Not in some kind of death match; just friendly, on-air conversation.
It took a lot longer than I wanted to to finish this post, but the wait was worth it. My friends, this post is going to be THEE blog post that introduces to the entire Internet world the Dave Holmes vs. Susan Powter cassette.
If you don’t know who the Fallouts are, I am surprised that you are reading this blog in the first place. (Do normos read mp3 blogs?)
Basically everything in their catalog is worth owning and listening to on a semi-regular basis. In my mind, they are the fastest garage band in the Pacific Northwest* — on their big hit “Sleep,” the drummer sounds like he’s playing a D-beat but really only playing a super-sped up version of the beat for “Oh Boy.” I almost want to say they sound like a more garage version of the Descendents.
Anyway, apparently Dave, the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter for the band, had to have a day-job back in the early 90’s and it just happened to be at the Fantagraphics warehouse.
In his own words:
“At work we were listening to a show by someone named Amy Alpine. I called her a couple times and then her show was canceled and replaced with Susan Powter. I don’t remember why I called the first time.
“We’d listen to her show, and I think what usually happened was that I would say to a guy that I worked with named Demian “I should call and say”… whatever I would end up saying. He would laugh, and say “you gotta do it”. So I did it. We had a tape player there, so we’d usually record it… and then get back to kicking ass at work.”
Basically, every day Dave tried to make Susan Powter’s life a little more difficult. Sometimes he used funny voices, but every time he tried to say something that would make her react. A few times she gets the joke, but most of the time she missed it.
Why Susan Powter?
“Because we’re both fitness gurus. Also because she happened to be on in the afternoon, she was a good straight-man, and it was really easy to get on her show.”
Phil Rudd Fan
One of the first characters Dave used in his calls was the “Phil Rudd fan.” Dave:”A guy I worked with told me about Phil Rudd (drummer from AC/DC) getting drunk on Sidney Harbor (Harbour?) and accidentally maiming a leggy supermodel.”
Apparently he started using this voice, a decent Australian accent, when Amy Alpine had the show.
(Just click on the files inside the box to hear them.)
Thadeus Jones
Dave: “I guess I figured since she was a fitness guru, that a heavy man might call and brag about his little rascal.”
WD
Dave: “A character that quoted Pastor Falwell without giving him credit.”
Fuggin’ Taco guy
Dave: “The Fall-Outs used to live in a house together. In a closet, we found boxes of Keebler crackers. One was taco flavored (flavoured?). Somehow, from that came “fuggin’ taco” or “huggin’ tago”. 15 years later it ends up as a way for me to say the fuck word over and over again on Susan Powter’s radio show.”
Finally, here are some tracks where Dave used his regular voice:
PS — Do you like the embedded player? If so, I’ll make sure all of my posts use it.