Don’t forget to grab your tickets for Friday Friday Friday first Outdoor Cats Live show! It’s going to be a very good and hopefully soul restoring series of conversations. And we want to hear from you as well! Call into our new tip line—508-205-9520—with any thoughts or observations you have on how Eureka Street went down and what it says about the city. Or send us a voice memo at outdoorcats@sudomail.com

See you there! So excited.

Some relevant links for the discussion…

Kate Toomey’s equity argument

When a Correction Becomes An Accusation

My story on sex ed from 2019 with the Mary Mullaney quote

Former School Committee member Mary Mullaney, one of the key figures involved, is among those with both political influence and a moral opposition to comprehensive sex education. In an email to Binienda last September, Mullaney diagnosed what she saw as the real problem with what she called “urban kids.”

“Five years from now the situation will be the same or worse because what is lacking here is strong families, good moral upbringing, fathers in homes, faith in a higher power. We put bandaids on huge problems and feel good that we are ‘trying,’” Mullaney wrote to Binienda. “You know better than anyone in Worcester — because you are the REAL thing when it comes to urban kids — that these children are spiritually and psychologically impoverished, neglected, abused. They need love, guidance, support, alternatives to the crap they see around them. Condoms will not save their souls. I am not sure if they will even help their bodies as they are too young to use them well, but I know for sure that condoms will not heal their soul or solve the loneliness in their hearts.”

Mummies in MA

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Outro: Oh for no particular reason, definitely not because it’s related in a million ways to the “we’re governed by stupidest, racist, most colonialist, and most self-assured people you went to high school with, who peaked in said high school” vibe of this episode, here’s “Liar’s Tale” by KNEECAP, whose new album dropped on May Day.

“Do they not understand who we are/ You were popular way back when/ people did whatever they want/ nobody stood in their way/ Ats colonial cringe/ now we’re lookin back paid/ We want everything back/ The six counties/ And the artifacts/ we’ll be takin all that/ Look mate, the paddies are back/ And your kingdom’s finished/ And that’s a fact”

Intro by Bill Shaner 5.3.26

Look at this awesome flyer the lovely Katie Nowicki whipped up for us!

As the title suggests we’ll be looking back on a year of fallout after the ICE raid on Eureka Street that opened a new chapter in local politics—one where the bad guys started being a little more honest, let’s say. But we’ll save all that for the event! There’s a stacked bill coming together as we speak. Do not sleep on getting tickets as I imagine this will fill out pretty fast. Ticket link one more time.

In today’s show we cover a wide range of topics in no particular order: Big day for the correspondents. ICE has been back. Joe Petty’s flim-flam on rent control. Look out for the whippit squirrel at Big Y

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Intro by Bill Shaner 4.26.26

Outro: “Early Morning” by Takumi Yoneyama off “Relaxation Music For Your Computer Life” (1997)

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Note from Chris: Wow holy goddamn our latency was really bad. You’re going to hear Bill and I step on each other extensively, and it’s not because we’re interrupter jerks, it’s actually because we were having a several second delay in hearing each other. We blame the government.

Porch session is nearly here and we’ll be recording in-person together more soon.

Note from Bill: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some links…

Curtis Sliwa was here and we missed it.

Curtis Sliwa quotes from final mayoral debate

Fresolo Townie Direct Action Footage

Wages report

List of 500 highest-paid Worcester employees includes zero teachers. Why?

Eyes on public safety at Union Station: Police outline presence, stats

Cop bar to open at Dive Bar

Literal outdoor cat gives no fucks about borders

—Outro: Brooklyn Funk Essentials “Bust The Bust Stop”

—Intro by Bill Shaner 4.17.26

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Worcester Sucks is the only outlet to report on this pretty sure so we can call this podcast episode “breaking news” officially, which is cool I guess.

The other topic we were planning to cover, but nixed, was the recent “day in court” for the state police officers charged in connection with the boxing ring death of Enrique Delgado Garcia. It ended up working out that Welcome To Hell World ran a piece of mine on the matter today: “The Presumption of Innocence.” So while we don’t cover it here, I do over there. You should go read it I think it’s good. Here’s a quick taste (more follow up on it in my next written post.)

Among the recruits, there was one especially experienced fighter. Enrique Delgado Garcia was not an especially experienced fighter. Ahead of “boxing day,” each of the recruits were matched roughly on size and ability. A large and physically fit guy was paired with the experienced fighter. On Thursday, Sept. 12, the day of the match, this large and physically fit guy wimped out.

Instead of saying, “OK, no one is equipped to fight this guy, sorry bud you are too scary” the training staff instead asked for volunteers. Enrique Delgado Garcia was apparently the only recruit to step forward. So he entered the ring with concussion-like symptoms to face a fighter so scary the second scariest guy had said no thanks.

Once in the ring Delgado Garcia was under the supervision of a referee who was not trained nor certified to be a referee, but was rather a micro celebrity in the SPAM community: one Charlie Murray, president of the State Police boxing team.

Also tomorrow I’ll be on Beacon Hill all day advocating alongside local journalists from around the state for a proposed local journalism legislative package put together by Free Press, a great advocacy organization for the sort of local news we do here (not the nazi site The Free Press). We’re pushing for something like the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium that Free Press started down there recently. It’s pretty neat. So come say hi if you’re going to be “on the hill” tomorrow.

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Some links from the discussion today…

Iran Lego AI Propaganda

E sports at the Aud hype article

Poop ship update

Live feed of the Artemis II mission

“We’re goin’ back to the fuckin’ moon, that’s why”

Gregg clip

French documentary on moon landing - Operation Lune

Intro: Riff on “Pink Moon” by Bill Shaner 4.7.26

Outro: “Contact” by Daft Punk

Chris has more to say on the substance of the talk down below, but first I come to you hat and hand asking for a small amount of your hard earned money so that Chris and I and everyone else at Worcester Sucks can keep doing all the local journalism we do. Paid subscriptions are best, second best are tips, third best is merch orders.

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Chris here: A thing we talk around a lot in this is the dynamic of firefighters and the communities they serve vs. police and the communities they serve. I wanted to say two things:

First, firefighters put their turnout gear just as fast for a fire in the poorest neighborhood as they do the wealthiest one. In fact, they maybe do it faster for the poorest one. People say fire doesn’t discriminate, but that’s not entirely true. Fire discriminates in insidious ways- It discriminates in your landlord not noticing or caring that your boiler or wiring are pretty janky, because your landlord doesn’t have to live there. It discriminates in how dense your housing situation is, and how fire suppressed it is to the standards of that density. It discriminates in who lives in housing units that aren’t even legally habitable units, as we saw on Gage Street. It discriminates in how adaptive to escaping a fire your housing is if you’re disabled and/or have mobility issues. It discriminates in how fucked you are if you survive a fire and have to deal with the financial ruin that a fire inevitably causes. Etc. The theme of this one for me is I could go on but I won’t.

Second, I have this weird lived experience where I have been on the scene of hundreds of fires, first as a firefighter, next as a Disaster Services volunteer for the Red Cross, and finally as just what is known as a “buff”, or a person who loves watching and documenting a fire department at work.

If you know what you’re doing, you can get very, very close to the scene of most working fires. Don’t put yourself in a dangerous position and don’t impede the firefighting operations, and you can get close enough to feel the heat and have your eyes burn with the smoke. UDizzy1969, who comes up in the episode, has nearly all-access videos from almost every fire of consequence in Worcester for years. One of our unsung heroes tbh.

Back when I was learning about how to navigate a fire scene as a “non-combatant”, I remarked to a photographer who was a retired firefighter about how close they let us get. He said “Firefighters do a job to be proud of, and they are very proud of what they do”. I never forgot that. Who wouldn’t be happy about being documented doing the “public safety” job they do when it’s rescuing people and putting out fires and pulling people out of wrecked cars and all of that. I’ll leave it to you to compare and contrast that to another division of alleged “public safety”, and how transparent they are about letting random people document their work.

Last Call Foundation

IAFF (the main firefighter’s union) calls for a federal investigation into fire apparatus price-fixing

MA, NY Firefighters File Lawsuit Over PFAS In Firefighting PPE

If you want to get pumped up by watching another amazing firefighting documentary, here’s “Burn” (2012) in it’s entirety.

“Burnin’ Down The House” documentary on Instagram, and Facebook

Intro by Bill Shaner 3.30.26

Outro: “Burnin’ Down The House”, cover by Bonnie Raittv

Forgot to mention ‘on air’ that I’m doing the Roast of Worcester tomorrow (Saturday, March 21) at the White Room. All proceeds go to LUCE! Come hang. Send me some jokes I’m fresh out. Billshaner91 at Substack Dot Com.

Chris recaps St. Patty’s Day in Worcester, which he does the right way unlike most of us, who tend to drink more like craven Englishmen than the esteemed and steady All-Day Irish.

Three groups have filed an ADA lawsuit in federal court against the Worcester Police Department for dispatching trained professionals to physical medical emergencies and condescending and often violent dicks with guns to medical emergencies of the mental variety. We read a few choice spots from the complaint.

Afroman Wins Civil Trial Over Use of Police Raid Footage in His Music Videos

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Intro music by Bill Shaner 3.19.26

Outro: “Lemon Pound Cake” by Afroman

In this episode we eschew the typical miseries of local politics to focus on two community events we attended over the weekend: the second annual Purim Spectacular stage production at the Raven on Sunday night, and a panel discussion on satire, activism and journalism at the library on Saturday afternoon. Heavy on the “& I Love It” light on the “Sucks.” A refreshing change of pace I think. The episode also features a longer and perhaps overly indulgent intro theme because it’s our show and we’re both stoked on it. Skip if you hate art. And either way let us know what you think! About that or anything else. We love what the suits call “audience engagement.” So much we’re looking for some recovering theater kids (I was in pit band I can say it) to help us with some potential live production ideas! Billshaner at Substack dot com.

Also: I’m running a crazy 50 percent off deal on merch for paid subscribers. It runs until Saturday and you can find the code for that here. Then, merch store here. We have a bunch of Outdoor Cat shirts left!!

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Some notes and links…

Matt Shearer’s Jamaica Plain road salt video

The time Chris met Rick Steves his hero

Worcester Havurah

Knox Harrington

The U-Boat game Chris mentions

A little taste of the Klezmer band at Purim — update: the band is composed of Rebecca Mac on violin and Jack Soref on guitar.

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∿Intro by Bill Shaner 3.9.26

∿Outro: “I Believe” by Caroline Polachek (run it full if you can, if you can’t start here for about 90 seconds worth)

On the docket for this one: Collusion between Thomas Duffy allegedly by others and Northwest District ADA Steven Gagne in the “apology” statement drafted as a plea deal condition in the Spring & Haxhiaj trials. Then: Former city councilor Sarai Rivera and her husband in hot water for lavish trips paid out, according to a state filing, from an investment operation under the vague umbrella of their church. Fully Gemstones coded if you ask me. Talk about misbehavin’.

This Week In Worcester: ADA: Worcester Police Union Leader Influenced Plea Offer in Haxhiaj Case

Telegram: State Filing Alleges Worcester Pastor Used Investor Money For Lavish Trips

Also as promised here’s the link for the event on Saturday afternoon…

“Journalism, Activism, Satire ... What’s the Difference?” Date: 2 p.m. Saturday, March 7 Moderator: Edgar B. Herwick III (host, “The Curiosity Desk,” co-host, “The Culture Show,” GBH) Panel Members: Matt Shearer (Journalist, WBZ News) Brad Petrishan (reporter, Telegram & Gazette) Giselle Rivera-Flores (podcaster, journalist, publicist) Bill Shaner (editor, Worcester Sucks [and I Love It])

…and the PURIM SPECTACULAR on Sunday night: Sloppy and E-Wasted: An Anti-AI Purim Production!

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Outro: Jamiroquai “Deeper Underground”

In case you missed our coverage of the Haxhiaj trial and its profound implications for this city’s already-rotten-enough political culture, read the latest here.

And you can watch pretty much the entire trial via a series of videos I put up on YouTube—Haxhiaj trial playlist—a painstaking and frustrating endeavor, but worth it, as the cops have rarely told on themselves so hard.

In today’s show we go over some choice clips from prosecutor Steven Gagne’s arguments and Shauna McGuirk’s ummmmm inconsistent testimony. Her whole testimony is worth a watch.

Here’s Etel outside the courthouse afterwards as well, in case you missed that.

Thomas Duffy statement (We’re not dignifying it with a link, you get no clicks from us ya dickhole dingus)

“Last November city residents sent a strong message in our local election and today Etel Haxhiaj was convicted by a jury of her peers for assault and battery on a Worcester police officer.

We can never allow or tolerate violence of any kind to be directed at any member of law enforcement.. In recent days we have seen multiple officers shot in Spencer and Fall River, we continue to pray for their recovery. We ask that God always protect members of law enforcement as they perform this dangerous job. I want to thank the overwhelming majority of citizens of this city who show support for our officers as they perform a difficult and dangerous job daily.”

Please consider supporting our work, we need you to keep doing it. Reader support is this outlet’s only source of revenue. It gives us the time and freedom to, for instance, put two days worth of pool camera footage from a significantly important political trial onto YouTube with corrected audio so you can actually hear it, repurposing footage that the cable stations used for quick and cheap sound bites then threw into the dustbin of history because they all think they work for the cops. Anyway… three great ways to support us!

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RIP “Royster” and the eight other fishery workers MA lost in January. Fishing is an actually dangerous job. Part One in a maybe ongoing series of “Jobs That Are Statistically More Dangerous Than Being A Cop”. It’s been a very deadly start to the year for them, and they actually do a job that makes our lives better.

The TP USA Halftime Show was way worse than I could’ve even imagined. I apologize for maligning Florida-Georgia line last week. It’s so much darker and dumber.

Here’s the song Lee Brice performed called “Country Nowadays”

Lyrics:
“I just want to catch my fish, drive my truck, drink my beer / And not wake up to all this stuff I don’t want to hear / Like the same kind of gun I hunt with / Just killed another man / Only thing mine ever shot was / Deer from my deer stand.

I just want to cut my grass, feed my dogs, wear my boots / Not turn the TV on, sit and watch the evening news / Be told if I tell my own daughter that little boys ain’t little girls / I’d be up the creek in hot water in this cancel-your ass-world.

Chorus:
It ain’t easy being country / In this country nowadays / The direction the finger’s pointing / When everything goes up in flames / Saying I’m some right-wing devil / Because I was down South Jesus raised / It ain’t easy being country / In this country nowadays.

Intro by Bill Shaner 2.16.26

Outro: Pigs Theory” by Jayy Grams

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We discuss how, in the ongoing act of the Greek play, daddy’s little boy will not be compelled to testify! In the play. We don’t want to be sued. This is a comedy podcast.

Chris’ had a no good very bad couple of weeks in Tenant-Land, renting a “luxury apartment” from Investment Property To Make Money, LLC

Congrats to Bad Bunny for winning Super Bowl 60!

The Bad Bunny Super Bowl performance

Mini-documentary about when Prince played Super Bowl XLI: “Can you make it rain harder”

The short film Bad Bunny released with his album captures an amazing moment of having the opposite reaction to this, and why that’s the way to live that makes your life worth living.

P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, a rad new book that came out last week.

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∿Intro by Bill Shaner 2.10.26

∿Outro: CAFé CON RON (Video has Spanish and English subtitles)

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A few relevant links from the talk…

LUCE Immigrant Justice Network

Bill’s 2020 WoMag story on Chris’s COVID kits

Interview with The Nation about Mutual Aid – Dean Spade

Armed community defense episode of “It Could Happen Here.”

Mutual Aid: A Grassroots Model for Justice and Equity in Emergency Management

Various schools of Anarchism explained with tacos.

Not relevant to the talk but…

Thoughts and prayers up for DJ Michael “5000” Watts, founder of Swishahouse and godfather of “chopped and screwed” music.

Guys, gals, and non-binary pals: We’ve just clocked something like just past the first anniversary of Outdoor Cats. I have so much fun doing this podcast, there’s not much I like more than combining a guaranteed hang with one of the people I enjoy hanging out with most but also I get to do some mild research. I look forward to it every week, sincerely.

(Bill ask for money here)

Ok Chris here goes. There’s no way we could put out all the stuff we put out—a lot of stuff for an outlet with only one (1) full time staffer!—without contributions from our readers and listeners. It is the only source of revenue and we like it that way because we have only our people to please and do not have to think for a second of how it’ll be received over at the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Three ways to do it and the first one is best: Subscribe / Tips / Merch Store.

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∿Outro: “Walking In The Snow” Run The Jewels

∿Intro by Bill Shaner 1.31.26

MLK continuing to call out Worcester’s political establishment from beyond the grave every damn day. In 1961 he spoke at Temple Emanuel right here in Worcester and called out both the cowardly rush to hide behind the “moderate” position and the northern liberal’s willfully obtuse view of the world, in which social problems are something that exist elsewhere. Not here, surely.

In case you missed it, my reporting on the fact Worcester has $15 million invested in ICE’s forced removal operation: Tangled Up In Ice

We wrap with an extended discussion of the Dead, this being the first time we’ve been able to talk about the late, great Bob Weir with the mics running. RIP to the Other One, up there in Rosa’s Cantina in the sky.

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And don’t forget what I mentioned at the beginning of the show: We’ll be at the Framingham Public Library next Thursday, Jan. 29, giving a free talk about mutual aid. It starts at 7 p.m. More details here.

Some other links from the show:

“Are You Afraid Now?” (You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof)

That time the city council forced the Grateful Dead out of town

“In all, 102 Deadheads were arrested for a variety of mostly nonviolent infractions including vagrancy, loitering and possession of LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs.

Worse, though, were the piles of trash and waste left in the wake of the city-hopping hippie hordes who camped in public parks and vacant lots downtown”

Playing In The Band, and Bobby Weir

The Pizza Tapes

Chris’ favorite Grateful Dead song: “Crazy Fingers” (hilariously this version is from Foxboro in 1989, the year after reactionary leadership in Worcester caused them to stop playing here). Most people would not consider this a “Bobby song” but I think it’s a perfect example of Bobby setting the table for Jerry and the rest of the band. I also love Crazy Fingers because it’s not “about” anything. It’s really just a collection of poetic vignettes that work together.

Also, if you want to hear the Dead played by some of your favorite contemporary artists, “Day Of The Dead” is kinda mind-blowing. (Spotify link because that was the easiest place to find it assembled). Everybody from The War On Drugs to Bruce Hornsby to Courtney Barnett to Kurt Vile to Bela Fleck to to Marijauana Death Squads to Lucinda Willims to The Flaming Lips is on it. Bob Weir does “St. Stephen” with Wilco, and “I Know You Rider” with The National. A real testament to your music is the people who will show up to cover it.

Bill’s favorite Grateful Dead song: “Wharf Rat” or “Terrapin Station” depending on the day

Intro by Bill Shaner

Outro: “Playing In The Band” Live in Jersey City, NJ, 9/28/72

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Venice ambulance beat

Franklin clip

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∿Outro: Knock Over City- “Birds 2: Crowfeeedin” / Knock Over City’s Bandcamp

∿Intro by Bill Shaner 1.12.26

This Westerling guy is all right.

We revisit our winners and losers of 2024 to see how the proverbial tables have turned, we again turn to Ray Mariano for three stooges style physical comedy: trotting around with pie on his face going ‘it’s not pie’ over and over and over.

Our winners and losers of 2024. Our predictions were a…mixed bag!

83% of “assaults” at WPS were committed by elementary schoolers

Ray Mariano- WPS “manipulated the numbers” by uhhhh…reporting them.

Then we talk music!

Please buy an outdoor cat shirt if you enjoy this program!!

Oooo ahhhhh you’d look great in it! And just $20? In a post-Brandon world?

We did 50 episodes! Look at us. Would you just look at us. Couldn’t have done it without you fine folks out there listening. Think about someone else who might like the show and give it a share will ya? Word of mouth is really the only way this newsletter gets around and it’s done us perfectly well so far.

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Also we couldn’t do this if I (Bill) was working another job because hooo boy it actually takes a lot of back-end work to get these episodes out, on top of all the other writing and editing that goes into this outlet in general. Subscriptions or tips would be appreciated!

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Chris’ favorite albums of 2025: For each of these, I’m going to link to one of my favorite tracks from the album. You can find the entire album if you want because you are smart.

Cannibal Ox, “Aireplane”

Viagra Boys, “viagr aboys”

Nate Smith, “LIVE-ACTION”

(Bonus Nate Smith, “Red Arrow” drum solo live at the Blue Note for the recording of Fearless Flyers IV. I have this and all of the Fearless Flyers catalog on vinyl and I will play it real loud for anyone who asks nicely)

clipping. “Dead Channel Sky”

Anna Buchegger, “Soiz”

Ohhhh I forgot the new De La Soul album!

Bill’s: Gelli Haha, “Switcheroo.” S.G. Goodman, “Planting By The Signs.” Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band, “New Threats From The Soul.”

Neither’s: Geese, “Getting Killed”

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∿Intro music by yours truly (Bill)

∿Outro: “King Harvest” by The Band

I hope the joy of finding out that Al is so much more than Bill and I knew in terms of a story and also him being a Real Wistah Guy comes through. I also really loved that we discovered we have a whole bunch of mutual friends between the three of us. This is a record of one of the best hours I have ever spent completely unprepared to be on the phone with someone who it turns out is kind of one of my heroes. We’ll definitely be having Al back again for Wicked Wistah.

O Pato video

Way Down/bird gang war video

Wings Over Worcester fight

Wings Over Outtakes

Weed Ova Worcester

They really did light up in there by the way…

We can keep doing this podcast and everything else we do at Worcester Sucks because of the wonderfully generous readers and/or listeners who subscribe or drop some money in the tip jar or buy some merch!

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∿Outro: N.A.S.A. - O Pato (feat. Kool Kojak & DJ Babão)

∿Intro by Bill Shaner 12.8.25

St. V already looking for a new new CEO again.

Ray Mariano’s dumb school safety column

Dianna Biancheria’s “vision for the future”

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Cliff vs. the Manson clan

“Train Dreams” trailer

WINGS OVER WORCESTER Commercial

Does someone have the Frankenstein’s commercial recorded? Also this is why we need an ephemera archive.

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Also: join us at the punk rock flea market this weekend! We’ll be there the whole time Sunday, part of the time Saturday.

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∿Outro: “Black Ice/Sky High”

∿Intro by Bill Shaner 12.8.25

“The Reenchanted World”

Here’s that synth I built. The one I was talking about. Also featured in the outro! It’s the lead tone.

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∿Intro & outro music by Bill Shaner original composition 11.30.25

We talk about that process, the cultural importance of local heirloom foods and the cultural responsibility of reviving them appropriately, being “pro or anti-GMO” as a sort of reductive concept, other favorite beans, agricultural fairs and how cool they are, and a few other things, but really…it’s just about beans at the end of the day. Don’t overthink it. We didn’t.

THE BEAN HAS AN EMAIL: If you would like to get the bean and/or to know more about the bean, hit up worcesterbeanseed@gmail.com

Quick pause from the money man to ask you humbly that you help this little outlet grow into a mammoth outlet! Paid subscriptions are best, but dropping a few bucks in the tip jar or ordering something from the merch store is also great. Thank you! —Bill

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We also talked about some historical events that happened at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds, but we didn’t talk about the time Worcester people chased a massive Klan rally out of the city by…uh…any means necessary? No idea why things like this are kicking around in my head.

Roll that beautiful bean coverage!

Some relevant links:

Seed Savers Exchange

Happiness Pony

Jacob’s Cattle Bean

The Worcester Agricultural Fairground

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∿This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts others via this RSS link.

∿Outro music: “Celebrate” by Anderson .Paak

∿Intro music by Bill Shaner

We do some light analysis of the results, thinking about where Rivera’s 900 new votes came from. But more so, the interview was a public airing of observations about the sort of pervasive cultural problems that, over the past several years, Etel and I would often talk about privately. Ahead of recording, Etel told me she felt strongly that there wasn’t any use in keeping a lid on the stuff any longer. People should know what it’s like. Early in the conversation she said:

One of the hopes that I have for this conversation is to shed some light on how I’m experiencing it. And maybe that gives some language to, and some perspective to people who, you know, have been reaching out and saying, ‘we don’t understand what happened on Tuesday.’ And again, not just looking at me as a person, but mostly sort of the, what does this mean for Worcester and where do we go from here?

For what it’s worth there hasn’t been nor will there likely be another interview with Haxhiaj of this length and depth on the results of this election. One of many reasons I think it’s worth it to keep this little outfit in business. Subscribe here or drop a few bucks in the tip jar or even visit the merch store!

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Did this one solo (Chris had work) but if all goes according to plan Chris will be coming in with his own solo episode for the next one!

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∿This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts others via this RSS link.

∿Outro music: “Backlash Blues,” Nina Simone, live version 1970

∿Intro music by me

Continuing on the ‘welp’ theme we get through the election results as quickly as we can, here’s a quick summary if you haven’t caught up on Tuesday’s results yet, then we discuss at length what the story of Heather Prunier exposes about the political culture and attendant media of this city. Taking a breather, Chris lets on the depths of his sandwich-based worldview. Then, finally, the story behind the gong sound in the last episode. Speaking of, we highly suggest you listen to that one before this one: Episode 43: That Is My File (ft. Heather Prunier, Tom Marino)

Thank you for all of the support the past week. Subscriptions are up (subscribe here just $5! One Dunkies), people are making great use of the tip jar, the Instagram is going freakin loco (shouts out Kelly Cashman, IG Editor extraordinaire).

As we talk about in the episode, we believe in what we’re doing here and we believe in the impact it’s already making but more than that we believe in its ability to grow into a real institution. That takes time and time is mostly a slog but if you’re with us, we’re in it for the long haul.

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One last thing: I (Bill) will be at the Sinclair from 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, reading some of my work, sharing a stage with some of the most talented writers I know. It’s the book launch party for Luke O’Neil’s new one, “We Had It Coming,” a book that is devastatingly good for anyone but especially for someone who grew up in Massachusetts amid the townies and the decay and the ‘do your job’ fascism.

I have never done a reading such as this before and I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be reading. If there is a piece of mine or a passage or even a riff from this podcast you think would make for a good live reading, chuck it in the chat please!

Or the comments or billshaner [at] substack.com

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∿This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts others via this RSS link.

∿Intro by me (Bill Shaner), written and recorded special for the episode. “Make It Look So Nice In Here,” 11.5.25.

∿Outro: “We Have Survived” by No Fixed Address

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