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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.

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  2. DoT Podcast Ep9 - Reformed Whores and New Music from Tom Snyder

DoT Podcast Ep9 - Reformed Whores and New Music from Tom Snyder

Jul 2, 2016

<a href="http://www.reformedwhores.com/" target="_blank">Reformed Whores</a> is a really fun, silly, raunchy duo currently based in New York City. <a href="http://www.lesclaypool.com/news/" target="_blank">Les Claypool</a> of <a href="http://www.primusville.com/" target="_blank">Primus</a> is a big fan, and says of their latest release, <em>Don't Beat Around the Bush</em>, "the gals have created an album of material that could make Charles Bukowski blush." That was enough for me to look closer, and I'm glad I did. I caught up with Katy Price and Marie Cecile Anderson at a gig back in May, when they were opening up for Dweezil Zappa's band on a few dates in the Northeast. We set up in the backroom at the Brighton Music Hall and talked about their musical tastes and comedic background, playing comedy clubs versus music venues, and about the message they are trying to get across that may sometimes get lost in raunch. They are, they tell me, just trying to get to second base with America. Also, if you haven't seen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX8fKLjC__c" target="_blank"><em>Human Centipede</em></a> yet - spoiler alert. They put on a great show and won over a lot of Dweezil's fans - I overheard more than one after their set who found them uproariously funny.

They've had good luck playing <a href="http://www.buffalochip.com/" target="_blank">Buffalo Chip</a>, the motorcycle rally/music festival in Sturgis. Last year, they were on the bill with <a href="http://www.alicecooper.com/" target="_blank">Alice Cooper</a>, this year it's <a href="http://weirdal.com/" target="_blank">"Weird Al" Yankovic</a>. They are starting a new tour in July, and you can <a href="http://www.reformedwhores.com/events-1/" target="_blank">find more dates here</a>.

Here's the conversation, and it is decidedly not safe for work.