Rock & Roll Shin-soo Choo (audio)

We are back! In this episode, we catch up on late season MLB developments before delving into a grab bag of topics, including Mark Twain's umpiring debut, expansion team all-timers and feuds in rock. Our main topic covers late bloomers in both rock and MLB. Rock's late bloomers may include artists who we feel produced their best output either late in life or simply later in their career. We then close with a very satisfactory Show Your Cards segment.

Patrick Sullivan joins us to discuss the Tall Tales Festival, which he organizes and will take place on August 11 and 12 in Burlington, Wisconsin. In the spirit of discovering new music at festivals, we share some of our favorite artists that we discovered in a live setting. Patrick then shares his experiences growing up as a Milwaukee Brewers fan and his take on the current state of the team. We all then show our cards!

We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love and all things baseball and rock from 1967. The 1967 MLB season featured the Impossible Dream Boston Red Sox, led by Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski. The Red Sox ultimately faced the Bob Gibson and Orlando Cepeda-led St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. While the year in music was largely dominated by the release of The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers, we discuss some other popular, though overshadowed albums from the year, including LPs by Love, Procol Harum and Bobbie Gentry. We then share some favorite 1967 baseball cards.

We start the show discussing potential MLB expansion cities, gourmet stadium hot dogs (we even build our own) and this date in music history, which leads to a discussion of what one tour we'd want to have caught in the 1980s. Then we each share three bands that are on the top of our to-be-seen checklists. We follow that with three games of MLB's past that we would have liked to have seen in person. Finally, we each share baseball cards.

We welcome guest panelist Adam Galassi as we remember the lives and musical contributions of Chris Cornell and Gregg Allman. Helming Soundgarden and the Allman Brothers Band, respectively, both Chris and Gregg are all-time rock icons, and both are deeply entrenched in our musical tastes. We close the otherwise heavy show with a bit of levity, bringing back the Show Your Cards segment. Adam celebrates Star Wars 40th anniversary with a unique trading card, while Gabe, Levi and Jonathan share cards of Seattle Mariners and Atlanta Braves.

We hold the Choo-In Hall of Fame inductions every year around the time of the actual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions. The Choo-In Hall of Fame is intended to recognize artists that are unlikely to ever be enshrined into the actual Rock Hall, but we feel are equally deserving of the recognition. This year, Levi inducts guitar god Roy Buchanan, Jonathan inducts Seattle mainstay Mudhoney and Gabe welcomes Tesla. We then conduct our first ever Build-A-Band by holding a fantasy draft which includes all of the 2017 Rock Hall inductees. Jonathan also shares a story of an unlikely encounter with a Royals player outside Kauffman Stadium earlier in the week.

Pearl Jam nerds unite! Guest panelist Michael Davis joins us for our Field Guide to Pearl Jam on the heels of the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We talk about what we feel makes Pearl Jam great, including the band's studio work, live shows, attention to detail and activism. We then hold the requisite Desert Island Album Draft of Pearl Jam LPs. Finally, Michael provides his dream Pearl Jam Bridge Benefit setlist.

Guest panelist Ricky Cobb joins us again as we prepare for the 2017 MLB season. Ricky is the host of the Super 70s Sports podcast. In this episode, Ricky helps us decide which current Major Leaguers should be zapped with a '70s ray gun and what acts would've played at a 1977 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. Finally, we dig deep into predictions for the upcoming 2017 MLB season, including awards and playoff contenders.

Hope springs eternal, especially at Major League Baseball's Spring Training. In this episode, we recap the MLB offseason and discuss some relatively anonymous Spring Training heroes of yesteryear. Levi shares some Spring Training factoids. Gabe dishes out some Arizona and Florida rock and roll trivia. We close with stories of failed comebacks from Babe Ruth and Bret Saberhagen.

While the 1970s were a period of grand experimentation for rock and roll, country music was also going through its own metamorphosis. The social upheavals that molded much of pop music during the 1960s found their way to Nashville and Texas the following decade. We discuss artists ranging from Porter Wagoner, Don Williams and Ronnie Milsap to Waylon, Willie, Jerry Jeff Walker and many, many more. Tag along as we scratch the surface of one of country music's most important decades.

The Beatles and Elvis were some of the first two-way entertainers - both on the stage and on the screen. In this episode, we discuss some of the lesser known attempts at juggling the two talents - from Bruce Willis and Don Johnson to David Johansen and Dwight Yoakam. We also discuss the various baseball players who have also taken the plunge into acting, notably Bob Uecker and various Mets and Yankees on Seinfeld. We wrap up with a casting of the 2016 MLB season, calling on the likes of Ryan Reynolds and Alec Baldwin to help fill out our film of the Cubs championship season.

Three is the magic number for this episode. We start by discussing some of the most significant trios to ever play together in MLB outfields, from the 1961 New York Yankees to the 1995 Cleveland Indians and several before and since. We then discuss power trios in rock, including all-time bands like Rush and Nirvana, as well as lesser known acts like Radio Moscow and Taste.

We recap the MLB transactions during the hot stove season, which included all three of our teams. We then pitch trades where we suggest swapping musicians between bands. Finally, we bid adieu to the often soulless year that was 2016. Alas, we find the high points, recapping our favorite moments in MLB, album releases and live shows from the year.

We kick back and have some fun discussions about the recent MLB awards, including Kris Bryant's MVP and a continuing string of Dodgers winning Rookie of the Year. We then offer our own MVPs of rock for 2016. On the heels of a significant hidden track discovery on Pink Floyd's new box set, we share our favorite hidden tracks. Finally, we go around the horn discussing our MLB teams' offseason needs.

Not sure if you heard, but the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Lifelong Cubs fan Levi Leach shares his emotions during the roller coaster ride. We then remember Black Crowes keyboardist Eddie Harsch, who passed away at age 59.

We kick off the show talking baseball, covering the playoffs and some notable stats from the 2016 season. We then discuss the Desert Trip music festival that was held over two weekends in Indio, California. To close, we give our votes for each of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees, which were announced last week.

In anticipation of the incredible Desert Trip music festival, we team up to create dream setlists for Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and Roger Waters. Check out episodes 55 and 64, respectively, for our Bob Dylan and Who setlists. Get ready for our requests for deep cuts and incredible collaborations.

We welcome uber Who fan Betsy Blodgett for this special episode devoted to The Who. We examine Pete Townshend's perfectionist behavior, Roger Daltrey's voice, John Entwistle's underrated songwriting and the impact of Keith Moon's death. We also have a fantasy island album draft and create a dream setlist.

We look back on 1981, a year that split us in two. In baseball, a mid-season strike quite literally split the MLB season into two halves, resulting in playoff and non-playoff teams that defied logic. Popular music was also split in two as a pair of momentum-gaining genres - metal and new wave - began to define the decade.

Ryan Budds is a comedian and writer who has recently launched his own podcast, Trivia With Budds. We chat with Ryan about getting started in comedy, opening for Dennis Miller and dealing with hecklers. Ryan also discusses his new podcast, Trivia With Budds, which takes his bar show to the internet. We also try stumping Ryan with a few trivia questions of our own. This interview has a bit of everything and culminates in a live rodent invasion in Ryan's backyard.