Salutations™!!

February 3, 2010.

I drove to the fork of Silas Creek Parkway and Wake Forest Road. I was there to pick up my pal, my buddy, my future business partner, Brian Attridge, from his (now-) former place of employment and drove him to my house. His car was in the shop and I told him I’d pick him up and then take him home (he lives in Greensboro). But, first, he and I had something to take care of. Something we had been planning for a few months.

We arrived at my house and walked into the downstairs bedroom, it wasn’t a “bedroom” at the time, it was my music room/studio room. I realized I was missing a mic cable, so we got back into my vehicle, drove to my family’s office to where I had some extra cables – that’s where the bands I had been in practiced. Then we went back to my house. I made the connections I needed to and turned around to look at him.

“What are we going to talk about? How are we going fill 20 minutes of talking? What are we getting ourselves into?” we took turns asking each other. “I dunno,” was pretty much the response to each question, regardless of who was asking it. Finally, I said, “you know what? I’m just gonna hit the record button and let’s see what happens. If we don’t get 20 minutes, oh well.” I hit the button. 38 minutes later, the very first episode of The Less Desirables podcast was recorded and produced (well, production took another 45 minutes at that point). Wow, that went by quickly! And, so has the last seven years.

We took a bit of time to get the word out, admittedly. People didn’t get what podcasts were back then. I still have to explain it at least once a week. I’ve been podcasting longer than anyone I know around there (just over 10 years) and certainly longer on the scale and consistency that I am now. That’s not bragging, at least it’s not meant to be. I’m just proud of where this has gone. Since then, though, we’ve grown our listenership to good numbers (at least from what we can tell), we have great guests almost every week, now. Heck, I put out one mention about a need for guests in February and now I’m booked through April, some dates even double booked. The name The Less Desirables has become synonymous with community awareness and I love that.

Brian has moved on to bigger things outside of the podcast world. I had my bestest buddy in the world, Eugene as my co-host for over four years. He moved on. I had my good pal, Bruce come on to replace Eug and Bruce, too, had to move on. I have my two wonderful and beautiful work-wives, Caitlin and Danielle who keep me in line but also take good care of me. We’ll lose Caitlin in May/June when she graduates the PhD program and moves to Maryland. I dread that. Dannie B and I will find an ample replacement and we’ll continue on.

We started in that small bedroom downstairs in my house and moved to the upstairs where there was a bit more room and we had to share that loft with my bedroom. That was odd, but it worked. We moved from there to downtown Winston-Salem, the city we talk about and support. Two different studios in the bunkers under Fourth Street and to our current home in the arts district, behind Test Pattern Bar, in what we call Test Pattern Studios. We’ve come a long way.

I expanded my reach from the one show to now doing FIVE as part of The Less Desirables Podcast Network. Fan Interference, The Beer Dads, The Man Who Ate the Town and Sipping NC: The Art of Drinking. To you and the co-hosts of each show, thank you for making the network grow.

To Bruce, Caitlin and Danielle, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you’ve done to help me keep this dream going. To Brian and Eugene, who still are my business partners, albeit in a very small role, thank you for helping me start and/or perpetuate this show to break out into bigger and better things. To Jon and Paul, my Beer Dad brethren, as well as major business partners, thank you for pushing me, supporting me and keeping me sane. This ride would never have reached the heights it has, and will, without all of you. You are all CrewTLD.

To Stephanie/The BCPF, thank you for your wisdom, support, dedication to me and the cause and for loving me. This journey started just before I met you but it would have never gotten where it is without you. I love you dearly for it. And to 3B for giving me something to strive for: being a pain in your arse… just kidding. I love being your dad and I hope you’re proud of where I have this show. Mes ‘Rents, I have to thank you guys, too. You always have pushed me and I have always needed it. You are all CrewTLD.

I thank all of you, our listeners, for hanging around the last seven years and into the future! All the guests that have appeared on the show in these past seven, you’ve made the show what it is. It went from a pop culture podcast to something a little more. Musicians, store owners, brewers, bloggers, vintners, comedians, film makers, writers, business folks, even politicians, and though I try to avoid politics and religion on the show as much as humanly possible. There’s more a variety of guests than that, but that’s the short list. You are all CrewTLD.

City Beverage, a/perture cinema, Finnigan’s Wake, King’s Crab Shack, The Garage, Washington Perk & Provision Company, Test Pattern, Bull’s Tavern, Underdog Records, Hoots Beer Company, Spring House Restaurant Kitchen & Bar. All sponsors of TLD or the other podcasts on the Network, past or present. Thank you all so much for your support for all of our shows. You are all CrewTLD.

Everyone, including past guests, sponsors, friends, family, listeners… you’re all invited to join us tomorrow night, Saturday, February 4 at Finnigan’s Wake Irish Pub & Kitchen for our Annual Post-Holiday/Post-Anniversary Celebration. It’s from 7-10pm. Come have some Irish fare, great libations and celebrate the whole CrewTLD family with gang and me. I look forward to seeing you all!

I’m not going anywhere. This has to go at least another seven years, if not 27 more.
Until tomorrow and the next many years, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Your weekly podcast with guys with more time on their hands than you’ll ever know…” – The Voice of The Less Desirables