Mystery in the Pines

[00:00:00] Joey, what time is it?

[00:00:02] Eh?

[00:00:03] Psh!

[00:00:04] Bwaaah!

[00:00:05] What time is it?

[00:00:06] Oh, it's time for the...

[00:00:08] Two Cat Kitchen, it's time for us to pitch in

[00:00:11] and start another Two Cat Show

[00:00:14] Down at the Two Cat Kitchen

[00:00:17] we're starting on a mission

[00:00:19] to put you in the culinary know

[00:00:22] We've got the finest recipes

[00:00:25] whoever will find

[00:00:27] Guaranteed to show you all a mighty fine time

[00:00:30] Here at the Two Cat Kitchen

[00:00:33] Time for a new edition of the culinary Two Cat Show

[00:00:39] The culinary Two Cat Show

[00:00:46] Welcome to the Two Cat Kitchen

[00:00:48] the show that mixes musical mayhem with culinary calamity

[00:00:52] David Lucan is here to help with the mixing

[00:00:55] Hello everybody

[00:00:57] Each episode of the Two Cat Kitchen features new songs

[00:01:00] a brand new recipe

[00:01:02] and a special musical guest

[00:01:04] Who's our guest today?

[00:01:06] Today's musical guest is Jeff Taber

[00:01:09] Jeff is a singer, guitar player, educator

[00:01:12] and all around great guy

[00:01:15] Sounds great

[00:01:16] Each episode also features an informative segment

[00:01:20] Today we have the Two Cat American Songbook

[00:01:24] hosted by Chi Chi Pekingese

[00:01:32] Hey, listen to that

[00:01:33] Is that the coconut? How could that be?

[00:01:36] I don't know, I'll go check

[00:01:52] Well, was it them?

[00:01:53] No, just a marching band going by

[00:01:55] must be a parade or something

[00:01:57] Okay, false alarm

[00:02:00] But now it's time for our first musical number

[00:02:03] Jeff Taber joined by members of the Cocoa Notes

[00:02:06] performing Mystery Train by Steve Earle

[00:02:09] David, do you have any insights into Mystery Train

[00:02:12] or trains in general?

[00:02:14] Well, who doesn't love a good train song?

[00:02:17] It's always fun

[00:02:18] Yeah, I'll tell you

[00:02:19] but Steve Earle I think really loved trains

[00:02:21] because when I think of Steve Earle

[00:02:23] what comes to mind is Mystery Train

[00:02:26] for example, in Texas Eagle

[00:02:28] great song that he wrote

[00:02:30] so definitely some train songs there

[00:02:33] and probably others too that I'm not familiar with

[00:02:36] Nonetheless, here we go

[00:02:38] Mystery Train

[00:04:15] Wonder where she's going

[00:04:17] Can't you pay a blowin'

[00:04:19] Run down to the station

[00:04:21] Run down to the station

[00:04:23] Dread and fascination

[00:04:25] Run down to the station

[00:04:45] Don't you want a rider

[00:04:47] Don't you want a rider

[00:04:49] Wonder what's inside her

[00:04:51] Don't you want a rider

[00:04:53] She ain't mind for nowhere

[00:04:55] She ain't mind for nowhere

[00:04:57] Engineers don't care

[00:04:59] She ain't mind for nowhere

[00:05:11] There's a train comin'

[00:05:19] There's a train comin'

[00:05:21] Hear them tracks a-hummin'

[00:05:23] Hear them tracks a-hummin'

[00:05:25] There's a train comin'

[00:05:27] Can't you hear it blowin'

[00:05:29] Can't you hear it blowin'

[00:05:31] Wonder where she's going

[00:05:33] Can't you hear it blowin'

[00:05:52] She run down the mountain

[00:05:54] She run down the mountain

[00:05:56] She won't even slow down

[00:05:58] She's rowin' down the mountain

[00:06:00] There's a train comin'

[00:06:02] There's a train comin'

[00:06:04] Hear them tracks a-hummin'

[00:06:06] There's a train comin'

[00:06:45] Great to see ya.

[00:06:47] So we want to talk to you a little bit about,

[00:06:49] well I'm just wondering

[00:06:51] how you, you know, you're a singer

[00:06:53] a song, a singer, guitar player

[00:06:55] and how did you get

[00:06:57] interested in music?

[00:06:59] How did you get down that path

[00:07:01] the wonderful path of music?

[00:07:03] I think it started

[00:07:05] in high school

[00:07:07] I think I was always interested

[00:07:09] in music

[00:07:11] as a kid, you know

[00:07:13] in the 80s

[00:07:15] recording songs off the radio

[00:07:17] you know, try waiting

[00:07:19] for your favorite song to come on

[00:07:21] so you could have a copy of it

[00:07:23] that kind of thing. On the cassette tape?

[00:07:25] Yes, on the cassette tape

[00:07:27] the cassette player that had the radio built into it

[00:07:29] so I, you know

[00:07:31] I remember spending a lot of time

[00:07:33] doing that as a kid

[00:07:35] and then, you know, it would be really frustrating

[00:07:37] would you like miss the beginning?

[00:07:39] But, anyway

[00:07:41] then

[00:07:43] just getting into different music

[00:07:45] I think I remember I got my first

[00:07:47] CD player when I was like

[00:07:49] 16

[00:07:51] and that kind of really

[00:07:53] I don't know, I started building a music

[00:07:55] collection and I had a really influential

[00:07:57] teacher in high school

[00:07:59] who was

[00:08:01] really into jazz

[00:08:03] he

[00:08:05] so he kind of like opened

[00:08:07] he would just trash rock and roll

[00:08:09] and then

[00:08:11] he was really pro jazz but then also

[00:08:13] like he loved singer-songwriters

[00:08:15] like, you know, Harry Chapin

[00:08:17] or Joni Mitchell

[00:08:19] or so

[00:08:21] introduced me to stuff like that. So then I got

[00:08:23] and then they were short

[00:08:25] and then I tried out for this musical in high school

[00:08:27] so I had to sing a part for that

[00:08:29] got that part

[00:08:31] the chorus teacher was like short

[00:08:33] of guys so she kind of like

[00:08:35] recruited me

[00:08:37] to do the chorus

[00:08:39] she had to like sing my parts to me

[00:08:41] so I didn't really learn to read music

[00:08:43] went to college

[00:08:45] studied abroad in Ireland

[00:08:47] the family had a guitar in the house

[00:08:49] and then I kind of

[00:08:51] started picking that up

[00:08:53] and realizing like it blew my mind

[00:08:55] that you could sing these really great songs

[00:08:57] with just a couple of chords

[00:08:59] and that's kind of where I've stayed

[00:09:01] I haven't really evolved

[00:09:03] as a musician much

[00:09:05] but that kind of got me

[00:09:09] playing

[00:09:11] you know, playing music with other people

[00:09:15] So are you a singer?

[00:09:17] Yeah, that's really my primary

[00:09:19] I think

[00:09:21] that's what really attracted me to playing music

[00:09:23] with other people and maybe why I haven't

[00:09:25] gotten really good at the guitar is that

[00:09:29] I like to sing and

[00:09:31] people told me I was decent at it

[00:09:33] so they would invite me to do it with them

[00:09:39] and then

[00:09:41] I don't know if I'm rambling too long here but

[00:09:43] got involved with the chickens

[00:09:47] we were getting together regularly with these people

[00:09:49] and kind of honing certain songs

[00:09:53] and then they started booking gigs

[00:09:57] so it was like we're playing at farmers markets

[00:09:59] we're playing at parties

[00:10:01] different stuff

[00:10:03] so then I actually for the first

[00:10:05] maybe and only time got into a

[00:10:07] quote unquote band

[00:10:09] so that kind of

[00:10:11] and then I had a family and I've kind of

[00:10:13] stepped away from that

[00:10:15] The chickens were quite an experience

[00:10:17] I think both David and I have been

[00:10:19] part of that experience

[00:10:21] I remember my first time

[00:10:23] being involved with the chickens

[00:10:25] you were there

[00:10:27] and I was like

[00:10:29] what the heck is this?

[00:10:31] and then after a few minutes

[00:10:33] I was like you know what

[00:10:35] this is kind of cool

[00:10:37] totally cool

[00:10:39] yeah the chickens are very organic

[00:10:45] made up of people that love music

[00:10:49] what more can you ask for really

[00:10:53] it was a lot of fun for me

[00:10:55] so yeah it sounds like you had

[00:10:59] so you sang in a musical

[00:11:01] like a musical play

[00:11:03] that's unbelievable

[00:11:07] to me that's like petrifying

[00:11:11] I think I like to act too

[00:11:13] I didn't do much of it

[00:11:15] I did a play with the Contemporary Theatre Company

[00:11:19] back in like 2009 I think it was

[00:11:21] it was early on

[00:11:23] they were operating out of the high school

[00:11:27] so Chris Simpson kind of

[00:11:31] I don't know how I figured it out

[00:11:33] but I knew him as a student at the high school

[00:11:35] realized there was a tryout

[00:11:37] and went to that

[00:11:39] I didn't sing in that but that was a lot of fun

[00:11:41] what was the musical that you did?

[00:11:43] so the musical was Calamity Jane

[00:11:45] have you ever heard of that?

[00:11:47] I've heard the name

[00:11:49] so yeah she was

[00:11:51] I think she may have been a real character

[00:11:53] I'm not sure in like the west

[00:11:57] but my role was

[00:11:59] I was Francis Fryer

[00:12:01] so I had come to this

[00:12:03] western town

[00:12:07] to be in this musical

[00:12:09] but I didn't realize that they were expecting me

[00:12:11] to be a girl

[00:12:13] I was like some famous actor

[00:12:15] Francis Fryer

[00:12:17] Francis was a man

[00:12:19] but I had to act in the play

[00:12:21] like I was a woman

[00:12:23] so it was really kind of

[00:12:25] you know it was pretty funny

[00:12:27] so were you cross dressed?

[00:12:29] yes I was cross dressed

[00:12:31] and this was in high school

[00:12:35] so in the play

[00:12:37] Calamity Jane

[00:12:39] when I was dressed as a woman

[00:12:41] I was on stage

[00:12:43] so I don't know if I'm explaining this well

[00:12:45] but it wasn't like

[00:12:47] I arrived in town as a guy

[00:12:49] but then they needed me to perform

[00:12:51] as a woman

[00:12:53] so it was pretty out there

[00:12:55] and I've never seen this thing again

[00:12:57] and do you kind of sing

[00:12:59] in a put on feminine manner?

[00:13:01] yes

[00:13:03] so I'm kind of seducing this guy

[00:13:05] rubbing

[00:13:07] it was like the French teacher

[00:13:09] Rich Patoki

[00:13:11] and talking about

[00:13:13] I've got two

[00:13:15] like all my assets

[00:13:17] that he should be enticed by

[00:13:19] that kind of thing

[00:13:21] I've got a hive full of honey

[00:13:23] for the right kind of honeybee

[00:13:25] that kind of thing

[00:13:27] and then you spent some time in Ireland

[00:13:29] how long were you there?

[00:13:31] I was there a semester

[00:13:33] which I wished I had gone

[00:13:35] longer in the end

[00:13:37] so I was in Galway

[00:13:39] and I felt like one of the cool things

[00:13:41] so at the house that I lived in

[00:13:45] there were three girls

[00:13:47] one of them turned 21

[00:13:49] and she had a birthday party

[00:13:53] she was in medical school at the time

[00:13:55] and there was like

[00:13:57] mostly med students

[00:13:59] so these were not like musicians

[00:14:01] but they went around the room

[00:14:03] and everybody performed a song

[00:14:05] where there was like on the piano

[00:14:07] just singing

[00:14:09] so it was like this would never happen in America

[00:14:11] where just people

[00:14:13] young people get together

[00:14:15] they know songs

[00:14:17] they're very comfortable sharing songs

[00:14:19] it was really pretty cool

[00:14:21] did you do a song?

[00:14:23] I don't know, I don't think I did

[00:14:25] because I don't think I could play the guitar yet

[00:14:27] they were way more practiced

[00:14:29] you could have sung

[00:14:31] Calamity Jane

[00:14:33] I could have creeped everybody out

[00:14:37] do you ever

[00:14:39] do your own

[00:14:41] composing of any kind?

[00:14:43] oh, um

[00:14:45] so I've tried

[00:14:47] and I've never really been

[00:14:49] satisfied

[00:14:51] like oh this is a really good song

[00:14:53] so I've written some fragments

[00:14:55] a friend of mine and I wrote a song

[00:14:57] when we were living together

[00:14:59] we wrote like I think two verses of a song

[00:15:01] and we didn't finish it

[00:15:03] so I started writing a song

[00:15:05] I was home with my son

[00:15:07] and I thought this could be really good

[00:15:09] it was kind of like a bluesy feel

[00:15:11] and I was talking about

[00:15:13] him as like a low down man

[00:15:15] but he was like on the floor

[00:15:17] and like his like kind of like

[00:15:19] rough attitude

[00:15:21] but it was just him being like really difficult

[00:15:23] so I was like trying to come up with this concept

[00:15:25] of like this

[00:15:27] you didn't know I was thinking about this baby

[00:15:29] but I was

[00:15:31] so I never finished that, I don't know

[00:15:33] yeah, but difficult to pull off I would say

[00:15:35] yeah and then I wrote it down

[00:15:37] and then like I couldn't find later

[00:15:39] the chords that I had laid out

[00:15:41] so I'm not disciplined enough I think

[00:15:43] is really most of it

[00:15:45] do you write music?

[00:15:47] it's hard to commit

[00:15:49] and follow through

[00:15:51] I do, I try

[00:15:53] but it's very difficult

[00:15:55] and then actually like

[00:15:57] having the

[00:15:59] audacity to

[00:16:01] sing it and play it for other people

[00:16:03] and make other people also play it with you

[00:16:05] I feel like

[00:16:07] it's, you really have to

[00:16:09] go out on a limb a bit

[00:16:11] yeah

[00:16:13] so we want to just talk a little bit about

[00:16:30] your career

[00:16:32] in general and what you, I know

[00:16:34] you're a teacher

[00:16:36] or you were a teacher

[00:16:38] and you probably still are a teacher I bet

[00:16:40] but maybe not

[00:16:42] you do teach, one way or another

[00:16:44] I try to teach, I don't know

[00:16:46] I taught social studies

[00:16:50] for about 15 years

[00:16:52] I ended up teaching

[00:16:54] and then I got into like the woman that

[00:16:56] I started filling in for like I got like a

[00:16:58] one year position and then that got like

[00:17:00] I got another year, like she took another

[00:17:02] year off so I got extended another year

[00:17:04] and she had been a psychology teacher

[00:17:06] or that was like part of her workload

[00:17:08] and I had taken that in high school

[00:17:10] and so I kind of took that over

[00:17:12] and she ultimately like retired

[00:17:14] and so

[00:17:16] I was teaching, I was teaching like

[00:17:18] up to like

[00:17:20] six different semester courses

[00:17:22] it was like most of what I did was I taught

[00:17:24] three fifths of my teaching was

[00:17:26] psychology, this intro course

[00:17:28] and then I, then I taught

[00:17:30] I brought, like I

[00:17:32] went and got trained and started

[00:17:34] AP psychology

[00:17:36] and I did that for one year

[00:17:38] and that was super interesting

[00:17:40] but then I stayed

[00:17:42] my wife and I had

[00:17:44] a child and she's a doctor

[00:17:46] and

[00:17:48] makes a lot more money than I did

[00:17:50] and has a pretty intense career

[00:17:52] and so I took a year

[00:17:54] off, stayed home with him, took another

[00:17:56] year off, then I had

[00:17:58] to decide

[00:18:00] to go back or quit

[00:18:02] can't get a third year off

[00:18:04] so then I resigned

[00:18:06] because I knew I had wanted to

[00:18:08] be a school counselor, like a guidance counselor

[00:18:10] I had already gotten

[00:18:12] my masters and like I

[00:18:14] kind of knew

[00:18:16] I didn't like the part of teaching high school

[00:18:18] where it's like okay there's 25 kids

[00:18:20] here, I'm kind of

[00:18:22] saying we're all basically going to do the same

[00:18:24] thing even if there's some variation

[00:18:26] there's like you know

[00:18:28] like five

[00:18:30] kids are like so into it

[00:18:32] ten are like fairly into

[00:18:34] it, you know, five

[00:18:36] kids maybe hate it, I don't know

[00:18:38] the other five somewhere else

[00:18:40] or maybe I didn't do the numbers right

[00:18:42] but yeah

[00:18:44] so with counseling it's more

[00:18:46] like what do you need?

[00:18:48] Like anytime I'm sitting down with a kid it's like

[00:18:50] very much about them

[00:18:52] personal goals

[00:18:54] or things that matter like

[00:18:56] how you're going to graduate

[00:18:58] what are you going to do

[00:19:00] after high school

[00:19:02] do you need help applying for college

[00:19:04] I love what I do now

[00:19:06] still in the same school but

[00:19:08] I was fortunate to get rehired to do it

[00:19:10] and it's more of a

[00:19:12] personalized kind of job

[00:19:14] so you get to know

[00:19:16] the kids a lot better?

[00:19:18] Well ironically I don't

[00:19:20] because with your teaching

[00:19:22] like you have this like

[00:19:24] some I do I should say

[00:19:26] the ones that need a lot

[00:19:28] of help I sometimes

[00:19:30] get to know very well

[00:19:32] but I don't get to know the same amount

[00:19:34] of kids well because

[00:19:36] most kids are kind of like they just need

[00:19:38] something here or there it's like

[00:19:40] I see you this month I don't see you for a couple

[00:19:42] months so there's a lot of

[00:19:44] that some kids you see

[00:19:46] like every day or almost every day

[00:19:48] but most of them if they're

[00:19:50] doing well like they don't really need me I'll

[00:19:52] teach some lessons sometimes

[00:19:54] like as a teacher you see a kid

[00:19:56] like day after day after day and you're

[00:19:58] giving them feedback and they're asking you

[00:20:00] get to know them more kids a lot

[00:20:02] better so that's

[00:20:04] the biggest cost I think of like

[00:20:06] making the change.

[00:20:23] Alright so there's a question we ask everybody here

[00:20:25] on the Tukat Kitchen and that is what

[00:20:27] were your earliest musical memories?

[00:20:31] I think

[00:20:33] from what I remember

[00:20:35] it would be

[00:20:37] like my grandmother

[00:20:39] playing the piano

[00:20:41] I don't know I guess

[00:20:43] I was probably like

[00:20:45] three maybe

[00:20:47] and she

[00:20:49] would you know sing stuff like

[00:20:51] I just remember her playing like

[00:20:53] on the piano like Home on the Range

[00:20:55] and like so

[00:20:57] she would sing it and I knew that song

[00:20:59] or I got to know that song maybe I

[00:21:01] sat on the piano bench and

[00:21:03] sang with her something like that.

[00:21:05] Home on the Range

[00:21:07] is a beautiful song.

[00:21:09] I mean it's kind of a cliche

[00:21:11] but

[00:21:13] if you listen like cause you hear the chorus

[00:21:15] of it and that's what maybe you learn it in school

[00:21:17] or something but the verses

[00:21:19] are unbelievable.

[00:21:21] It's a beautiful song. I mean

[00:21:23] that's my opinion.

[00:21:25] So you had a good start.

[00:21:29] That's great.

[00:21:31] We're gonna move on to the recipe

[00:21:33] portion of our program today

[00:21:35] and I think to do

[00:21:37] that I mean I noticed that you brought

[00:21:39] a cookbook and I think

[00:21:41] it has some family some ties

[00:21:43] with your families maybe or with your family.

[00:21:45] Maybe you can

[00:21:47] tell us a little bit about that.

[00:21:49] Yeah so one of my grandmothers

[00:21:51] my dad's mom

[00:21:53] was actually

[00:21:55] a home ec teacher

[00:21:57] at the high school

[00:21:59] and

[00:22:01] so she was really into food

[00:22:03] and she

[00:22:05] she wrote this cookbook long after

[00:22:07] she retired. She said she thought about

[00:22:09] it for years and years and

[00:22:11] she had dreams about doing it.

[00:22:13] She basically collected like her

[00:22:15] family recipes.

[00:22:17] Some of those

[00:22:19] friends a lot of gathering from friends

[00:22:21] and so

[00:22:23] and then when I

[00:22:25] was when I was still a kid she

[00:22:27] made it and like she distributed

[00:22:29] one to all of us like in kind of the

[00:22:31] my cousins my aunts and uncles

[00:22:33] my mom and dad everybody got one

[00:22:35] and so

[00:22:37] then I think when I started cooking

[00:22:39] so the

[00:22:41] one of the things I made

[00:22:43] today was this thing called

[00:22:45] blueberry dessert which I don't know if

[00:22:47] it's a family recipe or not but

[00:22:49] my mom would make that

[00:22:51] pretty often when I was a kid

[00:22:53] and it was like

[00:22:55] one of our favorite things.

[00:22:57] So um.

[00:22:59] Is it like a like a tort?

[00:23:01] I don't know what it's more like a cobbler.

[00:23:03] Cobbler?

[00:23:05] We haven't had a cobbler in the kitchen.

[00:23:07] Yeah.

[00:23:09] Is it always desserts that people make?

[00:23:11] No. Okay.

[00:23:13] I think fewer desserts than

[00:23:15] Okay. I heard two episodes

[00:23:17] and they were both dessert episodes.

[00:23:19] I wasn't going to make a dessert

[00:23:21] but then I was like

[00:23:23] I went down and sell her

[00:23:25] yesterday saw these blueberries

[00:23:27] the blueberries I

[00:23:29] grew those or whatever

[00:23:31] planted the bushes I didn't

[00:23:33] grow them. So they

[00:23:35] they're blueberries from the garden and

[00:23:37] I was like well I gotta use those anyway

[00:23:39] and frozen. Yep.

[00:23:41] Frozen. I frozen last

[00:23:43] July or whatever. Probably a good thing.

[00:23:45] Yeah.

[00:23:47] Otherwise it'd be dried blueberries.

[00:23:49] It'd be rancid. Yeah. Maybe.

[00:23:51] Yeah. Oh so you

[00:23:53] have something that you've made for us out

[00:23:55] of your grandmother's cookbook which is fantastic.

[00:23:57] Yeah. And I

[00:23:59] since no one but us can see

[00:24:01] it I think it's

[00:24:03] cool to

[00:24:05] I'm looking at this book and it's like

[00:24:07] pretty thick I mean there's

[00:24:09] quite a lot of recipes in there it's

[00:24:11] like bound with

[00:24:13] kind of plastic that ring

[00:24:15] plastic ring binding. Yeah the spiral.

[00:24:17] It's you know it's like vintage

[00:24:19] kind of got

[00:24:21] the yellowing pages and like the

[00:24:23] typewriter typing and some

[00:24:25] handwritten notes and stuff. It's

[00:24:27] I love those kind of family

[00:24:29] Yeah it's cool and so

[00:24:31] then she would still this is actually my

[00:24:33] grandmother's copy. My aunt gave

[00:24:35] this to me. So she's got notes

[00:24:37] in here about

[00:24:39] stuff she changed

[00:24:41] or like whose recipe

[00:24:43] was. So I asked her

[00:24:45] I asked my mom just yesterday

[00:24:47] I'm like would you go in like who is

[00:24:49] Barbara? Who is Maude?

[00:24:51] Like and

[00:24:53] she was like so she's going to try

[00:24:55] to help me identify some of these people

[00:24:57] like she said I don't know if it was

[00:24:59] like Lucille. She was like oh that's

[00:25:01] that was Aunt Lucille

[00:25:03] Lucille Champlin

[00:25:05] she was a librarian at Kingston.

[00:25:07] I've never heard of this person you know but

[00:25:09] I'm kind of I was related to her and she's got

[00:25:11] this recipe in the book. So

[00:25:13] it's pretty cool and then kind of

[00:25:15] a cool twist of fate is

[00:25:17] so this year I was out of

[00:25:19] middle school last year I come back to the high school

[00:25:21] and I have this student

[00:25:23] coming who I've never met. She's a senior

[00:25:25] she's like I think you're my cousin

[00:25:27] and I'm like really?

[00:25:29] And so it turns out

[00:25:31] she is

[00:25:33] I think we're like second

[00:25:35] cousins or something

[00:25:37] second or third I don't remember but

[00:25:39] and for her senior project

[00:25:41] she's making a

[00:25:43] cookbook. She had decided this before

[00:25:45] she knew about this

[00:25:47] and so she made a cookbook collecting

[00:25:49] recipes from her family and friends

[00:25:51] and it's kind of like

[00:25:53] crazy how I just met this

[00:25:55] seventeen year old

[00:25:57] person I'm related to who's doing

[00:25:59] the same thing my grandmother did

[00:26:01] you know?

[00:26:03] Isn't that cool? That's crazy yeah

[00:26:05] Everybody loves food

[00:26:07] Yeah people love food

[00:26:09] Alright

[00:26:11] well that sounds good so we're going to

[00:26:13] take a break we'll be right back here

[00:26:15] and take a look at your

[00:26:17] recipes

[00:26:52] You can use your own containers

[00:26:54] or take advantage of the recycled

[00:26:56] paper bags that they offer for your purchases

[00:26:58] Number two

[00:27:00] they have great tasting and

[00:27:02] always fresh nuts, dried

[00:27:04] fruits and snacks

[00:27:06] And they offer a wide

[00:27:08] variety of coffees, teas

[00:27:10] herbs and spices

[00:27:12] They even have

[00:27:14] an herbalist on staff that

[00:27:16] can help provide information about all

[00:27:18] the beneficial herbs they sell

[00:27:20] Be sure to check them out

[00:27:22] online at

[00:27:24] southcoastbulkfoods.com

[00:27:26] Or pay them a visit

[00:27:28] 223 Robinson Street

[00:27:30] in Wakefield

[00:27:32] You'll be glad you did

[00:27:36] Next up Jeff is joined by

[00:27:44] members of the CocoNotes doing

[00:27:46] the classic In the Pines

[00:27:48] Oh a Huddy Ledbetter song

[00:27:50] Huddy Ledbetter aka

[00:27:52] Ledbelly

[00:27:54] That's right. Yeah and that song

[00:27:56] has been done by a lot of bluegrass bands right?

[00:27:58] Bluegrass bands

[00:28:00] and others such as

[00:28:02] your favorite band Nirvana

[00:28:04] Kurt Cobain

[00:28:06] Awesome. Alright here we go

[00:28:08] In the Pines, in the Pines

[00:28:36] Where the sun never shines

[00:28:40] You shiver when the cold winds blow

[00:28:46] The longest train I ever saw

[00:29:06] Went down that Georgia line

[00:29:12] The engine passed at six o'clock

[00:29:18] The cab went by at night

[00:29:22] In the Pines, in the Pines

[00:29:28] Where the sun never shines

[00:29:32] You shiver when the cold winds blow

[00:29:38] Little girl, little girl

[00:30:44] It's making you dream me so

[00:30:53] You have caused me to weep

[00:30:57] You've caused me to moan

[00:31:01] You've caused me to leave my home

[00:31:07] In the Pines, in the Pines

[00:31:11] Where the sun never shines

[00:31:15] You shiver when the cold winds blow

[00:31:21] Ooh

[00:31:33] Well I asked my captain

[00:31:35] For the time of day

[00:31:39] And that he threw his watch away

[00:31:43] It's a long steel rail

[00:31:47] And a short cross time

[00:31:51] And I'm on my way back home

[00:32:10] We're back at the Ducat Kitchen and we're joined by John O'Malley. John, thanks for joining us today.

[00:32:19] My pleasure.

[00:32:21] Not going to be necessarily taking the mystery out of history, but however, I know you guys have some stories and something about escapades. Can you tell us about that?

[00:32:33] Yeah, we taught together at South Kingston High School and we were both in the history department, social studies department.

[00:32:43] And we would go for a walk to get out of the building every lunch.

[00:32:51] What did we have? Like 20 minutes?

[00:32:54] Yeah, like 25 minutes.

[00:32:56] 25 minutes.

[00:32:58] They probably brought it down to 22 minutes, but we couldn't wait to get out of the building. Rain or shine.

[00:33:08] So we went for a walk and so the students were really conscious of us walking and they put on the escapades.

[00:33:21] You can explain what escapades is.

[00:33:25] Since at least the 1950s, maybe earlier. I don't know. It's the junior, like variety. It was a variety show, but then it turned into a satirical portrayal of the high school adults, primarily administration, but making fun of teachers too.

[00:33:43] And like just weird things that happen in a bureaucracy or a school.

[00:33:48] So yeah, so I had forgotten this, but one year they portrayed us going on this walk and we'd be like skipping and holding hands.

[00:33:58] And then at some point somebody bends down to tie the other guy's shoes.

[00:34:05] I don't know anything else about it. I can't remember, but it was pretty funny. It was one of those things where they took a true event and they kind of made it what they wanted.

[00:34:15] It was hilarious.

[00:34:17] John never tied my shoe once.

[00:34:20] And he tripped. He often would go for the walks with untied shoes.

[00:34:27] No, it's not true.

[00:34:29] No, it was funny.

[00:34:31] But yeah, John would just be like, I gotta get out of this building. Are you going? That would be his thing. Are you going? Are we going? We're going.

[00:34:39] So it's crazy that these students that were portraying you in this thing.

[00:34:43] Yes.

[00:34:44] And they came up with all these crazy things.

[00:34:47] If only they applied their creativity to the study.

[00:34:53] Well, the students would write these incredible skits.

[00:34:58] And some of the most creative skits were written by students who didn't academically excel in school because this was their way of rebelling and subtly getting back at the teachers.

[00:35:17] And even though I have to say we were popular teachers because when they made fun of you with things like that, they were.

[00:35:34] It was a bit of a tribute.

[00:35:35] Yeah, it was a tribute.

[00:35:37] Yeah, I think John was a yearly character.

[00:35:42] Yeah, and I would be insulted if I wasn't in escapades.

[00:35:49] And I didn't read any of the skits because at first Jeff could tell this at first escapades got a little bit edgy.

[00:36:05] Yeah, I mean, like at various points, there's classes that want to take it too far and they really like.

[00:36:11] Yeah, they want to somebody gets their feelings hurt.

[00:36:16] And that's usually not an adult. That would be like, it's a junior is making fun of the senior class.

[00:36:21] But also some teachers, they went really far.

[00:36:25] Yeah, yeah, they might comment on their unattractiveness or like, you know, can't get a date or a spouse or that would be an example of kind of a little bit under the belt kind of thing.

[00:36:37] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:38] So eventually, the students who wrote the scripts had to run each script by the teacher.

[00:36:48] You have to initial every line.

[00:36:50] Yeah, and I would always whatever you want to do.

[00:36:56] I would never read the scripts because I knew the teachers or the students who wrote the script.

[00:37:07] You know, I didn't want to like censor them.

[00:37:11] Yeah. Right. So you always had to rebel.

[00:37:15] You knew that you deserved it.

[00:37:18] Well, I think that part of that is John not wanting to conform like, oh, now they want us to sign off on all this stuff.

[00:37:25] I'm not doing that. That's for other people to do.

[00:37:28] But that's I'm not checking all your boxes.

[00:37:31] And I was never a skipper.

[00:37:37] Well, that's fantastic. Thanks for sharing that.

[00:37:40] And thanks for helping us out here, John.

[00:37:42] Yeah, no problem.

[00:38:11] We're back at the two cat kitchen time for the recipe.

[00:38:14] And I should note that we're live here at the South Coast Organics and Bulk Foods.

[00:38:20] We also have Casey Jemper with us.

[00:38:22] Hey, Casey. Hello. How's it going?

[00:38:24] All right. What do you got, Jeff?

[00:38:26] Well, I got some chicken soup. Chicken soup.

[00:38:29] Wow. Yep.

[00:38:30] Cannot go wrong with chicken soup.

[00:38:32] Yeah. So that was kind of, you know, we had a snow day.

[00:38:35] We were maybe going to get up to a foot.

[00:38:37] We only got like four inches where I live, but school is canceled.

[00:38:41] So snow day.

[00:38:43] Yeah, I tried this recently and liked it just like it's basically an American's

[00:38:48] America's Test Kitchen recipe where you make the

[00:38:53] you make the broth by like browning

[00:38:57] supposed to be like chicken legs cut into like

[00:39:01] two inch or smaller segments.

[00:39:05] And then you brown those on both sides.

[00:39:08] And then you set those aside, take the fat out of the pan.

[00:39:14] You put them back into the pan with a chopped onion.

[00:39:20] And you kind of like let that cook.

[00:39:22] And it says like until the juice, like most of the juice is out of the chicken.

[00:39:27] I don't know.

[00:39:28] OK. Is this chicken legs with the bone in?

[00:39:30] Yeah, bone in chicken legs.

[00:39:32] Skin on bone in.

[00:39:33] Skin on bone in.

[00:39:34] All right. So for those of you writing it down at home,

[00:39:38] then so then it's like then you put in like two quarts of water.

[00:39:44] So then once you once that's done, you take the take the chicken out

[00:39:48] and you basically like shred it off the bone

[00:39:52] and you cook you put in the water and basically make the broth.

[00:39:58] No, maybe you do that at the end. I'm sorry.

[00:40:00] So then you put the chicken back in.

[00:40:02] You've got the chicken and the onions and the broth and the time.

[00:40:08] You're making the broth of the water you put in

[00:40:10] and that simmers for 20 minutes.

[00:40:12] And then basically the broth's done.

[00:40:15] Take the chicken out.

[00:40:17] Then you just kind of let the broth rest.

[00:40:20] You kind of like filter the onion stuff out of it.

[00:40:23] And then you kind of skim the fat off the top.

[00:40:26] Oh, OK.

[00:40:27] So that's the broth.

[00:40:28] And then like then the make the rest of the soup is super easy

[00:40:31] where it's like you just saute some like onions, celery, carrots.

[00:40:39] I kind of like double the carrots and onion amounts

[00:40:44] from the America's Test Kitchen recipe.

[00:40:46] And then you get some.

[00:40:48] Yeah, those guys, they're just notoriously short on carrots.

[00:40:52] OK, that's all right. That's good.

[00:40:54] And then this time, and then you've got the chicken.

[00:40:57] You put the chicken back in and you kind of like it all kind of cooks together briefly.

[00:41:03] And this time I threw in some broccoli ravi because I had that

[00:41:08] and I wanted to use it up because it wasn't going to be good for much longer.

[00:41:12] And then it was actually starting to rot.

[00:41:15] No, I'm just joking.

[00:41:16] But then and then so then this time I put in a little like lemon juice

[00:41:20] and because I was thinking like I want to counteract like like Robbie's better with lemon juice, right?

[00:41:27] If you have it separate. I think so.

[00:41:29] I don't know or like a bitter green to me.

[00:41:31] Yeah, I like some.

[00:41:33] So I threw in some lemon. I threw in.

[00:41:35] You need the acid.

[00:41:36] OK. Yeah.

[00:41:37] See, I don't know the science.

[00:41:38] I'm no scientist.

[00:41:39] And then I actually put in a little splash of apple cider vinegar too.

[00:41:45] So I don't see. We'll see.

[00:41:46] We'll see how that goes over if you guys want to try it.

[00:41:49] Yes. So this is not necessarily from your grandmother's.

[00:41:52] No, this is totally I just kind of brought it in because I had made it more than I was going to.

[00:41:58] I wasn't going to be able to eat it all.

[00:42:00] Yeah. I was like, maybe you guys will eat some.

[00:42:02] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:03] I try a little bit.

[00:42:04] What do you think?

[00:42:06] Absolutely.

[00:42:09] What are we waiting for?

[00:42:10] I have some.

[00:42:12] Oh, that's amazing.

[00:42:15] Wait, I want those.

[00:42:20] All right.

[00:42:22] We're chowing down on the chicken soup.

[00:42:25] That's nice.

[00:42:26] Chicken soup for the soul.

[00:42:27] I'm getting the lemon.

[00:42:29] Are you?

[00:42:30] Yeah, it's got a very nice lemoniness.

[00:42:33] Yeah, I was worried that the Robbie was going to ruin it, but I don't think it did.

[00:42:39] So.

[00:42:40] Thank you.

[00:42:41] You're welcome.

[00:42:42] Spoons all around.

[00:42:44] The chicken is good. I like the chicken.

[00:42:46] I mean, I guess that method of cooking is because a lot of times in chicken soup, I don't know if you've seen this, but I feel like the chicken has dried out even though it's in soup.

[00:42:56] How can that be?

[00:42:57] You know, it's like it's wet.

[00:42:58] I'm wondering if it's because it's chicken breast and that's much more subject to that.

[00:43:04] Could be.

[00:43:05] I will say so for this time, instead of using like whole chicken legs, I used just thighs.

[00:43:13] And I think that there's a little less flavor.

[00:43:16] Like I think though, I think there's maybe more marrow in that like bigger bone or something.

[00:43:22] And I think that like, I don't know, just based on those two times, I think using the whole leg, I felt like the broth had a lot better, like richer tastes.

[00:43:31] This is delicious.

[00:43:34] Yeah, I'm good.

[00:43:35] Fantastic.

[00:43:37] I got the idea of the splash of apple cider from John O'Malley's wife who's a really good cook.

[00:43:47] She said she thinks like every soup needs a little something like vinegar.

[00:43:57] Just a splash.

[00:43:59] I don't know.

[00:44:00] I didn't know how much.

[00:44:01] We're back at the Two Cat Kitchen.

[00:44:20] Jeff, you got something else for us.

[00:44:22] It's fantastic.

[00:44:23] You really bring the goods, I must say.

[00:44:25] Okay.

[00:44:26] This is Nana's recipe.

[00:44:29] I don't know.

[00:44:30] It's from her cookbook.

[00:44:31] I don't know.

[00:44:32] From your grandmother's cookbook?

[00:44:33] Yes, my grandmother's cookbook.

[00:44:34] Whoa!

[00:44:35] So.

[00:44:36] Holy moly, look at that.

[00:44:37] Yeah, so it's blueberries that I had in my freezer from my garden.

[00:44:42] Wow.

[00:44:43] And then you basically just put the blueberries in, put some lemon juice and cinnamon on

[00:44:48] those.

[00:44:49] Then you create this like batter which is sugar, flour, a little bit of butter,

[00:44:55] salt, baking powder.

[00:44:57] And then you put more sugar on top with some corn starch and then you pour boiling

[00:45:05] water over it and then you throw it in the oven for an hour.

[00:45:08] No kidding.

[00:45:09] So it's pretty easy.

[00:45:10] So you mix the flour and everything with the blueberries.

[00:45:14] Yes, so and then the weird thing about this or to me, growing up it was like the batter

[00:45:22] covered the entire pan but I can never, I don't know if my mom just did more or

[00:45:27] whatever.

[00:45:28] So there's usually more of a distinct barrier or I should say when other people

[00:45:32] make it, there's more of a distinct barrier between the batter is kind of totally

[00:45:36] covering the blueberries whereas mine it's like.

[00:45:39] You have an island.

[00:45:40] Yeah, there's a little bit of a floating island thing happening right.

[00:45:43] Yeah, which gives it that cobbler thing.

[00:45:46] I'm completely offended and I refuse to eat it.

[00:45:50] Yeah, I don't know but the batter and then so you can eat it with like ice

[00:45:55] cream.

[00:45:56] I like just like milk or something is probably my favorite way to eat it.

[00:46:01] Just like to get a scoop in a bowl, pour some milk in it because I like when

[00:46:05] milk mixes with like a batter kind of thing.

[00:46:09] Who doesn't like that?

[00:46:11] I don't know people that don't like their cereal, those people don't like it.

[00:46:15] Casey, you got any ice cream?

[00:46:17] Oh my gosh, I wish.

[00:46:20] Yeah, maybe Brickley's is open.

[00:46:23] That's right.

[00:46:25] Probably not.

[00:46:26] That's funny.

[00:46:27] So I don't know if you want to have a taste.

[00:46:29] Yeah, let's get into it.

[00:46:31] So just imagine some nice ice cream.

[00:46:35] I always do.

[00:46:37] Yeah.

[00:46:39] And that blueberries are not super sweet so we can kind of taste that.

[00:46:47] They're home grown so it doesn't matter.

[00:46:49] Yeah, that's awesome.

[00:46:51] Wow, that's delicious.

[00:46:53] Yum.

[00:46:55] Yeah, this is unbelievable.

[00:46:57] It's just blueberries or is there?

[00:47:00] Just blueberries, yeah.

[00:47:02] Yeah, some flour.

[00:47:04] Well I really think you've raised the bar on the recipes here Jeff.

[00:47:08] This is unbelievable.

[00:47:11] It's time for the Two Cat American Songbook with ChiChi Pekingese.

[00:47:40] Tell us ChiChi, what musical number do you have for us today?

[00:47:43] Today we're featuring The Lovecats by The Cure, released as a standalone single in October of 1983.

[00:47:50] Great song ChiChi, but I believe The Cure was an English rock band.

[00:47:55] Isn't this the Two Cat American Songbook?

[00:47:58] Well they might be an English band, but they were part of the British Invasion.

[00:48:02] You know, the invasion of America, musically speaking of course.

[00:48:07] Well okay, tell us more about the song.

[00:48:10] It was the band's first top ten hit in the UK, peaking at number seven on the pop charts.

[00:48:16] It also reached number six on the Australian charts in early 1984.

[00:48:20] The single later appeared as part of the compilation album Japanese Whispers, released in December of 1983.

[00:48:27] What was the inspiration behind the song?

[00:48:30] At the time the song was written, lead singer Robert Smith was very interested in the work of Australian author Patrick White.

[00:48:37] According to legend, Smith was inspired to write The Lovecats after reading White's novel The Vivisector.

[00:48:44] In the novel, the protagonist Hurdle is appalled when his lover's husband drowns a sack of stray cats.

[00:48:51] Many felt the cats in this case symbolized the most innocent and vulnerable members of society

[00:48:57] and the casual cruelty with which they sometimes meet their fate.

[00:49:00] Yikes, that's a little scary. But the song doesn't seem to have anything to do with drowning cats.

[00:49:06] The recording session took place in Paris at Studio des Dames

[00:49:10] after the band had played a one-off concert in the commune of Saint-Jacques-les-Pins in the west of France in August 1983.

[00:49:18] The band recorded other songs there, also in jazz rock style.

[00:49:22] Speak My Language and Mr. Pink Eyes both ended up on the B-sides of the 12-inch vinyl.

[00:49:28] Yeah, I've seen the music video for this song. It's a little freaky.

[00:49:32] The music video features a number of cats and a large lampshade falling on the head of bassist Phil Thornallee.

[00:49:39] Real cats were supposed to be used, but after proving to be troublesome, taxidermied ones were used instead.

[00:49:45] There are many shots of a mansion which the band told a vendor they were interested in buying.

[00:49:51] They returned the keys in the morning after filming the video.

[00:49:54] Cats proving to be troublesome, well there's a surprise.

[00:49:57] But overall it sounds like a great choice for our first Two Cat Songbook feature

[00:50:02] and Chi-Chi for your singing debut on the program. Let's check it out!

[00:50:11] We moved like cagey tigers, oh we couldn't get closer than this

[00:50:34] The way we walk, the way we talk, the way we stalk, the way we kiss

[00:50:40] We slip through the streets while everyone sleeps

[00:50:42] Getting bigger and slicker and wider and brighter

[00:50:45] We bite and scratch and scream all night

[00:50:48] Let's go and throw all the songs we know into the sea

[00:50:52] You and me all the years and no one heard

[00:50:56] I'll show you it's spring, it's a treacherous thing

[00:50:59] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:51:05] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:51:13] You're so wonderfully, wonderfully, wonderfully, wonderfully pretty

[00:51:18] Oh you know that I'd do anything for you

[00:51:23] We should have each other to tea, huh?

[00:51:26] We should have each other with green

[00:51:29] Then curl up in the fire and sleep for a while

[00:51:32] It's the grooviest thing, it's the perfect dream

[00:51:35] Into the sea, you and me all the years and no one heard

[00:51:40] I'll show you it's spring, it's a treacherous thing

[00:51:43] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:51:49] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:51:55] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:52:01] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:52:09] You're so wonderfully, wonderfully, wonderfully, wonderfully pretty

[00:52:14] Oh you know that I'd do anything for you

[00:52:20] We should have each other to dinner, huh?

[00:52:23] We should have each other with green

[00:52:25] Then curl up in the fire, get up for a while

[00:52:28] It's the grooviest thing, it's the perfect dream

[00:52:31] Hand in hand is the only way to land

[00:52:34] And always the right way round

[00:52:36] Not broken in pieces like hated little missus

[00:52:40] How could we miss someone as dumb as this?

[00:52:45] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:52:51] We missed you, we missed you

[00:53:03] I love you, let's go

[00:53:08] Oh, solid gold

[00:53:12] The lovecats

[00:53:18] Lovecats

[00:53:21] How could we miss someone as dumb as this?

[00:53:27] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:53:32] We missed you, hissed the lovecats

[00:53:38] The lovecats

[00:53:41] Lovecats

[00:53:44] Lovecats

[00:53:46] Love, oh, lovecats

[00:53:54] That's all we have time for in this episode of the Two Cat Kitchen.

[00:53:58] We'd like to thank our musical guest Jeff Tabor

[00:54:01] And Sarah Grady and the Coconotes

[00:54:04] Special thanks to Sophia Pearson and all the folks here in the kitchen

[00:54:09] I'm David Lueken

[00:54:11] And I'm Rick McKinney

[00:54:12] See you next time, right here at the Two Cat Kitchen