TRAPPO's Mail Bag #16!
Welcome back, dear listener! We took last week off because of the Thanksgiving holiday, although it wasn't much of a break for us since we had our hands full during the long weekend, cooking and cleaning and setting up Christmas decorations and pretending to care about spending time with our families and all that good stuff. But we're back now, and all is right in the world, since it's time for a brand-new edition of the show that talks about you on purpose! We know what you're thinking, and we didn't forget that our last episode was also a Mail Bag, but that was a special occasion, since we were handling comments relating to our Halloween-related programs back in October, and we didn't want to drop that particular episode in the middle of February or whatever. Today's Mail Bag is just our show maintaining its schedule, and it's a doozy, dear friends. We're discussing all sorts of topics this time around, including but not limited to: Kee Avil's haunting album Crease, the 1986 cinematic disaster Howard The Duck, Madonna's breakthrough album Like A Virgin, the boundless talent that is Danz CM, some controversies surrounding our frankly under-appreciated B-52s mixtape, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
Fair warning: things get... a little weird... in the back half of this Mail Bag. It's embedded below, and it's also available on Apple, Google, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, Amazon and Anchor, so choose your own adventure and join us as we descend into madness together...
Join the conversation! Leave a comment below telling us what you think of the show, and while you're at it don't forget to suggest topics for future episodes! And if you're feeling more verbose, don't be afraid to send us an email, which we always appreciate. And we're still on Instagram and Twitter (until the platform crawls under the front porch and dies alone) if you're looking for the complete TRAPPO experience. Join us next week for a very special episode, one that's been long in the works and is finally ready to be unleashed upon this loathsome world. So stay tuned for that, friends.
Thanks for listening!
I respect you TRAPS for sticking by your guns regarding Legal Tender. I don't agree, but I will abide by your decision. I love you too, bro. But I remain The Spanish Mole. Steadfast, like the fucking rock of Gibraltar. A POWERFUL ENEMY. But perhaps this enemy will lay down his arms and learn to forgive if the TRAPS give a listen to White Lung's final album, PREMONITION and share their thoughts in some capacity.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise TRAP-TOWN will BURN!
Or I'll just keep listening to the show. I like to play things pretty loose. And yes, that is what she said.
Keep it tight.
Could you TRAPS recommend some badass music? I don’t know what else to call it. Really cool, muscular tunes that get the heart pumping and make you feel like you can punch God in his dumb face. That’s what I’m looking for. If the music had a wallet, that wallet would say “bad motherfucker” on it. That kind of music.
ReplyDelete(In what's becoming an all-too common occurrence, our host Blogger just deleted a comment from Sammy (not my real name) and since all comments are archived in my private email, I'm re-posting it below. Sorry about this Sammy, and fuck you, Blogger! -Dustin)
ReplyDelete2022 marked the 30th anniverary of Madonna's seminal (heh, heh) "Erotica", a record that people just weren't ready for, I guess. Madonna was always pushing the envelope with the sexuality before "Erotica" blew its load all over the poor unsuspecting face of pop culture, but this was a completely different beast altogether. She was definitely playing the role of the provocateur during this period of her career, of that there is no doubt. Between "Erotica" and her "SEX" book (released the same year), Madonna was making a whole bunch of repressed people squirm uncomfortably in their seats in 1992. But Madonna was at the height of her power, at the peak of her fame, and she went for broke with this double whammy of in-your-face horniness. People saw more of Madonna, a whole lot more, than they ever dreamed possible in 1992, and the "Erotica" music video was so taboo that it was banned from the airwaves on MTV. They eventually did air it, but only laaaate at night, and I caught it accidentally on one of those late nights during my sleepless youth, and I think this music video was too much for me. I went to bed a ten year old boy, but I woke up a horny teenager with a deranged brain. Where did the time go?
Honestly, "Erotica" is a very good album, and it's not nearly as horny overall as all the squares who never listened to the music think it is. "Deeper And Deeper" is a masterpiece. It might be one of her best albums, and I think it's time for a reappraisal. People need to pull the sticks out of their butts and insert some anal beads and listen to "Erotica", dammit. I bought a sealed copy of that SEX book on eBay five years ago for 200 bucks. It was a lot of money for me, but I don't regret the purchase. It's not pornography! It's Art!
Sexy, filthy, try-hard art.
Noah Cyrus (Miley Cyrus's younger sister) has released her debut record, and it's called "The Hardest Part". It's a country-tinged confessional dealing with themes of addiction and recovery and emotional growth. I've been listening to it a lot over the past few days and it's really hitting hard for me for personal reasons. I know what it's like to feel like I'm drowning in addiction and to somehow come out intact on the other side, looking back and wondering how I survived. It's also really great pop music from a burgeoning artist with a lot on her mind.
ReplyDeleteListen to it, TRAPS! And keep it weird!
Just FYI, you can hold the camera anytime I'm riding the Paisley Jaguar, TRAPS. The sock on the door doesn't mean "stay out". It means "come on in and bring some lube".
DeleteDo you guys have any podcast recommendations? Anything you could point your listeners to that might actually be entertaining?
ReplyDeleteIndira Paganotto just dropped her latest EP, “Lions Of God”, 24 minutes of thumping psytechno that’ll get your ass grooving. Listen to it! You may enjoy it! If you don’t, then fuck you!
ReplyDeleteI used to date a "free spirit" who claimed she would often use blood rituals to summon what she called "unclean spirits" into a protected circle and she would ask them questions about the nature of reality before dismissing them back into the ether. She coerced me into sitting in on one of those rituals one night (at midnight, naturally), and it was weird as fuck. I'm not a believer in anything, really, but something happened that night. She may have been acting, but she definitely seemed to be channeling something that night. It spoke in a voice that sounded like a prolonged death rattle, and I didn't recognize whatever language it was apparently speaking, but I was holding a handheld tape recorder she used to record all of her sessions, and she used the tape later to "translate" whatever the spirit was saying. She refused to share the translation with me because I refused to actively participate in the ritual by shedding my own blood to help summon the spirit. That really upset her; she didn't think I was brave enough to join her on her journey of esoteric discovery, so she dumped me a few days later.
ReplyDeleteI know she was supremely fucking weird, and possibly mentally ill, but I really did like her. Sometimes I feel like I should have just pricked my finger with a pin and donated a few drops of blood to the cause, but other times I think to myself that if she really was summoning demons or whatever, then one of those evil spirits would have had a taste for my blood and who knows what consequences would have come from that. I don't know what happened to her, since I moved away a year later. Maybe she's a housewife. Maybe she's climbing the corporate ladder. Maybe she's living in the woods somewhere. I hope she's okay, and that no demons have consumed her soul. She used to claim that there was music that could actually conjure spirits, and that some music could act as a portal to other worlds, that we could project our spirits into the multiverse with help from certain tones and melodies. I never really bought into that, but who knows?
Is there any music like that? Music that you've heard of that can alter perceptions and trigger visions of other planes of existence? If you have any recommendations, I'd like to hear them. Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to ask. I know there's a lot of different genres and artists and there's experimental stuff, but do you know of any music that is expressly designed to communicate with otherworldly entities or angels or demons or other stuff? I don't know if I'm necessarily looking to talk to Beelzebub, but it would be nice to know if somebody out there made some music that is trying to talk to Beelzebub, if you know what I mean. I'm a little interested, I guess. Thanks for whatever advice you can provide.
I like the show, by the way. Keep making it if you want.
I like TRAPPO. I just wish there wasn’t so much weird sex stuff in this episode.
ReplyDeleteI’m between books right now. I sometimes fall into ruts when I don’t read for long periods of time. I can’t explain why, exactly. The longest I’ve gone between reading books is about a year. Right now I’m in one of those ruts, and I just can’t think of anything to read that piques my interest. Maybe this isn’t the correct forum to ask the question, but you keep asking people to comment on this blog, and I know it says I’m supposed to be making suggestions to you guys, but I don’t really have much going on right now. I saw a movie called BARBARIAN on streaming that I thought was really weird and cool. So I guess I recommend that. So do you two have any suggestions for me? Are there any interesting books you’ve read lately that might get me back on the horse? My friends aren’t big readers, so they’re no help in this department. And you’d show actually seems to interact with your listeners often, so I’m thinking I might have a decent shot at getting at least one good reading recommendation here. Of course it sounds like this episode was probably recorded In summertime, so even if you do suggest a few books I probably won’t know about them for a while. Either way, I guess I enjoy TRAPPO, and I’ll probably stick around.
ReplyDeleteThat all depends Dr. gonzo. We are pretty into sci-fi and fantasy books. So if that’s not your bag, our recommendations may not be that great. I have been feasting on the wild cards series, edited by George Martin. That is a whole world you can dive into. I have also been getting caught up on RA Salvatore and his Drizzt novels. Dustin and I are both huge fans of Michael Moorcock, and his Eternal Champion set of series. My personal favorites are the Chronicles of Castle Brass, and the History of the Rune staff. Those each have several smaller books within them. He also has a great book called Behold The Man that is definitely worth a quick read. that shit blew my mind. Dustin also turned me onto the works of John Darnille, lead singer of the band The Mountain Goats. His books universal harvester, and wolf in white van are great. I believe he also has a new book that came out recently but I have not read it yet. I am still reading all of the old books. Dustin has already read. So he may have some newer recommendations. Hope this helps! And thanks for listening to the show.
DeleteA few recent reads I've enjoyed quite a bit are "Joan" by Katherine J. Chen and "Ultrasound" by Conor Stechschulte. "Joan" is an engrossing new take on the life of Joan of Arc that I found fascinating. "Ultrasound" is a bizarre and trippy adult sci-fi graphic novel that has some surprising twists I didn't see coming, but I might just be a dummy, so don't take my word on that last bit. I've read John Darnielle's most recent novel, "Devil House", which is an ingenious nesting doll of a story that mixes fact and fiction in a very clever way I won't spoil. That's about all I've got for now, so I hope our recommendations point you in the right direction.
DeleteThanks for listening, and don't feel weird about posting whatever in the comments. We read everything here, and we always respond, either on "TRAPPO's Mail Bag" or sometimes directly, so if you've got a question to ask, ask away.
Thanks for giving me your suggestions. I really appreciate your getting back to me. I admit I’m not big into fantasy, and I know the dark elf stuff isn’t for me, but I’ll look into Michael Moorcock and see if anything catches my eye. I’m not familiar with John Darnielle’s music or his books, but I’ll be sampling both soon. My library has copies of Devil House and the Ultrasound graphic novel, so I checked them out today and will be reading them both over what’s left of my holiday break. I listened to your latest episode, by the way, and I thought it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the fake radio show format.
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