Underwater Sunshine

In which a guest returns from the far reaches of the West and the boys explore their Sordid youth.

In which the 70’s come to a close, the center embraces the fringe, and 1980 begins with a terrible ending. Also…during a podcast dedicated entirely to punk, I somehow manage to mix up The Commodores and The Ohio Players and THEN confuse Afghan Wigs with Fine Young Cannibals.

Oh punkity punk punk punk. PUNK! Punk-O-Rama. Punkadelica. Polka Punk. Peppa Punk. Punk Rock Girl. Punky’s Dilemma. Punk Rock T-Shirt Melting. Judy! ….is A Punk. Also…..British people. And - if I’m being totally honest - I fell asleep and woke up and now my brain’s not working in the slightest.

In which New York City and the Bowery are still the center of the punk world but new bands are arriving every day from as far away as Cleveland and San Francisco. They’re popping up all over LA as well and it’s just the beginning because, across the pond in the UK….anarchy.

In which a basketball coach comes up to Adam after a game at The Garden to talk about Death and that changes everything. So the boys decide to spend the next month discussing it. In other words, how talking about Death and Vermont leads to talking about the birth…of punk.

In which our heroes spend a quiet afternoon talking about old friends and bands, the ones who left and the ones we left, and the ones who just found the dreams didn’t fit them any more, and left to find new ones that did. And we keep returning to a little town on the North Oconee River where, at least for me, the left of the dial was born.

In which our heroes explore the meaning of Love, the magnificent grandeur of a Soul Man, Sam and...Dave Godowsky, a Bryter haze of British sorrow, the incredible Travelogue of Vince Mendoza and Joni Mitchell, and the marvel that is Illinois. But first...something Wonderful. (PS. Dave Godowsky’s song “Here I Am” is actually on his album ALL YOU LOVE IS NEED)

In which our heroes prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can speak fluently in circles for hours at time. A happy journey that begins with Belle and Sebastian winds down through a magical valley of brass and strings and other up-your-ass things before finally stumbling to the semi-chilling conclusion that a life in music is sometimes a lot like asking to have a car dropped on your nuts….plus flutes!

The team-up we’ve all been waiting for! The Sunshine Boys meet the Monk of Steel! Yes, it’s Immerglück, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those off mortal men. Immerglück, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands. And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. And now another exciting episode in the adventures of Underwater Sunshine.

In which our heroes post the podcast late because Adam got caught up eating ramen and watching a Japanese movie about ramen called Tampopo which you should all immediately watch while eating ramen yourselves and forgot to write the summary until now. PS. We fixed the bootleg.

In which Adam and James discuss a particularly terrifying brand of stage fright, examine the fertile intersection of Black Funk and the Rolling Stones in the inspiration/information age, sneak a look at the effect the Crescent City and the Dirty South had on a British Island record, and finally bask in the afterglow of real royalty, remembering the son that set in the North Star state.

Our heroes explore the burden of expectations on art and reflect upon the irresistible oppression of hope on human beings. Eventually, after pondering the crushing weight of possibilities, they get really bummed out. They turn, first to drink and then to god before settling on pizza as the answer to life’s really important questions. They take a short pee break, talk about Paul Simon, and then each paint a masterpiece…but you can’t see that because this isn’t that kind of podcast (shrug)

Our heroes discuss the upcoming release of James’ new book “Accidentally Like A Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon“, talk about the difficult creative act of giving birth to a finished work, and reflect upon the up-and-down life of its complicated subject, the Excitable Boy himself, the troubadour of The Troubadour, the great Werewolf of Los Angeles: Warren William Zevon. ...plus a brief inexplicable attention-deficit-fueled detour into late-70s New York punk.

In which Adam gets all excited about playing Mary Lou Lord and our heroes manage to accidentally find themselves spending an entire podcast talking endlessly about the one subject neither of them knows anything about... (sigh) ...women.

Finding themselves at a crossroads and facing a cataclysmic crisis of near-galactic proportions, our turgid titans of talk recall the halcyon history of The Outlaw Roadshow and look forward to the future of the Underwater Sunshine Festival without ever mentioning the fact that Adam just really wants to see BLACK PANTHER tonight. Excelsior! (Nuff said)

In which, without the benefit of any good drugs (or a net), our heroes Adam & James trip the psychedelic wonderland oeuvre of the great British troubadour Robyn Hitchcock and reveal the shockingly soft and boyish origins of Underwater Sunshine itself.

A series of conversations between noted non-journalist Adam Duritz and his pal, author and music journalist James Campion, about life, music, and whatever comes into their large and incredibly handsome brains.