Roderick on the Line

Ep. 46 Special: Origin of Roderick on the Line - Roderick on the Line on Huffduffer

5by5 | Back to Work #31: You Can Polish AC/DC All Day Long (August 30, 2011)

Hey, gang. Merlin here.

One year ago this week, the first episode of Roderick on the Line went up. To commemorate the occasion, I wanted to share a little bit of history with you, as well as just say, “thanks.”

Here’s the thing:

John and I have been pals for about a decade now. And, as we’ve discussed on the program from time to time, we’ve had a longstanding habit of engaging in very, very long conversations, both in-person and on the phone, about pretty much any topic you can imagine. A fact born out by any of the 40+ episodes of this show so far.

Now, in terms of the pre-pre-history of RotL, a seed was planted when I interviewed John for a thing I used to do called, The Merlin Show (n.b.: you can find video and audio of that interview over here). It was a riot to do, and I really recommend checking it out for both Roderick newbies and completists alike. You will find it very helpful. As you do.

But, the real impetus for this show arose by accident last Summer, when my Back to Work co-host, Dan Benjamin, was on paternity leave. In Dan’s brief absence, I decided to interview three interesting friends about their life and how they work. One of my victims was, of course, The Great Man himself—the bearded oracle who ended up being the titular co-host of this very program: Mr. John Morgan Roderick.

On that episode, John and I talked about lots of different stuff to be sure (full show notes below), but, as a careful listener of the current program will immediately pick up, you will also hear the genesis of what would become numerous leitmotifs from what would soon become the canonical RotL.

There’s John’s deep historical pedagogy. There’s John’s perspicacious cultural criticism. There’s John’s first singing my name to the tune of Janet Jackson’s 1986 hit, “Nasty.” There’s John (again) hearing my formal pitch to do a new podcast called, “Roderick on the Line.” And, yes: there is John’s bell.

I hope you will enjoy this important cultural document and are able to appreciate its gravitas as the undergirding for this august platform by which John helps so many people each week.

And, let it not go without saying, my having the chance to do this show with John every week is one of the joys of my life. I look forward to recording it, I look forward to “editing” it, and, yes, I really look forward to hearing the finished product. I’m proud to be involved, and I’m really grateful to my great pal for making the time to do it.

Finally, thanks to all of you for a year of listening and being helped. You are Generation Super Train, and, I hope to God you survive to find a tolerable position in John’s horribly twisted Utopian Dystopia.

In any case. Please continue.

Original Back to Work Show Notes With Dan on sabbatical, Merlin is joined by John Roderick of The Long Winters to talk about life as a bull in a china closet, craving real-world constraints, making better records, and being banned for life from Interpol’s corn chip bowl. Special guest John Roderick. Original Back to Work Show Links

• John Roderick: A Night on the Town - a set on Flickr
• Harvey Danger - Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo - YouTube
• reading room | the long winters library & archive
• Impasto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Helen Frankenthaler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Richard Hugo reads “Degrees of Grey in Philipsburg”
• Wesley Stace | John Wesley Harding
• MISSPEAK: “For Those About to Rock We Salute You” (not “Highway to Hell”)
• Space Shuttle Columbia disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• [SPONSOR] Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp
• [PDF] The Believer: John Roderick Interview (June/July 2005)
• Venom (band) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Ashcan Rantings: Interview with John Roderick of The Long Winters
• Harm’s Way by Jeff DeRoche - Seattle News - The Stranger, Seattle’s Only Newspaper
• The Animals - House of the Rising Sun (1964) High Definition [HD] - YouTube
• The Long Winters - Through With Love Preview - YouTube
• The Long Winters: “The Commander Thinks Aloud” - YouTube
• Van Halen - Hot For Teacher - YouTube
• Def Leppard- Bringing on the Heartbreak - YouTube
• Robert John “Mutt” Lange - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Highway to Hell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• University of Washington - washington.edu
• The Long Winters
• john roderick (johnroderick) on Twitter
• John Roderick (musician) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• 012: Interview: John Roderick | The Merlin Show
• 016: Interview: John Roderick, Part 2 | The Merlin Show
• 017: Interview: John Roderick, Part 3 | The Merlin Show
• 018: Interview: John Roderick, Part 4 | The Merlin Show
• Video: John Roderick on String Art Owls, Copper Pipe, and Bono’s Boss | 43 Folders
• Flickr: Merlin’s extensive “John Roderick” gallery
• “Blue Diamonds” - the Long Winters - YouTube
• Alex Van Halen: Artists: Modern Drummer Magazine
• Comparative History of Ideas Program
• Cheer-Accident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• John Vanderslice
• AC/DC - “Back In Black” (1980)
• kung fu grippe - “Before my heart overflowed.”
• Air-Raid #60: Hobos of the Future with John Roderick – The Air-Raid Podcast
• Hanford Site
• Mr. Show: Gay Son/Grass Valley Greg - YouTube
• Western State Hurricanes “Car Parts” - YouTube
• Tampabay: ‘They said they were glad it wasn’t me’
• kung fu grippe - Jim? What a horrible, foul-mouthed little man. …