Episode Four: Family Man

02/28/22 • 65 min

This week’s episode takes a fresh look at the song, “Family Man.” Our guest, Stephany Joy Ashley is the former Executive Director of the St James Infirmary which provides free, peer-based medical and social services for current and former sex workers and current writer and strategist focused on reducing poverty, stigma, and criminalization. Stephany’s humor and insight shows us how Hall and Oates turns a bunch of rowdy boys and girls into non-binary youth (with pompadours).

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Episode Three: You Make My Dreams (Come True)

Here we consider the robust use of parentheticals in H&O titles. Our guest, Brian Duck, owner of the LA and New York-based management company Atelier, brings his expertise into the fashion featured in the song’s video and offers insight into the hair and, most important, John Oates’s legendary mustache.

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Episode Five: Possession Obsession

This week we tackle two themes with our guest, writer, and reality tv producer Jeanette Scherrer. First, we go deep into an example of a rare Oates-fronted song, Possession Obsession. We consider the musical influences, lyrical meanings, and the surprisingly progressive depictions of NYC at night through the eyes of Oates as a taxi driver. We also look at Daryl Hall's two endeavors in reality TV, focusing on an episode of Live from Daryl's House featuring Vintage Trouble's lead vocalist, Ty Taylor.