Studio Walls--January 24, 2024

 

A weekly update/preview of my latest podcasts, and a look back at some of my previous audio work from this week in history over the past 40+ years.

Our podcasting equipment finally broke down after 500+ episodes, so we are in the process of building a new studio. Until that is completed, here are a few audio highlights to chew on.

*January 21--Len Kasper birthday

=We interviewed Len just before his last season with the Cubs. 

*January 21, 2020: CDC reports first American COVID case. 

=Would you believe we talked to America's Patient Zero? His name is Gregg Garfield and listening back to this interview is a good reminder about how scary COVID was at the beginning.  

*January 22—Ismo birthday

=Who is Ismo? Only the funniest comedian from Finland. 

*January 22, 1921—George Streeter dies. 

=A neighborhood of Chicago is named after him, and a member of the Moody Blues (Alan Hewitt) is a descendant . That little tidbit emerged organically during this interview.

*January 23—Jack Quinlan birthday 

=He is largely forgotten today, but he was a great radio play-by-play man for the Cubs who died in a car accident in 1965. We found audio of him and have featured it. 

*January 24—Gennifer Flowers birthday 

=My brush with the former presidential mistress was discussed on this episode, along with audio of the interview, and the parody song I wrote about it. 

January 24, 1995—OJ Simpson trial begins

=Yes I am an original Dancing Ito (photo). Yes I did explain that story in a previous Minutia Men episode. 

*January 24--Jack Brickhouse birthday

=He was the Cubs announcer of my youth, and I met him several times over the years. Those stories are told in this episode.  

*January 24—Ernest Borgnine birthday

=Never met Mr. Borgnine, but we did talk to Filmmaker Jeff Krulik, the genius behind the show Borgnine on the Bus. 

*January 24--Warren Zevon birthday

=On this episode I explained the story behind this photo.

January 27, 1990—Molly Hagan’s Golden Girls episode

=She played Betty White's daughter. Molly is a Chicago gal, and Dave and I really hit it off with her.

Studio Walls

 Every week I send my Minutia Men Co-Host Dave Stern a list from our audio archives for this week's Studio Walls feature. These are the possibilities for this week. Which one will he choose?

*January 17, 1905, the first chainsaw was invented. Two former MMCI guests have told us great stories about using chainsaws on stage, Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill (Listen to entire interview here), and radio legend Kevin Matthews (Listen to entire interview here)

*January 18, 2008, I appeared on Steve Cochran's show on WGN Radio to unveil my brand new venture, Just One Bad Century. (The website still exists)

*January 20, 1996, Chicago added several new area codes. I wrote a song for John Landecker and the Legends about this called "Land of 1000 Area Codes" (Which can still be found on the Landecker & the Legends CD, Baby Boomers)

*January 20, 2008, the show Breaking Bad debuted. We interviewed the woman who played the principal of the high school in the show, Carmen Serano. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*January 21, 2014, Dave appeared on the Pete McMurray show to promote his side-hustle, the Pothole Store. (That interview is still available here)

*January 21 is baseball announcer Len Kasper's birthday. We interviewed him in his last season with the Cubs. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*January 21, 2020, the CDC announced the first COVID case in America. We interviewed patient zero Gregg Garfield. (Listen to entire interview here)