Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Jon opened up Facebook and Twitter for “Ask Me Anything” questions and, wow, did he get a lot. From politics to the Navy to music to God to coffee, he covers it all in his first solo effort. Keep the conversation going by asking more questions in the comments for Jon to answer.
The intro/outro song of the week is “Ask” by The Smiths, of course. To listen to all the music featured on The Conservatarians this year, subscribe to our Spotify playlist!
Subscribe to King of Stuff in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.
Thanks for answering all the questions, Jon! Really great format!
If you were a former Reactor Operator in the Navy, why didn’t you go work for a nuclear utility as an SRO when you got out?
I ask because on my boat, we had RO do just that shortly after he made Petty Officer, First Class. IIRC, he either doubled or tripled his salary.
You spotlight new music all the time, but what are some old school stuff that you keep going to back to? Give us a handful of albums (maybe from different genres) that were made before you were born that you really appreciate.
Great podcast, miss Stephen but you have what it takes to carry your own show. I think we’re roughly the same age and have similar musical tastes (Pavement, Destroyer, Red House Painters, Slowdive, Ride, the list goes on and on). Where did you first start learning about all of the great shoegaze and indie music? Local record shops? Friends? For me it was buying the UK music weeklies and I have a hunch you read the same. So my question is, if you did read those same magazines were you partial to NME or Melody Maker? Finding out would get Single of the Week from my shabby college dorm in Davis, CA was always a revelation. Cheers, Jay
How did you meet your wife and ultimately convince her to marry you?
After getting out, I really wanted a degree, so I did about two years of engineering classes and worked as an engineering aide at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, about 50 miles west of Phoenix. I also took a few classes in journalism and enjoyed writing on the side.
Turned out I loved the writing and hated the engineering. And all the engineers, what I aspired to be, were totally miserable. So I switched to a journalism degree with way too many math credits. As it turned out, when I graduated college, engineers couldn’t get hired in my fields (nuclear or defense), so it worked out for the best.
Beach Boys, “Pet Sounds”
The Beatles “Revolver”
Johnny Cash “At Folsom Prison”
Charlie Mingus “Mingus Ah Um”
Coltrane “A Love Supreme”
Sinatra/Jobim “Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim”
Stan Getz and João Gilberto “Getz/Gilberto”
The main place I learned about new music was hanging around record stores and reading music magazines. Also, I’d pick up on new bands from my music nerd brother who was five years older than me, and friends. I learned about shoegaze from a late-night weekend video show called “Night Flight” on TBS and a few other bands on “120 Minutes” on MTV.
Speaking of Davis, one of my favorite bands of all time came from there: Game Theory, which later became The Loud Family.
I was teaching a young adult Sunday school class and she came in and I was … distracted. Asked her out at lunch afterward and we dated a few months. Then she dumped me. But about a year and a half later, we met up again (we still were friendly and traveled in the same circles), and totally hit it off. Were married a year later. Hopefully she doesn’t regret it too much!
That was a really interesting and entertaining episode. I know you’ve been reading lots of classics lately (I read Xenophon’s “Anabasis” because you recommended it, and it was great), so how about giving us a list of what you’ve read so far, and rating them?
Hoo boy, it’s a long list, but it is available on my GoodReads account here.
Anabasis remains one of my favorites. Also loved The Aeneid, Don Quixote, On the Incarnation, and The Odyssey.
That sounds like a good thing. Nuclear engineering and ADD doesn’t seem like a good combination. (Is there a “mushroom cloud” emoji?)
Thanks for the GoodReads link – that is exactly what I was looking for. And you weren’t kidding; it’s a very long list! Like you, I’ve been delving into Orthodox Christian writings, and St. John Chrysostom is my favorite. A more contemporary book that I really enjoyed is Kyriacos Markides’ The Mountain of Silence.
When are you going to read Crime and Punishment?
You have reminded me that I should re-read Brothers Karamazov and the Idiot.
It’s on my list! Just finished my second Dostoyevsky, “The Idiot.”
Yes, Game Theory had graduated a few years before I started in 1987, not sure if you ever heard them but Thin White Rope was another great Davis band you’d probably like/love. Their Sackful of Silver album is great, including a powerful cover of Can’s Yoo Doo Right. I need to revisit Game Theory, you recommendations are always worth exploring.
My brother was a big fan of the Moody Blues back in the day, so I was subjected to their music occasionally. I thought it was over-produced, melodramatic cr@p. You’re probably thinking of “Nights in White Satin,” @exjon.
My grandparents were all born in Finland, so I heard a lot of Finnish as a kid. Finnish expressions I would still recognize include “Be quiet,” “Come eat,” “Come here,” “Go away,” “Go to sleep,” “Bad girl,” and “Good girl.”
One quick tip re Finnish pronunciation is that the accent is always on the first syllable. That is what gives Finnish that bouncy sound. Like Hel’-sink-i or Tam’-pe-re. Some people may wonder why the accent in Sibelius is on the second syllable. Sibelius is a Swedish name, that’s why.
Have you ever uttered the sentence, “Yes, but it’s a dry heat” unironically and in proper context?
Public Enemy opened for U2? I remember seeing The Melvins open for Rush and thinking, “Who the F thought this would work?” Practically booed off the stage, and should have been.
PE must have played “By The Time I Get to Arizona.” Really smart to judge the entire state by one dumb governor’s action. I claim zero responsibility for the stupiditude (it’s a word) Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom have wreaked upon California.
Loved the comment on Greg Gutfeld’s musical acumen. Anyone who loves Mike Patton/Mr. Bungle over the Chili Peppers, knows what’s up.
Or maybe they also have ADD?
My husband was a reactor operator in the Navy, too; he led training in Idaho and eventually worked at San Onofre, then went for his degree in mechanical engineering. You’re too young to have known him!
So, were/are you a Nuclear Engineer/Scientist/Technician? I found that kind of surprising. I tried to look you up on Wikipedia after hearing that, but all I found were an actor, a basketball player, and (not wikipedia) some weight loss guru.
So, once upon a time I was an aspiring coffee snob/hipster, but then I decided I needed to be able to drink cheap bad coffee – to cut down on costs and time (and primarily so it wasn’t such a hassle at work).
The French Press has always been my favorite, and I think the reason was the coffee oil you get but seems to be filtered away in a drip machine. It seems like a pour over method would have this same problem of removing the oil – does it?
Hmm, The Cure weren’t moving? It seems like Simon is always dancing around the stage like a crazy man. Yeah the rest of them seem to largely stay in their place, but still.
One of the worst opening act pairings was Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees. There are conflicting viewpoints on why Hendrix was dropped. I believe the most reasonable explanation was that the Monkees were created to be popular with primarily teeny-bop, young girls, but having Jimi Hendrix open with a sexually-charged performance was a bit much for some parents . . .
I prefer “but it’s a dry furnace.”
My title was Reactor Operator in the Navy.
The oil is filtered in pour-over, but not the flavor. It’s the best of both worlds. One decidedly non-hipster love of mine is black Dunkin Donuts coffee. I was running errands earlier and its what I’m drinking right now.
@jon, what was your Mesa Mexican restaurant recommendation again?