164: Chinese Food on Christmas

To be honest, I didn’t really expect both of the musicians I approached this year to be both very open to the idea of an interview and so generous with their time. But I’m definitely glad that they were, especially because you get to benefit from the chats I had with them. And during this holiday season you get two long episodes instead of one semi-long one. Win-win all around! Brandon Walker’s “Chinese Food on Christmas” isn’t as Baltimore-centric as David DeBoy’s song is, but it definitely has its origins in the fact that Brandon is from the Baltimore area, which is estimated to have about 100,000 people of the Jewish faith living here. Baltimore City is just under 600,000 people, so that’s a pretty big chunk of matzoh, there. And, of course, he shot the video at several spots in the immediate area: Hunt Valley Towne Centre is a local outdoor shopping mall just north of the city. And yes, they spell it like that. The Senator Theatre is in the northern part of town.  You may recognize it from several John Waters films. The Chinese restaurant (now gone) that appears near the end is in Owings Mills, MD. It’s perhaps best known for being where the Baltimore Ravens’ training facility is located. And, of course, some of it was shot in his mother’s basement. I don’t think you can tour that or anything. So anyway, here’s my chat with Brandon: And here’s the second, fun version of the video, which Brandon posted about  13 years ago: As usual, interview episodes don’t have a transcript created by me, but I’m curious to know whether the transcript generator provided by Blubrry gets the job done for you. Click here to become a Patron of the show.  Click here to learn more about OrchKids.