Pinball Junk Drawer Episode 22

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·May 31, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Post-MGC podcast covers new game impressions and launches Beer Journal Review segment.

Summary

Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally discuss their experience at Midwest Gaming Classic (MGC), covering newly played pinball machines including Toy Story 4, Galactic Tank Force, Pulp Fiction, Godfather, and Foo Fighters. They reflect on nostalgia around Austin Powers, logistical challenges at MGC (food availability, panhandling), and introduce a new segment: Beer Journal Review with Craft Brew Sally.

Key Claims

Queen pinball machine was not displayed at MGC; hosts only saw video and pictures
high confidence · Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally discussing MGC new games
Toy Story 4 (Jersey Jack) is not sold out; market may be leveling and cooling down
medium confidence · Foghorn Leghorn speculation about market conditions post-MGC
Pulp Fiction pinball sold out in 12 seconds
medium confidence · Hosts discussing Pulp Fiction's availability and limited edition status
Godfather pinball includes a headphone jack feature
high confidence · Craft Brew Sally noting the headphone jack add-on they had not seen before
Foo Fighters machine had a planned van tour theme that never happened
high confidence · Hosts attended Stern creator panel discussing the abandoned van tour concept
MGC has limited food availability; vendors close at 4 PM and restaurants nearby have 3-hour waits
high confidence · Hosts' direct experience at MGC, multiple mentions of food scarcity and venue logistics
Foghorn Leghorn has been doing audio/podcast work since 2004
medium confidence · Foghorn Leghorn claiming decades of audio production experience
Austin Powers was the only other new-in-box game the hosts had bought before trading it for Beatles Gold
high confidence · Direct personal history statement from Foghorn Leghorn and Craft Brew Sally

Notable Quotes

“I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now boy, this is of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents, the Pinball Junk Drawer.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ 0:00:00 — Iconic opening of the show, establishing character and tone
“They ended it three the perfect way. The perfect way.”
Craft Brew Sally @ ~15:00 — Expressing preference for Toy Story trilogy ending before the fourth film
“I immediately was overwhelmed with regret that I sold mine... I wanted to hug it. I wanted to take it home.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~45:00 — Emotional nostalgia about encountering an Austin Powers machine in poor condition
“If you leave the compound though, you better be prepared, you're going to get hustled by bums.”
Craft Brew Sally @ ~50:00 — Commentary on the environment surrounding MGC venue
“MGC does not have food readily available very much. We've gotten trapped starving more than once both times we were there.”
Craft Brew Sally @ ~55:00 — Practical complaint about venue logistics affecting attendee experience
“I like to go to places that have food and water and air because humans are here and humans need those couple things to live.”
Foghorn Leghorn @ ~56:00 — Humorous but pointed critique of venue inadequacy
“I guarantee as that code gets more robust that game will really flesh out.”
Craft Brew Sally @ ~35:00 — Prediction about Foo Fighters machine improvement potential with future code updates

Entities

Foghorn LeghornpersonCraft Brew SallypersonJeremyperson Drewperson Ianperson RachelpersonScootspersonGoosepersonMidwest Gaming Classicevent

Signals

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event_signal: Hosts attended Midwest Gaming Classic (MGC) and played multiple newly released pinball machines; second consecutive year attending MGC
high · Extended discussion of specific games played, venues, and community members encountered at MGC
?
product_launch: Multiple new pinball machines debuted or displayed at MGC: Toy Story 4, Galactic Tank Force, Pulp Fiction, Godfather, Foo Fighters; Queen not displayed
high · Detailed gameplay impressions and availability status provided for each game
$
market_signal: Toy Story 4 not sold out (unusual for new releases); Pulp Fiction sold out quickly; market may be cooling
medium · Foghorn Leghorn notes Toy Story 4 availability as 'newish in the pinball world' and speculates market is 'leveling and cooling down'
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design_philosophy: Foo Fighters machine design integrated band's unrealized van tour concept; Stern creators panel discussed development process and band collaboration
high · Hosts attended Stern panel discussing van tour backstory; noted band was 'famously cool to work with'
?
gameplay_signal: Foo Fighters praised for shot variety and complexity; compared favorably to Godzilla; expected to improve significantly with code updates
high · Craft Brew Sally: 'It had some great shots... a lot of different shots you could shape' and 'I guarantee as that code gets more robust that game will really flesh out'

Topics

Midwest Gaming Classic (MGC) expo experienceprimaryNew pinball machine impressions and gameplayprimaryBeer Journal Review segment launchprimaryNostalgia and machine restorationsecondaryVenue logistics and attendee experiencesecondaryCraft beer and brewery culturesecondaryPinball market conditions and availabilitymentionedLimited edition FOMO and machine scarcitymentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.72)— Hosts enjoyed MGC and newly played games (mostly positive impressions), but expressed frustration with venue logistics (food, panhandling) and some machine designs (Godfather). Nostalgic/melancholic tone around Austin Powers encounter. Enthusiastic about launching new Beer Journal Review segment.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.106

0:00

Now who's respon- I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack on my person? I say, I say, I say, pay attention now boy, this is of course, Foghorn Leghorn presents, the Pinball Junk Drawer. You all asked for it, I say, I say, you all asked for it now, you're gonna get it. And boy oh boy are you gonna get it. Go, I say go away boy, you bother me. And we are back. This is of course, the Pinball Junk Drawer. The only pinball podcast hosted by an award-winning television producer slash director. And that's what you call marketing. You see, that is technically 100% correct. It is. He is correct. But if you turn over the rock and kick around the roaches, you find out that's what marketers do. They brag and boast and brag. But if you kind of dig a little deeper, technically what I said was correct, but technically it It was also a public access show and technically I just won for best setting. So anyway, the only pinball podcast produced by an award-winning television producer. My name is Foghorn Leghorn and with me as always is Craft Brew Sally here to fact check my stupidity. Good luck Craft Brew. We wish you well. So all right, we have an action packed show this week. We do. Yes, this is the show directly following MGC. Now, for those of you not in the know, that is Midwest Gaming Classic. But, that's not all. What else do we got this show, Craft Brew? We have a new segment! Oh my god. What might that be? It's a surprise. Ooh, interesting. And tantalizing as well. Anyway... You gotta keep them hooked. Yes, yes. Hey, and on that subject, great thanks to all the people that didn't go out and give it a review for the show. But anyway, if you're listening and you have the inkling, why don't you do as a solid, go to This Week in Pinball and you click on the producers or content creators and then find the pinball junk show. See, this is the problem. It's like three steps deep and no one's gonna go one step deep to do this for anybody. So if you like the show, go to This Week in Pinball and just give it a star rating and maybe say, hey, we really think Ken Kennedy on Paul T. Wilson Jr. and Jill Shue is 그런ациós jak musikkillar 피부 sometimes." David Aniston asks, All in fragile ego. I'm so fragile. Okay, enough of that joke. So, but please do rate and review the show. That would be wonderful because it means something. I think my bullshit meter is going off. Gratru Sally, keeper of the bullshit meter as it were. I hope that thing is made of like pinball steel. Right. Because you just... That's the only thing that's like... Indestructible. Yes, that's the word. If an asteroid hits the Earth, they're just gonna find pinballs and cockroaches. Because I'll tell you what, crap you saw me trying to drill into a pinball for like 20 minutes with a carbide tip drill bit, nothing. It kind of scratched it a little. I was like, wow. It looks like I'm gonna have to change direction on that whole plan. Okay, enough of that. So MGC, you know, now this is the second year in a row we went. Yes. I don't know if we're gonna go next year. I don't know. Because Expo... Expo I think is yeah I liked Expo more I did too nothing against MGC but I don't know I just we just weren't able to go to the Expo this year so we went to MGC yeah it's still a fun time we got to hang out with the poor men uh we had we hung out in the poor men uh tent here and there got to catch up with Jeremy which is always fun I do genuinely think he's a funny dude I dig that guy and then of course Drew and Ian were out and about and doing stuff so that was fun got to see Rachel and Scoots Yes, Goose showed up. That was cool. So a lot of the tribe members, which is always a very, it's great to catch up with those guys and just BS with them a little bit in person. So what was the main draw? What did you... Well, we got to see some of the new pinball machines. Ah, yes. The many, many, many, many offerings. We didn't see Queen. No. Queen was not there. They're all out there. Yeah, I did see some video playing and pictures of it. Not enough that I would say what I think of it. Just it's a thing. I saw proof that it exists. So which ones did we see? Because there was ones that weren't new-new that I got to play. I got to play the James Bond. Yes. And they had all of them there, which was wow. Which I think someone slipped one of the 60th anniversary ones in and they weren't supposed to. I don't know if they weren't supposed to. Oh. I don't think it was that big of a deal. END OF PID DRIIGHTS It's good stuff in the 선생 skull. END OF TIDES If one was kicking around and I saw one for three or four grand, which would never in the history of the world happen, I would buy it. You know, like 10 years down the road, I would buy it and try and revive it. But it's like, I don't know, you know. I'm with you on that one. Yeah. So, all right. And then Scooby Doo was fun, but I only got to play two balls and then it like broke. And I was like, well, okay. But it's a newer game. Whatever. Doesn't matter. So we went to the MGC preview night, which is Friday night, which is the easiest day John Popadiuk, Bob Betor, Knapp Arcade, puppeteersyi как şur capsom I played the newish Toy Story 4, which I really liked. And I don't know if it's because of the theme that I liked it. Probably. Because it was a, it's a... Jersey Jack. Which I am not a huge fan of. They're very pretty. They are pretty. But they, shooting them is much different than what we're used to. I will say, I, yeah, again, I hadn't even seen a Toy Story in the wild. So I walked up and I was like, yeah, let's play it. And it was a fun shooting game. I actually enjoyed it. I don't like... Okay, I'm going to get on my little soapbox here. Toy Story to me was almost like a perfect trilogy of movie. And that's no BS. When I'm talking about all movies, Toy Story, the first three to me were almost a perfect trilogy, a perfect beginning, middle part, end part. I thought very highly of it. Then they came out with a fourth and I was like, you know what, Disney? You know what? Like, you had the perfect stop. You had... You... I mean, Toy Story 4 was still good, but... I never saw it. But it was, like you said... Why? They ended it three the perfect way. The perfect way. Yeah. So... But, you know... Yeah, so, but overall I did enjoy the game quite a bit. I know those are sitting. You can get those. They're not sold out, which is another thing that's kind of newish in the pinball world. I think it's the market might be leveling and cooling down a bit, but that's just speculation. Again, I don't care about that so much. So now, what was, what's the first game we played? So I don't have them down in any order, but one of them that we played was the Galactic Tank Force. The Valley Company Subsidiary of Walter Kidde Co Inc Mirco Playfields Tim Kitzrow Scott Danesi of the playfield so there a lot of drain it a harsh maiden yeah that way I wanted to love that game cuz I that it kind of in my wheelhouse that sci B movie kind of like like the over stuff it has a cow hanging from a UFO mm which any game that has that is kind of a win yeah or if you from Wisconsin yeah you might have a cow hanging off your truck So it was, I did like it. I did find it frustrating that like that bash toy that knocks it straight back. Like it made me think of when my first time I played Metallica and I was like, oh, this game's great. And that snake just kicked it straight down the middle every time. And I think they fixed that on code, but man, did that suck. I hated it. I hated it. And I love the plastics. Like I kind of think I'm going to end up getting those two, the plastics of those two, the two ladies in the spacesuits. Thank you.

11:30

while there's people waiting behind us tapping their feet I just wrecked that game and they're their like does this guy just keep like I got no let's just ball one and I was ball two no I think it was ball one it was like am I ever gonna be able to play this game that was ridiculous yeah so I'm standing there looking how pretty the like topper is oh I like I think we need the topper just for the topper $12,000 for the top great yeah that game is I liked it a lot now that's one of my And it's one of my favorite movies. Yeah, I like that movie a lot too. And it's fun. I couldn't hear any of the call outs so kind of like I'm assuming they're there and I'm assuming they're funny and cool. That's one of the problems with playing them. Like your first experience with them being at an expo or... It's hard to hear anything. At all. Because it's just a big mush of all the machines going all at the same time. And now you're back with a new podcast, a grand opening, in which we have all of your favorite people running around and talking. Yeah. So what did you think about it? I liked it. Did you like it? Yeah. I thought you didn't like it so much. I think more like the theme of it, but I love that topper. Oh. Yeah, it's so cool. So that's a win. I would definitely love to have that, but again, that's sold out in 12 seconds, and I don't think we're going to ever see one again. No. Maybe it's a show here and there. Did they... is that a limited run? I don't... that I don't know. Okay. I'm gonna say yes, but I mean, they might just have the limited edition or the collector's editions that are the limited one, because there was a collector's edition of that one as well, I believe. I think there were a couple different ones there. Yeah. So, I, again, yeah, I'd love to have a Pulp Fiction. I would buy one. That is very old school design, too. It is like the same as a doctor dude. There's no, you know, no secondary playfields, no... It's kind of, and that's kind of cool because of course Tarantino wanted that. Yeah, it was neat because they did have some of the, did they have one or two of the prototypes there? Oh, I don't know. Yeah, like the first, I think first two machines that were in the lineup were prototypes. Wow, that's cool. Yeah. See, that's what I do like about when people bring this kind of stuff and you're like, wow, you get to see really, Free Play Florida does that. Yes. Where you see so much like stuff you will never see again. Yeah. So that's very cool. We both dug that one. I mean, we I guess we both say we would buy that one it but you know, whatever. I don't know. Okay, moving on. So what was the next one? Next is the Godfather. I don't. I think we only played it once. And I played it a second time. Okay, I don't remember much about it. So that was the one where you picked the family. So you could be like the Corleone family or this one. Yeah, see, that's still that's, we don't I don't care about Godfather. Yeah. I don't dislike it. I don't care about it. I don't like nor dislike it. I don't, it's, it's just a thing. You know, I know a lot of people love it. Yeah. I don't, don't, um. Walking up to it, they, like, they had like the one that had like the gold on the legs and... Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like, I don't know. Very pretty, but... Yeah. I don't know. And that was the one that, now that one did have the headphone jack. Yeah. And that's where, you had never seen that before. No. And I showed you the add-on. Steven Shattuck, Tools Needed Space flashes, Chris Zus wanting to buy, ieszzabe behalfanekeFAZE, Zevoriation at 8, Knapp Arcade Show, Link كبك Woo Appro, Industrial Franchise, ò маш Auf to Besides, ру לאת , Wireless 아iciintense, mach Okay 이동 전, ei테ính 크게, еезд만 와mania 그래� 어려운 시리� amid, I cheating one on one kajolein hamking O종이 Dostðjh torra I'm a little, I don't really care about it one way or the other. If it was in a competing place, I would like it, but I don't carry around headphones, so it's kind of pointless to me. And I would never use like loaner headphones. It's like bowling shoes. Ugh, gross. So, okay. I guess The Godfather was kind of a miss for both of us. I think so. I didn't, I mean, I would put a dollar in it to play it. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. No. I mean, if it's sitting there and we can play it, I would play it, but. Yeah, but it wasn't a, I would never buy that for me. No. Just a miss on it. From our end. Yeah. Okay, and I think a lot of people do like it, so it's doing well, of course. I never really, I don't even think I ever watched the whole Godfather movie. So. See, I, yeah, I don't know. I did, but I can't remember which one or why or when. Yeah. Like, you know, it just was something that we never did, so it wasn't us. All right, well, any other ones? Foo Fighters. I'm a fan of the Foo Fighters. Oh, the Foo Fighters. Yeah. I wasn't, like, but going into it, I didn't know anything really about it. Yeah. Not knowing that, like, I'm like, you know, Metallica is a Metallica. Yeah. Foo Fighters was like, has a whole backstory. Yeah, it's like a theme. Because we went and sat at the, them talking about it. The panel. Yes. The panel from the Stern creators. So they were talking about the van tour that never happened. Yeah. So it was neat to hear the backstory. Yes, and like they were all they were all excited about telling the story Which was kind of neat. Yeah, cuz you don't often hear and I guess they were his they were famously cool to work with and They do have that kind of a vibe to him the Foo Fighters. Mm-hmm I guess they are just a great band like a great they're Nice people in general. So they were very easy to work with and they dug a lot of stuff and they were helpful, you know I like that game a lot actually. I did too. It had some great shots on it. It reminded me of the Godzilla in that there was a lot of different shots you could shape and a lot of different things to score and do Yeah I guarantee as that code gets more robust that game will really flesh out you know Yeah. And I'm not a Foo Fighters fan. I don't hate their music. I didn't know any of their songs until I started looking them up and I was like, oh, I heard that a hundred trillion times. Oh, that one, that one. You know. Yeah, I've been hearing a lot of their songs on the radio since it came out. Your whole life. Yeah. I don't really realize when somebody says, oh, Foo Fighters, you can't think of a single song. No, I can't, but they have super fans. They're one of those groups like Metallica that have these super fans that are like really into them. So that was a lot of fun. Yeah. We only got to play the pro for the longest time, and then you pointed out there was a premium. I was like, oh, there is a premium. So we jumped on that one with the real... The big ship and... And the second, that's dramatically different. Yeah. The premium is a lot different or the LE in premium, whatever it is. So I really like that. Overall, I had a, that was the last one of the new ones. Yes. And then we of course played a lot of other games. Lot of fun. It's great that there's so many new offerings. And they are all strong titles. None of them felt terrible. Not in the least. They all had at least a little bit of fun or a little bit of something new. You know, so I dug that. Yeah. Oh, we did one last. Before we go to the new segment and we test out, we're going to run it some demographic tests. We will say we both had the same experience on a machine. Back story, we told this story before. I traded Austin Powers. The only other new in box game I had bought up to that point was an Austin Powers just Hapito fun, it bought it played it a lot and that was new in box in our house forever traded that in a couple grand for the Beatles gold don't don't regret it never look back about it and we saw one at this game at the at this MTC I was like oh cool let's play this one this is fun this is from our life you know mm-hmm I immediately was overwhelmed with regret that I sold mine yes and then I this one was so beat to hell I wanted to hug it I wanted to take it home You can go home and fix everything that was wrong with it. I may have hugged it. Everything. That machine has been road-hardened, put away wet, as they say. It must have been on a route, and it must have been near a window, because you could see it looked faded. There was so much wrong with it. It was so sad. And remember, it would shoot two balls out every time. It wasn't the right pop bumpers. I left there wanting to cry for that machine but also that was like I gotta get my Austin Powers back. Which I think if you get that you'd be like this isn't that great of a game but it's fun enough. I don't know. It's not and I think for us it means more to have it than you should. I mean I don't know how much we would play it. I do enjoy the game. I'm sorry people don't love that game. It's a fun game. It taught me how to aim because it has those very distinct shots. It has the, you know, so I, it, it, like as I learned to play pinball, it taught me how to aim for certain things and shoot a certain way. So I do dig it. Oh, that poor machine. I just wanted to say, let me buy this from you and get this home and I'll start a restoration. It was so sad. Oh, but enough of that sadness. Everything else, a good time. What was had by all. It was, you know. If you leave the compound though, you better be prepared, you're going to get hustled by bums. Yes. Oh my god, the second you step off the concrete, you've got somebody asking for money. A dollar six. Oddly specific amounts of money. What do you want? A dollar six? I walk away and go, no, we don't have any money. I walk away going, dollar six? What are you talking about? Ba-ba-boom. I've narrowed it down to it's probably bus fare somewhere. We were like a dollar six. Oh, so bad. There was so many. Yeah. And one guy was asked for money for food and he got argumentative as we were walking away. I was like, oh, one of these guys. And then we had the one guy, we were waiting for food and this place had a locking door, but everyone just kept letting the next person in. So it was pointless to have a locking door. So we're standing there and it's just filling up with people that are starving and angry and bums. The one guy traps me and I'm like, he's like, ah, pinball, you have the pinball thing. I was like, yeah. He was like, oh, we used to call you guys nerds. I was like, okay, great. And he went into his bum schtick and Florida has a much lazier kind of lackadaisical kind of bum where they're going to give you the one schtick and that's kind of it. I'm out of gas, or I need food for my family, or I need fare to get to my home, or there's like three or four standard things, and they usually wrap it all in a bow with a Jesus thing. This guy has been doing this same shtick for so long, his one entire sentence was, I need money for gas. My kids are living in a 1983 Malibu. It was a mush of all the shticks. In the end, it was praise be to Jesus. I was like, that's every shtick. He has been doing it so long it got condensed into a 48 second sentence. Then I said, no, I don't have any Okay, well, thank you. Praise be to Jesus. And he just went to the next person who did the same thing. I was like, wow, get me out of here. But oh well, you know, I'm sure he's doing that right now at the same place, same everything. Okay, so yay for that. So be prepared and also be prepared

28:15

Alright, so um... And that's perfect. I wouldn't say perfect, but it'll do for now. Let's go with it'll do for now. So again, if you feel strongly that that first one is more Uh, apropos for Craft Brew Sally's Beer Journal Review, well, you let us know. On the thing I never give you. Alright, so, uh, are you gonna do anything this week or we just kind of... Yeah, so... Oh, okay. So as we were driving to MGC and I'm sitting in the passenger seat, I'm looking at Facebook, you know, my favorite brewery, Arcane, down in Largo, Florida, posts a picture of their Coming soonish beer. And the label is amazing. It has my favorite painting, Starry Night, with Godzilla in the corner. Favorite pinball machine. Right. So, I'm like... Fate intervenes. Right. So I'm like, oh, I'm writing to them. So I wrote them and I was like, I know you can't send me the beer, but would you mind sending me a copy of the label? So we were at MGC Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, come home from work and the label's in the mail. Unbelievable. Right. Now that's, Arcane was one of those breweries, there's a lot of breweries. We lived on the corner of 19 and East Bay in Clearwater, Florida. And there was a lot of craft brews springing up everywhere. And that was one of the later ones that we went to and that you loved them. Yes. I had a lot of sours and I love those and they had a lot of really good IPAs and they were right across the street from where I worked. Yeah, well there you go. But that didn't influence it though. No. Because we went a lot of different places. Yeah. Because what, Cigar City is down there, Storm is down there. Big Storm. Big Storm, sorry. So those are heavy hitters. Those are big, big places. And then there's just a whole bunch of other ones. Paradise, just there's tons of them. And then that one was one of you. They released a lot of sours that you like and they do make their way up here sometimes. So if you're in one of those craft brew places, you see an arcane brewing. Please give them your money. Yeah, give them your money because they are worth it. And they're there. They've been good to deal with too. So yeah. All right. Going forward, what are you envisioning for this segment? Well, I'm thinking do either a beer review or a brewery review, whatever we've done over We're the last, however long it's been since we were on the air last. Two weeks by the magic of dropping them out every two weeks. We did manage to go to a brewery in Milwaukee. Big surprise. Yes, very big surprise. Astonishing, really. It was Good City Brewing and it was right across from the Milwaukee Bucks Stadium. I'm not sure of the name of the stadium, but... I think it's called Milwaukee Bucks Stadium. Stadium? We're so clicked that we decided to include this series of Wickedest sejawn nossas at the end of the year to nurture that empathy for those are All right, so look forward to that. That'll keep us on pace. That way, Craft Brew can talk about, because we've been actually in some very interesting and unique breweries, different reasons, different places. So yeah, that'll be fun. Yeah. All right, I think that's gonna do it. We're running long this show, but that's okay. We had a lot to talk about. Anything else? No. You good? We good? I think we're good. Okay, before we go, we would ask you, please go to projectpinball.org. That's a 501 , It's dedicated to putting pinball machines into children's hospitals. They set them on free. They keep them running, which is the rub with pinball machines. And they have campaigns all across this great nation. And I think they're partnering up with Ronald McDonald House. So they're legit. And I'm not being paid to say that. I just am, because they're awesome. Yes, they are. All right. That's going to do it. I would normally I would roll into my other shows to show them, but whatever. Keep on flipping, one and all. I'm Foghorn Leghorn and with me as always, Craft Bruce Alley. And we'll see you in two weeks-ish for another show. That's all folks. That's it man. Game over man. Game over. That's it man. Game over man. Game over. Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun. Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run. Sing boom, torera, ring out a song of good cheer. Now's time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here.