Too Spicy

If there were Netflix-style categories for some of my preferred music genres, one of them would be something like “Sense of urgency with weird vocal intonations”. Kinda like Gut Health’s latest, Beat to Beat. It’s snappy, has a ton of energy (which I need after yesterday’s late-night Red Sox loss), and the video is no more than it needs to be, which means it’s exactly what it should be.

Gut Health is from Melbourne, Australia. Their first album was released in 2024, and it’s unclear if Beat to Beat is part of an upcoming new album or just a one-off. Either way, they are on tour now, and you should listen to the song.

With the turn of the calendar, we suddenly find ourselves in October, which means it’s no longer September, and I can’t run the September Back Indie Media Drive anymore. I alluded to this in our last update, but the effort was far more successful than I had expected, and it has given me a lot of new energy and hope. We fell short of the goal I had set of 50 new paid subscribers for the month, but I always knew that was a little lofty. I would have been happy with just one upgrade, and we received many more than that, so thank you sincerely.

Anyway, I’m temporarily extending the campaign into the new month because it took me a lot more time to write the payoff post than I initially thought. Turns out trying to consolidate 3 years of lessons and ideas for the future into something less than 1,500 words is harder than you’d think.

Still, the combined exercise of the three behind-the-scenes posts for the month has been incredibly clarifying (and hopefully interesting for you to read). While I’m taking a small victory lap today, there’s still so much work to do to see it through.

Give it a read. See if you’re picking up what we’re putting down. If you are, and you haven’t upgraded your subscription yet, they start at $25/year, but most people join at $60/year.

Speaking of subscriptions, here’s a perk our paid supporters received in their inboxes last night, where I play internet detective and take a wild (but educated) guess at what an upcoming collaboration between DPX and Planetary Pinball Supply might be, before we all start getting teasers ahead of a rumored Pinball Expo debut.

Pinball people, or maybe just the companies that make pinball machines, are big into milestone anniversaries for some reason. Jaws 50th, Godzilla 70th. Star Wars 50th. Well, did you know that it’s the 30th anniversary of all the pinball machines that were released in 1995? If you were born that year, you’d be entering your 4th decade of life this year, which is a milestone to celebrate. This article has been in the works for almost 30 years, because that’s about how long it took author Matt Owen to play all of them. I might have put Congo and Baywatch a little higher, but it’s his list, not mine.

We got a special message from our friend Don at Don’s Pinball Podcast last night. He wants to tell you all about his Top Topper Contest at Pinball Expo this year, and all the crazy giveaways he has in store for those who participate. I’m half tempted to glue together some action figures to make a run at it myself, even if it’s just a participation trophy, because knowing Don, I’m sure even those will be fun.

I spoke briefly with Pinball Expo founder Rob Berk this week and was pointed in the direction of some components of the show that were not on my radar previously, and if they weren’t on my radar, maybe they aren’t on yours either, so consider them radar-d.

If you haven’t noticed, we like to feature a lot of new music here. Unfortunately, I have no musical talent of my own, so things like custom guitars made from pinball playfields can be a little lost on me. But if you do play music, and you also like pinball, these might be worth checking out at the show.

One of my favorite parts of Expo is getting a chance to see (and play) a lot of obscure international games, like the Hankin collection from 2024. This year, a guy named Marc from a Dutch company called EuroPin is bringing some obscure titles and auctioning off a rare copy of Q*Bert’s Quest.

I already highlighted this panel a few weeks ago. I also said I wasn’t going to speak at Expo this year. But things change. Just like this panel did. The content was apparently too spicy for the likes of Jeremy Packer, Jack Guarnieri, and Christopher Franchi. But it’s not too spicy for me because I have no licensor relationships to worry about! Hooray! (If any of the three of you read this, know I’m just giving you a hard time, and I completely understand why you might not want to wade into these waters publicly.) Anyway, join us on Saturday at 11 am, and if nothing else, see Ian Jacoby go on an epic anti-AI rant.

Every time I do one of these things, I always fight the “nobody is going to come to my party” anxiety. I have no reason at all to have that anxiety, as multiple years of successful events have demonstrated. I still feel it anyway. This year is shaping up to be no different as we’re approaching sellout status for the Scorbit & Kineticist Pinball Media Mixer 3 at Pinball Expo. If you were thinking of joining us, you should probably put that RSVP in before we move to wait-list status.

Ryan and Scott from Pinball Map run a regular series that highlights one new or interesting pinball location each week. This week, Scott writes about Little Dipper Diner.

Logan stood over the Lights…Camera…Action! pinball machine in Little Dipper Diner, his shoulders rigid, his hands gripping the flipper buttons as if they were the only things tethering him to earth. The diner hummed with its usual late-night symphony. There was a hiss of grease, a jukebox moaning through a half-broken speaker, and a row of 1960s pinball machines ticking and flashing like restless sentries. Outside, the Anchorage twilight pressed heavy and cold against the windows. He wasn’t there for the game. Every clang of the ball was only a way to hold off the dread that deepened with each minute Jean stayed away.

The bell above the door gave its metallic cry, and Jean stumbled in. Her parka was half-off, her cheeks raw with windburn, eyes wide and frantic. Logan froze, the ball draining unnoticed. “Jean,” he rumbled, his voice low and gravelly. She shook her head. “Don’t. I don’t have time. I ran. I left him. He won’t stop, Logan, you don’t know what he’s capable of.” Her voice cracked, brittle as a love letter left out in the rain. Logan stepped closer, boots heavy on the tile. “Don’t need the details,” he said. “All I see is you, standin’ here, and that’s enough for me. Whatever devil’s at your back, he’ll have to go through me first.” Jean’s hands trembled as she clutched the edge of the counter. “I thought I’d be safe, but even now I feel him closing in.”

A beam of light tore through the front windows, flooding the diner in searing red and purple brilliance, like a laser pointer wielded by an angry god. The row of pinball machines flared and sparked, their bells clanging in panicked surrender. Jean cried out, the glow painting her face in feverish color. Logan pulled her against him, wrapping her tight in arms that smelled of smoke and sawdust. Glass rained down, the floor shook, but he pressed his forehead to hers and growled, “If the world ends tonight, it ends with me holdin’ you.” Her tears mixed with a trembling smile. “Then let it end.” This was just a fictional story set in Little Dipper Cafe. The real Little Dipper Cafe was not blown up by a destructive optic beam. It continues to offer classic American style diner food and houses six pinball machines. It is located at 1921 W. Dimond Blvd Suite 106 in Anchorage Alaska.

Little Dipper Diner
1921 W Dimond Blvd, Anchorage, AK 99515
Website

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