Tag Archives: The Man Who Ate the Town

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

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

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.”

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!

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

Piggybackin’ the Eggshells or: Loads

01 Tuesday May 2018

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Salutations™!!

So, Kelly and I recorded The Man Who Ate the Town Podcast today and the entire time I was on eggshells. I was constantly waiting for things to go wrong and somethings did. My workflow is completely out of whack. Things are tough all over, over here.

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Protools

 

High Sierra has completely screwed up everything on my Mac. This is where all the things that I’ve taken up for Mac’s confusion-based existence when people complain about it prove the detractors right and me wrong. The main problem is Protools.

A little background here, I started up my Mac yesterday and went to Chrome. An alert came up and said that Chrome wouldn’t update any longer because the OS on the Mac wasn’t going to be supported any longer. Whoa! I can’t have that (can you hear the sarcasm?)! Okay, so High Sierra has been out for a while, they should have worked out the kinks by now, right? Sure, they should. Well, they may have 10.13.3 but what I downloaded was 10.13.4 and that is a world of hurt.

A lot of stuff in PT (Protools) 12.4, which is the version I was using, wasn’t compatible. What I mean by that is just about everything. So, I go looking all over the web and this update is so new that I can’t find much of anything to help me. I find out that it’s not going to work. So, okay, let me check on updating my version of PT. My sub ran out in 2016 and to update, I had to re-up that subscription. Well, that’s not cheap. $27/month of not cheap.

So, I did that and got PT 12.7. Well, guess what… 12.7 isn’t compatible with High Sierra, either. Well, it is with 10.13.3, but not 10.13.4. I find on the Avid (owners of PT) website that they recommend staying away from the latest release. Well, too late now. I have spent the last two days figuring out workarounds and troubleshooting. It’s been a long road for those two days.

In summary of that, just because I worried that Chrome wouldn’t update, it cost me $300 a year for a sub I didn’t need and two days of work, including money-making jobs. Supposedly, Avid is working on an update. There’s a new version of PT called Protools 2018 and we’ll see if that works. But, what to do in the meantime? Practice on a botched update has become more commonplace for Macs. I hope it doesn’t take too long.

On and to what you came here for. Kelly and I talked our brand new sponsor, Di Lisio’s Italian Restaurant has signed on with us and we’re glad about it. Thank you to Maria and Tony for supporting us. It enabled me to make another purchase which may be my Thursday post, at least for now. We also talked about a few restaurant closings and a few restaurant openings around town.  You can read more and hear that HERE.

Okay, back at it tomorrow.

Until then, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Is It Too Early To Upgrade To macOS High Sierra?” – Pro Tools Expert Website

How, Where, When, Condition, Reason? or: 94 is a Magic Number

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

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Salutations™!!

Usually, Tuesdays are for piggybacking The Man Who Ate the Town, but we didn’t do a podcast today so we’re not piggybackin’. bob_dorough

But, yesterday, a very important figure in my childhood passed away. Bob Dorough, the main songwriter behind the very popular 70s/80s children’s interstitial program, Schoolhouse Rock passed at the age of 94. He was also the musical director for the series. Some of his most famous tunes for this was “Conjunction Junction,” “Three is a Magic Number,” “My Hero, Zero,” “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here,” “The Shot Heard Round the World” and “Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla.”

But, Dorough wasn’t just about Schoolhouse Rock. He was a darned fine jazz musician that wrote for and played with Miles Davis, Sugar Ray Robinson (when he got into music) and Blossom Dearie, with whom he worked a few times on the Schoolhouse Rock. He was very accomplished by the time that advertiser David McCall called him in to help his kids learn their multiplication tables. They couldn’t remember the tables but knew the lyrics to every song by the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix by heart. So, then according to a TedX video from 2016, Dorough wrote “Three is a Magic Number.” That led to 11 more tunes about multiplication, including one for zero.

I have been collecting Schoolhouse Rock items for a long time. I had all of them on VHS when they first came out in the 90s and then, in the 00s I purchased the special edition DVD. But, I also have a four-disc box set of the songs on CD and I have a lyrics book as well as sheet music for selected songs from the series. I still watch them now and I still listen to them now.

Even the songs that he didn’t write were made possible because of his initial run of math-driven tunes. I know quite a few people who in ninth grade civics class had to recite the Preamble of the Constitution and the only way they got through it was by singing the song (“Preamble”) written by Lynn Ahrens. She was still under the direction of Dorough when she wrote that.

He sang a lot of the tunes that he wrote and even a few that he didn’t. He did the grandfather, father, and son, all three, for “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here.”

He was active very late in life and did functions for schools, groups and fundraisers. He did TedX Talks and public appearances. He loved what he did and we loved him for it, at least we children of the late 70s/80s. Rest well, Old Friend and thank you for bringing so much joy to my life.

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“And the shot heard ’round the world was the start of the Revolution. The Minute Men were ready, on the move. Take your blanket, and take your son. Report to General Washington. We’ve got our rights and now it’s time to prove.” – “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” (Dorough)

 

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

Cobblestone Piggyback or: Fair Market

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

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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!

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“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

Piggybackin’ Ramen or: a Listener’s Request

03 Tuesday Apr 2018

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Salutations™!!

So, today on The Man Who Ate the Town, Kelly and I got to do something we hadn’t really gotten to do, yet. We got to answer listener email/questions! Yay! That was fun. Listener John P. asked us to investigate some things and that’s what we did. They asked about Alma Mexicana, Penny Path Cafe & Crepes, Waldo’s Wings Downtown and the upcoming Canteen Market & Bistro. We also talked about a new ramen restaurant coming to Winston. It’s exciting stuff! You can hear the episode HERE.

 

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©Shokunin Ramen

 

We’d love to field more listeners’ questions, so how about it? You have questions for us? Send an email to me or to Kelly and ask away!

Until tomorrow, same blog channel…
Scorp out!

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“Alma Mexicana will provide fresh, fast counter service to the busy downtown lunch crowd and a seated, upscale sharing menu and margaritas in the evening.” – Alma Mexicana