Underwater Sunshine

Well, my computer is sitting in a bin of rice cuz I spilled water on it at a gig yesterday trying to warm up and autograph CDs at the same time. THAT was not the best day of 2019 so far. That said...TODAY is an entirely different day and it brings with it the first Underwater Sunshine Podcast of the year! So THIS is going to be a truly GREAT day...albeit one without a computer (other than one that looks like it’s trying to commit suicide by stir fry).

In which the boyz take a deep and introspective look up their own butts, express themselves about some movies, and (eventually) even talk a little about music. I also personally manage - at one truly proud moment - to say “really good” about 4 times in one sentence. This is high-level stuff. Listen in awe and wonder. Seriously though, merry late December everyone. See you next year. Try to go six more days without posting some shit about how it’s such a long December this year. Go ahead. I dare you. I. Fucking. Dare. You. Hukka-luh Humma-luh Happy New Year.

Adam has a great music geek week and the Sunshine Boyz check out three different amazing rock and roll bands fronted by three different spectacular women. Zaniness ensues... ...also a good deal of awestruck wonder. School of Rock is in session.

A trip down the rabbit hole in search of Richard Thompson sessions yields a surprising treasure instead. The boys ride the Merry-Go-Round down to check it out and then spend some time in The Garden for good measure.

I could tell you all sorts of stuff about how we feature Stephen Kellogg’s new album this week plus more Margaret Glaspy and Phoebe Bridgers and some of Amy Vachal’s Garden Session...but it’s Noelle’s b’day so Happy Birthday Noelle!

In which we just go on and on and on talking about the most fascinating topics ever spoken of...probably set some kind of record.

Maybe I’ve just been lucky. I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by so many thoughtful brilliant women. Now that I think about it, what the hell were they doing hanging out with me?

Unwilling to spend his life trapped in a world he never made, Stan Lee simply made a world of his own and then heroically shared it with the rest of us. He gave power to the powerless and showed us all what we could be at our best. We can only try to talk about what he meant to us. We can never really do it justice though. ‘Nuff said.

Regardless of what some people will tell you, voting is good for you. It gives you all kinds of feels and it keeps you regular too. Having satisfied our bi-yearly need to express ourselves, it’s time for the real deal feels. We stick with the Garden Sessions for one more week to talk to my old pal Cinjun Tate of Remy Zero, hang with new friends from Marcy Playground, and visit with OG Outlaw Roadshow vets Brian Holl of Boy Bjorn/Foreign Fields and JP Roney of Boom Forest. We talk, they play, it’s all good.

Calling from Ireland to hip you to this week’s podcast. We’re still deep in the Underwater Sunshine Garden Sessions. This time we chat with Stephen Kellogg to begin with, then Elizabeth and The Catapult, and finally Sean Barna & 1809 Studio’s Dave Drago. Once again it’s live acoustic recordings from the Garden Sessions and behind-the-scenes talks with the musicians who play them! Underwater Sunshine en fuego! Dig it!

Calling from London to tell you this week’s podcast focuses on the Underwater Sunshine Garden Sessions and the interviews we did while hanging out there last week. In this episode we talk to Matt Sucich, Mikaela Davis and her band, and Ryvoli plus we check out their Garden Sessions. It’s live music and great conversations direct to you from The Garden! Dig it! …

In which the Sunshine Boyz get ready for the Fest, clear up some cases of mistaken identity, discuss old Macs, and finally settle down to just rave a little more about the best band from the other side of the planet.

Went to California, drank a lot of wine, and now we’re cleaning up the place. We also roasted a chicken we soaked overnight in Buttermilk. Now we take a dip in the musik. This is the kinda shit that makes life worth living.

With the festival less than 2 weeks away, the boys explore some of the Underwater Sunshine acts they haven’t touched upon before now plus a brief detour to check out The King Of Mambo!

Over the past 3 summers Counting Crows have lost 1 gig each summer to bizarre circumstances: the giant broken fan blade that beheaded Bristow, the sinkhole that ate San Francisco, and finally the mudflood that fucked Kentucky yesterday. (sigh) I hate missing gigs. Nevertheless, I’m home now and we are back with Part Deux of our journey through the musical life and times of Stew and The Negro Problem. Someday there’ll be a Part Three but for now...Welcome Black!

In which the boyz return from their 2-week Adam’s-On-The-Road-And We-Miscounted-How-Many-Episodes-We-Had hiatus with a bang-up series on maybe my favorite songwriter and my favorite band. Dig Stew and The Negro Problem!

In which the boys...oh I don’t know!

In which the boys take a deep dive into The Posies and splash around with Gigolo Aunts too!

In which I casually and confidently confuse the Bay State with the Bay State. It’s a club IN Massachusetts and a state NAMED Massachusetts. Forgive me all you Massholes out there.

In which the Sunshine Boys prove beyond a shadow of a doubt their unfaltering willingness to go to the well yet again with the gift that just keeps on giving: the background vocal thing!

In which the boys celebrate Adam’s “road trip” with an epic paean to travels and travails in song.

In which our heroes dig deep into the hip-hop hit-making majesty of The Neptunes. Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo rocketed out of VA Beach and changed the course of hip-hop and popular music forever. We dig it. You should too.

In which we really dig deep into some incredible music that just came out last week and start a rumor that I’m quitting the band after this tour by never once even mentioning the possibility.

In which the boys ponder the meaning of life while facing each other across a vast distance and - on the same day you read these words - Adam makes a cameo appearance (get it) on the world’s BIGGEST podcast…The Adam Carolla Show!!!

In which our heroes continue to examine the art of the background vocal and James realizes that not every bluff is a Bløf.

In which a complete lack of imagination and/or moral fibre leads me to name a series of podcasts on background vocals after my breakfast. Seriously…but, if you look on the bright side, there’s nowhere to go but up from here. The next one will probably be called “Famous Last Words"

In which we celebrate today’s release of Handsome James Campion's new book ACCIDENTALLY LIKE A MARTYR - THE TORTURED ART OF WARREN ZEVON. The long-awaited collection of essays arrives with great fanfare and pomp into the arms of a grateful nation. And we - here at the Underwater Sunshine Podcast - join them in a rousing "HUZZAH!

In which our pal Rasheen Smith’s Instagram story ignites a Heatwave resurgence (not to mention an inability to decide between two ridiculously awesome podcast titles) and then we come out and endorse our dear old friend Tyson Meade for Congress in the great state of Oklahoma. Other than that, not much happens but we talk a lot about Joan’s and Joni’s and bid a very sad farewell to Scott Hutchinson.

In which, in the wake of the war and the devastation that followed, the boys reflect upon the journey and I secretly wonder how I would look in a cape. And then...we swing.

In which the boys just sit around and yap at each other about shit they love. Plus...why is nearly everyone named Rose? What aren’t they telling us?

In which a guest returns from the far reaches of the West and the boys explore their Sordid youth.

In which the 70’s come to a close, the center embraces the fringe, and 1980 begins with a terrible ending. Also…during a podcast dedicated entirely to punk, I somehow manage to mix up The Commodores and The Ohio Players and THEN confuse Afghan Wigs with Fine Young Cannibals.

Oh punkity punk punk punk. PUNK! Punk-O-Rama. Punkadelica. Polka Punk. Peppa Punk. Punk Rock Girl. Punky’s Dilemma. Punk Rock T-Shirt Melting. Judy! ….is A Punk. Also…..British people. And - if I’m being totally honest - I fell asleep and woke up and now my brain’s not working in the slightest.

In which New York City and the Bowery are still the center of the punk world but new bands are arriving every day from as far away as Cleveland and San Francisco. They’re popping up all over LA as well and it’s just the beginning because, across the pond in the UK….anarchy.

In which a basketball coach comes up to Adam after a game at The Garden to talk about Death and that changes everything. So the boys decide to spend the next month discussing it. In other words, how talking about Death and Vermont leads to talking about the birth…of punk.

In which our heroes spend a quiet afternoon talking about old friends and bands, the ones who left and the ones we left, and the ones who just found the dreams didn’t fit them any more, and left to find new ones that did. And we keep returning to a little town on the North Oconee River where, at least for me, the left of the dial was born.

In which our heroes explore the meaning of Love, the magnificent grandeur of a Soul Man, Sam and...Dave Godowsky, a Bryter haze of British sorrow, the incredible Travelogue of Vince Mendoza and Joni Mitchell, and the marvel that is Illinois. But first...something Wonderful. (PS. Dave Godowsky’s song “Here I Am” is actually on his album ALL YOU LOVE IS NEED)

In which our heroes prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can speak fluently in circles for hours at time. A happy journey that begins with Belle and Sebastian winds down through a magical valley of brass and strings and other up-your-ass things before finally stumbling to the semi-chilling conclusion that a life in music is sometimes a lot like asking to have a car dropped on your nuts….plus flutes!

The team-up we’ve all been waiting for! The Sunshine Boys meet the Monk of Steel! Yes, it’s Immerglück, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those off mortal men. Immerglück, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands. And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. And now another exciting episode in the adventures of Underwater Sunshine.

In which our heroes post the podcast late because Adam got caught up eating ramen and watching a Japanese movie about ramen called Tampopo which you should all immediately watch while eating ramen yourselves and forgot to write the summary until now. PS. We fixed the bootleg.

In which Adam and James discuss a particularly terrifying brand of stage fright, examine the fertile intersection of Black Funk and the Rolling Stones in the inspiration/information age, sneak a look at the effect the Crescent City and the Dirty South had on a British Island record, and finally bask in the afterglow of real royalty, remembering the son that set in the North Star state.

Our heroes explore the burden of expectations on art and reflect upon the irresistible oppression of hope on human beings. Eventually, after pondering the crushing weight of possibilities, they get really bummed out. They turn, first to drink and then to god before settling on pizza as the answer to life’s really important questions. They take a short pee break, talk about Paul Simon, and then each paint a masterpiece…but you can’t see that because this isn’t that kind of podcast (shrug)

Our heroes discuss the upcoming release of James’ new book “Accidentally Like A Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon“, talk about the difficult creative act of giving birth to a finished work, and reflect upon the up-and-down life of its complicated subject, the Excitable Boy himself, the troubadour of The Troubadour, the great Werewolf of Los Angeles: Warren William Zevon. ...plus a brief inexplicable attention-deficit-fueled detour into late-70s New York punk.

In which Adam gets all excited about playing Mary Lou Lord and our heroes manage to accidentally find themselves spending an entire podcast talking endlessly about the one subject neither of them knows anything about... (sigh) ...women.

Finding themselves at a crossroads and facing a cataclysmic crisis of near-galactic proportions, our turgid titans of talk recall the halcyon history of The Outlaw Roadshow and look forward to the future of the Underwater Sunshine Festival without ever mentioning the fact that Adam just really wants to see BLACK PANTHER tonight. Excelsior! (Nuff said)

In which, without the benefit of any good drugs (or a net), our heroes Adam & James trip the psychedelic wonderland oeuvre of the great British troubadour Robyn Hitchcock and reveal the shockingly soft and boyish origins of Underwater Sunshine itself.

A series of conversations between noted non-journalist Adam Duritz and his pal, author and music journalist James Campion, about life, music, and whatever comes into their large and incredibly handsome brains.