The Slacker Factor ::: The Voice of Generation X: Podcasts, Blogs, World Domination » St. Marquis http://theslackerfactor.com Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:08:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 The Slacker Factor podcast and web space blossomed out of the collective frustrations of three East-coast-bred, corporately-employed friends who wanted to create a forum for discussion, expression, and learning. Wait…that sounds way too serious… The reality is we all hate the responsibilities of being adults, and wanted to get together to share random thoughts, listen to loud and curious music, and to have a few laughs. We want you to do the same, and to be a part of the slackerdom. Each podcast features the word and ideas of Generation X, as expressed by Christian Godbout, Robert LaFrance, and Patty Pino. Christian and Rob are veteran radio slackers and Rob continues to bring music to the masses as a professional DJ. Patty is a spoken-word performer, who, way back in the 80’s, made a living as a professional stand-up comedian. All of us met in the 90’s, when we bonded over beat-mixing and the Beastie Boys. Our voices express the angst of too-much-responsibility coupled with the never-ending search for all things less-than-mediocre. Thanks for listening to the podcasts, and checking out the web site. Christian Godbout, Robert LaFrance, and Patty Pino clean Christian Godbout, Robert LaFrance, and Patty Pino slacker@theslackerfactor.com slacker@theslackerfactor.com (Christian Godbout, Robert LaFrance, and Patty Pino) Copyright 2009, The Slacker Factor The Slacker Factor Podcast : The Voice of Generation X Generation X, Slacker, Alternative, Modern Rock, Grunge, Flannel, Music, Angst The Slacker Factor ::: The Voice of Generation X: Podcasts, Blogs, World Domination » St. Marquis http://theslackerfactor.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://theslackerfactor.com TSF35: Same Difference – NOW ONLINE! http://theslackerfactor.com/2011/12/tsf35/ http://theslackerfactor.com/2011/12/tsf35/#comments Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:30:59 +0000 Robert LaFrance http://theslackerfactor.com/?p=1210 The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 35: Same Difference

Episode 35: Jack Johnson uses some percentage of French fry grease to fuel his tour buses, walking in San Diego can spark musical creativity, and living in New Jersey doesn’t guarantee an orange tan-glow. All will make sense when you listen to the conversational lessons of St. Marquis, your favorite Slackers, and the beautiful vocals of Anya Marina.

Subscribe with iTunes

Meandering Rant: “Weather Report” by special guest St. Marquis

Book Report: Grease Cars, information by Christian

Music Segment: Anya Marina, brought to you by Patty, featuring the song “All the Same to Me” from Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II http://www.anyamarina.com/

Check out more from St. Marquis, writing as Brett Bickley for the Parsippany Patch.

Keep your friends informed and your enemies perplexed; get ‘em all listening to The Slacker Factor.
]]> http://theslackerfactor.com/2011/12/tsf35/feed/ 0 Anya Marina,biodiesel,car,christian godbout,diesel,electricity,French fry,generation x,GenX,grease,grease car,home improvement The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 35: Same Difference - Episode 35: Jack Johnson uses some percentage of French fry grease to fuel his tour buses, walking in San Diego can spark musical creativity, and living in New Jersey doesn’t guarantee an orang... The Slacker Factor Podcast, Episode 35: Same Difference Episode 35: Jack Johnson uses some percentage of French fry grease to fuel his tour buses, walking in San Diego can spark musical creativity, and living in New Jersey doesn’t guarantee an orange tan-glow. All will make sense when you listen to the conversational lessons of St. Marquis, your favorite Slackers, and the beautiful vocals of Anya Marina. Subscribe with iTunes Meandering Rant: “Weather Report” by special guest St. Marquis Book Report: Grease Cars, information by Christian Music Segment: Anya Marina, brought to you by Patty, featuring the song “All the Same to Me” from Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II http://www.anyamarina.com/ Check out more from St. Marquis, writing as Brett Bickley for the Parsippany Patch. http://parsippany.patch.com/users/brett-bickley/blog_posts Keep your friends informed and your enemies perplexed; get ‘em all listening to The Slacker Factor. Christian Godbout, Robert LaFrance, and Patty Pino clean Message In A Bloggle: Hope I Die Before I Get Old http://theslackerfactor.com/2010/02/message-in-a-bloggle-hope-i-die-before-i-get-old/ http://theslackerfactor.com/2010/02/message-in-a-bloggle-hope-i-die-before-i-get-old/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:09:30 +0000 St. Marquis http://theslackerfactor.com/?p=434 There are a few times in your life when you suddenly feel “old”.

Finding your first grey hair is probably the first. It’s bad enough finding one on your head but when you find one “south of the border” it’s even more sobering. Followed, of course, by the first time you get pulled over and discover that when the police officer gets up to the car he is obviously younger than you are. And the aggravating thing is even though you’re older you call them “SIR”! Which is not as bad as saying ‘thank you’ for some reason when they hand you the ticket.

But for me the worst realization that I was suddenly “older” was when I realized I didn’t know what the hell was happening in music. At some point in the last few years, I had completely lost touch with what was considered “cool” and “happening” in the music business. And I was pretty upset.

I happened to speaking to someone younger than myself, who mentioned they were going to a concert that weekend. “Oh, who are you going to see?”, I asked. “The Passion Pit!”, he happily declared. The Passion Pit? Who the hell are The Passion Pit? Not only was I kind of upset that I didn’t recognize the name, but I totally felt out of touch when I discovered that they had sold out not one night in NYC that weekend but THREE nights! How could I have never heard of this group that was popular enough to sell out three nights in Manhattan plus have an album that was being raved about online and elsewhere?

Oh, that’s right. I got old.

So, last night as I watched the Grammy Awards sseing Lady GaGa parade about looking like something from a bad 1980′s video on acid and duetting with Elton John, I realized maybe it’s not just me. Back in the 70′s Elton was considered a freak by our parents. Each generation seems to feel the need to create someone or something to rattle the cages of the generations before them. To set them apart. To make them feel as if they are ahead of the curve and hipper than those who came before them.

Because I got a kick later that night on the Grammys seeing the legendary Leon Russell playing with country upstart and Best New Artist winner Zac Brown. I know that there wasn’t a single 20-something hipster doofus dancing down front who had a clue as to who that strange white haired guy playing piano was onstage. And I am sure a number of those same kids later watched Jeff Beck rip through an amazing tribute to the late great Les Paul and thought, “This guy is cool. I wonder if he is Beck’s father.”

Maybe it’s called “classic” rock because to us that’s what it is. Classic. Untouchable. Something from a golden age in our lives that keeps it as fresh and special to us today as it did the first time we heard it 30 years ago. Our music never sounds dated because we carry it with us in our heads and in our hearts all our lives. Which is why, I know deep inside that the first Boston album or even the first RUN-DMC record will make me feel at 90 the way it made me feel at 19.

Now whether or not Lady GaGa’s “Paparazzi” will stand the test of time like The Allman Brother’s “Whipping Post” is something we will have to wait and see. Though to be honest, I am having a hard time imagining GaGa in concert in 2050 , strutting around in her Hefty Bags From Space polyvinyl stage costume and thousands of fans holding up cigarette lighters screaming, “POKER FACE! POKER FACE!”.

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Do yourselves a favor ….

Add some funk and rhythm to your life and pick up anything you can find by Trombone Shorty, Big Sam’s Funky Nation or Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.

]]> http://theslackerfactor.com/2010/02/message-in-a-bloggle-hope-i-die-before-i-get-old/feed/ 1 Message in a Bloggle http://theslackerfactor.com/2009/11/message-in-a-bloggle/ http://theslackerfactor.com/2009/11/message-in-a-bloggle/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:01:33 +0000 St. Marquis http://theslackerfactor.com/?p=147 If any of us really believed that this was how our future was actually going to turn out, most of us would have probably killed ourselves with drugs and sex by the end of the 80′s.
I know I would have.
I know I came real close to doing that.
Ah, memories.
It’s 20 years on. And those nights of alcohol and cocaine-fueled dance parties followed by hours of anonymous sex have been replaced with chauffeuring children with more active social lives than you have and with TiVO’d episodes of AMERICAN IDOL. Living the high life on $200 a week is now a never ending stream of bills, mortgage payments and trips to Target for underwear and socks. Going to bed at 4:00 am and sleeping until the late afternoon suddenly becomes being up at 5:30 am to try to be ahead of all the other drivers who are on the road at the same time with the same brilliant idea.
We were once Gods.
I know I was. In the words of the country song, “I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof”. In college there was big money bet that I wouldn’t live to see 21. And I have always enjoyed a challenge. Having access to drugs, alcohol, free and available sex and loud music is not a good thing for anyone at that age. Totally too stupid to handle that sort of power. It is a miracle that a huge portion of that age demographic is not found more often naked and drooling after partying
themselves to the point of imbecility.
Now, aside from a night out at Chili’s, my social life is spending an hour and half having dinner with friends of my wife. People who are, I am sure, very nice. They are simply no one that I have a thing in common with and no real reason to make small talk over over-priced pate’ in the latest Thai-French fusion place that has opened.
I sit in my office with the door shut. My family outside. Occasionally scratching at it for something like zombies attempting entry into the mall in a George Romero film. The dog lies at my feet, my only friend in the pastoral purgatory that is suburban New Jersey.
Perhaps this “blog” will help me remember what it was like to be that young and invincible, being that I once was.
Before I end up another zombie in the mall.
~St. Marquis
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St. Marquis is now proudly in debt deep in the heart of the Garden State of New Jersey. Recently brought down by the Lion of Marriage, this once proud gazelle of a man now lives by the words “Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides” or “Now you see it, now you don’t“.
 
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