Category Archives: Podcasting

Gunning the New Sponsor or: Wearing It

17 Thursday May 2018

Posted by in Life as We Know It, Podcasting, The Less Desirables Network

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Salutations™!!

I am thrilled to say that Machine Gun Graphics is the newest sponsor of The Less Desirables and, to an extent, the whole The Less Desirables Network. We are excited that Kyle and Nikki have signed on with us.MGG_LOGO

Are you familiar with Machine Gun Graphics? If not, then you need to get acquainted.

Basically, Machine Gun Graphics can print anything that can be printed. Why use Machine Gun Graphics? They have a website with Free Design studio. You design your own merch. You dream it up and they can print it on most flat fabrics. Things like bags, t-shirts, hoodies, hats, sweatpants, and so on.

They also specialize in water-based and discharge printing.  They use Eco-Friendly inks, and they strive to keep their shop as Eco-friendly as they possibly can since those kinds of products are available.  MGG can even source Eco-Friendly and sustainable garments.  That’s awesome!

New services they offer? Wide Format printing, stickers, banners, window signage, enamel pins, patches. And, they are fully automated.  They’re set up for small orders and large orders. They like to joke that they can take on orders from 12 to120,000. But, really, they can.

Another bonus is that their prices are comparable to major/national vendors. They stand by their work and they do what they do as well as anyone. I’d rather support local than those national companies. I’m not just saying that because MGG is my sponsor.

I know that it’s time for new TLD t-shirts and I need stuff for The Man Who Ate the Town. I’m glad that I now know the place locally to get all my printed needs taken care of.  And, you should get your stuff done there, as well! Again, I am very pleased and excited to have them as part of The Less Desirables Network family.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Machine Gun Graphics is a custom screen printing company located in downtown Winston – Salem, NC owned and operated by Kyle Woodall. They offer a variety of services for all of your merchandise and promotional needs as a company or band.” – Machine Gun Graphics

Bolo or: The Less Desirables Beer of the Week

16 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Beer, Podcasting

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Salutations™!!

Bull’s Tavern, the Official Beer Sponsor of The Less Desirables, presents Bolo Coconut Brown from Burial Beer, The Less Desirables Beer of the Week.burial

As Danielle said during the show, she’s never heard of a coconut brown before. We’ve heard of coconut stouts and coconut porters. But, never a coconut brown. It’s hard to beat just about any beer that has Burial’s name on it. So, when those factors are combined, that means delicious creamy goodness.

To me, there was a little bit of flavor dilution. There wasn’t a big coconut flavor push in the beer. The flavors were all a bit muddled. On top of that, the beer had been in a growler for an hour or so and it was warmer than I’d want it. I’d love to retry it right out of the tap. All that being said on the flavor, I liked it. I would just have liked a little more clarity. The brew is 5.6% ABV.

BeerAdvocate rates it at 3.94/5 (Very Good). Untappd has it at 3.91 caps out of 5. I rated it 4.25 out of 5. Tune into the latest episode of The Less Desirables to hear what Danielle, Bethany, Cheyenne, Nathan and I had to say about it. You can listen HERE.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“Dense forest demand sharp blades. Worn, torn, chipped or rusted, the Bolo shepherds the path. Later still, this tool of ancient times takes on the tiring task of harvesting the hidden fruit of the tropics. Enjoy an aroma that reminds you of tropical granola with a smooth maltiness that hints at chocolate and nuts. Baked in our kettle, cured to perfection.” –  Burial

Many a Brew or: The Less Desirables Beer of the Week

09 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Beer, Podcasting

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Salutations™!!

Bull’s Tavern, the Official Beer Sponsor of The Less Desirables, presents a shload of beer.

Yep, I said it was a shload of beer. Chances are the brews we had on the show this evening you’re not going to find at Bull’s Tavern, so instead, we are just going to talk about Bull’s Tavern. 1_tld

They have 24 taps. They have an extensive liquor wall. And, they have a lot of live music. So, beer, booze, music. That’s a great combination. Add in a great atmosphere and you have a near perfect place.

The thing about the beer selection at Bull’s Tavern is that there are many that you won’t find anywhere else in WSNC. That’s because, with Bull’s partnership with Gate City Growlers, they get brews that you just won’t find anywhere else. They drive to the far reaches of the state to get the best beer this state has available. Yum!

As far as live music goes, here’s what they have going on this week:

May 10 – Something Like Seduction
May 11 – Little Stranger
May 12 – Brothers Pearl

Go support local music and have a great beer whilst you’re at it.

Tune in to this week’s show and listen to Caitlin, Bethany and me talk about the beer that Caitlin brought. You can listen HERE.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Piggybackin’ Chef or: Velveteen Dream

08 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by in Food, Life as We Know It, Podcasting

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Salutations™!!

Kelly and I were joined by one of my man crushes, Chef Travis Myers. He talked about things happening at Willows Bistro, his life, his family, his history. We had a grand ol’ time with Chef today. 20180508_193455

We talked about some closings, some relocating and a brand new name for Triad Community Kitchen. You can listen to it all right HERE. It was a great conversation. He had fun.

But, my day wasn’t done there. The BCPF got home early and we went to get her latest piece of body art. Of course, that can only mean that Byron Weeks, owner of Earth’s Edge, was doing a tattoo for her.

This one is from one of her favorite childhood stories, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. It’s a sad, yet happy little tale and she has tried to read it to me before but she always cries through it. Let’s just say that she really, really loves it and it means a lot more to her than “just a story.” That must be true because she just had it permanently put on her body. It’s on her right upper arm. She was a trooper, not really even wincing much at all. Byron said he was using a gun that had less pressure on it, too so the pain was significantly less than previous. Also, that location is easier to take than some of the other places she’s had them.

It looks really good, too. She has two of the most beautiful and three of the most unique tats I’ve ever seen. No, she doesn’t have five, only two. The “Mary Poppins” around her ankle isn’t what I’d call beautiful but it’s beautifully unique and I love it on her. The heron on her calf and this newest one, though, those are some amazing work and we have to give a ton of props to Byron for his vision, willingness to work with us and just a joy to be around.

I have to say if you’re in want or “need” of a tattoo, and you don’t have a personal artist for that, check Byron out. He does amazing work, really. Earth’s Edge can be found at 1800 Silas Creek Pkwy, in WSNC. Byron says he’s the “best prick in town” and I agree with him. I know The BCPF does, too.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” – The Skin Horse (The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams)

A Wave of Relief or: Blair’s Breakfast Stout

02 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Beer, Life as We Know It, Podcasting

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Salutations™!!

First, I want to say that the world of High Sierra is at least looking a little better. I was watching a YouTube video about Protools and High Sierra and after a few “autoplay” videos pass, there is one that is only a day or so old, from some Swedish guy that was talking about “the latest version of Protools (2018.x)” was just out and he was really excited about that.

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©Wilmington Brewing Co.

 

I got to thinking about something. I needed to check my Avid Application Helper and see if it was showing that I could download this 2018 version. Well, my Application Helper was locking up and it seems, out of date, as well. I had to uninstall it and download the latest version when I did, it showed that the 2018 edition was indeed available.

Protools worked perfectly. Everything was how it needed to be and smoothly running. In addition to that, all of the Mac was working smoother. Nothing was getting hung and nothing was malfunctioning. Now, do I believe this was the end-all-be-all of problems with High Sierra? No. Do I still think High Sierra is the Windows Vista of Mac-dom? Yes. But, for now, I’m glad all is working. I was able to record a podcast with minimal worry. So, yay! Speaking of podcasts…

Bull’s Tavern, the Official Beer Sponsor of The Less Desirables, presents Blair’s Breakfast Stout from Wilmington Brewing Company, The Less Desirables Beer of the Week.

It was a delicious breakfast stout (generally this means its coffee notes are prevalent) and one that all of us enjoyed on the show tonight. It was creamy and chocolatey with good coffee notes. The difference between this and many other “breakfast stouts” is that it had a clean finish. It didn’t taste synthetic like some of those other brews have.

BeerAdvocate rates it at 4.28/5 (Outstanding). Untappd has it at 4.09 Caps out of 5. I rated it 4.5 out of 5. Have you had it? What did you think? If you’ve not had it or just have a hankering for more, head over to Bull’s Tavern and get your pint and listen to some great music while you’re at it.

Tune into this week’s episode of the podcast to see what Danielle, Bethany, Tim (not me), Amy and I thought it. You can hear that episode HERE.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Homegrown from a small homebrew shop to a [sic] 11,800 sqft facility, Wilmington Brewing Company is excited to serve you fresh local beer straight from the tank to your glass. Located right in the middle of Wilmington, WBC includes a 3bbl and 25bbl brewery, tasting room, and a homebrew supply store. We look forward to seeing you soon!” – Wilmington Brewing Company

Software Woes or: Had to be High Sierra

30 Monday Apr 2018

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Salutations™!!

I’ve been putting off doing an OS update on the studio Mac. This is for several reasons. Just two of these reasons were: I knew it would take a while and I was worried that some of my podcast features/workflow/needs wouldn’t be compatible with the new update, called High Sierra, by the way.

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©Apple

 

Well, I was right on both counts.

The download and installation took around 80 minutes or so. I thought it would never finish. Really, I thought it would take about 20. I was sadly mistaken. It took so long that we had to cancel Fan Interference. I thought it would be done and then we’d just get back to what we were supposed to do. I’m kind of glad we canceled only because TC would have been waiting around for a while.

Once it downloaded and installed, the other part happened. A couple of things didn’t work and the settings needed to be adjusted. I’ll not get too technical and I don’t really expect many to know what I’m talking about but the sound needed to be remapped because the drivers for my audio interface were out of date and not compatible. So, those had to be remapped to match what it was in the previous version of the OS. I’m not the savviest in all that so it took a little bit to get it all back in order. Plus, the software interface that I used to record things (clips mostly) from the internet has been discontinued and I can’t get the last update to work. So, I had to find an alternative.

I was in the studio until 6:30p and that was two hours longer than I was supposed to be.  It’s fine. I got it all working, at least today I did. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, right?

Here’s hoping it all goes smoothly. Wish me luck.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“macOS High Sierra refines the features that you use every day—and brings new technologies to make your Mac ready for future innovation.” – Apple

A Long One or: No Interference

23 Monday Apr 2018

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Salutations™!!

So, this Thursday commences the 2018 NFL Draft. And, in celebration, or preparation, of this event our The Less Desirables Network show, Fan Interference, does our (almost) annual draft special. Faninterference.png

This is never a quick event. Most of the time, Fan Interference is about an hour long. Usually just shy. This special, though, is almost two and a half hours long. Yeah, it was a bit grueling but we did it.

Ty Collins didn’t do this one alone, either. He brought out some big guns for this podcast. He had SEC expert Gabe Austin call in from Atlanta as well as PAC10 expert and host of UCLA Network’s Bruins Insider, Bryan Fenley. Each talked with TC about prospects from their conferences, player bios, where they may land and what to look for from each. TC also gives his own analysis of the players all across the country and where they may go, as well. It was an in-depth show and if you’re a fan of the NFL Draft and what your teams may do, you can listen HERE. We’d appreciate the listen.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“As a sportscaster, whether it be from his time in Memphis, to prior stops in Spokane and Winston-Salem, North Carolina and even going back to his college days at UNC-Greensboro, Bryan has shown what it takes to carve out a path in this industry and climb up the ranks.” – Bryan Fenley’s website

Noodlin’ the Piggyback or: Shokunin Yo

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Food, Podcasting

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Salutations™!!

Today on The Man Who Ate the Town Podcast, Kelly and I talked with Josh Trusler from Shokunin Ramen that is coming to downtown WSNC later this year (hopefully). Hard to put a date on it because it is much later in the year and as we all know, in the restaurant biz, target dates are only that. But, we talked about the name, the food, the location and a lot of the local farms and farmers from which he’ll be getting stuff and we tried a little katsuobushi (traditionally, dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna, but these were some experiments from Josh). A cool thing all around. I know that ramen has been one of the biggest requests for restaurants downtown, or anywhere, really. Here it comes Winston, are you ready?

You can listen to this episode HERE.

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Homemade katsuobushi from Shokunin Ramen (we tried a couple of these)

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“At Shokunin, we not only wish to fill bellies with delicious food, but we also hope to help our service industry workers a go-to pre/post shift place for food and caffeine.” – Shokunin Ramen

Cobblestone Piggyback or: Fair Market

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Food, Podcasting

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Salutations™!!

This week on The Man Who Ate the Town, Kelly and I talk about the Burke Street Food Truck Festival, the Cobblestone Farmers’ Market is back at Old Salem, Brookstown Business Center, and more!

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Cobblestone Farmers’ Market (©US News and World Report)

 

The Farmers’ Market is a big deal. It’s open during the winter months but not outside and this thing tends to just be a better experience when you can be outside. As I said in the podcast, don’t be afraid of ugly food. Ugly food is still delicious food. Heirloom tomatoes aren’t winning beauty contests but they taste so good!

You can listen to the podcast HERE.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“Absolutely love this Farmer’s Market, the location, the produce, the vendors and the people. So glad we went today, even with the rainy day we truly enjoyed it.” – Claire Whittum

Sounds Like Saturday or: Electric

07 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by in Music Review, Podcasting, Rant, Silent Sunday, Uncategorized

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Salutations™!!

Since Clay Howard is so into this album and I’m a huge fan of Clay Howard and considering that yesterday was the 31st anniversary of its release, Here is The Cult’s “Love Removal Machine” from Electric (1987). Enjoy!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“Baby baby baby baby baby I fell from the sky. Yesterday you blew my mind oh yeah. Having trouble with my direction; upside down psychotic reaction. Love removal love removal machine.” – “Love Removal Machine” (Astbury/Duffy)