I’m excited to talk to writer and musician Luke MacPherson! Luke’s work explores the connections between music, film and philosophy and one of his most recent books, PRIME FORCE DIRECTIVE, draws connections between four cultural forces that shaped his life - the science fiction franchise Star Wars and Star Trek and the heavy metal bands Metallica and Iron Maiden. Luke’s also the lead singer and guitarist in the music project Iron Reverb (who did the cover of our theme song that you hear opening and closing the show this week) as well as the author of several other books that we discuss during our talk. I’ve known Luke for years, ever since his old punk band The Toss-Offs would come and play on my old radio show and it’s been awesome seeing him have this renewed outpouring of creativity lately. We talk about all of that and more during our pretty free ranging conversation.

You can order Luke's books here: Author Page for Luke MacPherson

Check out Luke's music project Iron Reverb!

Kevin was a guest on The Flopcast talking all about the comic books of 1987: https://flopcast.net/687.html

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The second installment of our series of episodes focusing on a single album - I put out the call on social media for folks to get in touch with albums that changed their lives to possibly discuss on the show (with the caveat that I have to like the record as well) and the redoubtable Gary Mitchel (of A Podcask of Amontillado) suggested we discuss Portshead's Dummy. Naturally, I was delighted by this suggestion.

When Dummy came out I hadn’t really heard anything like it - the phrase trip-hop wasn’t really in my vocabulary but I loved it’s mixture of noir soul, spy movie static, and hip-hop style productions, with Beth Gibbons' voice floating above everything as she sang about heartbreak and wandering stars.

You can find the horror movie podcast Gary co-hosts (A Podcask of Amontillado) as well as his upcoming podcast on the Wheel of Time book series at Good to Be a Geek Media: https://www.goodtobeageek.com/

You can email The Best Stuff in the World at gleamingpod@gmail.com

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We are talking to Emily Arkin and Bridget Duggan from Identical Cousins about their upcoming event THE FILTY FORMAL AND TRASH TALENT SHOW, an immersive tribute to the work of the film director John Waters!

The Filthy Formal is a dance party / variety show / excuse to wear your most vile, stupid, and repulsive formal fashions and it’s Saturday night, June 21st, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Somerville Theatre in Somerville Massachusetts!

You can get tickets to the Filthy Formal and Trash Talent Show here: https://www.crystalballroomboston.com/events/filthy-formal-trash-talent-show-a-john-waters-tribute/

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We are discussing one of the most famous and successful movies of all time - Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Do I even need to go into a little intro spiel about Raiders? Producer George Lucas, director Steven Spielberg, and star Harrison Ford team up to create one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema - a swashbuckling archeologist named Indiana Jones who, in the 1930s, is in a race with the Nazis and his rival, the French archeologist Rene Belloq, to discover the lost ark of the covenant.

Joining us this week are some top men: returning guest Kevin Eldridge from the great podcast The Flopcast and Michael Falkner from the website Creative Criticality. We discuss the film (arguably the greatest adventure film ever made), its inferior sequels, and even touch on some of the ancillary video games and tie-in novels. It's a great episode. Trust me.

You can find Kevin Eldridge over at The Flopcast.

You can find Michael Falkner at the website Creative Criticality.

You can email this show at gleamingpod@gmail.com

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We're discussing the musicals of lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim and also talking about the current state of musicals on Broadway - has the supermusical killed the chance for smart shows like Sondheim's to find an audience? Where can his influence be found today? Where should you start with such a vast and acclaimed body of work? I'm joined by the mighty Sue Kisenwether from the Star Trek podcast Women at Warp and by returning guest Cash the Composer (who previously joined to talk about their own immersive musical Fantasmagoriana.)

You can hear 10 years of awesome feminist Star Trek talk with Sue Kisenwether at Women at Warp

Sue has a piece in the upcoming book OUTSIDE IN CAN LIVE WITH IT: 171 New Perspectives on 171 Star Trek DS9 Stories by 171 Writers

Cash's immersive musical FANTASMAGORIANA is being staged June 3rd through 7th in Charleston, South Carolina. Get tickets here: https://cashcomposer.dudaone.com/fantasmagoriana

You can also see a video recording of the show on Cash's Patreon

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Our first in a possible series of sporadic episodes focusing on a single album - I put out the call on social media for folks to get in touch with albums that changed their lives to possibly discuss on the show (with the caveat that I have to like the record as well) and the first response I got was from Christian Campagna of the Talk About the Passion podcast to discuss the seminal hardcore punk album The Crew by Reno, Nevada's 7 Seconds.

Christian and I were are joined in the discussion by our mutual friend (and my former radio co-host) Liam Gray and the three of us wind up talking about other parts of the 7 Seconds discography and what it means to us - this was originally planned as a mini-episode but it wound up being around the length of a regular episode. 7 Seconds are worth it.

You can find Christian's podcast here: Talk About the Passion (way back in 2018 I was a guest on episode 13)

Liam is currently documenting his RV lifestyle on Instagram at www.instagram.com/thebelugarv/

You may remember Gary Mitchel from our episodes on GI Joe and Dungeons & Dragons. I was a guest on Gary Mitchel's horror podcast A Podcask of Amontillado. Check it out here: The Devil You Know

You can email The Best Stuff in the World at gleamingpod@gmail.com

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I’m excited to be talking to the frontman of one of Providence, RI’s greatest bands, Jason “King” Kendall from the Amazing Royal Crowns!

The Royal Crowns managed to combine rockabilly, garage, and punk rock energy into something that sounded both familiar and new and they recorded *great* songs - DO THE DEVIL is probably the most well-known one since the video played on MTV a few times - and put on an absolutely fantastic live show. Being a bystander in the Providence music scene while they conquered that city was a really cool experience and Jason and I talk a lot about that and also what came after, including how as great as the Crowns were they dealt with a number of setbacks that were kind of out of their control, from having to change their name to The Amazing Crowns due to a lawsuit and their label folding. But it's also worth stressing that despite those challenges they also put out a lot of fantastic music and live shows that people still talk about to this day.

The Crowns are playing a show in Cambridge, MA on June 20th with Skavoovie & The Epitones and you can buy tickets here: Skavoovie and The Epitones with The Amazing Royal Crowns at The Sinclair

Check out https://royaltotheloyal.com/ to get alerted about the Amazing Royal Crowns digital museum and merch store.

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Our guest Kellian Adams Pletcher joins to discuss the new interactive, immersive tiki show she has written, Cthulhu Luau, in advance of its sold-out run! We also discuss Kellian's origin in the swing music scene, her long-running seasonal show Club Drosselmeyer, the immersive theater scene in the Boston area, and why she doesn't like Sleep No More as much as I do.

Check out Cthulhu Luau here: https://cthulhu-luau.com/

Get notified when Club Drosselmeyer tickets go on sale here: https://www.clubdrosselmeyer.com/

Our closing music this week is by Vic Ditches from The F.I.D's.

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