#80 Max Thrax

Listen for a special Tax Day announcement. Subscribe to Tales From The Mall for only $5/month here: https://patreon.com/talesfromthemall?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Orson Welles is an iconic figure. In many ways he's a 20th century American folk hero. Non-cinephiles know him from appearances in TV commercials and Dean Martin comedy roasts & as the one-hit wonder behind Citizen Kane. But the length, depth, & power of Orson Welles' directing career is much greater than many people realize, and he even made some crime melodramas... or film noir. The greatest living poet Tom Will, & the greatest living person Hermes Thurston join me to discuss three of Orson's great post-war crime films: 1946's The Stranger, 1947's The Lady From Shanghai, & 1958's Touch of Evil. Enjoy. Find Tom Will on Twitter & purchase his wonderful books: https://many.bio/thomaswill Hermes Thurston on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HSThurston Purchase Whatever Happened To Orson Welles? by Joseph McBride: https://www.amazon.com/What-Ever-Happened-Orson-Welles/dp/0813124107

Spencer Desmond is an incredible individual; a force of nature. He's a writer, artist, producer, musician & beautiful person. We talk about his film making pursuits, weightlifting, sobriety, New England, John Carpenter, Pauly Shore, & more. Many thanks to Spencer! Many thanks to you, the listener! Spencer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rooster_puncher Spencer on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deathcursecomics/

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Tales From The Mall! Today's very special episode features my great friend Patrick Kehoe: first and foremost a father & husband, but also an Irish-Canadian, a '90s dot com entrepreneur, an OG theorycel, a writer, a boxing expert and much more. Patrick and I talk about family, boxing, French theory, the 90s dot com boom, & more. Many thanks to Patrick & many thanks to you, listener. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Patrick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatrickMKehoe1

Brantley is an old friend of the show, a return guest... more importantly he is a film professional, a flower farmer, a Southern gentleman and a wonderful soul. He has, of late, become a golf scholar & active golfer. On this episode we talk about breaking up, about golfing, about the great Ron Shelton movie Tin Cup, about screenwriting and much more. Many thanks to Brantley. Brantley's Twitter: https://twitter.com/brantleynow Brantley's Insta: https://www.instagram.com/brantleynow/

The brilliant, young Canadian musician, public intellectual, & co-host of the runaway hit podcast NICE, Big Mac McCarthy joins the show for a raw, unfiltered, frank conversation about contemporary Canada, songwriting, love in the 21st Century, the life of a Bohemian musician, going back to school in one's 30s and much much more. Thank you, Mac. Thank you, listener. Enjoy. Mac on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigmac_mccarthy Mac's podcast, NICE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nice/id1727208829?app=podcast Mac's tremendous musical project, Heavy Body: https://open.spotify.com/album/00PloB1qodqxiPwrujVxyY?si=lQpKLIlzR76ZTTQJ6npB-Q&nd=1&dlsi=99b4a855f17346e8

Eric Tolzmann is a tremendous filmmaker, writer & music aficionado. On this episode he and I discuss working in the film industry, Terrence Malick, record collecting, the wounds afflicting the Millenial soul, Dean Martin, growing up in a house with little access to pop culture, and much much more. Eric's Twitter: https://twitter.com/erictolzmann Eric's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whoiserictolzmann/ Eric's website: http://www.zonlyzools.com/ Eric's story "Western Civ" on Apocalypse Confidential: https://apocalypse-confidential.com/2023/05/09/western-civ/

Dom is a very good friend of mine, a public intellectual, a hockey player & hockey historian, a resident of Detroit City, & all around great guy. In this extraordinarily wide-ranging episode we touch on a number of amazing topics: hockey, Canada, music, cigarettes, love/romance, the NCAA 2006 soundtrack & much much more. Enjoy, & thank you, Dom. Thanks to the sponsor of this episode, Ava G. Dom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danglingsince97 Dom on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dnaldi12/

The genius mind of Bill - books editor at Apocalypse Confidential & writer in his own right - who has been on the show many times before, brought me an extraordinary pairing of media for this episode. We discuss both the tremendous work of non-fiction literature The Journalist & The Murderer by Janet Malcolm; & the tremendous 1970 Italian satire/crime film Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. We are joined by another genius man, the great Mark from Bruiser Magazine who brings another layer of intellectual heat to this episode. Thank you so much, Bill & Mark. This turns into an exploration of the nature of suspicion, guilt, innocence & storytelling. Enjoy. Mark on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bruisermag Mark on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bruiser_mag/ Bruiser Mag: http://www.bruisermag.com/ Bill on Twitter: https://twitter.com/20gaShotgun Bill on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20gashotgun/ Apocalypse Confidential: https://apocalypse-confidential.com/

Erik, aka Organized Meat, is an extraordinary friend of mine. He's a genuine thinker, feeler & educator. He's from SoCal... one of the most extraordinary places on earth... but he's a desert dweller now. He lives in Las Vegas... and we talk about Vegas, we talk about California, we talk about movies, we talk about Leonard Maltin. We have a blast. Enjoy the blast. Erik on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bazillionplus Erik on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bazillionplus/