Listeners Like You

Episode 72: Kendrick Lamar's Christmas Shoes

Brian assigned Cort some holiday spirit with Holiday Rules, a Christmas compilation by various artists, and some nostalgia with The Grand Archives by Grand Archives. Feelings were had. Some stronger than others. No one is claiming a seasonal awakening, but we listened and we showed up.

From there, the conversation predictably veers off course into night swimming, because apparently that was inevitable.

Brian runs through recent movie watching, including The Black Phone 2 (written by Stephen King’s son) and Jay Kelly, and then he brings up another little nugget, Ella McKay starring Emma Mackey alongside Jamie Lee Curtis. This leads us to Brian’s theory about why movies like Ella McKay don’t get made often enough, but there is some cruel irony related to his theory and his feelings about Jay Kelly.

Cort reiterates his puzzlement about Pluribus detractors (boo, hiss), and Brian attempts to help Cort understand what exactly the “Durian Gap” is.  We wrap things up with a report from a Nate Bargatze concert. Was Nate funny? Was the show good? What ultimate podcast sin could Nate possibly have committed that would get Brian and Cort riled up?

The episode is Christmas-adjacent and mildly festive.

Albums discussed:

• The Grand Archives — Grand Archives
  https://open.spotify.com/album/3Ya4unJBIYZFYs42Ebyf4t?si=9G3W3kJRS42Xewb_w4SXVQ

• Holidays Rule — Various Artists
  https://open.spotify.com/album/6WYKqCoezPOWXD9UxbXyGZ?si=RS_SZCc2SOiUDgKJirLZeA

Theme song:
Cyrus Oh Cyrus — The Flying Scrub Jays
https://open.spotify.com/track/3S9T5HUS4cwky1922WhF1J?si=6fcad8771f724492

Episode 71: The Hunter Hunter Hunt Begins

This week, Brian reports back on his assignment: the first five chapters of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Cort’s new literary obsession and Brian’s long-standing one). Turns out, loving Jones on the page may or may not mean loving his work performed directly into your ears. Brian’s early take? Cautiously optimistic.

Marin Ireland does fine. Owen Teale … well, Brian isn’t convinced he wants an entire book read to him by "Welsh Gravel Goliath." But then enters Shane Ghostkeeper, voicing Goodstab, and suddenly Brian is handing out two thumbs up like he’s Roger Ebert at a Fellini festival.

From there, the conversation drifts into Stranger Things Season 5, where opinions are shared, and Brian demonstrates that even confident opinions can be wrong. Cort finally gets a chance to see Leslie Odom, Jr. return as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, and he absolutely did not throw away his shot. Both hosts also caught & Juliet at the Orpheum, resulting in a predictable difference of opinion between a guy who's a theater geek and a guy with a massive intellect firing on all cylinders (whether necessary or not)..

They close things out by taking Rolling Stone firmly to task over its end-of-year lists, which somehow manage to be wrong in every possible direction at once ... an achievement that deserves recognition, if not praise.

Settle in. It’s a ride. A slightly combative, extremely opinionated ride.

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Brian’s Assignment from Cort:
📖 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Narrated by Shane Ghostkeeper, Marin Ireland, and Owen Teale
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Buffalo-Hunter-Hunter-Audiobook/B0DD52VDNL

📖 Explore Stephen Graham Jones’ work:
https://www.demontheory.net

🎶 Theme Song: Cyrus Oh Cyrus — The Flying Scrub Jays
https://open.spotify.com/track/3S9T5HUS4cwky1922WhF1J?si=6fcad8771f724492

Episode 70: A record number of errors?

Brian assigned Cort An Awesome Wave by Alt-J… and Cort actually loved it. The album’s layered production and a unique approach to the rhythm section landed squarely in his wheelhouse, especially since the lyrics mattered approximately not at all. Brian had thoughts too, of course, and they compare notes on how the album hits two very different listeners.

Brian also reports back from seeing Nuremberg, and the guys generally discuss their recent watching habits.  Cort assigns the first five chapters of the audiobook The Buffalo Hunter Hunter to Brian. There is other stuff too (I'm pretty sure opinions were shared. Probably.)

🎧 An Awesome Wave — Alt-J
https://open.spotify.com/album/6k3vC8nep1BfqAIJ81L6OL?si=CC7wU3IqSICZTlBkOwwsFg

🎶 Theme Song: Cyrus Oh Cyrus — The Flying Scrub Jays
https://open.spotify.com/track/3S9T5HUS4cwky1922WhF1J?si=1b5008d6d0a14170https://open.spotify.com/track/3S9T5HUS4cwky1922WhF1J?si=6fcad8771f724492

 

Episode 69: Winding Down the Staircase

Brian and Cort are at it again in Episode 69 of Listeners Like You, the podcast for listeners by listeners, in which Brian and Cort pretend sharing their extremely ordinary media consumption habits are a public service.

In this episode, Brian and Cort heroically attempt to discuss the end of Chuck Wendig’s latest book, Staircase in the Woods, without sounding like literary snobs holding Wendig to some unattainable standard of storytelling. Brian picks apart the plot, the narrators, and his own fan-casting of the yet-to-be-made movie version of the book.

Cort covers The Mash Up, a whiskey podcast. Brian unveils his “Battle of the Birthdays” game.

We also detour into Stephen King adaptations, again, cult documentaries, and the philosophical question of how long two 52-year-old men can walk without dying.

Finally, ask yourself this question: Does Brian contain multitudes? Listen and find out!

Episode 68: Squatty Potty Confessions

Cort takes on Bones by Rainbow Kitten Surprise, a band whose lineup and sound have seen some serious evolution. We also recount our recent night out at an MJ Lenderman show (with our first ever guest, Hanson Tipton), dive into the Neil Diamond jukebox musical A Beautiful Noise, and debate what actually makes something a “jukebox musical”.

Ariana Grande somehow makes an appearance (don’t ask), Brian saw Weapons, and Major League Baseball’s Shohei Ohtani gets some airtime as the Dodgers continue to dominate (at the time of recording). Plus — Cort might finally listen to the Random Podcast pick, The Mashup. You should come back next time if for no other reason than to see if the man can follow through on any promise.  

Bones – Rainbow Kitten Surprise
Cyrus Oh Cyrus – The Flying Scrub Jays

Episode 67: The Staircase Returns

This week, the guys revisit The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig as Brian continues his audiobook experiment and reiterates his position that nothing shatters immersion quite like a narrator trying to do both male and female voices. Cort, meanwhile, listened to the podcast My Wife Hates Video Games and wondered if that's all she hates. The conversation meanders through actors, including talk of the AI generated Tilly Norwood, and then on to music when Brian brings some excellent new album recommendations:

Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override
Amanda Shires – Nobody’s Girl
Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow

Thank you as always for the use of our theme song:
“Cyrus Oh Cyrus” by The Flying Scrub Jays

And if you're interested in a link to the audiobook of The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig (Audiobook), there you go!

Episode 66: 9-21-25

This ep, Cort listens to Another Fine Day by Golden Smog, Brian tries his hand at instant home brewing, and the guys talk about Memphis’s shifting soccer scene. With the loss of 901 FC almost ancient news at this point, Brian rejoices the arrival of a new semi-pro team.

🎶 Album: Another Fine Day – Golden Smog
🎵 Theme: Cyrus oh Cyrus – The Flying Scrub Jays

Episode 65: The Staircase in the Podcast

Just when we think we've got this podcasting thing figured out, we get thrown a curveball. So now we're throwing curveballs too! Brian’s assignment was the first eight chapters of the AUDIOBOOK of Chuck Wendig’s A Staircase in the Woods—about an hour of listening pleasure. Brian, ever the overachiever listened to double the assignment, and Cort, as the self-proclaimed audiobook-o-file of the podcast and not to be outdone, finished the whole thing. We talk about the listening experience (pros, cons, and how to fit audiobooks into real life) and the book itself (with only the mildest of spoilers). Brian realizes that unlike his own children, he may not have been read to as a child, but he likes it.  Give the full ep a listen for all the details and introspection.

Quick hits (because we're not just an audiobook podcast): Cort discussed his very late-to-the-game exposure to Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug and beyond that he decided he might need to give some once-dismissed pop hits a new listen. That detour leads to TV-music chatter (yes, Paradise with Sterling K. Brown gets mentioned). Then it’s back to the reason we're all here, podcasts of course, with TIME’s “Top 100 Podcasts of All Time,” where the guys agree that they very much disagree with TIME.

Theme song: Cyrus oh Cyrus by The Flying Scrub Jays
Don Henley: New York Minute
Audiobook: Chuck Wendig's A Staircase in the Woods