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The Department of Tangents Podcast

Years ago, playing a sort of improv game with friends in which we all picked super powers based on our personalities, I dubbed myself “Tangent Lad.” I was not a very strong superhero, and I could not defeat a super villain on my own, but I could distract them with Monty Python quotes and football trivia. I have many times since apologized to an interview subject in my capacity as a journalist by saying, “I am either very good or very bad at tangents, depending on how you feel about tangents.”

I had a rough time coming up with the concept and naming this blog/podcast. I knew I wanted to create a place where I could address things I’m passionate about – comedy, music, and horror. Finding a name that communicated all three of those things proved a bit impossible. I bugged my friends, and they all tried to help. To no avail. Then I thought, maybe I’m approaching this from the wrong angle. Maybe my lack of focus should be the focus.

As a journalist, I have written for The Boston Globe since 2000, starting out writing CD reviews and then writing a regular column on comedy for seven and a half years. I still contribute there, and to Kirkus Reviews, and other publications. I’m also a musician, and released my debut full-length album, Blue Skies and Broken Arrows, in March of 2015. And I’ve been publishing short horror fiction for a couple of years.

I like to climb into things I love and see how they operate. That’s what the Department of Tangents is for. The main thing here is love. To talk about the things that make I’ve loved forever, and some new things that might stand the test and be around, at least for me, for decades to come. I’ve had to be critical in my writing at times, and it might not all be nonstop roses here, but in the end, what I really want to talk about is the good stuff. That’s why I will regularly write about things I think are “Perfect,” even if someone can demonstrate empirically that they are flawed. Still perfect to me.

Also, fish.

I hope you, dear anonymous surfer person, will come to expect only the highest-quality, free-range, grass-fed tangents. And I hope some of you love the same things I do and find it useful. Or at least a welcome distraction until the others get here.

Nov 30, 2018

This week's episode is a panel discussion with comedians <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kathecomedy/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Kathe Farris</a>, <a href="http://emilyruskowski.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Emily Ruskowski</a>, <a href="http://www.erinspencercomedy.com/"...


DoT EP78: North East Comic Con Comedy Panel w Carolyn Plummer, Kathe Farris, Erin Spencer, and Emily Ruskowski, with New Music from illuminati hotties

Nov 30, 2018

This week's episode is a panel discussion with comedians <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kathecomedy/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Kathe Farris</a>, <a href="http://emilyruskowski.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Emily Ruskowski</a>, <a href="http://www.erinspencercomedy.com/"...


Nov 24, 2018

This week’s episode is a bit different from previous episodes, in that it doesn’t feature an interview with one person about their work. For the Thanksgiving week episode, I am celebrating a couple of things for which I feel very thankful, and that it the existence of The Kids In the Hall and Mystery Science Theater...


DoT EP77: Celebrating 30 Years of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Kids In the Hall on TV

Nov 24, 2018

This week’s episode is a bit different from previous episodes, in that it doesn’t feature an interview with one person about their work. For the Thanksgiving week episode, I am celebrating a couple of things for which I feel very thankful, and that it the existence of The Kids In the Hall and Mystery Science Theater...


Nov 16, 2018

I’ve written about Ryan Lee Crosby’s music in the past. I’m not sure when the first time was, but back then he had finished playing with his rock band, Cancer To the Stars, and had moved on to a more acoustic singer/songwriter sound. He has been the type of musician that, if you lose track of him for a...