TOS 1:23 "A Taste of Armageddon," with Patrick "Papa" Raines Troubadours on Trek

Patrick Raines, better known in the Nashville music community as “MC Papa Raines,” was dubbed “Papa” when he was just a kid in high school. Papa Raines earned his nickname with his paternal congeniality. These days, he’s taken many a lucky up and coming songwriter under his wing. As a facilitator of great live music experiences and a connector of musicians and music industry folks, Patrick wears many hats. He books, promotes, and emcees shows all over town. He helps worthy songwriters and artists find their audiences and venues find their new favorite acts. In addition, he’s an actor, songwriter, comedian, scriptwriter, and rapper.

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 23, “A Taste of Armageddon." Topics include: working as an extra in Nashville, Papa Raines’ first credited role with “Chrisley Knows Best,” hanging with Nanny Faye, scriptwriting, Papa’s Star Trek conversion, being pro-Armegeddon, the changing landscape of Nashville, Tennessee, Wes Critt and the other young songwriters Papa Raines takes under his wing, Grace’s lack of podcast sponsors, Nichelle Nichols’ enduring legacy, Cracker Barrel, Star Trek’s storytelling and covert social commentary, “the most Southern thing I’ve ever heard,” Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce, Taylor Swift, who is Vladimir?, “the assimilation machine,” mirror universes, facial hair, Manscaping. Endorsement?, is there ever such thing as a civilized war?, if so, is a civilized war better?, why we need to both support our troops emphatically and with the utmost respect, and also be able to critique the decisions of our government when it comes to the military, the meaning of Patrick’s and my names, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the weirdly relevant Cold War themes of this episode, why we sometimes need to get our “software update,” there are 162 venues (plus or minus a few) venues in Nashville, those numbers at the end of the names in this episode, hobbies are meaningful, moving the ball, “More shall be revealed,” Go Cracker Barrel and don’t go in the machine!