The Dan's Take Over the Show. Maybe it was the Alcohol, Perhaps it was the Vibe, for Sure it was the People, the Comedy.
Daniel Timothy Desrosiers & Daniel O'Connell
This comedy duo is the perfect mix of narcissism and comedic hilarity. These episodes run through the hilarious gambit of their witty minds, through many topics, landing on a conversation about working in the service industry, dealing with people, thoughts about religion, and Baby Dan's conversation with his mom regarding the "Christian" Religion.
MUSIC FROM THIS EPISODE
Daniel Timothy Desrosiers - HIS MANY COLORED FRUIT. The songs featured on this episode are not out yet but you can find them soon at the links given here.
Song 1 - Amazon Suicide Net | Song 2 - A Debt That Can Only Be Paid With Regret
CONTACT THE DAN'S
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/townhallshow
ON THIS EPISODE
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Daniel Timothy Desrosiers & Daniel O'Connell
This comedy duo is the perfect mix of narcissism and comedic hilarity. These episodes run through the hilarious gambit of their witty minds, through many topics, landing on a conversation about working for the mega-corporate machines and our various experiences, desires, and reasons why they work for some us, while repulsing others.
ON THIS EPISODE
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Lori Fazzino M.A. is a Ph.D. Candidate & Graduate Instructor with the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Her studies and research are fascinating. In this episode she puts them to use and shares a lot more of her findings, stories of deconverted folks finding freedom, lets me know what stage of the process I am in and helps me through my fear of atheism.
Lori is leaning agnostic but lives as an atheist humanist. She's always been a brilliant, feisty, strong person. Coming to the faith as a young woman, she paid for Christian College by dancing in Alaska. After leaving the church, she found herself going back there until a severe car accident interrupted the trip.
Her story of being kicked out the church is fascinating, as Mary Magdeline would have rebuked her Pastor and been right at home kicking with Lori. Her now a present and future as a college professor and soon to be Ph.D. in Evangelical Deconversion is a help to many people. She currently teaches Sociology of Religion at UNLV.
Lori's Personal Story
Getting Into Religious Deconversion
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I'm A Loser, Happens every month, at the end of the month. You send us stuff, and we discuss it.
How do you send stuff in?
ON THIS EPISODE
LOSER BOARD: You guys send me stuff, and I address it! Notes from Losers.
LOSER LINE: Loser Keith calls in and starts a conversation on what a "healthy leader" might look like.
ALSO! You can stop sending me Jim Jefferies gun rants; I'm featuring it NOW!
A clip from Australian comedian Jim Jefferies' routine on gun control found initially on his Netflix special, Bare, has now gone viral following the most recent mass shootings in the United States, which has sparked a debate on whether or not the country should impose stronger gun control laws.
In the bit, Jefferies cleverly pokes fun at gun lovers while claiming that they only have one argument to make their case. Then you get to hear me rant on the only thing that I think matters to this American gun discussion.
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Lori Fazzino M.A. is a Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Instructor with the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Lori and I have church past together. Meeting in the megachurch fresh out of high school, in different ways, we pursued the hype within the machine together, and now both find solace outside of religion.
Her studies and research are fascinating. This will be a pair of episodes that will encourage those leaving religion and fascinate those in or outside of it. Lori is an agnostic but takes the time to explain why she has taken on a more atheist identity. She feels strongly about being a humanist, in which I too am finding great joy.
Lori has an amazing story of being kicked out the church, and now a present and future as a college professor and soon to be Ph.D. in Evangelical Deconversion. She currently teaches Sociology of Religion at UNLV.
If you're like us, you're tired of the tragedies continuing to plague Americans. After every mass shooting over the last five years, Taylor and I have engaged in the debate over gun control and gun laws.
I, Zac, have been a gun owner for years. Taylor grew up in a family of gun owners but has a different viewpoint from me altogether. I am trying to learn, but will I get rid of my gun/s? That's to be determined. We engage each others points of view and begin to hear and understand where we each other are coming from.
This is a more light-hearted conversation about gun control. We start by hearing Taylor's story, his Lutheran Confirmation, and journey into atheism. We recorded this episode a long time ago. He and I had put this episode on the shelf because we didn't feel like it was as potent as when we would discuss gun control without recording.
Sadly, we even agreed, "Let's not post it until the next mass shooting." Almost like we knew it was inevitable that there would be another. Sadly, we are all aware; there has been another mass shooting. The biggest in American history so far. The Pulse, Orlando Florida, a gay nightclub, and bar.
WE DISCUSS:
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“Ideas of fascism, sexuality, gore, violence, and vomit all erupts into this one package of Raft of Dead Monkeys. This is dream logic, seemingly never second guessing any impulse that they had at this point in their musical careers…”
- Nick Toti
Raft of Dead Monkeys was a rock band from Seattle, WA, known for their controversy within the Christian punk scene. The band featured LOR show guests Jeff Bettger lead vocal, and Matt Johnson drums. Described as a hypothetical band mocking rock culture, their early stage shows consisted of vulgar lyrics, male strippers, and bloody nurses. In an interview, Jeff Bettger (JSuffering) explained the band's concept with the following:
It was art, and we were making some statements about our culture by mirroring it, copying it and throwing it back in people’s faces to say, “Hey, this is what people adhere to and this is it.” We thought it was funny and humorous, and a lot of people didn’t get the joke, and didn’t get that we were characters we created when we performed sort of to break the Rock ‘n’ Roll idea/lifestyle, although we don’t really have that idea or lifestyle, at least I don’t.
The majority of the band members were openly Christian and previously played in bands on Tooth & Nail Records, a label that featured primarily Christian rock bands. The band itself was not affiliated with Tooth & Nail, but the fan base of affiliated bands (Roadside Monument, Ninety Pound Wuss) was largely Christian and was left bewildered when Raft released their first album which contained explicit lyrics.
In 2001 Raft was invited to play Tomfest, a Christian underground music festival, and received mixed reactions when singer Jeff Suffering fingered the crowd during their song Two Year Lease, which features the lyrics, "you're not the only whore in town, you're just the best fuck around." Tomfest founder Mikee Bridges later issued an apology to those who were offended by the performance.
They broke up on October 22, 2001.
This hour long sit down with Nick Toti (Interesting Productions), creator of THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF SEATTLE: a documentary about Raft of eDad Monkeys. Is a fun rollercoaster ride of interesting stories about Raft as well as the journey of creating this wonderfully dark documentary.
Nick, often inspired by avant-garde movements found this artistic feel in Raft and became a fan of their art and music. His film company Interesting Productions is a non-profit production/distribution company that was founded by Nick Toti and Matt Latham. They make movies and give them away for free.
I have, to be honest. Only in the last two years have I branched out from the pale, entertainment driven, society I called home for so long, to engage documentaries and truly enjoy them. This is a documentary about a band that seemed religiously suppressed and was ready to explode into an artistic cluster fuck mocking the times. In my opinion, Raft succeeded.
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"I dream of a world in which people speak more openly honestly and express their feelings more accurately. That fascinates me!"
- Greg Bennick
I am completely in love with Greg and over the course of these episodes have become a fan of his work, music, and spoken word. His song "The Wounds Never Have To Win" with his band Between Earth, and Sky may very well become my life theme song.
Greg is so much more than his music, spoken word, philanthropy. He's a humanist, an activist, a champion for those who suffer and clearly heard from these episodes, a great coach, and in my mind a guru like partaker and sharer of wisdom.
His lifetime studies through the life and works of Ernest Becker inspired me. Greg is currently working on producing a new film documentary on Ernest Becker, so stay tuned for that.
THIS CONVERSATION LEADS US TO DISCUSS:
MUSIC FROM THIS EPISODE
Music in this episode is from Greg’s band Between Earth and Sky.
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"How much do you have to hate somebody NOT to proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that..." - Penn Jillette
The "I'm A Loser" episode happens once a month at the end of the month...You send me stuff, and we discuss it:
One of our ANONYMOUS Losers "Kyle" sent this Penn Jillette video to me:
Famous magician and infamous atheist Penn Jillette chats about a religious sharing their faith (proselytizing) to him. This video is fascinating to me!
I've been searching out the idea of love for a few years now. I used to be a person who aggressively looked forward to sharing with others my way of seeing and doing things, not only through religion but life. I believed it would help them; I defined it as "loving them."
I did this arrogantly...believing the way I did things was the best way and that it would help the world if they did it my way too. Wow, What an idiot.
I'm not sure I believe this anymore. I ran empty to the point of exhaustion hustling around telling people about my perceived truths that I believed if they accepted and lived my way, it would help them. I got tired of only seeing the world through my lens. Got sick of carrying the weight of OF MY WORLD on my shoulders. My greatest relief came through a realization that my way was simply that. My way.
I started feeling so much freer when I said to myself, "Fuck it, maybe this is all just for me. I'm gonna just live my life my way and stop trying to get others to join me."
This was a revelation to me! That I could stop trying to control the world and just love the world the way and was, and go to work on me! Live out my convictions without having to put them onto others. Not only did I become freer, but I also became more compassionate of others, a better listener, a better learner.
My struggle with defining love comes to these questions worded in different ways...
Is love defined by me when I give it to others? Or, is love to be defined by the recipient?
Is showing love what I perceive it to be? Or is how the receiver of my love the definer of love?
WHAT DO YOU THINK? LET US KNOW...
Greg is a straight edge, teetotaler, so I brought a peace offering of Bundaberg Root Beer. He is also is an award-winning champion speaker who makes people laugh while inviting them to think. He is a bit of a renaissance man to me because he is also the lead singer of the band Trial, Activist, Philanthropist, Entertainer, Keynote Speaker, Film Writer, and Producer. The list could go on because the guy is doing all sorts of amazing shit. The fact that I got to sit down with him and record two episodes was an absolute privilege.
We caught Greg right before his annual trips to Rwanda and Uganda. Among all the things he does, he makes time to travel around the world to places of human trauma to see and study how people and culture respond to trauma. Taking others along and asking, "Why do places once ruled by dictators become shining examples of a solid economy?" Taking note, to pay attention to the people's need of a dictator in the aftermath of trauma. Our human need to have people rule over us is a fascinating study.
Raised Reformed Jewish, he left the faith immediately after fulfilling the family obligations of bar-mitzvah. He's an atheist, and once again I get to sit and learn from not only his extensive life study of Ernest Becker, a Jewish-American cultural anthropologist, and writer. Who is noted for his 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Denial of Death. But also from his life experience and stories from traveling the world as an activist.
As a kid, Greg was kicked out of Jewish school and declared "a menace to education" by the Newtown Connecticut Jewish Board of Education.
Greg is also the Co-producer and Co-writer behind Flight From Death: The Quest For Immortality and The Philosopher Kings, two award-winning documentaries that look at how we see ourselves, the people around us, and ask how we are to live in an increasingly complex world. He offers presentations on each of these films for universities, theaters, and conferences worldwide.
We Chat with Greg About:
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