Swing Guitar: Preserving A Legacy With Enthusiasm (And Spite)

Alexander Kjerulf on October 7, 2021

Swing music is amazing but real swing music that actually sounds like it did in the 30s and 40s is depressingly rare these days. Modern jazz musicians tend to look down on swing jazz and even when they do try to play it, they don’t do it right and it ends up sounding more like modern jazz.

Our guest enthusiast in this episode is Jonathan Stout, a band leader and guitarist specializing in pre bebop jazz guitar. He leads eight different bands, but is best known for Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five and the Jonathan Stout Orchestra, both of which he co-leads with Hilary Alexander. His bands have been heralded as some of the world’s premier swing dance bands.

Jonathan is incredibly enthusiastic about preserving the legacy of swing guitar and honoring the people who created and developed the genre.

Hear about:

  • How Jonathan went from heavy metal electric guitar to jazz music
  • His main idols in swing guitar, especially Charlie Christian who only ended up recording for two years
  • His incredible collection of vintage guitars and what “white whale” guitar he dreams of getting his hands on
  • The time he got the thumbs-up from Norma Miller, one of the original swing dance performers
  • Jonathan’s one simple trick for becoming the best in the world 🙂

Jonathan also plays for us and it’s INCREDIBLE!!!

BTWs include:

  • Racism in jazz
  • The producer who discovered Billy Holiday, Count Basie, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and MANY others

In our Moment of Meta we talk about the fourth enthusiandment: Thou shalt not fake enthusiasm!

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Avatar The Last Airbender: The Cartoon That Will Save The World

Alexander Kjerulf on September 29, 2021

Avatar The Last Airbender is on paper a kids cartoon show… but it’s also so much more than that.

Over three seasons it tells a story that is poignant, thrilling, funny and – above all – hopeful. Pretty good timing of Netflix to get it onto their service in 2020, just when we all needed a dose of positivity.

Hear all about this amazing show, including:

  • A redemption story that beats even Kylo Ren.
  • Uncle Iroh’s life lessons.
  • Kickass female characters.
  • What kind of bender Katie and Alex would each love to be… but what they probably are instead.
  • Why the live-action movie sucked so badly.

BTWs include:

  • The Aristotelian world view
  • Whatever happened to M. Night Shyamalan?
  • The concept of redemption and the tragic story of an Amish school shooting.
  • Avatar sightings at the recent Olympic games in Tokyo.

And yes, we do end up ragging on Game of Thrones. Again.

In your moment of meta, we explain the 3rd. enthusiandment: Make sure to share your enthusiasms.

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Modesty Blaise: 1000 Times Cooler Than James Bond

Alexander Kjerulf on September 21, 2021

Modesty Blaise kicks as much butt as 007 but she does it with way more style and way less borderline rape.

Meet the coolest action heroine of the 60s who began her adventures in newspaper comic strips before making her way into novels and some shockingly bad movies.

Hear about how feminist the stories are for their time (or any time), including sex positivity, nudity and consent-based sex and how incredibly rare and awesome it is that Modesty was the clear leader and Willie was her faithful follower (not slave).

Alex also delivers a heartfelt plea for Netflix (or someone… anyone) to make a Modesty Blaise show. Both so he can watch it but also to annoy the hell out of all the Men’s Rights Activists and conservative pundits.

BTWs include:

  • Pulp Fiction and what Vincent Vega was reading on the toilet in Butch’s apartment
  • What Katie’s mom and Quentin Tarantino have in common
  • Shoehorned romance subplots and why they suck
  • Beverly Hills 90210 and Buffy The Vampire Slayer
  • The trope where every time someone enjoys something, bad stuff often follows

In our Moment Of Meta, Katie talks about the doll called Electric Enthusiasm, which to Alex’s surprise is definitely not a sex doll.

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Don’t yuck someone else’s yum

Alexander Kjerulf on September 17, 2021

Do you want to have more enthusiasm in your life? Here’s a rule we suggest:

Don’t yuck someone else’s yum.

In other words, if someone really likes something, but you don’t, never try to talk them out of liking it.

We talk about this golden commandment of enthusiasm (or enthusiandment) at 22:00 in episode 3 – The Banjo. We also do make a possible exception for Game Of Thrones Season 8, which no one should yum.

Listen to it here:

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, other platforms…

The Banjo: Loud, Fun And… Sexy?

Alexander Kjerulf on September 15, 2021

People have a TON of misconceptions about the banjo and often dismiss it as the instrument of hillbillies or rednecks. But did you know that it’s an instrument with a huge history and tradition that can be both loud, fun and… sexy?

Our guest enthusiast in this episode is Daniel Rodrigues, a Portuguese jazz musician living in Copenhagen where he plays in several different jazz bands and he is VERY enthusiastic about the banjo.

Daniel takes us on a journey of the banjo, that includes:

  • Why it’s the most fun instrument
  • How to find success and fame as a banjo player
  • The weirdest song he’s ever played on a banjo
  • The best jokes people tell about the banjo

And yes, the movie Deliverance does come up.

BTWs include:

  • A fantastic connection between the banjo and Harpo Marx, the subject from our very first episode.
  • Game of Thrones.

In our Moment of Meta we talk about the most important rule of enthusiasts everywhere: Don’t yuck someone else’s yum!

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Enthusiastic podcast guests wanted

Alexander Kjerulf on September 13, 2021

We are looking for highly enthusiastic guests for some of our upcoming podcast episodes. Are you super excited about something and willing to share your passion with us and our enthusiastic audience? Let us know in a comment here.

You get bonus points if your enthusiasm is for something unusual that people think could not possibly be exciting. Everyone can get excited about scuba diving in the Caribbean – but it would be even more impressive if you can infect us with your love of tax law, taxidermy or taxonomy (or other topics not beginning with tax).

And we’re still looking to fulfil our challenge of finding someone a guest can make us enthusiastic about accounting 🙂

Write a comment below or email us at hello@electricenthusiasm.com.

Josephine Baker: The Most Interesting Woman In The World

Alexander Kjerulf on September 8, 2021

Singer, dancer, entertainer… but also civil rights activist and spy for France during WWII. Josephine Baker truly is the most interesting woman in the world.

Hear all about her amazing life, including her cheetah that would often escape its leash and (encouraged by the audience) menace the band and how she adopted 12 children of different races to form a “rainbow tribe”.

BTWs include:

  • Celebrity nicknames
  • Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7

In our Moment Of Meta, Alex talks about one of the “commandments of enthusiasm” (or enthusiandments as he insists on calling them over Katie’s strong objections) namely that any topic can be fascinating when presented with enthusiasm.

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Episode 1: Harpo Marx – The Happiest Nudist in Hollywood

Alexander Kjerulf on September 8, 2021

Harpo Marx (of the Marx Brothers) was a genius of physical comedy but, maybe more impressively, he was a nice and fun person who lived a truly happy life.

Raised in a poor Jewish family on Manhattan and thrown out of school (literally) in 2nd grade, he still ended up living an incredibly interesting life and becoming friends with people like George Gershwin, George Bernard Shaw and Salvador Dali.

Hear about his most epic pranks and about his occasional nudism. Harpo could (and would) turn any boring situation – like a game of golf – interesting by taking off his clothes.

BTWs include:

  • Some of the strangest town names in America
  • Weird vaudeville acts of the 1920s

In our moment of meta, Katie reveals how she came up with the name of the podcast – Electric Enthusiasm – and shares two important quotes about enthusiasm.

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