Outdoor Cats Podcast
by Bill Shaner & Chris Robarge
Weekly broadcasts from a city that punishes you for caring. Join Bill and Chris for leftist perspectives from Worcester, MA, an urban knife’s edge of gentrification and vulture capital. We discuss local current events, analyzing the ways in which these stories ripple outward from the city we call home. We’ll even talk some about what you can do to fight back! www.worcestersucks.email
Episodes
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Episode 77: Worcester’s Epstein Class (ft. Heather Prunier, Tom Marino, Lynn Kee)
A follow up to last November’s “Episode 43: That’s My File!” featuring the same guests: Heather Prunier, Lynn Kee and Tom Marino. We discuss just how little the city has done, outside lip service paid by some select public officials, to satisfy Heather’s simple request: the full investigatory…
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Episode 76: Simply The Best
Talking municipal power (amazing) versus utility companies (horrible), Ray Mariano’s Governor take (horrible) and both gubernatorial candidates (horrible, Lovecraftian). And how Chris won the Tuber Tourney (incredible). Also incredible: these custom bleach-dye Outdoor Cat shirts Katie made. Head...
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Episode 75: Defense Wins Championships (Ft. Nathan Wong)
Nine questions, folks. On Election Day you will be asked nine freakin’ questions, ranging from byzantine to slightly less so, and Question 2 is perhaps the most ‘in the weeds,’ as they say, but also nearest to our hearts. It asks whether the state’s public defenders have the right to form a…
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Episode 74: A Pahked Frickin’ Cah
We talk about the only thing people are talking about. What to make of it all? Putting the Toomey Wreck in the context of a wider crank meltdown of late. We give props to John Fresolo for his civilian review board mea culpable. Then we talk about big bears and salty fish. The episode’s namesake...
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Episode 73: Kate Gooney
Fair listeners of this podcast in zip codes 01606 and 01604 and maybe a little bit of the other ones, LISTEN UP. On Tuesday you will be charged with voting in one of the most on-its-face boring Democratic primaries of all time. But, lying under the surface, perhaps in some sewer or crypt, are THE...
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Episode 72: The Big Rock Townie Mountain
Listen there’s a lot of good information readily available and no concerted effort to manufacture consent around a narrative that’s out of step in significant ways with what information we do have about the reality on the ground. Everyone is on the same page and wants to be! That’s why we thought...
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Episode 71: A Dog's Leavings
Tackling the important questions, such as “why hasn’t Worcester seen a data center proposal yet?” “what’s this guy’s deal?” and “why do people on the Worcester subreddit have such bad taste in sandwiches?” Far as news goes, it’s a light week. We spend considerable time working through a rough...
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Episode 70: "Depolicing" b/w FO Village Project #1
Special episode today: Chris is sharing the first of what will hopefully be a series of field interviews he recorded at what sounds like a very special bluegrass festival he attends every years. While it’s not Worcester related per se I think listeners will find that the interview hits on many of...
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Episode 69: Nice
Everyone losing it over a couple roundabouts, we’re just happy to be here. Catching up on the dog days of summer, breaking down yet another round of know-nothing reactionary townie opposition to a mundane road project aimed at our uniquely horrible track record when it comes to drivers hitting...
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Episode 68: Sir Vival Mode
A hot afternoon recording session in the community garden, catching up on the rent control question, the limits of ballot questions as a tool, and on the eve of this great nation’s 250th birthday, a taking of pause, putting our patriotic and totally respected right to criticize the government on...
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Episode 67: "Maybe bloggers cramp"
A literal garden variety show this week. Dispensing hard won wisdom and totally accurate and good advice for competitively growing potatoes for the Tuber tourney from a park bench in the new Green Hill Park Community Garden, where Chris has a lovely plot and so do The Noes. And wouldn’t you Noe…
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Episode 66: Mayor Cooper
The summer doldrums kicking in, Chris and I do what we do best: chip away at the boring old rocks of local government in our fair city, hunting for rich veins of silver and gold. We find it in Toomey’s narcissism and lack of institutional memory, in a cross reading of city hall bologna and Thomas...
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Episode 65: Haggler’s Delight
As mentioned quickly in the editor’s note at the start and at length at the end of the program, head to the page “John Cashman Needs A Liver” if you are someone who’s in the position to donate a liver to save a life, or if you know someone who might be, or if you know someone who knows someone…
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Episode 64: Eureka Street Revisited (Live!)
It was an amazing night at Hunchback Gallery on Friday, the one-year mark of the Eureka Street ICE raid that put a mother in various federal detention centers for months, ripping a family apart in the process, as well as two other mothers through nine months of court proceedings on the sort of...
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Episode 63: Implied, perhaps, even
There and back again, exploring the psychology of the Kate Toomeys of the city, of which there are hundreds if not thousands and their grip on power is sure as the day is long. Then from there to the heart of all this city’s darkness. Folks we’re just taking it all in! Don’t forget to grab your...
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Episode 62: The Rule Of Thirds
We have a major announcement: First Outdoor Cats live show coming Friday May 8 at Hunchback Gallery and since space is limited the event is ticketed and you can get tickets here!! Look at this awesome flyer the lovely Katie Nowicki whipped up for us! As the title suggests we’ll be looking back on…
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Episode 61: Say Hello To My Little Friend
Catching up on our little police city-state hiding in plain sight: the annual salary reveal, Fresolo does townie direct action, Dive Bar to Cop Bar via a Brady Lister turned entrepreneur from Framingham who definitely didn’t get caught doing a Scarface. We’d never baselessly allege something like...
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Episode 60: If it is to be said
We spend most of the show going over the massive reductions in staffing and services at Community Health Link, asking why the agencies comprising our social safety net are allowed to act like weird little hedge funds. You can follow along here as we read through the email sent to CHL staffers by...
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Episode 59: Burnin' Down The House (ft. John Keough)
The esteemed Mr. John Keough joins us to discuss a forthcoming documentary he’s producing alongside director Tommy Dyer called “Burnin’ Down The House.” Set for a May 21 premier, then a full theatrical release shortly thereafter, the feature length documentary examines the sorry state of…
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Episode 58: Raccoon's Law
What is Raccoon’s Law? Well brother you’ll just have to listen. Forgot to mention ‘on air’ that I’m doing the Roast of Worcester tomorrow (Saturday, March 21) at the White Room. All proceeds go to LUCE! Come hang. Send me some jokes I’m fresh out. Billshaner91 at Substack Dot Com. Chris recaps…
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Episode 57: The Dainty Gong
You can thank the city council and their pointlessly long meetings (five hours last night…. why??) for the delay of this episode, recorded on Monday, while Chris and I were in high spirits brought on by the sudden change for the better in the weather. In this episode we eschew the typical…
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Episode 56: Misbehavin'
This one is a redo of sorts, after some technical difficulties as Chris explains at the top. You can’t always be perfect, though we do try and might I add very often succeed. On the docket for this one: Collusion between Thomas Duffy allegedly by others and Northwest District ADA Steven Gagne in...
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Episode 55: Split The Baby
Well, the jury split the baby. Atodaso. In case you missed our coverage of the Haxhiaj trial and its profound implications for this city’s already-rotten-enough political culture, read the latest here. And you can watch pretty much the entire trial via a series of videos I put up on…
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Episode 54: Hello Darkness
Ashley and Etel’s day in court. Read up here for background and live updates here. It’s likely the trial wraps today. We discuss how, in the ongoing act of the Greek play, daddy’s little boy will not be compelled to testify! In the play. We don’t want to be sued. This is a comedy podcast.Chris’…
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Episode 53: The Natural World Extends To Hunks
Like Frampton, Mutual Aid Comes Alive! In an exercise of either efficiency or laziness, this week’s episode is a live talk we were graciously asked to do at the Framingham Public Library (great Instagram presence). Many are saying it was the Best Talk Ever Given. More and more people are saying...
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Episode 52: Love This <3
MLK continuing to call out Worcester’s political establishment from beyond the grave every damn day. In 1961 he spoke at Temple Emanuel right here in Worcester and called out both the cowardly rush to hide behind the “moderate” position and the northern liberal’s willfully obtuse view of the…
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Episode 51: The Spags Shuffle
Very happy to announce that somewhere in the middle of this episode we debut Wicked Wistah #1: Spags. Al Griggs AKA Kool Kojak, our esteemed guest a few episodes back, called in as promised. We abruptly shift gears to talk Spags and some other things. He shares a story you simply will not believe...
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Episode 50: DPDubbies Don't Need Money
We catch up on some council funnies, talk about how the only way to handle this incoming council is as a long ongoing bit. Like the Moe Bergman pipes moment from the last council… it’s all ROFL from here on out, baby. Like so… This Westerling guy is all right. We revisit our winners and losers of...
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Episode 49: Wicked Wistah (ft Big Al AKA Kool Kojak)
Hey, Chris here: I have to sound in at least briefly about what a truly magical moment this interview was.I came in with the information that a guy who was Brendan Melican’s friend made the Wings Over commercial we talked about in the last episode, and that he was willing to talk to us about it,...
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Episode 48: Worcester Is Hungry For Just One Thing
We catch up on some news before getting into the main event: the 2007 Wings Over Worcester commercial that proves we used to be a god damn proper city, man. St. V already looking for a new new CEO again. Ray Mariano’s dumb school safety column Dianna Biancheria’s “vision for the future” Once Upon…
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Episode 47: Never Promised You A Knausgården
A weird and decidedly non-newsy one this week, recorded in the throes of post-Thanksgiving fogginess on Friday night. Using a piece by Karl Ove Knausgård in Harpers on technology and the suffocating and/or liberating effects of such, we talk about local journalism and The Platforms mostly. “The...
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Episode 46: What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Bean
Hey! Chris here with my own solo episode. Look, we’ve all been through a lot in the past few weeks, and this podcast has been accordingly a bit intense. Not today! This one is about beans.I sat down with my old friend Jen Burt, who some of you may know as the person behind the Worcester Mammoth...
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Episode 45: The 'From Here' Contingent (ft. Etel Haxhiaj)
After a surprise loss in the District 5 race, Etel Haxhiaj and I sat down for a candid chat. It was late in the afternoon Friday. Both of us were exhausted and the conversation is a winding one. But we hit on several of the nastier elements of local politics in this city—the nativism, the sexism,...
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Episode 44: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Meats?
Continuing on the ‘welp’ theme we get through the election results as quickly as we can, here’s a quick summary if you haven’t caught up on Tuesday’s results yet, then we discuss at length what the story of Heather Prunier exposes about the political culture and attendant media of this city.…
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Episode 43: That Is My File (ft. Heather Prunier, Tom Marino)
Hey all, really special episode here. The other day, I had Heather Prunier, Tom Marino and Lynn Kee over my apartment for a catch-up conversation on a major breakthrough in Heather’s fight for accountability. She finally received some of the records in the investigatory file. Yesterday, over on...
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Episode 42: I Wish!
We catch up on various pre-election tomfooleries and talk about likely outcomes next Tuesday. We psycho-analyze the cranks. Then we talk about how the Worcester Common is littered with human remains. Hundreds of skeletons just under the surface. Talk about spooky-wooky. Anyway… Please vote!! Our...
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Episode 41: The Candidate You Deserve
In which we go into recording without a plan and come out having woven together the Fresolo vs Pezzella meltdown, the split tax rate fallacy, local journalism’s failings on school issues, the Roosevelt School debacle finally discussed in the context of walkability and sidewalk coverage, Dianna...
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Episode 40: Training Day
Last week the Ballpark Commission approved a massive active shooter drill to take place in and (maybe?) around Polar Park next June. This counts as a “community day” by the way remember those? The 20 minute meeting and the agenda. As far as I can tell this has gone unreported, though as we...
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Episode 39: She went black-and-white on his ass
As promised at the end of my last piece, (really encouraging it resonated with a lot of people thank you to everyone who said so) I’m taking the description in a different, extended direction tonight. The passage below was written in a moment of deep frustration, staring at an empty document…
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Episode 38: Glocked and Goaded
We sit down in the courtyard of Chris’s building for a Sunday night session with the peepers. We catch up on the local chatter and hone in on our two favorite avatars of municipal corruption: Thomas Duffy and Candy Mero-Carlson. While I have you, a few announcements I’ve been meaning to share......
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Episode 37: Claude Da Bussy
Chris and I catch up on the news of the week. We look at Kate Toomey’s wretched comments and mind numbing cross examination of the fire chief on the sprinkler ordinance, and the fact she won. What gets to be political violence and what doesn’t? Why can’t we figure out the most basic things, like...
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Episode 36: Folder: /
Drums, bass, biblical storms... a little McDonalds for the Candy Kids… Catching up on a wild weekend and a not-wild preliminary election. We do our best to encapsulate the enigma that is City-Councilor-To-Be Gary Rosen. We ponder how to best implement the Shock Doctrine on Holden during the next...
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Episode 35: Let's Give Em Something To Talk About
An extremely free ranging conversation as Chris and I soak up the last little bit of summer and willfully incriminate ourselves in multiple acts for which misdemeanor charges could theoretically though maliciously be applied. In no particular order we discuss The Ongoing Horrors, the upcoming...
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Episode 34: F*ck, That's Malicious
We break down the most recent entry to the ongoing fight versus good and evil controver at St. Vincent Hospital—one this podcast finds itself right smack dab in the middle of… Not before goofing around a bit about Cat Mayors, Joe Petty, and the ZBA of course, but we get there. Skip to 31:00 if...
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Episode 33: Show Less!
Apropos of nothing here’s a truly unfortunate jumbotron crop from at-large council candidate Satya Mitra’s campaign website we discovered mid recording… Nevertheless… they made it the thumbnail. Lmao. Just one of the many things Chris and I discuss in a wide-ranging catch up session, recorded on...
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Episode 32: How To Blow Up A Pothole (ft. Keith Linhares)
We head down to District 1 City Council candidate Keith Linhares’ house to check in with his campaign and marvel at his absolutely amazing garage. Last time we talked to Keith it was back in March, when he was just getting started. “Episode 16: Time for an overhaul (ft. Keith Linhares)” Now he’s...
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Episode 31: The Mooninite Massacre
Chris and I have a freewheeling conversation, starting with John Fresolo’s District 3 Race Theory, zooming out to the War on Terror and the great Mooninite Massacre of 2007, back in time to the sinking of the Frigate Hussar and the possibly still at-large Midgley’s Mortar, then back down to...
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Episode 30: Mr. Midgley’s Mortar
To celebrate the fourth, Chris and I go full porch mode, eschewing the news of the day to focus instead on Worcester’s messy, turbulent, amazing relationship with the Fourth of July, a Purge-like affinity built into our DNA going back to the industrial revolution. We read from an entire chapter...
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Episode 29: A fireside khat
Back from our top secret trip deep within the heart of the Axis of Resistance, Chris and I discuss the local implications of Zohran Mamandi’s victory in NYC, building off the piece I wrote the other day: “A politics of no translation.” Of particular concern is how bad the Massachusetts Democratic...
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Episode 28: A/C/G?
Aliens, cryptids, ghosts... Gurus... On the eve of this newsletter’s big birthday, and after a tumultuous couple months for the city, Chris and I decide to take it easy. A light and silly episode recorded on my front porch. Following a program of events Chris put together, we divulge our crackpot...
About this show
Weekly broadcasts from a city that punishes you for caring. Join Bill and Chris for leftist perspectives from Worcester, MA, an urban knife’s edge of gentrification and vulture capital. We discuss local current events, analyzing the ways in which these stories ripple outward from the city we call home. We’ll even talk some about what you can do to fight back!
www.worcestersucks.email
Hosted by
Bill Shaner & Chris Robarge