Quirkee.com

The Panderers are a new band with a great story. Scott Wynn, the singer/songwriter for the band, grew up with deep east Kentucky coal mining family roots. Scott told me that one day his father walked out of the mountains, hitchhiked to Cincinnati, and the family shifted from coal mining to farming. The music he writes reflects his hard-working Appalachian roots mixed with a sound from our generation. When you throw into the mix the skills from Dave Wilder on percussion and bass, Andrew Livingston on bass, and Pete McNeal on drums and percussion, you get a sound like no other. A few other artists jumped in on the album, too, which Scott mentions below.

Scott was able to make some time to participate in our 20 Questions interview before hitting the road on the heels of their debut album release, "Songs that Bang", which can be purchased from their MySpace page. These are hand-numbered limited edition CD's that won't be available once they are picked up by a record label. It is one of those CD's that you want to leave playing in the car for weeks as the rhythm invades your soul. My copy is burning up my player right now.

Quirkee.com and The Panderers are giving away a copy of their new CD to a lucky registered member of the Quirkee Community! The random drawing contest starts next week so register with Quirkee for your chance to win!

Here is what Scott Wynn had to say for our 20 Questions:

This week, Quirkee.com is lucky enough to feature interviews with two of the funniest people working the comedy circuit today: Megan Mooney and Eddie Gossling. If you've seen them, you know. If you haven't, you should. Either way, you should go to their respective websites and find out when they're going to appear in your town.

As a fellow comic, I am wildly jealous of both of their acts. They are both regarded by comedians as "Fuck Funny."

Megan Mooney won first place in the Funniest Person in Austin Contest in 1998. She had been doing comedy less than a year at the time, but she managed to beat out several seasoned veterans to win the top spot.

Shortly after that, she was invited to perform at HBO's Aspen Comedy Festival. I went to that festival and watched her performances and was honestly blown away. The instant Megan takes a stage she is likeable, a quality that many comedians take years to hone. She was born with it.

The stories she tells feature people you know. The jokes she has sport situations you've had. The shows she does make you pee a little.

She is the same person off stage as she is when performing; funny, charming and effortlessly engaging.

Eddie Gossling (Megan Mooney's husband) is one of those comics that you watch... you laugh... hard... and then you realize that he is having so much fun that you really don't have to be there as an audience member. If you weren't in the room, he would still be there, doing these wonderful bits and having a ball. You just happen to be lucky enough to be along for the ride. He makes comedy look easy and I suspect that for him, it is. I really believe that Gossling could stand on stage and read the phone book and it would be hilarious. Instead, he has fantastically-constructed routines that other comedians watch with awe.

I've never seen him do the same show twice and I've never seen him leave a stage without an audience that wishes he were up there just a little bit longer.

Enjoy Eddie. Watch his video. You'll be happy you did.

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When I was in elementary school, I used to ride my bike down these endless drainage ditches in my neighborhood with my friends after school. We'd find all kind of things down there: old Playboys, fireworks, toys, tools, exotic animals like box turtles and six-inch long cockroaches, and a long list of other treasures. We weren't playing with trash. What we found were treasures. My friends and I got a kick out of going on these "treasure hunts." We never knew what we'd find. And we always found something valuable in our little eyes. Who wouldn't be excited about finding a still-working Atari 2600 with a Pitfall cartridge in it? Well, at least we got excited about finding stuff like that. It was pure fun for us.

And it's fun for Davy Rothbart too. Davy is one of the creators of FOUND Magazine, collecting and cataloging found notes, photos, and other interesting items in a zine that gives a peek into the private lives of others. It's an intriguing and voyeuristic trip to read these notes, letters, and other things that were definitely not intended for a wide audience. His FOUND items have also been cataloged in books and on a web site. There is also a magazine called DIRTY FOUND, which catalogs the same type of items but of a more salacious nature. The web site features a "Find of the Day" and also offers a way for people to submit their FOUND items. And Davy has gone on nation-wide FOUND tours, reading favorite finds and asking audiences to bring their own finds to share.

I remember a few years ago, my mother asked me to figure out a way for my grandmother to send and receive email without having to learn how to use a computer. Being a somewhat tech-savvy person myself, I was pretty much up for that challenge. But it wasn't as simple as doing some research and selecting a machine for her to use. What seemed easy for me to understand, or what I assumed would be easy for her to understand, was a lot farther from the truth. Trying to find a solution to this was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

How one person uses technology can be completely different than how the next person uses it. For instance, I design web sites for a living. I spend a ton of time thinking about site navigation and structure and organization and accessibility, blah blah blah. But the most eye-opening experience for a web designer is actually watching people surf their web sites. Nine times out of ten, they will not perform everything the way you intended for them to. All of a sudden, my attempt at making someone's day easier through technology just made it a lot more difficult.

I'll admit it. I love cover songs, especially if I love the original song. Maybe it has something to do with a connection I feel with the musician singing the cover. It's almost like I'm telling them (like a whisper in their mind), "You and I are compadres. We like the same music." It's undeniable. And I think people in general like hearing cover songs, particularly if a new take on the song is rendered, making the cover version like an extension of the original version. The worst thing a musician could do would be to play the song exactly, note for note, like the original. But to put your own spin on someone else's song can create something pretty special.

So anyway, one day I was stumbling across the internet when I came across a page with a YouTube video that was introduced with, "What do you get when you mix a hippie with Andre 3000 in the desert? A great cover of Outkast's Hey Ya." Now I don't know about you but I love that Outkast song. My daughters love that song. My wife loves that song. Everybody loves that song. So when I clicked "play," I didn't expect much. How can you top such an original song? But once it played, I was floored. Really. The already poignant lyrics, once disguised behind a booty-shaking beat, were pushed to the forefront and delivered with an achingly elegant folk delivery. It was, in my opinion, one of the best covers I've ever heard in a long time. It's true. And I've heard a lot.

During the early weeks of Quirkee.com, I was looking for writers to fill the roster and I received an email from Eric Broder. He said I had to check out his friend Kelley Cunningham, a great writer and friend of his. She had a column titled "What's the Matter With Mommy?" and Eric felt she'd be a great fit for Quirkee. And before I even read her column, I thought the idea of having another parenting column would be just too much parenting for Quirkee. I mean, I already had "Because I Said So" and wasn't sure how she'd fit in. But after I read her article "Hot Rodent Action," I just had to ask her to be a part of Quirkee. Forget the parenting aspect altogether, I thought her column was friggin' hilarious. And that's all I needed to know. So I invited her along and the rest is Quirkee history.

On November 30, 2006, Kelley has a collection of her work coming out in handy book form titled "What's the Matter With Mommy?: Rantings of a Reluctant Stay-at-home Mom" from Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing. Her book publisher describes her work as "brutally and hysterically honest – Cunningham says what other moms stifle." As a parent myself, I truly appreciate the way Kelley unveils the hypocrisy of the marketing spin that all of the rest of us parents are inundated with on a daily basis. Instead of throwing catered parties when Little Susie "goes number two on the potty," let's step back and realize what we're eating cake for: a turd in the toilet. Her mantra (and I'm paraphrasing here) of "let your kids be normal" speaks volumes to me. No matter what, your children have a pretty good chance of growing up normal, even if they do smoke pot in high school, make out under the bleachers, and listen to rock and roll that is loud enough to make your head split. Don't worry about it and bring mommy a beer. She deserves it.

Shana Halligan and Kiran Shahani are the genius behind the music of Bitter:Sweet. I stumbled across their latest album while browsing on MySpace and I have never been happier to find a band in my life. Instantly, I added them to my page, e-mailed my cohorts in music greatness and ran to Waterloo Records and acquired my prize.

Their latest album, The Mating Game, is a sensual mix of trip-hop, lounge, and lush grooves that is making a powerful statement in their hometown LA scene. Having met through an ad on Craigslist, this duo blends a mix of old school 70's and 80's influence with modern electronica, horns and the voice of a sultry songstress into a perfect concoction that left me feeling intoxicated and wanting more from my very first hear. Recently featured in The Devil Wears Prada soundtrack, in episodes of Entourage, Nip and Tuck and Grey's Anatomy, their music is making its mark in pop culture while still maintaining the feel of staying true to the cool underground.

Shana and Kiran were kind enough to sit down and answer our 20 Questions while in the midst of their busy touring schedule and, with my many thanks, here is what they had to say...

Let's name the great comedy duos of the last century: Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Lewis and Martin. The list could go on and on. But if you want to narrow the list down to comedy duos that have influenced the popular culture in recent years, Cheech and Chong would have to be at the top of that list. The west coast rap personas of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and movies like Half Baked and Friday all pay homage to the comedy of Cheech and Chong. Even the television show "That 70's Show" had direct references to Cheech and Chong before Chong graced the show with his iconic stoner persona.

But being an icon has had a negative effect on Chong's life as well. In 2003, Chong was arrested as part of a nationwide sting called Operation Pipe Dreams that the Drug Enforcement Agency launched against bong manufacturers. Tommy was the face for his son's bong company, Chong Glass, and didn't run the day-to-day business of the company. Facing a tough uphill legal battle, Tommy chose to go to prison instead of risking his wife or son spending time in jail. But rather than dwell on it, he chose to view his time in prison as research or as a religious retreat. And out sprung the inspiration to his new book, "The I Chong: Meditations From the Joint."

In recent years, there have been rumblings of a Cheech and Chong reunion movie, something that Chong has described as a “Grumpy Old Stoners” type story. But they are just rumblings. Both men rarely see or speak to each other anymore and the likelihood of the movie coming to fruition is pretty slim. But there are reasons that these rumors persist. The comedy of Cheech and Chong has stood the test of time. Their movies and albums are just as funny today as they were in the 70’s and 80’s. Is it because the stoner culture is still in full-force today? Sure. But great comedians are timeless and cross generational boundaries. I dare you to go to any university in the United States and not find a granola stoner that could be a real-life cousin to the characters played by Tommy. Plus, my 65-year-old father-in-law, who happens to be Hispanic, enjoys watching Cheech and Chong movies as much as I do. That speaks volumes about their influence and legacy.