Cultural Futures Exchange

Ep 40: Ratt’s Out of the Cellar

This week CFX takes on Out of the Cellar, the 1984 debut of hair metal icons Ratt. We do our usual dive into band history, influences, our personal histories, but then we take on this would be classic track by track and decide whether you should come “back for more” or flee the “scene of the crime”. Does the album stand the test of time or the band as a whole or neither or both? And, of course, as usual, along the way, we learn…
Why… well, we’ll tell you why… DIG.
How Stephen Pearcy went from Prince-like “new wave pirate” to washed up piece of beef jerky
Whether Warren DeMartini is a underappreciated guitar god or a faceless Eddie Van Halen clone
How many adverbs you can shove into a single line of a song
What sort of trees Ratt spent a lot of time shaking
Why Robin Crosby should not give lessons on making PSAs
What the Bobby Blotzer’s Ratt Experience is about, and how it’s one of the worst things ever
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

CFX Special Episode: In Memoriam-A Tribute to Don (Slip’s Dad)

He is known by many names: Don, Slip’s dad, Uncle Donnie, Brother, Papa Don, HB Ol’ Dude and Mr. Bitchin’ to name a few, but to all who knew him he was known as one of the smartest, funniest and friendliest guys ever. He passed away this year and instantly the world became a less awesome place. We couldn’t NOT do a show on Don, so this week CFX pays tribute to this great man by going over his life, specifically highlighting the pop cultural artifacts that meant a lot to him but also his son, who wouldn’t be co-hosting this show if not for his father’s influence and guidance. If you want to skip this one, that’s up to you. If you knew him, then you should know this isn’t some stolid, reverent kind of obituary, but we get lewd and as “not safe for work” as Don’s legacy merits. I think you’ll agree, he stands the test of time and is the best dad a kid could ever hope to have… but you’ll also learn…
Who was Don’s childhood idol 
How Don, the ‘70s wild man, celebrated his 30th birthday by engaging in a popular fad
What Saturday Night Live character Don impersonated at parties
How little Slip knows about sports (oh it’s sad…)
Why this episode was almost called “Fart Side of the Moon”
How when the family played a popular board game and Don was so good, no one else even got a turn
Which OC punk rock icon was Don’s neighbor and friend
Why Don was the best dad ever…
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 39: The Twilight Zone

Imagine if you would, a podcast—one of style and taste, and intellectual insight…Instead, however, you’re here with us! On this episode of CFX we’re going into a dimension not of sight or sound, but of mind to examine one of the most iconic TV shows in history: The Twilight Zone. We go over the history of the show, the one-of-a-kind, iconic TV genius who created it, and we pick some of our favorite (and not so favorite) episodes. As usual, we assess whether we think it stands the test of time, and while you make think you know what to expect, stay tuned because you never know where things are going to end up in the “CFX Zone” as we learn…
How Rod Serling served and survived some of the deadliest situations in World War II only to work and smoke himself to death by age 50
What iconic episodes were remade into horrible sequels in various reboots
What dangerous side gig Serling undertook to support his family in his early career
How some of the most profound historical events of the 20th century were direct influences on the show
Why one of our evaluations is kind of a crazy twist ending
How some previous stars in the CFX universe might fare in their own Twilight Zone episodes
 
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 38: Ocean’s 11 (1960)

E-O 11!!!! For this episode we head back in time to 1960, to a Technicolor Las Vegas where we catch up with the Rat Pack who are trying to pull off an amazing (and yes, far-fetched) casino heist. We tag along with Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra), Sam Harmon (Dean Martin), Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr), and the other 11 former members of the 82nd airborne doing crimes (and rocking charming yet casual misogyny & racism) while the Joker (Caesar Romero) tries to figure out their scheme. Let’s get to it as we:
Learn what “The Big Casino” is, and why you probably don’t want to vacation there
Conduct the first ever CFX seance, and bring back a very “presidential” guest who was a behind-the-scenes playa during parts of the filming of this epic adventure
Explore why modern seat belts are a good idea, and how the Butthole Surfers got the name of one of their iconic albums
Learn what a "Harv", a "Clyde", and a "Chester" are, not to mention what's wrong with a little “hey hey”
Why Normal Fell was the real star of this movie (ok, maybe he wasn’t, but SHOULD have been)
See how Frank’s orange mohair sweater wasn’t even the most interesting thing about him…
Hear Slip’s amazing Dean Martin impression, and learn why Dean has Jeff’s eternal esteem and admiration.
Count how many times we can hear the same song from a fake drunk, while not hearing a single note from the one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 37: Joe Jackson-Look Sharp! vs Night & Day

This week CFX presents our second album war. This time we try to decide between Joe Jackson’s classic 1979 debut album, Look Sharp!, and his 1982 blend of Latin jazz and pop, Night and Day. Jeff presents the case for Look Sharp!, while Slip backs Night and Day. As with our AC/DC album war, this was another tough one as both of these albums are great. But the real question is do either or both of these albums still stand the test of time. As you’ve come to expect, we go into depth on Jackson’s history, his influences, the music itself and the zeitgeist when these albums were released to come to some conclusion and, along the way, we also learn…
Why critic Robert Christgau’s description of Jackson as “The Billy Joel of New Wave” may be right (or may just be crazy)
How Joe is sort of angry about being an angry young man
What English people call cigarette butts and how they were weaponized against a fledgling Joe
How if you’ve been playing the “CFX Steely Dan callout drinking game”, this episode may get you really drunk
Where a hungry man can go to get some soul food, good food, whole food
What insane concept album Joe needs to make and the true love of Joe Jackson’s life
UPDATE: There was a technical glitch which caused an audio syncing issue starting at around the 1:23:00 mark. A fix was uploaded at ~7:50am PT (USA) on 7/30/2023. Sorry for the annoyance.
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 36: Beverly Hills 90210

This week on CFX, we put the super popular, landmark TV show, Beverly Hills 90210, under the CFX-o-scope and let’s just say it gets ugly. We talk about the hackneyed, repetitive plots, the often terrible acting, the dubious social commentary, the futile attempts at hipster credibility and just how sleazy this show and really everything got during the ‘90s. We might get too mean, but we don’t care! As the great Dylan McKay once said: “May the bridges I burn light the way!” That said, whether we like the show or not doesn’t mean we don’t think it stands the test of time. You’ll have to listen to the episode to find that out and, along the way, you’ll also learn…
Which cast member broke Stockard Channing’s record for the oldest actor to play a high school student
Why Saddam Hussein deserves credit (or blame) for the show’s popularity
How much pot we must have been smoking when we watched this show back in the ‘90s 
Why “____ cheating on ____ with ____ and is addicted to ____” is the template for 90% of the plots of the last 5 seasons.
What very “BADD” boy band once serenaded Donna Martin
How working on this episode almost ended Slip’s marriage
We should also mention that for all of our satire, we genuinely do wish the best for Shannon Doherty in her battle with cancer. Also, we need to give a huge thanks to authors Tara Ariano and Sarah Bunting for their hilarious and thoroughly researched “A Very Special 90210” Book. We couldn’t have done this episode without it. Read it. It’s fantastic.
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 35: Escape From New York

We’ve done a lot of good episodes, but this might be “A #1”! That’s right, this week takes on John Carpenter’s (not Ritchie Blackmore’s!) post apocalyptic 1981 film Escape From New York.  We dive into the details on the making of and do a complete walk-through of the film, extolling the virtues of practical effects, “economical” storytelling, first-rate film-making and a brilliant cast. Does this film stand the test of time? Spoiler alert: Of course it does! At any rate, we evaluate it anyway and along the way we learn…
How this film is great preparation for the real life upcoming apocalypse we all know is imminent 
Why you might have experienced frequent power outages if you were a resident of East St. Louis in 1981
What were the last two words that Walt Disney ever wrote down
Why cardboard and black light make better special effects than 50 million dollars with of CGI
How a character called Brain can make incredible leaps in logic, gasoline from steam, but somehow can’t read a map
About the two twin bust-out stars of the film…
What not to say to Snake Plisken if you want to live
And finally, an unwanted and unnecessary lesson about fusion from Dr. Science
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 34: AC/DC-Highway to Hell vs Back in Black

On what may be the best episode we have ever recorded, we try to do the impossible by trying to decide which of these two classic AC/DC albums is better. Jeff thinks Highway to Hell is better and Slip thinks Back in Black wins. But talk about a “Sophie’s Choice”! Really we both still go back and forth on this. In fact, we even tried to use artificial intelligence to solve this conundrum, but the technology just isn’t there yet. At any rate, it’s still a great episode because not only are these albums amazing but they tell a compelling story full of tragedy and redemption. We go pretty deep here and along the way, we learn….
Why a Wikipedia section tells you all you need to know about the character of Bon Scott
Why Brian Johnson started wearing that goofy cap
What Angus Young really used to fuel his frenetic stage antics
What broccoli and a dog’s sack have to do with the band
What famous new wave band jammed with AC/DC during the recording of Back in Black
The impact of the Young family on a swinging sultan….
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 33: As Seen on TV

“What would you pay?...while supplies last…four easy payments…but wait there’s more! Has this ever happened to you? There’s got to be a better way”. That’s right, this week, on Episode 33: As Seen on TV, CFX delves into the world where television entertainment and marketing meet. It’s a world of infomercials, ridiculous inventions, scammers, 900 numbers, get rich quick schemes and televangelists. We take you through the history of this often dubious art form, with a focus mainly on samples from our childhood and young adulthood, but with a few more recent ones thrown in for good measure. We evaluate whether any of this stands the test of time and along the way, we learn…
How in Japan the hand can be used as a knife…
How preacher Robert Tilton is full of hot air, in more ways than one...
What happened if you listened to Miss Cleo…
What was Ronco and how its founder made the world safe for lots of absolute crap you don’t need
What an early infomercial pioneer did with goat balls.
Why dreams make human beings great and how you shouldn’t listen to losers 
What happened on Sunday mornings at the Burbank airport Hilton ballroom
How to use your theatrical training to make a hot piece of white bread stuffed with crappy apple jam sound like the food of the gods
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Ep 32: Commando

This episode of CFX is action packed (literally!) since we discuss the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger action film, Commando.  While the film is not one of the mega Schwarzenegger box office blockbusters, Commando, with its explosion filled action sequences, overt homo-eroticism and clever one-liners, has had an outsized influence on the genre. But does it still hold up? We not only evaluate the film, but do a full plot point by plot point walkthrough and also play a shelved and rarely heard Access Hollywood on-set interview with the star. And, as usual, along the way, we find out…
What strange book was like the Schwarzenegger “family Bible”
Why the film is really the love story between two men
What the f@&$ was going on with those opening credits
About the economic tourist miracle of a small Latin American former military dictatorship
How a makeshift, fake mall bar and grill is no longer a good place for bad guys to “hunt slash” (Note: This scene inspires one of Slip’s finest character impressions of all time)
How Arnold uses his superhuman strength to defy the laws of physics (though it’s Jeff can’t keep track of Newton’s laws…)
Who delivers the worst “brown face” performance in history (clue: it ain’t Charlton Heston)
The origin of the famous “Eating is not cheating” Schwarzenegger infidelity excuse 
How many rounds of automatic weapons can be fired without hitting any targets (most notably: Arnold of course)
Check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/culturalfutures/) for links and additional content related to this and other episodes as well as clues to upcoming shows or write to us at culutralfuturesexchange@gmail.com
All audio clips are used under the "Fair Use" Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.