Were you born in a small town? The kind where everybody knows your name, and not in a happy “Cheers” kind of way? I chat with my new pal Chris Brown about growing up in what Wikipedia literally classifies as a “village.” Join us for this claustrophobic walk down memory lane.
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Intro 00:00
– My guest is Chris Brown! But not that Chris Brown! He’s tall. He draws stuff. He grew up in a small town. Aaaaand that’s all I know.
– As always, check out our sponsors over at Arcade Comedy Theater!
– While you’re at it, take a gander at the Toonseum!
– Some reviews are in, and I’ll be reading them on the next episode, good or bad. Yikes!
Pod Pourri 08:16
– Chris grew up in Panama, NY: population 479. Even smaller than he thought!
– Facebook Says!
– Chris has worked every job. Ever. We didn’t cover them all, but I just know.
– Turns out the best combo for a healthy social life is being on Twitter and… a bouncer?
Games People Play 56:40
– Small town trivia!
Outro 01:01:19
– You can find Chris and his art on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram!
– Bait & Switch is playing the Fireside Chat event at Arcade on April 19!
What say you, listeners, about small town life?
Con Junior Mellencoug.That is all.
You’re welcome.
i feel that’s a very Eric S. Donaldson joke. well played.
my family moved from a smallish town in southern California to a dinky town in western PA when i was 13. i lived in a couple small towns, predominantly Apollo, PA, till i went to college. i’m not afraid to say it, at the risk of sounding like a complete bastard: i fucking hated it. it sucked, the people were horrifying hicks who called me every awful name in the book, including the N word, despite being white (i always loved Rap music). i have no positive memories of the place, and i absolutely hated high school. my only positive memories of growing up were with my 2 HS friends, one of who lived in the country, so i barely saw him outside of school, and a friend i still know and have known since 7th grade, whom i didn’t go to school with at all in middle/high school, so, again, i barely got to see him. when i graduated from HS, i vowed i’d never go back. i had to break that vow a year later when my sister graduated, and i was not pleased about that. when i moved into the dorms at college i made every attempt possible to not go home. i would’ve stayed during holidays if that was permitted. my family was great, but i just hated that place so much. thankfully none of my family still lives there, so i never have to go back.
i hold no nostalgia for small town livin’. had the place been more idyllic, maybe, but it was a depressed area full of rundown stores, a couple closed factories, and a lot of shitty, racist, backward people. fuck that small town shit. if you have any brain or heart at all, move out as fast as you can, and if your parents still live there, have them come visit you in the city.
I bounce back and forth between sweet nostalgia and bitterness when I think back on childhood in a small town. I have a lot of good memories, but the mentality is a problem. It sucks that you hated it so much! I don’t think it makes you a bastard, though. Plenty of other things do that! 😉
“Being bastard works!” – Spider Jerusalem, the main character from the vertigo comic book series Transmetropolitan (Chance would appreciate that reference)
🙂
i don’t want to take away from anyone else’s positive associations with a small town. i honestly think my negative associations stem from the behavior of people who felt there was no hope (what with the economic depression, bad schooling, etc). it’s a downward spiral, slippery slope, etc. my particular bent is to be in a bigger city, but that’s just because i feel there’s more there, not just literally (more = bigger), but also on a level of sophistication, etc. just my take on it. i kinda agree with your brother on that level. alack and alas, i have no funds or serviceable skills that would accommodate moving to a NYC or Chicago, etc. PGH seems to do alright. ya get out what you put in.
You do realize that John Mellencamp didn’t want to be known as Johnny Cougar, that was his record label’s decisuion? And that’s why he slowly got to shy away from “Cougar” and just become Mellencamp.
That said, I can’t defend his awful, awful music. “Dance Naked” is one of the very worst songs ever.
Mellencamp in all his forms is SUCKBALLS.
later in his career, he had a song called “pop singer” about never wanting to be a pop singer. i believe it is thinly veiled autobiography RE: the name change/image thing.
Yeah, I should’ve added a disclaimer regarding the fact that he sucks no matter what you call him.