Episode #891:

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live – Episode #891

Release Date: August 22, 2011
Host(s): Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh (Jen)
Guest: Shawn Dettori

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1. Personal Anecdotes and Opening Banter

The episode begins with Luke Burbank sharing a touching yet humorous story about his late cat's birthday. At [00:00], Luke sets a light-hearted tone by discussing the tradition of baking his cat’s favorite dessert each year, humorously contemplating whether his cat has gone to heaven or hell.

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank ([00:28]): "Your cat's going to heaven. Yeah, maybe. Maybe he went to heaven. He. He was a little. He could have gone to hell."

2. Guest Introduction: Shawn Dettori's Acting Experience

Shawn Dettori joins the show to discuss his recent foray into acting. At [05:19], Luke warmly welcomes Shawn, congratulating him on his upcoming birthday and inquiring about Shawn’s participation in a local play. Shawn shares his experiences preparing for and performing in the role of a cop named Rod, highlighting his nervousness and the satisfaction he felt upon receiving positive feedback.

Notable Quote:
Shawn Dettori ([06:32]): "The entire thing went smooth. It went great. And it's Such a great feeling to be on the stage and in front of, even though it was only the four people, the four teachers."

Shawn also reveals his intention to audition for another play, expressing a newfound passion for acting that harkens back to his younger days.

3. Birthday Celebrations and Listener Interactions

A unique segment involves celebrating Shawn’s birthday through a nostalgic "This Day in TBTL History" feature. At [14:12], Silent Nick provides a humorous compilation of Shawn’s memorable moments on the show, eliciting laughter and camaraderie among the hosts and Shawn.

Notable Quote:
Silent Nick ([14:12]): "This is a complete, exact melody, note by note ripoff of this old 4 Non Blonde song."

Following the retrospective, Luke and Jen discuss the implications of Facebook birthday messages. At [19:34], Luke muses whether automated birthday greetings diminish the genuine sentiment behind the occasions, while Jen defends the platform as a convenient way to acknowledge friends' milestones.

Notable Quote:
Jen ([20:01]): "It is weirdly moving and affecting, even though none of these people invested more than five seconds in wishing you a happy birthday."

4. Main Discussion: Learning Big Words from Pop Music

A significant portion of the episode delves into an intriguing article from The Atlantic about how pop and hip-hop music contribute to vocabulary acquisition among listeners. Starting at [24:43], Luke and Jen explore whether the incorporation of complex words in songs is beneficial or problematic.

Key Points Discussed:

• Examples of Big Words in Music:

  • Paul Simon's use of "consecrated" ([25:19]).
  • Rihanna's "altercation" ([25:26]).
  • Alanis Morissette's use of "ironic" ([26:25]).
  • Biggie Smalls' "conversate" ([31:03]).
  • Four Non Blondes' "desecrate" ([39:50]).

• Misinterpretation of Words:

  • Jen and Luke debate the accurate usage of "ironic," referencing Alanis Morissette's song and its common misinterpretation as mere coincidence ([27:00]).

• Impact on Vocabulary:

  • While acknowledging that some artists use words correctly, they also highlight instances where words are misused or altered, potentially leading to confusion among younger listeners.

Notable Quotes:
Luke Burbank ([26:08]): "Sam, you actually were kind of better friends with them than that or me. You wanted to beat everyone else, mostly door number two, then that's not right."

Jen ([30:35]): "I was having a hard time hearing it as much as I can hear it with Benny and the jets."

5. Granny Time: Babysitting Mishaps and Ethical Considerations

In the "Granny Time" segment starting at [51:41], Jen recounts a recent story about a babysitter named Kiana Davis who placed a stroller in the back of her pickup truck while babysitting. Although this action led to Kiana being arrested for child neglect, Jen empathizes with her intentions, suggesting that Kiana was trying to ensure the child’s safety without proper resources.

Key Points Discussed:

• Public Perception:

  • The incident caused public alarm, with numerous 911 calls and video recordings capturing the event.

• Ethical Dilemmas:

  • Jen argues that Kiana wasn’t intentionally neglectful but made a poorly informed decision, highlighting the lack of proper guidance for babysitters.

Notable Quote:
Jen ([53:03]): "I think what she was trying to do was keep the kid safe by holding the stroller and sitting in the back with it. They were driving very slowly, so my best to Kiona Davis in Daytona Beach."

6. Ethical Discussions: Japanese Honesty vs. American Practices

Continuing in "Granny Time," Jen marvels at the Japanese ethos of returning lost valuables. At [56:57], she cites a remarkable statistic where over $78 million in cash and valuables have been returned to authorities following the tsunami, underscoring the cultural emphasis on honor and integrity.

Key Points Discussed:

• Comparison with American Society:

  • Jen and Luke contemplate whether similar integrity would prevail in the United States, expressing doubt given the prevalent "finders keepers" mentality.

• Cultural Insights:

  • The discussion emphasizes how cultural values shape behaviors related to honesty and the return of lost items.

Notable Quote:
Jen ([56:57]): "The Japanese are just such honorable people and it's so impressive that $78 million in cash and valuables have been returned since the tsunami."

7. Listener Stories and Social Commentary

Throughout the episode, listeners contribute anecdotes that fuel discussions on ethical behavior and societal norms.

• Claudia’s Wine Delivery ([21:37]):

  • Listener Claudia shares her experience of receiving a surprise wine delivery from a friend, highlighting cross-country friendships and the joy of unexpected gifts.

• Travis’ Blackberry Gathering ([65:22]):

  • Listener Travis addresses ethical concerns about harvesting blackberries from a neighbor’s yard post their passing, leading to a debate on property rights and communal resource sharing.

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank ([69:22]): "If you find $50,000 and it's like, you know, shrink-wrapped, it's like, okay, this belongs to a drug dealer, let's give it back to him."

8. Music Break: Featuring Cults’ "Go Outside"

Jen introduces a musical interlude featuring the band Cults and their song "Go Outside" ([46:17]). Despite initial hesitation due to the band’s provocative name, both hosts acknowledge the quality of the music, promoting local bands and encouraging listeners to support live performances.

Notable Quote:
Jen ([46:42]): "We just learned about a London 10 named Fiona."

9. Clarifications and Wrap-Up

Towards the end of the episode, Luke clarifies a misunderstanding regarding their appearance at the Bumbershoot festival, ensuring listeners are aware that they will not be performing live there ([49:50]).

Notable Quote:
Luke Burbank ([49:50]): "We're not gonna be there. And please go to Bumbershoot and have a great old time, but don't go there specifically to see us."

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Conclusion

Episode #891 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live offers a blend of personal stories, thoughtful discussions on ethics and language, and engaging interactions with a guest. Through humor and sincerity, hosts Luke and Jen navigate topics ranging from babysitting mishaps and cultural honesty to the influence of pop music on vocabulary. The episode underscores the show's charm of combining everyday anecdotes with deeper societal reflections, all while maintaining a light and entertaining atmosphere.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Do you know what today is? Tuesday. This is my cat's birthday today. I don't see a cat in here. I'm sorry. We let it out by accident. No, because he died three months ago. Okay, so now who's the funny guy? All right, today is his birthday, and it is a tradition that on his birthday, I'd get up extra early and make him his favorite kind of dessert. Don't worry, bro. Your cat's going to heaven. Yeah, maybe. Maybe he went to heaven. He. He was a little. He could have gone to hell.

[Flash]

TBTL.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey there, everybody. Welcome to a Monday afternoon edition of TBT L, the show that's probably too beautiful to live. Carol, hold my calls. We need you to hold those calls for the next, I don't know, 15 to 184 minutes, depending on how long we decide to go with this show. It could definitely be one or the other. Which one are you voting for? Flash.

[Jen]

That was news to me. I thought 60.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just saying, based on, you know, based on the range of product that we've created on this show in the last few months, it could be anywhere between 15 and over 180 minutes. I can promise you that. It's going to be recorded.

[Jen]

Hi, this is Luke's mom, Susie, coming tonight on tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

I was gonna say I could promise you it's gonna be fascinating, but I don't want to promise too big. We do have a lot of stuff to talk about today, though. That is TR an interesting article from the Atlantic that says you're learning most of the big words in your life, at least how they're pronounced based on pop music. We will go through some of the evidence and find out if that's actually a good thing or not. Also, it's Monday, so it's Granny time. It is granny time. This week, Jen will talk about how much better the Japanese are than us when it comes to returning valuable things, that they've found a babysitter who put a stroller in the back of a truck. Because we've been on a real hot streak with this bad babysitting topic. And Jen, it's always hard when Granny starts to lose it. And Jen may have lost it when it came to this Lady Gaga song. You and I will talk about that, too. This is a little late, but I love Jesus. But I drink a little. That's your sound effect. Hi, Jennifer.

[Jen]

Hi.

[Luke Burbank]

How was your weekend?

[Jen]

It was really, really nice and relaxed.

[Luke Burbank]

That's good. Yeah, it was beautiful. Yes, beautiful here in Seattle. And today is pretty Lousy. But I'm not as mad about it because the weekend was nice.

[Jen]

I know. It was great. I took Knightley to the park each day for his ear cleaning.

[Luke Burbank]

So now you're just doing that outside so that you can gross everyone out?

[Jen]

Well, that's the problem, is that when I do it inside I'm really cognizant of how loud he is. So squealing. And because, you know, nobody likes liquid going down their ear, it feels gross. I understand. It feels yucky.

[Luke Burbank]

That's definitely hardwired into us from a sort of evolutionary standpoint, isn't it? No one likes the feeling of anything liquid going in their ear. It is right up there with the worst physical experiences you can have.

[Jen]

Yeah. So he. He's really, really loud about it. So I. I thought, this is great. We'll take him to the park each day to do it. Which we've been doing. Except then it's so funny because people come running. Is he okay? What happened? He's just having his medicine. Are you sure he's okay? Yep. The Knightley's looking at him like, no, I'm not. I'm not okay.

[Luke Burbank]

I guess I'm encouraged to hear that you are going through with the ear situation, though because I got the sense that you were just gonna let it go all Gray Gardens in there.

[Jen]

Well, I said I was going to, but it is disgusting and it smells bad, so I have to stay on top of it. That's. And, well, I think I've grossed people out enough with what's growing in Nylie's ears. But it's really gross. So this is not something I can joke around about.

[Luke Burbank]

No. Today on Ross and Burbank, we did about 45 minutes on eating your placenta.

[Jen]

I wondered if it was all of.

[Luke Burbank]

The ways in which it can be prepared. We talked to a doula who actually is quite the chef when it comes to preparing human matter. So this. If you talk about Knightley's ear gunk that would be only the second grossest topic that I've had to plumb today.

[Jen]

I know it. Really? I saw that. That story this morning and I immediately thought, if you can eat placenta, then you can eat boogers. Like my parents always taught me. Like, if it comes out of your body, don't eat it. Don't eat toe jam, don't eat.

[Luke Burbank]

They had to have that talk with you because you were, like, all ready to go.

[Jen]

You know, I was biting my nails and eating it.

[Luke Burbank]

That's what I said today on the thing to the doula. I was like, well, really, you're eating the world's largest just fingernail. If you do this, you're eating stuff. I will admit, though, to chewing my nails. I don't consume the nail, but I do chew the nail.

[Jen]

I think I was maybe consuming it. And so that was when my dad had the whole, like, you don't know what's under that nail. You shouldn't. And so that was kind of when he just said, you know, what if it's growing on your body or coming out of your body, don't eat it. And I felt like that was a good rule to just go through the.

[Luke Burbank]

Rest of my life with words to live by.

[Jen]

Yeah. And I'm gonna. And I'm going to apply it to placentas as well.

[Luke Burbank]

Here's someone who never eats anything that comes out of his body. God. Hopefully.

[Shawn Dettori]

Excuse me.

[Luke Burbank]

Do these effectively hide my thunder? It's Japan's number one mixer, Mr. Shawn Dettori, who joins us via telephone. Hi, Seanie.

[Shawn Dettori]

Hey, what's up?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, let me start by saying happy day before your birthday today.

[Shawn Dettori]

Hey, thanks, man. By the way, I can't hear Jen, just so you know.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, okay. Well, that's. That's gonna be weird. Jim, why don't we have you switch microphones? Because, because, you know, we try to. We try to keep it as rinky dink as possible. The audio, so. And Jen has a lot of stuff to say about your birthday to you, so I want to make sure. Let's see. Jen, say something. Would you mind saying hi to Sean from that one? See if he can hear you.

[Jen]

Hi, Sean. Happy birthday.

[Shawn Dettori]

Thanks, Jen. I can hear you.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, good. Well, that's officially the most effed up mic we have. The one. Anyway, so, Sean, we have you here because, number one, it's really fun to talk to you. Number two, it's your birthday tomorrow. But number three, and most importantly, that's why I put it third. Does not even make sense. We talked to you on Friday about your big acting thing that went on over the weekend. You were in a play. Well, you were in a sort of, you know, an excerpt from a play.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, a scene.

[Luke Burbank]

And you were gonna play this cop Rod who'd been through the ringer, I think we can all agree. And you were still. You were trying to decide how you were gonna play the whole scene because it takes place in a bar and you kind of get into it with some people. How did the whole thing go?

[Shawn Dettori]

The entire thing went smooth. It went great. And it's Such a great feeling to be on the stage and in front of, even though it was only the four people, the four teachers. But, like, something inside of me was like, this is awesome. And it brought me back to, like, when I was a younger thespian and experimenting back in the day. But everything went great. The way I chose to play the cop in that one scene, if you'll remember, where I yelled at you and pointed a fake gun at you. I totally was practicing unholstering my gun and doing that very quickly. So it was sort of muscle memory. I nailed it. And then I played the line where I say, let's just keep it calm. I said it calmly instead of yelling it at the lawyer. And everyone seemed pleased with how it turned out. Abby, the director, was very happy. Everyone was like, good job. And I'm going to audition for another play that's going to be coming up in October. So I think I kind of have, like, the acting bug. We'll see.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's good. So were you nervous?

[Shawn Dettori]

I was super nervous. You know, I mean, I was super nervous beforehand. We all got together and sort of went over things, and when I was on the stage, I was nervous still. And then once the lights came up, surprisingly, I was still a little bit nervous. But knowing that I had to do it, I just treated it as another sort of rehearsal. So I wasn't, you know, caught up, you know, and worrying about things. I just sort of went through the motions and acted the hell out of the part. And, yeah, man, it was super fun. Like, I want to do it again. Like, it really made me nostalgic for the earlier days when I would do this, like, almost every day, you know.

[Luke Burbank]

Now, did you feel like you were in the moment with your character?

[Shawn Dettori]

Well, that's. I think one thing that I really am going to have to work on is sort of embracing the character and really becoming the character. I mean, I was sort of in the practice before we went on stage. We sort of did an over the top performance and just went through it really quick so we could sort of have high energy in this. And I was improvising and calling the tourists, you know, like a dick. Just to kind of get into character of being sort of a hateful person. But I think that's one thing I need to work on is just don't.

[Luke Burbank]

Work too hard on that because you're not a hateful person, which is one of the things that we love about you.

[Jen]

You can leave your character behind you now.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, yeah, Right, right. One of the guys the guy who played the lawyer actually was saying to me after the fact, he said, I'm really happy to be done with this play because that character, his character, the lawyer, was such an angry character, he was happy to leave him behind. And I was like, that's an interesting thing to say. I can't really say that about the cop because I guess I didn't really embody the cop as much as I would have wanted to. But I think that's something definitely that I need to work on.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so congratulations on that. Do you know anything about this next play that you're trying out for?

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, it's directed by this guy named Simon, who was actually the bartender in this one. And I think it's called Drinks at the center of the Universe. I believe that's what it's called. And he. He wrote it, he's directing it. The annex down here in Seattle picked it up. So he's actually gonna be getting paid money to direct his own play. And so it's gonna open in January and they're gonna have auditions in October. And so he said that he would put me in the information loop and send out. Whenever he sends out auditions, he would include me. So it sounds interesting. Like it's just a bunch of takes part in different bars. And I forget exactly how he put it, but, you know, at one point there's people in a bar, like in a zeppelin, and then the zeppelin crashes into the ocean. And then the next part of the play is everyone on a boat in a bar, and then they finally the boat sinks and then they end up in the center of the universe. I don't quite understand it.

[Luke Burbank]

Don't spoil it.

[Shawn Dettori]

It sounds, you know, interesting.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, but don't say anymore because I don't want to know how they get to the bar in the center of the universe. That's part of the joy of watching it.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, speaking of bars, possibly at the center of the universe, you're having a birthday tomorrow. What's your big plan?

[Shawn Dettori]

Well, I don't really have a big plan. I was thinking about taking the day off, but then I decided, screw it, I'm just going to work. I'm actually going to be interviewing this band called Dovekins from Denver tomorrow. But then I'm going to do my normal work day. And then I'm thinking about possibly going to Shorty's and just, you know, playing some pinball and trying not to get too drunk. Because when you get too drunk, you get depressed the next day.

[Jen]

I actually think that's true about staying home on your birthday, because I've always found that if you don't go to work on your birthday, you end up kind of sitting at home feeling depressed.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah.

[Jen]

And so I think it's better to just go about your. I think that's a good idea to just go about your normal day, because otherwise you kind of. You end up sitting at home and thinking about all the people that you think don't love you enough and, you know, that kind of stuff.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And then you just start drinking at noon.

[Jen]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

Why don't you. Why don't you work? But then see if you can get off early so you can hang out with everyone and socialize. But then you can get, like. You can get out of there at, like, 9. I guess you get out of there at 10. So it's not that big of a difference, right?

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, it's not that big of a difference. I mean, it would be nice to get out a little earlier. But I'm also thinking, like, this is a weird year for me when my birthday, like, I was gonna have a big plan where I originally wanted to have a bunch of bands that I've sort of made friends with over the last year to, like, play at my apartment, like in my, you know, parking lot area and, like, have, like, sort of a block party. And I was like, well, you know, I'm not gonna do that, because football season starting and I wouldn't have to plan that out.

[Luke Burbank]

And so you were gonna do it on a weekend. You weren't gonna do it on it on a Monday, Tuesday night?

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, no, definitely not. It would have been, like, on a Saturday.

[Luke Burbank]

Been poorly received.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah. So, you know, I'm just. I'm kind of like, whatever. About. About the whole birthday.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe we can just. Maybe. Shawnee, maybe we can have a. Just a birthday drink at Shorty's. You and me, huh?

[Shawn Dettori]

I would love it if you wanted to come out tomorrow night and play around a pinball and have a drink.

[Luke Burbank]

I might even let you win because it's your birthday and also because you're better than me.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah. Well, that sounds cool. It'd be nice to get together and. Jen, I don't know what you're doing, but it'd be nice to see you too.

[Luke Burbank]

Jen doesn't go out after 6:30pm on weeknights. That's what we've learned.

[Jen]

Once I'm in my sweats, I don't go back out.

[Shawn Dettori]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, we can be drinking for three.

[Shawn Dettori]

I do that most Nights.

[Luke Burbank]

Hey, speaking, Sean, of your birthday, we have this day in TBTL history, which is a little retrospective of some of your most awesome moments. You want to take a listen to this?

[Shawn Dettori]

I would love to.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, let's check it. This is this day in TBTL history, from many TBTL's past, featuring the fine work of Japan's number one mixer, Mr. Sean Dettori.

[Silent Nick]

This day in TBTL history.

[Luke Burbank]

Jen, with the help of Silent Nick, has cobbled together Sean, some of your. Some of your greatest hits.

[Silent Nick]

Oh, I have a greatest hits.

[Luke Burbank]

You do now. And I will play them for you. Actual. This is actual. These are actual things uttered by Shondtore, or Precious Loves, as we call him. This is actual tape of Sean Dettori. Things that have occurred over the course of the, I don't know, eight, nine months we've been doing the show. Let's take a trip down memory lane. It's my birthday today.

[Silent Nick]

Yeah, make me a filet melon or mil mignon.

[Jen]

Hello.

[Silent Nick]

My weight was 46.5. Same as yesterday. Actually, the place just burned down and I'm just eating my turkey and cheese sandwich. So I'm amidst a bunch of rubble. Lan's got a broken leg, so no news at the bottom of the hour. Sorry, that's the news. Send a fire truck and some pizza. And if you're coming from Fife, bring a bucket of water. Bagel, bagel, bagel, bagel, boogel. Just thought I'd play some Michael Jackson, because why not? And I need to fill some time. Luke's in Hawaii, Jennifer's in San Francisco, and I'm here all by myself giving you aural pleasure.

[Luke Burbank]

And now, the TBTL players.

[Silent Nick]

BA this time it will work.

[Luke Burbank]

Wait, who's the black one? Hannibal or BA Because I'm getting confused by our amazing Hannibal.

[Jen]

BA it's black. Hannibal's the old guy.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I knew that.

[Jen]

Okay, okay, let's start with Judy. What happened last time?

[Silent Nick]

BA this time it'll work. Hannibal grins and waves his hands off. Well, I do have that how to Be a B Boy, so I need to maybe take another look at it tonight. Or early.

[Luke Burbank]

I didn't know this DVD existed, and.

[Silent Nick]

I'm trying to get into breakdancing. Another thing I've done is I was The UW has studies, like, on the back page of the Stranger. There's like. We're looking for young men and women to participate in this study. 18 to whatever years old. And so I've had some tests done. Well, not test, but I drank beer once, and the first Time I didn't get.

[Jen]

No.

[Silent Nick]

The first time, I got beer, and I was pleased. And then the next time. The next time I didn't get any beer and I was mad, they gave me orange juice. And then.

[Luke Burbank]

You sound like a human version of a mouse in a maze that gets cheese sometimes and is happy, and sometimes you just get shocked and very pissed.

[Silent Nick]

But listen to this, though.

[Jen]

They.

[Silent Nick]

They. They gave me an apparatus to put on my junk. Okay? I'm totally serious. And they had me watch a little bit of porn, and they monitored my arousal level from the room this day in TBTL history.

[Luke Burbank]

There you go, Shawnee. A little. A little trip down memory lane. Do you remember any of those moments?

[Shawn Dettori]

I remember, like, all of those moments, and it really makes me miss the. The old days of tbtl.

[Luke Burbank]

I know, I know. That was good times. Good times to be had. Well, Shani, happy birthday, and thanks, as always, for all of your contribution to the show, and you're the best, and we love you.

[Shawn Dettori]

Well, I appreciate it very much, so. Yeah, man, thanks a lot. I can't believe I've made it another year.

[Jen]

I knew you could do it.

[Shawn Dettori]

Thanks. I had it in me.

[Luke Burbank]

We were all counting on you. All right, Shani, well, tomorrow night, birthday times, you and me. If nobody.

[Shawn Dettori]

Yeah, man.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Talk to you then, man.

[Shawn Dettori]

All right, guys.

[Luke Burbank]

All right.

[Jen]

Bye.

[Shawn Dettori]

Bye.

[Luke Burbank]

There goes Japan's number one mixer, Mr. Shonda Torre. And do you think. Let me ask you this, Flash. Do you think I was gonna say to people, hey, if you're on the Facebook tomorrow, go say happy birthday to Sean. But a lot of people will already, because that's now the main way that we communicate with each other about the fact that we recognize that it's each other's birthdays. And I guess I'm wondering, does the whole Facebook birthday thing cheapen the birthday sentiment? Because it's a tremendously easy way to wish someone a happy birthday, and yet it involves almost zero work on your part. And yet, I will say that when it is your birthday, you wouldn't know this because you're not on Facebook anymore. But for the rest of us normies, when it's your birthday and the Facebook birthday messages start rolling in, it is weirdly moving and affecting, even though none of these people invested more than five seconds in wishing you a happy birthday. So my question is, is it cheap or is it a good thing?

[Jen]

I think it's great. I think, because 90% of those people wouldn't have done anything, so at least they did something, which is really nice. And if you're on Facebook, it means that you've already signed off on this kind of new social contract, that this is the way that we have relationships. So if you're on Facebook, you've already given into that, and that's understood. And so then I think it's great, because it's all these different ways that you can acknowledge one another's milestones when you wouldn't do anything in real life.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I guess it's a good point, because I hesitate. I'm Facebook friends with, like, almost all of the listeners at this point, and I'll see that it's their birthday, and I'll think, oh, I should go over and say happy Birthday. But then I think that's kind of. It's like. It feels like a little cheap because it's like, oh, I click. Like, one time there was a friend of mine whose Facebook birthday it was, what was her real birthday, Just happened to be on Facebook, too. And I was going to go like, happy Birthday. But then I felt like it was being. I felt like I wanted to take it. I wanted to kick it up one notch, not three notches, which would be to write them an actual letter and mail it, which is probably, like, what you would do, which would be thoughtful, but I didn't want to just. So I went and found one of those, like, some cards, which you can then upload to their page. And so for me, that felt like I demonstrated that I was at least a little bit of a better friend than all the other people who'd only said happy Birthday. I had gone and found a sum card and then said, share it on Facebook.

[Jen]

And you were doing that because, a, you actually were kind of better friends with them than that or me. You wanted to beat everyone else, mostly door number two, then that's not right.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, this is why we have you here day in and day out. Also, we are here because of the generous sponsorship of Chateau St. Michel. There were the official wine sponsor of this here imaginary radio program. They are in Woodinville, Washington. They have all kinds of amazing stuff going on out there. You know, they've got concerts that are going on. Huey Lewis and the News will be there on Friday. Jeff Bridges will be there on Sunday. Good times. You should check it out.

[Jen]

I had a bottle of their Eroika Riesling on Friday, and it was like, the best Riesling I've ever had. And I'm generally not a Riesling drinker because I always think it's too sweet. But it was like Perfect for a summer early evening. Like, perfect. Yeah, highly recommend it.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, sorry, I stopped because I was hearing someone talking. It's just the answering machine. Oh, yeah.

[Jen]

Okay. I thought it was the dog attacking a killer. You don't think that's what that is?

[Luke Burbank]

That would be the wussiest killer of all time if he was turned back by Momo. No, it was just the answering machine going. But anyway, Chateau St. Michel is, along with being a great concert venue and generous supporters of the show. Also, they make awesome wine. We got this email from a listener, Claudia, who's from Kingston, but she was recently on a big trip and here's what she said. What a strange and wonderful birthday gift I got from my friend Fiona, who is a 10 from London. She ordered a very nice bottle of Canoe Creek 2009 Riesling with the help of the wine concierge named Connie. It arrived just before my birthday. I live in Kingston, but thought you might get a smile out of knowing I got wine delivered to my house from Woodinville via London. Oh, I see she wasn't abroad. The wine made a trip abroad and then came in. I thought it was amazing. The wine was very good, too. Love the Show, Claudia Kingston. 10 P.S. fiona and I read the Hunger Games series and we kind of had our own book discussion through email. Loved it. So way to go, Fiona. In the uk, I think she means.

[Jen]

Canoe Ridge, but that is awesome.

[Luke Burbank]

Way to go, Claudia, for emailing us. And way to go, Chateau St. Michel for. For making the awesome wine that they enjoyed. Also, if you go to tbtl.net, you can vote for them. There's a link right at the top of the page, linking through to the finals. That's right, the finals of the Puget Sound business journal Battle of the Brands, where they are squaring off with Windermere real estate. Unlike last time around where they were battling a food bank. You don't have to feel bad at all about dominating Windermere real estate. And that is appears to be what's happening right now. About 4,000 votes in favor of Chateau St. Michel, which is pretty rad.

[Jen]

And we really need everybody to stick with this too, because one of our tens is on the Windermere, like, mass email list. And she got an email from Windermere.

[Luke Burbank]

We have a mole.

[Jen]

Like, this is really important and we need to step it up.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, my gosh. Sorry, Windermere. You didn't realize we'd be doing. We'd be doing spy ops on you. Yeah. And also Windermere, apparently they Got a buttload of votes last time. Like they're taking this really seriously also. And so we have to continue to bring our A game. So if you go to tbtl.net and you click on the link there, it's under the photo of Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren squaring off.

[Jen]

Can't miss it.

[Luke Burbank]

That'll be the blog post you're looking for. And anyway, give him a vote if you can and help them out because we appreciate their fine support of this fine radio program. Okay, let's talk about this article Flash that you saw was on the Atlantic's blog.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And what is the what, what's the gist of this, of this article?

[Jen]

Basically that that pop music and hip hop music get blamed for a lot of society's ills. And they were saying that as kids are returning to school this week and next, it's also good to remember that we also learned fancy words from pop music and from hip hop. And so it's not all bad. And they put together a list of about 24 songs and I pulled a few of them that I thought we could talk about.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, sure. Okay, I'm going to bring up your little sound effect guy there. So where are we going to start off here?

[Jen]

I'm going to start with Simon Garfunkel.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, do you want to say the word that we're going to learn or do you want to just play?

[Jen]

Yeah. The word is consecrated.

[Luke Burbank]

When I was a little boy the devil called my name When I was just a boy See now who do, who do you think you're fooling?

[Flash]

When I was just a boy I'm a consecrated boy.

[Luke Burbank]

Singer and Sunday Kwalanoo.

[Flash]

Oh my mama loves me, she loves me.

[Jen]

So that's.

[Luke Burbank]

No. Now just a point of clarification. That's just Paul Simon. That's not technically speaking. Simon Agarfunko.

[Jen]

Thank you for that. You're right.

[Luke Burbank]

Somebody was a little obsessed with negotiations and love songs in high school. His name was Luke.

[Jen]

So you know, consecrated, that's a pretty big dedicated to higher religious service. That's pretty big word. And then very recently, Rihanna taught us the word altercation.

[Flash]

What started out as a simple altercation turns into a real sticky situation. Me just thinking I'm. The time that I'm fasting makes me wanna cry. Cause I didn't mean to hurt him. Could have been somebody's son and I took his heart with I pulled out that gun.

[Jen]

I was thinking about it though, cuz I think as adults we're like altercation. That's not that big of a word. But if you're 12, altercation is a really big word.

[Luke Burbank]

Sadly, they're kids are learning a lot of other things from the other Rihanna songs, like snm.

[Jen]

You know, one of the songs, almost all of them were words that were used correctly that were nice big words, but they also threw in kind of what's considered the worst thing to ever happen, which is Alanis song ironic. Just because it taught everybody this word, this really big complicated word, but it taught it to them incorrectly, you know?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I mean, would you think of ironic as being big and complicated as a word?

[Jen]

Yes. I think it's a hard. The idea that you're saying something that's the exact opposite of what it actually means is. I think that is a really hard concept to grasp.

[Luke Burbank]

And the basic problem with that song was that it confused coincidence with irony. Right. In a lot of the cases. But not all of it though. Because like, for instance, it's like, you know, like rain on your wedding day. That's. That is irony. Right? Because. Why is it not irony?

[Jen]

Because it's not. You're not saying something that's the exact opposite of what is. It's actually raining on your wedding day. She wasn't saying that it wasn't sunny. It was actually raining.

[Luke Burbank]

No, but, but, but the irony in that is that of all of the days out of the year where you don't want it to rain, there could be 364 sunny days. Your wedding day, it rains. That would be the irony of the situation. Right?

[Jen]

Like, how is that ironic?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, because it's. I mean, for instance, a black fly in your chardonnay, that's not ironic. That's just. That's just a fly ended up in your wine. But like even the 10,000 spoons, when all you need is a knife, as corny as that line is. And I think they just wanted something that rhymed with wife, which would come later in that song. It's like meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife. I. I don't know if. But, but the spoons. Knife thing, isn't that also. I mean, am I, am I am. I'm misguided on irony in the sense that, like my sense my. When I think of something being ironic, what I'm thinking is it's. It's the sort of. It's like of all of the times when this might happen, or of all the things that I'm like, the most afraid of, it would be Ironic. If that would be like, I'm terrified of sharks, Right. Wouldn't it be kind of ironic if I died in a shark attack?

[Jen]

So that's like the old man who's afraid to fly, right. And then the plane comes.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm. Listen, I'm not here to defend. I mean, like, it's hurting me physically to defend Alanis Morissette in this song. But I feel like the problem with that song, my understanding was a lot of it was just coincidence, but then some of it was actually situations that could be described as ironic.

[Jen]

But ironic irony is a corollary to sarcasm. And so it is when you're saying something that's the exact opposite of what is. And so I guess a lot of it's really hard for me to come up with one instance in that song that's truly ironic.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. Okay, well, here you're. I mean, I think you're definitely right. From a technical standpoint, irony, from the ancient Greek meaning dissimulation or feigned ignorance, is a rhetorical device, literary technique or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions. Ironic statements typically imply a meaning in opposition to their literal meaning. A situation is often said to be ironic, situational irony, if the actions taken have an effect exactly opposite from what was intended. So I guess you could, though, say that the actions taken could have been that the couple did a Sundance. They hired a Native American shaman to do a Sundance so that it wouldn't rain on their wedding day, and then it rained. That would be irony, though, right? Because the opposite from what their intentions were happened.

[Jen]

Well, I think the point that we're really making is that I was right in that this is a really complicated term.

[Luke Burbank]

Totally.

[Jen]

And maybe she bit off more than she could chew. And so she didn't teach it to us.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely.

[Jen]

Because we mostly all learned it kind of wrong.

[Luke Burbank]

Where is that song that was thank you, India. I just got that. That was just like. That was very graspable for me.

[Jen]

Now, the other one that they brought up that was on the negative side because most of it was truly songs that we learned the right way. But one that they brought up was Biggie using conversate, oh, my gosh. Which unfortunately now is in common usage.

[Luke Burbank]

I use it, like, a lot and kind of can't even stop myself. And my usual thing I say is, and I've said on the show a bunch of times, is like, Biggie says it, so it's okay. But I find myself saying conversate and not ironically. Although now I feel like I really have lost my mooring on what irony is. But you know what I mean? Not as a joke. I'll just say it because it seems like it fits. And then I'll realize that's not a word. Then I'll try to get out of trouble by saying, well, Biggie said it well.

[Jen]

It reminded me of a word that I learned from DJ Jassy Jeff and Fresh Prince. They are both involved.

[Luke Burbank]

Really? Because I would imagine I would even put Fresh Prince in front of DJ Jazzy Jeff on in terms of importance for that musical.

[Jen]

I picked up my car phone to perpetrate like I was talking. And so, you know, perpetrate is specifically related to a crime. And possibly ironically, it is now a crime. So if that song were to be written now and you were picking up your cell phone to talk on it while you were driving, you would be perpetrating a crime.

[Luke Burbank]

But they meant it.

[Jen]

But they did not mean it. Right.

[Luke Burbank]

They meant it to plan. Yeah, like to plan a crime.

[Jen]

I think they meant to act like, oh yeah, I picked up the phone to pretend like I was talking so I would seem cooler to the girl. Oh, I see the girly girl walking.

[Luke Burbank]

Right, right. Yeah.

[Jen]

So anyway, that much like you with conversate, I started using perpetrated incorrectly.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

But like I said, nowadays with the changing laws, it's actually correct.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I. I don't. I mean there are certainly the. The odd word that pops up in a song that I don't maybe know or that I mishear a lot. But. But my bigger problem is, is just completely misinterpreting lyrics, which is a slightly different thing. But of course, what comes to mind for me is the song Take the Long way home by. Is that Rush? I think that's Rush.

[Jen]

I don't even know.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, Take the long way home. I thought it was so youo think you're Romeo bang a pot in a picture show. And I don't even know what that means. I think it's playing a part in a picture show, but I heard it as bang a pot. And I just imagined this whole. Like I had the most specific idea of why they were saying that and what it looked like. Like I created this music video in my head for that song based on the idea of this kid banging a pot in a picture show. But it was sort of sepia tone and like. But like cutouts. Like it was sort of like these cut out sepia tone things and like almost Monty Python esque. And this kid was banging a pot in a picture. I mean, it's so dumb, it makes no sense, but it was what I.

[Jen]

Carried on, gave you, like a complete picture.

[Luke Burbank]

What I can't believe is how vivid my misunderstanding of it was. You know what I mean?

[Jen]

Yeah. You know, the biggest word I think I've learned from pop music actually isn't that long ago. And it was in music by Madonna when she talked about the bourgeoisie.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, wait, you knew.

[Jen]

I had a kind of understanding, but it was one of those moments where I'm like, you know what? I'm actually going to go look this up and I'm going to learn what it is because I love this song. And it's one of those words that I had a vague understanding of what it was, but I wasn't positive exactly what it was.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, that's a thing that I've started doing a lot more with, particularly doing the radio show. So sorry, podcast listeners, you weren't important enough for me to do this for 890, however many shows we've done here, which is 891 as of today. But I've started doing this thing where I just look up any word where I have even have the even words that I think I know like that because it's very, very common. And I do it all the time. Where I will be, I'll sort of like 40% understand a word, but it turns out I'll be using it just a little bit, just a little bit off. And no one will ever correct me because to be honest with you, most people don't really, like, we're all operating at 40% at best. But I'm starting to look up words all the time. It helps that I sit at a computer while I'm doing the show, but if we have listeners, if you sit at a computer for your job and you are talking to someone or whatever, start looking up every big word that you use that you're slightly confused about or you're not totally sure, and you will find, like, I have. That you've been misusing almost all of them.

[Jen]

Well, that 40% rule is really important to keep in mind because I think a lot of times if you hear someone else use it, you assume they know what they're talking about. And so then you just go off of that, you know, like just. And then there's words that I have to look up over and over and over. Like bivouac.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, bivouac. That's like a camping Term.

[Jen]

Right. Yeah. I always see it within war, but it could even be when you're camping. It's just like setting up, like, a quick camp, you know? But I feel like that word comes up all the time, and I always have to look it up. But I totally agree with you, because I've realized how often I'm kind of. I have an okay understanding of what the word is, but I'm not positive.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I have a big problem with aesthetic. And aesthetic has been really. Aesthetic has been hot. If aesthetic was a stock, it would have been. You know, it would have had an IPO, and it would have increased in value by 400%. I don't know if it's the rise. If it's the rise of, like, Project Runway or something, because you know how everyone on Project Runway is always talking about their aesthetic.

[Jen]

We've learned a lot of big words from Tim Gunn and Project Runway.

[Luke Burbank]

But it's funny to see. It's fun. It's funny to see the way that a word will get kind of like a hot, hot. And the thing about aesthetic, which I now, for whatever reason, can't even look up on the. On the Internet here, like, aesthetic definition is that concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty, but it's not really, I guess, aesthetic. Yeah, I guess most of them are kind of using it properly. I feel like a lot of people really mangle aesthetic, though, at this point, me included a lot of the time. So that was. That's. I'm just. I'm just stopping using it. That's the other thing I do. I. Porky pig words all the time. Like, I try. I try. I think about it. And then I realized after a while, I'm just gonna find a different word.

[Jen]

Because, you know, you can usually come up with a synonym.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Is this. I mean, is this something that we should be worried about? That. That. That, you know, most of us are learning most of our important big words and pronunciations from. From pop songs?

[Jen]

No, because I think. Think about how many words you learn from books. I mean, art is. Art. Wherever you learn it is great.

[Luke Burbank]

Although.

[Jen]

And songwriters are poets, in my opinion. And they're. I mean, they. I love it when they use more than just, you know, ke do ke$ha is not a poet, really. She's not. She's not branching out in terms of her word choices. And I love it. Like this song. This is David Bowie, and he's in changes. He uses the word impermanence.

[Luke Burbank]

I watch the ripples change the size but never leave the Stream of warm.

[Jen]

Permanent sand so the days float through my. That's a big word.

[Luke Burbank]

But still the days seem the same and these children that you look upon I, I. Yeah. By the way, y'all, if you don't have changes Bowie on your ipod roster, you should really get it. That album is so good. That reminds me of karaoke a few weeks ago when I did Young Americans by David Bowie, a favorite of mine. And I got done, and I went back to sit down with my friends, and I thought they were gonna be like, good job. And they went, that is the longest song you've ever heard. And I was like, nobody says that because they wanted more of it.

[Jen]

Nope. I'm surprised that you did, Bowie, because it feels like that's gonna be really high, out of your range.

[Luke Burbank]

That. Not that song, for whatever reason. But there's that one. There's that end part was like. But it just goes between, like, normal range and then super falsetto. What I can't hang with is, like, Bon Jovi range, which is, like, always three octaves above. Well, let's be honest.

[Jen]

We call it Bon Jovi range.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's. Let's be honest. I may not really be able to sing Young Americans either, but it doesn't feel as much like, you know, as. As. As hard or as. As not doable.

[Jen]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

But I could still be, as evidenced by the fact that my friend said, God, that's a long song. That was a really good feeling. Thanks, mommy.

[Jen]

Yeah, that's mean.

[Luke Burbank]

Really appreciate that.

[Jen]

Because no one's confused by what you meant by that.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, no, no. Any. Do you have any other examples here?

[Jen]

Here's Nelly and Kelly.

[Luke Burbank]

What?

[Jen]

You might have missed it, but he said he liked her whole demeanor.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow, that's a good one.

[Jen]

Yeah, that's a good one. Interestingly, that song is called Dilemma, which also is kind of a big word you learn about sixth, seventh grade.

[Luke Burbank]

That's. I like that they. But let's see. I like it when a big word makes its way into a song. Although sometimes I feel like it's just because they needed a rhyme. But I mean, better. Better that. Then you know, some lame word. So, I mean, think of how many kids probably learned demeanor as a result of that.

[Jen]

Exactly. Here's a little Trent Reznor desecrate.

[Luke Burbank]

I know. But then the problem is you have to listen to that song.

[Jen]

That's why. That's all we're getting from that. But we did learn Desecrated.

[Luke Burbank]

I see this now. This raises the whole Reznor dilemma, right? As you've talked about many times on the show, Trent Reznor seems like. And then, like, does the Social Network soundtrack, which is freaking great. He's obviously a smart guy. He's obviously, like, got a lot going for him. But then all of his Nine Inch Nail stuff, to me, not all of it, but, like, you know, I want to f you like an animal. I want to fit, really.

[Jen]

Like, when I invite Trent to my dinner parties, as I've often said, he is on the. On the guest list at all times. I do ask him to leave Nine Inch Nails at the door. That's just a rule that I have.

[Luke Burbank]

You can talk about the Social Network extensively. You can talk about him growing up in Cleveland.

[Jen]

I would love to talk to him about all of his thoughts about stuff and art and all that. But Nine Inch Nails. Leave that at the door.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, no, that's. I think, probably a really. It's actually a really good idea.

[Jen]

And then here's your favorite. Mia Bonafide. Yeah, it's like Latin and stuff. Yeah, it's exciting.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, definitely. I wish that Mia wasn't so goddamn annoying as a human. I wish she wasn't married to one of the richest people in the world. But then also was trying to act like she'd be all rebel style because, man, I do like her music.

[Jen]

And then going way back to our Seattle roots, we learned the word libido.

[Luke Burbank]

This is totally true. Like, I had never heard the word libido before that song. Growing up in a Christian household and being, you know, 16 or 17, when that came out, I really was like, what is a libido? I think I, you know, in those days, had to look it up in a dictionary.

[Jen]

Interestingly, they also use the term mulatto, which is not as. As popular these days.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

It's not really in common usage.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

But it rhymed. It's a very ongoing. It's a lot of rhyming in that way.

[Luke Burbank]

Have you seen all these pictures of Frances Bean that have been making the rounds?

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

She's a very beautiful girl, obviously.

[Jen]

And just bizarrely, like, all her mom and all her dad at the same time.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, totally. But everyone seems so, like, amazed at this. And I'm like, courtney Love, before she did whatever the hell she's been doing to her visage. Soon I have to look that up. I'm using that right before she did whatever the hell she did to herself, she was, you know, an attractive person. And Kurt Cobain had. Kurt Cobain had nice features. So I find it interesting that everyone's so shocked that she turned out to be really pretty, because I think both of her parents were.

[Jen]

I actually think people's confusion about that is that it's very unclear what Courtney Love looked like, because she had already had quite a bit of plastic surgery when she emerged as a celebrity.

[Luke Burbank]

So visage, the face, countenance, or appearance of a person or something, or sometimes an animal. So there you go.

[Jen]

I am really, really. I really want Francis Bean to be okay and to have a good and happy life.

[Luke Burbank]

She has. I have to say, she has an upsetting number of tattoos already.

[Jen]

So is she 18?

[Luke Burbank]

She's 18. You know, it's totally legal, but she's got a lot of ink already on herself, and it's a lot of that, like, writing mean I can't talk. Okay. I have, like, you know, I've had tattoos burned off of my body and then fixed on the show, so. But it's like. It's all. I don't know. It's. It's very Jolie. You know, Angelina Jolie's got just, like. She's got, like, you know, half of the novel War and Peace scribbled out on her body in various places. And. Not that there's anything wrong with it. Listeners who have that. But. But, but, but. But the other one, the Francis Bean. What not.

[Jen]

The New York Times a couple weeks ago had that interview with the tattoo artist, and they were asking him a bunch of etiquette questions. And one of the things they asked him was, if somebody has, like, a visible tattoo, is it okay to, like, stare at it or ask about it? And he said, absolutely. That's why they have a visible tattoo. Because I realized that, especially when it's writing, I always want to know what it says, but I'm trying to do it furtively.

[Luke Burbank]

Sure.

[Jen]

Because I don't want to use a.

[Luke Burbank]

Furtive, by the way.

[Jen]

I don't want to get caught staring at.

[Luke Burbank]

I learned that in a Nelly song. Right. Or else, like, here's another one. The tattoo of the, like, date that your friend died, and then you kind of want to go, like, hey, what's the significance of that? It's a friend who died. Well, okay. Like, I feel bad that I sort of got us into an awkward conversational place. But you also did have it tattooed on your eyelid.

[Jen]

Right. Why didn't you put that in if you didn't want to be asked about it all?

[Luke Burbank]

You have it as a teardrop running down your face, and I'm looking at your face, and then I asked you about it, and now it's awkward, and I kind of feel like that wasn't totally my fault.

[Jen]

Right.

[Luke Burbank]

Any other educational songs?

[Jen]

I think that's. Those are the main ones that I pulled.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. All right, well, if you have any good examples of this, if you have any stories about how you learned. You actually learned a word, either its pronunciation or it's. It's. You know, you were sent looking something up in the dictionary from a song. Give us. Give us an example, and maybe we'll play that in the. In the coming days. Speaking of music, we've got a little musical break to take here. This is a band that I am so, so excited about right now. They have the worst name of any band pretty much ever. They're called Cults. And it was what kept me from listening to them for the longest time. Addie's been really into them, and I've always been like, I grew up in a borderline cult. I don't really want to listen to a ban called Cults. But the thing is, they're really good, and I've officially gotten past the name now. So this is a song you've probably been hearing around. I wish I would have nominated this or known that this could have been nominated for our summer.

[Jen]

Two cult songs got nominated.

[Luke Burbank]

They did this. Was this one of them? Go Outside.

[Jen]

Go outside and abduct it.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I wish I would have listened to those shows when you were telling me that these things had been nominated. All right, so here's more Cults. This is, in fact, Go Outside. They're playing the Bowery in Sheffield in the UK tonight. If you're in the neighborhood, check them out. Back with the. Yes, Jennifer.

[Jen]

I was just gonna say we just learned about a London 10 named Fiona.

[Luke Burbank]

Fiona, get yourself a bottle of Chateau San Michel, Dodge a few rioters, get on the tube, head to the Bowery. Probably not allowed to drink on the tube, but that's probably how the riots got started. But head over and tell them that we sent you, won't you? This is the Colts, back with more tbtl. Or, excuse me, they're just called Cults. Back with more TBT in just a moment. But to me, death is not. Death is not a thing. It's living, this country.

[Flash]

I really want to go. I really want to go outside to see you. You really want to. You really want to stay inside? I. I really want to go. I really want to go outside. Be light all day. You really want to hold. You really want to stay inside. But I know what I do. Exactly. Cuz I have been there before. Yeah, no one's home. Exactly. Something I cannot behold. You really wanna hold out? You really wanna stay. Cause if you don't, you never make memory out the same. I.

[Luke Burbank]

Welcome back to tbtl, the show that's probably too beautiful to live. So I just want to clarify something because I've been getting asked about this a lot. Are we doing TBTL live from Bumbershoot? The answer is, no, we're not. And I'm not totally sure how that happened. There was apparently a little miscommunication. We ended up on the schedule. We were very flattered to be included, but I'm gonna be out of town. I think Jen's gonna be out of town too. So we are not gonna be there. And please go to Bumbershoot and have a great old time, but don't go there specifically to see us, because we will not be there. There are lots of other things you'll want to see though that are going to be awesome, but TBTL will sadly not be one of them. And. And I just want to say that because I'm being A lot of emails from tens going like, wait, what's the scoop? So that's the scoop with that.

[Jen]

It's just to be clear because I feel really bad too. We didn't ever. We never signed up to be at Bumbershoot. No, we didn't. So it's not like that's how popular.

[Luke Burbank]

We are at this point.

[Jen]

We're not Kings of Leon. Like, we didn't cancel at the last minute. In no way have we canceled. We were never, ever supposed to be on the schedul. Really sorry for anybody who saw a schedule that was really incorrectly printed.

[Luke Burbank]

And it's still. The problem is it's still like on the website and there's still. I've been emailing people saying, can we like, just take this down so it's not confusing. But yeah, yeah. We didn't agree to do it and then not do it. We. We. Again, that's how popular we are is that people just put us on things that we. I mean, maybe that works with some bands. Maybe that's what we should start doing on this show. We should just start booking interviews with Jay Z and promoting them. And then he'll be kind of like, he'll feel bad. So he'll come on. It's Monday, so, ladies and gentlemen, she's in the house.

[Shawn Dettori]

It's granny time.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, indeed, it is Monday. So it's time for Jen to take us through Some of the more granarian things that have gone on recently in her life. What is the story with this babysitter with a stroller in a truck? I think I saw a headline about this. Did that really happen?

[Jen]

It did. And I'm actually gonna surprise you on this one.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Okay, I'm ready to go.

[Jen]

And a lot of people sent it to me. The story to me, I think, because we just did an hour of bad babysitting stories. So this is a woman named Kiana Davis. She's 23 years old. She's a longtime babysitter, and she was babysitting a baby, and she needed to go somewhere, and so she put the baby in the baby stroller, and she put the stroller in the bed of the pickup truck, and then she got in the bed and held the stroller, and then they went to where they needed to go. Now, a lot of people on the road were like, holy crap, that's a baby in a stroller in the back of the truck. So there's this whole logs of 911 calls if there's a baby in a stroller in the back of the truck. So the cops pulled them over, and everything's fine. She was arrested, and she's been charged with child neglect. Now, here's the thing. It was a dumb thing to do, there's no doubt. But I actually kind of understand what her thinking was. And I've watched the video because people were. The people who were following and calling 911 were videoing it on their cameras. So there's a video of this whole thing.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

They were not driving fast. They were actually driving very slow. And she was in the back holding the stroller still while they maneuvered through the streets. And so I. What I think is that in her mind, she didn't have a car seat, and she needed to go somewhere. And so that seemed safer to her than maybe to get in the car and just hold the baby in her lap or something like that. Like, I have a feeling that she in no way was neglecting the child and in no way was trying to endanger the child. I think she was, like, trying to get the best. I think she was trying to think of what is the safest, best situation for us to get from where we are to where we're going.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

I just feel bad for her because she said to the judge, basically, I didn't know. She said, nobody gave me a handbook, and I didn't think the kid was in danger. And I was trying to keep the kid safe. I've been babysitting since I was 16. I've never hurt anybody. And I just kind of feel bad for her because I don't think she was in any way neglecting or trying to hurt the baby. I think she just made a dumb decision.

[Luke Burbank]

You're saying she didn't get up in the morning and think, let me try to figure out how I can endanger this baby. She just had really terrible decision making?

[Jen]

Well, yeah. And when I think about neglect, I think about somebody who leaves a baby and goes down the street for a few hours or. You know what I mean? Or gets drunk while they're in charge of a baby or there's lots of different ways where you can actively neglect a child. But I. Or inactively neglect a child. I think she was actually trying to do her job the best way she could think of to do it.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

So she probably shouldn't babysit anymore. And maybe she. Maybe she's not bright enough to be a babysitter, but I'm not sure that she should have criminal charges.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I. Yeah, because she probably won't do it again. I mean, one thing that comes to mind is not when we were babies, but there was a long period in my life where riding in the back of a pickup truck was a completely. Was a completely normal experience and a blast. Oh man, so fun. I remember riding home from some. Something in high school and it was like. I think it was like Phil Scoverin's truck or Derek Lillis Guard or something. But like, I think anyway somebody was driving. There was like five of us, like lying in the backseat of a truck. And this is at like 12 o'clock at night. I mean, mercifully, no one was drinking. We were pretty nerdy at Jesus Creek. Like nobody was, but everybody else out was probably drunk. Right?

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And I remember us just like whipping down these like back. Completely unlit back roads in Bothell, just going as fast as this piece of S. Isuzu truck or whatever. And we're in the back. And at no time did I think this is pretty unsafe. And it feels like. I mean, my dad used to have a truck. We used to ride in the back. You know, we'd go from here to there. Now maybe the statistics bear out that like hundreds of people a year were dying from being ejected from the back of trucks. But I mean, to your point, there was a period in this country's not that long ago history when we were all riding in the back. I mean, look at the Subaru Brat.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

The original Subaru Brat had built in chairs.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

In the back to sit in. So.

[Jen]

So I just feel for this girl. I. I just. I. I watched the video and. And she wasn't being flaky. She was actually doing what I think she was really, honestly trying to keep the baby safe, just by the way she was holding the stroller and sitting in the back with it. And they were driving really slowly, you know, so my best to Kiona Davis in Daytona Beach.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Oh, it was in Daytona Beach.

[Jen]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

I've spent some time in Daytona Beach. It starts to make a lot more sense.

[Jen]

My next thing is that I just want to say how amazing the Japanese are. And, you know, we did our whole TBTL lovegram to Japan after the tsunami, and we love Japan and we. A lot of times we joke around about their honor, but they really are just such honorable people, and it's so impressive. And the latest story that comes out about that is that $78 million in cash and valuables have been returned to the police, just were found because the tsunami washed homes away.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Jen]

So there's. And then an additional, like 30 million in 6,000 safes that were turned in. So apparently it's very, very common to keep cash in the home in Japan. And so there was just money and wallets and valuables and safes just like, washed out to sea. And so, of course, that's all kind of started to come back and be washed in inland. And the Japanese, when they find it, apparently it's just completely like they're such an ethical people that they just turn it over. I mean, $78 million have been turned in since the tsunami.

[Luke Burbank]

Wow.

[Jen]

I think it's amazing.

[Luke Burbank]

That's incredible. Do you think. Do you think we would do something like that in America? Because we pride ourselves on, you know, how we band together when we need to and how, you know, we sort of take care of each other when the chips are down. But I don't really. I don't know. I would hope that we would, but I kind of don't think we would.

[Jen]

I think that. I think that it's so interesting when you talk to people about found cash, because people. It's instant. Absolutely. I would return it. There's a lot, you know, like, there's the people who just. It's not even a question. It's not their money. They would absolutely turn it in. But then I think most people think finders keepers. I mean, that whole idea that we learned in nursery school.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah.

[Jen]

Is also kind of deeply embedded in our psyche.

[Luke Burbank]

If it didn't. If that didn't rhyme with losers weepers, we have a totally different society. It just was so perfect.

[Jen]

Right? And it doesn't. It doesn't rhyme in Japanese.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. In Japanese. It's something give backers was all they could find to rhyme.

[Jen]

So they should be very happy of themselves because, yes, they should really impress.

[Luke Burbank]

That is good. That is good for you guys. I do feel like if you find money on the street, just like not attached to a wallet and it's a $10 bill, what are you supposed to do? Don't you feel like that you can keep? Because I mean, if I ever find anything that can be returned to the person, I really do try to return it. Like, could be a cell phone. I found someone's bank card on the floor of the QFC the other day. Well, what am I gonna do? Like, you know, steal it? But I mean, just like, I'm not. I'm about trying to. Because I lose stuff all the time. I'm very into trying to help people get reconnected with their stuff. But if you find. Now if you find $50,000 and it's like, you know, shrink wrapped, it's like, okay, this belongs to a drug dealer, let's give it back to him. But if you find some amount of money that's under. One time I was jogging around Green Lake and I saw lying there in the middle of the path, which everybody was walking over, like a crumpled up dollar bill. So I'm running and I kind of pick it up as I'm jogging. I mean, there's no one around. Well, that's not true. There's a lot of people around. There's no one around who's looking like where I dropped my dollar bill. So it's kind of one of those things where I don't know what I'm really supposed to do. There wasn't even any authority to report it to, you know, it wasn't near the bathhouse, snack shop or something. So I'm jogging along and I start looking at it. And inside of the dollar is a 50 that's rolled up and inside of that is another 50. It was $101.

[Jen]

Wow.

[Luke Burbank]

Which, I mean, someone was probably bummed that they lost that. But I also. But I also kind of didn't really know what I was supposed to do do with that. So I kept. It was that bad?

[Jen]

I don't think it's. No, I don't think it's bad. I do.

[Luke Burbank]

There had been a tsunami also at Green Lake. So that was probably too soon. Yeah, too soon for that joke.

[Jen]

I think it is a. It's a dilemma. I think in general, it's always better to. If there's no one around to turn it into. If you're not in a QFC or something, I think it is better to, like, leave it because they're probably going to come back and look for it. And then also the other thing is, like, if it's a dollar, I just think you don't need a dollar. And someone else probably needs it more.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely.

[Jen]

That's generally my thinking. So I would leave it for somebody else. I don't know. I think it's a hard one, you know. Yesterday this gentleman came up to me on Ballard Avenue. He said, will you please give me 70 cents so I can take the bus to Hempfest? And I said, sure. So I gave him 70 cents. And he goes, now, here comes the bus. I'm going to get on it. I'm going to use the 70 cents. I said, great. I'm gonna use it right now. I'm gonna use it. I'm not lying. And I'm looking at him. Obviously he's going to Hempfest. There wasn't one thing about him that made me think he's lying. He's actually gonna go to a heroin fest. Yeah, I could tell there's a different.

[Luke Burbank]

Fest that's way more pernicious. It's just down a little past hemp fest. Can I just. Speaking. Can we make this grandpa time for one second? Sure. So, you know, marijuana is basically legal now in the state of Washington through one means or another. One being if you get medical clearance, which you can get just by going and telling them you have, you know, back pain or something, and they'll give you a card, and it lets you have a certain amount. And then the other thing is, I think that there's a. There's also some amount that you're just. Basically, it's just. They're not going to really prosecute it anymore. They just don't really care. And anyway, the point is that you can pretty much smoke weed legally now in Washington, which I happen to be totally a fan of, because it's not a thing I do very much. But I don't think it's really any more harmful than alcohol. In fact, probably way better. But having said that, there was this slideshow in the Seattle PI which was just hundreds of shots of people just getting ripped. Like a guy's wearing like. Like a. Like an ox, like a mask that you Like a gas mask, you know, you would wear in like, if you were under attack. But it was hooked up to a bong and he was just with his friends and then they had his name. And every single photo it had the person's name. It was like, Bethany Johnson of Mill Creek, age 17, enjoys it, and she's just like lighting some gravity bong on fire. Like, like. And some of the old. The grandpa in me was like, is this legal? Can you be doing this also? Would you. Are you. Are you sure you want to give your name to. And then the mayor spoke there and I was like, okay, look, dude, I'm all about the decriminalization of marijuana, but do you have to go and address the teeming ocean of people who are literally lighting bales of marijuana on fire and then like taking a Dyson vacuum and vacuuming it up, then emptying the bag into their, you know, like, esophagus or whatever? That's the other thing about all this weed stuff. It's like, everyone's got to find a new, more crazy way to do it.

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I just, I have to say, part of it was like, I don't know if this is totally okay with me, which I would never say, because I, I think that the criminalization of marijuana makes no sense as long as alcohol is legal in this country.

[Jen]

But, but that's not related to what you're saying. There's something about thousands of people just wasting their day in a haze of pot smoke. Yeah, but, you know, and then giving their name and, you know, it's just like, I don't understand why, like, the criminalization issue is one thing, but I don't. It's always like, we have to go whole the other way and be like, I can smoke for 80 hours.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. And also a lot of the people were like under 18. And that whole thing also I was slightly confused by. Because I definitely think you should have to be 18 to do that.

[Jen]

It seems like you should have to be at least as old as you are to smoke a cigarette.

[Luke Burbank]

Right.

[Jen]

I think.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. Then it made me feel very uncomfortable because I was like, what kind of a, you know, what kind of a wet blanket did I turn into? Anyway. Okay. And then a couple more here on granny time. Yeah, you. You are very into this Gaga song. You.

[Jen]

And I love this Gaga song so much.

[Luke Burbank]

You. You compared it. You compared being not unlike the Elton John song Benny and the Jets.

[Jen]

Right. Do I have my volume up?

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me.

[Jen]

Yeah, I'm Crazy for this song. And I. So what I said on Thursday was that it didn't bother me as much that I thought it was kind of a rip off of the style of Elton John and particularly Benny and the Jets. And I said, but it doesn't really bother me because it's not the exact chord progression. It's not the exact same melody. It's just more like similar in feel. And so anyway, I heard from a lot of people, including Christopher Hayes of the Nation, that I had the wrong song and that it's actually a complete, exact melody, note by note ripoff of this old 4 Non Blonde song.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh my God. This song got a second life through karaoke like you've never seen. I mean, this song is like one of the most popular karaoke songs to do, even though it was only like a 7 on the popularity when it came out.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Now it's like, it's like a 14 on karaoke scale and that only goes to 10.

[Jen]

So it's interesting because I like what Chris said was that he, he actually learned you and I on his guitar so he could play it at a barbecue. And so he's like, I absolutely. Because he also is crazy, crazy for the Gaga song. And he was saying. So I know that it's the exact same because I actually learned the notes and I know it's exactly the same as this song, but I, I have a hard time hearing it as much as I can hear it with Benny and the jets. So maybe I don't know if I can't because this song is guitar based and Benny and the jets is piano based, as is the lady and the Lady Gaga song. So maybe I have a harder time hearing notes as much.

[Luke Burbank]

Maybe someone can do a mashup for us since our listeners have a lot of time, most of them are laid off. Can someone do some kind of a little audio example of the. Figure out the song, whether it's this 4 non blonde song or the Benny and the jets or whatever that, that it most closely resembles and send us a little snippet that would be useful.

[Jen]

Yeah, really useful.

[Luke Burbank]

So. So you're saying you do agree though with the listeners who've said that it's more four non blondes. You just can't hear it yourself.

[Jen]

I'm having a hard, I'm having a hard time hearing it as well. There's a couple parts that I hear, but I don't hear it as much as I, as I hear it with the Elton John song.

[Luke Burbank]

Is it true also that this was all Produced by Mutt Lang. Because I said it sounded like Shania Twain to me. And everyone was emailed me saying, well, that's because her husband was producer Mutt Lang. But I was like, does that mean he also produced the Gaga song?

[Jen]

I don't think so. I don't think so. But I do think that that the way that the. That the instruments were being used on the Gaga song. I totally heard what you meant. It also sounded the way that he used instruments on the Shania Twain songs, I think. I mean, I can hear instruments better than I can hear actual notes, maybe. I don't know. But enough people wrote in about the four non blondes thing that I'm willing to say I'm not here. It's probably there, but I just don't hear it as much. And then finally, my last thing is that Travis wrote in with an ethics question, which is that his next door neighbor died. It was elderly and has really awesome BlackBerry bushes, which, as we all know, are right now, like, starting to burst with blackberries. And he has been going over the fence into the yard and picking blackberries. He and his partner, I think, have been doing that because his partner's really into making pies. I love BlackBerry cobbler, by the way. Anyway, to me, blackberries are a weed. They grow all over the city. I mean, just driving here today, I saw people just on the side of the road picking blackberries into bowls. I mean, it's just something that we do in Seattle, like, at this time of year. Like, it's a weed. And I think if it's right on your street, like three doors down, there's a huge BlackBerry bushel.

[Luke Burbank]

And in the alley also, there are tons of them, and people are always out there picking.

[Jen]

Yeah. So I think it's. I don't have any problem with that because it's not like somebody planted a BlackBerry bush. It's just a big weed.

[Luke Burbank]

Totally. Blackberries are, I have to say, like, it's a fair amount of. It's a pretty time consuming thing because you're trying to not get stuck by the thorny part of the bush. And like, you know, like, if you want to go harvest them, I don't think anyone's gonna fight you over it. Because I have to be honest, this is. You know, I'm at the point where I. Well, let me say this. When Van moved to Seattle, she was very kind of unimpressed with this city in a lot of ways, just because of being rainy and lame. But when it got to be summertime and she was like, wait, you can just. These just grow and you can just go like, have them everywhere. There's just like food. There's like free fruit food. Now, see, that was the reverse was when I moved to la and I was like, wait a second. You're not growing lemons in your backyard. That's not. You're not growing Meyer lemons. That you can just like. I could be making a gin and tonic and I could be out of limes. I know lemons and limes are different, but you can also grow limes and you can walk in my backyard and pick a lime and then put it. I'm like, no way that can happen. So anyway, I don't think that listener Travis should feel any guilt whatsoever. Right.

[Jen]

No, I don't think so either. I don't find that to be an ethical problem. Especially if the person has passed away and it's just a vacant house. I mean, it's just wasting berries.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. You're probably actually helping.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Things.

[Jen]

Because I think so.

[Luke Burbank]

Because I'm. The berries are the seed. Right. If you don't.

[Jen]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Get those off there. They're going to fall and make more BlackBerry bushes and more and more and more. And then it's just going to be a situation.

[Jen]

See that house?

[Luke Burbank]

That's right. Exactly. So you're actually helping out by doing that, Travis. All right. I think that's. Is that the end of granny time?

[Jen]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Any. Any. Any other things that we need to get to before we ski daddle out of here today?

[Jen]

I don't think so.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. I thought we'd go out with a song. It's funny, I was reading up a little bit on that band Cults, and turns out that the gal in the band, her brother is in a band that I'm also a fan of called the Willows. Very different sound, but a band you may not have heard of, but I think you'll like nonetheless. So we're gonna go out with that song. Let's see. Trying to think of what all we have scheduled this week. Well, we've got lots of fun stuff. I'm sure. I'm sure it's gonna be can't miss radio, so make sure you don't have a great Monday, everybody. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back here tomorrow with much more imaginary radio for you. Until then, please remember, no mountain too.

[Jen]

Tall and good luck to all.

[Flash]

Ain't got nothing to do sun trust and satisfy insecure with t. Maybe I don't care at all Cuz I'm loving organic clouds be true, you. I got nothing to do. I think I'm better than you. Oh, dear. True, you ain't got nothing to do. Sunstroke but not satisfied. You know she tried, she tried and shine. Shoots and sorrows are over now Inopportune in a world of dreams Bit true, you ain't got nothing to do. I think I better than you I got nothing to do.