Episode 25! The Ramifications of a New Day! (Merry Santa Claus Day!)

Click here to listen!
Click here to download!

Here at the Jim & Frank compound, we've wracked our brains in search of a special holiday gift for our fan(s?).

Our prayers were perhaps over-answered. A thumb drive appeared in the mail last week, and with it a terse note:

Please broadcast this.

Make Gersh proud.

This is what he would have wanted.

- Clarence Dagnovovich

The device held 45 minutes of the sonorous, imposing voice of the inimitable Gershon Verne. These were recordings done in 1995 for Mr. Verne's aborted memoirs, "A Humble Magpie."

Why the book was never finished is anyone's guess. These rich, rambling selections reveal the true Verne: overbearing yet endearing, humble yet egotistical, cohesive yet incoherent. We think Gersh is a national treasure, and we are honored to share these raw ingots of wisdom from this ragged Renaissance Gentleman! Happy 2012 to you all- and we'll be back with new podcasts in the coming weeks and months.

Ponder the ramifications of a new day...

"Kevin! Kevin! Kevin!" Podcast Number 13

In these hard times, we've all felt the pinch. Keep your sunny side up, say Jim and Frank.

And that's exactly what they DON'T do in this bipolar special episode!
First, we feature a hidden audio jewel: out-takes from a circa 1975 commercial overdub session, featuring the non-redoubtable genius of American mass media...
GERSHON VERNE!!!
Verne, known for film classics such as Citizen Quail (1941) and The Terrific Thurmistons  ('42), plus the film noir gems The Dame From Shame-High ('48) and Touch of Hunger ('58), had fallen on hard times--much like us all today!--by the 1970s. Reduced to doing novelty children's recordings and TV-radio commercials, the understandably irate Verne never hesitated to show his bark and bite to trembling clients.

Here, we hear him, in high dudgeon, tackle with several choice Quail Hut jingles and commercial voice-tracks, in a freezing barn-slash-studio somewhere in Pennsylvania. We're betting you've never heard this notorious "audio verite" anywhere else, and we're pleased to present it to you!

Then, after a brief salute to THE JIM AND FRANK LOCAL BUSINESS OF THE WEEK--Renton, Washington's fabulous JUST PARROTS (364 Renton Center Way Southwest

Renton, WA 98057-2378; 425-277-4555). No kidding, folks, this must be one of the finest small businesses in existence! Please go to them immediately for your real (or imagined) parrot-related needs!

The vibe goes down, down, down as we further explore Renton and Skyway, Washington's dilapidated and abandoned business district. Man, it's depressing--no two ways about it! We'll post the pictures in a special update here, later today. Then you can see what we're going on about, as we confront the shriveled, encrusted husk of Modern America!

(Don't worry. There's a happy marching song at the end to set things right!)

All this--and less!--in a special double-length episode of the world-acclaimed PodCast!

Download the mp3 by right clicking (Mac users: control>click) on the following link: JimNFrankNum13