69. Bicycles, Scatting, Feeding Cats Like Babies

Every Damn Thing

Phil and Jake rank bicycles, scatting (aka scat singing), and feeding cats like babies on the List of Every Damn Thing.

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SHOW NOTES:

• We briefly discuss ventriloquism, including mention of Candice Bergen’s father Edgar Bergen, who was an actor, comedian and Vaudeville and radio ventriloquist. He was a big star, bigger than it's possible to imagine someone being when his main thing is throwing his voice through a dummy that sits on his lap ON THE RADIO. Even on TV or movies it doesn't really make sense because all the sound comes from the same speaker so throwing his voice doesn't seem that impressive and editing can be done anyways. It just seems like the kind of thing that only would work in live performances but here we are! His show was on the radio for 20 years!
• Phil rode a bicycle across the USA from Yorktown, VA to Vallejo CA. He's a very private person and doesn't like to talk about it much unless you mention bikes, the USA, Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California or any of the geographical features therein.
• Jake rode a bike around the island of Losinj, Croatia.
• Jake refers to wearing a “turtle shell brace” after his bike accident, but it’s maybe more commonly called a clamshell brace.
• Madison Square Garden is the World's Most Famous Arena. It sits on top of Penn Station between 7th and 8th Ave in Manhattan. It's sort of ugly and it replaced the old Penn Station which was an architectural marvel. We mention it because Phil notes that the original MSG was the site of many indoor bicycle races (and was actually on Madison Avenue which made a lot more sense).
• Notable scatters discussed include Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith), David Lee Roth, Cab Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald.
• Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are Cleveland rappers who were signed and promoted by the late Eazy-E before his death. They were really influential in their sing-songy delivery (which you could hear in Crucial Conflict, Three Six Mafia & Nelly) and their post Geto Boys "horrorcore" angle (similar to Gravediggaz). Their biggest successes were probably Crossroads, a meditation on death and First of the Month, a celebration of plenty. They once filmed a video of their trip to Switzerland which was made to get Phil Collins to agree to let them sample him for their song Home.
• Here's the Bone Thugs sketch on Saturday Night Live that Jake mentions.
• MC Skat Cat was an animated cat that would rap in the early 90s. Most famously with Paula Abdul. Phil just listened to "Skat Strut" for the first time and enjoyed the Earth, Wind & Fire sample.
• “Scatman (ski-ba-bob-ba-dop-bop)” by Scatman John is not to be confused with Scatman Crothers.
• The Fu-Schnickens were a hip-hop trio that were very difficult to understand but nonetheless quite impressive because they rapped at double (maybe triple?) speed. Chip-Fu in particular was just incredible even if the speed of the words made you dizzy. Phil follows him on twitter but he just tweets at regular speed, sadly. As a white kid from rural California with zero cultural context, Phil didn't understand that he was hearing a Caribbean thing. Their Ring the Alarm samples the Tenor Saw classic. They're mostly remembered now for making Can We Rock with Shaquille O'Neal.
• Phil might have taken it too far to say Doo Wop music was scatting. The second half of "Sh-Booom" is a good example of what he was referring to though.
• “Heebie Jeebies” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five is, as of 2021, in the public domain. Phil’s thinking we should make this our show's theme song.
• Both New Orleans and Queens can claim Louis Armstrong. He was from New Orleans but he moved to Corona, Queens (very close to where the Mets play) and lived there from 1943 until his death in 1971.
• The Harder They Fall on Netflix features “Broader Than Broadway” by Barrington Levy, which is a fantastic song.
• We discuss “Panama” by Van Halen. Phil says that the lyrics to this song don't matter at all and they might as well be scatting.
• Here’s that twitter thread of old paintings with people feeding cats like babies.
• How many shirtless men wearing elaborate angel wings, gold lamé shorts & furry cha-cha heels are really just actual angels?

ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
Annie (1982 film) * Bernadette Peters * stolen bikes * the Golden Gate Bridge * the Marin Headlands * bike crashes * E-bikes * anti-diarrhea medicine * Dolly Parton * cats * beatboxing * Hank Williams’ yodeling * saxophone in rock music * snare drums * glitter * Drumline * swaddling * Charm...