Gutter's 5 questions for Noah Shelby/Justin Cross Thursday

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

1. Do you know why I called today Noah Shelby / Justin Cross Thursday?

2. Pretend these cartoon characters are real people. Which one of the following choices would you want to have a one hour lunch (& conversation) with?
a. Beavis
b. Marge Simpson
c. Charlie Brown
d. Jeffrey Dexter Boomhauer III,
e. George Jetson
f. Speed Racer
g. Barney Rubble
h. Velma Dinkley
i. Casper the Friendly Ghost
j. Peter Griffin

3. You are telling someone about a building. They ask you how tall it is. Do you tell them it is X amount of floors, X amount of stories, how tall it is in feet (if you know), or say not that tall/pretty tall/tall/very tall?

4. What was the last beverage (water is a beverage) you consumed?

5. You receive a letter in the mail that is addressed to you and says personal and confidential on the envelope. There is no return address/label.
You open it and inside is a green piece of paper with the words YOUR BIRTHDAY IS (and then the month and day of your actual birthday) then it says EASTER IS ON (whatever actual day the next Easter is on) and then a bunch of random letters and numbers in several lines below that. That's it, nothing else on the piece of paper. No name, no phone number, no email address, nothing else.
You throw it out. Same thing happens a week later. You get a letter, open the envelope, this time a it's a yellow sheet of paper, that has the same exact things printed on it. Nothing else. You throw it away.
You mention this to an intelligent friend of yours and he/she tells you to make sure you wash your hands right after you open a letter like that. Would that (washing your hands soon after opening a letter like that) have ever crossed your mind if your friend didn't say anything?

[pdub]

1. No
2. George Jetson - maybe he’s got some future tech that he can loan me
3. Floors
4. Water
5. Break up with her

[DeletedUser]

1. No

2. George Jetson

3. Depends on how much I know about the building.

4. Water. Lots of water. After lots of alcohol at the golf course.

5. Yes

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

1. Yes
2. Peter Griffin
3. I have ZERO idea why sometimes I say floors and sometimes I say stories. I think I say floors more often than stories so I will go with floors.
4. Coffee
5. Nope

[jhawks99]

1) No
2) Casper
3) Number of floors
4) Iced tea
5) No

[pdub]

"4. Water. Lots of water. After lots of alcohol at the golf course."

People say I got a drinkin' problem
But I got no problem drinkin' at all

[jhawks99]

"4. Water. Lots of water. After lots of alcohol at the golf course."

People say I got a drinkin' problem
But I got no problem drinkin' at all

I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison

[DeletedUser]

I'm in my "I'm a responsible adult, but I still party" season of life.

[TDub]

"4. Water. Lots of water. After lots of alcohol at the golf course."

People say I got a drinkin' problem
But I got no problem drinkin' at all

I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison

and I went, to pick her up, in the raiiinn
but before I could get to the station in my pick up, truck
she got runned over by a damned Ol' trainn

[ousdahl]

I'm in my "I'm a responsible adult, but I still party" season of life.

Good for you, illy!

For real, that’s fun. I don’t mean to begrudge

[TDub]

1. not a clue
2. Casper, if he's real, ghosts are confirmed as 100% real and I have lots of questions
3. are floors and stories different? anyway, feet if I know it, the floor to floor height can vary dramatically building to building and aren't a very useful tool for comparison. Not apples to apples.
4. Folgers, black. Just like every morning
5. what?

[ousdahl]

1. No
2. Boomhauer…I wonder if he’d be a good wingman
3. Prob depends on the other nearby buildings and terrain
4. Covfefe
5. Yeah prob. I’m a germaphobe when it involves other people. But in the great outdoors thread I’ll eat food off the ground.

[Back2Lawrence]

1. No
2. Velma. We’d have a cosplay, of sorts.
3. It’s not 9/11 tall.
4. Coffee.
5. I don’t even wash my hands when leaving a QT bathroom. State those people at sink washing up right in their eyes as I grab the handle.

[Back2Lawrence]

4. Folgers, black. Just like every morning

I begrudge no man’s choice of pick me ups.

That said, when I discovered ‘mid-grade’ coffee and switched to that from what I knew from my mom and dad drinking, I was so happy.

I know someone has mentioned they have a roaster and all that. I’m not there, but thinking about it.

[TDub]

4. Folgers, black. Just like every morning

I begrudge no man’s choice of pick me ups.

That said, when I discovered ‘mid-grade’ coffee and switched to that from what I knew from my mom and dad drinking, I was so happy.

I know someone has mentioned they have a roaster and all that. I’m not there, but thinking about it.

yea, yknow, I've tried "better" coffee. Not even saying it's not marginally better. But, i don't know that it is worth the big increase in price. Also, I dunno, It's habit I guess and it's good enough.

[ousdahl]

there's def diminishing returns as far as seeking premium coffee.

If you roast your own, and/or have consistent access to fresh roasted beans, that can be a game changer.

But it's such a crap shoot whether the high end stuff will actually taste high end. Especially enough difference in taste between Folgers to justify the difference in price.

the single most important thing is if it's fresh-brewed.

[twocoach]

1. I have no idea who Noah Shelby / Justin Cross are

2. Velma Dinkley

3. If it is a generic conversation then number of floors/stories. If it is a more detailed discussion then number of feet.

4. Dr Pepper w/ Creme Soda, my "morning coffee"

5. Yes. If there was anything on the letter that required me to wash my hands I would have noticed as I am very sensitive to things being on them. I make my money with my hands and everything I consume nutritionally is touched by my hands so I am very aware of their health and the environment I put them in.

[Shirley]

"4. Water. Lots of water. After lots of alcohol at the golf course."

People say I got a drinkin' problem
But I got no problem drinkin' at all

I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison

and I went, to pick her up, in the raiiinn
but before I could get to the station in my pick up, truck
she got runned over by a damned Ol' trainn

What a great, great song.

Steve Goodman died way too young.

"You Never Even Called Me by My Name" is a song written by Steve Goodman and John Prine. Prine requested to be uncredited on the song, as he thought it was a "goofy, novelty song" and did not want to "offend the country music community". Goodman released the song on his eponymous 1971 debut album Steve Goodman to little acclaim. It was more famously recorded by country music singer David Allan Coe on his 1975 album Once Upon a Rhyme. It was the third single release of Coe's career and his first Top Ten hit, reaching a peak of number eight on the Billboard country singles charts. The song, over five minutes long, is known for its humorous self-description as "the perfect country and western song."

On a WNEW-FM radio show, 1987. John Prine told his version of the story behind the song. He said that he and Goodman had recently scored their first recording contract in New York City and Paul Anka had been assigned to them as their manager. As a regular performer at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Anka had a grand luxury suite dedicated for his use as a dressing room. But since Anka already lived in New York he did not need it. So he let Goodman and Prine stay there to write music while they were in town. Prine says they raided the suite's full bar and "mixed a special cocktail punch" in the sink with "...Dom Perignon, a little bit of brandy, a little bit of Jack Daniels, quite a bit of Wild Turkey; and some vodka and gin; and some punch and 7up." So, the song was completed while they were wildly intoxicated.

Goodman and Prine originally composed the song as a pastiche and style parody of "every country song" they had ever heard. In live performances, Goodman would often adopt a parody of Hank Williams Sr.'s performance style, with a large cowboy hat. Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride and Merle Haggard (as well as his song "The Fightin' Side of Me") are mentioned in the lyrics; Coe also uses loose impersonations of each artist in doing so, and also makes reference to Faron Young's "Hello Walls" in the background vocals, noting that "you don't have to call me" any of those names anymore. In the third verse, Coe notes "the only time I know I'll hear David Allan Coe is when Jesus has his final Judgment Day."

In a spoken epilogue preceding the song's iconic closing verse, Coe relates a correspondence he had with Goodman, who stated the song he had written was the "perfect country and western song." Coe wrote back stating that no song could fit that description without mentioning a laundry list of clichés from the genre: "Mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk". Goodman's equally facetious response was an additional verse that incorporated all five of Coe's requirements, and upon receiving it, Coe acknowledged that the finished product was indeed the "perfect country and western song" and included the last verse on the record:

I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train

[pdub]

2. Velma. We’d have a cosplay, of sorts.

Depends on which Velma I am getting.
The most recent annoying Velma created by Mindy Kaling?
Or the 2002 Scooby Doo Linda Cardalenni Velma?

[TDub]

I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison

and I went, to pick her up, in the raiiinn
but before I could get to the station in my pick up, truck
she got runned over by a damned Ol' trainn

What a great, great song.

Steve Goodman died way too young.

"You Never Even Called Me by My Name" is a song written by Steve Goodman and John Prine. Prine requested to be uncredited on the song, as he thought it was a "goofy, novelty song" and did not want to "offend the country music community". Goodman released the song on his eponymous 1971 debut album Steve Goodman to little acclaim. It was more famously recorded by country music singer David Allan Coe on his 1975 album Once Upon a Rhyme. It was the third single release of Coe's career and his first Top Ten hit, reaching a peak of number eight on the Billboard country singles charts. The song, over five minutes long, is known for its humorous self-description as "the perfect country and western song."

On a WNEW-FM radio show, 1987. John Prine told his version of the story behind the song. He said that he and Goodman had recently scored their first recording contract in New York City and Paul Anka had been assigned to them as their manager. As a regular performer at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Anka had a grand luxury suite dedicated for his use as a dressing room. But since Anka already lived in New York he did not need it. So he let Goodman and Prine stay there to write music while they were in town. Prine says they raided the suite's full bar and "mixed a special cocktail punch" in the sink with "...Dom Perignon, a little bit of brandy, a little bit of Jack Daniels, quite a bit of Wild Turkey; and some vodka and gin; and some punch and 7up." So, the song was completed while they were wildly intoxicated.

Goodman and Prine originally composed the song as a pastiche and style parody of "every country song" they had ever heard. In live performances, Goodman would often adopt a parody of Hank Williams Sr.'s performance style, with a large cowboy hat. Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride and Merle Haggard (as well as his song "The Fightin' Side of Me") are mentioned in the lyrics; Coe also uses loose impersonations of each artist in doing so, and also makes reference to Faron Young's "Hello Walls" in the background vocals, noting that "you don't have to call me" any of those names anymore. In the third verse, Coe notes "the only time I know I'll hear David Allan Coe is when Jesus has his final Judgment Day."

In a spoken epilogue preceding the song's iconic closing verse, Coe relates a correspondence he had with Goodman, who stated the song he had written was the "perfect country and western song." Coe wrote back stating that no song could fit that description without mentioning a laundry list of clichés from the genre: "Mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk". Goodman's equally facetious response was an additional verse that incorporated all five of Coe's requirements, and upon receiving it, Coe acknowledged that the finished product was indeed the "perfect country and western song" and included the last verse on the record:

I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
And I went to pick her up in the rain
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train

I didn't know all that, though I've only heard the David Allen Coe version, like 2000 times ha