The '70s Found in 2020

70 Movies We Saw in the ‘70s podcast. Check it out. Photo courtesy of Ben Reiser.

As I watched the seasons of 2020 drift in and out from the window of my house, this flow of time was reflected back to me from my leafy yard. It’s a shadowy space, of some aged, haphazardly placed trees, a few lovely garden plants, and a patchy swath of grass in the middle tying it all together. During the pandemic lockdown, tending my urban yard—mowing and weeding, raking and watering—became charmingly mundane. It was, and is, a welcome and useful distraction, made sweeter and simpler with headphones.

Oftentimes, my headphones emit the Plum Indie playlist, which I’ve been growing and nurturing in tandem with my patch of green space. Then, something else entirely made its way into my ear canals. In an air of support, I tuned into the “70 Movies We Saw in the ‘70s” podcast, the creation of my friend and former musical duo partner and University of Wisconsin “film guru” Ben Reiser and his friend Mike McPadden, author of Teen Movie Hell.

To me, Ben is all the cool things—an accomplished songwriter, someone who not only frequented but played at CBGBs, a film guru—and, while I was growing up in a small Midwestern town, he was going to movies with his grandmother in Times Square. We met in Madison, WI, and I brazenly talked him into forming a band with me. We became The Ens, a two-bit coffeehouse outfit with a smattering of covers, Ben Reiser originals, and a song or two of my own. I eagerly absorbed Ben’s effortless, easy-like-Sunday-morning performing style and knack for songwriting. My friendship with Ben has been creatively symbiotic. I was one of the singers of the Wisconsin Film Festival campfire song—the one Ben mentions in the 70 Movies “Oh God” episode—and recently, Ben turned my half-assed DIY video footage of “How Will I Know When I Know You” into something artsy and edgy. My aforementioned yard makes an appearance in the video as well, as I gaze pensively at all of the leaves I have to rake. Since I live in Boston now, The Ens are on permanent hiatus but not our friendship…once an En, always an En, as they say.

Anyway, as I mowed my not-so-lush lawn and raked every leaf in the tristate area, I listened to the wry bantering of Ben and his friend Mike McPadden, as they discussed the finer points of some outrageous ‘70s movies and traded stories about their shared experiences growing up in Brooklyn, NY. I was particularly impressed when they would somehow find an intriguing plot point hidden in a movie like Convoy or Silent Running, the latter of which I’ve never even heard of. I’m familiar, of course, with Ben’s voice from our musical connection; it’s like warm sand drifting over your feet on the first beach-friendly day of the season. Paired with McPadden’s animated and infectious New York accent, the two of them provided an alchemy of soothing diversion, playing joyfully over the drone of my battery-powered lawn mower.

“I’m familiar, of course, with Ben’s voice from our musical connection; it’s like warm sand drifting over your feet on the first beach-friendly day of the season.”

With Ben Reiser as The Ens, circa 2012. Photo by Maeflower Photography.

Sadly, I say all of this in the past tense because Mike McPadden died unexpectedly in December. I didn’t know McPadden and he didn’t know me, but his voice was present in my urban garden when the greens and browns of summer were yet to be covered in winter white. It’s hard not to think of the impermanence of it all, like the icy blobs that once dotted my cedar fence posts like lost woolen hats, which have since melted away. Yet, Mike McPadden will certainly be remembered by many, and I will be reminded of his humor again in the spring when I am turning soil, watering roots, and raking leaves. One of my favorite episodes of the “70 Movies We Saw in the ‘70s” podcast is the “Swishblade Sisters on Ice Castles” episode from December 2020. Ben and McPadden recorded it with their sisters just before McPadden passed away; it’s endearing and sweet and a wonderful way to be remembered.

‘How Will I Know When I Know You’ video…lost in thought in the leaves.

Since Mike McPadden’s passing, Ben has decided to continue with the 70 Movies podcast and has been cohosting with Local H’s Scott Lucas. I must have been trapped under something heavy, because I hadn’t heard of Local H, a Chicago alt-rock band consisting of Lucas and Ryan Harding, before Lucas joined up with Ben on the 70 Movies podcast. This was certainly an oversight, as I was living in Chicago when the band first started out. Plus, according to Local H’s website, they’ve got some history with the hardcore punk band 7Seconds, including doing a cover of the 7Seconds cover of Nena’s “99 Luftballoons.” I was a huge 7Seconds fan back in the day (see Plum Indie Blog #5), solidified by mosh pit bruises and a drumstick from the band…and I do love that Nena cover.

Then, I listened to Local H’s recording of “Wolf Like Me” and I thought, wait a minute, I know this song. Geez, maybe I did see Local H in one of my favorite Chicago dive bars (see Plum Indie Blog #10). These days, I’m feeling like some good-and-loud, grungy music to keep me running, so I’ve added “Wolf Like Me” (which as it turns out is a TV On The Radio song but I like Local H’s version regardless) as well as “Hold That Thought” to my playlist. “Hold That Thought” is a masterful Local H offering from their latest album, Lifers. Lucas and Harding weave together a pulsating melody with introspective lyrics like the twisted ladder of a DNA double helix. It will reanimate your tired cells.

I am not a consistent podcast listener nor am I a particular fan of movies made in the 1970s, so I was surprised that this 70 Movies podcast was one of the things that helped me to escape my dusty pandemic lockbox. I’m not sure when Ben and Scott Lucas find the time to talk to each other about these sometimes oddball, often crappy ‘70s movies, but it’s serendipitous that they do—for both me and my yard. Give the “70 Movies We Saw in the ‘70s” podcast a listen; the latest episode is up now on Soundcloud. Check out Local H’s “Hold That Thought” and their version of “Wolf Like Me” in all of the usual places.