The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show, Episode 19: Ace of Spades

Finally managed to pull together another episode of The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show, which I uploaded yesterday. That’s 19 in all. Was thinking of doing one more following the same format, then possibly changing things up just a bit after that to include other things like book reviews, podcast reviews, and the like.

I’d also very much like to have more guest segments wherein others tell their poker and/or gambling stories. If that’s something that interests you, drop me a line at shamus at hardboiledpoker dot com.

For this episode, I included three segments, all of which have something to do with the ace of spades. First comes an excerpt from James McManus’s new history of poker, titled Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, in which McManus talks a bit about the significance of the card during the Vietnam Conflict. The excerpt originally appeared in Card Player back in the summer of 2008, and reappears here in one of the later chapters of the book.

I have finished Cowboys Full and enjoyed it quite a bit. Will probably dedicate a post to the book here in the near future. Nearly all of what appears in the book first showed up in those Card Player columns that began in late 2006 and ran up until earlier this year.

Next I play the great Motörhead song, from the 1980 album of the same name. I mean, really, how could I not?

I also mention on the show how that album -- the band’s fourth -- actually concludes with a song called “The Hammer.” (The original LP did, anyway; the CD adds some bonus tracks, I believe.) And “The Hammer” has some great lines that are easily transferred over to a pokery context, e.g., “the hammer’s gonna smash your dream,” “the hammer’s gonna bring you down,” etc. Awesome disc, Ace of Spades, as is the band’s earlier Overkill, if yr into it.

Finally I play a short (15-minute) old time radio show called Nick Harris Detective, an episode titled “Fatal Ace of Spades.” The show is from 1938, and so the sound quality is understandably sketchy. Speaking of which, as I mentioned last post I have a new computer and set-up here, and am currently fussing a bit with improving the overall quality of the shows’ sound. Will probably get me a fancy pants microphone here soon in the effort to further the illusion that this ain’t amateur hour (which, as we all know, it most certainly is).

As far as Nick Harris Detective goes, you get used to the scratchiness, I think, and in the end it’s an okay little drama. Including it here did allow me to continue the streak of not repeating any radio shows. Since I started the podcast in the spring of 2008, I have shared entire episodes or excerpts from over 20 different old time radio shows.

Like I said, after doing one more show (to make an even 20) I think I might alter the format a bit. I’ll still include old time radio stuff, but might not keep that as the focus for every single episode. We’ll see.

Also, there’s a new internet streaming radio station starting up called the Poker Radio Network which is going to be syndicating the podcast. Probably will start out just playing the old shows, one per week, while I continue to create new ones. Eventually we’ll catch up and new shows will appear there as well as on iTunes as usual.