As mentioned in the chat with Green Circle Award Winner, and friend of the show, Steven Yates, here are the videos of him performing along with his son Alex. Enjoy some ripping good guitar work!
STEVEN
https://vimeo.com/151245724
ALEX
https://vimeo.com/152161412
There is a now a page for artwork submitted by listeners and guests. If you have anything you’d like to add, feel free to send it along. Thanks to Katie, Heather, and Sean for these initial pieces.
This week’s guest Dave Farina has a great youtube series where he explains things through science. The most recent video is about Thermodynamics. Check it out:
Heather passed along this video, and it is worth checking out. A really cool look into the inner-workings of the cell.
As you may know, I recently did a stand-up tour around the U.S. It was also a road trip with my girlfriend, and we sampled some beers along the way. We didn’t always have time in every city, but in the ones we did, here are some beers we enjoyed:
Anchor Steam – San Francisco, CA – It’s been around forever, but it’s still great.
Ninkasi – Eugene, OR – We did a brewery tour here, and everything was good. The Total Domination IPA is their biggest hit, but I enjoyed the Oatmeal Stout more.
Deschutes – Bend, OR – We didn’t actually go through Bend, but they had Deschutes in Portland, and the Black Butte Porter is delicious.
Big Sky Brewing – Missoula, MT – I had some Moose Drool in Minneapolis with Kyle McGinn.
Montana Brewing Co. – Billings, MT – The food was just ok, but the Sandbagger Gold was great.
Bent Paddle – Duluth, MN – They were nice enough to donate a case of the Golden IPA for the show, and it is fantastic. (Thanks to Lezlie)
Rhinegeist – Cincinnati, OH – I had a couple varieties from here, and they were both good.
Yazoo – Nashville, TN – The Pale Ale was really good. We drank that while honky-tonkin’.
Abita – Louisiana – We drank the Restoration Ale in Mississippi and New Orleans. I highly recommend it.
Austin Beerworks – Austin, TX – The Fire Eagle IPA is worth trying just for the name alone.
Revolver – Dallas, TX – I don’t remember exactly which type I had. It was right before the show, but I remember it being good.
The timing of an episode about cancer research seemed oddly callous to me after Andy passed away on Thanksgiving. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed appropriate. The more we know, and the better we can understand just what exactly cancer is, the better our chances will be in defeating it. Thinking of how quickly it took over his life and altered his ability to be himself, it’s frustrating that there was virtually nothing that anyone could do or say that would have been a proven, time-tested solution. People change their diets; maybe they exercise a bit more. Andy went to seminars and was given progressive medicines that they thought might be on the cutting edge of cancer care. But in the end, they weren’t enough to save him.
Cancer, and especially brain cancer, seems particularly cruel for someone so nice. Andy was a fantastic comedian, and part of being a comedian — at least in my opinion — is having your brain switched on perhaps slightly more often than average. To look around at a world that takes our friends and has so many horrible things in it, and then find ways to make people laugh and brighten their spirits, that’s a pretty unique skill. And no one was better at that than Andy Ritchie. He was a great comedian, and not in a “He’s nice and he does comedy” way. He could have been a complete jerk, and people would have still said that he was funny. But he wasn’t a jerk. He was kind and gentle and hilarious. I’m glad I got to know him. Glad that he was my friend. And glad that he left some comedy behind for us. If you haven’t heard any of his material, listen to his album King Ding-a-Ling. It’s as good as they get. Hopefully it will live on a lot longer than cancer does.
