aaron is online

On Episode #29 of the Grapes of Rad, William the Bartender asked me to write him a theme song.  I complied, and present to you the new “Hey, Bartender!” intro:

Hey, Bartender! (Click for the player)

Some people have asked for the mp3 of the voicemail “song” Seth & I recorded for the Grapes of Rad #21.  Here’s a non-laughed-over version of the #1 summer jam that’s taking the entire nation by storm.  It’s “The Thong Song” for February ‘09!

Right-click on 64646 241 61 (Da Voyzmale) to download the mp3.

Then dial that shit, yo! Holla at 646-462-4161 ext.03779.  Ask a question, tell a story, give advice, or just say “That’s Messed Up!”

Ben came over last night to record Episode #19.  When we were finished, I noticed that the heater, which I had forgotten to turn off, never kicked on.  (We set up right outside the little “furnace room,” and it’s very loud.)

I didn’t think too much of it, and after Ben went home, I started editing until about 5:30 am, at which point I realized my hands were shaking, my feet were numb, and the heat was off.  Still.

Apparently it’s not Hanukah at the Mason house because our oil-fueled furnace has run dry.

Let’s recap:  We have no heat, it’s the first week of February, and last I checked filling an oil heater costs roughly 2.6 scrillion dollars.

Great success!

SEXY UPDATE: My friend Isaac & his wife gave us a ton of firewood, and we caved and bought a space heater, which is actually something we’ve wanted to have in the basement for a while now.  Things are looking up!

Please forgive my lateness & the horrible fact that I’m copying this from what I sent out on Facebook, which I basically copied from Ben’s site.  I’m an awful(ly busy) person.

Episode #16 topics include: current events, a pile of listener imported radio, some “That’s Messed Up,” new vocab, “Video Prozac,” a Shelton story, the magnificent return of “Awful Poetry with Zack,” Aaron flipping out about TV, party planning on “Hey, Bartender!” and much, much more.

Thanks for all the love, everybody! If you like what you hear, please tell a friend about us & give us a review on iTunes.

the Grapes of Rad #15 is online.  Holla at benparsons.com or iTunes for the goods.

Since we’ve gotten so much great feedback, we wanted to put out a big, fat podcast for everyone this week, so episode #15 weighs in at a hefty 1:34:35!

The time is filled with listener voicemails (2 of them are international!), “potty talk,” wine pairing w/ William the Bartender, blowing up the internet, and a ton of the aural awesome you’ve come to expect from the show.  For example, Ben quizzes me on our new game show “Who Said That?” and I make fun of Ben for having bad taste in music & movies and for having been a vegetarian for 8 years.

Thanks for everything, and keep calling 646-462-4161 ext.03779, emailing Midwife Mel at askamidwife@gmail.com, writing reviews on iTunes, and – if you’re super awesome – joining the new Facebook group.

Buh-bye!

If for some reason you haven’t heard via any of the 37 other ways I’ve been letting people know, grapesofrad.com is in the early stages development.

You know “Zack the Awful Poet,” now meet “Zack the Insanely Great Web Designer.”  Here’s how it went down:

Zack: (Humbly) If you want me to make a site for the show, let me know.

Aaron: Hell and yes.

Zack: Alright. I’m in Wisconsin, so I can’t really do anything until next week.

(about an hour later…)

I put, like, an image on the page, just so there’s something on there. It’s just a temporary thing, so I’ll change it.  It’s probably not very good…

Aaron: This is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Stop by grapesofrad.com, bookmark it, and don’t forget to move your mouse over the kick-ass imagery.  It’ll be our new home for all types of awesome, from streaming the show to a pile of baracus interactive things for us all to grind on.

Thanks for listening & and thanks, Zack!

We have a winner!  The results of our podcast-naming poll are in, and our new moniker is: “the Grapes of Rad.”

So awesome.

Along with our name, we’ve added even more new-ness to the ‘cast.  Episode #14 has been visually enhanced by yours truly, and has more exploratory linkage (if you listen on a computer) & some bangin’ audio sweeteners (even if you don’t).

We now have voicemail, too!  Leave us stories, questions & ANYTHING you want at 646-462-4161 x 03779.  Save it to your phone right now so your drunk ass can hit us up while you’re having your best ideas ever.  Maybe you’ll hear yourself on episode #15…

If you still haven’t subscribed on iTunes* (how’s that hip treating you, grandpa?), you can always go to benparsons.com to stream the show, or be that way and leave me a comment and I’ll mail you a friggin’ CD myself then, fine.  Geez.

Thanks a lot for listening.

* “the grapes of rad” isn’t searchable yet, but “the ben parsons podcast” still is, and it’ll take you to the right place.  Go there & subscribe, and you won’t have to worry about any of this ever again.

SEXY UPDATE: iTunes has offically gotten with the program, and “the Grapes of Rad” is now completely searchable.  Good on ya, iTunes.

Speaking of podcasts…

Episode 13 is our year-end spectacular, and what a whimsical romp it is!  The glorious return of “Ask a Midwife,” the debut of “Listener Imported,” and another world-class drink recipe from William the bartender are only a few of the reasons Gene Shalit says of our podcast:

“[It's exactly what] I’ve [been looking for.] [You've] never heard of [a better podcast than] this.”

Along with our world-class banter, we’re also working on some technical improvements and making the leap from mp3 to mpeg4.  This week features chapter breakdowns & a few interactive links for the technically inclined. Accompanying images are also on the horizon if you’ve got some sort of photo capable iPod player thingy.

Stay tuned, listener!  And subscribe to “the ben parsons podcast” on iTunes.

If you’re reading this, then you probably know that I produce a weekly podcast with my friend Ben.  In it’s infancy, the show was called “the ben parsons podcast,” but after becoming more of a two man group, the show’s namesake suggested we call it something less “ben parsonsy.”

Here’s where you come in!

I’ve added a link to the right under “Podcast” called You Vote for Our Name.  Click on it, and be magically wisked away to benparsons.com, where you will find, among other things, the poll for our show’s new name.

We’ve narrowed it down to 4 choices, but we’re such fans of listener feedback, we wanted the ultimate decision to be made by you, the listener.  So, get to voting!

I just wanted to officially invite everyone who hasn’t heard about Ben’s & my Death Pool to partake in what is destined to showcase some of 2009’s most morbid finger-crossing!

You can hear about the Death Pool on our podcast, and/or read the official rules here.

Email your entries by Dec 31st (or sooner if you want a shout-out on the next ‘cast) to aaronisonline@gmail.com or ben@benparsons.com.  We’ll post everyone’s selections after 1/1/09 on both of our sites.

Also, as soon as we figure out what we’re calling the podcast, we’ll put a scoreboard up on the show’s site that we can all be checking throughout the year.  That’s also going to be where we’ll list all the DP’s fabulous prizes (as soon as we decide what the hell we’re giving the winners).

Sound fun?  Well, get to spec-ing!

If for some reason you’re still not involved in the p’cast revolution (maybe your mom grounded you from the internet, or you have a fear of completely awesome podcasts), but you want to be, you can subscribe to “the ben parsons podcast” on iTunes for all of your “how to kill just over an hour“-ly needs.

Thank you, everyone who is listening & giving us feedback.  You are all baracus.