Overview of How Long Gone #942
In this episode of How Long Gone, Chris Black and Jason Stewart bounce between personal updates, nightlife/wedding-DJ stories, and a fast-moving pop-culture roundtable. The conversation covers Mother’s Day in Atlanta, a newly launched Audemars Piguet x Swatch collaboration, DJing a culturally specific wedding set, recent music releases and live performances, creator/influencer culture, and a few deeply funny side rants about running, meal delivery, and social media discourse.
Main Topics Discussed
Mother’s Day, Atlanta, and food talk
- The hosts open with a light, local check-in: Mother’s Day in Atlanta, nice weather, and the city’s usual Sunday rituals.
- They joke about Raising Cane’s running a Mother’s Day promo and compare it to Chick-fil-A’s Sunday closure.
- The bit spirals into food nostalgia:
- Ryan’s Steakhouse
- Souplantation
- buffet-style eating
- the joy of unlimited soft-serve
Audemars Piguet x Swatch collaboration
- A large chunk of the episode is spent discussing the AP x Swatch watch collab.
- They debate whether the crossover is a smart brand move or a cringe luxury-flex:
- it makes AP more accessible/aspirational
- it introduces Swatch to a younger audience
- watch enthusiasts are upset, but the hosts think that outrage may be overblown
- Chris and Jason riff on buying one, swapping straps, and treating the watch like a customizable “content” object.
Wedding DJing and ethnic dance music
- Jason talks about DJing a wedding with a strong Eastern European/Soviet guest list.
- He had to:
- translate Russian/Ukrainian track names
- use screenshots and ChatGPT to identify songs
- source tracks from sketchy-but-effective Russian download sites
- He says these sets are his favorite part of wedding DJing because:
- older guests get a huge emotional lift
- younger guests discover music they’ve never heard
- it fills a big chunk of a long wedding set
- The episode emphasizes how wedding DJing is about managing highs and valleys, not just keeping a club floor moving.
Running, workouts, and Arizona travel
- Jason describes:
- a track workout
- push-up variations
- general sleep deprivation and sinus issues from travel, wine, and late nights
- He mentions an upcoming trip to Arizona/Tucson for a long-distance running event.
- The hosts joke about Arizona’s heat, altitude, and general “I might get arrested” energy.
Music and pop culture reactions
The episode is full of quick-hit commentary on current music and internet culture:
Phoebe Bridgers
- They discuss her new rollout and the phone/camera restrictions at intimate pop-up shows.
- Chris questions the logic of banning notebooks and pen/paper, while also noting how devoted her fans are.
Charli XCX
- They talk about her new song and video, which they see as:
- intentionally polarizing
- highly replayable
- easy to remix into multiple club versions
- They admire the ambiguity of whether she’s being earnest or trolling.
Noah Kahan
- They both acknowledge that he “works,” even if he’s not their default listen.
- Jason frames him as a Bon Iver-adjacent artist with more accessibility and folk-pop appeal.
Pedal steel’s moment
- Chris argues that pedal steel is having a real cultural comeback.
- He links it to artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Brandon Flowers, and Rostam, suggesting the instrument is suddenly everywhere again.
Social media, creators, and celebrity behavior
- They discuss Jake Shane getting dragged online for interviewing celebrities in a way that can seem clueless or awkward.
- Their take:
- people ridicule him, but he’s likely benefiting from the attention
- dumb or casual audiences often respond to creators differently than critics do
- They also talk about Quinn Blackwell doing headstands on red carpets and in public—part of a growing trend of female pop and creator personalities doing inverted physical stunts.
- The episode frames this as a new form of celebrity performance: not just singing or talking, but doing a trick.
Anthony Bourdain biopic skepticism
- Chris is critical of the upcoming Anthony Bourdain biopic.
- He feels it sands off the aspects that made Bourdain compelling:
- drug use
- darkness
- chaos
- self-destruction
- They question whether a sanitized, prestige-style version of Bourdain is the right way to tell that story.
Notable Running Jokes and Bits
- “Broke boys are eating with this Swatch/AP collab” — luxury watch culture satire.
- “Communist trap music” — Jason’s affectionate label for the Eastern European wedding tracks.
- “I’m the buyer, bitch” — a recurring flex about shopping/consuming on his own terms.
- “Chris season” — Chris declaring the current musical moment favorable to his tastes, especially with folk/country-adjacent trends.
- “Built like a garlic knot” — a late-episode tweet joke about T.I.’s wife that the hosts find especially funny.
Sponsors and Ad Reads Mentioned
The episode includes multiple sponsor reads, including:
- Dart Collective — wedding/event DJ and production services
- ShipStation — shipping and fulfillment software
- BetterHelp — online therapy
- CarGurus — car shopping/search platform
- Quince — clothing and home goods
- Squarespace — website building and small business tools
Key Takeaways
- The episode is essentially a long, funny conversation about taste, culture, and performance—whether in music, weddings, watches, or online personality.
- Chris and Jason repeatedly return to the idea that good branding is often just making something old feel new and socially legible.
- Their best segments come from treating niche cultural shifts—like pedal steel, watch collabs, or wedding playlists—as signs of broader aesthetic changes.