GBD8: The Simples (with Eric Brownderville and Johnny Wink)

The Greg Brownderville Dimension

In this episode I return to my undergraduate alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University, to sit a spell with Johnny Wink and Eric Brownderville (my brother). This is one of the most joyous conversations I've ever been a part of.
—Greg and Eric reminisce about their first experiences as college students (4:56)
—Eric runs into his former English professor somewhere he never would have expected to see him (6:50)
—"the grim stubble period" (8:20)
—the historical importance of "hair certainty" for American presidents (11:43)
—seven ways to prune a grapefruit (12:50)
—Silky, the blue Fugates, and cosmic silliness (20:55)
—Greg's cereal prank (26:28)
—Greg's "business ed" prank (27:30)
—the nightmare of the definite article for Russian speakers learning English, and Johnny's bedtime prank (28:28)
—Greg's "least favorite name for a boy" interviews (30:26)
—the mystery of "the simples" (32:07)
—Eddie Ray and his magnificent misspellings (41:53)
—Greg's peculiar love of "Swiss" (44:40)
—"always there for me" and "everything happens for a reason" (46:00)
—Sure, Jesus loves you, but does God love you? (48:30)
—Johnny's absolute phrase problem, "Never," and "Mystery" (51:15)
—exceedingly paranormal Greg (55:58)
—Mr. Danner and his female sons (57:15)
—cereal commercial Macbeth among the jaguars (1:01:34)
—mnemonics, Shakespeare, and Yeats (1:03:38)
—Butch Marshall's disappearing penis (1:07:25)
—die vs. pass away (1:15:20)
—going to sleep in Jesus and your sweet transition (1:20:20)
—Huck Finn stories (1:22:28)
—weird curse words (1:25:57)
—Jim Bill Patterson (1:33:29)
—coffee socks and wet squirrels (1:37:03)
—A-Tay and the blood-orange fastball (1:38:59)
—Eric's take on a Chinese superstition (1:40:28)
—Greg and Eric's Walmart survey prank (1:41:57)
—no kidding: Eric was born with a tail (1:44:02)
—Jack Butler's asanas (1:46:10)
—Eric and Johnny discuss how Johnny gets his ideas for poems (1:47:57)
Greg’s website:
https://gregbrownderville.com
If you have questions for me about this episode or anything else, leave a comment or hit me up at [email protected]. If I get some good questions, I might do a Q&A episode.
logo design by Julie Savasky at 508 Creative: https://508creative.com
music by Beekeeper Spaceman
Greg Brownderville is the author of three books of poetry, the lead singer of Beekeeper Spaceman, the creator of Fire Bones, the editor-in-chief of Southwest Review, and a professor of English at SMU in Dallas.