That is a solid, solid name for a tax advice operation. I offer coaching on money topics like budgeting, using tax advantaged investment accounts and how to self prepare your own tax return. I'm all about a DIY approach to financial empowerment. This year I'm also taking on a small number of clients for traditional tax prep. So if you have a simple return and are looking for a tax preparer, I hope you look me up. This is the Website frequently taxed questions.com I will say this by the way, Stephanie continues. I welcome and want to work with diverse clients of every type and have a strict no judgment policy regarding personal finance. That's huge. I have there have been multiple points in my life and I assume will be in the future where I was honestly a little bit embarrassed or worried to go to a tax prep person because of just maybe questionable financial decisions or maybe not filing for a year or two back in the day and just being like this is embarrassing to me and I don't want someone else to like, you know, see the skeletons. And then when I went to a professional tax preparer I always felt a lot better about it. It's just like anything, it's better to just deal with it. But it can be intimidating. And it sounds like Stephanie is running a very no judgment type of operation.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that when they told you Mr. Burbank Playboys are not tax deductible? You cannot write these off.

[Luke Burbank]

You like that was when quarter of your. But what about the article budget? What about.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's what I get. It's not. You can't write it off.

[Luke Burbank]

This was when I went to this accountant named Jamie something I forget his last name in Glendale, California. I think I told you first of all I literally had like not done. I had like not filed taxes in a couple of years. This was in my early 20s. Like I had taxes were being withheld from my like W2 jobs. But I hadn't filed my personal tax return, if that makes any sense. I mean, which was really silly because probably I would have just written in zeros on everything or whatever, you know what I mean? Like, if you have only one job and it's W2 and they take the taxes out, it's not a very complicated process. But I just was disorganized and then I felt worried and embarrassed, etc. But he really, I mean, he, he knocked the taxes out. It was great. And he was like, oh, actually there were some taxes I thought I owed. He was like, we can actually work that out through the Playboy deduction. Mostly he wanted headshots. Really wanted to get head.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, this guy, right?

[Luke Burbank]

But it was, I was like, I was like, I'm a public radio, so I'm a booker for public radio. They don't give us headshots. This is not a. Another headshot side of this whole operation right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

But he said, yeah, but someday you're going to be on Taxicab Chronicles.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. You need to have your headshots ready for that. Well, Stephanie says you can also check out my free weekly newsletter about taxes, investing and keeping things tight with your money. It always starts out, hi, friendos. My homage to tbtl. I hope the business boys don't mind power out. We do not mind. The other thing about this, Andrew, is the fact that Stephanie is taking on a small number of clients for traditional tax prep. About this time of year, it starts becoming nearly impossible to find anyone qualified to jump in on your tax situation. Because if you've ever been friends with a CPA or anybody who does tax preparation, you know that things are ramping up. Things become totally insane. So what a, what a lucky thing that Stephanie is still taking on potentially some clients as of this airing. So go to frequentlytaxed questions.com. stephanie, thank you for the support.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I would just say there it's not a coincidence that Stephanie's message here is leading the pack because we did want to get them in in time because now is the time to be thinking about that stuff. I'll say. Maestro, on your mark. Listen, it's been a while.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we've also got to thank Nick Sleeves.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now we've just totally. Now it's just Nick slevies, the perfect 10.

[Luke Burbank]

Our friend Nick Armies, who's entered the. He's entered the world of having a totally made up name on the show, which there's a few other people in that world, Nick Slevies. Because we can, despite all that Nick has done for the show and it's a lot. Somehow I still, still forget how to say his last name. Nick is in Stafford Springs, Connecticut and says I've been waiting for this moment for months and it's finally here. Shout out to the perfect daddy who is now a married man. That would be Jake.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jake in Chicago. That's right. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Nick says, I love this show. I love you guys. And I make no apologies for leaving as many voicemails as I do.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's always good.

[Luke Burbank]

That's more your department, Andrew and I. Can you confirm does is Nick Slevy's leaving lots of email?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, a lot of just check ins, you know, and I think a lot of them Nick doesn't expect to get on the show. You'll just be wandering around town on his Bluetooth or whatever, just sort of checking in on things we've talked about.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. A service that we provide here for folks, for any of the listeners, but particularly folks who've been. As for folks who've shown up in a. In a. What was it, a hot dog suit outside of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Waffle House once for us. Nick says for all those in the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philly area, please consider visiting Chula. It's a fast casual Indian restaurant my wife works at and the food is amazing. If you are visiting those areas, it's definitely worth the trip to stop in for a bite. What you do is so important. Thank you. So let me unpack this a little bit. In the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philly area, this restaurant.

[Andrew Walsh]

Shula, I'm looking at it now. I'm looking at their map.

[Luke Burbank]

Is there a location that is kind of located between these areas or are there multiple locations around these different areas?

[Andrew Walsh]

There are multiple locations. It looks like a small regional chain. Luke, I am not joking when I say it. I don't want to give out too much information.

[Luke Burbank]

Forget it. I'm on the website, Andrew, and I'm way ahead of you.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't want to give out too much information. There is one literally half a mile from where my parents live. If that like this is the. The mark on the map is almost exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

Get Bob out there. Y order you some Chula.

[Andrew Walsh]

This looks good.

[Luke Burbank]

I also like their website is very intuitive. Like they've got some facts, some frequently asked questions. Like for instance, where does the joy come from? They've answered that question. Is Chula spicy? Answer that question. What if I'm vegetarian? They've also got that answered for you, Andrew. What makes it so good? It's a question we're all asking. And now We've got the answers at the Chula website. That's golly, that has got me real hungry for Indian food now. I was just in a place, London, England, that is known because of the Indian diaspora for. And frankly the diaspora from Pakistan, India, that whole sort of region for having incredible like sub food from the subcontinent. And I'll be honest, I did not manage to get to any of that. And I regret that now we're in a little bit of a desert for that kind of food out here at the Madrona Hill studio. But I don't know. Next time I'm down in Portland. Here's the thing. I think I brought this up a while ago. Becca claims that she is totally like one of the world's number one fans of Indian food. Except she's literally never agreed that it's a particular night to go do this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Which at some point, you know, when they tell you who they are, Andrew, you gotta believe them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. It is a joke on 30 Rock that like I think Jack Donaghy is trying to have a very non sexy date, trying to cool off a relationship temporarily with a, with a very, with a very sexy lady. And I think part of his plan to cool things off is to have a big Indian.

[Luke Burbank]

Big Indian, yes, exactly. That's the kind of meal that like, let's say if you do have the opportunity to have, you know, sleep in separate bedrooms or maybe you know, give each other a little space, that's, that's when you can really go ham. Like for instance on Saturday. So I did make it home and on Saturday night night Becca and I went out to a local restaurant in Portland and they. There was this focaccia bread that we ordered. It was so delicious. But I don't think I've seen this to this extreme. There were so many whole cloves of garlic baked into the focaccia. Have you, have you experienced this before?

[Andrew Walsh]

I have seen them. I don't know if I've seen too many of them, but I've.

[Luke Burbank]

They were falling out. Oh yeah, that says, I mean listen. And I said to Becca, I was like, if I was by myself, if I was eating this meal by myself, I would be be wharfing down these cloves of garlic. But as, as a responsible partner who will also be occupying your apartment later, I'm going to go ahead and try to like kind of doink these out onto the plate. So I'm not just eating like what would have amounted to maybe two entire head of garlic.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. That is a lot. I am. I am probably. I'm still on this website. I think I'm probably getting Indian food tonight. You know, you mentioned something about spiciness before. This is a different kind of cuisine, of course. But I wanted to say I am somebody who. Growing. Growing up, we were a household that sort of liked spicy foods, generally speaking, Eastern European background, a lot of peppers and stuff and various dishes. I thought I grew up to be somebody who likes spicy food. And I don't know. You know, it's all relative. I don't really know. I don't. I feel like maybe when you're younger, you are having more conversations with your kid, with your friends as kids. Like, is this too hot for you? Like, how long can you keep an atomic fireball in your mouth? That kind of thing. I don't really do that with my friends anymore. So I kind of don't know what a baseline level of spiciness is. But there is a Thai street food place that's kind of newly bought and renovated right here in Aurora, and they've done such a great job with it. It's really, really cute now. And I love going in there, like, supporting them. I want to make sure that they're there for a long time. And I took Genevieve there for the first time the other day, and I got something that I think you usually get, or you've mentioned before, I think, which is larb. It's like just salad with some, like, kind of crumpled ground chicken. Yeah, I think I got ground chicken. And they asked for the spiciness level, and it was out of five. And I think I went with four.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it came out because usually I'm like three or four. And I was looking. I was remembering back, I think maybe the first time I did something like this. The woman talked me out of it. It's spicy. But this time the. The server didn't. I think that in the past, I'd been served by the owner, and she had talked me out of it, and I'd sort of forgotten about that. So I'm just like, I don't know. Four. Four is good. And so it comes out with the ground meat in a separate bowl kind of warm, and then like, kind of the cold.

[Luke Burbank]

Were they holding welding gloves when they brought it out? The first indication that something had gone very, very wrong.

[Andrew Walsh]

They did that thing. They flipped their head down and the helmet came down.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. And I don't know why the welding helmet had, like, an American eagle on it, but it was like a flag.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, it was the it was a black and white flag. It kind of gave me a bad, bad feeling. But I. Luke, I don't think I'd ever had. I don't think in my adult life in years and years and years and years and years. I ordered food that I wanted to eat, but it was almost too spicy to eat. Now. I was hungry at first. I was kind of like. I took one little bite, and I didn't want to. I mean, it was literally so hot. I started coughing. But I remember I've been in this place before, and one time I did that, and the woman came out of the back and was kind of like, are you okay? Is it too spicy? I'm like, no, I just don't how to eat. And so I'm coughing. But this time I literally started coughing because it was so hot. And I was just, like, nibbling at it and trying to get as much lettuce, like a tiny little crumb of meat. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

The thing is, much lettuce. Not a lot. It's not. Doesn't have rice in it, so you don't want to cut it with.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. And Luke, I was just like, I. It was so, so unbelievably hot. I did end up bringing some home, and I think I ended up finishing it eventually. Like, one bite at a time.

[Luke Burbank]

You're poor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gutty works.

[Luke Burbank]

Gutty works. And also the exit point.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you ever. This is gonna get really, really gross. But after eating something very, very spicy, we all know that later on, when using the restroom, there can be evidence of that spicy meal in an unpleasant way. This is not a. I'm not. This isn't. That's as gross as this question gets. But one of the effects for me in that moment is on the extreme horniness. Just. Just extreme isn't even a strong raging hormone. No. I get cold. Like, my skin gets cold, and I.

[Luke Burbank]

Get, like, a survival instinct kicking in on some level.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like, it's so hot that your skin goes cold. You don't. You've never had that. I don't know if that's just.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think. I'm not eating fours at most places.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. So, anyway, I do recommend it, though. I think it's just called.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I would. I will say that, like, I definitely, like, enjoy food that has some spice to it, has some kick to it. But I. Maybe it's just old age or what have you, but I'm. You know, I can't remember the last time that I messed with a three. I might mess with a three. If I was feeling, I guess, adventurous, but never a four, never a five, I. I'm definitely a two man, though, because I'm not a one. I'm not a wuss.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't know. Who were the five people? You know, I don't know. I guess people.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. Maybe somebody who grew up eating it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's probably true.

[Luke Burbank]

Somebody who's. I mean, there's certainly plenty of people that you see online, particularly on places like Tick Tock. We're just sitting there, like, dipping a Carolina Reaper in something called, like, Satan's Bunghole and then eating it. Like, I don't know if. If the rest of their life, they're, like, trying to consume things that are that hot or that's just a stunt to get the likes. But, like, I'm definitely like, I'm a two man and I don't even. What I mean, I would like to have the perfect amount of spice, which would be some amount of spice. But the problem is, if it's too much like what you just described, I would not have finished that larb.

[Andrew Walsh]

I would have just.

[Luke Burbank]

Or maybe I would have made a bunch of rice when I got home and then tried to just, like, you know, change the ratio so that it was kind of, like, not so spicy.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, what we did, that's exactly what I ended up doing. I didn't make special rice for it, but coincidentally, Genevieve had made white rice the night before for something that she had been cooking. So I literally did mix up the. The ground meat with rice and I.

[Luke Burbank]

That must have helped a little bit.

[Andrew Walsh]

It did. Yeah. And it is funny that I even brought it home. Like, why not just leave it? It wasn't that much, but it was also really good. And I just want to point out here, like, I'm definitely not. I don't know why I need to point this out, but, like, I'm never ordering, like, spicy food because I think in any way it's impressive to the people around me. You know what I mean? It's not like, oh, man, man, I can eat fours. You know? Like, that's not.

[Luke Burbank]

Who's that?

[Andrew Walsh]

That was.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know, that guy across the restaurant ordering a four right now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right?

[Luke Burbank]

Easy, ladies. I'm taken exactly. By a woman who uses a separate bathroom.

[Andrew Walsh]

Who's that guy sweating into his larb?

[Luke Burbank]

Who's that guy crying not so softly into the lettuce cups? Anyway, thanks, Nick, for the donation. Appreciate you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Check out Chula.

[Luke Burbank]

Hello and. And welcome to Top Story. All Right. A top story from this weekend, Andrew, in my life, which was when I got home, I was. I had recorded the super bowl, right. You know, on my Fubo. And because the way that I watched the super bowl and the halftime show and all of that was very disjointed. It was kind of like on the airplane with limited access, it would come through for five minutes at a time. And then when I got to the. The hotel, I tried to kind of go back and watch some of the ads. It was a very odd way to experience all of this. And I said something to you. Maybe it was on the Monday show that I said I was, you know, I'm, I'm overall, obviously very in favor of Kendrick Lamar and the music of Kendrick Lamar. And I really like, you know, a handful of his songs a lot. But I said that halftime show, for me, the very beginning of it was the sort of spoken word part of it. I said, wasn't really hitting for me, me. And you said that it was really hitting for you to the point of almost it being an emotional experience. If I'm, if I'm remembering this accurately.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I remember my heart was racing because I just was so excited to see what he was going through.

[Luke Burbank]

I thought you said you understood it on a deep level that almost no other white person did.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was what I heard. I had put that.

[Luke Burbank]

I remember using the term getting it.

[Andrew Walsh]

But that was not. No, I really did. I'm a fan of his, and I'd been following the drama around everything, but I was also deeply interested in it from kind of a protest performance kind of point of view.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I watched it as God intended, which is to say on a giant ass television in my living room a week later. Yes. And it was amazing. And I absolutely retract. First of all, actually, that opening bit, it, it, it's. The scansion of it was better than I remembered, for what that's worth. Like, part of my, like, kind of little bit of like a taking a. I don't know what you want to call it. Jaundice. Look at it was. It felt the first time I watched it, which again, was like, probably on my phone or something. It felt a little disjointed to me, or like there might have been a few words that were. I don't know. I, I, it didn't hit for me the first time, just from a kind of lyrical standpoint. I'm talking about, like, literally the opening 20 seconds, but when I watched the whole thing in its entirety from the very beginning to the very end. And. And also in light of all the things that you were talking about last week, which is just like, in the political climate we're in, to have something that's so extremely centering the black experience on a national stage like this, I absolutely loved it. And I totally and completely retract my statement about thinking it was fine or the beginning was a little mid or whatever. I was riveted. Absolutely riveted.

[Andrew Walsh]

I also think. And I'm not the one.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you happy?

[Andrew Walsh]

I. Yeah. I don't say this to indicate that I'm somebody who knows all the ins and outs. I feel like so, like, Kendrick has created this entire world that, like, so many references in his music and visual references and stuff, too, are all kind of part and parcel of this sort of broader universe he's created. Like, that car that he was on, I know is like, that's the gen. That is on the COVID of his latest record. Like, that's obvious. But I'm just saying that, like, I'm not saying that I get it, but I just, like, I almost kind of, like, feel like, oh, there's so much going on here, and I'm only getting, like, kind of the tip of the iceberg of a lot of these references and stuff. So I don't know. I think he's a. He's a really, really smart guy. And, yeah, it was an exciting. I was telling you, I think on the show, I mean, this is maybe just the stupidest talk radio thing to do, but, like, thinking about, like, ranking super bowl performances, and when I rank them, I'm thinking of just in the era that I've been watching them, which is a very, very, you know, like, what, 15 years now or something? And look out Katy Perry, because, I mean, this is the problem. I loved Katie for the longest time. Katy Perry's halftime show was my favorite. Like, Left Shark, the whole thing. I just love the visuals of it, the colors of it, like, just everything. Very poppy.

[Luke Burbank]

And can I just insert one little quick thing on that? If you would like to know more about. About Left Shark and also the amazing history of super bowl halftime shows, check out Jamie Loftus's podcast called 16th Minute of Fame. Check out the Left Shark episode. It is phenomenal and involves Elvis Presto, the ushering in of the modern super bowl halftime performance era. Anyway, so if you. Yeah, worth listening to.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I. Now, I'm struggling, though, where to put, like, Katy Perry in this, because, first of all, like, Katy Perry's kind of latest ventures, kind of retroactively leave a bad taste in my mouth, which is not exactly totally fair, but, like, how could I possibly.

[Luke Burbank]

That album did get really, really kind of roasted, right? I didn't listen to it. But is it. Is it just that people didn't like the music or their bad takes? What's going on?

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, all. I don't know that much about it. All I know is I was driving with Genevieve and it was a rare moment where, like, Kixie wasn't on. We just had on some pop music station, and we both heard for the first time when it her first single off of her latest record. And it was like some sort of, like kind of a girl power anthem sort of. But it was so bad. And it was. I mean, it was really, really bad. Just like just the most thin veneer of quote unquote, girl power, you know what I mean? But just like, so. So just shallow. And then I. Then the kind of scandal was also. Yeah. And she's doing this with Dr. Luke. Like a known predator produced this girl power for Katy Perry. And it's just like, it. It just was so. It was such an immature outing of somebody who, like, I don't turn to Katy Perry for, like, kind of deep thoughts about the world, you know what I mean? Like, I don't expect much of her. Just like, you know, I enjoyed the pop music that she makes, and that's fine, but it was, like, just a combination. So I remember just hearing it and hating it and then reading more about, like, kind of like how it's pretty. It was pretty distasteful, sort of all around that backstory. So, yeah, that's all I know. In fact, I was at a. I was at an antiques mall the other, you know, like, a couple months ago, and Genevieve was in a different part of the mall. I'm wandering around by myself. But they were playing great music that is now oldies. And I didn't realize, like, stuff from, like, the 2010s were oldies, but it was like all this, like. Or 2007 or whatever. Not oldies. They didn't call it that. I'm just saying that, like, there was all this music from a very, very specific era that is already an era past. And it was the first time I realized, oh, all of this music is sort of of, like, old now. It felt like modern pop to me anyway. And I'm literally listening to a bunch of Katy Perry as I'm wandering around by myself, just thinking, like, what a shame that, like, retroactively, this other music doesn't hit quite the Same way. And I'm passing a woman talking to, I don't know her friend or partner.

[Luke Burbank]

The same person who was also mentioning going home and listening to Kixie or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Pardon me. No, no, no. This is at an antique small.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, that was not the place on Aurora where. Where you somebody. I thought you had gone to a place all also somewhere up north where two people were discussing Kixie in line in front of.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that was at a record. That was at a record sale at an Elks club. I'll get around. This is an antique small down in Sodo. But anyway, I passed this couple or this couple of people and I'm listening to this woman saying it's such a shame. And she's like, I hear her. I'm like, are you talking about Katy Perry? She's like, yeah. And then we had kind of a moment, but I think I scared them. I probably jumped out too quickly and said, are you talking about Katy Perry? But all of that is to say super bowl performance. Katy Perry, maybe not number one. Kendrick Lamar might be number one. Or the one from a couple of years ago. That was like just a celebration of Compton with like Dre and Kendrick was out there and Snoop and all those folks.

[Luke Burbank]

Like I don't like throw everything at the wall and have 50 cent doing inverted sit ups, I believe, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. But there's something about the stage setup of that that was really cool, if I recall. Like sort of.

[Luke Burbank]

Because I think that was in la, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it was so far that made Celebration of Compton. So anyway, I don't know, but Kendrick's is up there.

[Luke Burbank]

I have a pretty uninteresting take on that, which is, you know, for me it'll have to. It'll always be Prince outside. Because I did, you know, watch that one when it h. And I remember at the time being like, oh my God, this is so friggin amazing. And that's not me trying to flex, but that one's going to be pretty hard to knock out of my top spot. But I would definitely say that now, having rewatched it with the benefit of a little time and with the benefit of watching people who are mad online about it, I definitely am putting Kendrick's way up up there. Like somebody's been doing this move on Tick tock where they're playing like it's like a clip of Kendrick's performance and then it's people from Facebook and other social media just being like, worst, worst performance ever. And then it's a picture of the person's profile. Who say, worst performance ever.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's. Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's just. It's. Are you sitting down, Andrew? It's exactly who you'd think. It's a lot of, like, guys, like, speaking of Punisher, it's a lot of guys with a lot of. And women with a lot of, like, you know, Punisher related MAGA type coded stuff going on on their social media page. It's very predictable. The kind of person who would be especially put off by Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I'm glad you liked it. And yeah, I did. Definitely one of my top five.

[Luke Burbank]

You were. You were right. I was wrong. Don't get used to it. I think is the big takeaway from today's episode. Oh, and also, if I can, I gotta wish a happy blurs day to my actual human child, addie, who turned 31 today.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, wow. You know, 31 years old was with me.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, membership has its privileges, and my daughter gets a special shout out on the actual day of her blurs. And she'll never hear. So that's the good news.

[Andrew Walsh]

We'll see. If I leave it. I mean, we just have. We have rules. Like, Thursdays are our blurs days. I mean, I love it.

[Luke Burbank]

What a. What that would be. That would be such a. There would be such a power flex that I would never hear because I don't think I even would make it to this.

[Andrew Walsh]

I certainly don't think Addie is making it this far.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, God. Oh, no. Stop listening. Years ago. So anyway. All right, everyone. Well, it's nice to be back. This was fun. Sorry if I was kind of bouncing off the walls. The other thing about my folks being here is my coffee consumption weirdly goes up because, like, I'm hanging out with them in the morning early before the show, and we're just drinking coffee. Coffee and. And yapping. So I think I. I usually like two cups of coffee. I had like four today. So anyway, I always wonder about that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you ever read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Read any of those books?

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now, it doesn't seem like up your alley, but like, that's. They're all, oh, I'm gonna be wrong about this Norwegian or something. But they're constantly drinking and making coffee. Like, that's sort of like the little puttering language of the books. They're always. So we put on another pot of coffee, but it doesn't matter. Time of day, time of night, it's constantly. And I always just think, aren't they just jacked to their gills at all times.

[Luke Burbank]

So eventually they're just like on the ceiling.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Interesting. He remarked from the rafters of the building as his body had levitated. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

As vibrates with the.

[Luke Burbank]

I have figured out that these. This the. The absolute most number of the coffee that I can have in the morning is 4. We hit it, we've learned from it, and we're going to come in with maybe two tomorrow, so. All right, thanks for listening, everybody. We will see you tomorrow with more imaginary radio. In the meantime, have a great Monday, take care of yourselves, and please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.