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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 EP96: Lamont Price on Godzilla, P-Funk, Ringo, and Rambo with New Music From Lucy Isabel

DoT EP96: Lamont Price on Godzilla, P-Funk, Ringo, and Rambo with New Music From Lucy Isabel

Jul 4, 2019

If you want to make anything funnier, just add Lamont Price. It certainly made watching Godzilla a much more enjoyable experience, which is the point of much of this podcast. This one has been brewing for a couple of years, starting with a conversation we had after a more formal interview with Price when he organized the comedy portion of the Boston Calling festival a while back. We were going to talk about Ringo Starr as a drummer, the Beatles, and celebrate the history and vibe of P-Funk. Then I ran into Price at the movies when the Godzilla trailer was new, and we added that to the mix. Then P-Funk came to town and their farewell tour. We saw that, and then a couple weeks later, we made plans to see Godzilla and sit down immediately afterwards to talk about all of these things, just a few days shy of Ringo's birthday. We also flesh out what a Rambo vs Terminator crossover would look like.

I’m glad we got all of these things in, but it doesn’t even really matter what you talk about with Price. It’s always an entertaining conversation. And Lamont will be back, hopefully around Halloween and Christmas, times of year that we both enjoy. Look for his Lamont’s Boston segments on nbcboston.com, and find him on <a href="https://twitter.com/LPizzle?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Twitter under @lpizzle</a> and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lpizzle12/?hl=en" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Instagram under @lpizzle12</a>, and on his site at <a href="http://lamontpricelive.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">lamontpricelive.com</a>.

This week’s featured track is from next week’s guest, Lucy Isabel. Isabel has a great backstory. A few years ago, Isabel left behind a degree in theater from Yale to move from New Jersey to Nashville and become a singer/songwriter. Her debut full-length album, Rambling Stranger, came out in June, and has produced a couple of great tracks like “How It Goes” and “Something New,” which both have official videos now. My favorite song on the album is “The Between,” which features the line, “Is there something between hitting big and just going home broke.” Isabel’s got a great Americana sound, with disparate influences from Brandi Carlile to Judy Collins, and we explore that a lot more in the conversation next week. And there will be a couple of live tracks in next week’s episode from her recent Boston show. Follow her on Twitter under <a href="https://twitter.com/lucyisabelmusic" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@lucyisabelmusic</a>, on her site at <a href="https://www.lucyisabelmusic.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">lucyisabelmusic.com</a>, and also search for her on <a href="https://lucyisabel.bandcamp.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">BandCamp</a>.