Episodes
Ep. 248 | McCartney's "Got Back" Finale in Chicago
naaaaaa naa naa nanana naaaaaaa
nanana naaaaaaa
Hey Jude (now all the people in Chicago)
At long last, T.J. and Tony had their chance to catch Sir Paul’s (Baby) Got Back tour in its final U.S. stop, in the finest city in the land. Sure, it’s the same show we heard Glen glow about in Iowa, and Casey canonize in the Twin Cities, and Mark marvel upon in the Big Easy, but Macca always smacks a little harder with a Malort and a side of giardinier’.
What were Tony’s takeaways from his second-ever McCartney show? T.J.’s tidbits from his SEVENTEENTH?
Tune in to find out! And maybe also discover:
🎹 Who plays the more convincing black keys: the Black Keys, or that super cute kid who did MMMBop?
🎺 Who honks the hotter horn: David Mason, or the Hot City Horns?
😲 Whose voice can hold out longer: Tony Mendoza, or some 84-year-old who’s been doing like 5 shows a week for almost 70 years?
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 242 | Macca in NOLA with Mark Guarino!
Legendary Chicago singer/songwriter Steve Goodman once sang of riding the rails on a train known as the City Of New Orleans. We have no idea how Chicago-based UBP listener, friend, and journalist/author Mark Guarino (Country & Midwestern, Chicago Sun Times, ABC-TV) got to the world’s greatest arena, the Smoothie King Center, to see Sir Paul rock NOLA. But, if Mark is a real Chicago guy, he’s probably still been there since the Bears won Super Bowl XX in January of 1986; unarguably the single greatest day in American history unless you hate excellence and joy. #PaytonIsTheGoat
But all that matters is that Mark did manage to see Macca in one of America’s most incredible cities, and he generously reported back on the show and the scene for the rest of us. At an extremely exorbitant fee, I might add. $12,000 for an audio field piece? In this economy, Mark???
Tony & T.J. will give their highly anticipated (editor’s note: by whom?) recap after they see McCartney in Chicago over Thanksgiving week, you turkeys; but in the meantime we’re excited to share another in our continuing series of the UBP Hive seeing Sir Paul live in 2025. We also ask the tough questions that only OAN has the balls to ask, because they’re also insane, just not in a healthy and fun way:
🏈 If Mark Guarino were really former J-E-T-S QB Mark Sanchez, would he have tried to randomly murder an older truck driver during “Dance Tonight”?
🎺 Does Macca traveling with a horn section cause an existential crisis for Paul “Wix” Wickens? And do most of us who’ve been loyal in our jobs for decades now need to worry about being replaced with a horn section? Like, is Paul’s horn section really a metaphor for AI? We talkin’ about practice? Not the game?
(🧀 Angry Chicago Guy:) How come Paul don’t sing no parody of “Obsession”, the Animotion pop hit from 1984 but call it “Concession”, about not letting me buy no nachos during “My Valentine”? And how come the woke smoothie arena don’t got no sodium-free nacho cheese, my wife Diane gave me diabetes during the series finale of “Benson” and I can’t eat that junk no more?
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 240 | Macca in Minneapolis (2025)
Minneapolis! Home of Prince, “Mary Tyler Moore”, and arguably the most exciting NBA player today, Joe Ingles. And of late, it’s home to Producer Casey; who recently took advantage of a last minute opportunity to see Sir Paul McCartney (heard of him, “Beatle fan?”). It’s Casey’s second Macca concert, and, arguably, first-ever concert. Figure that one out, math!
Casey reports back with special inside information (that’s a lie) from where the mini-apple’s mediocre/stupid football team plays (GO BEARS), with news on the Hot City Horns, Minny Moms who Lap Dance, and the still-growing legend of rock’s GOAT. Along the way, the Untitled Trio get a special message from our social media guru Glenny the K, who just saw Paul at Producer Casey’s famous pizzarena. Plus, they also ask:
🍔 Is seeing Macca in Des Moines and not eating a Drake Diner burger doused in homemade 1000 island dressing beforehand meant to be a huge middle finger to T.J.? Or does it just come off that way because of the ongoing paranoia?
🎷Would rock history have been vastly different or exactly the same if someone gave Stan Bronstein a keyboard with a bad saxophone patch in 1972?
⚾️ Do the kewl kids still play marry/f**k/kill with Gary Puckett, Kirby Puckett, and Wilson Pickett?
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 239 | Wingstan: The Greatest Greatest Hits of Wings
Everyone knows that the only legitimate and definitive collections of Wings tunes is “Wingspan”; obviously the only one that includes Take It Away (obviously not a Wings tune).
At long last, T.J.’s found a venue to sound off on the editorial decisions of now THREE separate Wings greatest hits collection: 1975’s “Wings Greatest”, 2001’s “Wingspan”, and the latest “Wings” collection due out this November. And Tony… is an accommodating podcast partner.
While we wax rhapsodic on Wings, we also wonder:
Does his love of “Hot Rocks” mean Tony’s a housewife and/or little girl?
Which is the more iconic Chicago eatery: Mr. Submarine, Pockets, or Kenny Rogers Roasters?
[Drunk guy’s back at the bar] You tryna tell me that Starbucks album with the ukuleles ain’t a greatest hits record?
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Ep. 218 | Paul McCartney on Saturday Night Live (1993) Part 2
Dust off your funny bone (actual NBC ad copy circa 1987), it’s the long-awaited conclusion to T.J., Tony and Producer Casey’s forensic deep dish into Paul McCartney’s 1993 appearance on Saturday Night Live!
Yes, the boys are combing through every Macca performance, each Clinton-era comedy sketch, and almost every opinion... Unfortunately, Producer Casey did not inform the affiliates that we would be running over, so regularly scheduled programming resumed as planned.
Of course, any well-executed satire (like the Gap Girls sketch!) will elicit thought-provoking questions. Such as:
💰🚳 Didn’t Lorne Michaels offer Paul $3000 to not play “Biker Like An Icon”?
🥔🥔 Who made the best mall potato: The Great Steak and Potato Company or Tater Junction? #mallpotatoes
📺🏀 Why is everyone standing in front of the damn TV during the Knicks game?? WOOO-OO-OO-OO-OO….
And as a bonus, The Nerk Triplets cover some hidden extra features on T.J.’s VHS cassette tape. We’re fast-forwarding you with Peace and Love…Be kind! Rewind! 📼📼📼
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 217 | Paul McCartney on Saturday Night Live (1993)
Remember when Paul wasn’t in The Beatles anymore? And, um, he was on that TV show Saturday Night Live? A second time? And he played all those songs nobody knew from that record only T.J. Shanoff loved called Off the Ground?
Remember that?
That was awesome.
(But also some of it might’ve been hot garbage #AlecBaldwin #AnalcAnal)
Join Tony, T.J., and Producer Casey as they foray into Sir Paul’s second foray into live sketch comedy, his 1993 appearance on SNL. Along the way, the gang finds out:
👄👅 Was Dana Carvey on to something? Was it true SNL could never top Luke Perry with musical guest Mick Jagger?
👕🟥 How come those jagbag shock jocks never went after Linda for flubbing Adam Sandler’s iconic lyrics?
🎸🤡 Can G.E. Smith out-smarm Wix Wickens’s smarmy synth strings?
EPISODE LINKS
Check out the episode on YouTube (if the link still works?)
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Ep. 209 | Macca Snacks Finale / Paul McCartney’s The 7” Singles Box (2022)
It’s the end of an error, as Tony & T.J. conclude their three years/one day saga of binging reissued Macca 45s with a couple of absolute late-era McCartney gems; and an exclusive, world-wide/WorldStar, legally dubious debut of T.J.'s "Liverpool Oratorio" test pressing!
We’ll be back next week with an all new episode where we get in the March Madness spirit; and by that we mean point-shaving, baby!! In the meantime, go ahead and grab a Macca snack; they’re meat free and it’s not even Monday. Unless it is!
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Ep. 194 | Macca Snacks #3 / Paul McCartney’s The 7” Singles Box (2022)
This week, we gotta get back in time. Back to 2022, when a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and edible-influenced T.J. and Tony ripped through Teej’s brand new box set of the 7” Macca Singles, joined by their close (and possibly hallucinated) friends P3Z-Nutz, Mrs. Vandebilt, and Uncle Pecos.
Will they make it all the way through the bonus test (your patience) pressing of 4 random songs from Liverpool Oratorio? Pop in your earbuds and a coupla your favorite Macca Snacks, and you might just find out.
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Ep. 175 | Paul McCartney, “One Hand Clapping (2024) Part 2
The 4th of July is a wonderful time to remember that life’s all about picking sides - and, often, hands; across the water, and across America! And today we pick sides…deep dishing sides three and four of One Hand Clapping! Plus, we dive into the incredible bonus, backyard vinyl EP that under no circumstance should be included anywhere digitally, because the millions of peons who dare to get their music from places other than the Universal Music online store don’t deserve live “Blackbird”. (Nope, not letting this one go.)
Tony and T.J. agree that the first official release of “One Hand Clapping” is a masterpiece, perhaps one of Paul’s very best albums; unless one is Rob Sheffleld, in which case this would rank just below “Gone Troppo”. But when it’s time to pick sides, perhaps they’re more Siskel & Ebert and less Medved & Lyons as they also ponder:
🎻 Are you #TeamWix or #TeamActualOrchestra
🇺🇸 Are you #TeamCanadianREM, #TeamAmericanBarenakedLadies, or #TeamAmericaWorldPolice? #Fyeah
🦅 Are you #TeamGlenFrey or #TeamRandallCunningham?
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 174 | Paul McCartney, “One Hand Clapping” (2024)
What exactly is the sound of one hand clapping? Is it similar to one man napping? Some band slapping? Dumb planned crapping? Crumb...tanned...uh, line? LINE?
No, you can't get in line at your local record shoppe for a midnight release party, because the first ever official, complete vinyl issue of "One Hand Clapping" is being sold exactly as it would've been in 1974: exclusively on Universal's website. Eat it, beloved, local record stores!
And unlike Wacco Jacko's '88 parody "Eat It", these live-in-studio Wings tracks have never sounded fresher. 50 years after they were recorded, can a case be made that this is a top-tier McCartney album, filled with definitive versions of Macca classics? We'll leave that to Rob Sheffield, who'll rank "Love My Baby" ahead of "Watching The Wheels", and instead ask:
If NBC's "Geoff Emerick And A Dog" hadn't followed "Glücklich And Froh" in the fall of '77, would it have been a bigger hit?
If you mash up Paul Simon's "One Trick Pony" with Macca's "One Hand Clapping", do you get "One Simon's Hand Pony Macca's Clapping Trick"? Or might you, more than likely, find a different combination of words?
🐦⬛ (Angry Chicago Guy): HOW COME THE CD SOUNDTRACK OF "THE IN-LAWS" 2003 REMAKE AIN'T AVAILABLE AT CROW'S NEST? (Sadly, reeking of old Old Style) AND WHEN DID THE RAP SECTION OUTNUMBER SINATRAS?
EPISODE LINKS
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