Episodes

Episode 55: Molly Ringwald, Esperanto, and Raven #2

Molly Ringwald/Courtesy Molly Ringwald

This week: ’80s teen icon Molly Ringwald barks like a dog (and talk about her new book)…William Shatner speaks the language of hope… And Brendan eats corn smut.

Icebreaker: Frank Gagliano Playwright, author and — most importantly — the father of Rico, Frank Gagliano tells a joke.

Small Talk: Shoegazing in Vegas,Secret Nooks & Crannies, and DMV: The CityThe staff at Marketplace tell you about some news items your dinner guests probably missed. Like the legal wrangling over the secret of Thomas’ English Muffins’ “nooks and crannies.”

(Listeners in L.A. and Minnesota heard L.A. Times columnist and talk show host Patt Morrison dissecting a new study that analyses Twitter to gauge the national mood. Or maybe just Ashton Kutcher’s.)

A History Lesson With Booze: Doktoro Esperanto and the “Zamenhof Fizz.”
This week in 1887, linguophile L.L. Zamenhof completed his decade-in-the-making magnum opus: the Lingvo Internacia — a universal language that came to be called Esperanto. Toast the world’s most-spoken “constructed” language with a border-smashing cocktail:

THE ZAMENHOF FIZZ, as created for the DPD by Jonathan Pogash, director of cocktail development at NYC’s World Bar, across the street from the U.N. Headquarters:

To a cocktail shaker add:

  • 1 1/2 oz. Chopin Potato Vodka
  • 1/2 oz. Rothman and Winter Apricot liqueur
  • hint of fresh lemon juice
  • hint of cane syrup

Strain over ice into a rocks glass. Top off with splash of ginger beer (the all-important fizz). Rim the edge with spicy cane sugar. Revel in the harmonious interaction of ingredients. Trink ĝi pace! You’re now speaking the international language of tipsy.

Guest of Honor: Molly Ringwald
’80s teen-movie icon Molly Ringwald is Getting the Pretty Back in a new book that’s equal parts biography and advice for 40-something Gen Xers. She dishes with Rico on being a sister/girlfriend to millions, Brat Pack reunions, and risqué lipstick application. Then she barks like a dog. Seriously.

Main Course: Raven #2 Tacos
OC Weekly food editor Gustavo Arrellano — author of the column “Ask a Mexican” — introduces Brendan to the traditional Aztec side dish huitlacoche, a black, pasty corn fungus with a branding problem: it makes for delicious mushroomy tacos, but that beautiful exotic name translates literally as “raven’s excrement.”

One For The Road: Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”
After scoring the greatest movie trailer ever, Canadian indierock heavyweights Arcade Fire release their third album, The Suburbs, this Tuesday. It’s drawn high praise from Rolling Stone, Spin, and host of other notables. Add DPD to the list.

Music On This Week’s Show:

The Sea & Cake – “The Argument”

The Wedding Present – “Signal”

Tipsy – “Liquordelic”

Brahms – “Academic Festival Overture op. 80”

(International) Noise Conspiracy – “A New Language”

Wolf Parade – “Language City”

Bow Wow Wow – “Bow Wow Wow”

Dan Fogelberg – “As The Raven Flys”

Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”