029: Jon Wurster

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This week on The One You Feed we have Jon Wurster.

Jon Wurster is an American musician and humorist best known as the drummer for indie rockers Superchunk, The Mountain Goats and Bob Mould as well for his comedic work with radio host Tom Scharpling on the The Best Show on WFMU.

Wurster has recorded and/or performed live with artists such as Bob Mould, Jay Farrar, Ben Gibbard, Robert Pollard, Katy Perry, The New Pornographers, Rocket from the Crypt, Ryan Adams, R.E.M., Guided by Voices, Marah, Alejandro Escovedo,A.C. Newman, Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, Inspiral Carpets, The Minus 5, and Charlie Daniels.

Wurster is one half of the radio comedy team Scharpling and Wurster. Tom Scharpling is the longtime host of The Best Show on WFMU radio program. The duo have been releasing CDs on their Stereolaffs label since 1999. Their most recent album is 2007's The Art of The Slap. Scharpling and Wurster have collaborated in music videos written and directed by Tom Scharpling and starring Wurster. The videos were created for The New Pornographers, Aimee Mann, and The Postal Service.

Wurster has written for television shows such as Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, Monk, Squidbillies, Tim and Eric Awesome Show and Tom Goes to the Mayor.

In This Interview Jon and I Discuss...

• The One You Feed parable.
• The importance of acknowledging the bad wolf.
• Some of his favorite personal development books.
• Learning to take what you like from books and leaving the rest.
• His early depression.
• WordHate™
• His dislike of the ukulele music trend.
• Not trusting people from different social circles.
• His comedy with Tom Scharpling on The Best Show on WFMU.
• His favorite character from The Best Show.
• His touring schedule.
• His decision to stop drinking.
• The negative downward cycle of drinking.
• The enjoyment of playing sober.
• The music he turns to for inspiration.
• Getting started in music.
• Playing rock music with Stephen Dubner.
• Remembering that we are all "works in progress".
• The importance of self-awareness.
• Learning to guide our behavior by how it makes us feel.

 

Jon Wurster Links

Jon Wurster on Twitter

Sterolaffs-The home of Wurster and Schaprling

The Best Show on WFMU Archives

Best Show Gems- Almost exclusively Jon's phone calls.

Superchunk Homepage

The Mountain Goats homepage

Bob Mould homepage

 

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