Tag Archives: The Less Desirables Network

No Piggyback or: Doing My Part

22 Tuesday May 2018

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Salutations™!!

We didn’t do The Man Who Ate the Town again this week. This time it was Kelly’s turn to miss as she had something she had to take care of. Next week, though!

I do want to say a very special thanks to DiLisio’s Italian Restaurant, Washington Perk and The Humblebee Shoppe for their support of us, as well as Test Pattern Studios.

Something different for today’s post, though. Here is Jeffrey Dean Foster and Karon Click (McKinney) doing “Under Pressure” at the Ramkat’s opening gala with the Vagabond Saints Society. I was the only choir member that was on this song (other than Karon) and I got to make a few cameo appearances in it. Thanks to Gregory Silva for the video!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word and love dares you to care for the people on the (People on streets) edge of the night. And, loves (People on streets) dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves. This is our last dance. This is our last dance. This is ourselves under pressure.” – “Under Pressure” (Mercury/Deacon/May/Taylor/Bowie)

Gunning the New Sponsor or: Wearing It

17 Thursday May 2018

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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!

—
“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

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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!

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“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

The Last of My Colored Hair or: How Long, Now?

15 Tuesday May 2018

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Salutations™!!

So, I’m going to spare you the whole “it was 16 years ago today at 2:42pm, that my awesome son was unleashed upon this world” story. But, really, that’s what happened. So, instead, I’m going to tell you about the thing that happened today, which I’m sure you can figure out what that is. But, time’s up and I’m going to tell you anyway.

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Yeah, that’s my kid…

 

Yeah, his mother and I accompanied 3B to the local DMV/Highway Patrol office and watched him and a nice officer drive off in her vehicle. They were gone about 10 minutes at the most and then they came back. I thought, uh oh. That didn’t take too long. That can’t be good. But, the instructor confirmed that she hadn’t been scared by his driving.

3B is a good driver. I still worry about his immaturity but I guess you have to let them grow up, right? I mean Mes ‘Rents gave me room and always hoped that I’d grow up. I don’t think that I ever did, though.

So, yeah, he passed it on his first try. Look out WSNC (and Pinnacle and all points in between).

In all this happening, we didn’t record The Man Who Ate the Town today, but in missing that, I want to give a big shout out to our sponsors anyway. Washington Perk is your downtown purveyor of fine provisions. It’s not a grocery store, no, but it’s better than a convenience store. Sandwiches from the Perk deli counter, a wall of beer and wine, a chip corner, Larry’s Beans coffee and, of course, Wolfie’s Custard. You can find them at 301 W 4th Street in WSNC.

For the best cookies and baked goods in town, much of which is gluten-free and/or vegan, you have to go to The Humble Bee Shoppe located at 1003 Brookstown Ave in WSNC. Brittany makes everything from scratch and as we say, she wants to challenge your perception of scratch-made and give you a baked goodness experience that you’ll never forget!

Di Lisio’s Italian Family Restaurant is my favorite Italian restaurant in town. Tony is my favorite Italian. I’ve never made any bones about that, right? Kelly and The BCPF both agree with me, too. Homemade sauces, delicious seafood and meat options with a variety of pasta to choose from. Di Lisio’s goes beyond lasagne and spaghetti but if that is what you like, you will love Di Lisio’s! They”re located at 301 Brookstown Ave.

Thanks to all our sponsors for everything they do. And, hey! I’ve not received any playlists, yet. Get with it folks! And, watch out for my boy out there on the road.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“I’m not ready for this…” – 3B’s mother, my “baby mama.”

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

09 Wednesday May 2018

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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!

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

Piggybackin’ Chef or: Velveteen Dream

08 Tuesday May 2018

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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)

Wanting to Experiment or: Playlisting

07 Monday May 2018

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Salutations™!!

It was a few months back when I talked about doing playlists on Spotify in regards to The Less Desirables Network “cast members.” Well, the cast has changed a bit, and it’s hard to get everyone else on my schedule. I get that. I’m not hurt, I’m fine with it. I’m going to try something else, though. 27858508_10213835617759118_6002026166368483616_n

While I’m still going to solicit those cast members on the TLDN for their playlists, I’m going to ask my readers, my listeners, my friends, and so on, to submit playlists to feature on Spotify. It will be under The Less Desirables account but each week (or two weeks, according to when I get the submissions) it will be the submitters’ lists. It can be themed. It can be nonsensical. It can be what you want. It’s your playlist.

Before I say I’m absolutely going to do this, I need to judge interest. I can get really excited about it and then have it fall on its face, are there any of you out there that would be interested in participating? There is no limit to the songs you send me but I will only put 15-20 on a list at a time. Anything left over will be held in reserve for a future list in your name or a compilation of several submitters.

If you’re interested in doing this, then submit an email to me (not an IM, not a text, not a phone call – an email!) at tim@thelessdesirables.com. In the subject line put “TLDN Playlist.” Let’s have some fun with this. Let’s have some interaction. Let’s make this ours. And, not only will it be on Spotify but on Soundsgood.co, too. I’m working on a few more things. Also, I don’t want you to make a playlist on Spotify and send it to me. I need a list emailed to me, itemized. That way I can put it under the company header and all that fun stuff.

The BCPF started this off. Her list is about covers. She (and I) is a fan of covers and this list is really a lot of songs that she heard the cover before she ever heard the original. I think that’s a cool concept. See what you can come up with, in a playlist, and send it to me!

You can see the list by visiting the TLD Network Page, thelessdesirables on Spotify or by looking up The Less Desirables network on Soundsgood.co

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

—
“A lot of songs I heard the covers before I heard the originals.” – The BCPF

A Wave of Relief or: Blair’s Breakfast Stout

02 Wednesday May 2018

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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!

—
“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

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

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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