Last Call with Richard Crouse

MAPLE SYRUP FOR YOUR EYES VOLUME THREE! CANADIAN SCI FI/FANTASY

I present a list of Canadian sci fi and fantasy films that will wrap their robotic arms around you in a warm Canadarm hug. I’ll tell you about a government manhunt to eliminate the rise of the machine consciousness, a war-ravaged totalitarian future, marginalized superheroes, a slimy bipedal creature and an animated, malevolent rock star.

Wobble Noggin: “A hangover is just your body telling you that you’re an idiot.”

Anyone who has ever overindulged, has suffered the effects of the Brown Bottle Flu. The Crappe Diem. The Sunday Morning Coming Down… the hangover. The dry mouth, the headache that feels like someone has torn the back of your head off with a shovel, the buckets of sweat. The irritability and nausea are symptoms of, as someone wiser than me once said, “your body telling you that you’re an idiot.” On this episode we talk hangovers and wonder aloud if there is a cure, and if not, why not?

Last Call with Richard Crouse: "You didn't go there for the bathrooms. You went there for the music."

Punk rock came roaring to life in a cramped, dingy bar on New York City’s Lower East Side called CBGB at 315 Bowery. More known for its filthy bathrooms than its drinks or food—legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen said with a laugh, “It was not a place you’d eat at.”—it is significant for its oversized influence on rock ‘n’ roll history. It’s the punk rock Cavern Club, a launching pad for new genres of music that still reverberate today. Punk scene likely would have happened without CBGB, but the grungy little club gave it a homebase.  In this podcast I’ll talk about the unruly story of an accidental cultural incubator born out of a unique moment in history where outsiders, like The Ramones, The Dead Boys, Talking Heads and Blonde, were brought together, celebrated and encouraged to be themselves.      Joining me to tell the story of CBGB are photographer Boib gruen, filmmaker, co-founder of “Punk” magazine and CBGBite Mary Harron, The ‘B’ Girls singer Lucasta Ross and The Punk Rock Museum co-founder Lisa Brownlee. Topping it off is an interview from the vault I did with CBGB’s owner Hilly Kristal in 1992

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Last Call with Richard Crouse: The last great dive bar on Hollywood Boulevard

Situated next to the grand Pantages Theater, once the home of the Academy Awards and still one of the leading venues for live theater in Los Angeles, the Frolic Room’s store front is humble… but you can’t miss the extravagant neon sign. Like all great bars it is an egalitarian place, a truly democratic space where, for the price of a drink, you are welcomed, whether you’re Charles Bukowski, Frank Sinatra or a just thirsty person off the street. It’s a classic, welcoming place, the way it has always been. “If you changed the Frolic Room, I think it would ruin the business,” owner Robert Nunley says. “It works this way.”