Post-Fame Plus 1.4

s1.4 Post-Fame Plus

[00:00:00]

Glen Erickson: Now we can officially, Seemed so upset that I had it wrong,

alexi: I was like, well, crap, because what if you have it wrong? And now we’re

Glen Erickson: and,

alexi: album.

Glen Erickson: and then we would be sitting here unprepared, which, which we’re already, wearing a little bit of unpreparedness openly because it’s, uh, it’s Thursday as we record this, which normally we would’ve posted it. We’ve posted Thursday morning since we started. That’s our schedule. And you and I both completely blitzed on what day it was.

alexi: Like, I wish we could go

Glen Erickson: uh,

alexi: our conversation last night. ’cause we probably just seen like insane people.

Glen Erickson: yeah. ’cause we were just talking like it was the day before. Clearly, like a hundred percent. [00:01:00] Well, we’ve probably disappointed 20 people, so I apologize to those 20 people who might have expected something this morning. I’m being a little facetious, of course, but that’s the way it goes. Okay, well this is, uh, this is number four, Lexie.

And of Post Fame Plus our summer series, uh, between myself, your host, Glen Erickson, and, uh, Lexi Alexi Erickson, also your host. yeah, so let’s, let’s kick right into it, except I don’t remember who usually took a turn to go first, so. In our, in our exchange of one person bring a song, one person bring an album.

Uh, we’re on our fourth installment and what we were just laughing about is, uh, it sounded like I was confused once again. I really wasn’t. ’cause I’ve just been sitting here pulling together stuff. So I’m doing the song. You’re doing the whole album,

alexi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: is great. Okay, so why don’t we. I just like it when you go first.

So I don’t know if we’re breaking whatever [00:02:00] is, did we do it the other way around before? Do you remember?

alexi: Yeah. It’s

Glen Erickson: It was always Okay, then we’ll stick to it.

alexi: Thank

Glen Erickson: thought you didn’t remember either. And so that I could just go Dealer’s choice, but apparently no dealer’s choice for me. Okay. Well song first. And I gave you, I told you last week that there was an Easter egg in there because you said something about the album that you had and that it was sort of spurred on by something I.

alexi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: was spurred on by something and I can’t remember actually at the exact moment how all of that went down. But then I said, well, my song is actually, there’s an Easter egg in a part of what our conversation was. So the part of our conversation was about people who have appeared and played at our folk fest, which I’ve, uh, been very grateful and had incredible privilege through some of the work that I do with the Edmonton Folk Fest, who have had like all access passes for.

Over a decade now for me and the family and, and so there’s no excuse, I guess is [00:03:00] what I’m saying, that I should have missed anybody or had every opportunity to see people and been well informed, and yet I continually have a regret almost it feels like every year. So this is one of my regrets, Lexi. Oh yeah, you can guess

alexi: I

Glen Erickson: I know what you’re probably gonna guess.

So.

alexi: Is

Glen Erickson: I’ll just let you know. I have a guess about your guess

alexi: No, no, no. Is it? No. Is it? I don’t wanna say here last name though. Angie McMahon.

Glen Erickson: McMahon.

alexi: McMahon?

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: it?

Glen Erickson: Yeah. You have to understand how that word is. That name is, is spoken. It’s pretty important.

alexi: Is it her?

Glen Erickson: No, it’s not. But I knew, that was my guess of who you would guess,

alexi: What is someone

Glen Erickson: because

alexi: and was

Glen Erickson: no big, you know, you’re not wrong. Like in the top two songs that I absolutely adore by artists that I’ve missed at our folk fest, and I’m like horribly embarrassed. That’s [00:04:00] one of them. That was maybe actually number one, but that’s not my choice for today.

Yeah. Uh, so my choice for today is a different artist whose name is Kevin Morby. And Kevin Morby, I had completely missed. And then in a playlist that I share with my two best friends, Greg and Joel. Greg posted. And, and nobody’s done this at all yet. It’s, it’s sharing songs. And he posted the entire record by this guy, Kevin Morby.

So, uh, the record is called, this is a Photograph, the song is called, this is a Photograph. So that’s, I wanna share that song. And the reason that it came back to me recently is. I’ve been listening to more and more deep cuts from the Song Exploder podcast, which goes all the way back to like, I think 2015.

Like it’s been one of the oldest, most consistent ones, so there’s a lot of material to mind and I was just kind of thumbing through it. And am I keeping you up, Lexie?

alexi: No, I’ve been

Glen Erickson: Right there.

alexi: in a

Glen Erickson: Oh, okay, okay, [00:05:00] okay. Alright, that’s fine. Okay. So I was thumbing through Song Exploder and then I saw this song was in there and I thought, oh, that’s awesome.

Like, I didn’t think that that would necessarily make the cut on, uh, on a song Exploder episode. And I listened to it and it turned out just to actually be one of my favorite song Exploder episodes. So the song, this is a photograph from that album. And, and the podcast, if anybody wants to go back and let’s do, it’s from, I think 2022.

So it’s a while back, like just after the song was released. Kevin Morby. so he is, I love his voice, so his voice to me is like a. Like the modern day almost. It’s, it’s got like the a Lou Reed quality. Like at first I thought because he’s, you know, a lot of his stuff can be pretty more in the folk.

Indie folk world. I start thinking Bob Dylan, just the way he just kinda gives away vowels and just lets words kind of fall off at the end all the time. And in some [00:06:00] instances, almost TOXs it feels like, which is very, I think universally, Dylan asked to people, but the smoothness of the tone and the way he still moves between words like vocally, tonally.

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: Is So Lou Reed to me, which is another very old velvet underground throwback, but just somebody who’s really famous for that and it’s so smooth. And the song when he, when I, so the reason I wanted to share it as like a song that I would share to anybody is because number one, it sits in this cannon of.

Incredible songs. I can’t believe I didn’t get to see live. Like it just went right under my radar and PLAs me. And then now I listen to it a lot. I just can’t, I go back to it a lot. It is based on two things that I love. It is just got this undeniable little guitar look and, and it’s, and it’s, it basically almost runs the whole way through and.

And, and it is really [00:07:00] cool. And when I hear him talk about it and describe how he built the song and how he was actually listening to some other very well-known song where the phrase of the guitar L kind of goes up at the end, and he was just messing around with something that sounded similar, and then he just let it go down.

And then as soon as that happened, he was like, oh, I’ve got something. Here. And then he just kept repeating it and then he just started building words over top. and then it, it’s this story about his dad and being with his family and finding these old photographs and the story, the more he keeps telling it is just so literal.

And I don’t know if you encounter where you listen to a song and you think the lyrics. Are these like actual things that happened? Do you know what I mean? Because the, the pieces all are just, those are just too exact to not, you know, to get pieced together that way. And so he is like, essentially he was literally inspired by a photograph they found of his dad.

And, and then he starts talking about sort of the [00:08:00] picture his dad had of in his mind of when he was young, from when he was young. And, And his dad sort of dealing with sickness and sort of, uh, he sort of, well, he essentially does, he, he kind of quotes a famous era of boxing in the world, in the mainstream world between these two boxers, sugar Ray and, and Roberto Duran and, and this famous fight.

Which was a rematch when this, I think Mexican boxer, Roberto Duram basically said, no MAs, and just walked off. He’s just like, no more. He knew he was losing or something and he basically quotes all this as, ’cause it was his dad’s favorite thing to watch. And, and he talked about that thing all the time.

And then it was a metaphor also for his dad, kind of like being really kind of cocky at the world in some difficult times and stuff. Anyhow, the whole piecing together of it. Made so much sense, and the song is just so, sometimes the song to me is so perfectly written, it feels like somebody grabbed it down out of the [00:09:00] universe.

Do you know what I mean? Like it was already made and somebody was just lucky enough to have stumbled upon it that day.

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: It’s one of those kinds of songs. So. To me, I absolutely love it. I’m so sad I ever miss seeing it played live closer to the heyday of when that came out. You know, just that same energy.

But maybe I’ll get another chance

alexi: Maybe

Glen Erickson: to see the guy. Yeah. But there’s a lot to that song, a lot to that meeting. I think if anybody’s interested at all. They should also listen to that song Spoiler episode and get all the background on how he wrote the song. So,

alexi: that.

Glen Erickson: yeah, that’s it. That’s me.

alexi: Well, maybe he’ll come back to Folk Fest and then you’ll get another,

Glen Erickson: Maybe

alexi: another chance. Huh? My turn.

Glen Erickson: abs. Yeah, absolutely. There’s no other turns.

alexi: Um, kidding. Okay. I feel like this one’s also predictable. I’m not gonna lie. Um, and I don’t even have really a story for it. It’s just kind of, know. When we, when I first listened to it, I think the first thing I told you [00:10:00] was like, oh, it’s just like a zero skip album. And some of the songs feel so different. And when you listen to them, like individually, you’re like, how are these in the same album? And then when you listen to the whole album, like as a whole and you’re like, oh, like these are meant to all be in the same album. but this is her Garden State Vampire by Joe P. It’s, it’s also very short and sweet and I really like it. It’s 37 minutes, um, I think 11 songs, which is very

Glen Erickson: That’s interesting. Well, it’s interesting you point that out because I mean, he’s one of a hundred now to cover Bruce Springsteen’s. I’m on fire, which you shared with me, but it’s a shorter version of I’m on fire. I don’t think he even makes it to two minutes before he finishes.

alexi: a hundred. Uh, a minute. 57.

Glen Erickson: you could have said 157 seconds.

We’d accept it,

alexi: Thank you.

Glen Erickson: but it wouldn’t be accurate. ’cause that’s not right either. yeah, so the guy likes short and sweet music.

alexi: yeah,

Glen Erickson: I.

alexi: I, yeah, I don’t know. I really like it. Like the one song, um, [00:11:00] birthday Baby. like pretty slow and like, for lack of a better term in the moment, like, like almost like a sad, sad or slower song. And then there’s other ones like. Off my mind or like she got me, like other ones that are super upbeat and, uh, one or two on, they’re like very, very fast paced. but they just all work and they’re all good. There’s no skips. I like all of them. When I first listened, I didn’t like two of the songs so much. but they very heavily grew on me and so now I’m a big fan. But

Glen Erickson: Well, I mean, off my mind is, on multiple playlists of mine now, thanks to you and probably a song that if I feel like I need to share something newish to somebody

alexi: A

Glen Erickson: that wouldn’t know them, and maybe also be surprised. That old man Glen is still in touch? I would probably pick, that would be one of the songs that I would pick.

’cause I just think it’s really good. I’m curious about your feeling about them being very different. [00:12:00] Because if I listened to a record and at first the song seemed quite different, I feel like the songwriter maybe just was still in a phase that they hadn’t fully found themself. Like they still felt like they needed to try a bunch of different things.

But you’re saying, but you’re saying when you listen to it. Like you realize that yeah, all of these are meant to be together.

alexi: Yeah. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like, it’s not even like undertones, it’s just like they all make sense. Maybe it’s like the lyrics or the like general kind of portrayed feeling or the, maybe the feeling that the songs leave you with, but like they’re, yeah, they’re all just quite different. But they all make like kind of, I don’t know, make me feel the same type of way. And it’s just such a good album for like, I can just hit shuffle on the thing in so many different like times, like if I’m driving to work or like getting ready for the date or like with people chatting in the car and I need like background [00:13:00] music or I’m like. Um, studying, like, it’s just like, I, it is just one of those albums that I think that’s the other reason I chose it is like, it’s not often that I save an album on Spotify instead of just like, add songs from it to like playlists. Um, or like, I know that I can just, if I want to listen to a album in its whole that I can just search it and I don’t need to be like lazy. Um, but I don’t often enough do that, that I save one. But it’s one

Glen Erickson: Yeah.

alexi: think three that I have like the album. Downloaded and saved. So when I go to like my playlists, the album as a whole is also there. ’cause I so often just go and play it as a

Glen Erickson: Hmm.

alexi: and I want on CD so bad, but it’s so expensive,

Glen Erickson: That’s crazy that we have to say that. That’s so expensive. But, um. I mean, that’s an interesting feeling because I think you’re right. Like I lessen less if I go and look and I think I just wanna play an album start to finish, I feel like I’m going back to my old standard favorites and that’s it. I’m [00:14:00] either gonna pick one of four records by the national, or one of three records by the war on drugs or you know, or, or bleachers, or a couple of these.

But I mean. All of those are from quite a while ago. I feel like you’re right. Less and less Well, am I allowed to give an honorable mention even though it’s out of turn?

alexi: Is it an album too?

Glen Erickson: Yeah,

alexi: crazy. Yeah, go ahead.

Glen Erickson: so, well ’cause we’re just talking about the experience of it.

alexi: Yeah.

Glen Erickson: So the brand new record by this guy Ken Yates, who is a, a favorite. I only share him, I don’t know anybody else who knows.

Ken Yates, I Canadian art artist, I’m pretty sure. Um,

alexi: your underground

Glen Erickson: with.

alexi: hard

Glen Erickson: With Mike Angus of the band. So Mike and I share the love of this guy and I think Mike introduced him to me, to be honest. And at first I think we listened to some of his early stuff and thought his voice had an Andy SCH quality. Um, and so we were just interested in it, but the music was a little different.[00:15:00]

But, This record feels more like Donovan Woods a little bit with the, with the vocals. But the, the whole album is consistent. So it’s not like you’re Joe p it’s the songs all feel like they’re cut from the exact same cloth, but they, some of them have just that little bit more character. And if every other song kind of has like real character despite things feeling the same,

alexi: Yeah,

Glen Erickson: don’t know.

That’s really attractive. And I, I was driving the other night ’cause it was about the fourth time. I listened to this thing in a row, so you’ll have a chuckle about that. But,

alexi: yeah.

Glen Erickson: and the only phrase that came to mind was like, this whole record feels like a warm blanket to me. Like, and I really liked it and I’ve missed having one of those.

alexi: I like

Glen Erickson: Right. Yeah. That, so that’s cool.

alexi: Cute.

Glen Erickson: That’s cool. Well, I’m glad you brought that one up. ’cause I think, out of all the music you introduced me to, that Joe P record might be my favorite of all of them.

alexi: a

Glen Erickson: So

alexi: You know, I was gonna

Glen Erickson: like, yeah,

alexi: um, mom [00:16:00] talking and I was gonna like say with the Blue Rodeo albums and, and be so serious about it for a few minutes. And then, um, I.

Glen Erickson: I would never take you seriously if you tried that.

alexi: was

Glen Erickson: I,

alexi: I think I would say the name and you would be like, okay, come on now. Like

Glen Erickson: that’s funny. Who opened your door behind you? The dog.

alexi: dog.

Glen Erickson: Okay. We can’t get mad at the dog then.

alexi: Well also, ’cause

Glen Erickson: Um,

alexi: um,

Glen Erickson: doesn’t close. I know.

alexi: no, but she learned how to open it even when I have it shut

Glen Erickson: Oh, smart Doge.

alexi: no stopping her now.

Glen Erickson: Smart Doge. Well, why wouldn’t she want to come in and be with you? That’s so sweet. Okay, two quick things while we wrap up, uh, this little summer mini series ’cause then we’re gonna take a few weeks off before we launch season two, which we’re excited about and we’re already recording episodes.

Uh. In the, can they like to say in the biz. Uh, I love it. I’m so happy about where things have already started, uh, which is gonna be [00:17:00] great. But, so two things I wanted to draw attention to. One, um, one was specifically around a partnership that we’ve kind of signed on to. So the very last episode of season one right, was my friend Jessica Lemon of Lemon Entertainment in the lemon stage.

And. They are doing this thing called Music Day in Canada and they did it last year and it’s like, uh, an initiative to start promoting both venues and kind of up and coming artists in places and just kind of give that grassroots focus and, um, I. They’re trying to expand it this year, which I think is exciting into more cities and more exposure, and so we decided that we’d partner on that and that almost famous enough would maybe do a version of, we’re still working out the details, like a little side bonus series on.

Possibly like the historic venues in a lot of the cities across Canada that people used to love to tour or something or, or bring some sort of focus to it and, and partner on all this kind of stuff. So you can look forward to hearing more of that from us. And on our socials, I’ll be sharing a lot of their things as well.

And then working towards building some content [00:18:00] around, uh, promoting all of that and hopefully getting people to buy into supporting some. Some local efforts in their, in their places across the country, and we love a, we love a national focus thing.

alexi: Yes.

Glen Erickson: Because it’s very easy for us to get Edmonton and Alberta focused.

Um, so that’s great. So that’s number one I would want people to pay attention to. Number two, the other reason I would ask any listeners to pay attention to the socials is I’ll probably be doing some of my shameless pleading for. Um, people to do what they can if they appreciate our efforts and what we’re loving to do with the podcast.

Um, the only way to crack the algorithms, everybody knows it is. Some version of authentic engagement, so to speak, right. Engagement, air quotes. Um, but it, you know, I just, I need real people if they care even a little bit and [00:19:00] make an effort to either share a thing or click on a thing or listen to a thing all the way through.

Um, yeah, that’s the only way for me to sort of be able to grow. Things really well, um, besides the obvious, which is like, work hard at making a good podcast, uh, for people, which is actually all that you and I really care about. Um, but you can’t, you, you get even good things get buried and so I have to be willing to ask for help.

So I may be out there asking for people’s help as we get rolling with season two to kick it off with a bang. That’s all.

alexi: Yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

Glen Erickson: it. I’m not gonna ask you to put it all over your socials. Don’t worry.

alexi: I’m just a girl.

Glen Erickson: Are you just, oh, that’s the answer. Oh my goodness.

alexi: I am just

Glen Erickson: Okay. Okay. That, that seems to cover so many different things.

I don’t know how or where it came from, but good for you. Okay. Uh, that works for me. Thanks for doing the fun series [00:20:00] with me. It’s been, it’s been a lot of fun. Yeah. Well, we’ll we could have just slid over that, but I guess, yeah,

alexi: Oh.

Glen Erickson: it is, the fun is more important than the mistakes, Lexi.

alexi: yeah, I think we killed it regardless, so it’s okay.

Glen Erickson: Okay, good. I’m glad you think so. Okay. Thank you. Love you.

alexi: you. Bye.

Glen Erickson: Okay, bye.