Time to Lean 2: Shaken and Slurred

Phil is drinking green tea (!) but also mentions comparing Even Williams BiB and Wild Turkey 101. John is drinking Oban Little Bay scotch. John’s Old Tech is back!  This time, all due tribute is paid to the late-great Tivo. Phil finally watches Boy and the Heron and…Dave Chappel.   John watches Sinners and the first season of Pluribus and Better Off Dead.   We both watched Strange Brew - does it hold up after all these years?  John fires up Fallout 4.

We open the show talking about our beverages…as usual. John compares Kirkland Islay Single Malt with Scarabus Islay Single Malt and Phil talks about Kentucky Owl The Wiseman Rye  We also discuss Old Fashioned cocktails with their variations.  The return of Krispy Kreme to Minnesota. Special Guest, Shawn Cassity, then joins the show, already in progress.  The 50th anniversary of the 1977 Star Wars. The recent Devo documentary and Shawn and Phil recap seeing the band in person!  Shawn is watching “Out of the Unknown” on Internet Archive.

Episode 103 begins with Phil Drinking Evan Williams The Outdoorsman and John having a Traveller whiskey. Then, onto things like: Charo(!), John’s Rapid City update, Mahler’s First Symphony, NIN Tron: Ares Soundtrack, The Studio, The Roof Man, 40s Junction.

Episode 102 starts with John talking about weed being available more widely in Minnesota and Tim Walz’s announcement that he’s running for reelection. A little friend got into John’s smoker.  West St. Paul’s rogue garage repair guy.  Beast BBQ.  The quintet Phil is in, General Eclectic, performed at Capital City Fest.  Spats.  Old School Rapid City movie theaters, including a Jerry Lewis Cinema (?!) etc. 80s Rapid City SD nostalgia returns with: The Rushmore Mall!

Episode 101 brings us into a new iteration of our show:  Time to Lean:  Shaken and Slurred! Stay tuned for more updates as we move into this brave new podcasting adventure! We start out with our usual beverage segment (John: Glenfiddich 12 year, Phil: Freeland Spirits Bourbon) and then John leaves momentarily to cook some barbeque.  Taco John’s moves its corporate headquarters!   Our main topic today is John’s EV Epic where he talks about all the cars he had as loaners while his Kia was out of commission. Is this better or worse than talking about whiskey?  Maybe!  Also some Minnesota music scene talk and concerts Phil’s has seen this Summer, John talks about the early post-apocalyptic movie, 1959’s “On The Beach”. Time To Lean theme music by Philip T. Hunter and John Knowles, All Rights Reserved. Time to Lean Logo by Blake Himsl Hunter, All Rights Reserved.

Episode 100! We start with the announcement that we’re now also on YouTube! Phil takes the family to the Minnesota Arboretum for Mother’s Day.  Which somehow reminds John of the movie “Black Sunday”.  Trendy American truncated names.  John’s electric car saga. John takes another trip to Rapid City, SD and there’s a field recording with friends of the show Paul S. and Bruce K. to prove it!  Things tasted: Ardbeg Heavy Vapours, Smokehead Phil talks about the Apollo Club Men’s Chorus Spring Concert   Song: “Brain Warsh”

The ramp-up to our hundredth episode continues! John is drinking Larceny Barrel Proof We say adieu to Skype. A brief chat about early music videos and 80s HBO. We remember the voice actor, George Lowe from Space Ghost Coast to Coast Part 2 of Phil’s award-winning segment:  “Things I Didn’t Know”! John does another “Old Tech” segment about the golden age of cable television, aka “Cable TV”.  BONUS: A bit of 80s KWGN Denver talk. John talks about “Severance”, “The Righteous Gemstones”, and rewatching the Lord of the Rings trilogy.   Song Title: “Tool of Choice”

We get a rough start but find our way and thank listener Curtis P!  If you’d like to support the show, check out https://buymeacoffee.com/timetolean John gets the drinking part out of the way by making a Wisconsin-style Old Fashioned. He got it slightly wrong with the types, which are described (accurately) here:  here. Phil reveals that he doesn’t like brandy. More talk about what we’ve been watching: Bad Sisters, Silo (John); Sakamoto Days, Joker (2019) (Phil) A left turn into the world of Phil Collins - Phil Collins: Drummer First, Wicked, John is rewatching Lord of the Rings,    Song: “Cracker Barrel Nutcracker”

Episode 97 begins with the usual mayhem and we discuss raking leaves.  A mercifully minimal amount of post-election blather. Thanksgiving and other updates. We watched the movie, ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! and discussed our scant history with this iconic place. The episode wraps up with our report from seeing “BEAT” in concert. The Song:  “A Wonderful Thanksgiving”

Episode 96 shambles along with the following topics:   We talk briefly about Dean Phillips and his family’s booze company.  We remember the late Kris Kristofferson.  John talks about pot stilling and a potential bust in the whiskey market after reading this article.  It’s election season… We both watched the cult classic movie, “Carnival of Souls”  Phil’s watching another set of “classic” movies:  The Omen films. John talks about a recent music gig that was not exactly ideal.   The Song:  “We’re Both Sidekicks”

We open with a slightly higher than usual amount of what passes for banter.  Phil has a kombucha and graduates to some Wild Turkey 101 bourbon.  John has a dram of Minneapolis-made, Brother Justus American Single Malt. Phil and John visited this distillery recently and have some observations. The 1992 movie, Bob Roberts comes up. John bought an electric vehicle and Phil has many questions. We don’t know how informative this topic was but we sure said a lot! The Song:  “Spicy Fly”

Today, we’re joined by returning Special Guest, Shawn Cassity!  (not Shaun Cassidy, but if you know him, we’ll have him on too)   Shawn is having a Keeper’s Heart, Phil a Tusker Lager and John is drinking Dewar's 15 year scotch. After we get the usual junk out of the way, we have a brief chat about podcast player apps. Phil has an update on his other podcast activities.  John randomly mentions BBC’s The Shipping Forecast. And remembers the old NPR show, Music From the Hearts of Space and MST3K.  Phil recalls a technique he was taught to memorize Spanish vocabulary and wonders if MST3K ever lampooned the movie Tourist Trap (1979). With Shawn on deck, we have a long-ish chat about our least-favorite Beatles songs.  (favourite)   Song: “The Cats Will Eat Tonight”

Today is sponsored by the letter “Green”.  John is drinking a Johnnie Walker Island Green and describes how it’s made, travel retail and the differences between it and Johnnie Walker Green.  Phil starts with green tea, then moves over to Old Forester. Airport security Phil’s trip to New Mexico.  The second installment of John’s Old Tech features the LaserDisc!  And the first installment of Phil’s new segment!   The Song:  “Old Roy”

We open episode 92 with another round of booze where we talk a bit about Old Grand Dad bourbon and the Bottled in Bond thing. Phil went to a whiskey tasting. John also does a taste comparison between two different High West ryes.  A mercifully brief post-Super Tuesday chat. Celebrity crushes. Phil had a salt bath. Kitchen equipment. More talk about what shows we watch and John is making some “Goulash”.  Kenny of All Trades and BBQ With Franklin   The Song:  “Furtherer and Fewer in Between”

We open Episode 91 with just your two hosts; a simpler time.  Phil and John took several weeks off of booze and sure, why not talk about it?  John went on another cruise. Fortunately for all of you, he doesn’t spend too much time talking about it. After our beverage choices (Phil has FUYU Japanese Whiskey and John has Johnnie Walker Double Black , we get into a segment about stuff we’ve been watching. Also mentioned: Herbst Eatery & Farm Stand The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) Silo (Apple TV+) Pluto (Netflix) Invincible (Amazon Prime) And the 2018 film, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot   The Song:  “Dancing and Having Soup”

Episode 90 is a free-wheelin’ doozy of a season finale of Season 9, for those following along at home. With Special Guest Mr. King! Monsieur King (Monsieur is French for Mister) is a friend of Phil, friend of the show and the friendly creator of the World-Famous podcast, Sleep Baseball!  King is drinking a Coors, John Buffalo Trace Bourbon, and Phil tries a Shanky’s Whip. We talk about King’s show and his upper-Midwest inspiration. Driving through parts of Michigan and various parts of the McDonald’s menu. We discuss adding “ways to support the show” and the old Jerry Lewis Telethons. Somehow we accidentally kill Henry Kissinger. If you find yourself enjoying the show and want to support us, you can buy us a "coffee"! The Song:  “Henry Kissinger”

Episode 89 retreats back to Phil and John talking about even less important things. “Space Poop” episode download stats update. We reflect on Episode 87. More-than-is-warranted talk about the State Fair and cookies. John went on an Alaska cruise and blabs about it. Phil and John recap the Peter Gabriel concert they recently attended. The Song:  “Josh Rogaine”

For Time to Lean’s Halloween Special, aka Episode 88, we were joined by special guest, Randy Grimley! Randy and Phil go way back to SDSU theater days and Randy shares “highlights” from his illustrious past.  Randy was an all-star newspaper carrier.  Randy talks about his time serving on his local school board. We ponder which 5 cent coffee is better, Wall Drug or Al’s Oasis? We all discuss spooky movies. The Song:  “TTL Halloween (2023 Remix)”

Episode 87 is a Very Special Episode featuring Phil and John’s recent visit to Rapid City where they got to tour the construction site of South Middle School. A new building is going up and we’re joined on the call by Rob, Elizabeth, Meghan, and Jennifer K who all talk about their experiences there. Phil reads some comments he gathered from other former South students John did not attend South but assured everyone that his Jr. High experience was just as crappy as everyone else’s.  The Song:  “Rebels” (Featuring Michael Johnson)

Episode 86 features a return appearance of Bruce K! John samples some new-to-him Thomson single malt whisky. Bruce feels that Jim Beam tastes like walnuts and doesn’t like Canadian rye. The Dick Van Dyke show episode John mentioned.  John and Phil talk about the Scotch tasting they attended where they met the head distiller of Lochlea.  Phil doesn’t comment much because he left his mic temporarily muted. Sad! Bruce has retired from public school orchestra teaching. Many long-winded stories follow, mostly about international trips and rotting food in instruments. The Song:  “There You Have It, There You Go”