Gen X Listener Questions & Advice: Our 80s Podcast Q&A

Hey, hey, hey!

I'm gonna sing a song for you. And Bill's gonna show you a thing or two.

What are we gonna do about a hell of a good time?

Come in a hell of a good time.

Hey y'all, welcome to another episode of Past Times at 80s High, the cast that takes you back. And this is our 75th episode, boys. And of course, as always, the boys are here. Hello, Donald. Hey, what's up? Hello, ISO, brother Mac. Hey guys, hello, and Kevin? Hello. Hello. So very exciting. Uh, we're doing episode 75, and we are recording on the semi quincentennial. So happy 4th of July, everyone. I hope I said that right. That's right. That's right. The greatest country that ever exists. It's a big word. It's a big word. But anyway, yeah. Happy Fourth of July, everyone out there. Be safe. Don't blow your hands off. And yeah, so what we're gonna do is we are gonna do an all-favor, you know, hodgepodge, mishmash, potpourri, if you will. It's a fan favorite and we like mixing things up. Um, but first we always gotta do our shout-outs, of course, Kevin. All right, AJ.

Today we welcome our friends in Sparks, Nevada, Lancaster, Texas, Boulder, Colorado, and uh Darlington, Darlington. I'm imagining that's is that Indiana? Darlington?

Perhaps all the states, though, this time, huh? But we welcome all.

Yeah.

West is coming in. Yeah. Awesome. We thank you all for listening.

We love all our friends.

Indeed, we do. And as always, we oh, one thing I did want to say is I am gonna, we are gonna um try to throw some clips in throughout for previous episodes, just uh some of our highlights, if you will.

But I'm gonna start you guys right off and break the ice with a Ricky. It's okay, honey. I know I'm fat. All right, rolling on with our buddy Ricky here, Reverend Rick. No wonder I was sick. I had a belly full of puke. If Rick had to wait for his beer, he'd say, Well, this would be a hell of a place to open a bar. So Ricky was the one that introduced me to the old saying that if you're looking for sympathy, you can find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary. And I've got some more Rick for you.

Nice. Ricky.

I've seen better heads of cabbage. Your breath would knock a buzzard off a shit wagon.

Yes.

But this one's my absolute favorite. I'm sure it has some other etymology, but I got it from Ricky, and it's she's so dumb. She couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the directions were on the heel.

We'll pick some favorites and toss those in, but we always get going right out of the gate. So just to give you an idea where we're going with this 75th episode of ours today, we're kind of taking our 50-year-old self and our seven-year-old self to make a 75 out of it. So, what advice would we give our seven-year-old self when we're 50? And what would we ask our 50-year-old self when we were seven? You know, and we put all the ages in between there as well, just to go back in time. So, I hope you guys enjoy it. We think it's gonna be a lot of fun, and we'll see where it takes us. And Dongo's gonna have the honors today, and our first category in this hodgepodge is gonna be what concert or act would you tell yourself not to miss, or what show should you not bother going to, or perhaps both.

All right, I think I will try to slide in both. Yes, why not, right? So the one that I would tell myself not to miss would have been the Alice Cooper concert that we went to. One that we got pulled over on the side of the road, and I had beers stashed in my jacket and got away with them and all that stuff. But then I partook in a little of the you know, the the lettuce, the devil's lettuce, the Mary Joanna. Yeah, and I got so baked. Like I'm one who who just like wants to go to bed. Like I wanted, like I was sitting in the chair, like with my head in my hands, like wanting to sleep. And I remember VJ like, dude, you gotta check this out. This is awesome. Like he's like screaming at the special effects, and the fans are going crazy, and I'm like snoring and paranoid.

Basically, you missed it because you were out of it, right?

Right. So I would tell myself, uh, you know, don't because I I never really to be completely frank, I never liked weed. I it didn't settle with me very well at all, but I just would do it because everybody else is doing it kind of thing. Everyone's doing it.

Well, there's this girl on my block. Every time I see her, she asks me to get high. And every time I tell her that I'm not into that, she says all the kids are doing it. If that's true, then why doesn't she find someone else to do it with?

So I would just say, don't do that. Have a couple beers and enjoy the show, you know. Yes, indeed. That's about 40 or 50 concerts for me. And then the one I would like miss was the Rolling Stones. Um, I don't know if it was a comeback tour. It probably was a comeback tour of some kind. It was in 1994, and I saw them in the Seattle Superdome, which I don't know what the seating capacity of that venue was, but it was like 70,000 people or something like that. And we were like, you know, stages on the far end. I'm as far up and back as you could be, you know, felt like I was a half a mile away, you know, not enjoyable whatsoever. Just a large venue of people listening to the stones who I like the stones, but I'm not a big stones fan, and uh there wasn't anything special about it for me. So hey, yeah, you like what you'll do with big shows like that. I'm out, you know. I think we were talking earlier before the cast about the decline of big concerts and stuff like that, and uh that kind of was maybe the start of it for me.

Yes, oh it a huge decline. Like that was a perfect video just to explain what Dongo's talking about there, just how music today is all it's all pre-planned on a laptop, and there's no more live without a net aspect, and it's too friggin' bad. It really is. Yeah, it sickens me.

I'll actually post that rant that guy did to the Facebook group because I think it's it's worthwhile. I will say there's still there are still musicians out there playing live music. Yeah, absolutely. It's not the big venues, it's not those shows like that. And the way he describes it, you should check it out because the way he describes it is like it wasn't planned. It just, oh, we're gonna make the lighting a little better, we're gonna make this a little better, we're gonna make that. And before you're done, what do you say? It's like watching somebody bag groceries and then clapping when they fill a bag, right? You know, it's he he hits it right on the head. So check that out. I'll put it up on the on the page.

Awesome, awesome. Yeah, and just one more thing on that is with YouTube nowadays, you know, you don't want to some people want to see what's happening, some people don't want to ruin the surprise. But if you just watch half a song, you can pretty much tell if they're doing it live or not, and you can make your decision if you're gonna purchase that ticket that way. We vote with our wallet people. That's right, right? Awesome, Dongo, and that's to you, Kevin.

All right, well, I'm gonna start with two things. So, uh, Donnie talking about the Alice Cooper concert. Um, I had a similar experience at an ACDC show. Um, back in the day, before it was legalized, you would go through droughts with the marijuana. And uh usually when that happened, they would bring down hash from Canada to fill the uh the shelves. But that I don't know what it was about that, but it always destroyed my lungs and ruined me. But it was an ACDC concert. I think Accept opened for them, and I think I was down front for Accept, and the hash was going around everywhere. So by the time the lights came on in between the two, I just remember looking up, obviously Cumberland County, I remember looking up to the right and somehow picking out my friends sitting down. And I went up, there was no seat, I just sat on that nasty concrete, but I got there and sat down. The second I sat down, I passed out right in a stairwell on a stairwell at an ACDC concert. Thankfully, I woke up when ACDC came on. So that that worked out okay. So so Don, you talked about the stones, and I think that was like either the steel wheelchairs tour or the bridges to Babylon, and I saw it at what was Foxborough before was it Schaefer? Schaefer Stadium, yeah.

It ended up Foxborough Stadium when it closed in all one.

Right. But I was like just like you, I was at the absolute back. I mean, I was on the left-hand side, but I could literally look over the aluminum wall, yeah, all the way down. And it was you're right, that was the beginning of the pre-fab performance. I wanted to see Keith Richards play guitar. He came out and they did a montage of their biggest 20 hits, one right into the other one, and it was all synchronized and meant nothing. And I was like, Well, that was the only thing that was cool is they did Sympathy for the Devil. They did a little bit of a lead into it, filled up the whole stadium with dry ice and red lights. So you're like, Okay, maybe Satan's gonna pop out of the map here or something. This could be cool, but um, so anyway, it's funny that that you mentioned two things that that I identified with. So I'll do mine real quick because there's a million people that I would have loved to have seen. Um, and the one band that I would love to see is a band that I saw, but they were not on that night. The Grateful Dead was famous for having good nights and bad nights. I saw them, I think, at the uh Boston Garden on the 25th of September, like '91. Bruce Hornsby was playing keyboards with them. Um Wellnik had just bo joined the band, and Brent Midland had just passed away. Um dangerous job being keyboard player for the Grateful Dead. Yeah. It's not a long life expectancy.

It's like spinal tap drummers.

Exactly, exactly. Well, you don't you can't you can't dust for vomit, can you?

What happened to him? He died. He he died in a bizarre gardening accident some years back. It's really one of those things that was, you know, the authorities said, you know, best leave it unsolved, really, you know. And he was replaced by uh Stumpy Joe. Eric Stampy Joe Childs. And what happened to Stumpy Joe?

Well, uh, it's not a very pleasant story, but um he died, uh he choked on uh the act the official explanation was he choked on vomit. It was actually someone else's vomit. It's not ugly. You know, there's no real Well I can't prove whose vomit it was. They never they don't have facilities and come in their way of to print really photographing dust for vomit.

That they were not on that night. It was not a good night for them. It was the fifth night of a six-night gig and indoor, and from everybody that I've talked to, the outdoor shows were the best. So if I could go back and see one band, it would be The Grateful Dead outdoors on a good night because you know they're an interesting phenomenon because you know they let everybody tape everything. So now I mean it's been I mean, Bob Weir's been dead for a year, Jerry's been dead since 90 something, and they're still releasing people's tapes of concerts. Oh, yeah, and you can just hear all the different treatments and the way they approach different songs at different times. And it's it's just amazing to go out there. We were talking about you know the pre-programmed Rolling Stone stuff. These guys were like, nobody knew how the song was gonna go.

Oh, yeah, they never knew.

Yeah, all of a sudden a hard rocking song was gonna be bluegrass or reggae, they'd change it up completely in the middle of doing it, so they were the epitome of that in the moment, yeah, making music. I just had the misfortune of the one time I saw them, it didn't go well.

They suck, yeah. And places like the garden and fenway both suck for tailgating, you know. They have concerts in those places, and there's not a parking lot, you know, there's like little gas station parking lots, you know, like 50 of them, you know. Major parking area, you know.

Tailgate at the T, right? Yeah, station or whatever.

Oliver. Yes, all of them. We we parked under the bridge before the well, again, this is 91, so before the big suspension bridge was there, right? We just parked under the bridge, jumped out of the car, and all the people I was with bought acid from some dirty hippie and took like three hits apiece and went out of their fucking minds. And I spent the whole night babysitting.

Oh, that does not sound funny.

It wasn't fun. Not fun.

Oh man. And the show sucked to boot.

And the band was not on. So yeah, that's don't bother on that one, but let's switch it for a different one.

Yes. Awesome, Kev. Yeah, definitely sounds like good misery there. All right, we're off to you, brother Mark.

All right, I took a little different angle on this one. Um, the the concert that I have two ways on the concert I wish I would have gone to, or I'm glad I did go to the Kiss Reunion tour. I mean, if I ever missed that, I would have regretted it for my whole life. That was magical, spiritual. It was such a great time. We saw them two nights in a row. The band I would have loved to have seen but never did is Alice and Chains. But the concert that I regret going to has absolutely nothing to do with the acts. It has everything to do with my behavior that night.

Uh-oh.

Okay, we're talking the very early. Well, this is 1991, June, I do believe. I was out of control. Early 90s, I was out of control. It was not a joy to be around. I will be the first to admit it. But uh, I'm getting over a breakup at this time. So, yeah, it was old Orchard Beach. It was Cinderella, one of my favorite bands of all time. I believe Extreme. And I David Lee Roth was the headliner, and I had already seen him in Manchester, but uh anyway, so I'm drinking like an idiot back in these days. During the first half of Cinderella, I think, I'm sitting up there and like, I don't really feel good. I'm gonna go out to the car or whatever. And I decide to do that. And I said, Okay, I guess I'll go back in now. And I didn't realize it was this thing, no re-entry. So I go up there, and this freaking guy was oh, you can't come in. You can't come in. You're not supposed to come in because you're there's no re-entry, blah blah blah. So I I go back to the car. I don't think I even went to the car at first, but then I decide, well, I'll just go in there and sit there and drink. And the doors are locked, of course. So I I'm sitting there and some guy says, Let's try to get back in. So I'm I get to the gate and I sprint, and all of a sudden the same guy tackles me. And then I I of course, you're going to jail, the guy says. And you know, I was really upset. I'm saying, you have a black heart, blah, blah, blah. Because I was I got a weak stomach now. I was just being an idiot. And uh, so I get down there and I'm sitting behind bars. I'm like, what the fuck did I do? How am I gonna get home? And you know, um, then they they say, Well, your bail is $25. I look into my wallet, $21. What do I do now? I called mom, she's yelling at them, and of course I'm being super nice to them at this point. And then, of course, I have to go to court. Mom and dad go with me. I I plead not guilty to both charges. I paid for the ticket. Oh, both charges. They charged me with assault, too. Probably only because they will drop that if you accept the other one. And I pleaded not guilty. Then I met I went back and you they take you up back, and you were told not to re-enter. You told you were told to leave, and I I'm like, Well, I had the ticket. Well, you were told to leave, and uh I never touched the guy. He says, Well, we'll drop those charges. Hundred dollar fine, big freaking deal. But that was yeah, it's a miserable one, brother. Oh, it was it was terrible, but I could have picked the one with uh when I was green in Worcester when I had food poisoning.

Oh yeah, that was miserable.

Yeah, so there's been a couple, but I as far as acts, I don't think I've ever been to a bad concert.

I really don't tell you, Mark, that the re-entry thing is pretty much for every show on the planet. I didn't I know that now I haven't when you because you could simply do what we did in Worcester and give somebody your stub so they can come to your seat. So you could simply hand that through the fence to somebody who's not in and then they come in. You get it? Well, that makes sense. Yes. You you were charged with assault because the security guide tackled you. That happened to me once, too.

And I and I got this thing, and it's all you know, you're not allowed to contact this person. I'm like, I wouldn't know him if I, you know.

I mean, I'm just a restraining order on Ed the security guard.

Yeah, but exactly. So anyway, I at the the end of the story is they just David and Moulton decided it's probably a good idea to stop at the police station, and sure enough, they did. Thank God. But oh my god.

Where's your brother? I don't know. Let's check the police station.

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty pretty good. Call in our family. Yeah. Right.

The only time I've ever been arrested, I'm gonna keep it that way. Yeah, that a boy. Because I'm gonna go on a little bit of a heater here. Um, the song is Sweet Caroline. Is this a hate or love? Hate. Okay. I mean, I don't mind the song, but I mean you hear it all the time in the eighth inning at Fenway Park. But real fans like me, fans, normal fans, real ones that bang their head in the wall. Take a deep breath! Okay, well, we'll go to football for a minute. I went to Buffalo, the Patriots made a stupid play, going into half. It was with Valerie, and uh I banged, slammed my head against the wall. That is what normal, real fans do. Normal fans, when Rich Gedman hits a ball that's clearly inside the foul pole in Kansas City, and they call it a foul ball. Um and Big Al ends up finally saying, I've had enough. I can't deal with this anymore. You're too insane when it comes to you know passion in your your your games. The bottom line is because I'm a real fan, and that's what real fans do. They act insane.

Awesome. Alrighty, great ones, and we're to me, and I'll be pretty brief on mine. I I had a million here. I was gonna say, you know, any kiss and makeup concert, you know, prior to them taking the makeup off. Gotta tie it to kiss, but that's not what I'm going with. I'm actually going with another kiss concert. Gotta tie it to kiss. That's gonna be July 25th, 1980, at the Palladium in New York City. This is Eric Carr's first show, which is technically a makeup show, but you know, not with Peter Chris.

Hello, Australia. This is Gene Simmons of Kiss, and I'd like to introduce you to Paul Stanley of Kiss, who wants to introduce you to Ace Baley of Kiss. What's the name of the new drummer?

I think his name is uh his name is uh uh uh I remember, I remember. His name is Eric Carr, and he's incredible. Okay.

Now get out of the It's just a very sought-after show for KISS fans, and his first show, Eddie Trunk talks about it all the time because he was there, and you go in and you see this big drum set with a double kick drum, and then this dude, the Fox, comes out, and he was just fucking instantly embraced and loved, you know. And to be at that show, not only that, but I believe it's the Unmasked. Yeah, it was for Unmasked, which I don't even believe they toured in the States, but um don't quote me on that.

But Australia was the big one on Australia.

Right. But they did Is That You and You're All That I Want. And one thing that I thought was great about it is they closed, you know, the fake Encore when they pretend the show is ending. They closed that with Rock and Roll All Night. Yeah, exactly. With Rock and Roll All Night, and then they they end the show for the night, the encore with Black Diamond. And Eric Carr singing, so it just must have been a super highlight, and they call that kind of an underplay where it's a smaller venue, you know, they're not at an arena or anything, which probably because they couldn't even, you know, fill an eighth of the seats at that point in their career. But that's something that I really wish I was at. And then I'm gonna do a hatred as well, and this is at the Cumberland County Civic Center. Um God, I I wrote it down here. Uh, February 27th, 1992, and it was the Wherever We May Roam tour from Metallica. And believe it or not, um, I I love Metallica, but this show was so long. And first you had Kevin, your favorite person, Idiot Lars, you know, is on the screen call on the screen, and you know, talking with his annoying fucking voice. And they've only played the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine, two times. I was really surprised, and that's because it's a smaller venue, they just you know probably play never went back because they'd have to play like eight nights there. But I mean, I've seen them countless times, and I always love them. And this show was just brutal. It was boring as fuck. Dongo, I was there with Todd. It was just Todd and I, and we had decent seats. We were up on the side, same thing. We got pretty baked, and then we're just staring at this. I don't know. It was just I've never seen Metallica be boring, and they were boring as hell. We left. We actually walked out probably, you know, two-thirds into the show. We friggin', yeah. Let's go get it. When you say boring, what were they just were they tired or something? I couldn't tell you, Mark. It was just friggin' we were miserable and wanted Burger King. So we left. Yeah, it was just it was not exciting at all, you know. I don't know if they were off, if they weren't loud enough. I can't recall why, but I just know that we were both miserable, and I would never be miserable at a Metallica show.

So they had a bad night. Exactly.

A bad night. You gotta you gotta think. I mean, think about your life. Are are you are you a hundred percent every day? Right, exactly. Of course, and to come out and entertain doing 300 something shows a a year on the you know what I mean? They'd been touring since what 80?

Yeah, right. Well, yeah. Early 80s, early 80s for kill them.

So, you know, other than Christ himself, there's only one person that walked the earth that was perfect every day. Can I guess his name? Yes, please. Is it Mark White?

No, Kurt Henning, for God's sake.

Oh, yeah, Mr. Perfect. That was stupid of it. Everything he did, AJ. Bowl the 300 every game. And that's Kurt Henning, Mr. Perfect. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame.

Uh I can't, I get so humble, I don't know what to say.

I mean to golf an 18 every outing, to, you know, bowl a 300 every time, just home run every every at bat, just without a flaw, without a blemish, from top to bottom, everything that I have ever done has been absolutely perfect.

He was just I didn't watch that one. The perfect man.

Golf at 18. Yes, check out our WWF Heels episode. It's one of the early ones. Was he related to Doug Henning? Oh, good question. I do know.

I think was his dad, the wrestler, but no, no, no, the magician. Oh, remember the magician in the 70s with a big it's an illusion.

Oh, yeah. I don't believe he is. I'm guessing not. All right, that wraps that category up, and we're gonna go to Dongo for number six, which is what moment from your youth would you like to witness just to laugh at your dumb ass?

That was hard for me because it would probably be all of it, you know. There was an immensely, you know, dumbness to my upbringing. But I would pick um right before I moved to New Hampshire, I'm in like the fifth, sixth, seventh-ish grade. And in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, which is right next to Brockton Mass. Um, you know, the Chess King was big back then. And you know, wearing like parachute pants and and you know, cavericis and just of course awful, awful states of dress uh and hairstyles, and you know, wearing like checkered shoes and just fans and you know just looking like an idiot, you know, and going to dances and being a complete idiot. I would I wouldn't just laugh at myself back then.

And you're Z Cavaricis with your belt under your chest.

Right, right, right. All right, so my dumb thing is also probably one of the most funniest things that I remember from my childhood. Like the funniest thing I can recall. And I remember the first time I did it, and then subsequent multiple times doing it after, and that was lighting farts on fire. Batmobiles! Like the first time I ever saw it happen, it was like, oh my god, it's true. Like, you know, it was this that you didn't you didn't believe it, and then you saw it, and it was like that I never laughed as hard as I did in my life.

But I remember in Hinsdale timeout, we did it with I'm cutting you off, Donald. Don't use names here because I don't want to embarrass our friend.

I won't embarrass any friends, but a friend may have singed eyebrows. Oh, he definitely did. It was literally like the real Batmobile shooting flames. We called it the Batmobile because that's what it looked like. Yeah. Yeah. Full afterburner of an F-14. And you know, now I recommend doing the Tendris.

Why the hell was his face that close to you?

I gotta tell ya. I gotta tell the story. I gotta tell this story, all right? Now we have a legitimate question. We have three 13-year-old boys, great friends hanging out, and we're laughing our ass off about this because we heard the rumor. So rather than trying to do it yourself, somebody would get on their hands and knees, and the other person would go to but go behind them with a lighter and flick it on. And you know, full arm's length. That's how bad this was. Full arm's length. Maybe that's why they call it gas, and Donnie fucking lights it up, and our good buddy, who who shall not be named, rips one and fucking singes Donnie's eyebrows. And we hear it.

It was the funniest, scariest thing ever, but just as dumb. That's dumb. That's dumb.

That is dumb.

Yeah. Oh yeah, I'm sure we would all be laughing at you and ourselves with that dress. Hell, I wore spandex out at night. Exactly. So bad. Awesome done. All right, Kevin.

So so I I I tried to think of like some of the funniest. And this one was uh it must have been hilarious to witness. It was not funny for me, but it must have been hilarious. So I've talked about some of the parties we had at my buddy's house, you know, his mom buying us beer and the cops coming and all that. Well, this one was this one was later down the road. This was probably I don't know if it was probably junior year. And it was a graduation party for the for the seniors. And who was who was the who was the love interest in in um say anything? Ioni Skye was the actress. What was the character?

I can't remember. I was thinking about it.

Anything we say wouldn't be wrong because you said say anything. So yeah, exactly.

Sky's character in in Say Anything was Diane Court.

Diane Court, right, because they kept saying that. I can't believe, can't believe Doblers going out with Diane Cork. Uh, but this girl was literally her. I mean, not looks, she was drop dead gorgeous. But she was one of those girls that was so pretty that nobody all through her high school career, nobody dared ask her out because they all just assumed that she had a boyfriend.

She loved each of the things. All the guys on the corner stand back to one by the buddy feel. She's got the beats of so she was.

She was my Diane Court.

Or she was a bitch.

She wasn't. She was sweet. So I start talking to her, and she's like, Oh, why are you talking to me now? You should have talked to me before. I'm going off to college in a couple weeks, and I'm the gears are turning, and whatever else. So this is going well, right? You know, we're having this conversation. My night is looking to improve greatly. Next thing I know, my ass is in a tire, in a truck tire, and she's standing over me. Are you all right?

Oh no.

And I was like, What happened? I didn't find out till later. My buddy Ronnie came up and he went to punch another friend of ours on the shoulder. Now, Ronnie was pretty hammered at this time. So he throws this big roundhouse punch.

Oh no.

Misses our buddy's shoulder and connects with my jaw square. So I literally like came up. So I'm right in the middle of talking to this beautiful woman, and he just knocks me right up into the air, unconscious, in a tire. Whoa. And I lost all my mojo. And so instead of uh so so instead of uh instead of hooking up with Brian Johnson from Breakfast Club, she ended up going with Bender that night, and uh I missed out.

Oh, what a bummer, man.

I always appreciated that, Ronnie.

Awesome. All right, brother Mark. Okay, well, back in the day, I I'm talking about in in Littleton. I was, you know, when I was a little kid, little, you know, fourth, fifth, sixth grade, blah, blah, blah. I I was obsessed with snow. I hated it. I despised it. And I could go I could go any possible way. I might just give a c a couple anecdotes. I I it was just so weird. But um, I used to I would call people and ask them how much snow they had. I would call people in different towns. Literally. I called somebody up in Pittsburgh. Hi, um, could you tell me how much snow you have? Oh, I don't know, about 10 or 12 inches. Okay, thank you. And then I called somebody in Woodville and they're like, Well, we there's a little ice on the ground. I mean, we don't have much, and they're probably like, what the hell is wrong with that? Just random?

Were you just picking random numbers?

Random phone numbers, long distance. I used to call weather phones all over northern New Hampshire to get the forecast, rang up a $56 bill for my mother. This is in the 1970s.

Helen, can I help you?

Hello? Yes, I'm calling about the phobia. I have a phobia.

Uh-huh.

Uh can I speak to you about it?

Uh well, is it that you wanted to make an appointment?

Uh, it's just it's funny because it's I'm afraid. And I just want to talk to somebody about that.

We don't have a hot mind.

Pardon me?

We don't have a hot mind.

But well, what are you doing there? Can I speak to you about my phobia?

Well, I'm a secretary here.

But maybe you could just help me along a little. Maybe. You never know.

Right.

You never, never know.

What's your name?

Oh, my name is Saul Rosenberg.

253-7800 is weather watch. I'll never forget.

Yeah, but that was not long distance. But I was calling Perlin and whatever. I even called like Mitterstill, they would give a weather report. And I hated snow so much. There was like this metal awning or whatever, and uh quarry wood. I call it quarry wood instead of collinwood. And uh anyway, if you went under it, there was grass. No matter how much snow you had on the ground, and I would go under there and lie down, and just so I could lie down on the grass. And I don't know what happened. I don't know if you believe in past lives, something happened, something's not right up there.

I was gonna we know that, but I was gonna ask, you know, if something happened, because the hatred is there and so true, and to the point where I've seen Mark out on the yard with the hose melting the last patch of snow.

I mean, and then it was even that. Like, if if I felt it was too warm, if you were wearing clothes that were inappropriate, even if it was appropriate, Mark Anderson came into the house in Littleton and he was wearing a snowsuit, and it was probably five degrees out, and I punched him in the face. What is the matter with me? I threw Fred and Kevin out because it was 60 degrees, and their mother put them in a in a parker. That was unacceptable to me. So I threw them out, my best friends.

Oh my god.

And then, of course, I did sit in a car when it was hot to sweat, but that's kind of a different deal there. I mean, most people do do that if they can't sweat in their 10, and their friends can, but four man sauna, right? Yeah, no, I just wanted I thought it looked so cool to see sweat on you, but all right. So I think we know that there's something not right there, but hey, I I wear it with pride.

We're gonna have a therapy session down the road. Uh too funny. All right, that's to me. And this one, like you, Kevin, was not so funny to me, but I'd like to witness the whole you know happening of it. I actually spoke about this at my father's uh funeral. It's the second time I broke my leg. This time it wasn't here for all March. Um the second time I broke my leg, uh, we had recently moved to Guildford, and my father took me skiing for the first time to Gunstock. We get off the chairlift and ski around, and he holds me between his skis, and we start going down the mountain. This is pistol. I'll never forget the trail either. But he then he says to me, Ready, son? And I just looked at him like, what the fuck are you talking about? And he just shoved me. I went down the hill alone and did not know how to ski in one iota.

It is the only way a Chinese down here.

What the fucker is a Chinese down here?

Whatsoever, and just roll, smash, bam, crack. Broke my fucking leg. Oh boy. Oh god. But that's not the reason this is funny to me. The reason why you're not laughing at yourself, but yeah. What kind of uh this is the reason it makes me laugh. My dear old dad carries me in his arms, skis me to the bottom of the mountain to ski patrol, they strap me into the orange sled to cart me off to the ambulance, and my d my dad bends over, kisses me on the forehead, and says, I'm just gonna take one more run, son. And and then he fucking does. And when he's at the top of the mountain, he says he sees the ambulance take off. He says, His mother's gonna kill me, Peggy's gonna kill me, to be precise. And I wish I could witness that because it's hilarious to me now, but at that point, I don't imagine I found it that funny. Probably not.

No, and lock him up today.

Yeah, absolutely.

That man just pushed his kid down the mountain, broke his leg, put him in the ambulance, and then went back for another fucking ski. And kept skiing. You you would have grown up in in uh foster care. Yeah, unbelievable.

Exactly.

And then they'd go to the house to see what the rest, you know, to check everything out, and Mark would be out there with a hose melting the snow, talking to people on the phone in Berlin. Right. So we're gonna have to check this kid out, too.

There's something not right in this household.

Something ain't quite right for these guys.

Oh my gosh.

All right.

A thing that when I moved to New Hampshire and met AJ, we went out to play war, and it was more than just bang your dead kind of stuff. Because I remember, like, you probably have PTSD over this event where you were on the other team and we captured you, and the guy had like a torture thing. He had like this electrical box that you crank up and it puts voltage. And I remember you flipped out.

I flipped out the damn right. No one fucking not gonna have that. One second.

Like AJ could put him in. Put him back up to you. I remember oh my god, did you flip out?

I would have flipped out. Oh, I fought him off. They didn't get me. Yeah. You put his light agents. Yeah, I forget his last name. His name was West and It's gonna electrocute you. He's gonna electrocute you. And I had no idea.

Unreal. Like this guy just brought it out of the blue. Like, you know, we're here, we are just playing for fun, and he brings out this like a sitcom episode. It's almost like a signfall something Kramer would have done. And it's not like when I had to get like, where's your base? Where's your camp or whatever, you know, trying to get info out of you? It's just a war games, though it was called on the 40 years later.

Which prison is he in? I mean, we know how this turns out.

I don't even remember who that guy was. He was the organizer of the event, but it was Todd Payne. Oh, okay. You remember his name, probably because the burn psyche.

Wow, Todd Payne. He wore corn, he wore camels. He does what he says. Oh my god. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to bring that up.

That's number five to you, Dongo. And what we're gonna do here is what job would you tell yourself not to have taken? Or which job should you have taken? Or both yet again?

All right. So this one's bittersweet uh because I had just finished my career as a firefighter paramedic. And during that time as a firefighter paramedic, I became a paramedic. So I started off as just a firefighter. And you always have to be a firefighter and an EMT. And there's multiple levels of EMT. There's EMT basic. Used to be called intermediate, now it's called advanced, and then there's paramedic. So I was the equivalent of an EMT advanced, which was back then an intermediate. I was seven years into my career, and I went to paramedic school, and uh it it opened up doors for me. It was something I always wanted to do because I love to be Johnny and Roy and all that kind of stuff.

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Um but looking back on it, with the extra money, the extra responsibility, the toll it takes on your soul and and your mental health and all that kind of stuff, I probably would say, Don't do it. Don't do it, don't do it. It's not worth it. Yeah, it's not worth it. Um, but yet again, I had a lot of uh good experiences with it as well. But again, if I'm putting it on a scale and saying, was it good or bad? It was probably bad for me to become a paramedic. Um regret. Yeah, yeah. So, but again, like it's bittersweet. Um, you know, I could still do stuff with it if I want to, if I choose to go and save someone's life, maybe, yeah, yeah.

Like he did in in Washington State, yeah.

That was before any of that, but yeah, um, but yeah, so that was that was that, and but again, I wouldn't I wouldn't trade my uh time in the fire service for anything, it was very rewarding. Nice, but I'm definitely looking forward to doing something different. So nice.

Yeah, so you're tying those into one. And congratulations on your retirement, darling. Bongo is now retired, yes, right.

Lucky I hate using that word, I would just say like career, career um change, you know, obligation was fulfilled. Uh, because retirement sounds like very you know, old and finalized, but and disrespectful the people that are gonna bury work, be buried working anyway.

So you're tying both of yours into the one, Dongo. Yes, yes, all right. So do you, Kev?

All right, dongo. I need five CCs of Ringer's Lactin.

Yes, indeed.

Yeah, one for for Roy DeSoto.

Yeah.

Um, so that so this one is. I don't, I think this is both. I think if I'd done it, I'd be talking about how I wished I hadn't. And but now, not having done it, I wonder if I should have. But this was about a year into becoming a single father, and a very famous restaurant had burnt down, and a very wealthy man had decided he was going to rebuild it. Uh, he purchased the name, they rebuilt this amazing facility. Um, the son-in-law, his friend, and the contractor were all good friends of mine. So I was I was the first offer to be the GM of the place, and they had told me they were gonna sell it to me. But I went home and took stock in it and thought that how am I gonna be a single dad and give my son what he deserves and open a brand new high-end restaurant at the same time. So I declined it. I wonder now what would have happened if I had taken it. So I think that's the only one where I'd go back. The only job because I don't know, when it comes to jobs, I think you you um you you learn something or or you succeed. One or the other. Absolutely, right? Any job you had is something that has built on an ability that I have today.

Of course. Right.

So I don't think there's any jobs I regret. Um, but that one I always wonder how the path would have changed if I'd taken that, if I'd taken that gig.

Absolutely. We have a special guest today, and that is Sonny Pooney from the Growing Up Rock podcast. Oh, yeah, Sonny Hollywood Poony, forgive me.

And I know we got karaoke people on this show.

Donnie definitely thing all the time.

I'm gonna tell you right now, careless whisper kills. Oh, yeah. Women all around you have to be. Oh, yep, perfect. I'm gonna put Caroless Whisper, Carolis Whisper, wham. Not hair whisper. Oh, yeah, we've we've used that in two past.

Careless Whisper's about my cat. Wait a minute. It's a Mexican.

Oh my god.

Boy, to have a job you didn't regret. That's pretty good, Kevin.

And now, a short commercial break.

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Pop Rock, Jack, Stretch Armstrong, Jack, the Bionic Man. Jack. You've gone back in time. This is Pastime's A Time.

All right, brother.

All right, well, full disclosure, I've been self-employed for nearly 30 years now, so I don't play well with others. But that being said, back in the the one job, or possibly two, but one um when I worked at 9X Material Enterprises, Material with an E. Is this the phone book company? The f yeah. It was uh that was probably one of my favorite jobs of all time.

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They there was a guy that trained me who hated my guts, especially after he went back to Manchester. And because he lived in Lacone, he loved it up there, and he wanted that job. Or I don't maybe he didn't live up there. I don't, but anyway, he would treat me like shit when he would bring truckloads in. And he ended up getting a job, and and they were laying me off. They said, You can come work down here if you want. And I I said, I'm gonna go to college and all that stuff. And you know, I it it may have been a good career. And then the other one was just quickly um at the post office. Uncle Dick down in Hinsdale came over and said, Congratulations, you know, and it was a janitor's job at the post office. And I I don't want to say if I feel like um, you know, I was above it or anything, but I had already done mail delivery and mail clerk stuff.

And uh, Carl? What can I ask you a question? Sure. How does one become a janitor?

You want to be a janitor?

No, I just want to know how one becomes a janitor because Andrew here is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts. Oh, really?

You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant, sir? Peon, huh? Maybe so. Falling a broom around after shitheads like you for the last eight years, I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, look through your lockers. I listened to your conversations. You don't know that, but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution, my friends.

Yeah, I I kind of regret that a little bit. I felt I mean, what's the word? Just you were miserable. What's that? You were miserable? Is that what you're saying? Well, no, I it just means that I I thought I was above it or something, and I would have punched myself for that now. But anyway, the job that I regret taking is the very first job I ever took. It was at a place called Kingswood Campground. Oh no. Okay? Dad was saying, Mackie work six hours a day. The rest of the day, there's a lake there, you can fish all day. There's all kinds of people, play games, sports, everything. You'll get $325 for working for six weeks. First thought I can get a nice amplifier for my guitar. So I took it. So I go up there six hours a day, my ass. Fourteen hours a day. Fourteen hours a day working in the kitchen, and I had like a half a day off on Tuesday. So I was exhausted constantly, and and of course, because of all my weather issues, they put me on some kind of drug, and uh, I'm sitting there in a fog all the time, and I gotta tell you, I was only there three weeks, it seemed like three years. And thank God I sucked at my job and I got fired. It's like 44 cents an hour, it turned out to be 44 cents an hour. So I think I made like $129 for three weeks of work. Oh my god. Wow.

And I remember that. I remember you were.

Oh, I was so relieved when I got fired. I cannot be begin to tell you. I had no time to do it. Why did you just quit? I was 15 or 16 years old. I I had no car, I had nothing. What am I gonna do? So find a job. I was out at camp. So yeah. I mean, I did there's a ton of jobs I've taken over the years that I regret taking. But this one, I mean, I have had some good ones, but my but the best one I ever had is the one I have now. So self-employed. Yes, there you go. There you go. Yes, my boss is an asshole, but other than that, it's great.

Yeah, I heard his employee sucks too. So yeah, exactly. That's the problem with being a business owner. Self-employed. My boss sucks, and my my staff is terrible.

So, anyway, I bought a I bought a I think it was a crate amplifier when I got home. Crappy amplifier, but that's why I went there. All for any money.

All right. I'm tying mine into uh one as well. Favorite job I ever had was absolutely my first job. I think I was 11 years old when I started as a busboy at the Pier restaurant in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. It's a little bit of a tourist trap, summer summer area, arcades all around, lake. I loved it. I started as a busboy, wound up managing the place later. Uh I've never had so much fun in my life over those years. Great friends, Dongo, you worked there with me, my buddy VJ, and many, many, many others. It was just a blast. You know, ride my motorcycle in when I was old enough, play video games before and after, jump in the lake, take a lake bath, and then go cruise chicks. It was just fun. But my regret of said job is that put me into the restaurant business, which is where I am now. I wish I never took that job. I wish I listened to my mom and did something with myself because now I'm in the restaurant business and I don't love it. You know, I don't love it at all. God willing, someday we shall see. And speaking of KISS podcasts, one of my favorites is Podcast Rock City, which you can see at 7 p.m. on Sunday nights typically. And we have our first appointment viewing.

Appointment viewing, sorry.

Appointment viewing, yes. And we have us our first guest today, and that is Joe, the host of Podcast Rock City. How you doing, Joe?

I'm doing great. How are you guys?

Excellent. Awesome. Really excited about this.

I before we get started, I want to go ahead and say um, having to come up with a list of records from 1983 is the biggest load of shit I've had to deal with. Yeah, there's like 80 different records that came out. Yeah, whatever. I don't know how you guys did 81 and 82.

And I'll leave it at that and go to you, dongo, for number four, which is a simple one, could be long, but explain your perfect day as a youth.

Ute as a yute. All right. So my perfect day, and I was very fortunate when I was growing up that my parents had a summer home on Long Pond in East Freetown, Mass, and it was uh it was a cottage. We called it a cottage, and it was you know, four walls, a roof. It had no uh shower, you know, no real true plumbing. The water came from the lake. Yep. Um, knowing what I know now about like septic tanks and stuff, I guarantee you it was just like a hole in the ground kind of thing, which is gross. Um, which is why when it gets hot, like it's been, you know, this bacteria plumes and all the lakes and all that stuff, is because all the old camps around the lakes that just put their poo right into it, you know. Um but anywho, so but I was very fortunate to you know wake up in the morning there, uh run downstairs, never wear wore shoes, you know. Basically a pair of shorts was all my clothing of the day, you know, grab a bowl of Captain Crunch, and then from like you know, nine o'clock till eight o'clock at night, it was either swimming or playing in the beach and just you know, playing in the sun and never wore a sunblock, you know. Yeah, never got a sunburn.

Yeah, I I don't know how that ever worked, but you know, your diet wasn't consisted of all hydrogenated oils. That's I don't know where my mother was, you know.

My mother was probably reading a book somewhere. I never saw her. It was literally just you know, outside running around. Um, very vivid memories of the cicadas, which I don't hear as much as I used to, but back then it was like it was like summer. You knew it was summer when you heard that that buzz sound. I never knew what the hell it was. I really didn't. I was like, what the hell is that noise? And then years later, the internet, it's like, oh the cicadas or whatever. I had no idea about that shit. And then, you know, like you know, we'd play till you know it gets dark in summertime around nine, so we'd be playing still out outside and then go to bed, you know. That was it. Just simple, simple, just outdoor playing in bare feet and shorts and swimming and no responsibilities without a care in the world. Yeah, the joke in summer seemed like it lasted like a decade. Oh, it did. Yeah, yeah.

I swear to God, I mean we these kids now go to school like at August 25th. We always went the Wednesday after Labor Day, yeah. And he actually got out earlier, like like the 10th of June.

So I don't understand how that works, but it's a blink of an eye now. Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right, Kev, that's off to you. I rode my bike.

Indeed.

That's it.

That's all you're running with.

That's it. Honestly, you know what I didn't do? I didn't pay bills. Yes, I didn't have to cook meals, right? I didn't have to fix plumbing, I didn't have to go to events that I didn't want to go to. I didn't have to pretend to like people that I didn't like. I got up in the morning. If I was lucky, I got a bowl of cereal. I went across the street to the school that was across the street from where I grew up, and I rode my bike from first thing in the morning until I had to be home for dinner, and then back out again, and that was it. And that was the perfect day.

Just riding my bike. Yeah, nice and simple. Perfect. Mine's gonna go a lot deeper, but it involves pretty much that as well. Last but not certainly least, we have a guest today, and that would be Mr. Kevin Shaw. How's it going, Kev? Good, eh? How are you, buddy?

There's so many reasons that I hated the dolphins. One of the biggest ones was, well, of course, they we couldn't beat them down in the orange bowl. Every time going down there was a it was a death trap. I mean, it they lost all the time. It was a burial ground. Of course, we ended up beating them in the uh the squish to the fish game, but there was other reasons. I mean, I was jealous of the friggin' weather they had down there. The biggest reason was so many fucking people, especially in Guilford, rooted for the Dolphins. I mean, we're sitting here in New England for God's sakes. It's like the Patriots didn't even exist. And all these stupid Dolphin fans. And ever since I see that bringing in uniform, then you got the 72 Dolphins running around. Remember when the Patriots were going for the 19-0 season? We're not going to talk about that Super Bowl. Don Schuller was on when they were playing the Ravens, and he's on there openly rooting for Baltimore. And so are the friggin' guys in the booth. Tony Kornheiser, whatever, Cornell. Stupid name that clown has. But Mercury Morris. Oh God.

Mercury Morris.

No, I I hated the fucking dolphins.

Very fair. As a matter of fact, moving on to me, that was my audible.

Girls always thought they were so cute, their uniforms, nice aqua.

It looks like a Howard Johnson's. Awesome, Kev.

All right, brother Mark, to you. Okay, so I'm gonna uh kind of group a few things together to make the perfect day. Well, I'm gonna wake up to Ray Hopkins mowing his lawn because I love the sound of a lawnmower. And it was an idyllic town, as we know. And uh mom's gonna cook me up some frozen waffles. I'm gonna watch an episode of the Flintstones. I love the stones. Can't believe they've been doing it all these. His years, Red and Barney. So yeah, the Flintstones, um, you know, it was based on the honeymooners, as we know. We you know, we talked about that during our you know, our sitcom episode.

Oh, you mean when Donnie took it illegally?

Yeah, no, that was illegal. I fully apologize.

I didn't get the memo.

And uh I'm gonna go find my friends, Freddie and Kevin, and whoever we're gonna play a game of uh baseball at on Hadley Street at his house. And you know, it's probably gonna be Peter Belmore also. And uh I'm gonna go home, have lunch. I mean, I don't know, fried bologna, who knows what I'm gonna get. Then I'm going up to the town pool. I'm going off the diving boards. I mean, I one of the dumb things I did up there was I would do a belly flop and all that. Oh yeah, and you know, just swim all day and just have a blast, and then come home, have supper, and then I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing up to the dam. I'm gonna catch some brown trout, son of a bitch. Specifically, was fishing up at Apthorpe Dam, had all these nice holes. The fishing was always decent. You very rarely went up there and got skunked. I remember catching a big brown trout, dropping it in the water and going back in to grab it. Then he had this long wall down there that put you in a good fishing spot, and you had to jump go down this ladder, and it was awful. I was a little nervous about that, but I did it anyway. And I lost a brown trout. It's so funny. The holes, the dropping of the brown trout.

Oh, one time I lost it. I had a snag and I the stinker went and gave me right in their teeth.

Oh no, that sucks.

Well straight back at that.

I'm right in my teeth. But anyway, get this one. Tiny listen, this is my story. I get to talk. You guys. So anyway, I was up there fishing on the right side of the dam, and I cast down. I actually had almost a 15-inch brown on it, and it got caught in the uh the brown trout and the brush.

For the record, for those of you that couldn't see, three of the four of us were trying not to laugh out loud, but not doing well to know of it.

Yeah, it's your turn to sweep. Go home, you know. I we might go play hide and seek and everything, and me and uh Dave, another Dave. Uh, was it Dave Henderson? We're gonna go out and we're gonna laugh our asses off because we'd always go to a fun spot where we would just sit there and laugh and be the first ones caught, and then I'm gonna go home and go to bed. I mean, that would be a typical day. I'm probably gonna go down and get a pistachio with Jimmy's or a chocolate with Jimmy's down at the frosty bar that has finally closed and became like a clamshack kind of place. That's sad. Yeah, it is. But uh, I mean, that's just kind of the day that I would have. And um, you know, Mama made made visdin kofta or whatever, kofta, which would be rice and hamburger and stuff like that, and with green beans and Lubia. It's just a typical day. Every day was awesome. It's a beautiful thing. Those were the activities. I mean, sports, swimming, fishing, and of course, right? My bluebeard bike going down Brook Road.

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Going over the handlebars and having Fred and Kevin laugh at me again.

So awesome. All right, my day is pretty similar. Just like you said, Kev, it's gonna involve the bike pretty much for everything. But up early for the troth of cocoa puffs and watching cartoons, and then I would go out to BB gun hunt. I don't know, it kind of bothers me nowadays when I think about it, but we'd go bird hunting, we'd have a point system for the birds we got. Yeah. But we'd do that, and then I'd jump on the bike and I'd ride to Guilford Beach. And mind you, as I've said in the past, this is when I'm a little kid. You know, we left home at like seven years old and rode our bikes miles. So I'd go to Guilford Beach, hang out there all day, swim out to the raft, jump off the lifeguide chair when he was on break, because it was like eight, ten feet tall. And then I'd have lunch at the at the the shack there. Hopefully, I could afford a hot dog or a burger from something I could money I pulled out from the pier. And then I'd head home for the for the evening. And mom would make kibbingai, which yeah, rock kiba, that's Lebanese out there, people. And then same thing, go out for the night and play Alcatraz, which was like a form of flashlight tag, or just whatever, go to a movie, go roller skating, whatever we did back then. Just like I think this category is aiming towards right now is we had no responsibility, no friggin' problems. Kevin, I loved the fact that you said I didn't have to pretend people, you know, that I didn't like, you know, it's so so true. But then go home when my mom would yell my name after dark and after playing for hours, get ready for bed, watch some TV or listen to an album, and then I just here's what's really important to me about this day and what you said, dongo. Go to bed with the window open with the night sounds. I can still feel that feeling, kind of like we talked about the Sunday morning feeling. It was very similar, just peaceful crickets, whatever those fucking things you were talking about were cicada. Cicadas, which I feel ignorant because I still don't know what they are. Are those like the flying grasshoppers?

Yeah, it's it's like a grasshopper, but it makes a buzzing sound. Yeah, very unique sound.

I know what it is, I just didn't never know what it was called, but just yeah, the night sounds were really important to me. Just peaceful that ended the perfect day, and then you knew the next day you could just do it all over again.

We were gold then, stay gold, pony boy, stay gold.

Back in these days, we were gold.

Stay gold, pony boy. Yep. Remember how we we were talking, AJ, how you know how skinny we were, and it's like you know, Kevin and I just basically said we ate a bowl of cereal and then we played for like 18 hours.

Exactly.

We probably probably came in for lunch, which was like a bologna sandwich or something, but you know, that was about it, you know.

I can't understand why I have a weight problem since now I eat for 18 hours.

I'd better not. Uh, I have what doctors call a little bit of a weight problem. I used to grab bear claws as a kid, two at a time, and I'd get them launched right in this region here.

Physical activity. Yeah, it's all the exact opposite now. Yeah, yeah. I work and I eat, and then I have joy for one hour. All right, that's number three to you, Dongo. And that's gonna be something stupid you did that you would slap the shit out of yourself for. And I know this could be endless for all of us, but one only.

There could have been a lot of slapping. Yeah, um, I did pick three instances, but it's one type of event, and it's just drinking, you know how they say liquor before beat beer, you're in the clear, and then beer before liquor, never sicker. So, this is you know, three particular times I recall getting alcohol poisoning from drinking hard liquor and barfing my ever-living brains out.

And what's your name, man? The dude wants to know your name, man. Uh, his name is Ralph, man.

Probably could have used an emergency room, but thank God I didn't die in my sleep, or you know. Absolutely. I was yeah, there was one at Seth Dudley's house, I think it was New Year's Eve. Uh, once at Steve Seuss's house, and then once at Scott Mennory's house. And I think tequila was involved in all three. Um, you know, shots, you know. I think we were playing quarters with liquor, you know. It's just it's so stupid. Like binge drinking on itself is stupid, but doing it with liquor is even stupider, more stupid. More stupid for sure. So that would be I would slap myself in the head. Just don't do that. That's dumb.

That's dumb. And maybe don't drink to kill it, Donald. Yes, yes, all right. Decision I made years ago. Me too. All right, that's to you, Kev.

All right, so I think we all um we all think back to when we stood up to our old man and when we should have, and that's what this is. Uh, probably around 1985, I bought an Austin Healy 3000Z 1962. It was uh it's not a basket case, but it needed plenty of work.

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Had it in the backyard, I was stripping it down as fast as I could, you know, as a as a 15-year-old trying to get the thing put together. Um, I think as it sat, it was probably back in 1985, it was probably worth about $35,000. I got it from a friend that wanted to see something good happen to it. I came home from school one day and it was a tow truck, and my dad was paying somebody to have the car towed off because he got sick of looking at it. Oh god, and so he he and the guy of the tow truck is laughing his ass off because this asshole's paying him 75 bucks to take a vehicle that was potentially worth at one point they get up to $110,000. Jude is pretty good and I and I just stood there. And if there was ever a time I should have fucking hauled off and knocked that asshole out, that was it. Oh my god, and I will regret that my whole life. I don't blame it on him, I blame it on me for not standing up for myself. So I would definitely backhand myself something wicked if I could go back to that moment.

Absolutely, oh man, do you know whatever happened to that vehicle?

The guy, the guy that took it, I'm not gonna say it, but I still remember his name. He had a junkyard and he had two or three of them. So I don't know if it got rebuilt or if it became a donor car or what, but no, I never I never saw it again.

Oh misery, yeah.

I know they're out there though, and they've come down a little bit in price, so maybe someday I'll get another one.

Okay, Mark. All right. Well, I'm going uh back to my childhood again, and uh I um got this bad habit of shoplifting, and I was chronic. I was chronic. I mean, baseball cards, candy bars, and what finally got me caught maybe two years later. I'm not proud of this, you guys, and I'm proud of being a shoplifter. I regret it every single day of my life.

Like Winona Ryder.

Ms. Ryder in this matter is ordered to participate in a plan andor program approved by this court for drug counseling and psychological counseling.

Yeah, okay. So I'm over at um at Corey's Market when Uncle Jim owned it. Your own family store, you're robbing. Yes, absolutely. I'm so arrogant and filled with like I'm so infallible, I'll never get caught. There was a little bucket of cherry bombs, I think they were called. And I pick it up, walk around, put it in my pocket, and as I'm walking out, he says, put it back. And I'm like, oh my god. Of course, I was told not to go back into the store. I didn't go in for two years, and I went and I was so guilty and so ashamed of myself. I just sat in bed, like, what have I done? And uh chronically, I don't remember who taught me how to do it, but I would have I would have pile drove myself like Mr. Wonderful would do.

Oh no, it could be the pile driver, it could be the pile drummer, it could be the pile driver, he's down, he's out as you should have.

Yeah, so not proud of it.

That's how we learn. That's how we learn, right? Yep, all right, that's off to me then, and I know that I was planning on trying to keep this a bit uplifting, and I had about a thousand things for this category, but I'm going with this because it eats at me to this day, and I wouldn't just slap myself, I would punch myself, kick myself, and knock myself silly. All right, and that was being a bully when I was a kid. I from probably third grade through eighth grade, maybe seventh through seventh grade, I was a fucking bully, and I hate myself for it. And when I say bully, it was not like it is today, it was rampant. There were so many people doing it, and I just hate myself for it so terribly now. I'm not gonna throw any names out there, but there's literally still a few people that I'm trying to reach out to because of how awful I was, and it eats me alive to this day, and on a daily basis, I'll say that. So there's my uplifting category of the day, but I would have knocked the fuck out of myself if I could.

You're just trying to find those people in case one of them Steve Buscemi.

Hello?

Hi, is this Danny McGrath?

Yeah.

The Danny McGrath that graduated from Nib High School in 1984? Uh yeah. Who's this? Um, this is uh Billy Madison. You probably don't remember me, but I I went to high school with you. Um, I I kind of gave you a hard time back then, and I did some things that I thought were funny at the time, but now I realize they were just mean and and stupid, and uh just wanted to apologize, and I hope you forgive me.

Yeah, sure. Don't worry about it. It's no problem.

Wow, well that's great. Um, well, I am sorry, and uh maybe we can get together sometime and uh and have some coffee or something. Sure. I'd like that. Okay, well uh I'll see you around. Okay. Bye.

Writing with his lipstick.

I was gonna mention that.

That's uh one of the first things I thought of. Yeah, but that is something, you know. I was going lighter with it in the beginning, like thinking of funny things that I'd smack myself for, but that's something that I really would have beat the shit of myself. I would still beat the shit out of myself. I do still beat the shit out of myself for it. So I'll leave it at that, and I'm gonna go to you, Dongo, for number two, and that's gonna be what would you tell yourself to learn more about? Women, no, that's it, that's impossible, right?

No, I um I love music, and I didn't uh I didn't give it as good of a shot as I should have, as far as like knuckling down and practicing and stuff, but I I would have loved to have learned the piano at a young age. Like I learned guitar, but I think piano is a beautiful instrument, and it's kind of the basis for a lot of uh composing, and I do have a creative mind, and I think I would have been pretty good at at uh composing songs.

Never too late, Dongo. Excellent, excellent, all right, Kevin.

So along the same line, Donald, and I think it might be a theme, but never never became any level of of musician. But even with that, I look back and I always wanted to learn how to be an engineer, how to run the soundboard, how to master.

Mr.

Q, mate. You do know the song, yeah? All right, well, we'll pick it up uh just coming out of the intro.

You know, I'm sure there's like every community college has a class that leads you into that now, but back in the 80s, there was there was nowhere to go, especially if you were young and on your own and and school wasn't an option. So I even tried with because I knew a lot of musicians, I knew the guys that ran the soundboards, I knew the guys that were doing the recording. Um, unfortunately, they were all powdered at the time and were more concerned about you know more powder, more powder. Um, so so they didn't, you know, I I couldn't get any help from there. But I I think that I have an ear for music. I think I could have been very there's no question about that, Kevin. Oh, thank you. Yeah thank you.

Yeah, and you know, part of mine was uh like AR rep. Like you like to do the engineering. I I would have liked to have been like a an AR guy, like a talent scout kind of thing.

Sorry, Kevin, I wouldn't be gonna ruin your mojo there.

Yeah, yeah. No, I think we I I I think we would have been good in those positions, and I think and that's the thing, you know, looking back and like talking to my son, it isn't about being the greatest ever sound guy, it isn't about being, you know what I mean? Nobody, nobody just becomes it. You have to get into the circles where it's happening, right? Right. That's the key. Yeah, you can't just take an online course and become those things, those are exceptional different positions, you know what I mean. You don't start at the at the at the factory and work your way up to AR guy, you know what I mean? Yeah, you gotta meet people and yeah, yeah, you have to you have to immerse yourself into it, yeah. And and I think that was that's the biggest lesson that that I look back and would have told myself is get get surround yourself with what you love because that's how you go somewhere with it, not staring at it from 50 cities away, right?

Right, most icily, damn straight, yeah. Awesome pick, brother Mark. That's all right.

Well, mine's similar to Donnie's. I wish I would have picked up the guitar earlier. I wish I would have loved it more when I started playing back in the white lightning days and everything.

A little tip from the Aester.

My biggest regret is that I basically put it down um at you know, early 20s until I started playing again, I believe it was 2015. And I would play here and there. I still had a guitar. I mean, once in a while I'd even go through a spurt here and there. But I really regret that. I'm I'm actually can be pretty I could have been really good. I'm thinking pretty good now, but it it bothers me that I didn't. I I got too wrapped up in going to the gym and everything, and that was my life, and something else I wish I would have done earlier. But but yeah, I wish I would have kept playing, and maybe I when I was young enough, I could have been in a band, you know, and all that stuff, and it's just something I didn't do, and uh I I lost interest in it, and that's not gonna happen anymore. So awesome.

Well, I'm glad I wrote two things down here because my first one was guitar. I'm gonna I'm gonna stray away from the music category here, and I'm gonna say a few things that I I mean one is like just history and physics and basically knowledge. Like I'm very intrigued by space and the universe. I mean, I've gained a lot of knowledge over the years through it, but I just wish it was something that I was intrigued with as a child because who knows what doors it could open for me or anything whatsoever, just the interest of it to me is fascinating. I mean, we think of the fucking Milky Way, and then you know, when Hubble and everything came out and found all these galaxies, just you know, I mean they There's more galaxies than stars in the Milky Way, and it's fucking incredible and so deep. And to learn about stuff like that, I know Dongo, we've talked about quantum mechanics and things like that. It's just it's really fascinating to me. And I wish I learned more about it because who knows where it's gonna lead and what we're gonna find out in the future. And you know, something that scares me with that. You know, we only live so long, and what are they gonna figure out later? You know what I mean? To see what the knowledge we've gained in such a short time, it's astronomical. I AI now intended kills me. AI is scary as fuck to me. I don't know. I want that aspect of shit gone. Bill Burr has a great skit on it. It's like, turn that fucking thing off, pull out the batteries, you know. The guy on 60 Minutes asked the robot, the AI robot, you know, what his goal was. And it said to be smarter than humans.

Oh my god, did it really say that? Yes, these fucking things have goals. Yeah, and the reporter just blows button and he's like, Meanwhile, I'm standing on my bed yelling at the TV, like, dude, I'm putting the fucking thing. How many sci-fi movies do you have to see before you realize where this is going?

Unplug it. The scariest thing is when they put two of them together and within seconds they made up their own language and started talking specifically so that the humans couldn't understand what they were talking about. Yeah, there's ever a time to fucking rip the batteries out and chuck that 9 volt all the way across the room.

Well, yeah, you know, and we grew up with the Terminator and war games and those kinds of movies where the AI always kind of went off on its own once it figured out, like, hey, humans are idiots, we gotta destroy them. You know, and that's everyone's always fear, you know.

Right. I mean, I'm sure there's some incredible knowledge we're gonna want to do. Well, you think about it, yeah.

But it knows everything that's ever been put on paper and uploaded to the internet, it knows it, you know.

Just put a fucking on and off switch on the thing. That's all I'm asking.

But but that's what I think people misunderstand is it's not artificial intelligence, it's a summation of our intelligence.

Yes, right.

That it can and it can process it faster than than we can. A billion. But you know, all of those movies that you talked about, HA, those that's that's I just look at that shit as predictive programming. I mean, look look at uh didn't Spielberg just come out with disclosure as we're getting close to the point where it's they're kind of talking about UAPs and hence my category, Mike.

How fucking interesting is that shit, right? So yeah, I'd want to learn that way better than I know it now. All right, we're heading off to number one here, boys, and that's to you, Dongo. And that is what one piece of overall advice would you give yourself?

All right, so this one's tricky for me. I wrote down, don't care, just do. No, do what I mean by that is like my entire life I always cared about what other people thought, and I always projected what I thought they thought. Like, oh, they think you're stupid, they think you're a loser, they think, and it's like, screw that.

So fuck you know sometimes.

Don't listen to that voice that says that and just do what you want to do, and and ignore that voice. In the you know, I don't hear voices like schizophrenia, I just hear a voice that's always like, Oh, they're gonna think you're stupid, or they're gonna think that's dumb, or you're gonna look like a fool. Now, who cares? Just do it, do you know? Play the song, go for the sports team, write the book, do whatever, you know, that kind of stuff. Like it, right? Just ignore that and do it. That's damn stupid. And if you fail, you fail. And anybody who's ever been massively successful does that. And they fail, they do something, they fail, and they keep doing it, and they just do it. Failure is the first step to success. I'm my own worst enemy. I've done amazing things in my life, but I probably could have done more if I had just like got that out of my head kind of thing.

Yeah, and you still need to get that shit out of your head, dongo.

Right.

I know. We probably all do, we all do, absolutely fuck everyone else.

That voice, that voice in your head is not you. It's not you, it's all of the things that you fear, right?

Yes, well put, Dongo. Yeah, well put. All right, Kev.

Relax, Francis. That's what I tell myself. So, along the same lines of what Donnie's talking about, it's like, dude, don't don't sweat it. A coward dies a thousand deaths. Just jump, ask the girl to dance, right? Take that job, play the guitar, whatever. Just do it. Don't fucking think it to death. Just do it and don't get wound up about it. And and like I just said, failure is the first step to success. Just you gotta fall. Fucking right. Don't worry about it. Right, don't punch that bully right in the face.

That's right.

Damn it. And any of you homos call me Francis. And I'll kill you.

Lighten up, Francis.

Nice, Kev. And both perfect right there.

All right, Brother Mark. Okay, well, my advice would be choose your friends wisely. Do not hang out with people that when you hang out with them, they make you feel like shit. I'm not talking about the regular ribbon like we all do with each other. You know, good friends do. I'm talking about people that, for instance, are really nice to you when you're one-on-one, and then they get with a a group, start treating you like shit to impress the others. You need to hang out with people that make you feel good about yourself. They don't have to be yes men. You know, I'm not talking about, oh, you're you know, you're great. Yes, you're tall, Mark. You're very tall. You know what I mean? I know I'm not tall.

Like a midget at a urinal. I was gonna have to stay on my toes.

But what I'm saying is it is so important. I understand that we have family and you you can't do anything about it. You go to school, you can't do anything about who's in your class and everything. But after that, and or or your job, but outside of work, you want to hang around positive people. And I can tell you right now, there was a few years that I would want to hang out with myself, the early 90s, as I referenced in, I believe, my first pick. I mean, a lot a lot of people didn't want to hang out with me, and I wouldn't have wanted to either. I was a drag on people, right? You know, and I'm not also not saying people get down. You know, you you may want to try to help your friend out and say, you know, what's going on? What's really going on with you? Maybe we can get you out of this. Don't hang out with people that make you, you know, that look down on you, that are condescending. Stay the fuck away from them. You hang out with people that love you no matter what.

That's right. So all three of you are really on the same baseline if you think about it. Fuck them all.

Sometimes you just gotta say fuck them.

All right, basically. Okay. All right. So mine's gonna be a little off-center from the three of you guys, but I'm gonna pay attention to Nancy Reagan here.

Say yes to your life. And when it comes to drugs and alcohol, just say no.

Oh, God. Okay. And I'm gonna make sure that I go back in time and tell myself to watch the This Is Your Brain on Drugs commercial with them cracking the egg.

Is there anyone out there who still isn't clear about what doing drugs does? Okay. Last time, this is your brain. This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?

So I wouldn't have done drugs in my life, but I think that would have changed everything for me. So that's the piece of advice I would give myself. I had a bad run for a long time, and it fucking really discombobulates the brain, and I should have paid attention, and who knows what I would have succeeded during those years where I didn't give a shit because I that's all I cared about. So that's why this is my fucking brain on drugs, and there's my yoke sizzling. Okay, so I'm paying attention to that shit, and that's what I'm telling myself, and I'll leave it at that. Nice, yeah.

So I've had a relationship with alcohol for sure, use it as a drug, and I spoke about tonight, like you know, a couple instances where I had alcohol poisoning that could have killed me, yeah, that kind of stuff. So obviously, you know, as adults, you can use a substance responsibly, and then that substance can get away from you. And that substance can be prescribed to you, it can be you know, it can be a prescription drug, doesn't have hooked alcohol, cannabis, whatever. Yeah, yeah. You know, you can abuse anything, you can abuse sugar, you can abuse sex, whatever. You know, yeah, everybody has their ebbs and flows as far as how you you deal with stuff and how you get through it and how you navigate. That's an individual choice. I always had a hard time like Trump, like he hasn't supposedly had any drugs whatsoever. I kind of have a hard time trusting somebody that hasn't, you know, it's like, come on, man. Yeah, you hadn't had a drug. You need the experience. It's good for them, like good for someone who never has done anything in their life that's great, but there's also a little bit of distrust in that because it's like you know, everybody's gotta experiment and figure shit out, and you know, oh, that was stupid. I'm not doing that again.

I hate the fact that I was a functioning addict, you know what I mean? I would have rather gone off the rails and been told you need to fix bottom. People didn't even fucking know when I had kids. I'm like, I fucking can't do it anymore. Yeah, but anyway, that's what I have to say about Nancy Reagan, I guess. But we'll leave it at that. Awesome episode, boys. I mean, what did I say before? Is it the semi-quincentennial? So we're gonna go try to enjoy the 4th of July a bit here. But thank you so much out there for listening to 75 episodes of this, man. We love it, it's a blast. Uh, we look forward to 75 more. Can't thank you all enough. And of course, the boys here, dungo. Thank you. Good times. Yes, uh your fingers off, people. Thank you. Yeah, exactly. Brother Mark. Great episode, eyes. Yes. All right, everyone out there, thank you again so much, and we are out. That knife couldn't cut the dick off a snowman. I hate that one. Could cut the dick off a snowman, and here I am explaining it again, which I'm done with.

So off to you, Don. I love AJ. I love how you had the personal ones because those are near and dear to me, too. Your dad's quotes. And uh, this is where I get a little sappy. I get a little sappy, and uh in the the the show, It's a wonderful life, at the very end, when he opens up the little card, it says, No man is a failure who has friends, and that's why I like you guys, you know, you guys are my buds, you know. You know, I don't know. Yeah, yeah.

So from this moment, as long as I live, I will I promise to live, let it not be. I will not be able to do it.