{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstew-on-this.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fthe-wit-and-whimsical-wisdom-of-mike-whitney-wXKwAWNc","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"The Wit and Whimsical Wisdom of Mike Whitney ","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/f8bca086-b645-4fd6-ba48-bfc6a3c0f49b/9b08681d-1a78-4d4a-afc8-39064d386b69/img-1095.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"In this fresh episode of \"Stew on This\", songwriter/Columnist/Raconteur Mike Whitney sits down with Karl and Rob and takes them on a journey through his unique world. Mike plays several songs (starting with one inspired by Epic Catering's meatloaf) and tells of essentially growing up in three states, attending three high schools with silly names. \n\nHe speaks of his experience working in the same steel mill at which his father had worked, how he found his way to being a bill collector, his travels out west (where he saw Bobby Darin, Peggy Lee and others perform), where he was when Kennedy was shot and how all of this led to a life of music. Whitney's columns are what first caught Karl's eye and Mike explains about how he began writing, he elaborates on some of the stories and \"Whitneyisms\" that are found inside his humorous and insightful essays. \n\nWhitney waxes poetic on chasing Elvis, when Bill Haley was rude to him, getting fired for not knowing enough southern rock songs, turning down cow-tipping offers, and a particularly memorable experience after breaking down in Soperton, Georgia. He was a regular performer at Atlanta's Dante's Down the Hatch and he shares some memories from there like the kazoomphony, when Burt Reynolds came in and he reveals why he prefers to perform in small rooms. \n\nKarl cooks for Mike a Gilmer County, Georgia recipe he found in the Smokehouse Ham Book (from the James Beard culinary society) with cracklin' bread, Epic restaurant's famous smoked pickled jalapenos and international black-eyed peas. Karl paired them with Pisgah Brewery's Turtleback Brown ale."}