Posts tagged Alabama
The Midnight Citizen 256: "Grad School Crash"

Join me outside for a whiskey and fine cigar in my celebration of finishing graduate school!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released April 2024 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 255: "Go West to Pizza Hut"

Mike discovers a Zoom recorder in the back of his car while waiting for his windshield to defrost, and remembers he has a podcast. Join him for a drive around his hometown of Birmingham, AL as he reflects on a variety of topics, like the South’s latest blast of wintry weather, delivering food on icy roads, updates on his grad school thesis, and the Showtime show “The Curse”.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“I’m not pro crack, but I’m pro-crack in my coffee…”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released January 2024 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 254: "J. Cruise"

Join Mike and special guest Dave in the studio late on a Saturday, where they free-range explore a wide variety of topics, including: understanding the frightening concept of plagiarism as a student; the diminishing charitable returns of John Mellencamp’s FARM AID; the Birmingham Batman, as featured on “That’s Incredible” (1980); “Stay Hungry”, the 1970s movie filmed in Birmingham starring Arnold Scwartzenegger; Birmingham’s adult movie theaters; the PMRC and its regulation of the music industry in the 1980’s; the wild private life of John Denver; the ubiquity of fake facts on the Internet in the 1990’s; making up fake Jimmy Buffet song titles.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Well, after a meal, there’s nothing like a good cigar” ...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released September 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 253: "Love & Death at the Tip Top Grill"

Join Mike as he watches the sun set over Birmingham, AL…and later for a drink in the backyard, where he gives his review of Oppenheimer.

Topics include: woodgrain console television sets; adult friendships; HBO’s Love and Death and the book it’s based on, Evidence of Love by drive-in film critic Joe Bob Briggs; the use of hypnotism in solving crimes; reviews of Oppenheimer and Mission: Impossible; going to the movies in 2023, and much more!

Music for this episode: Synthwave Mix | L.A. Sunset by White Bat Audio.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Hasta Lasagna, don’t get any on ya”...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 252: "Waiting Room Blues"

Join Mike at home and in the streets of Birmingham, AL., where he discusses the mysterious “Blackwell Ghost” film series, the Birmingham zip line wars of 2012, and much more!

Other thoughts include: solo filmmaking by Richard Linklater in the 80’s; inverted realities of the real world and video games; Taco Bell and Roger and Me (1989); urban decay; service department blues; McConaughey Watch ‘23; free pizza and no suburban homeless to donate it to; adult children, and much more!

Music for this episode: 80's Night Drive Synthwave Background Music | Royalty Free No Copyright by Brand X Music

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“We’re the gas, they’re the brakes”...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 251: "Down at the Drive-In"

Join Mike at the Grand River Drive-In in Leeds, AL, where he watches, and occasionally comments on, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 

Other thoughts include: other activities to do in town other than sit around, watch movies and play video games; escape rooms; rage rooms (where you, an adult, pay money to break stuff like a little kid); the wide range of sights and sounds you see in town as a delivery driver; an Uber customer I delivered groceries to accidentally stole my beer; a jackass Doordash driver got fired for cursing at a customer who gave him a generous tip; director James Mangold is a great director despite Indiana Jones, and more.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Nazis. I hate these guys”...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 250: "Gas Station Wine"


Join Mike for some backyard ramblings on a hot summer afternoon in Birmingham, AL.

…Talking about a humorous and kinda embarrassing misunderstanding with Buzz the friendly neighborhood gas station clerk over a bottle of wine; delivering PF Changs to a shady meeting between a doctor and a drug rep; the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs’ surprise friendship with my buddy Dave; organic vs. artificial celebrity encounters; fan conventions

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Who are you people?”...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 249: "Moonlighting"

Join Mike for three days in the streets and alleys of Birmingham, AL, as he takes on and talks about all the side jobs he’s doing to support himself. 

Topics do not include: Donald Trump’s legal problems, the lost Titanic submersible, a review of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Is this a metaphorical title, or did your brother actually piss on you?”...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 248: "Energy Economy"

Join Mike on the porch of his favorite tobacco shop, working his way through a fine Perdomo and a lot of topics, such as his feelings of nostalgia over coming down with Covid a year ago, and his insomnia-induced enjoyment of Snake Eyes (1999) starring Nicholas Cage. Also, some thoughts on HBO’s new Bama Rush documentary about his college alma mater.

Check out the awesome 4-part podcast on the secret and nefarious “Machine”, hosted and investigated by John Archibald of AL.com.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Are you, Alice, currently menstruating?”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2023 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

REBROADCAST: The Midnight Citizen 126 -- "Interviewing Fireworks" (from July 4, 2016)

Mike's out of the studio this week, but enjoy this oldie from March 2016.

Show Notes: Join Mike in the basement on a rainy Saturday night. Topics include: porch podcasting plans destroyed; making coffee; doing a show in the basement with the garage door open and looking out on the rainy night; stormy night nightmares and dreaming this week that I was trapped inside an 80s dead teenager movie with a bunch of stereotypes; describing the dim, shadowy basement; just saw “10 Cloverfield Lane”, and spoiler-free review; John Goodman; attended TEDx Talks today; moving to action vs. slacking; is it best just to sit out being proactive or join the game and mobilize; being a sideline commentator in life and how all my heroes have done the same and I’m just now realizing it, and; much more!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-commercial Share-Alike License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released March 2016 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 230: "The Babbitt"
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Join Mike in the studio late on a Saturday night…

Where he burns a bourbon-whisky scented candle he made, and wonders when the American “boy” becomes the American “man”. Perhaps it’s when he gets his first Boy Scout Handbook? Or maybe when he finds out the Boy Scouts are a sham? 

Also: memories of the Boy Scouts (all I got from it was a first place medal for the Pinewood Derby, a competition I cheated at); why I quit the Boy Scouts of America; the “manly” art of chandlery (candle making); Mancaves, and the modern obsession with being a “man” in the Teddy Roosevelt/Ernest Hemingway-sense; Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt novel explored the notions of the American man as a role and facade; Music Break*; the waning days of summer; announcement this week that my 20 year high school reunion will be held in September, but I probably won’t go; signs of aging; a trip to the Video Street Video Store**; another Criterion haul from the Barnes and Noble (Medium Cool, Salesmen -- both 1969).

*Music Break: “Man Outta Town” by Forget the Whale; “Phone Book and Rotary” by Derek Clegg (album: “The Middler”). All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

Video Street Video Store: “Boy Scouts of America” Newsreel (1939); “Super Dave Osbourne’s Wrecking Ball Stunt”

Check out the complete Video Street Video Store playlist here!

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Will this stunt be more dangerous than when you tried to mate with the blue whale?”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2021 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.


The Midnight Citizen 228: "Harlem and Wimpy"
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Join Mike in the studio on a Saturday night…

...wondering about where all the tapes of dads getting hit in the testacles with whiffle balls went after they were sent into Bob Saget in the late 80’s. Were they destroyed, or put in a warehouse somewhere, along with the Ark of the Covenant? 

Also: how America’s Funniest Home Videos (1989-present) may be the most prophetic show of the last 50 years; the time my sister and I made a video to send into the show, but found out you can’t stage a gaff; how Internet culture and YouTube now is centered around staging gaffs, but pretending not to; Ernie Anderson, the voice of ABC in the 70’s and 80’s; Music Break*; a toast to Richard Donnor, legendary director of The Twilight Zone, Superman: the Movie, The Goonies, and Lethal Weapon, who died this week at 91; a review of my Criterion Hall at this week’s 50% off sale at Barnes and Noble; a trip to the Video Street Video Store**; a review of the Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood novelization by Quentin Tarantino.   

Music Break: “Running with Wise Fools” by Krackatoa; “Freeze” by KieLoBot. All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

Video Street Video Store: “Million Dollar Voices” (2004); “Jaws” Promotional Video (1995); “Sears AC Ad” (1990’s).

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“I’ve seen the future! It’s a bald man from New York!”


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2021 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

REBROADCAST: The Midnight Citizen 126 -- "Interviewing Fireworks" (from July 4, 2015)
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Due to tech issues with my new computer, there was not a show this week. But it was a happy accident, because now you can enjoy this rerun from July 4, 2015.

Check out more shows from the back catalogue of THE MIDNIGHT CITIZEN here.

Show notes: Join Mike in the studio on a Saturday night, and also on the porches and streets of Birmingham, AL. Topics include: Happy 4th of July!; interviewing fireworks; the Dick Tracy Watch story; sarcastic Americanism; got a new coffee percolator; podcasting and misconceptions; awful movie trailers; “Jurassic World” review, and much more!

Music for this episode is from the New Midnight Cassette System by Frank Edward Nora (Creative Commons License 1.0 Universal).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike United States License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released July 2015, on The Overnightscape Underground (onsug.com) and The Midnight Citizen.

The Midnight Citizen 227: "Skip the Preach, Go to the Beach"
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Join Mike in the studio on a Saturday night…

...talking about a trip he took to the beach with the church youth group in 1996, and how most of the time was spent not on the sand, but in the cold conference room of the Holiday Inn, praying and reading the bible. Yikes. He should’ve just skipped the preach and gone to the beach.

Also: I finished teaching summer camp this week; working alongside my students; teaching Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” using dodgeball; the promise of the Internet in the 1990’s; remembering the show “227”.  

Music Break: “Suddenly It Occurs to Me There’s No Ocean Here” by Artificial Intelligence; “Transcontinental Super Conscious State” by the Space Merchants

Intro/Closing Music: “Oolin Poolin Oy” by Blue Wave Theory

All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

Video Street Video Store: Matthew Perry and Jennifer Anniston -- Windows 95; Stick Witness News (1996);Movie Magic: Forrest Gump

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …”Something’s wrong with my son; he left for church in quite a huff…”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2021 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.


The Midnight Citizen 226: "The Karen Situation"
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Join Mike in the studio on a stormy Saturday night…

...talking about how he became a hero in the Dunkin Donuts for dealing with a “Karen”, and got a free donut. Also, a toast to Actor Ned Beatty, who died this week at 82, and gave us one of the most horrifying scenes in the history of cinema (it’s not the one you think).

Show Notes: Dealing with an entitled “Karen” at the coffee shop, who wouldn’t leave until she got an apology from the manager for forgetting her hashbrowns; what is a “Karen”, as the kids call her, and the origins of the term; five year anniversary of a woman drop-kicking her kid’s birthday cake at Kroger; the theatre dream; my trip to Nashville, wondering if I could live and work there; Music Break*; the dangerous things kids’ adventure films of the 80’s taught us; a toast to Ned Beatty; Video Street Video Store**; the epic failure of the game, “Daikatana” in 1999; the Max Headroom hack of 1987. 

*Music Break: “Drunk” by Simon Mathewson; “Sinister” by Les Hayden. All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

**Video Street Video Store: Incite PC Gaming: “Halo” (1999); “Incite PC Gaming: Daikatana” (1999)

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature!...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2021 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 225: "Black Market Hobbes"
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Join Mike in the studio late on a Saturday night.

Show notes: What happens when you call the past? Do you get a “disconnected” message?; Stephen King’s “The Langoliers” shows us that the past is a dead place; survey on where people would rather travel: the past or the future?; the Baha Men; Why I would never survive in prison; Alabama is falling behind heavily on Covid vaccinations; “The Conjuring: the Devil Made Me Do It”, and why these films about the supernatural vs. science are so popular right now; Ed and Lorraine Warren are B.S.; Music Break*; I saw a black market “Calvin and Hobbes” stuffed tiger this week; Summer Camp and Vacation Bible School; the vulgar origins of the campfire song, “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”

*Music Break: “Athens” by Pierce Murphy; “Your Eyes” by Crowander. All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

**Video Street Video Store: “Wall Street Traders in the 1980’s”; “Siskel and Ebert” Review: The Karate Kid III.

Listen to “The Midnight Citizen 172: the Genius of Gene Siskel” (8/6/16), referenced in this episode.

Check out the website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …“Was it over when the Germans invaded Pearl Harbor”...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2021 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.


The Midnight Citizen 219: "Trapped in Alabama"
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2:14:59 — Join Mike in the studio late on a Saturday night.

Show notes: Gary Puckett of the 60’s band, “Gary Puckett and the Union Gap”, is a perv; anti-vaccers and anti-maskers may be plants by mysterious organizations to keep us distracted; Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon; saw a guy in my neighborhood walking around like a dog, trying to sniff out some pot that he could buy; travelers from Alabama must self-quarantine in many states when they travel due to high infection rates; Music Break*; I went to my hometown of Moody, AL, where I lived from 1986-92, and sat in the dugout of my Little League baseball diamond (it was weird); Birmingham businesses that didn’t survive the pandemic; Video Street Video Store**; Tales from Viscauga, AL: this week, four friends on a camping trip solve the years-old mystery of a family’s disappearance.

Music Break: “East Texas Pines” by Miller and Sasser; “Ghost” by Forget the Whale; “Machinery” by Eddy.All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

Video Street Video Store: Action Park commercial (1984); “Deliverance” doc (1972)

Backing music for tonight’s episode: “Hendrixy Slow Blues Backing Jam Track” (YouTube); “Blues in A Minor Backing Track” (Gilad Perry); Petti Music Studios (CCO 1.0 Universal, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike).

Check out the livestream of tonight’s show with pre- and post-show coverage, as well as the new website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! ...That a boy, Luther!...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2020 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 218: "Behold, the Masked City"
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2:35:15 — Join Mike in the studio late on a Saturday night, where he recalls the time he got kicked out of a Chuck E. Cheese, and reviews the stuff he bought off Amazon during quarantine. Exciting stuff.

Show Notes: why nostalgia will destroy us all; people are pretending the pandemic is over, when the data says otherwise; burglars used masks during the pandemic of 1918 to disguise themselves when robbing banks; the time when my friends and I got kicked out of a Chuck E. Cheese for eating there without kids of our own; how we are unwelcome in the places of our past; substitute teaching; tribute to “The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs”, which wrapped up its second season this week; nostalgia is not only ruining our lives, but horror movies, too!; Music Break*; Ian Holm -- “Ash” from Alien -- is dead at 88; movie theatres will reopen next month with safety restrictions; Svengoolie; stuff I’ve bought off Amazon in the last three weeks of quarantine; Video Street Video Store**; “Tales from Viscauga, AL”: this week, Jim continues his quest for a mysterious videotape, and solves the mystery of who has been robbing the citizens of Viscauga in the night.

Music Break: “Surfing Day” (Marcos H. Bolanos, Unchained Melodies, Vol. 2); “Suburban Outlaw” (Forget the Whale, What I Tell Myself); “Machinery” by Eddy. All music is played under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives) and is available at the Freemusicarchive.org

Video Street Video Store: Cullman Liquidation Lumber Commercial; Retro Office Safety Training Video.

Stuff on Amazon: Chiseled Face Shaving Soap Sampler (Rancho Cucamonga, CA);Field Notes: National Park Series C;Prestige Import Group Chalet Cherry Cigar Humidor

Backing music for tonight’s episode: “Hendrixy Slow Blues Backing Jam Track” (YouTube); “Blues in A Minor Backing Track” (Gilad Perry); Petti Music Studios (CCO 1.0 Universal, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike).

Check out the livestream of tonight’s show with pre- and post-show coverage, as well as the new website over at mikeboody.com/themidnightcitizen, with links to old episodes on Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …Back to the ole freeze-a-rino…

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2020 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.

The Midnight Citizen 217: "This Machine Life"
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2:21:18 — Join Mike in the studio late on a Saturday night.

Show Notes: Exciting things are going down at the Piggly Wiggly, now that the machines have arrived; witnessed a sad old lady shouting at a self checkout kiosk; why do we trust machines more than humans?; this week is the eighth anniversary of the Downtown Drive-in, my pop up theater that succeeded before it failed horribly; are drive-in’s making a comeback? Because they should; Music Break*; sipping some Evan Williams, and remembering the time I was made fun of by a little fella in the liquor store for buying some “cheap” whiskey; people are pretending the pandemic is over; protest update from Birmingham, AL; Video Street Video Store**; Tales from Viscauga, AL: this week, after an especially painful breakup with his girlfriend, Jim sets out on a quest to find a mysterious videotape.  

Music Break: “Long John’s Jump” by Daddy Long Legs; “Running Eiskrokodil” by Lobo Loco. All music is released under the Creative Commons License: Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivatives. Available on freemusicarchive.org.

Video Street Video Store: “Rock, It’s Your Decision”; “‘USA Up All Night’ -- ‘Vampire on Bikini Beach’”; “How Can I Tell if I’m Really in Love?”

Backing music for tonight’s episode: “Hendrixy Slow Blues Backing Jam Track” (YouTube release); “Blues in A Minor Backing Track” (Youtube User: Gilad Perry); “Machinery” by Eddy (CC: Attribution, Noncommercial, Share-Alike; Petti Music Studios (CCO 1.0 Universal, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike).

Check out the livestream of tonight’s show with pre- and post-show coverage, as well as the new Midnight Citizen website with links to old episodes on  Archive.org, and join the Facebook page! …Let’s go get sushi, and not pay…

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share-Alike US License. Attribution by Mike Boody. Released June 2020 on The Midnight Citizen and The Overnightscape Underground.