Once you leave the family homestead and head out into the world of shared flats and apartments, there's an excellent chance you'll live with slobs or psychopaths of various stripes. This week on the Nest of Vipers, our fundits share stories of sketchy housemates and sketchier neighborhoods. We'll hear tales of colorful characters like Laotian Mafia members, speakeasy proprietors, and thieving hoods from the mean streets of West Philadelphia, as well as wife beaters, drug dealers and bottle throwers from San Francisco's Western Addition. We'll also hear about college co-eds trying to have sex in crowded dorm rooms, and a touching tale of a loveable roommate with an ungodly singing voice and Aspergers Syndrome. Our guests include Soctt Beiben (Lost Film Festival), Alison Faith Levy (musician, The Sippy Cups), Bucky Sinister (writer, All Blacked Out and Nowhere To Go. Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Nine-to-five, punch the clock, bring home the bacon and all that jazz. Let's face it, work can be such a drag. Finding a job you like can be harder than finding inner peace. Even if you do find a job you love, there's office politics, inter-office drama or a borderline psychopath lurking in a nearby cubicle. In other words, the working life provides plenty of material for another action-packed Nest of Vipers. This week's team of fundits share tales of dishwashing, salmon gutting, international banking and working for a major pant concern. Guests include: Dishwasher Pete Jordan (writer, Dishwasher), Anthony Bedard (musician, Hank IV), Kurt Keppeler (musician, Fierce Antler). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Ah...to be young and stupid again. This week our guests share embarrassing tales from their youth, telling stories about foolish behavior that can be chalked up to a combination of inexperience and ignorance. Huffing film cleaner, shoplifting cheap wine, botching a major label record deal, and disobeying traffic laws are just some of the tales told on this episode of the Nest of Vipers. Guests include Michael W. Dean (filmmaker Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow, Podcaster, Clone The Homeless), Becky Haycox (from the blog Hamblog) and Lee Lynch (filmmaker, Transposition of the Great Vessels). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Lurking in the closet of every artist is a failed project. Some sort of endeavor that should have been great, could have been great, but just flatlined. Performing as the Tin Man on Hollywood Boulevard, trying to launch a play about fruitcakes, trying to impress the wife's friends with a spooky Halloween spectacle and paying tribute to Abe Lincoln are just some of the tales shared by this weeks guests. Guests include Rodney Ascher (filmmaker, Somebody Goofed), Becky Haycox (from the blog Hamblog) and Lee Lynch (filmmaker, Transposition of the Great Vessels). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Everybody loves to travel. But for every fantasy of the perfect vacation lurks the very real possibility of a journey gone haywire. In this episode, our team of world-weary travelers recount bizarre tales including a 50 hour bus ride filled with racial tension, a poodle and a bottle of Perrier, a sixteen year old crusty, hippie-punk passed out in the Jamaican mud at the Reggae Sunsplash, a pathetic Xmas yarn featuring a Blues Brothers cover band and a bus stuck on a snowy mountain pass, and a mad dash from Sacramento to San Francisco in a car falling apart mile by mile. Guests Include Anthony Bedard (musician, Hank IV), Jack Boulware (author, Sex American Style), Natalija Vekic (filmmaker, Lost and Found). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Please Note: Due to a publishing error, we are reposting this episode of Nest of Vipers. If you have already received it via download, we apologize for the inconvenience. Did you ever wonder if your teachers were taking about you in the faculty lounge? You bet they were. This week on the Nest of Vipers, we've assembled a crack team of teachers to share their stories of teacher/student interaction. The stories run the gamut from heartwarming moments to stories that end in failure and expulsion. Guests include: Doreen Diecke, Bruce Lamott, and Jan Richman (author, Because The Brain Can Be Talked Into Anything). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

If you've ever been a mindless drone in the workplace being yelled at by an irate customer or been an irate customer exasperated by the incompetent boobery of the American workforce, then you won't want to miss this episode of the Nest of Vipers. Working the phone lines at Play Station on Christmas morning, being the a/v tech dude at a proctologist convention, being a bag boy in a retirement community, and dealing with couriers that lose your priceless packages are just some of the customer service problems dissected this episode. Anthony Bedard (musician, Hank IV), Bucky Sinister (author, All Blacked Out and Nowhere To Go), Jack Boulware (author SF Bizarro), and host Danny Plotnick recount tales of customer service hell.…

If you've been on more than one date, chances are you've had at least one bad one. This week, our team of "fundits" share dating horror stories. Yurts, crying rooms and English Bed Sits house our dates, which include encounters with drugs, guns, underage girls, midnight movies and Tootsie. Guests include writer Beth Lisick (Everybody Into The Pool), musician Anthony Bedard (Hank IV, Icky Boyfriends, Resineators), and musician/filmmaker Sadie Shaw (The Husbands, Charm). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Who doesn't love stories of touring bands on the highway to hell? This week our team of grizzled "fundits" share tour stories from the rock and roll, disco and filmmaking trenches. Super flammable pot seeds, beer-soaked van crashes, well-meaning nincompoops, near death experiences, and foosball are discussed. Guests include musicians Anthony Bedard (Hank IV, Icky Boyfriends, Resineators), Chuck Prophet (Green On Red), and Gil Ray (Loud Family, Game Theory). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

If you're like us, you love to eat. This week, our well-fed team of "fundits" share frighteningly memorable stories of the culinary variety. Stories of knife-wielding hash slingers, vomiting mothers, rancid and wriggling eels, and delectably teeny lambs' brains are served up for your listening pleasure. Guests include writer Jack Boulware (SF Bizarro), food critic Bonnie Wach (SF Chronicle) and musician Anthony Bedard (Hank IV). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Most guests on the Nest of Vipers are part of the art world and are enamored with alternative culture. These sub-cultural types often have defining moments early in life when they realize they're different from everybody else or are concerned with different things than their friends. Our team of "fundits" exhume the high school years to talk about these formative moments. Guests include writer Bucky Sinister (All Blacked Out and Nowhere to Go), musician Kurt Keppler (Fierce Antler), and musician Alison Faith Levy (The Sippy Cups). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

All artists, no matter how successful, have experienced some horrifically embarrassing moment on the public stage. Unfortunately, when things go wrong, they tend to go wrong in front of hundreds of people. This week our team of "fundits" includes a writer, a musician, a filmmaker, and a theater geek sharing their most humiliating moments as artists. Guests include musician Chris Xefos (King Missile, Drop Quarters), writer Bucky Sinister (author All Blacked Out and Nowhere To Go), and musician and lapsed thespian Kurt Keppler (Fierce Antler). Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

To most well-educated cineastes, off the radar films bring to mind titles like Eraserhead, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, The Sweet Smell of Success and Detour. This week, our team of fundits dig deeper into the celluloid closet as we discuss Mormon educational films, medical training films, and other oddities with catchy titles like The Estrogen Cycle of The Rat. And if that's not enough, we share our love for single screen movie theaters, explore the rapidly changing theater going experience, and pay homage to faded movie palaces like San Francisco's Strand Theater, Boston's Pilgrim Theater and more. Guests include film writer Jack Stevenson, film programmer Jesse Ficks and filmmaker Christian Bruno. Hosted by filmmaker Danny Plotnick.…

Hollywood has a rich history of turning great pieces of literature into fantastically mediocre movies. Today we discuss some of our favorite books that, given the right treatment, would shine on the silver screen, but more likely would wilt under a coat of Hollywood gloss, sheen and superstardom. Discussed will be Charles Bukowski's Ham on Rye, Charles Willeford's The Burnt Orange Heresy, Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, and Chester Himes' Cotton Comes To Harlem.…

If you go to enough rock shows, you inevitably see some horrible bands -- tuneless, ear shattering, egotistical boobs that make you want to run screaming for the door. But for some reason, on some nights, you don't run screaming for the door. You sit there, grit your teeth and soak in the caterwaul and the bombast. Maybe there is a "no ins and outs policy," maybe you're trying to impress some friends, or maybe you're hoping that enough liquor will make it all better. We've all been there and we've all felt the pain. This episode's esteemed panelists share their rock and roll horror stories. Third Eye Blind, Psychefunkapus, The Hidden Hand, Sunn O, OM, and The Godwads take it on the chin in the debut episode of NEST OF VIPERS.…