TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
Plexiglass Backgrounds
Father and son navigate childhood memories, family dynamics, and philosophical questions in this meandering conversation that reveals surprising vulnerability and humor.
• Discussing how dad actually listened to their entire previous podcast episode rather than skipping through it
• Reminiscing about broken garage windows, including the time a rock was thrown "on purpose" to miss someone's head
• Exploring lunch routines and preferences, from microwaved eggs to grilled cheese sandwiches with croutons
• Unpacking an unexpected definition of love as the moment you start "worrying" about another person
• Revealing the existence of "The I Hate Ben Club," a childhood organization with secret documents
• Attempting to differentiate between charisma and charm while acknowledging limited knowledge on the topic
• Sharing insights about microphone techniques and the art of background vocals
• Self-aware commentary on podcast culture and the tendency to speak authoritatively on unfamiliar topics
Get out there everybody and find people to worry about, because that's what life is all about.
you can't talk unless you're recording hello over this before now go again I was.
Scott:I was listening to one of our podcasts the last one, um in the car and I just like let it play. Usually I'm always like nope forward. I've heard this twice, I don't need to hear it again.
Ben:You listen to podcasts on Shuffleplay. Is that what you're saying?
Scott:It's not Shuffleplay. I have a home. The podcast player you know has the ones you subscribe to, so I'm subscribed to us, so it keeps on coming up, yeah.
Ben:So you listen to a podcast for anywhere between I don't know 35 minutes, hour and a half, and then you just whatever it spits at you.
Scott:Next is what you decide to listen to. It pretty much just gives me everything. In my library I don't have that many. It's just like shuffle, play. There's no shuffle, it's just like here's the next, next, next next.
Ben:Oh, okay, so there's no shuffle, so you're just playing your library from the top. Yeah, most recently added to the end.
Scott:If they're not ones I want to like regularly make a yes or no decision on. You know. Anyways, and it was interesting. It's like well, what are they going to say next? You just let it play. Usually you skip right through.
Ben:Yeah, yeah, yeah this time you just let it play. It was interesting. Huh, you were entertained yeah, yeah you were entertained. I was entertained, yeah, then this was the most recent one you listened to yeah, yeah, it's like oh, tell me about how they got the cabin. Yeah there you go, that's right, that's right, yeah, it's a good story. It's a good story, yeah, maybe I'll tell you about it sometime yep it's very july.
Ben:Lighting right now looks like over where you are. I see the see, the sunlight softly illuminating the garage windows. Yep, yep, behind me, I'm backlit.
Scott:That's the it feels like Fourth of July.
Ben:The air is thick.
Scott:That's the light for the drums. You get backlight on, did you?
Ben:fix those windows. After Peter threw the rock in it, or was it the tennis ball? I guess we were always throwing tennis balls through those windows, huh.
Scott:Rocks went through other windows. What do you mean?
Ben:Yeah, that was the last house. You're right, he had grown out a lot by the time we moved into that.
Scott:He did one on the garage and one in the living room Of the old house Through the living room window. Yeah.
Ben:Oh, forgot about that. The one that sticks out is the rock through the garage window. Were you there when he did that? What? Or you? Just came out to see it later.
Scott:No, he was showing me that he missed my head on purpose.
Ben:Okay, he was showing you that he missed it, so first he was so mad. He wanted to throw a stone at me and so, instead of the window, he threw it through the window. Yeah, right, and so he was trying to make a point. I would never put you in mortal danger. Instead, I will throw this rock through the living room window. It was Okay, it wasn't that angry. Maybe we can save that for our next family therapy session.
Scott:No, I mean I've always, we'll put it always. That's why I've said, I always said he's got good aim.
Ben:Oh, yeah, yeah, he can miss. Yeah, yeah, he can mess up. What about the garage window? Do you remember? I feel like I was there for that one. I feel like that was one of my earliest memories.
Scott:Yeah, I've lost all detail of that, I guess. Yeah, it's kind of a checkbox. Yes, this must have happened once, but we're like a few versions. By that, the glass had been broken for other reasons since then, you know.
Ben:Yeah, I remember breaking one of those windows behind you. I don't even know if it was me or if it was someone else. I feel like it was me. We were just playing like handball against the garage window. So we're just throwing the tennis ball and having it bounce back. You know, we're playing a game and at one point me or someone else whips it and it goes straight into one of those narrow little windows along the top of the garage door and it just, and then we're just all like, look at each other, like, and then I remember us all just running. I'm like where are you, where are you gonna?
Ben:go, was it glass home already it was a glass yeah, it was glass at the time. And then we were glass, sexy plexi made out of plexi, beautiful disaster yeah, right it's uh yeah, yeah right, yeah, yeah right. He has gone off screen. Oh, look at that, he has. He has a prototype here everybody I got a spare one.
Scott:I got a spare one.
Ben:The plexiglass salesman just showed up your door with a giant rectangular piece of opaque product. Tell us about this.
Scott:I don't know, as you can tell, I haven't been thinking.
Ben:What do you need?
Scott:I haven't been thinking about the garage windows lately. It's just like while they're there, they let in light.
Ben:All that story. That's what you want. That's what you want in a window.
Scott:Yeah.
Ben:I forgot that was there. You know, forgot that was there.
Scott:Yep.
Ben:When you eat lunch in the middle of the day? What do you do while you eat lunch? This is how I know I'm from a very privileged caste in society. Is that one of my biggest problems throughout the day is being like oh wait, I'm hungry and it's lunchtime, but am I really? Am I just going to sit down in this house and just eat it?
Scott:I watch YouTube.
Ben:You watch YouTube Comedians mostly, you still microwave your eggs for lunch. Is it still what you do every day?
Scott:I try to do that before, like 11, 30, okay, it's kind of a breakfast idea. Still, I'm not always successful.
Ben:Sometimes I remember different points I would. There were some points where it was about 2 30 in the afternoon, came, you know, came home from school or something. There'd be the smell of egg in the air, it's like oh, or the sound of popping the eggs in the microwave. What is going on there? You open it and there's just this steaming egg in a porcelain bowl with a paper towel draped over the top so it doesn't explode everywhere. Yeah, I remember that. Okay, so you watch youtube yeah, how's your kitchen? Ah, so dismal what?
Scott:do you mean? Well, you had this territorial issue uh, Uh-huh yeah. Did you get it a little better arranged? No, I guess would be the more fair.
Ben:No, no, I didn't.
Scott:Have you improved the arrangement?
Ben:I did not invest enough momentum or momentum building.
Scott:It's like not what you're working on, just like I'm not working on the garage windows.
Ben:Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you know I've had a lot of night time. You're working on lots of things. I'm organizing the kitchen Just beyond me at this point. Well, you'll just have to help, help.
Scott:Are you fake going in and out the next couple of months Losing?
Ben:the internet. Are you?
Scott:No, I'm just showing I bought one.
Ben:You had to ask that through a microphone.
Scott:I'm just showing you. I bought one.
Ben:Good yeah, what did you say earlier before we started recording? I'm just showing you I bought one. Good yeah, yeah. What did you say earlier before we started recording? You have to make sure that you have to talk through. Is that a mistake that most people that are not sure?
Scott:know, oh no, I never knew. I never knew. It's like don't do this, because the microphone is heart shape out in front of you like this. And this is like really don't, it doesn't pick up like well, this way, as opposed to like, okay, now you're in what the mic can hear. This will just like.
Ben:I've seen some performers rest it Like. I've seen some performers in between their chin and their bottom lip and I feel like that's their way of being, like I'd never really been able to figure out the microphone thing, so I'm just going to like leave it here and that way I don't have to think about it.
Scott:Well, it's like, instead of being straight in front of your mouth, your mouth's of your mouth, your mouth's where your mouth is. That's where the sound's going to come out of. You know, nobody gets to change that right, but it's like they're just no. Putting it off to the side means like you're making your mouth more visible to a crowd, you know yeah, yeah, you want, yeah.
Ben:So people think that the people needs to read their lips you're still pretty solidly.
Scott:Yes, there's a cone where you're still solidly. It's a proximity that matters, not the you know slight bit of direction. So I can, I can see how people would just find maybe maybe there's a sweet spot there, I don't know. I had, I had this amazing experience of doing this show, where my friend Eric recorded it and he sent me the first mix where he put the background vocalist and the vocalist on the same volume.
Ben:Yeah, the background vocals and the lead vocalist Okay.
Scott:Yeah.
Ben:Because they're background vocals, me being the background vocals and the lead vocal.
Scott:okay, yeah, well, because your background vocals me being the background vocalist and it's like, oh no, that didn't make it to youtube, did it I?
Scott:I didn't share with anybody, I hope it did I hope it did I want to hear that I want to hear that track oh, it's educational to me, it was worth me listening to. It's like, oh, I'm glad all these when I'm put in the background you don't notice all those things I notice when I'm not in the background. So I asked him to put me in the background and it turns me from being like ehh singer to like kind of really, I don't know, I like it. It's it's like a good background singing and it's like blended with the piano, so much you can't really tell them apart. So it's like I'm an extra key on the piano and it's like, okay, that's cool. Which makes me I can sound like I'm doing like throat singing, like a chord, because you don't really know what I'm singing and what the piano is doing and maybe I am throat singing, I don't know.
Ben:Is that a feature of all background singing, whereas if you turn it up to be at the same level as the lead vocals, for me it's an absolute discovery.
Scott:I mean, it's what I tried to hear on stage. I just wanted to be like an instrument, not a lead voice, Right, you know. So I wasn't worried that much about too much, Cause it's just like I'm just the guy going on the background that no one quite notices, you know. And With that, when he cranked it down, so I was like like equal or lower than the rhythm guitar, because the rhythm guitar is pretty low in the mix. Sure, Then it's like, oh, I really liked it. After that, yeah, you have to take a look at it. Yeah, I will.
Scott:It's supposed to be the whole video. I mean, it's all edited by Eric, shot by shot. There's four different cameras, but he picks, even zooms in. He edited the whole sequence of every song. It's like okay, now we're going to watch the drummer. Now we're going to watch the bass player. Now we're going to watch the bass player behind the singer. Now we're going to, you know, back to the drummer. Okay, there's Jack on his solo. You know, it's like it's yeah, I'm really looking forward to all the ones produced for the other bands.
Ben:It's like something never seen in this process he did it for all the bands, not just you, yeah yeah, yeah yeah that's what's new. That's new. Professionally recorded videos of satellite crash. That's what's new. What'd you eat for lunch? What'd you do when you ate lunch?
Scott:I had melted cheese and side Caesar at the melt at the Stanford mall.
Ben:Oh, yeah, that's crunchy. Did you have croutons?
Scott:Yeah, with cheese in the middle croutons.
Ben:Cheese in the middle crouton.
Scott:Yeah, that's really. It's like the croutons are like day-old cheese sandwiches, chopped up.
Ben:Oh, interesting.
Scott:They make the croutons by just making these thin cheese sandwiches and chopping them up.
Ben:So every crouton has a cheese in the middle of it and chopping them up. So every crouton has a Wow that's good. No, Really he's not in the living.
Scott:That's good yeah.
Ben:Did they? Are they like other croutons where they kind of like make all those little cuts around your mouth? The sandwich I ate just did that to me.
Scott:No, it's more like a grilled cheese sandwich that's cut up.
Ben:Oh, grilled cheese sandwich that's cut up. Oh, I got crunchy soft grilled cheese sandwich. It's nice Wow.
Scott:Just a dry version of that.
Ben:A dry version of a grilled cheese sandwich. Yeah, dry grilled cheese.
Scott:It's a crouton. It has this crunch to it. You know there might have been a toasting process somewhere.
Ben:I've got an idea the melt's proprietary toasting process. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you going to ask me what I have for lunch, or?
Scott:what'd you have for lunch?
Ben:I had a. I had a sandwich made with bread. I got from Safeway a couple of weeks ago. I bought, I bought a bunch of bread Safeway, cause I thought I was going to be living on Whidbey for a few days working, and so I bought a bunch of. I was going to do things to do like a lunch meat sort of thing for lunch, but I ended up not working. This is a really good story so far, isn't it? And then I still have the bread. It's been in the refrigerator and so I've been having to go through it and so I've. I've still been eating sandwiches and I toasted the sandwich and it got really crispy and what did you use for?
Ben:oil. I've got those cuts in my mind.
Scott:At what point in the process are you assuming I needed oil for what did you use for the fat that you toast, or you just toasted it only air?
Ben:do you butter your toast before you put it in the toast? Is that, is that a certain thing? Sorry?
Scott:my brain was just done like you put I was just thinking about grilled. Oh, you're talking about grilled cheese no, I didn't have a grilled.
Ben:You got grilled cheese on your mind. I didn't have. I didn't need grilled cheese. You weren't actually listening. Your mind was grilled. So you're kind, you're? You know, get your head out of your ass. Stop thinking about yourself. You're projecting. Okay, I didn't need a grilled cheese. I just ate a sandwich. I just toasted some bread in the toaster oven, then I put mustard and mayonnaise on it. After I toasted it, I had some black garlic chili crisp, which is not crisp at all, actually, it's kind of it's it's gooey. And then turkey. Yeah, anyways, how did you know that mom was the one? Yeah, is there any? Was there ever a point where you were like she's going to be my person for this? We're doing this, maybe not, maybe not, maybe not.
Scott:No, it was just like Pretty easy to think positive things about a person when you first start having sex with them. It's a great period.
Ben:I see, okay, yeah, I was thinking about sandwiches and I was just like sandwiches, wives, yeah, you know, wow, life is good, it's got all this good stuff in it. Oh God, you have to. I don't always. I thought if I started talking to them, the improv gods would help me out with that one. I'm sorry, I don't know.
Scott:Sorry.
Ben:Did you get uncomfortable?
Scott:Did you get uncomfortable from me talking that?
Ben:No, no, no, no, no, no. I was just trying to fill space with the joke and relate it to sin, which is relate it to sandwiches. It's easy to think positively about someone once you start having sex with them, I see.
Scott:No, I mean, it's just optimistic time and you like go like. This is good, you know there's a match, let's take it further. This is good, you know there's a match, let's take it further.
Ben:This feels good. We're compatible. This is nice, this is enjoyable.
Scott:Yep.
Ben:Yeah, yeah, okay, do you feel like you made that call before you decided to get married?
Scott:Yeah, sure.
Ben:When did we make that call before I decided to marry you?
Scott:Yeah, when did I start worrying about her? When did I did I start worrying about her? When did I?
Ben:Is that what I asked? Those aren't the words that came out of my mouth. When did you start?
Scott:worrying about her.
Ben:Alright, put a bookmark in what I asked before. When did you start worrying? Answer that when did you start worrying about?
Scott:it. It's just part of the process of falling in love is like oh, now, oops.
Ben:Oops.
Scott:Now I really care.
Ben:Is this part of falling in love? Oops?
Scott:Now I really care.
Ben:Is this part of falling in love?
Scott:Oops, now I really care about her. Well, this is the way it is.
Ben:In what way did you start worrying about her?
Scott:You care for her.
Ben:If you don't want this on the air, that's cool. I didn't realize.
Scott:No, it's just a you know leads to concern, Like, oh I'm, you, care about this person, I fall in love. And then it's like, okay, well, there you go. What are we doing?
Ben:Okay, well there you go. What are we doing, okay? Well, here we are, all right. I'm worried about you now.
Scott:How are you Well, it's Happy Pardon.
Ben:Are you happy?
Scott:Are you asking if I'm happy?
Ben:Oh good.
Scott:Sorry, I might not be hearing every word.
Ben:No, no, what I'm asking? If you fall in love with someone and then, well, there you go. Now I'm worried about you. Is that what you grew up thinking love was Like?
Scott:you just. Is that what your parents instilled?
Ben:I find them to go together Like really Disney instilled that find them to go to like really disney and still I find them to go together sure, yeah, I'm still good. Okay also with my maybe, maybe maybe later, about what you mean by getting worried about someone. But I mean, I see what you mean, I I just, I don't know like you start caring about their well-being, but like that was part of it anyways yes, yes, that's the action.
Ben:Okay, yeah, okay, yeah and you're willing, and you're willing to like, extend yourself much further for their well-being, as opposed to the average person. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay. The average person yeah, yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay, alright, okay, oh, it's, it's. It works out, you know.
Scott:Yeah.
Ben:Starting caring about caring about.
Scott:There's still the future and helps to know where we been been been been been been been you ever Ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben Ben.
Ben:Ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben, ben Ben.
Scott:Ben.
Ben:Ben, we hate you. Peter once wrote a song Wow, we're really doing all of our shadow work today, Wow oh. God, I wonder what the AI is going to come to the title for us today. It's going to be like what the fuck is going on with these guys? Jesus Christ, I hope they go to therapy. Jesus Christ, I hope they go to therapy. Jesus Christ, remember the I Hate Ben Club. I feel like Peter wrote a song Ben's a bitch that's what it was. Ben's a bitch Wrote a song called Ben's a bitch.
Scott:Wow, you've come up with three competing titles for this song In your memory.
Ben:Ben's a Bitch is definitely what it was, but the I Hate Ben Club was like a whole club. Wow, ben's a Bitch. Song for it. This is a lot of unprocessed shit that's going on.
Scott:How many meetings did they have?
Ben:I think two before we shut it down. Peter hid all the documents in his dresser. It was a shirt drawer or something.
Scott:Oh, it was the three of them.
Ben:It helps to know where you've been. That's true. That is why I love Peter. It helps to know where you've been yeah. I don't deny that the history was fraught how many were in this club? I think it was just Peter and Colin and Reese yeah, three.
Scott:I just wondered if it was three or two. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I said I wasn't going to join they asked you, they offered you a membership.
Ben:No, they showed up to your door with a rectangular piece of plexiglass and said hi, sir, I heard that a young boy named Ben had recently broke your garage window with a tennis ball, thought he could get away with it by just running away into his room First. We'd like to fix the window for you with this new patent pending product. We're wondering if you hate that as much as we do. And he said no, no, I'm not interested. No, I'm not interested. Ever heard people try to do impressions of you before?
Scott:of who yourself?
Ben:have you ever heard someone know of impressions of you?
Scott:No.
Ben:I don't know if I've ever heard someone try to do an impression of me. It's interesting. Some people are just way more fun to do impressions of. But I think we just might not be those people.
Scott:Ahem Ahem. Some people are way more fun to no hold it, it's higher, gotta get higher. Some people are way more. What were you saying?
Ben:Some people are way more fun.
Scott:I'd have to tune in the pitch to go forward a minute to your voice. Some people are way more fun. I'd have to tune in the pitch to go forward a minute.
Ben:It's your voice.
Scott:Some people.
Ben:Yeah right, the timbre is not there.
Scott:Yeah, and then they're timing. How do you change the timbre? Because you do speak in a specific way.
Ben:I could probably I do have a particular cadence, it's true. Yeah, you do have a particular cadence, it's true.
Scott:You do have a particular cadence, it's true. Yeah, drumming's helped, you know.
Ben:Yeah, drumming has helped. I've never. My impression of you is an impression of me. That's fair. Some, some people, some people are easier, have more fun, sounds like it's. That's a fun one. That's a. That's a fun impression to do scott johnston doing an impression of Benjamin Johnston, that's the one.
Scott:Wow, yeah, let's see what title gets auto generated. I rarely take the computer's choice because they never get to the heart of what's funny about an episode. That's not you can't extract.
Ben:No, they can't do it because it doesn't have a heart. True, it doesn't have a heart. It doesn't have a heart. Do you know what the difference between charisma and charm is? I've been reading a New York Times article and I just started it, and they started to get into how charisma is different and apparently charm is something that you can practice and it can be really easy and it really just requires like two things that you show that you're more interested in that person's problem, in another person's problems. You're more interested in their problems than you are in there in your own.
Ben:And you I can't remember what the other piece of charm is, but that's like, honestly, like 90%, 90 of it, is it just like, oh my gosh, this person is like so lovely and I feel like that's why a lot of people like me, because I just like usually make a conversation about them more often than not, at least with strangers. But then there's the. Then charisma is its own thing. It's like AI can nail charm super, super easily, because it's never about the AI, it's always about you, right? But in terms of charisma, this is, this is what do you? What do you think is the difference? What do you think is the difference? What do you think I should probably finish.
Scott:Charisma is sort of like I don't know someone who gets to channel a lot of energy. You know From others yeah, people are attracted to them and what they say and you know. That's what. That's what I think of as charisma this is embarrassing.
Ben:I think Zoom cut out your answer yeah, it might be recorded on this.
Scott:Someone with charisma channeled.
Ben:That's all I heard. Someone with charisma channel energy, yeah.
Scott:That's all I heard. That's a short version. That's all you said. That's a short version Channel.
Ben:what energy where Huh?
Scott:Well, attention, it's like hey, look at this, you know, look at this.
Ben:You should enjoy this too. I think that's the big thing about it is it gets people like someone with charisma is able to say like hey, hey, yes, and it's not only like look at this and like be interested, but like look at this and change your entire life and join my cult, because I, I know best. This is like the worst of the pot, this is like the the darkest side of the podcast. Dude doing the podcast thing is like it's quintessential. It's like quintessentially the white podcast bro that talks incessantly about a topic that they know nothing about. And here I am trying to bring up a topic of which I only read the first 12% of an article.
Scott:So what is charisma?
Ben:I have no idea because I didn't read the article, but it was interesting and I'll get to it as soon as I have time. I just thought that maybe you would have some thoughts. I guess, what do you think?
Ben:I can't pretend that I know anything about it I mean, I think it's yeah, it's like how much they're channeling attention how much they're channeling intention though they want has a lot of charisma right, they walk into room and he knows everyone's there to look at him yeah, right, and it's not just because he makes people feel more important than him, even though one-on-one he probably does do that charm is part of charisma. But yeah, he walks into a room and did you say he knows all eyes are on him? Sure, yeah, I mean, that's a. It's just like the confidence in his own taste and his own vision, I feel like is really what it is. Yeah, or at least a really big part of it, yeah what a guy yeah, that's yeah, yeah, oh god.
Ben:I was because I've been trying to learn so much about the big beautiful bill lately. I was skipping through different channels to see if I could like listen to what conservative talk radio was talking about, and there was one. There was one radio I found where this guy just like, oh my god, he was the, his cadence, oh my god, was so annoying, just like this. I don't even know if he was a conservative pundit or what, but he was like hey, hey, hey, say what you will about Donald Trump, but he never fails to make me laugh. He is a funny, funny, funny guy, funny guy, and I think he has a very different sense of humor than I do.
Scott:I don't know why I brought that up.
Ben:Oh shit, we don't have a sponsor.
Scott:I believe in state government. I believe everyone should be very active in their next secretary of state election. It's like what matters is, you know, elections for the future and we'll get this all sorted out something like that.
Ben:Yeah, yeah, maybe Well.
Scott:It would be good to have the spirit of Jesus come back, or something like that.
Ben:Wouldn't that be great. We need someone with charisma. That's what we need. We need someone with charisma to come back. Yeah, that's a good feeling. We just need the spirit of Jesus to come back. Yeah, that's a good feeling. We just need the Spirit of Jesus to come back.
Scott:Or the 60s.
Ben:Or the 60s to come back. Well, how'd that work out? You know, I guess how. Jesus worked out. Oh man, what are we doing? Thank God, things like plexiglass exist, though.
Scott:At least we can rest easy, thank you, thank you.
Ben:Get out there, everybody and you know, find people to like, worry about you know, because that's what life is all about. Okay, All right, I know we've been really pessimistic this episode, but sometimes you just gotta get it out, Just shake it out, Go phone.
Scott:Yeah, I hope this.
Ben:We love you all.
Scott:Yeah, I hope I get your end.
