Buses Go By

In this episode I sit down with not one, not two, but three members The Way Home. In part one of this two parter James Hearne, Dan Drago and Nick Hughes and I talk about their new album, "On So Thin A Line."  We talk about Phil Collins vs Genesis, cassettes, how Passover is like the Chicago Cubs, Nick's love of wolves, and we talk yet again about the glory of short albums.And as a special feature instead of buses going by, we have birds chirping and kids yelling. Please come to their CD release party on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at the Legendary DobbsDoors at 7. $10for more information check them out at your favorite media of choice:The Way Home: www.thewayhomemusic.com
 On So Thin A Line: thewayhome.bandcamp.com
 Facebook: www.facebook.com/thewayhomemusic
 Twitter: www.twitter.com/thewayhomemusic

On April 5th, In front of a small group of semi confused friends I officially announced the retirement of my stage name, fishstick. This episode I ramble for about 15 minutes about my feelings on the subject. As a goodbye I re-recorded an album of a fishstick songs, Goodnight, Fishstick. The oldest of these songs are from the album King on Guitar which was released in 1995. The first song on this album is “Lakeside” and it was one of the first songs I wrote where I felt, “hey, I can kinda write songs!”  I’m glad to give it and many others a second life. You can download the album for free at http://glorioustyping.bandcamp.com/

This week I sat down with Rich Rodowicz of The Roddies. We talked about the joys of smaller open mics, working for the Flyers, taking sports way too seriously, Lakefest, his dad's band, and "hey! we're getting old." Go to their CD Release party on May 5thhttp://www.milkboyphilly.com/event/103701/http://www.roddies.com/

This fine episode we talk about one of my favorite subjects . . . Buses Go By! We discuss the general idea of podcasts and scotch and the art of the interview. And Eric talks about the book he is currently writing. We talk about authors and their voices, and I call Marshall Mcluhan and asshole.  We chat about the premature death of the short story, National Novel Writing Month, and basically how to be better at life. Hey we talked about a lot of stuff, go listen to it already!

This week's guest is none other than my brother from the same mother, Eric Ratinoff. We sat down and had a talk about writing an internet column before the internet was in full bloom, what college newspapers were like in the early 90s, his experience meeting Obama in 2007, and how I was slow to understand why his podcast was really cool, and how it came out before most people knew what podcasts were. Visit http://busesgoby.tumblr.com/ to see the links discussed in this episode:George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946Dave Barry Column GeneratorAct 3The State of the Union - A Walk in the Woods

Hey, isn't this an interview with Dan Collins? How come we're talking about me so much! But it weaves into an interesting talk about fine art. We talk a little about 10,000 hours concept. We chat a little about Dan's friend Josh Heisel, and find out why Dan thinks your shoes are political.

It's part two with Mike Lawson! This interview happened a while ago, but here it is in all its glory. This also has an installment of ROAD RAAAAAAAANTS.

I sat down with Dan Collins and had a nice spiraling chat about (omg) open mics, but also Katie Barbato's CD release party, typewriters and writing poetry and believing that your newest thing is the best thing you've ever done.

This week's guest is Mike Lawson of Sine Studios, and the drummer in The Sleepwells as well as some little band called Fishstick. I hear great things about Fishstick. We have a nice chat about our time together playing music, his experiences at Sine and the relationship between sports and music. Plus the first installment of what might be called "Road Rants."

It's part two with Matt Teacher of Sine Studios! We talk about music education and book publishing and my misguided belief that I have Synesthesia. PLUS my tribute to The Apartment, the final Buses Go By recording in its original home.

I sit down with Matt Teacher of Sine Studios and The Sleepwells. We have a nice long and hearty talk about the history of how Sine came to be, what the term "producer" means and lots of other things that everyone on earth will find interesting.

This weeks podcast is a short tribute to the artist Cy Twombly who passed away July 5th. He was a big influence on my art and probably my music as well. This is my little way of saying thanks. We'll return with interviews next week!

This week's guest is Jamie Victor and we chat about his new band Sweet Eureka, our shared graphic design roots, wearing out your favorite albums, the power of cult movies, and least surprising of all we talk about Jimi Hendrix. This is a one part episode and it's a good one!

This is part two of my conversation with Dani Mari. We talk about the science of music and the mysteries of education in the creative fields. And for some reason I talk a lot about the band America. Dani is hosting her last open mic tonight (June 26th), so go check her out at Triumph Brewery

I give my farewell to the one and only Mikey Wild who passed away this week. Then I sit down for a mellow chat with Dani Mari and we discuss how she keeps so busy at so many things, her dog Cooper and as per usual the weird and wonderful world of open mics.

In part two Ron and I talk about how to go about building a band, graphic design and the printing industry and who knows what else!

Ron and Scott sit down for a talk about  the going ons with The Discount Heroes, life at Connie's Ric Rac and the fun days of yore with The Ron & Eric Show. Learn more about The Discount Heroes at www.discountheroes.com

Part two of two, with James Hearne in which we talk about the Gin Blossoms, getting one's Michael Phelps on and the importance of learning cover songs.

James and I had a nice talk about the bustling metropolis of Rochester, New York, the pros and cons of loop pedals, the majesty of upright bass and Isaiah Zagar. This is a two part interview, so stay tuned next week for the second part.

Welcome to the very first edition of Buses Go By with Scott Ratinoff! I sat down with my good friend Katie Barbato and we had a talk about open mics, some differences between Boston and Philadelphia and the varieties of humanity on South Street. For more information on Katie and The Sleepwells visit http://www.thesleepwells.blogspot.com/