this podcast is a co-production of Teacher On The Radio & Ordinary Space
Co-hosts Andrew Smith & Rick Quinn
links to listen:
https://anchor.fm/andrew-smith045
“Ordinary Takes” is based at the intersection of pop culture, theology, and social justice, but we wear those ideas loosely and interpret them inclusively.
I definitely want to drop artists and lists and playlists and maybe even discuss/debate some of these choices. But an arc that will unite us today, is the spirit-emotion-message of our music fandom practice, how pop music and headphone therapy/devotionals, helped us survive this totally strange and at times terrifying year.
This article from Amanda P, the New Yorker critic tapped this vibe:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2020-in-review/the-best-music-of-2020
Rick’s best picks:
Rick’s Picks for Best Albums of 2020
Fetch the Bolt Cutters-Fiona Apple
Reunions-Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
The Unraveling-Drive-By Truckers
folklore-Taylor Swift
Gaslighter-The Chicks
RTJ4-Run the Jewels
Punisher-Phoebe Bridgers
Rough and Rowdy Ways-Bob Dylan
Live Forever-Bartees Strange
Good Souls Better Angels-Lucinda Williams
A Letter To You-Bruce Springsteen
Homegrown-Neil Young*
*Homegrown is technically a 2020 release but is a previously unreleased Neil Young record from 1974-1975 written and recorded after Young’s “Ditch Trilogy” (Time Fades Away, Tonights the Night, On the Beach) and before Zuma.
:20 Amy Rock - Amy is a Nashville resident, Tennessee Tech alumni, and former radio DJ at WTTU. She loves indie rock and EDM and misses going to Music festivals and raves.
Amy Rock’s best of 2020 playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/189bsPD4Zk4NYfjx3Y7LUJ?si=xgwAkdJZTumXHDR3bsxUfQ
:40 Scott Greenberg
Greenberg’s Top 10 Albums of 2020
Letter to You - Bruce Springsteen
Rookie
Sideways to New Italy - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Saint Cloud - Waxahatchee
Lover & a Fighter - Devil Doll
TIE: Women in Music Pt. III - Haim Superstar - Caroline Rose
TIE: Reunions - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit That’s How Rumors Get Started - Margo Price
Concrete and Glass - Nicolas Godin
The Unraveling - Drive-By Truckers
Daughter - Lydia Loveless
Bio As a quirky Jewish kid born into a life of irony on Christmas Eve, Scott Greenberg grew up running wild on the mean streets of suburban Detroit, raised on a steady diet of Motown, AM gold, Marvel Comics, Kiss & Creem magazine, guided only by the wit of Groucho Marx as filtered through Hawkeye Pierce.
Scott’s radio show - Debts No Honest Man Can Pay - started at WHFR-FM (Dearborn, MI) in 2003. The show moved with him to North Carolina, landing at WGWG-FM (Boiling Springs, NC) in 2006, then Plaza Midwood Community Radio (Charlotte, NC) in 2012.
There was also a brief 2 1/2-month pitstop at WLFM-FM (Appleton, WI), but that’s another story for another time. Plaza Midwood Community Radio folded in April, 2020. By early June, Debts had “phoenixed” into a podcast, thanks to some friends back in Detroit at NRM Streamcast.
Over the years, Scott’s won 4 awards from the Michigan Association of Educational Broadcasters, and was voted Best Radio Personality in the Charlotte Creative Loafing 2015 Readers' Poll.
He currently lives in Charlotte, NC, where he works as a professional copywriter.
1:00 Scott Winchell
Scott Winchell’s 2020 Musical Highlights:
* Not in order, by any means: (I could go for days, but these are some of the highlights)
Fontaines D.C., “A Hero’s Death” (They have saved Irish rock)
Declan McKenna, “Zeros” (Strong brit venture)
Steve Earle, “Ghosts of West Virginia” (True Grit)
Public Enemy, “What you Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?” (Truth)
Alanis Morissette, “Such Pretty Forks In The Road” (That jagged little pill didn’t kill her)
Waxahatchee, “Saint Cloud” (Top to bottom greatness)
The Psychedelic Furs, “Made Of Rain” (29 years between albums, and it’s one of their best)
Pearl Jam, “Gigaton” (I know it pisses folks off to say it, but this is probably their best album in 15 years)
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, “Reunions” (No comment needed)
Mylie Cyrus, “Plastic Hearts” (The goddaughter of Dolly is proving worthy)
Testament, “Titans of Creation” (Best album of the year, in my opinion. Definitely, the best thrash album)
Phish, “Sigma Oasis” (Not a huge Phish fan. This album impressed me, however)
The Killers, “Imploding The Mirage” (More people should get into this American treasure of a band)
The Weekend, “After Hours” (It is THAT good)
COMEBACK OF 2020: AC/DC, “Power Up” (Death, jail, hearing loss, vertigo. Yet, they’re back.)
Miss: The Blind Boys of Alabama, “Almost Home” (Released years ago, re-released 2020. This is gold.)
Observation: Mainstream Country really tanked during the pandemic.
Throwback: I had several weeks-long swaths where I listened to Rush, ‘Power Windows’ endlessly. (1985)
Scott is a proven sales professional and leader, with demonstrated success in sales & marketing development, and revenue, pricing & inventory management. He has successfully built and led numerous B2B sales teams within the media advertising world. Scott has managed the pricing and inventory of a $270 million+ advertising revenue portfolio, while working with local media markets in the sales development of local, regional and national clients. His passion for the media industry, and to help businesses through smart marketing has provided Scott with a deep understanding of all media, including broadcast, the digital landscape, and the every growing world of programmatic advertising.
Scott’s career path has taken him from stops in the broadcasting and music industries as a DJ, music programmer, artist manager and marketing pro to a successful stint in the advertising revenue side of the entertainment world.
Scott resides in Birmingham, AL with his wife Shannon and three cats. His favorite band of all-time: The Cult.
1:20 Becca Klaver
Songs that have been hanging out on my list for a while and will make the cut:
Destroyer - The Raven
Shamir - Other Side
Margo Price - Prisoner of the Highway OR Stone Me
Waxahatchee -- Witches OR Can't Do Much
Bon Iver - AUATC
Other fun ones to discuss:
Shameika - Shameika Said (feat. Fiona Apple)
Minnie Riperton, Star Slinger - Les Fleurs (Star Slinger Remix)
Plus a few songs that speak to 2020:
Jess Williamson - Pictures of Flowers
illuminati hotties - free dumb
Noname - Song 33
Lightning Dust - Material Life
Becca Klaver is the author of the poetry collections LA Liminal (Kore Press, 2010), Empire Wasted (Bloof Books, 2016), and Ready for the World (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), as well as several chapbooks. A founding editor of Switchback Books, she is currently co-editing, with Arielle Greenberg, the digital poetry anthology Electric Gurlesque. She is the Robert P. Dana Director of the Center for the Literary Arts at Cornell College and lives in Iowa City.
1:40 Steve Stockman
Northern Irish artists suggested by Steve:
Arborist
Malojian
Kitt Philippi
Joshua Burnside
Our Krypton Son
Steve Stockman has been involved at just about every level of music. He has managed, booked bands for the Greenbelt festival, hosted a radio show on BBC Ulster and is a regular reviewer on his Soul Surmise blog. He has written two books, Walk On; The Spiritual Journey of U2 and The Rock Cries Out; Discovering Eternal Truth in Unlikely Music. In 2020 he found himself leaning on the familiar artists like Springsteen, Dylan and Tom Petty and all his new discoveries being Northern Irish artists like Joshua Burnside, Malojian, Arborist, Kitt Philippi and Our Son Krypton. By day Steve is minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian in Belfast, N. Ireland.
