Category: 006. Podcast Recommendations

I can’t get enough of this!

You’ll know ‘Scott’s Bass Lessons’ if you’ve ever googled about or watched a bass guitar video on Youtube, as thereafter you’ll constantly be bombarded with ‘Scott’s Bass Lessons’ Youtube adverts- which I then quickly skip each time they pop-up. To the extent that I was quite turned off by them and had quite a negative association towards Scott’s Bass Lessons (SBL), that I’d actively avoid all of his videos. Until, until I watched an unboxing video by him, and then another unboxing video of a rare short scale bass (Wilcock Mullarkey) by their channel but by this other American guy- and in his video he refers to their podcast. And honestly it was the American host which piqued my interest to check them out (he has a great voice).

So, since following their podcast last week, I’ve probably listened to at least 7 episodes! And each and every one of them has been fantastic thus far! They interview the biggest names in bass (e.g., Marcus Miller), and at first I was thinking, how engaging can these conversations be? But they’re awesome! These OGs in bass talking about how they started, their tales of working with the biggest names in rock/pop/funk, and the best part is when they listen back to their old iconic bass recordings, and with bass in hand they start playing their well known riffs! It’s truly amazing! And when the SBL guys aren’t chatting to other bass players, Scott and Ian (the American) then just chop it up on whatever bass related topic they happen on. My favourite thus far was the two-parter conversation about bass pickups! I’m 100% more knowledgeable about pickups now! And I love the fact that these guys have heaps and heaps of bass guitars in their mancave sheds/ basements, so they can always pull one out and we get to hear the gorgeous sounds of amazing vintage/rare guitars which we’ll never be able to afford.

Now that I’ve heard over 10 hours of their podcasts in just over a week, I’m learning to like Scott aka Scott Devine, in his SBL Youtube adverts, he comes off like a ‘Used car salesman’, like all salesy and a little bit untrustworthy. But now that I’ve gotten to know him, he does seem to be quite a nice guy, and quite down to earth- like in reality he’s not an know it all. While Ian aka Ian Allison is probably the more knowledgeable of the two- but from the get-go I’ve always warmed to him and found him to be very genuine and likeable. So, as a pairing, they’re a great partnership and just listening to them chat about bass, it’s actually quite an enjoyable listen. When the first new episode dropped this week since I’ve been a follower, it honestly felt like Christmas! I was super excited and couldn’t wait to listen to it. It’s definitely a podcast which I like to listen to when I can devote my full attention to, and love listening to it through a Bluetooth speaker, as the bass sounds come out much better through an external speaker compared to the speakers just on your phone.

And now, I’m kicking myself for paying for an entire year of Fender Play, as now I’m tied in to that training course for the next year, when I’m so tempted to get Scott’s Bass Lessons instead. *Grumble Grumble*.

So, if you’re a bass player, and desire to fall back in love with playing again, or you just want to go deeper and deeper! Check out The SBL Podcast, just listening to these guys motivates me to pick up the bass and just play more often! Luv you Scott & Ian!

It only gets weirder and weirder!

Now I remember the 2007 Formula One season so vividly. I’d dabbled as a F1 fan as a teenager, as it was so glossy and attractive at the time, and the PlayStation game was so addictive! Then I went away and lost my sight, so naturally a few old interests of mine went by the wayside and that was 1999.

But I remember so clearly I was randomly watching TV on a Sunday afternoon in 2007 and the Melbourne GP was on. And I remember Louis Hamilton coming in 3^rd, and everyone wondering “Who is this guy?”, a rookie beating his 2 time World Champion teammate! And since that race in 2007, I’d been following F1 again- sure some seasons closer than others, but it was due to that 2007 season which drew me back in with Formula One!

And for those who want to re-live that whole entire crazy season again, warts and all- check-out BBC Radio 5 Live’s podcast called ‘Sports Strangest Crimes’- Spygate.

Over 8 half hour episodes, BBC Journalists in their charming British journalistic way re-tell the story of how a simple  employee at a Photocopying shop in Woking UK uncovered a conspiracy which would become a global front page news item and be the focus of a podcast 15 years later! As a mild fan back in 2007, I only knew of the internal rivalry between Louis and Fernando, and how this internal conflict resulted in costing them both the Driver’s Championship as they fought against each other. But I wasn’t aware of the details of Spygate occurring off-track where the McLaren F1 team were found in possession of Ferrari F1 car designs and operating manuals. So, this detailed deep dive into that season was truly both enlightening and entertaining!

And at this age when we’re all reflecting back on our lives and appreciating how far we’ve all come- the podcast aided in a stroll down memory lane for me, which was both good, and bad I suppose.

So, for the casual F1 fans who might want to hear how each stage of the 2007 F1 Season unfolded, each weird layer at a time, check-out BBC’s podcast Sports Strangest Crime- Spygate, just click HERE! Thank God today’s F1 is completely devoid of drama!….. Not!     

A perfect listen on a lazy Saturday morning!

We only cook on the weekends, and just when I’m looking for ideas/inspiration for that evening’s meal- just in time the latest episode of ‘Play Me a Recipe’ is there on my Podcast player! **Note: Episodes drop each Friday evening.

There are other podcasts out there who also share recipes and cooking tips and tricks, but often times those shows are either long drawn-out not-that-interesting interviews, or a chef literally just reads out a recipe which takes them between 3-5 minutes to get through- leaving you not all that inspired.  However, what’s different about Food 52’s  ‘Play Me a Recipe’, is the fact that the chef or cookbook author for that episode actually cooks the entire meal with you!

Remember those days of TV cooking shows? Before all those shows were replaced with cooking competitions. Remember those days when there used to be cooks who actually cook the meal on screen from start to finish (admittedly they often used to pull out the ‘one which I prepared earlier’ from the oven). But essentially those shows showed us how easy (or difficult) it was to actually cook that meal. Which then gave us the confidence to try it ourselves!

And that is what ‘Play Me a Recipe’ is all about! In around 20 minutes, the chef outlines what you need from ingredients, seasoning to equipment, before starting to cook with you. In great detail, they walk you through each step of the recipe, where you can hear the knife chopping on the chopping board, where you can hear the vegetables being washed, where you can hear the food frying in the pan, and on the odd occasion you can hear the cat meowing in the background as it hears a can of tinned tuna being cracked open. Haaha.

And when there’s some down-time whilst waiting for things to boil, the chefs/cookbook authors share a little about themselves. Sometimes shamelessly plugging their next cookbook, or talking about their restaurant, or just sharing stories about themselves. So, the program is both educational, and enlightening, a pretty good combo hey!?

So, if you too like to experiment with new recipes now and again, and you’re always looking for inspiration in the kitchen, check-out ‘Play Me a Recipe’ from your favourite Podcast app. I guarantee you’ll be inspired to try something new in the kitchen this weekend!   

Keeping you, in the know!

My grandfather used to say, although I couldn’t see, but I was still more informed about the world around me than most people. And he wasn’t wrong, as although I couldn’t physically see what was going on around me, but I used to keep myself informed by listening to everything I could get my hands on. And these were the dark ages of AM/FM radio, and before I had my own computer with adaptive technology. So, I had to rely purely on free to air radio stations for news of the outside world, outside of my own four walls.

So, you can say, this is why I particularly enjoy podcasts, as it’s just like old school radio, but you get to pick and choose what you want to listen to, when you want to hear it! And for the past 18 months I’d been following the BBC’s coverage of the Corona Virus, by the way of their daily Coronavirus Global Update podcast- a daily 5 minute whip around the globe, covering the main Covid-19 related stories of the day. Until one day, when the new episodes just stopped. And days went by without a new upload. This was in late February and soon I realised why. The war in Ukraine had started, and the BBC were diverting their resources to cover the conflict over there. And in my podcast player, under ‘You might like’, was the BBC’s ‘Global News Podcast’. So, I naturally gave it a listen.

And to my surprise and pleasure, I found all the same newsreaders who I’d grown familiar with, but now instead of covering the Coronavirus, they were covering the war. And for the first few weeks it was just wall to wall coverage of Ukraine, 2 episodes a day, 30 minutes each. So, from being across everything related to Covid-19, all of a sudden I was all across the goings on in Ukraine.

But now that the world has turn its attention to other matters, the Global News Podcast has a more balanced reporting, they cover everything and anything. From conflicts to science, entertainment to politics, the obscure to the mega-mainstream i.e. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. They cover it all! so if you want to see beyond your own local happenings and prefer to turn your attention more further afield, then check out the Global News Podcast! Why I’d recommend it, is that in a daily 30 minute hit, I’m given all the news which matters around the world. Gone is the need to actively look for trending news items on the web or sit through hour long TV news broadcasts with all that advertising in-between. But now I wake up each morning, listen to my 30 minutes while I go about my morning routine  and I’m up to speed in what’s important around the world!

And because it’s the BBC, I find their reporting to be fair and impartial, detailed and to the point, and most importantly it’s trustworthy!

So, if you want to develop some new habits in how you receive your information, free from fake-news, and spared any sensationalism or purely eyeball grabbing headlines- check-out the BBC’s Global News Podcast, just click HERE! And you can be as informed as mee……. “So, they say it’ll be any day now when we’ll land our first man on the moon! How awesome is that?”

Coming to you twice a week is Chris Vernon, joined by Kevin O’Connor, a.k.a Kevin O’Bama, Kevin O’Candyland, Kevin O’Camerman,  Kevin O’Concert, KEVIN! What’s up Verno!

Now I’ve been hearing that same podcast intro twice a week since the 2021/22 NBA season first started all those months ago back in October! And since then, I haven’t missed an episode yet!

As the new NBA season was nearing, I thought to myself “wouldn’t it be nice to get back into the NBA?” Because as a kid of the 90s, I and all of my contemporaries were all into basketball. Be that watching NBA Action on Saturday morning TV, playing school-boy basketball (very poorly), or collecting and swapping basketball trading cards. We were all obsessed with Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe.

But fast-forward to the end of high school, for me when school ended  somehow so did my passion for hoops. And for years on end, I hardly thought about the sweet game of basketball and soon all the NBA superstars of the era became  foreign to me. Literally and metaphorically- like who is Embiid? Jokic? And Antetokounmpo?

And in my attempts to get back into it,  I literally stumbled upon these guys. You know, in your ‘Listen now’ tab of your Apple Podcast player, it suggests other shows which you might like?

I’m mainly subscribed to sports podcasts (NFL and F1), and news content, so all of my recommendations were on those lines. But the first NBA podcast it recommended, was The Mismatch from the Ringer Network of podcasts, and naturally I clicked on that first. And from the get-go I was welcomed by Chris Vernon’s predictable intro, to welcome his co-host onto the show, Kevin O’Connor!

And to this day, I still don’t know why the show is called ‘The Mismatch’- sure it’s a sporting term to refer to a far superior player matched up against an individual who has absolutely no chance of stopping said superior player. However, what’s the mismatch they’re referring to here?

Is the mismatch in their ages? As Chris is “an older” gentleman (probably in his 50s), compared to his younger co-host Kevin who is in his late 20s early 30s. Or is the mismatch referring to their accents? As Chris is from the South and has a distinct Southern accent  while Kevin is originally from Boston and now resides in LA and has more neutral tones. Or is the mismatch referring to their differing views? As they argue passionately their opposing opinion on the game, standing steadfast to their individual hot-takes. I think this is what they’re trying to lead us to believe if the podcast blurb is an indicator. But to tell you the truth- these days they seem to be more agreeable than argumentative. And that’s a good thing methinks, as who wants to listen to two men arguing at each other for 60 minutes?

But either way, as compatible or conflicting Chris and Kevin are, they have absolutely captured my attention for an entire NBA season, all 9 months of it. So as the 2021/22 season draws to an end, have I caught-up on the game of basketball? Sure have! Do I have a newfound enjoyment of the game? Yes sir! And have I found a new man-crush? Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I do respect the duel of Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor! So, if I was going to recommend an NBA pod to anyone, it would probably be The Mismatch. Coming to you twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays),and for good measure, mid-way through the season they introduced a third episode called ‘The Void’, where Kevin chats with a different guest each week to dive deeper into a single NBA storyline.

So, if you want to keep up-to-date with the NBA, but you don’t have the time to watch countless hours of NBA highlights or scroll through web-sites looking up box scores. The Mismatch is the perfect pod to keep you across the games, through the key storylines of the day, discussions on the biggest games of the week, and a deep dive into a specific topic which is sure to intrigue!

So, here’s something to look forward to as one season draws to an end, and the new season isn’t far behind it. To check out ‘The Mismatch’, just click HERE! We’re playing basketball, we’re playing basketball!

Australia’s favourite motoring editorial podcast is back!

Um, well…… they’ve been back for over a year now, but I’ve only recently found them………

So do you remember Car Advice? The web-site and podcast who test drove and reviewed everyday cars heading our way to Australia? Designed to enlighten the average guy & Gal, in the pros and cons of new vehicles thus we the consumer could make an informed choice before throwing down our hard earned!

Well, if you’ve been following the highs and lows of the Car Advice brand, you’re probably aware that in 2016 Car Advice was taken over by Channel 9, and after that slowly but surely all of our favourite contributors of Car Advice slowly left. First it was Paul, then James W, then Mandy. And once Mandy left, so did the Car Advice podcast. As in they released one more episode with James Ward as host. *Shudders*. And then that was that, no more Car Advice podcast- a pod which I had been following for years and years! Not to mention, contributed a little feedback to as well. Haaha.

For 18 long months, I was in motoring podcast purgatory, trying this and that in a vain attempt to fill the car shaped void in my life. All of which were substandard motoring offerings, until several weeks ago when I stumbled upon ‘Car Expert’.

And OMG! It’s all the familiar voices again! I almost lost my SH*T when I heard the intro and the familiar voice of Mandy coming through my speakers! Mandy, Scott, James W, Mike, Al, Tony, Paul! They’re all back, sounding as good as ever! And it truly feels like coming home!

The segments are the same, the sound effects are the same as well (or lack thereof….What happened to the closing sound effect!?). And aside from all your old favourite contributors, they have some new faces or should I say new voices as well!

However in the prevailing 18 months, the motoring landscape has changed though. Electric car and hybrid car talk takes up much of the content. *Sad look*. And sadly ICE vehicles with stonking V8 engines (or even sweet V6 turbos) are becoming rarer and rarer. So the good old days of Car Advice are long gone, but long live Car E! That is Car Expert for the Electrified era!

To here about all the news and what’s new in the Australian motoring landscape, and for those old fans of Car Advice, you can hear the gang again on Car Expert! Just click HERE to begin listening! Now Channel 9, how come you didn’t work in a non-compete Clause into the Contract of sale? Pretty silly that the old Car Advice team can set-up shop as Car Expert just down the metaphorical road, and do the exact same thing again? Silly from a business point of view, but fantastic for us!