The state of hip hop, the eating of 20-foot-long sausages, and the erotic drawings of fictional amphibians… on episode 7 of The Saturday Six Pack

If you missed the last episode of The Saturday Six Pack on Ypsilanti’s AM 1700, you missed one hell of a good time. I don’t want to give too much away, as I think you should listen for yourself, but here are a few of the highlights.

[If you’d like to listen to the episode in its entirety, you can find it on both Soundcloud and iTunes. Or, if you want, you can just scroll down to end of this post, where you’ll find it embedded.]

Our first guest was Brandon Mitchell, better known in hip hop circles as MC Kadence. This is Brandon.

Brandon and I talked, among other things, about philosophy, the history of the local hip hop scene, and the current state of corporate rap, which he defined as “a combination of Idiocracy and old school blackface.” When asked what we could do to push back against these “hyper exaggerations of stereotypes about hip hop culture and black culture” that are being pushed at us, Brandon emphasized the importance of healthy, positive, local scenes, like the one that had he’d come of age within, which was centered around Cross Street Station’s Monday night hip hop shows in Ypsi over a dozen years ago. “Creating more functional local scenes that have the power to draw the people in the lcoal area in,” he said, is how you combat the negativity, and start to facilitate healthy dialogue on issues that really matter. We then listened to the track Encoded Flow, which he recorded not too long ago with Dabrye (Tadd Mullinix). And, from there, we went on to discuss the death of Leonard Nimoy, the importance of science fiction, and the way he approaches songwriting. (He sees his songs “like math problems” that need to be solved.) We talked about implicit bias, systematic discrimination, and the need for “radical change at the community level” brought about not by legislation, but by more face-to-face communication, and trust-building. It was a really incredible conversation, and I look forward to having Brandon back in the studio to pick up where we left off.

Prior to my discussion with Brandon, I talked for a while with Morgan Cox, who was kind enough to supply the beer for this week’s show. (The beer this week was Oddside Ales’ Cirta, and it was delicious.) Morgan, who serves on the board of FLY Children’s Art Center, wanted to tell us about their upcoming fundraiser at Ypsianti’s Wurst Bar, where ten competitors will each be attempting to consumer “20 feet of meat.” Here’s Morgan and the winner of last year’s Wurst Challenge, Jason Youngs, who will be defending his title on Sunday, March 29. (If the name Jason Youngs doesn’t ring a bell, it’s probably because he competes under the name Knifebeard Sausagehawk.)

Last year, we raised over $8,000 for FLY at this event, and we’d like to do even more this year. If you’d like to either enter the competition yourself, or back one of the people who has already come forward to throw their hat into the giant-sausage eating ring, click here. And, if you have absolutely no idea whatsoever what I’m talking about, I’d encourage you to read my recap from last year’s historic event, which was covered by the likes of the Washington Post and CNN.

At some point, Colin Moorhouse, the editor of the zine Ypsi Underground, came in to share their new issue, which, like all of the last issues, features a penis prominently on the cover. (This time, it’s the relatively small penis of an Ypsilanti smeet.) Colin explained to us how this issue, which cost $6 a piece to produce, were being sold for $5 each at a local liquor store. And then Collin let us in on a secret. Ypsi Underground, he told us, is produced by a cult, which is led by a man who none of the members have ever met. (He communicates with them by way of speaker phone, like Charlie did with his angles.) Said cult leader, who his followers refer to as Sprout, then called in to tell us, among other things, that he believes his father is Iggy Pop. And, then, for some inexplicable reason, we started talking about a helicopter that, instead of having rotating blades, had giant ejaculating penises that would spin around at an incredible speed, lifting it off the ground… Oh, and Colin says he still visits me in my dreams… Here he is.

And, at some point, Jim Cherewick, who wrote the theme song for last week’s show, came in with his pens and started drawing everyone in the studio. Here he is, working feverishly. (He drew one of me, but it’s too hideous to share. For some reason, he chose to portray me as George Lucas. He even drew Imperial TIE fighters behind me to drive home the point, lest anyone miss his hurtful intent.)

Jim and I also talked for quite a bit, about everything from Star Wars to Degrassi Junior High. (By the way, I want to have an entire episode of The Saturday Six Pack dedicated to Degrassi someday soon.) Here’s one of Jim’s drawings.

And, toward the end of the show, Kyle Kipp, Derek Whitaker and Panda Ypsilanti stopped by to pitch us on the idea of an on-air eating challenge, which we agreed to… So, stay tuned for more about that.

Also, this was our first episode with a roving reporter. We had Chris Sandon on the street, with his cell phone, chasing down stories and looking for breaking news around town. While he didn’t uncover any huge news, he did try to track down a lead given to us there was a guy who looked like Pete Townshend drinking at Powell’s. Chris rushed down to see for himself, but, sadly, wasn’t able to find the man, and spy on him for us. (If you should know of newsworthy things taking place between 6:00 and 8:00 next week, though, give us a call at the studio, and we’ll see if we can dispatch Chris.)

In addition to all of this, we also heard a new song written by infectious disease researcher Dr. Peter Larson in Kenya. And, of course, there were tons of calls from the likes of Pete Townshend, Michael McDonald, a rapping Bill Cosby and others. We also talked about our favorite members of the Who, and sexual positions, with callers. And, at some point, we got a call from the 826michigan Robot Supply Store in Ann Arbor, where people had gathered to listen to The Saturday Six Pack together.

Oh, and there was some occasional faint buzzing this week. We’re sorry about that. We were experiencing an issue with one of the mics. Hopefully it didn’t deter too much from you listening experience.

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING:

If you like this episode, check out the past six in our iTunes archive.

[All photos courtesy of AM 1700 staff photographer Kate de Fuccio.]