Billy Joel is back, along with male fragility washed down with a Tastykake infused brew. Shit got weird.

"Fantasia is the first music video" ... - Daniel Difranco Season 8 is going to be great. -NM

Our 7th annual Franco Christmas Cast!!! Such a pleasure to welcome Franco Fiorini into the basement for another holiday cast. We started with store brand (it's fine) peppermint espresso poured over vodka and called a martini and it was delish. We could not handle the album. At all. Nor will you, but we should all give it another listen to be sure. Dickens crushed as usual, and this vingette seven years senior to his seminal Christmas Carol lets us, the modern reader, into his affection for this holiday of good will and redemption. Friendship and fellowship abound. Cheers to the beauty of companionship over these seven years!

A very special spooky cast with the always lovely Kailey Tedesco! Author of a new book of poetry about the mother of the Jersey Devil, Kailey picked an incredible cast for us. A translated story from Korean author Bora Chung, the 2014 offered from Button:Pusher, and the Von Trapp brewing keystone Vienna Lager. We chat childbearing, birth control, loss, and that weird time when She and Him dominated the airwaves.

This month we're joined by Tik Tok sensation, Nick Perilli, to discuss cosmic horror, classical music, and a seasonal offering from New Ridge Brewing.

A couple of paisanos dig into the gorgeous and anti-linear LEONE by Giandomenico and Colafella and somehow find their way to Mitamu's incredible debut Sunflower in the east, all while drinking that Italian standby, Peroni.

Nick and Dan dig into Kristen Arnett's debut short story collection "Felt in the Jaw" from Split Lip Press. Consumption and self indulgence with a suburban backdrop coupled with a dollop of copulation and (warning) sexual abuse. There was a lot to unpack. Nick then unveils the rare find from a Youtube hole "The Flying Lesbians" and the fanboy-ing begins. Here it is: https://youtu.be/sqhlRo1fiH0 ENJOY! Then we drink some beers. Cheers! Happy belated PRIDE to all. We love you. Goodnight.

A lil Nick and Dan cast! Do we need others? What makes a great artist? What kills a great artist? Can you dig it?

A lil Nick and Dan cast to start our seventh season of Book Record Beer. This was a joy. Kirsten Reneau's gorgeous "Meeting Gods in Basement Bathrooms and Other Ways to Find Forgiveness" is a fucking gift of a chapbook and we dig in substantially to themes of loneliness and reconciliation, among others. Tom Waits' "Alice" takes the record portion of the cast as a soundtrack to a play that prompts the dudes to consider what it means to be a creative, particularly a weird one. And in honor of basement bars Nick and Dan have a few city wides, yellow bellies, and other beverages one need listen to the episode to understand. Thank you all for listening for 7 seasons. A lucky one this one shall be.

2 Nicks 1 cast. A BHM cast focused on a novel in verse entitled Punching the Air by one of the exonerated 5 Yusef Salaaam and poet Ibi Zoboi, Dead Prez's seminal 2000 album "Get Free" and Partake brewing's IPA. The Nick's chat about radical insight and change, the purpose of art, and what remains. We hope you enjoy and love you for listening.