The Undertow

The Undertow

UNDERTOW #90

8/6/25

Terry O'Brien's avatar
Terry O'Brien
Aug 07, 2025
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GIGS! GIGS! GIGS! OF THE WEEK:

THURSDAY: Terry & Jerry at Jersey Girl Kitchen, 530-930.

FRIDAY: Terry & Jerry at Joe’s Fish Co., 6-10.

SATURDAY: Terry & Jerry at PigDog, 1130-330.

SUNDAY: Terry & Dave at the Beach Shack & Rusty Nail, 5-9.

And just like that we’re in the final few weeks of our full-time schedule… so catch us while you can!

GIG TIDBITS (TIG GIGBITS?) OF THE WEEK:

Rutsy Nail: Sunday was an absolutely spectacular day. I haven’t done a lot of complaining about my throat this season because (A) I haven’t had any major vocal issues this summer aside from one scary moment at Joe’s Fish Co. very early in the season and I can’t believe I’m even saying this out loud so KNOCK ON WOOD FOR ME PLEASE and (B) nobody wants to hear me complain about my throat when they’re out there doing real work, but come Sunday evenings at 5pm, I’m pretty much shot. But this funny thing happens, akin to a long distance runner finding the will to finish those last few miles; my throat goes into a kind of fugue state where the pain and fatigue go away and my voice takes on a completely different tone and I can’t really feel the notes I’m singing I just hear them in the monitor and… well, clearly, it’s hard to explain.

Anyway, I was just entering this vocal state when I looked up and noticed the bald, chiseled, attractive black man sauntering towards one of the front tables by the stage and knew in an instant it was 100% DEFINITELY (A) former NY Giants RB Tiki Barber or (B) his twin brother, Tampa Bay Buccanneers CB Ronde Barber. Yada yada yada. It was Tiki. He hung out for a couple of sets and allowed me to shake his hand and tell him “thank you for being retired and no longer tormenting my team.” He was very complimentary of Dave and I and seemed to be just a lovely person, despite being a stinkin’ NY Giant.

RUSTY NAIL II: A little later, the not bald, not quite as chiseled but no less attractive Jon Cooke, a local gadabout, stopped in with his puppy Margo and we exchanged some pleasantries (he’s lost 12 lbs., I’ve lost 20) and he sent me this picture which is just too cute not to share so here it is…

What a great photo… check out Jon’s blog when you have a minute. It’s… much better than mine.

RUSTY NAIL III: I GOT A PARKING SPOT RIGHT OUT FRONT! (These are the things that pass for “exciting” in my life, so sue me…)

PIGDOG: After many weeks of speculation and guesstimation I finally clocked it. The walk from my car door in the employee lot at Jersey Girl Kitchen to where I set up my mic at PigDog is 1141 steps, or 0.576 miles, which is almost 3/5 of a mile. Which is practically a mile. Which may as well be 5 miles. Can you believe I have to walk 10 miles?

JERSEY GIRL: In what may be the ultimate insult, and after years of being told, on multiple occasions mind you, that I sound “just like James Taylor/ Neil Diamond/ Billy Joel/ Paul MacCartney”, last Thursday a woman had the audacity, the unmitigated temerity, to tell me, “you sound just like Jimmy Buffett.” I am wounded. Perhaps mortally so.

JERSEY GIRL II: I was really glad to see Alex & Lynn Sosik after 2 weeks away, and after 30 seconds of talking to Alex, I was really glad to see Lynn after 2 weeks away.

WCFA 101.5 SONG OF THE WEEK:

My Experimental Film- They Might Be Giants. TMBG is a band very much of its time (mid-80s-to-mid-90s) who crafted any number of alt-rock gems like Birdhouse in Your Soul and, my personal favorite;

Today they make a tidy living writing theme songs for kids cartoons, like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

WCFA ATTACK SONGS OF THE WEEK:

On the same morning, in what can only be called an attack on my very person, nay my manhood, they played this one…

I tried to explain to a few of my Old navy co-workers the connection between myself, WCFA and Exit Zero and why they play the songs they do, but they didn’t really give a shit…

Anyway, right after that they played this…

I mean…

Couple more quick things before we dip behind they paywall this week…

THE INCREASINGLY POOR DECISIONS OF THE WNBA:

  1. Absolutely despise, excoriate and villify, as well as literally physically attack at every oopportunity, the one player in your league that anybody gives a shit about (Caitlin Clark).

  2. Eject the fan who made fun of the woman whose wig fell off in the middle of a professional basketball game to prove you’re not at all thin-skinned divas incapable of self-deprecation.

  3. Allow your totally professional, super-serious, not-a-joke league to become the target of a dildo-throwing phenomenon. You can now bet on what color dildo will be thrown next. I’m not kidding.

Now, dildo-throwing is one thing. Chucking things onto the court could cause serious injury and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But I’m not sure I want to live in a country where I can’t make fun of a player whose wig falls off in the middle of a game…

BEFORE THE PAYWALL PSA OF THE WEEK:

After reaching our apex of 20 paid subscribers a few weeks ago, we have dipped back down to 18 (and I am very appreciative of all 18 of you). But, honestly, and I say this without rancor, animosity, anger or any of those other bad things I can’t think of adverbs for right now, if we don’t get this bad boy up to the 25-30 range by the end of the year, this will likely be the last few months of Undertow v2.0.

So, feel free to share this with your friends and/ or family you think might enjoy it. Or message me if you want to offer a $100K/ yr. sponsorship deal. Otherwise, I’ll do my best to make the next few months as painless as possible…

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