#4692 If I Had A Ninnyhammer

Summary

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TBTL Episode #4692: If I Had A Ninnyhammer

Date: March 26, 2026
Hosts: Luke Burbank & Andrew Walsh

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Episode Overview

This Thursday episode finds Luke and Andrew welcoming baseball’s opening day while sifting gleefully through listener voicemails. The episode offers a characteristic dive into their behind-the-scenes banter—such as the mysterious origins of audio drops, the art of media archiving, early career stories, etymology tangents, and a celebration of TBTL community artifacts. The show is a love letter to nostalgia, minutiae, and the odd pockets of language and memory that define longtime friendships.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Mystery of the Audio Drop (00:55–10:30)

• Origin Debate: Andrew quizzes himself and Luke about a drop: “This ship doesn’t go anywhere except in circles.” A lively exchange ensues as they try to deduce its source—possibly the 1990s, a Mariners feature, or a local broadcast.
• Drop Labeling Styles: Andrew shares his methodical naming conventions for audio drops (all-caps, source, descriptors, common misspellings) while Luke admits his system is chaotic, e.g., “This ship doesn't go anywhere…”.
• Metadata Rabbit Hole: Attempts to discover the file's age via Apple Music metadata prove inconclusive, leading to nostalgia about forgotten origins of shared soundbites.
• Quote:
  Luke: “I just write any old thing… I could write Webster’s Dictionary in there.” (06:52)

2. Archival Nerd-Out: Andrew’s Old Radio Job (12:00–17:00)

• Archive Days: Andrew recounts digitizing reel-to-reel tapes and creating the “Andrew Walsh Memorial Archive” at college, reflecting on loving the process of library science—arranging, cataloging, and preserving old broadcasts.
• Contrast: Luke admits to pilfering books and CDs from his student radio days at KCMU, fueling a conversation on radio station “free bins” and the moral gray area of opportunistic student employees.
• Quote:
  Andrew: “I should be an archivist. Archivist at heart. I did part of that for my job for a while.” (12:31)

3. Nostalgia-Heavy Childhood Neighborhood Chatter (21:06–28:08)

• Memory Lane: Discussions range from Luke's formative years in Seattle neighborhoods—complete with stories of glamorous neighbor moms and 1980s touchstones (Pitfall, John Cougar Mellencamp)—to an interactive stroll via Google Maps.
• Ethiopian Food Side Quest: Andrew tries to pinpoint Luke’s childhood haunts by referencing a beloved Ethiopian restaurant, prompting debate about underrated world cuisines and what constitutes “American food.”
• Quote:
  Luke: “Is there an American food?... Like, is every food in America… an American food?” (24:12)

4. Listener Appreciation - Dazzling Donors (29:06–52:04)

A. David Zacharys, Burlington, VT

• TBTL Superfan: Shoutout to David of the band The Smittens; artist behind illustrations for the show.
• Transformers Theme Deep Dive: Resolving David’s 20-year question—Luke’s band teacher played the Transformers TV theme on trumpet, not “The Touch” from the movie.
• Music Trivia Black Hole: The duo uncovers trivia about "The Touch" by Stan Bush, its ties to The Transformers: The Movie, and a surprising fact: the single’s double A-side features Weird Al Yankovic’s “Dare to Be Stupid.”
• Artist Advocacy: David stresses the importance of supporting local artists and organizations:
  "Culture survives when communities show up." (41:09)

B. Cinder Conlin, Traverse City, MI

• Olympics, TBTL Artifacts, and Seahawks Fandom:
  • Cinder reflects on Olympic passion and how TBTL made her a Seahawks fan in Michigan.
  • Shares a photo of a dedicated TBTL memorabilia shelf (framed Greatest Hits album, bingo cards, dolls).
  • Lighthearted OT: Air Supply, Shrine etiquette, and the concept of “Tenship.”
• Quote:
  Cinder: “Don’t worry—this is not some sort of twisted shrine. And I do not use Bobo and Johnny as voodoo dolls. Or do I?” (51:07)

5. Voicemail Frenzy & Listeners Weigh In (52:17–end)

A. Russian House Burping—Patrick’s Moscow Story (56:37–63:29)

• House Burping in Russia:
  Patrick tells a vivid story about staying with an elderly Russian widow, describing how she sealed windows with wool and tape for winter—leading to an accidental “burping” that saw snow blown into the apartment (and a "worst tongue lashing").
• Relatability: Luke and Andrew swap stories about overheating old apartments, shared heating systems, and resourceful thermostat hacks.
• Quote:
  Andrew: “I had a bag of peas… I would set that on top [of the thermostat] and it would make it think it was colder in the room…” (65:43)

B. Word Origins - ‘Kitty Corner’ & Friends (70:20–76:16)

• Jamie from Maryland:
  Explains that “kitty corner” originates from “cater-corner,” meaning diagonal, which morphed to “catty corner” and then to “kitty corner.”
  Luke: “...I am so, so glad that Jamie called. The term ‘kitty corner’... how is that what we’re calling that?... The fact that it was ‘cater corner’ and that became ‘catty corner’ became ‘kitty corner.’ That is—oh, I am so— I weep for the summer barbecues this year that I’m at, and the people are gonna have to hear about that...” (71:57)
• Side-track: Expanding into fun 19th-century words like “ninnyhammer,” “flibbertigibbet,” “bumfuzzle,” and “throttle bottom” (all defined).

C. AI Hallucinations About Podcast Lingo (76:38–79:20)

• Marsupial Gurgle:
  Listener tests ChatGPT on a classic TBTL in-joke. The AI attributes “marsupial gurgle” to Roman Mars of "99% Invisible," fabricating details to sound authoritative.
• Hosts’ Response: Andrew and Luke bemoan AI’s confidently-wrong answers, especially when it gives credit for TBTL inventions to “bigger” podcasts.
• Quote:
  Luke: “That’s actually the most upsetting—like, it’s not a hallucination as much as it’s just what we call an uneducated guess... you stole—It’s like, isn’t it what David did with Bathsheba in the Bible? … you had everything, and you looked over and you coveted her...” (78:34)

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Memorable Quotes & Light Moments

• On organizing drops:
  “This ship doesn’t go anywhere except in circles. That’s all.” — Luke (04:53, 08:24)
• On nostalgia for old neighborhoods:
  “If you just kept going towards Lake City Way, there is a very good chance you would run right past my old house.” — Luke (26:52)
• On the dangers of karaoke:
  “If you are considering doing an AC/DC song at karaoke, don’t. I know what you’re going to do—I know you’re a guy and I know you want to scream… get a pillow. Scream into the pillow.” — Andrew (54:18)
• On band recruitment:
  “Mr. Morton, very smart, right? … That was the best song he could have possibly played.” — Luke (39:46)

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:55 — Laser pointer and mystery audio drop origins
• 12:00 — Andrew’s archivist past and college radio job
• 21:06 — 1980s neighborhood nostalgia, neighbor moms, and John Cougar Mellencamp
• 29:06 — Dazzling Donor: David and the music trivia rabbit hole (Transformers, Stan Bush, Weird Al)
• 51:07 — “Not a twisted shrine” — Cinder’s TBTL collection in Traverse City, MI
• 56:37 — Listener Patrick’s story from Moscow (“house burping” gone wrong)
• 70:20 — Jamie explains the surprising origin of “kitty corner”; word etymology fun
• 76:38 — AI wrongly claims “marsupial gurgle” is a Roman Mars thing; hosts’ mock outrage

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode is quintessential TBTL—brimming with meandering but meaningful conversations, “inside-joke” culture, wordplay, and community appreciation. The playful, self-deprecating tone highlights the comfortable rapport between Luke and Andrew and their listeners. For newcomers, it’s a parade of offbeat trivia, endearing confessions, and the gentle weirdness that has made TBTL a daily staple for its devoted fans.

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Power out.

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Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you sick of the airport, the long lines, security, the danger of terrorism? Why not take a ride in a hot air balloon? Virginia Horson's hot Air Balloon Rides. You don't have to worry about terrorists or long lines. And it's just you and me up in the air. Whoa. Hey. I can see my house from here. Just kidding. Why not take a ride in my balloon? I'll cut you a deal. Forget about airport security. See you later, suckers. I'm taking myself a hot air balloon ride. Ooh, fresh air. Listen, I'm not one of those college types that's gonna talk your ear off. I bought a balloon. And it doesn't mean I think I'm better than everybody else, or I can just read a book. I'm not one of those people who doesn't know how to be quiet. So come on over. Take a ride in my hot air balloon. It'll take you wherever you want to go. I promise.

TBTM

[Luke Burbank]

Love it or hate it, it appears to be another irreversible step along mankind's journey toward God only knows what

[Andrew Walsh]

psycho, screwy and totally unbalanced laser pointers.

[Luke Burbank]

You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to take my laser car and drive it off of a laser cliff.

[Andrew Walsh]

You believe that?

I do if you do.

But it's absurd. What would happen if you went out on stage and you didn't set off the fireworks and you didn't break up the guitar and you didn't have the

[Luke Burbank]

smoke and the fire and the blood and all? You just came out and did your thing? Well, I've got to run. I can hear the blender crying. Coming, baby. Well, all right. Hello, good morning and welcome, everyone, to a Thursday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live.

[Andrew Walsh]

This ship doesn't go anywhere except in circles.

[Luke Burbank]

My name's Luke Burbank. I'm your host.

[Unidentified Caller]

You paint your bald spot?

[Luke Burbank]

What bald spot? Coming to you from the Madrona Hill street studio, perched high above the mighty Columbia, where It is Thursday, 26th March, and in a matter of hours, I'll be attending opening day Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Guardians. The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd. That's right, baseball's back. Exciting, exciting times. But not before we've completed our efforts here on episode 4692 in a collector series, Let the fun begin. And we're doing something fun today on this Thursday, as tends to happen, folks are kind enough to call into the TBTL voicemail line that's 206-414-TBTL and leave us messages. And then sometimes those messages will start to.

[Andrew Walsh]

They'll.

[Luke Burbank]

They'll accumulate. And every once in a while, we like to try to get to some of them so we don't have too many accumulating. So I'm trying to use the phone. We're going to do some V mails today, and we're going to talk to this guy. Longest running cobra of the show. Maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. Something else.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you have any idea who I am?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm a verified Yelp complainer. You may not know about him. He's Andrew Walsh, and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. I just did something unprecedented that is going to potentially take up maybe one or two minutes here at the top of the show, if you don't mind

[Luke Burbank]

a few small minutes.

[Andrew Walsh]

A few small minutes. I just made literally a quiz for myself. Now, how does one make a quiz for themselves?

[Luke Burbank]

Can you even quiz yourself? Doesn't your body know it's you?

[Andrew Walsh]

Could God make a quiz so difficult?

[Luke Burbank]

Could God set up Flanders?

[Andrew Walsh]

Couldn't pass it. Okay, here's stupid, sexy Flanders. You played a drop in the intro that I am unfamiliar with. But I have come up with four things that I'm totally guessing might be true about that drop. And I'm gonna tell you what those four things are.

[Luke Burbank]

I already know which drop it is, by the way.

[Andrew Walsh]

Which one is it?

[Luke Burbank]

It's got to be this one.

[Andrew Walsh]

This ship doesn't go anywhere except in circles. Yes, and here is what I think I know about this drop. Thinking that, first of all, I think I've never heard it before. So that's my big assumption here. My brain just filled in a lot of context for that, which could be totally off base. But that, to me, feels like tape number one from the 1990s. Number two feels like a local television broadcast. And I'm thinking local to this area. Number three, I feel like it's a feature that comes from, like, a TV magazine style show, like a feature piece. And number four, I'm going on a limb here, and this might just be where my. My mind is in this part of the year. I think it might even be Mariners related. Could it be something about a boat that drives around the outfield in the 1990s or something? So those are my four assumptions. Did I get any of them right? Did I get a am I a good boy?

[Luke Burbank]

You are asking the wrong person, because I have absolutely no Idea. I do know that I loaded this. First of all, you. I. I believe you have heard this drop at some point. Only because I must have snagged this. I have no idea when. I have no idea where it's from, but I can tell by the way that I have it described, as opposed to your very sort of. And I mean this in the best kind of way, you're very routinized, repetitive,

[Andrew Walsh]

repeated way that you.

[Luke Burbank]

That you label your audio drops, which is helpful. I don't do that. I just write any old thing on, like, for instance, well, what's the drop?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Or do you know? It's called this ship doesn't go anywhere.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I see where you did. This ship doesn't go anywhere except in circles.

[Luke Burbank]

So I don't know. I don't know. I know that I must have pulled it at some point. I'm guessing I played. Played it because I just was scrolling through the thousands of drops I have in itunes today, or whatever they call it now, and found it. But that's all I can tell you about it, and I apologize if I did. See, like, for instance, this is a drop that you sent me because it says all caps, P, p, e e. We w e e trying hyphen 2 use phone. I'm trying to use the phone. And this is also you, Kimmy. All caps K, I, M, M, Y, hyphen, schmidt, hyphen, yelp, hyphen, complainer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you have any idea who I am?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm a verified Yelp complainer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I do that. I do it.

[Luke Burbank]

And that's useful. And I'm sorry that I didn't do that because that means we'll never know the answer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you have. Yeah, I kind of. Yeah, I slug things with, like, all caps where the show comes from. And then usually then the rest is descriptor. And sometimes I even will put in, like, several words that are, like, kind of similar. Sometimes I'll even put. I'm like, I. If I'm looking for this on the fly, I'll probably misspell it. So sometimes I put various spellings of things in there.

[Luke Burbank]

That's so smart. Because, like, I am weirdly, sometimes I'll be like, oh, I don't want to make this so long. But, like, who cares the title. First of all, all it does is give my searches a better chance of returning the audio drop in the moment and no one's looking at it. And also, there's just a point where it is an ellipses. You've got some Words and an ellipses. And then that just. That just lives in the brain of the program. I don't care. I could write Webster's Dictionary in there.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is why we don't use any drops with the word orangutan. What are the hardest words? Restaurateur.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw somebody on a newscast say this restauranteur or restaurant.

[Andrew Walsh]

I heard a restaurant tour.

[Luke Burbank]

I heard her put in there and I just thought.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me just. My friend, you knew one more question about this drop. Do you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you have any sense of how long it's been kicking around in. Well, in other words, like you. Sometimes you say that really, really old drop. Some get lost to history because of transferring of computers. Like, do you know, based on the fact that this. You have access to it on this particular computer, that it must have been like the past five or 10 years.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm trying to get some metadata on it. I've now gone back to Apple Music where it is. It thinks it's been played two times in this program.

[Andrew Walsh]

You played it twice today.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's the thing. I'm not playing it in this program, if that makes any sense. This is kind of the. It's in the warehouse. Oh, no, this doesn't help.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dang it.

[Luke Burbank]

Literally this thing is called this ship doesn't go anywhere except in circles. That's all.

[Andrew Walsh]

And if you right click on it, you can't get like on a Windows. You right click details and it'll tell you when it was made or when

[Luke Burbank]

it was getting info.

[Andrew Walsh]

Getting info.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay. It's called this ship doesn't go anywhere except in circles. That's the details.

[Andrew Walsh]

Great. Okay. All right.

[Luke Burbank]

The last play. Oh no, here we go. Here we go. It's been played twice. The last one as far as it knows. As far as Apple Music, whatever, itunes. It thinks the last time I played it was 5:16 of 24.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, okay. So it might have been a later addition to the lexicon or to the. To the library, because yes, it probably was not from like something you were using in the old radio days or something.

[Luke Burbank]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm starting to obsessed with it. I. I'm kind of bummed that I. That I focused on it so much now. It feels way more frustrating than it needed to. I should have just enjoyed the intro and.

[Luke Burbank]

But also I'm just wondering if. Let's see here. Well, you know what? I was getting slightly triggered by one of the drops that was in the intro package that you put together.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah, I can maybe help with that. What? Did you hear any.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just typing.

[Andrew Walsh]

By the way, I need this Google, too.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't get anything in circles.

[Andrew Walsh]

You got an AI overview? That's making up.

[Luke Burbank]

I have the physics behind why the Expanse circling ship was wrong.

[Andrew Walsh]

That sounds funny.

[Luke Burbank]

I've got why ships don't sail in a straight line. Yeah, I don't think I'm not getting any good anything. That's kind of helping me narrow it down. And of course, this is one of the few times where the listeners can't be a help because it's not pulled from some larger thing. It isn't like a piece of news tape we got obsessed with or something like that. It's. This is what happens, though, when I'm, you know, just freelancing. Like, I'm sure that I was just, like, watching something online, probably on TikTok. That seemed funny to me. I clipped it, sent it to myself, played it one time or maybe two times on the show. But now. Sorry, that wasn't for emphasis. I'm just futzing with my bell. The drop that you played that had had me kind of thinking, life is weird. Is that Ted Koppel drop?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right. That came from, I think, our friend Bean. I love that drop so much.

[Luke Burbank]

I work with Ted Koppel. He. He is a frequent contributor to CBS Sunday Morning. And the thing about Ted Koppel, and I like him and I respect him and he's good, but they give him so much time for his pieces. He is like, I'm in the. I'm in a knife fight in a phone booth trying to get four and a half minutes for Robert Therian, the artist. And, like, when there's a couple piece in the show, you know, you're hosed. You know, he's going to get 15 minutes. He's going to have much time he wants for his story, and you're going to be just, like, lucky to still be in the program. And I thought, it's funny that now when I hear Ted Koppel's voice, that's where my brain goes, like, what? I grew up watching Nightline. I grew up watch. I grew up watching Ted Koppel again. I'm an admirer of his work, and he's actually a good dude. And I've said this before on the show, he's way more stylish than you would think he would be in real life based on watching Nightline. He, like, has very good style, particularly for a guy of his age. And he's also healthy and, and, and very robust. He's just like, still. Still doing great in the world, still taking up large amounts of time on the program. But now when I hear him saying, oh, God knows what, that's more like if Hank Hill was doing it. But you get the idea. Now I just think, oh, man, that's the guy who eats up all the time on the TV show I work

[Andrew Walsh]

on, and now he's eating up time on this show. How do you think I labeled that one?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, can I hear the drop again, please?

[Andrew Walsh]

You can. And using a sentence, love it or

[Luke Burbank]

hate it, it appears to be another irreversible step along mankind's journey toward God only knows what. So you retitle it after Bean sends it to you.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm pretty sure this came from Bean. I don't have 100% on that, because often, if it's from Bean, I will put parenthetically Bean behind it. But I don't think I've been, like, actually totally true to that.

[Luke Burbank]

How did you miss your calling in library sciences?

[Andrew Walsh]

No joke. No, I should be an archivist. Archivist at heart. I did part of that for my job for a while. I absolutely. Archiving old reel to reel news coverage from the 1970s from Kent State. Digitizing it or labeling it digitizing it. Rolling it in, trying to preserve the tape because tape dat. No, onto CDs. There was a whole library that they did end up naming the Andrew Walsh Memorial Archive.

[Luke Burbank]

Memorial seemed a little.

[Andrew Walsh]

A little bit much at the ASU is very sweet because I developed this whole system of, like, printing out labels for them. I was making, like, the jewel case labels, just black and white, but I was using, like, the paper cutter. I loved it so much. Like, it was sort of one of those things that I. It was sort of assigned to me, but I sort of assigned it to myself.

[Luke Burbank]

You ran with it?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And so I would. I would always, like, I'd be at, like, family because, you know, I'm in college, so. But I'm driving distance from home. So on, like, let's say a Thanksgiving, I would, you know, drive home from Kent, where I had a little apartment, a little tiny, little gross studio. But I would, you know, do the Thanksgiving thing. But then at a certain point, I'd be like, ah, you know what, guys? I gotta go. I gotta go to work. But what work was, was me just driving back to my apartment, then walking across the street to the radio station and, like, nobody, literally nobody is there. And I'm just listening to, like, literally old promos, live reads pack all from reel to Reel tapes. And I'm rolling them into a computer, digitizing them, knowing that the tape is so old, in some cases, if we don't get it in one take, it will be gone forever. And then I'm arranging it all, and I'm making CDs, and I'm putting. I'm, like, doing kind of what I do with my VHS tapes now, which is, like. I'm trying to research what this would have been in relation to. I'm putting track listings together. This was, you know, I'm in my early 20s, I'm in college, and I'm just loving it.

[Luke Burbank]

Jerry, would this have been actually literally on Thanksgiving? The night of Thanksgiving? So you spent the day with the fam. And now you're headed back. And now it's. It's. It's. Whatever that is. The.

[Andrew Walsh]

That.

[Luke Burbank]

That Thursday in November and you're at the station all alone.

[Andrew Walsh]

That would be my. I mean, that is some memories I have of this. This was a project that I just basically did whenever I wanted to, and I could go over there and do it. And I guess I was getting paid hourly, so it was work. Like, I do think that I wasn't. I don't think I was, like, just doing that for free. I don't know exactly how it worked, but I didn't make that much money, and I was in good standing with the newsroom and everything. And they. I think they truly apprec. And so by the time I left, there was a whole, like, wall, like a whole CD wall that just had all these meticulously labeled, like, printed, labeled CDs with all this digital, with all this old archive that was digitized. The bummer about it is those CDs are probably now flaking apart. Like. I don't know. I mean, CDs hopefully have a longer shelf life than some of this tape, but ideally, this. This all would have gone on hard drives or something like that, because we don't know how to long these. You know, these spindles of DVRs will last into the future, and we could risk losing all of this history.

[Luke Burbank]

Again, the irony, Andrew and I just realized it was at about this time you were. What would you be, like, a sophomore junior?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, probably that sophomore junior. Oh, and to your point, I was doing it all the time, but I loved it as an excuse to, like, kind of say, okay, I'm done with this holiday thing now. I want to go. I want to leave. Family times. Love your family, but I want to go back to my part of the world an Hour away in Kent where I live by myself. I'm in charge of my thing. And also just know that I have a nice cozy like empty radio station to go to that. I don't remember how they gave me access as a student, but somehow, like I said, I earned a lot of trust around there, so I somehow had access.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, the irony is that at about that time I was also a kind of a, you know, intern slash work study slash semi employee, but student at the public radio station in Seattle. And there may have been nights where we were both at our respective public radio stations, but you were building the Andrew Walsh archive and I was stealing books and possibly CDs from KCMU.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's a reason they couldn't share too.

[Luke Burbank]

They couldn't play. That's. That is yet to be confirmed, sir. The fact that like KCMU couldn't play am, the Wilco cd, am for a. Well, after a certain point, maybe never again. Because I boosted that.

[Andrew Walsh]

To be clear, you were not boosting that from their on air library.

[Luke Burbank]

You were taking. Absolutely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you were. I thought you only took things from the free book pile. Like.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that was a kuow. Oh, the books, Andrew, you were actually

[Andrew Walsh]

familiar from their on air library. Wow, that is, well, shocking.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I don't actually know if. Let me put it this way, it wasn't from the free Bin. It was a little bit more vague than that. But there was two. So you've got, you've got this. I consider this to be mixed media. What I'm talking about here at kuow, they did have a big shelf of free books. They were just. Because, you know, every day 20 books would get mailed to that radio station because there was a couple of local interview shows and you know, the hosts would always like, they would take the books they were going to read for interviews, then they would just take the books that seemed interesting to them. And then after all that, there would be like, you know, I wish I could find some of these books that my mom has at her house because they're the kind of books that would be available on the Free Bin. They were like, you know, worry your way thin or whatever. And they would just be these like crazy books. But what I learned was even those books, even the books that had been put on the free shelf and the idea there being like, hey, if somebody wanted to grab a book and take it home with them and read it or whatever, take it on vacation, have fun with it, it wasn't. Hey, Luke, come in here. Under the dark of night, Take most of the hardbacks and then take them to half price books on Roosevelt and sell them for whatever they'll give you, which is what I was doing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I will say, I will defend your right to do that. Maybe it's because of the culture that I grew up in, but when I worked at radio stations and both when I was the lowest person on the ladder of like, kind of responsibility and pay, especially like, we were encouraged to do exactly that. It was like, take these books, like, take them to a used bookstore, get some money for them. They're just sitting here anyway. The, the adults in the room can buy their own books. You know what I mean? Like, and I, and then when I was of the age that I was making a salary or whatever, I was encouraging the interns to do the same thing.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I've been very encouraging over time of people doing it, but nobody encouraged me. I had to, I had to teach myself. I had to innovate this. And in fact, I think I would have been in kind of a lot of trouble.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really? You think so, huh?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I just, because I don't know, just like, that wasn't the culture there. It was, I mean, I loved those people. I looked up to them. Most of the people that were, you know, had real jobs there and that were older than me and, and, and you know, were mentors to me in a lot of ways. But it, that wasn't the vibe. I don't remember anyone ever saying, like, oh man, you should like, dude, you're broke. You have a child. Not that that's anyone's fault but mine, but like, hey, you know what, you can take these books and you can sell them and you can make some dough off of them. Like, nobody told me that. So I was always thinking, like, I am being very, very sketchy with this. Meanwhile, yeah, as I got older and worked at radio stations, I'd be like, like to anybody who was, you know, an intern or a, you know, a starting out employee, I was like, oh, hey, you know what you can do with this? Like, I was, you know what you can do with vinegar? The king of cures. A book that's on my mom's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you're just, you just, you know

[Luke Burbank]

what you can do with the book? Get out of that pit.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you take photos of your mom's bookshelf?

[Luke Burbank]

I did. I'm looking at these on Instagram. You know what you can do with the book? Taming your outer child. These are all, these are all books that are on the bookshelves or in the room. Wait, that is taming your outer child. Andrew, that's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wait, hold on. This is a lot because first of all, we want. Wait, do we want. Do we want an inner child? But we don't want an outer child. Well, why do I want.

[Luke Burbank]

Again, tame them. Well, I would say that maybe taming your inner child is something. I don't know. I don't understand. I have more questions than answers about how one is supposed to tame one's outer child. I just thought it was an absolutely ridiculous name for a book. Taming your outer child.

[Andrew Walsh]

That is interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

Again, also, get out of that pit. Just. And then a picture of a woman smiling. I guess she's going to help you with that. And then. Yeah. Vinegar.

[Andrew Walsh]

A Beginner's Guide to Pitfall, the Atari game.

[Luke Burbank]

Actually, I could have used that about 45 years ago when I was at my friend Gabe's house and they had Pitfall. That was. I've told you the story before, but his mom said that John Cougar Mellencamp had a nice butt.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I was scandalized.

[Andrew Walsh]

Scandalized. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I couldn't.

[Andrew Walsh]

Moms. That mom's even see butts in that way is.

[Luke Burbank]

This woman was probably 25. You know what I mean? She seemed. She. I had two. I had two really good friends. This kid named Aaron who lived around the corner. This one we rented our first little. We rented a house in kind of. I think it's called. It's actually by the Pinehurst Pub, if you want to like. But, but, but. But sort of more towards Lake City way. So imagine Pinehurst Pub, but more towards Lake City. Around the corner was this kid Aaron. His mom. His mom's name was Monique. She was a hairstylist. She was, as you would say, a bottle blonde. She had long blonde hair. She dated a guy who worked at the, I think Ben Bridge jewelry store at the Northgate Mall. She drove what seemed like a. She drove like a. Like not a muscle car, but like a kind of a sports car kind of thing. She smoked cigarettes. She was the most glamorous person I'd ever seen in my life. He was also the way that I learned at least got my first inkling of how babies were made. In that his mom had read him a book and he said, you know where babies come from? I said, yeah. Jesus puts them in the stomach. And he said, well, it's not what I'm hearing. That was.

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Jesus puts them in the uterus.

[Luke Burbank]

Jesus puts them in my mommy's boyfriend's private parts. Okay, so Then that was Aaron. And then down the street was this kid Gabe. And Gabe came from a. More kind of like. So he had mom. And his mom and dad lived at home. And like, I don't know what they did, but they kind of had. It was like there. I remember the kitchen was kind of country kitchen. It was a kind of place kind of kitchen where there would be maybe a paper towel holder that was also a goose.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, sure.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, kind of that vibe. And. And they had MTV and Pitfall. And I just remember her. Her thinking that a John Cougar Mellencamp had a cute butt. And. And I just thought this. I can't believe this elderly woman is talking about John Cougar Mellencamp's butt. Yeah, no, probably 25.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm with you on that. I'm thinking of some. Some moms. I was gonna. There is a. An Ethiopian restaurant that is in this Pinehurst neighborhood not too far from where you're talking. I was gonna see if I could do something where I send you a link to the Ethiopian restaurant and you tell me how close this is to this area. But I'm having a little bit of trouble nailing that down. It's probably not. It's probably not the best radio in the world, to be completely honest with you. But it does put me in a mind to have Ethiopian food. When's the last time you've been to an Ethiopian restaurant?

[Luke Burbank]

Not in a long, long time. First of all, we don't have a ton here in the area when I lived in la, much more, because you've got like Fairfax and stuff. You get some really long standing Ethiopian communities and a lot of really great options. And it's also not. I would say of. Do we. Do we say ethnic food of food that is available in American cities, but that doesn't have its origins? I mean. Well, here's the other thing. Does any food have its origins in America? Truly? Like what a turkey sandwich that was probably from England, right? Like, is there an American food or

[Andrew Walsh]

is every food in America it's an American food.

[Luke Burbank]

I sounds Italian to me, but I

[Andrew Walsh]

mean, it's a lot of Italian ingredients, but for some reason I thought it

[Luke Burbank]

was maybe so maybe that is our. And honestly, if we got to have one to hang our hat on, I'll take pizza.

[Andrew Walsh]

But you were going to say that it's not something that you're seeking out all that much.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, not. Not necessarily, but just of the. I've. I've enjoyed it tremendously. But of the foods, like for Me, it's like if I'm going for something that is again, originally, maybe from another part of the world, probably Thai food is going to be the number one that I go for. Probably followed by Indian food. Probably followed by. I mean, there's a long list of things, but Ethiopian is just. Is not in the top 10 for me. And so I don't think about. I also don't have go to's, is what I'm trying to say. I have go to's with most kinds

[Andrew Walsh]

of food off the menu. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That I like to get. I like to get, you know. You know, I always order this. If they have it from this style of restaurant. I don't have that for Ethiopian food. What do you get when you go there?

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, I don't know. I don't go all that often in this place. I did find this and send it to you, and it's just a little. It's kind of a little hole in the wall place. It's not a fine, you know, it's not like an upper dining experience or anything like that. It's just. It's very down to earth. But the owner kind of runs the place. And I remember she came out and talked with us. It's very rare that I go, but I realized that I had gone a couple of times in college and liked it and then just went years and years and years without having it. I can't remember my full history with it. But a couple of years ago, I got a little gang of friends together. I'm like, you know what? I've been thinking about Ethiopian food. It's been way too long. Let's just get together and go to this place. And so a group of. And I think that's a good way to do it, maybe. I mean, whatever. And so there was like a group of about eight of us or something, and we went and anyway, so I'm not sending this to you as a recommendation necessarily, if you're not into it. I enjoyed myself. Maybe I'll get that crew and go back. But it did sort of seem like this might be the area where your childhood memories are.

[Luke Burbank]

Dude, the childhood memories. If you went on this street, and I think maybe literally this street. Well, first of all, across the street from the Ethiopian restaurant, which now looks like it is maybe at least when this Google street view was taken, it was in disrepair and maybe slated for demolition, is this building that used to be. When I was growing up, it was an iga. It was a grocery store called iga.

[Andrew Walsh]

I haven't heard IGA in forever. This is like you're talking about where the Oaxacan restaurant is. That's where the IGA is. If you're looking.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'm talking about across the street from. Across the street from the restaurant that you just linked me to. Yeah, I am seeing there's a building that has the.

[Unidentified Caller]

The.

[Luke Burbank]

The map.

[Andrew Walsh]

The.

[Luke Burbank]

Boy, this is really getting in the weeds.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is rough.

[Luke Burbank]

Whenever this was taken in. In. In. In the timestamp of what I'm looking at on Google Map or. Yeah, Google street view.

[Andrew Walsh]

O.

[Luke Burbank]

There's a for rent sign in the. In the parking lot of the thing that used to be the iga. I think it became an auto repair shop at some point. But if. But if you were to keep going down this Northeast 117th Street, I'll just say it. If you just kept going towards Lake City way, there is a very good chance that you would literally go right past. There's a point at which it starts to go downhill. Like, literally actually downhill. Not in the neighborhood sense. And there is a very good chance that you would run right past my old house. In fact, I think I might be. I think I might have found my old street and maybe where. When I ran away from home, I stood on the. Yeah, 23rd Avenue. I just found the street that we rented on. This is, anyway, not interesting for the listeners. I apologize.

[Andrew Walsh]

Actually, that turned out better than I thought. I didn't mean to go on a tangent about Ethiopian food itself, but, like, boy, for some reason, you described this. I'm like, oh, I wonder if it's.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, no, you nailed it.

[Andrew Walsh]

And like, that's right. The exact. It's a weird area because it's like this weird convergence of a whole bunch of different streets that makes a weird, like, little triangle with a park. It's just a very strange area, but, boy, we nailed it. I'm kind of proud. You really did.

[Luke Burbank]

You. You should be, sir. You were. You.

[Unidentified Caller]

Your.

[Luke Burbank]

Your instincts were spot on. I don't think that restaurant was there when I was a kid, but that's definitely where we're talking about the. The same place. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle.

[Unidentified Caller]

Razzle dazzle.

[Luke Burbank]

That's right, man. Razzle dazzle.

[Andrew Walsh]

On your mark.

[Luke Burbank]

On your mark.

[Andrew Walsh]

Get set.

Get set now. Ready?

[Luke Burbank]

Ready. Go. Everybody. Razzle dazzle. Hold on. There's one more Google street map that I want to discuss. I love it in depth for this purely audio project that is tbtl. No, actually, what I want to do is thank some dazzling Donors. And I want to apologize for the previous 10 minutes of the show that I dragged down into boring town. But you know who forgives us because he's been a friend of the show for so many years is David Zacharys, who's a smitten, of course. In fact, David's pronouns are his, him, and smitten, according to what he filled out. That's listed here in the form. And of course, David's in Burlington, Vermont.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now does he explain in this, when we say he's a smitten, does everybody just know what that means? Cuz I don't think he's doing any self promotion in this. I could be wrong. He is in a band called the Smittens, who've been on TBTL before.

[Luke Burbank]

There's been on my very front porch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

The old Mount Baker studio.

[Andrew Walsh]

And we even dug up some. I was there that day too, and I took some old photos and he and I were reminiscing about this about a year ago.

[Luke Burbank]

Isn't the picture of us on tbtl.net Didn't David draw that?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, yes. He's also incredible visual artist as well. Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

David has done so much for the show. And says longtime donor, first time Dazzler. Wow. Thanks, David.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thanks, man.

[Luke Burbank]

I need closure on something that I've been wondering about for almost 20 years. Okay. I clearly remember the first time I heard Luke. He was guest hosting. Wait, wait. I was surprised that someone my age was hosting. He told the story of his music teacher playing the song from Transformers on the trumpet. I've always assumed that that was the touch from the 1986 Transformer movie, but now I'm worried it might have been the TV theme song. If you can clear that up, I'd be very grateful. Well, David, as we say on this show, trust your fears. Because, yes, you are correct to be worried that it was the TV show theme, because that's what it was. Trans.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know that? See, I don't know that I. I had brought up the touch here. Do you know this? Oh, of course.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, but that's.

[Andrew Walsh]

This was in the Transformers movie. I didn't know.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think so. That's Boogie Nights. I think it's an original song for Boogie Nights.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, it's definitely not an original song. No, no. This is a classic rock song. And yeah, I guess this was in the. This was in the Transformers movie. I'm seeing a bunch of Transformers imagery to go along with it.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's that Stan Bush. Stan Bush performed by Mark Wahlberg and Paul, and that's incredible. See, Andrew, this is why you play the game.

[Andrew Walsh]

This is why you play the game. I grew up right next to this song.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, in the same neighborhood I offer all of these years. I assumed because, you know, Paul Thomas Anderson is such a kind of, I don't know, you could say, sort of completeist. Also, you have, like, this Michael Penn association with a lot of his movies. In fact, Michael Penn is the guy who plays, I think, the recording engineer when they're trying to get their tapes back. Oh, I forgot the singer. The singer, Michael Penn, who's Sean Penn's brother.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll bet you I didn't know that. Oh, okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And so I always just thought that this song, the Touch, was written for the movie Boogie Nights. And. And it was so perfectly of an era, was so perfectly of the kind of song that, like, Mark Wahlberg's character would have written that. You know what I mean? Like, it was so perfect that I assumed it couldn't be pre existing before the movie. I had no idea it had any association with Transformers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, you're blowing my mind. So Michael Penn has a brother named Sean Penn, just like the Sean Penn the actor.

[Luke Burbank]

The Sean Penn the actor is.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, they are. Oh, I told. Oh, no, I. I had no idea. That's blowing my mind.

[Luke Burbank]

And. And Michael Penn is, you know, kind of more on the fringes of. No, he's a big Largo guy. He's a big. He does a lot of, you know, movie stuff. And he put out an album, a CD called. Speaking of CDs, he put out a CD called. I think. Is it. Was it called Half Harvest or no Myth? It was a CD. God, why is every story about me stealing CDs today? It was a CD my buddy Peter Williams sister Dahlia had, and I borrowed it from her. I don't know if she knew I was borrowing it. And I loved it so much. And it's Michael Penn and it's Sean Penn's brother. And. And so I was always. He was always on my radar. And then, yeah, he's in that movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

Do you know how much interesting content there is just around this song? I'm on the Wikipedia page and we haven't even gotten to the Transformers theme song yet.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I'm dialing that up.

[Andrew Walsh]

But so we have the Touch Stan Bush song on Wikipedia. It's by Stan Busch. The song features prominently in the 1986 animated film the Transformers the Movie and appears on the soundtrack. But it wasn't written for the album. It Sounds like. But this is interesting. Or it wasn't written for the movie, it sounds like. But it appeared heavily in the movie and was on the soundtrack. But then it says the Touch was released as a double A side single. So first of all, back in the day, sometimes they would release a single apparently where neither side was considered the B side.

[Luke Burbank]

They were both my A.

[Andrew Walsh]

So it's a double A side.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't really B sides. They're all A side.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it was a single for the movie. So the other side of the record was not another song by Stan Bush. Just take one guess and go as wild as you possibly can as to who the other artist would be who appears on the Transformer soundtrack. Who's the other side of this double A side single?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be slow. So this is related. This is. This was as part of. This is like the Transformers. This was a. Two songs that were released. Both sides were considered the A side.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. So they released a whole album. They released a whole soundtrack. But then there was like, you know, this is the era of singles. Like, literally, like probably released 45s or maybe cause singles. Although at this point, I'm not sure. So there's two songs, one on each side. They're both considered side A. One of them is by this musician, Stan Bushi, the Touch. And you'll never get this song, although you might know it. But just name the other artist who also appears on the single.

[Luke Burbank]

Single Swing Big, my friend. I'm trying to think about the. Is it. Is it a big swing because they're really famous or they really. Doesn't make sense that they would be associated with the Transformers or. Because we talk about them a lot. Is it Scatman?

[Andrew Walsh]

It is not. And I don't want to put you on the spot any more than that. I just wanted one from you. But that's a big swing. Do you want to keep going?

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Okay, great. Well, now that I think about it, it is a musician who is associated with certainly our childhood and is mostly appealing to children.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Okay. A singer from our. It's not our childhood. It would not be Rafi.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not Rothy, and it's maybe not quite that childish and not quite that childish. And it's a musician that certainly gets plenty of verbal ink spilled about them on this show. Like, this is not something. Yeah. This is not like an obscure musician. Although we're not necessarily obsessed with them.

[Luke Burbank]

Man or woman.

[Andrew Walsh]

Man. So I'll start saying him okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And we talk about this person. It's not Michael Stanley.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not Michael Stanley in a. No, that'll. I. I want to give you another clue, but it's. It's a true clue and it's a funny clue, but it's just going to lead you further astray. You could consider him a Nepo baby, I suppose.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

But more like his dad is now a Nepo dad because this person has seriously eclipsed his father.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. This person has become what? Let's see, his father was also a singer, though.

[Andrew Walsh]

A musician, actually. I'm double. Just. I better fact check this shit, because I need to make sure that I'm right about that. I might strike the whole Nepo baby thing if I'm wrong.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not Vanilla Ice.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not Vanilla Ice.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess we don't talk about him that much on this show. Who is it?

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'm going to be really, really upset with myself. I think the last clue was total bullshit. I think the Nepo baby stuff was total bullshit. But the an. L. Weird Al Yankov.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Andrew Walsh]

Dare to be Stupid. Was the other a side of the

[Luke Burbank]

Dare to be stupid.

[Andrew Walsh]

Gotta be stupid. And I don't. Was that a parody of another song or was that just one of his silly originals?

[Luke Burbank]

I think that was one of his silly originals.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my God. By the way, you don't think his dad. I thought his dad was some kind of a polka guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought his dad was Frankie Yankovic, the polka person. But it says, I don't think that's his dad.

[Luke Burbank]

I think we looked this up one time.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Although how. What are the chances that that's not his dad that Al Yankovic.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Plays polka music, plays the accordion like that. And isn't related to Frankie Yankovic, the polka king?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, he's related to Nick Yankovic. Let's see here.

[Luke Burbank]

And I don't think the reggae king.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did he work.

[Luke Burbank]

His dad's Jimmy Cliff. Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. Anyway, that was a journey. Thank you, David.

[Luke Burbank]

That was wild. Thanks, David. Now, David, I am going to play. I hope. Anyway, I haven't previewed this, but this is the song that Mr. Morrison, the band teacher, came in to the classroom when I was in, it was either third or fourth grade, and played this song,

[Andrew Walsh]

The Transformers. More than meets the eye Autobots cleaves

[Luke Burbank]

their battles to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.

[Andrew Walsh]

Disguise, dude.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know when the last time I watched this, like, showing you, actually the intro of that cartoon dude. When Those friggin tapes jump out of sound waves.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's so cool, Laser beaks.

[Luke Burbank]

Ah, so cool. But so that was the song that he played on trumpet. And. And I've told this story a trillion times. But the thing that was nuts was I joined band because I want to learn how to play that song. It was very hard. I quit band after like three months. And then the next year he came back through, he played the song again, I rejoined band, but this time I had to. My parents would not rent me a trumpet from Kennelli Keys because I had violated their trust on the first round. And so they. Luckily there was a trumpet that was donated to the school that like, if you didn't have the money for a trumpet, they would just loan you. And it was called the Poor Kid Trumpet. And I still did not learn how to play the Transformers theme song. I'd quit after another two months.

[Andrew Walsh]

But man, what a recruiting tool.

[Luke Burbank]

My God, Mr. Morton, very smart, right? At least, certainly for a Luke Burbank of the era, like that was the best song he could have possibly played.

[Andrew Walsh]

Say Trump Recidivism.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. Okay, on a more serious note, we're back to David's dazzling donor message. David, you give so much to the show. Not just financially, not just creatively, but also from just a content kind of jumping off point. That was a really fun little adventure there. Almost as good as me, Google street, viewing my old neighborhood. On a more serious note, support your local artists and arts organizations. Go to shows. Buy work, donate, volunteer, share. Now more than ever, we need the arts and the artists who help us imagine, connect and dissent. I serve on the board of Burlington City Arts and I see every day how much local support matters. Culture survives when communities show up. Well said, David. It's really, really true of all of the. I mean there are just so many truly awful things that are going on right now, nationally, in this country and internationally, and then so many downstream effects. And one of the ones that I think about maybe because of my LiveWire job is like the fact that it is. It's never been easy, but it's even harder for folks that make art to have any sort of financial reward from that to make a living as an artist. CPB going away, which I know is more broadcast related, but a million different grants just. It would be such a shame if we had like a 10 to 20 year period of like people not being able to make art and then, you know, we just have that moving through the pipeline. You know what I mean? Of just like this of this clear cut, if you will, of creativity that just didn't exist. So definitely, David. That's a really good reminder. David says. Also, can Andrew send Luke the daily donor and dazzling donor song for when he has to host solo?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, this is a good test. I will be out tomorrow and I did send those to you, so hopefully you'll be able to use those.

[Luke Burbank]

David, you don't like me playing?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. What did you do?

[Luke Burbank]

The Transformers theme song?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. I feel like you always find some interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't even know what I play. I always find something hilarious to play, not hilarious to do. Yeah, exactly, David. Thank you though, for all the support. We really do appreciate you and yeah, thanks again, Maestro.

[Andrew Walsh]

Sorry, I wanted to call up a Scatman Johnson. I knew I didn't have time, so. That was good though. You know what?

[Luke Burbank]

I appreciate that you went for it. No, no, no, I appreciate that you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Let me just say the saddest word ever, Maestro.

Get set, get set.

Not a sad word. I just said it in a sad way.

[Luke Burbank]

Look who it is. It's our pal Cinder Conlin in Traverse City, Michigan.

[Andrew Walsh]

We were almost Traverse City residents together. Cinder.

[Luke Burbank]

Is that where Interlockin it was, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that was the city that's closest to Interlock. And indeed.

[Luke Burbank]

This is incredible. I don't want to skip ahead. Let's just read. I'll read Cinder's message, but I'm already seeing some visuals that are really, truly something. Truly something. Cinder says. Ahoy hoy, Cobros. I typed this message whilst listening to yesterday's show in which the Olympics and Genevieve's hatred thereof were discussed. I have to admit, despite the corruption of the ioc, I still love the Games. I really enjoy watching the youth of the world excel at Sports Ball. But I digress. Here's what I'll say. Cinder, I feel like we, as a show, at least a little bit, we kind of came around on the Winter Olympics. At least the Alyssa Lou.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's exactly who I was trying element of. Yeah, just joyful.

[Luke Burbank]

We were very. Although, dude, I saw like, you know how I got all. I got a little teary talking about her because of the back and forth with her father and how her father probably thought he was doing the right thing for her, his daughter, but was overbearing and was. Was controlling to the point where she quit ice skating and then she came back and then, you know, he was at the Olympics and cheering for her even though she had set up some boundaries and stuff. And I thought that was such a beautiful story and Then I heard her being interviewed a couple weeks later and someone's like, what did your dad think about the whole thing when you were winning?

[Andrew Walsh]

She goes.

[Luke Burbank]

Or what did your dad think about when you said you wanted to come back? She goes, I didn't care what he thought. He wasn't my boss anymore. He didn't really like. It wasn't like she was like mad at him or estranged from him because he was at the Olympics.

[Andrew Walsh]

But it was less of a sentimental.

[Luke Burbank]

I had kind of written this probably out of just dad, you know, dadness, out of kind of like just wanting the story to be a certain way. She seemed to be more, again, not resentful, but just kind of more matter of fact about it. Yeah, yeah, a little bit. Or just not like, let me tell you this, she wasn't crying about her dad clapping at the Olympics the way I was.

[Andrew Walsh]

You know what's interesting, as you mentioned, you're like, of course you remember me getting. I did not remember you getting teared up. For whatever that's worth, I think in moments, you and I are both guys.

[Luke Burbank]

Time slows down after the crier.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm not embarrassed about the idea that I get emotional sometimes. I mean, it just happens. And I don't think there should be anything embarrassing about that yet. I do hate doing it in front of people and I hate doing it in front of a microphone. And so you can remember way more, I think your moments of maybe getting a little bit choked up, for whatever it's worth, it doesn't live, I don't think as much in the minds of others around you.

[Luke Burbank]

I think you're absolutely right. But it's funny that there is that element that you're talking about, which is that I. I can, you know, remember pretty specifically probably the last five times that I got choked up. Even though half the time I probably went right past people.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, once the Transformers. Just a moment.

[Luke Burbank]

And then also to find out. Well, was when I. When I found out that Michael Penn didn't write you got the touch.

[Andrew Walsh]

And that Sean Penn and Michael Penn are brothers.

[Luke Burbank]

Now that one. I gotta.

[Andrew Walsh]

I better. No, I'm sure you're right. In fact, the more I say it, the more I'm like, shit, I'll bet you you've told me that before and I just forgot.

[Luke Burbank]

Michael Penn is a critically acclaimed singer, songwriter and a film composer. Best known for his 1989 hit no Myth. He's the eldest brother of Oscar winning actor Sean Penn, and of course, the late actor Chris Penn.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you just mentioned this. But Michael Penn is sort of the collaborator with Amy Mann on a lot of things.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I think they.

[Andrew Walsh]

And of course, Amy Mann was in a P.T. anderson movie. She was in. Yeah. Oh, wait, wait. Hold on. I'm thinking.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, she did the soundtrack for Magnolia.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. That's right. I'm thinking of Lebowski. She was in Lebowski, which is not Anderson, but yeah. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, let's see. Where were we? We're talking about and thanking our friend Cinder. And I was saying to Cinder that even though you couldn't have known it at the time when you were writing the dazzling donor message. We did. We did kind of. We got more into the Olympics than usual on the show, and that was because of you, Cinder. Even though I have not read this message until 3 seconds ago, Cinder says I'm grateful for a lot of 10 related things this year, not the least of which is the fact that y' all have made me a Seahawks fan. Whoa. In Michigan, of all places. Because the Lions are.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And a likable team. I wish. Whatever. I'm not going to get into politics. It bums me out that Amon Ross St. Brown is a Trumpy guy. I don't like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, he is.

[Luke Burbank]

He did the Trump dance.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't know that.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. I love him. And his brother are fascinating to me. They, like, speak German because their mom, his brother's Chris Penn, rest in power. That, you know, these. The. The St. Brown brothers, their dad was a very, very successful bodybuilder and an athlete and. But also a very, very strict father. Their mother is German, and they would go to Germany every summer with their mom, and they would visit with their maternal side of the family. So they speak fluent German. And like Amon Ross St. Brown, their names are, you know, like Amon Ra. It's like a very, you know, because their dad is black, it's like a very kind of, like, there's a lot of sort of history and story behind. Behind their names. And. And Amon Ross St. Brown was really under, I think, kind of appreciated coming out of college. And he just is such a unbelievably disciplined and hardworking and kind of intelligent football player that I just, like, I loved seeing him succeed. And then one time he does a Trump dance on the sideline, like, come on, Dude. But we're glad to have Cinder on the old Seahawks team. In a football season where my beloved Lions crashed and burned. It was wonderful having a team to cheer for in the Superb Owl. Go K9. Well, here's what I'll do, Cinder. I'll root for the Lion. If the Seahawks get eliminated next year and the Lions are still playing, I'll absolutely root for the Lions. You know that we stand the Lions around here, and particularly their head coach. We love him.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can I just say that? Aman Ross, St. Brown. I just had to do a little Google just to see, like, what was up with this. I didn't know anything about his family. I just knew of him as a name. But I guess he did. So I guess he did that dance when Trump was in the stadium. And then he did that dance and it pissed some people off. And then he apologized for it. He's like, oh, I didn't know. So I don't think that he's like, deep in the. Like, he's not like, what's that terrible MAGA guy who was like, Bosa. Yeah, like, Bosa wearing the hat and like, kind of photobombing people's interviews.

[Luke Burbank]

I like him. I really want. I want any way to. I need to find my way back to Amon Ra Saint Brown and true.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I appreciate you saying that, Lifeline. If any president was at the game, I would have danced. So, anyway, I'm not. We can all have our feelings about where we draw our lines around that kind of stuff. I wouldn't. You wouldn't see me doing the Trump dance, obviously. But anyway, it's not like it's part of a broader philosophy that is actually like, hey, he's having fun out there is his response to it.

[Luke Burbank]

So Cinder says, I've attached a couple of photos so you can see my newish shelf of TBTL memorabilia. As you can see, I've framed the greatest hits album and I've hung it proudly for all to see.

[Andrew Walsh]

Andrew, that's really great.

[Luke Burbank]

When you and John and I were talking about the album, literally one of us. I can't remember who, I seriously can't remember who, was like, what would be so fun about this would be. Because albums are, you know, whether or not you play the. You put the vinyl down and play it. They are sort of an object of art, if you will. And it would be cool if someone framed this or displayed it as art. And this is actually happening at Cinder's house.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I love it. I have a record that is framed hanging on the wall outside of my studio, too. I think it's one that just says, I don't know, it's just some. Some 1980s record you got the touch by. It's. It is from the 80s. It's just like. It's a record that says like all beats, no rap or something like that. And it's just for. It's a bunch of break beats, but it's from like 1986. It's actually like a. Like a break beat record that kind of cool looking. So I have that framed. I. I love a good framed record. And this is the first time I seen hours framed. And it looks pretty handsome. I also see the bingo card. I forgot about the bingo card.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. This is impressive. Cinder. Cinder has a whole. It's like a museum of, of of thank you gifts from over the years. Let's see. As you can see, I framed the Greatest Hits album and I have hung it proudly for all to see. The fact that an Air Supply song pops into my head every time I look at it as a small price to pay for having such a stylish wall covering. Good looking out. I mean, I must have mentioned that casually that we did kind of model this on an Air Supply thing, but I wonder if Cinder is just that familiar with Air Supply.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Who was. Oh, well, it was Breakfast with Bob, who definitely immediately recognized it as an Air Supply record. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's see here. Don't worry. This is not some sort of twisted shrine. And I do not use Bobo and Johnny as voodoo dolls. Or do I? Oh, yeah, there's the. You know what? Honestly, Cinder, you. You donated. These are now your objects to do with whatever you see fit.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can make them kiss if you want to.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be mad.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you as ever to you guys for brightening my day five times a week. And to the tens for being such an awesome group of podcart pals. Here's to another year of fun. And Tenship power out our friend Cinder in Traverse City, Michigan. Cinder, thanks ship.

[Andrew Walsh]

Have we used that before? 10 ship.

[Luke Burbank]

No.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's really nice.

[Luke Burbank]

That can be a theme. I'm actually taking this photo and I'm gonna drag this over and put on the desktop and I'm gonna send it to Becca and say in the Sally Field voice, they like us. They really, really like us.

[Andrew Walsh]

People.

[Luke Burbank]

People like us. People have a setup like this in their home in Traverse City, Michigan. And that is extremely. That's a big honor. Thank you, Cinder. Appreciate you. Here I go once again with the email every week.

[Unidentified Caller]

I hope that it's from a female.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, man. Not from a female. Thunder.

[Luke Burbank]

This is actually off of the third A side of the Transformers soundtrack.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

It was the Rare album that had three sides and they were all A's. There were no B's.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was off of Back to Black. I want to say I had that record. Did you have or. Or was thunderstruck off of the Razor's Edge. I know that I had both of those on. They were on A and B sides of a dubbed cassette I had. And I would leaf blow the. The drive.

[Luke Burbank]

I was afraid of AC dc. I thought they were. Well, I mean, the irony is like, it is the catchiest. It is the catchiest. Like most. Most foot tapping, like kind of. I don't know if I would say life affirming, but just like it's good pop music essentially. But I grew up being like, it's Satan music.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't think it's Satan music. It's okay. It all starts to very much. I mean, listen, I'm not trying to go after acd.

[Luke Burbank]

Not misogynistic.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's not. Yeah. And also it's very one note. Like, you don't need. Like I was saying, I had what's

[Luke Burbank]

like two notes,

[Andrew Walsh]

demonstrably two notes. But also like just, just it just. You hear one song and then you're just like, okay, the next song. And then you don't need what I had, which was like what I guess two night, like was a 90 minute, 120 minute tape of it. And I will say this, and I'm not trying to hate on people who like AC DC or AC DC itself. Like, I went through a huge AC DC phase. There's still room in my heart for it. I will say this. Yeah. I will say this. If you are considering doing an AC DC song at karaoke, don't. Because I know what you're going to do. I know you're a guy and I know you want to scream and I know that you want to take out like some of the frustrations of the day into this song, but get a pillow. Scream into the pillow.

[Luke Burbank]

Are you saying for those about to

[Andrew Walsh]

rock, for those about to rock, we're going outside for a cigarette break while you do this song?

[Luke Burbank]

Because those about to rock reconsider it.

[Andrew Walsh]

I actually think. For those about to rock, We Salute you is one of the best names of a rock and roll record ever? I. Yes. And I don't have that record. I don't even know which era it was. I'm guessing it was the first singer. I'm going to lose the thread on this whole thing. But there is something. When I hear that album title, I'm like, hell, yeah. And I'm not even a rock and roll guy.

[Luke Burbank]

It is a. It is a solid name for an album. The other thing about that AC DC is, and maybe this just my advancing age, but man, you're going to really, you're going to, to. Your vocal cords are going to need a few days to recover from that. If you really commit. If you're a guy and you're trying to sing, hey, welcome. Yeah, like just that.

[Andrew Walsh]

Show off, you're done. Look at that. He's grabbing his Coke Zero.

[Luke Burbank]

Dr. Pepper. Zero sugar.

[Andrew Walsh]

Zero sugar. Dr. Pepper.

[Luke Burbank]

Seriously, Andrew trying to do three words of ACDC just did that to me. Can you imagine?

[Andrew Walsh]

You had to see the doctor I did.

[Luke Burbank]

It was Dr. Feelgood.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's Dr. Pepper. All right. Well, the reason we heard that music was because we're. We are bringing back a just such a long standing, not just popular, but I would say celebrated segment on the show called seminal. Seminal. Called email.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't mean in a gross way. I mean it's part of the early life of the show.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't even know. I don't know what that would mean in a gross way. It doesn't really matter. But I want to play for you several voicemails. I don't know if we have time for several because I'll be honest with you, this first one is very long, but there's a reason. Reason I'm starting with it because it's also very good. And this comes from listener Patrick and it's a real stem winder here, Luke. I got it down to four minutes, but this is from listener Patrick. And it all started with our conversation about house burping, which was a brief conversation, but it was really interesting and it's really stuck in my head, which is in some European countries, even in the middle of winter, even in the winteriest of those countries, there will be a time once a day where people will go through and open up all the windows or a bunch of windows in their house just to let the air in and to let the stale air out. And I love it. I think I've been doing that sort of low key my entire adult life without really putting a word to it, and maybe not as being as deliberate about it, but that led to this story from listener Patrick.

[Unidentified Caller]

Ahoy hoy, Luke and Andrew. I was just listening to the podcast. You guys were talking about house burping. When I was in college, I studied abroad in Moscow. This was in the early 2000s, so it was before the days when Putin really had a stranglehold on the country and you could go and visit and that sort of thing. When we were there, they don't have a dormitory at the university that they would hook you up with a host family. And I got paired up with this very elderly woman, Esya Mel Mosna. She's probably passed by now, poor one out, but she lived in this apartment and she got this apartment with her husband back in the 50s, back in the final days of Stalin. And they were really lucky to get this apartment. And he was in the military and he had been killed in Afghanistan. So she lived all alone. So to make some extra money, she would rent out her. The bedroom in the apartment. It was a one bedroom place. And then she kind of dressed up the living room as a bedroom for her. Right about the beginning of November, she took a butter knife and she used it to stuff wool into the cracks all around the window. And then she seal off all the windows in the apartment with masking tape. And the following day I went out in the evening with some of my compatriots from the university and we were out drinking and I went into the bedroom and I got undressed and it was so sweltering and Duffy and just hot after just one day of the windows being sealed closed. And so I closed the bedroom door and I tore off all the masking tape and I threw open the window and this big gust of wind just came right in. And the wool that had been in the cracks of the windows which was blowing around the room, but it felt so good. And I got in bed and I pulled the covers up to my chin and I fell asleep. And I was awoken at about six in the morning because Essie and Almana came had. She had felt the cold under the door, you know, kind of wafting into the rest. Rest of the apartment. And she came in and it had. It had been snowing, so there was all this snow that had piled up. There was. There were no screens, right. It was just an open window. So all the snow had piled up on the sill and on the floor and on the chair next to the window. And I jumped her close the window. And we cleaned everything up and man, I got the worst tongue lashing. And she was just so mad and. And I felt terrible.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I've heard elderly Russian women are generally pretty chill.

[Unidentified Caller]

Yes, you off the window again. And the rest of the time that I was there, those windows did not open up again. And I felt. I felt so bad and I couldn't stop apologizing. But it just felt so good to get that fresh air in the morning. That was, you know, that was the last fresh air that that apartment had for the rest of my stay. Anyway, that's it. Power out. Have a great one, guys.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. I was going to say, can you imagine being yelled at by an elderly Russian widow in her own space? Because you have crossed a line. That is something that I hope I never have to experience.

[Luke Burbank]

That sounds like a sleep demon, a sleep paralysis demon situation where you wake up and there's an elderly Russian widow perched at the end of the bed and you can't physically move and she's yelling at you. I'm also. And this is a bit of a leap, but if I'm going to go with some of the stereotypes and some of the thoughts I have about the general layout of things in Soviet Russia, as has been said, which is. I'm guessing this was a larger building that probably had multiple units in it. And I wonder if it was the kind of thing where you couldn't really control the heat specific to your unit or you had limited control. And so, you know, I can totally relate also to Patrick being like, dude, if you block up all of the. Any kind of possible ventilation, that heat coming through the radiators or the. Whatever, the way that the. The building was heated, just building up and building up and building up. This. I live a mini version of this oftentimes here in my own house. There isn't, as far as I'm aware, an older Russian woman living in the home environment with me. But sometimes, particularly in the winter, because my house, as I talked about in the wintertime, I had a little bit of trouble dialing in all of the temperature stuff because I'm still dealing with some broken heating parts. But so I will sometimes get in, like, I'll get in bed and it'll be cold in my bedroom. So I have this space heater that I'll turn on, and maybe I'll even have my socks on. I don't usually, like. I don't like to sleep all night with my socks on. Do you sleep with socks on?

[Andrew Walsh]

No. Oh.

[Luke Burbank]

Because it. Like, if your feet are too warm in the middle of the night, it's like, you know, that's a very. For me, anyway, a very uncomfortable feeling. So. But sometimes if it was cold, this is particularly a few months ago, I would, like, turn on the little. The little, you know, space heater I'd get in bed. It'd be a little shivery. I'd kind of get, you know, all Cozy and. And I'd fall asleep and then I would wake up at like 2 or 3, as if there were like. As if I was on the surface of the sun. And I'm like ripping the socks off and I'm pulling the covers off and I'm getting up, I'm turning the heat off. But like, there's not. Because the house is actually very well insulated. I had it all spray foamed, which has a high R factor. So once the heat's in the room, it's like too much. It's probably what Patrick was experiencing. But then I'll just like. I have a window, right, Kind of by the nightstand. It's on a crank. It's like a casement window, like, and open that and the cold air will just like flood in. And it is.

[Unidentified Caller]

Is.

[Luke Burbank]

It's almost worth the discomfort of the waking up in like, basically in a sauna. Because when that cold outside air comes in and hits you, it is just the best feeling. I can sort of like imagine every part of this journey for Patrick.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have so much to say. First of all, I used to live in this apartment that had. It was probably the most humble of my apartments that I lived in. I liked it because they finally got me into the actual. The actual core of the city of Concord, New Hampshire, which is just like a small town. But I. When I first moved there, I was living like outside Concord in some sort of a. Like a more modern, but again, humble in its own way kind of. It was like. It wasn't gross in any way, but it was a very boring ass apartment I lived in. I really wanted to move closer to the radio station, closer to downtown Concord, which I did. But the first place I rented was a real sty. And in a lot of different ways that I will take refrain from going down memory lane too much here. But the one thing I will tell you, and I'm sure I've said this before, was we I did not have the ability to control the heat in the radiators. I think it was radiators. I think it was old school metal radiators. Like the kind that would like, get hot. Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, be it like a piece of furniture.

[Luke Burbank]

Would you dry your stockings on them after a long day at the office?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes. And a little lady would come out and sing to me about heaven. That's for the Eraserhead fans in the audience. But anyway, the. But anyway, nobody in this unit or none of the. None of the units in this apartment building. And let's say There were, I think maybe four of them could control their own heat. They were all on the same system. Now, the actual thermostat was set by the landlords and then put behind a little lockbox. But that thermostat happened to live in my apartment. Oh, wow. So if I were to open up windows, it would get cold and then everybody else's apartment would get hot. Or like when Genevieve came over to make a Christmas duck on Christmas Day one year, others complained about it getting really cold in their apartments because we were creating so much heat from the oven in our apartment that it affected everybody else's. It basically shut off the heat for everybody else. But. But I didn't.

[Luke Burbank]

You were the front part of the human heat Aede.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's exactly how I was going to put it. But I wasn't sure if you'd follow. But what I did.

[Luke Burbank]

I want everyone to know that Andrew did love that joke, but he was having a coughing.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was having a bit of a coffee.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw in his eyes the recognition of true greatness and humor.

[Andrew Walsh]

Actually, I appreciate you throwing that in there. I know that you threw that in there because you could tell I needed to cough for a moment. But the truth of the story is I wanted some sort of control. I resented this whole thing. And so I had a bag of peas, my friend, that I kept in the freezer, and if I was feeling cold, I would take those peas out of the freezer. Now, these were not Life Finds a Way. They were dedicated heater peas or thermostat peas. I did not eat them. I wasn't like. They were like. They were basically like kind of getting frozen and unfrozen and refrozen everything. So they were not for consumption at this point. But I would take that bag of peas and I would set it on top of the plastic box that locked the thermostat in. Because if you think about. About, you know, cool temperatures sort of fall, right, Fall down, heat rises. So I would set that on top and it would make the thermostat think it was colder in the room. And that would be how I could turn up the heat both in my apartment and my neighbor's apartments.

[Luke Burbank]

That's incredible. What a genius kind of, you know, I don't know, idea. I don't know if I would have thought to do that. That's what also, that just reminds me of. I didn't live in any apartments, maybe that were that extreme. But just like the craziness of. Of when you're young and, and, and you're just, you know, you gotta live somewhere. And just, like, the. The weirdness of those kinds of apartment buildings. Like, how in the world is it the case that one of the apartments is the control for all of the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, no, just. It also. It was gross in a lot of different ways, but then also, because I'm a goddamn weirdo, I leaned into it. It had, like, wood paneling. Not even, like, this wood paneling that I have now, but, like, the more traditional, like, I mean, VFW hall. Like. Yeah, more vertical, fake wood paneling. And then what I started, and I had, like, old man furniture that I was just inheriting from, like, people. So I had, like, an oversized, like, stuffed chair, like, an easy chair or something that a grumpy old man probably used to store his farts in. And then I. So I had those. Anyway, and then I started. When I was at, like, thrift stores or flea markets with Genevieve, I started picking up those, like, balsa wood framed fake oil paintings of kids playing around water wheels and rivers.

[Luke Burbank]

I know the exact ones.

[Andrew Walsh]

I started hanging those on the woods paneling. And Genevieve says, this is not a good look. Like, I remember her being like, this is getting capital C creepy in here. And so eventually.

[Luke Burbank]

But you didn't live together at this time.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, but we were in a relationship. And somehow we always. Somehow.

[Luke Burbank]

Always.

[Andrew Walsh]

And somehow survived that period. But anyway.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, that could have been. I could have seen that being some, like. It's good that you might get. You were already dating when you moved to Concord, right? Or no.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, we started dating.

[Luke Burbank]

Our job.

[Andrew Walsh]

We. Well, we started dating. We started officially dating basically the day before I started work. So I had. I had met Genevieve on a trip to Boston maybe four months earlier or something like that. We stayed in touch. We knew that we had a lot of love for each other. I don't know if we're using the word love at that point, but we were clearly into each other. And then we had our first date when I moved to New Hampshire. Like, basically, basically my second day there. And then I think I started.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it's good that she already had a sense of who you are and you in the world before she came over to your apartment. Like, let's say you started dating in Concord. You just, like, met randomly. And then you said, here, let me show you some of my sad clown art collection. Not that that's what it was. Exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's a. I put it.

[Luke Burbank]

I had an Elvis.

[Andrew Walsh]

I had a. I put a creaking sound on the door just to make it be like, come in.

[Luke Burbank]

Always the audio file. Yes. I did have, like a velvet elf this too, I think, or something like that. Because, I mean, there is also that thing where it's like when you're young and you just don't have any money, you're like, well, it's never going to be fancy in here, so why would I not lean into kitsch a little bit, you know, and stuff? And so, like, I definitely had like a. Yeah, I had some kind of a velvet Elvis that was, like, you know, tacked up and stuff like that was definitely a theme in my early apartments as well.

[Andrew Walsh]

So I'm going to. I have a bunch of voicemails here, and I know we can't get through a lot of them, and so I'm sort of making some editorial decisions here on the fly. Here's a little bit of a shorter one. This is about words. What is the word I'm looking for, Luke, ironically? Is it etymology of words?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, yeah. The origin of words.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, this is from our friend Jamie, and I'm going to pause it.

[Luke Burbank]

In Mississippi?

[Andrew Walsh]

No, this is from Jamie in Maryland, I believe.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I'm going to pause it for some clarification, probably halfway through.

[Jamie]

Hello, fellow. This is listener Jamie from Columbia, Maryland. And I was listening to the day after the super bowl show. And this has nothing to do with the super bowl, so just ignore that part. But I was listening and I heard Andrew say how much he loves the term kitty corner. And I remember now this is where

[Andrew Walsh]

I want to pause and say, I don't remember saying that. I do love the word kitty corner. I will say that. I mean, I think I do. I definitely like it. I love the word cattywampus, and I want to use it more than I have the opportunity to. But kitty corner is up there as well. At first, I was wondering if we were confusing cattywampus with kitty corner. But I must have. I must have shown some appreciation for

[Jamie]

kitty corner, how much he loves the term kitty corner. And I remember growing up in southern Missouri and hearing the word caddy corner. And that's what we always called it, catty corner. And then I moved to Chicago and people said kitty corner. And I was like, what is wrong with you people? Why are you saying kitty corner? It's caddy corner. So then, as a person who likes words, I decided to do a little research, and turns out the real word is cater corner. C A T E R. C O R N E R. And so it became catty corner, and then from there it became kitty corner. But the real word is catter corner, and it means diagonal. So the more, you know, power out.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's great. Caddy cornered. So caddy cornered.

[Luke Burbank]

Andrew, I. I mean, I am so, so glad that Jamie called and left that voicemail that you played it, because the.

[Unidentified Caller]

The.

[Luke Burbank]

The term kitty corner has always. I wouldn't say weirded me out, but I've always thought, how is that what we're calling that when something is diagonal? What? Like, that's way too cutesy for a. A description that, you know, like here in the war. And they're like, which. Which way is the enemy coming from? Kitty corner. Like, it's like, it's a. It's an important factual statement of like, it's diagonal. But the fact that it was catter corner and that became caddy corner became kitty corner. That is. Oh, I am so. I weep for the summer barbecues this year that I'm at. And the people are gonna have to hear about that because I am not gonna stop telling people about the origins of kitty corner.

[Andrew Walsh]

But does that also. And this is one of the reasons I wanted to interject there, because I love the word cattywampus, which is different, right? Like kitty corner or cat or corner means basically, like you said, it's not directly across the street. It would be kitty corner. It'd be like the opposite corner. If you're walking diagonally across an intersection, that would be kitty corner. Cattywampus means. I think I'm going to look it up here in a second. Or you can, but that something is not in place properly, right? Like something is like. Yeah. So. But if cat or corner, don't you feel like there must be some connection then between cat or corner and cattywamp?

[Luke Burbank]

It would stand to reason. I mean, cattywampus is an example of a grand 19th century American slang. Let's see here. Sorry, what is it slang for? It? Basically, the way you described something is crooked, askew, or out of line. So that's. Now that also I'm gonna. Is this. This is the part of the show where I just switch into etymology mode all on my own, which is if we think that catter corner is diagonal, and if we think that cattywampus is something as crooked or askew, it could sort of be diagonal, right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Y. That's what I'm sort of thinking. Like, it sort of seems like they're in both the same family of definition as well as word sound.

[Luke Burbank]

What about the definition of ninny hammer or bumfuzzle or flumadiddle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, my God. I'm going to do this. All right, give us the definitions of those.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. By the way, I never answered the question of what you had titled the Audio Drop.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know. I just thought that was uninteresting, so I let it go.

[Luke Burbank]

I was very interested.

[Andrew Walsh]

All right, I have it in front of me if you.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we're going to come back to that in a minute. Okay. A ninny hammer. I bet you you can guess a

[Andrew Walsh]

little bit, just not really a ninny hammer. I'll tell you what I'm picturing, and I know it's going to be wrong, it's way too literal as I'm picturing the little hammer a doctor uses to check your reflexes.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, that'd be a great name for that. It's a noun for a fool or a simpleton. A ninny.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Ninny is usually kind of. Yeah. Somebody. A simple person. How about Flibbergibbet Or Flibberg Flibbert.

[Andrew Walsh]

Jibbit. Oh, my gosh. That's from one of our drops. Isn't. Doesn't A.D. miles say that in like one of those. Stepbrother. Not stepbrother. Whatever the movie is where he's talking about.

[Luke Burbank]

Talking about a wings man.

[Andrew Walsh]

Talking about a wing. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Mike Sniffer Pippets.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that.

[Luke Burbank]

Knock, knock. Who's there? Mike. How many Mike Sniffer Pippets do you know? I'm freezing.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. It is that same movie. And it is.

[Unidentified Caller]

Word.

[Andrew Walsh]

Am I not 80 miles?

[Luke Burbank]

It is 80.

[Andrew Walsh]

80 miles. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. No, you're absolutely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Who's the AD? Who is in on Saturday Night Live?

[Luke Burbank]

AD Bryant.

[Andrew Walsh]

AD Bryant. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

No, you had the right AD.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, great.

[Luke Burbank]

But it's sniffer pipette, not flipper jibbit. But they are almost the same word.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, I don't. A flipper jib. It is. Maybe it's just a.

[Luke Burbank]

It's just, I guess, an insult. It's considered derogatory.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

And then let's see one last. What? Okay. Bum fuzzle. What's the definition of bum? Fuzzy puzzle.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like that is.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's a verb, I guess, to do something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, really? Okay, then never mind.

[Luke Burbank]

What? I was going to bum fuzzle.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're confusing somebody.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really?

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. To confuse or fluster.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, well, you tried to bum fuzzle me, but I. I didn't work. I'm fuzzled. You.

[Luke Burbank]

These are getting increasingly more sexual. Throttle bottom.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, no. I'm a throttle top.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, it's a innocuously inept and futile person is a throttle bottom.

[Andrew Walsh]

Interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

Innocuously inept, though. So like, you know. Yeah, like, not, not. Not in a way that's, you know, you're not like, they didn't give you the nuclear codes and now you accidentally launched an attack. It's a. It's kind of, you know, it's innocuously futile. Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, well, that, that's. That's a lot of fun. I don't know. What do you want to do here? Do you want to hear another story or are we getting too.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's do one more.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

We promised a friend frenzy and we've barely gotten. We've barely gotten into a fop doodle.

[Andrew Walsh]

To a frenzy does not make.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am going to

[Luke Burbank]

play.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I'm gonna play this one. This is from somebody who did not leave their name and I think it's self explanatory.

[Unidentified Caller]

Hey, Luke and Andrew. I am doing my own chat GPT on our superior girl. The question is, what is a marsupial gurgle and what does it have to do with podcasts? And here's the answer. It's a bit of podcast nerd slang. It's. And it's mostly a joke. Marsupial gurgle quote is a playful term people use to describe very specific vocal tic most famously associated with Roman Mars, the host of 99% invisible.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely not.

[Unidentified Caller]

He has a distinctive way of ending phrases with a soft, resonant, slightly gravel sound in his throat. Not quite vocal fry. Not quite a sigh. More like a gentle gurgle at the back of the mouth. So why the name Mars? Roman Mars upial makes it sound like a species and keeps the joke going. Gurgle, the actual sound people are poking fun at. I think they made that up. It's not true. Through you. ChatGPT. Long live TVTL. Here's to handmade podcast.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it.

[Luke Burbank]

Will you take us for a couple of bum fiddlers?

[Andrew Walsh]

If the AI just sometimes said, I don't know the answer to that one, I would have such fewer problems with GPT. It's just that it's just like, oh, I don't know. It doesn't do with podcasting. It clearly knew it had something to do with podcasting. And then it said, well, Roman Mars Mars soup be like. But it just says it like it's fact.

[Luke Burbank]

It's so like, that's actually the most upsetting. Like, I don't it's not a hallucination as much as it's just like what we call an uneducated guess or whatever. Like, that's the most upsetting one I've ever heard. The reason is because it took something that is legitimately a TBTL in joke and a whole part of the lexicon of TBTL and then attributed it to a much more popular podcast.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, right. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, I beat like, that's the thing you. You stole. It's like, isn't it what David did with Bathsheba in the Bible? You know, he coveted her. He was on his rooftop and he had everything. He was King David. And he looked over and he saw this beautiful woman and he coveted her and wanted her. And so then he sent her husband to the front line.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, she was married.

[Luke Burbank]

She was. And he sent her husband to the front line so he would be killed. And then I believe I forget which prophet it was. If it was like Elisha maybe be came or Elijah or somebody came to him and told him a story about somebody in his land. There was a shepherd with a huge flock of sheep, and he coveted his, you know, his neighbor, his fellow, you know, shepherd had maybe like a small amount of sheep. And he went and he stole those small sheep or that one sheep, even though he had many. And David was like, find this man, I will kill him. And it's like, it's you, brah. Anyway, that's. That's a really good, really grandiose way to say I don't like it when AI is giving our credit for our things to Roman Mars. Roman Mars is doing fine. Beautiful downtown Oakland, which is how he always describes the offices of 99% of Israel. A show that I love, by the way.

[Andrew Walsh]

I used to listen to that when I was in la, but it's been so long, I need to get back into that. By the way, have you been watching David King of Israel? A four part docudrama drama on Fox Nation hosted by Zachary Levy.

[Luke Burbank]

Shazam in it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, that's right, it was Shazam. I knew that that had come up on the show.

[Luke Burbank]

I saw somebody on Tick Tock, a young person, a young woman just doing it didn't quite work for intro tape. I should have sent it to you just. Anyway, but she was just like, this is like everything I'm seeing watching the wbc, it was her, like her doing an impression of like David, you know, just like all these weird. Not even. These are not even. We talked about already, but they're not even ready to Be on regular Fox, which is really saying something, you know, I mean, they're, like, on some. On their. Like the Fox Ocho. They're on, like, the eighth platform of Fox.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're doing Bible tosses on Fox, Ocho. Was it the ESPN Ocho? The. When they did, like, the silly sports and everything? It was, yeah. Wasn't it based on a movie? Was that based on one of those silly sports movies? There was a fake thing called ESPN Ocho. And then ESPN decided once a year they'll do a week of ESPN Ocho. That might have been.

[Luke Burbank]

Was that dodgeball? Was that on the.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I feel like it's either dodgeball or basketball or one of those. One of those shows from that era that I did not ever watch. I don't know.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Are you sure it wasn't flibbergibbet? Was it Fop doodle? Was it? I could do this for hours. I've got a lot of weird words

[Andrew Walsh]

here, Andy, but I'm fop doodle for it.

[Luke Burbank]

Yep. But we probably shouldn't. The listeners have places to be, as do we. So that's gonna do it for today's episode. But guess what? Oh, hey, one quick thing. I know we didn't do blurs days today because of some recording stuff, but I know you wanted to wish a little blurs day to our friend Barry's husband, Sam.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. I call him broadcast Sam.

[Luke Burbank]

And I wanted to also. Happy blurs day, Sam. I also. I'm sorry, but I just have to do it. My brother D. Dftb is turning 30 this year.

[Andrew Walsh]

30 years old.

[Luke Burbank]

So happy birthday, David. And so, yeah, happy birthday to both of them. We are going to do blurs days next week, so if you sent them in, I promise we will get to them and we will give them all of the love and care and attention that they deserve. So, anyway, we'll be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio. In the meantime, have a great Thursday. Take care. Go Mariners, go indeed. Please remember, no mountain and too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all. Power out.