Episode 155: Do the Flamin’ Hot Brew
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Transcript
Time Crisis, back again. On this episode we talk about the Eagles in China, the
Burger King, Chicken, Seal, Beach Boys, TLC and so much more. This is Time Crisis with
Ezra Koenig.
Time Crisis, back again. The boys are back in town. Now I guess for the listeners it's only been two
weeks but for us we used to banked up last week so this is it's been a while.
Long time no. When I got on it sounds like Jake you were trying to remember if
you knew anything about that episode. Oh yeah I have zero recollection of the
bank episode. I remember we talked about Neil Young. Yeah there's some Neil Young
talk. Jake do you remember what your soul movie is? I don't even remember, no.
What a soul movie is? What is that? That's weird how little I remember. A soul movie
if I recall correctly is the movie that was number one at the box office on your
10th birthday. Hmm. Seinfeld is that correct? I mean per Time Crisis that's
the definition of a soul movie. Yeah that's that's how we did it. Do you even
remember having this conversation Jake? Very vaguely. Somebody's soul movie was
Platoon. I remember that. Probably mine then. That kind of makes sense.
Oh yeah because that's probably like 87 that sounds right. Yeah. It's fine that
you don't remember the episode but just one thing that we uncovered is that
there is a mandate similar to the vaccine mandate that you have to watch
your soul movie by the end of this calendar year and that comes straight
from Joe Biden. Again doesn't matter if you forgot the episode but Joe Biden said
every American citizen vaccinated or unvaccinated he honestly doesn't give a
sh*t. Either way you have to watch your soul movie by the end of the year so
anyway just make sure you throw in Platoon sometime in the next four and a
half months. I'm happy to do that. You got a good one. That's your soul movie
brother. Brother that's your soul movie. Do you remember what year it was? It's wild to me how
little I remember of episodes. People will bring things up like that bit on
that show and I'm just like what show? I don't remember that at all. What show? I do a show.
I always tell people when they ask me about doing time crisis I said anything
you do bi-weekly it's just like the the subtlest imprint. Mm-hmm. You know it's
just like just enough to forget it exists. Well but we also taped that show
like what a good six eight weeks ago. This one is particularly deep. All bets are
off. Any conversation I've had over a month ago is like I'm unlikely to be
able to recall that. I really can't remember my soul movie. I feel like Nick's was Black
Rain. That is deep. The Michael Douglas movie. What was my soul movie? It was D2 the
Mighty Ducks. Oh okay I'll watch that by the end of the year. Listen Jack you got
to watch your soul movie. Okay and same goes to anybody listening and anybody
who missed last week's episode or two weeks ago's episode just again you don't
have to listen to it just look up what the number one movie was on your 10th
birthday that's your soul movie. Joe Biden says you have to watch it. It's
more important than getting vaccinated. Just go go go go. Run. Do not walk. Live
Nation AEG just announced that you can't go to any Goose shows unless you've seen
your soul movie and you can't fake the card. It's very official. You're gonna have to
take a quiz. If you want to go see shout out to Goose they just did a festival and
I also just read that they're putting up their first arena show in Connecticut.
Oh where? The Mohegan Sun arena. Is that outdoors or indoors? That's a good
question. I guess it's part of the whole Mohegan Sun casino complex but anyway
any Connecticut Jam band heads if you want to go to that show you need to see
your soul you need to see your soul movie. Bouncers at the venue are ready
with questions trivia questions about every conceivable film. I mean they have
the internet you know they just look up Mighty Ducks part 2 D2 Mighty Ducks. They
bring up the Wikipedia page. Mr. Koenig. When Emilio Estevez first met Kenan
Thompson's character what was he doing? It's and people say how is this feasible?
How's this gonna work? You can't control people like that. It infringes on our
civil liberties. I've heard all the arguments but here's the thing with
lightning-fast internet which they're gonna have at most venues each
interrogation session takes about a minute. They pull up the Wikipedia page
they look at the plot they ask you a simple question no big deal. Show them
your driver's license it's actually really easy and also this is that
there's so many people who love to take this kind of security job because
imagine you're a big movie buff and somebody said to you hey you want to
make an extra 75 bucks this weekend well what do I have to do? Ask a few hundred
Jam band fans about their soul movie. Yeah I think a lot of people gonna take
that job so we have to we just hire I don't know two three hundred people we
can organize it well. Anyway you're not gonna like life if you haven't seen your
soul movie let's put it that way. You're not gonna have too much fun if you
haven't seen if you haven't seen your soul movie.
I was melting like ice on the back of my spot where we going tonight
you know it's all that I in the corner of the night playing games with my mind
it's going down tonight.
We got a jam-packed show Jake I really like you took the initiative you booked
the whole show. I booked the whole show tonight this morning. Local promoter Jake
Longstreth booked the whole show. That's right we haven't had guests in a minute
I feel like. Yeah not since Bruce Hornsby. Oh wow. Round two. No probably some other
people but so we got Aaron from Mountain Brews coming through and Richard
Pictures and LA Takedown and then we also got some actor director writers.
Yeah we got some multi-hyphenates Carson Mell novelist screenwriter songwriter
director actor and then Al D music promoter movie producer and actor and
they made a movie together called Some of Our Stallions. Music promoter movie
producer and actor. That's a pretty good one. I'm very intrigued so we're gonna be
talking to them shortly I guess we got I mean we we got a month's worth of stuff
to get through I mean first of all rest in peace to Charlie Watts. Yep. That's a
sad one. Yep. The one and only drummer of the Rolling Stones. Yeah I guess he Mick
and Keith were the only guys to play on all the records. Right yeah wow the three
amigos just a great drummer with a with a light touch excellent feel. A dapper
gentleman. And a dapper gentleman. I mean a nice counterpoint to the wild rock and
roll excess of Mick and Keith. I mean if he was also kind of like a Keith Moon
kind of John Bonham wild man. No totally yeah and he famously like wasn't as into
partying as everybody else and. Yeah. Just a mellow dude with a light touch.
Everyone throw on side two of Tattoo You just vibe out. Interesting call you know
I actually it went through my mind I was like oh should we make like a Charlie
Watts playlist and I was like people just gotta go listen to whatever
Rolling Stones they want it's yeah also he because he wasn't a flashy drummer
it's not like there's some songs are just like oh dude you know there's no
like when the levy breaks. Yeah. Or like oh there's a 10 minute solo um what's on side two of Tattoo
You is that with like heaven. It's got worried about you. It's got a take you to
the top. It's got waiting on a friend. Oh beautiful song. It's just this like all
five songs kind of just like blend together in this really cool way. It's
just like this chill kind of minimalist vibe. It's a very kind of unique
little palette that they touched on briefly and I don't know that's my go-to
if I'm throwing on stones I'm throwing on side two of Tattoo You. Side two.
I don't need to hear start. Oh yeah no it does have heaven I love that song.
Is that really vibe one? Oh yeah. Like kind of like psychedelic like 80
psychedelic oh yeah that is a great side oh yeah and to end the album with
waiting on a friend. Waiting on a friend is top five stones for me. Yeah cause side one
there's a couple like kind of like boogie numbers that you know I don't
need I don't need start me up but like side two is just all like they're not
ballads per se but they're sort of this like kind of mid-tempo like chill
minimalists stone. It's like a weird period. A lot of people say that that was
that Tattoo You is their last great album. Yeah. Although I think there is good
stuff after there. Tattoo You is maybe their last like just classic album that
produced like a big hit single like start me up and also like cool songs.
Yeah I'm pretty into mixed emotions they're single off steel wheels. Not
familiar. Alright let's throw on mixed emotions. Mixed emotions from like '89.
That's a classic Watts groove right there.
I was really into this when when this was a new single when I was a kid. Were
you like seeing it on MTV? Yeah. Wow. I was like surprised with myself that I
would like this new stone song. Chorus is just great.
Got some rare harmonies for the Stones. They don't really do like two-part
harmony on a chorus very often. Keith comes in a lot on the chorus like. Yeah I
feel like he comes in to like give a little emphasis on like the third verse
of the song or something. Yeah that is a good. Just like straight up like two-part
on the chorus.
I like this idea that you're surprised that you were into a new Stone single
because I feel like you would have been 12 when this came out. So you're just like at
the lunch table like middle school just be like guys call me crazy but the new
Stone single is actually pretty good. I know we haven't been getting a lot of
like excellent work from any of the 60s dudes. Certainly not since Tattoo You
but I would say this is some of their best work in years. You already had that
kind of like just rock fan feeling. Yeah no I think like you know in the late 80s
I was sort of like I knew who the Stones were but they were a 60s band in my book.
That's a sophisticated understanding for a 12 year old. I was like why would I
like this? You know it's like I was into like Motley Crue and like Def Leppard
and stuff and I liked like Ruby Tuesday and some of the like 60s singles. I don't
think I really liked the like 70s stuff yet. That came later. Interesting. But just
from like either my parents record collection or just like the classic rock
radio or the oldies radio I was into like their poppier 60s stuff and I just
remember being like yeah I mean these guys are old. Right. Why would I like this?
I felt the same way when in the 90s when people started loving those Bob Dylan
records like Time Out of Mind and I was like I'm not gonna listen to that.
Yeah but I'm just saying like at least by the 90s you were like in your teens
or 20s. I'm just saying you were young to even have a conception of like this is
an old band putting out new material which is generally considered treacherous
territory and even though I'm into more of the current wave of American hair
metal I do really respect. I'm just picturing like a little 12 year old
like American psycho just like hey dad have you heard the new Stones single?
Like what? You're just like I gotta say that it's some of their best works and
some girls. Now yes I am more interested in a lot of the music coming out of LA
or England at this point or some of the English new wave but I gotta say the
Stones hold their own. They're just a classic band. It's a back to basic sound
just like I think this is excellent work. Easily their best singles since Start Me Up.
I gotta say dad Mick kind of lost his way in the mid 80s. The attempted
solo career, the Harlem Shuffle cover. I wasn't feeling it but this proves that
there's still more gas in the tank with the Stones. Best singles since Start Me Up
and you can quote me on that. Anyway I'm going to school. Have a good day at work.
My dad just turns to my mom we need to call a psychologist. Stat. Can I talk to
you? Jake's really into like the new Stones single that's very strange. Just a
little more housekeeping. On the TC text thread we were remembered that during
Pride Month Burger King made a big announcement that they were gonna donate
a bunch of money to I don't even remember Seinfeld remind me about this
what was the Burger King they had a new sandwich called the Chick King and they
were kind of trolling their biggest competition Chick-fil-a which is the
biggest chicken sandwich in America because Chick-fil-a notoriously in the
past has given money to anti LGBT hate groups even though they claim they're
done with it a lot of people are skeptical Chick-fil-a organization says
that's in the past we don't mess with that stuff anymore but people are
skeptical and Burger King was sticking it to them saying hey if you want to
support a non-homophobic chicken sandwich try the Chick King they put
their money where their mouth was they said they were gonna give what was the
promotion yeah so on June 3rd of this year a Burger King tweeted the hashtag
Chick King says LGBTQ+ rights during hashtag Pride Month even on Sundays and
then the eyes looking to the left emoji your chicken sandwich craving can do
good we are making a donation to HRC that's human rights campaign for every
Chick King sold BK will contribute 40 cents to the human rights campaign
brackets max donation 250 K I forgot about that aspect that they made a
little joke about even on Sundays yeah that's getting kind of spicy because I
bet there probably are some Christian people who say I don't like this
anti-LGBT bullsh*t but I do respect the closed on Sundays elements and now
they're getting in the closed on Sundays thing it would also I'm also just
picturing an alternate universe where rather than get into the hate stuff
Burger King was like hey we got a new chicken sandwich and guess what you can
get it on Sundays we're doing a promotion for the first month of the
Chick King for every Chick King we sell we're donating a dollar to the atheists
foundation of America hashtag God isn't real like whoa shots fired from Burger
King really coming for the Chick-fil-a organization Burger King on their social
media announced that God isn't real they're welcoming atheists to come
through and they're saying please come on Sunday it's just another day okay
interesting move I'm surprised that corporate approved that one I mean talk
about false idols right like Burger King is the new God essentially I feel like
that's what they'd be maybe implying I mean Burger King is basically saying
that they're like the John Lennon of fast food that's right and even the
Burger King this character this guy with this giant head this kind of hubristic
you know what's a burger a burger is meat so essentially it's a meat King
it's saying that the kind of spiritual realm the energetic spiritual realm
which is where the true king of the universe resides they're saying that
doesn't exist they're saying all that exists is in meat meat King you think
about Adam and Eve Garden of Eden you know God creating Eve out of the rib of
Adam I feel like there's a parallel to be drawn from Burger King creating a new
God from the from the meat of the land meat of a cow the meat of a cow yeah no
it's very good point and they're also saying that by having this name Burger
King they're saying meat is all there is they're saying that there's no soul
essentially the soul doesn't exist the soul doesn't exist we're just meat that
moves around heavy stuff guys heavy stuff that would be funny if a fast food
chain really did double that like just went that way I mean honestly we're all
just meat you have human or a cow you're just meat on a skeleton there's not all
there is you're a meat puppet you're a meat puppet the bolt goes into your
brain the lights go out you're done cows have no souls and neither do you they're
taking on vegans Chick-fil-a organized religion all at the same time I don't
buy it personally that's an uphill battle from a marketing perspectives I
mean there's a lot of people there like what their rational materialists they
don't believe in a soul they believe we're all meat puppets okay
Burger King
but anyway so Burger King they were doing a whole campaign they're trying to take down
Chick-fil-a with the Chick King we talked about it a bunch and it kind of popped
in my head again I and I thought I wonder how that went and so Seinfeld
when we first asked you to go check in on how many Chick Kings were sold how
much money got donated was there anything in the media about it that was
the frustrating part about it that there was a lot of reporting on the initial
tweet and the and the offer and a lot of fanfare about ooh you know Burger King
you know clapping back Chick-fil-a giving the money all the you know the
right thing and then now here we are at the end of August a month out from the
end of pride and not a single report and I'm telling you I scoured the internet I
went 10 pages deep on Google I'm talking like a deep scour here and you know I
gotta say I gotta hold these food publications to account because you know
Bon Appetit where were you on this eater right grub street food network like
where were you on this where you can just report on ooh you know you can
anybody can say anything and then nobody's gonna follow up so I don't want
to get all righteous but I feel like TC is really you know doing our due
diligence here we might be the only news outfit on planet earth who actually
followed up about this it seems that way um you know I don't want to ruin the
end of the story but it felt like when we did make contact with the right
people about this it took a few days to formulate a statement so I think this
might be a TC exclusive what we're about to reveal here okay so so you actually
got in touch with Burger King PR I did but I have to also say that I reached
out initially to HRC because I thought who's gonna be the most honest or the
most direct about this but the recipient yes right right mm-hmm so I reach out to
HRC don't hear anything back actually called HRC a few times their press phone
number goes to a dial tone and so that that sort of went nowhere so somebody
on the thread had the suggestion to go directly to the source go to BK and you
know it took a few days but somebody yes somebody in BK sort of corporate comms
department did did respond and the question was you know was the money you
know from the chicken initiative actually donated to HRC and I got an
email from someone named Molly at Burger King and she said see below for a
statement from Burger King the statement was we are excited to share that the
sales of the chicken sandwich met the goal and the full 250 K donation has
been made to HRC on behalf of Burger King well that's great so first of all
congratulations to Burger King congratulations to all chicken eaters
who helped raise this money and congratulations HRC but I guess okay so
just to rewind I think it is a little bit crazy that we're the only news
outfit that followed up on the story I guess that doesn't reflect poorly on
Burger King right it more just goes to show that the media they make a big fuss
about the announcement but they don't want to follow up and they think all
right we already covered this once who cares that they actually raised the
money is that fair to say Seinfeld it's the it's the media I would say so I
think it's also a little curious that Burger King neither Burger King nor the
HRC thought to issue I mean this seems like classic press release fodder you
know cause and effect like I'd love to know when that money was donated oh I
wonder if if they were like oh interesting huh crisis is looking into
this and that explains the sort of five day long lull between the interesting
they were like we got went up the flagpole like listen we got Seinfeld
2000 breathing down our necks just cut the check and they're like but we only
sold 30 two Kings just cut the check all right the guy in accounting is just
like I can't make the numbers work the chicken was a flop I can't make the
work and they're just like you take Whopper money I don't care just cut the
check all right he could yeah we actually got to open up the books of
course I believe that they donated the money but I was actually frankly a
little more curious about how many two Kings they sold well you know it's funny
that you mentioned that because you know you brought that up and I did actually
follow up with a friend of the show Molly and I and I said well okay thank
you and how many two Kings were sold in the month that was probably three four
days ago no response so I don't know if they're like you're like you're lucky
that we even said and he acknowledged you I don't know what what the deal is
or if we'll hear something you know after the show is recorded but but we
did some number crunching ourselves and we determined that at minimum BK's
sold six hundred twenty five thousand two Kings if the 40 cents right we
multiplied the 40 they didn't use Whopper money right exactly if they
weren't dipping into the Whopper account did they really sell six hundred twenty
five thousand god I have no concept of that and by the way shout out to Molly I
know that you probably got a thankless job working in PR I'm just visualizing a
scenario that's like the White House press room and it's like Jen Psaki is up
there she sees like Seinfeld and she just looks at you like your Fox News and
she's like oh my god and you're just like um Jen yeah one question I'm about
the chicken and she was just like we're dealing with Afghanistan please no more
questions about your king and just like all the other reporters is like groaning
you're like um no I think the American people deserve to know I just want to
say for me and my interest in this story I never doubted that Burger King is
gonna give 250 grand to HRC that's chump change and they get to write that off
too so I never doubted that Burger King wouldn't give the money I really was
just curious about if they would actually sell enough to Kings to make
that donation according to their own rules I just did a very cursory number
crunch there's a about 18,000 Burger Kings globally so so to sell six
hundred thousand sandwiches it's about a little less than 30 sandwiches per
restaurant pretty do any reasonable pretty do any doable except this is
probably a US only initiative okay well it's probably I'm not we can look number
of locations US I'm gonna guess it's well over 10,000 I don't think they have
two Kings that like Burger King in Germany it looks like there are seven
seventy two hundred seventy two fifty Burger King locations the US so they
gotta sell like what 60 or 70 per location yeah that sounds right in a
month two or three a day yeah come on 2.6 a day per location you know what I
would really love I would just love to pick a random Burger King somewhere just
like a Davenport Iowa Burger King yeah and just say guys just just for that
month can we just see the numbers I just want to see a spreadsheet like a
Davenport Iowa Burger King during Pride Month is there a day where they sell
zero to Kings or they pump that they do in like 10 a day I'm just curious like a
new product obviously there lots of Whoppers lots of fries but they sell a
lot at the beginning of the month and then it kind of the enthusiasm wanes
because the word of mouth wasn't good I just want to know that kind of stuff I
could see that week one hot out of the gates if anybody listening works at a
Burger King we'd love some just you know anecdotal evidence of like what was that
month like was it crazy were you getting slammed with chicken requests throughout
was there a buzz at the location but anyway thank you thank you to Burger
King for your transparency if you could follow up with the answering the other
questions we'd love just to know the raw numbers but anyway good for you donating
the money to the HRC
you might chick-fil-a clothes on Sunday you might chick-fil-a hold the selfies
put the gram away get your family y'all hands and pray when you get daughters
always keep them safe watch out for vipers don't let them indoctrinate
clothes on Sunday you might chick-fil-a you're my number one with the lemonade
raise our sons train them in the faith through temptations make sure they're
wide away follow Jesus listen and obey no more living for the culture we nobody
slave okay so the new movie Jake I gotta admit I haven't seen the movie yet I saw
the trailer it looks excellent Jake have you seen the film I've seen it twice
well it's called some of our stallions and what's the basic well it's it's kind
of a two-hander it stars Carson Mel and Al D who will be joining us shortly they
have just been released from an involuntary stint at a menstrual
hospital and their best friends their doctor is played by friend of the show
Tim Heidecker excellent and they try to go out in the world and find their way
well we should let them maybe describe it okay let's get him on the horn all
right let's go to the time crisis hotline hello hello
Carson now welcome to time crisis yeah very lucky to be on this show with all
my favorite people oh we're very happy to have you um so first of all we're
this is truly a time crisis we got all sorts of time zones represented on this
episode Carson where are you I'm in Los Angeles okay so you're on Pacific time
and Al where you I'm in mysterious Asian country Beijing so I have to open beer
because our culture we have to think of beer after 12 o'clock it's our religion
after which 12 o'clock midnight midnight so after midnight 12 o'clock we have to
think of beer it's our religion our religion is that a real thing it's beer
o'clock over there oh yeah nice wait but so how does that work as soon as the
clock strikes midnight if you're up you're grabbing a brew yeah IPA even
children right yes little kid beers oh that's a good idea for a mountain breeze
album midnight Bruce kind of like your slick LA kind of album right right kind
of mid 80s it's the remix album it's like the the Dua Lipa remix album oh
it's all it's all house remixes of Mountain Bruce let's get a little
background for our listeners about both you guys because you're both multi
hyphenates so Carson you act and directed the film and wrote it yes and
edited it also just to give the listeners some more your background
you've written on a bunch of TV shows made the great cartoon give us your CV
real quick yeah mostly a writer and that landed me in TV so I could make a living
but I've self-published a bunch of novels for the last 15 16 years I put
out three I actually have a one one novel on audible that's only an audio
novel you can't read it not yet at least well yeah so just mostly a writer and
then I acted out of convenience you know when I was making my cartoons and stuff
it was easier to just do the voices then call people or try to track down actors
so that's how I started acting it's become part of what I do and so Al you're
a movie producer music promoter and actor yes also I'm a little bird I'm a
sensei I'm a lover all right I'd love to hear that so what's your story man
wait how have you brought the Eagles over to China this is one thing I wanted
to ask you about you're a correct that's correct you brought the band the Eagles
to China yes after you goes I did the Bob Dylan I did the Eagles you March 2011
and I did the Bob Dylan April 2011 Wow you brought Bob Dylan to China yeah
after Eagles okay so what are these shows like are these like giant shows
yeah it's all our shows just getting some word-of-mouth out there I know it's
a back then it was very legendary shows we did like arena show ten thousand
people ten thousand people seat it was a big media media was like a pirate it was
a well for the most legendary tour in China we were very lucky to receive all
this big legendary American band American legendary musician to China to
perform with us it was a very good moment okay this is the one music really
connected the people music really connected people from different
background different religion different culture to become one and are those
artists like the Eagles and Bob Dylan well-known in China these were their
first shows ever there right yeah I mean of course not like everyone though with
Bob Dylan with the Eagles but the people who got Western music education people
who grew up with the Western music education who listen to rock and roll
all know who they are so let's back up a little bit has your main job been a
music promoter for a long time how did you end up doing such like a giant shows
actually I'm one of the people who listen to rock and roll grow up I'm a
well for the rocket so I become a guitar player I play a bunch of heavy metal
and but slowly you know what clear rock and roll band nobody take me seriously
people think oh I would use a crazy out is madness I'll do don't work hard I
don't know I was like how can I prove myself with hard-working people so I got
a job again in universal music for a couple of years but I hated the people I
work with the universal music bunch of Miley Cyrus no no Miley Cyrus so I
decided to work with the people who I love so I work I become a concert
promoters Wow whoa okay so you were you're in a heavy metal band you get a
job at universal and they're making you work on pop music although I have heard
that Miley actually loves rock music too and she's had a harder rock sound on
some of her recent work so I'd encourage you to check it out so you I will you
might have more in common with Miley than you think but okay so so yeah you
didn't enjoy working at a label so you got into promotion so what kind of
shows are you putting on before you made it to Eagles and Bob Dylan status I did
a bunch of like a black rebel motorcycle club and Jesus and Mary chain the
Raven Lance the Cocoa Rosie a bunch of like a bunch of a lot of Indie rocks
the secret machines the killing jokes a lot of Indie band until I I decided to
do Eagles Bob Dylan okay so it sounds like your taste you're in a metal band
then you're bringing over black rebel motorcycle club Jesus Mary chain you
like the kind of heavier stuff and the darker stuff yeah did you always like
the Eagles or did you actually hit a certain age and you're like you know
what the Eagles are all right because I feel like a lot of heavy metal dudes
wouldn't admit that they like the Eagles oh yeah that's a great song I tried to
bring your band to China a couple of times but really I tried to so hard to
bring your band to China but what vampire weekend yeah I tried a couple of
times yeah now you go by the house to the following here okay have you been
to China Ezra has a band played there no no I've never been to China I kind of
remember once once we got an offer for a festival but the timing didn't work out
but maybe that was our next year yes yeah maybe you all right well not wet
now that we know each other please send another offer I will send you an offer
your country feels okay excellent
now we find ourselves in late December
I believe that New Year's Eve will be the perfect time for their great
surrender but they don't remember
anger once a voice voices one sing singers harmonize did it can't hit
anything thought that I was free from all that
questioning but every time a problem is another one begins and the stone walls
of our own bad witness
never forgive the side we get snakes inside a place
I don't wanna live like this but I don't wanna die
okay so then now we got both of your backstories how do you guys meet and end
up making a movie together we met through my manager who yeah basically
said I met a cool financier and you guys should get lunch together it was kind of
that simple and then we were working on trying to put like some bigger movie
together that you always need a celebrity for a bigger movie so like
unlock the cash you know so that people aren't scared and we I still am not
really good at that like attracting a celebrity and I have like us I think
part of it is I have a short list of celebrities I like and I find most of
them like not compelling enough to want to work with or look at so anyway Al was
like in this we were in this process of waiting for people to read our script
for this other movie and then Al asked me if I had like a smaller movie that we
could make in the meantime that we could both act in together because he knew I
acted and and it was one of those funny things where like the idea of your
financier like saying they want to be in the movie would usually like to be
something you don't do but then I just like I mean I'm sure you're already
sensing the Al has so much charisma so I was like well if I can bottle that
lightning it'll work you know absolutely as long as he doesn't get scared in
front of the camera and clam up like if he can just be himself and remain
confident and and just be let his personality shine then we'll we'll have
something worth watching so so I was into it and we spent a couple years then
making the movie it's interesting hearing a little bit about Al's life
because a lot of that is in his character in the movie his character is
describing how he grew up in China and that he felt alienated from his friends
because no one understood the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers and he came
over to America he started weeping because everyone was just listening to
EDM is that part of the dialogue? Yeah yeah yeah that's from the heart but it's
funny Jake you also you have a Grateful Dead cover band right? You're right so
that really piqued my interest when your character starts talking about the dead
wait Al are you a deadhead? He's a deadhead he's a deadhead yeah so there
are very few deadheads in China where you grew up? Actually it is there's so
many people listen to them but that's the funny thing a lot of Western band
maybe including you like a Vampire Awakened have so many fans in China but
maybe you guys don't think about this but actually you guys have very
good music very good performance your music can spread into other side of the
world easily so that's why music is so magical you don't need the media you
don't need a record label your music can naturally connect you to people from
other side of the world. And that's a really beautiful thing when that happens
so this part of the movie that Jake's talking about was that your real
experience that you loved you loved American rock music like the Grateful
Dead and the Allmans and then when you came to the US everybody was listening
to EDM and it made you sad is that true or is that kind of like you played it up
for the movie? Half and half I mean I'm a big rock and roll fan I listen to the
Canadian progressive band called Rush I mean in China nobody around me listen to
Rush all this band and I'm young American all my friends in Los Angeles
nobody listen to Rush nobody listen to Grateful Dead everybody listen to Radiohead
you know I'm a grr. Listen I like Radiohead but anybody who loves Radiohead but
doesn't respect Rush is a real ass. They need to open a history book. I've been
listening to Eddie Money lately you guys listening to Eddie Money at all? A
classic American rocker. Yeah he's great. Hell yeah. One thing is for sure I don't
I've never been to China I don't know that much about it but I've always said
that like the place where rock is really still alive in this world is Mexico and
other countries in Latin America. In Mexico when you see the some of the size
venues that some like older rockers come play people are still flying the flag
for rock and roll music and it's really cool obviously Mexico is a beautiful
country but yeah America is no longer the rock country that's okay things
change but that means that the rock nation is international and it's people
like Jake, Al all over the world who keep the rock flag flying doesn't matter
where you're from because the world didn't to large extent has turned its
back on rock music so anybody who's listening to rock music anywhere is part
of a fraternity.
The world of rock. The world of rock. The rock frat.
Wait so Al I'm just missing one part of the story though when did you become a
film financier? So when I was booking for music festival in China because Vampire
Awakens was busy and I was like oh I need to work with somebody else so I brought this American band from Los Angeles called Rooney so I brought Rooney to China so the
frontman of Rooney called Robert Schwartzman
he's a younger brother of Jason Schwartzman, the cousin of Soviet Coppola and yeah so I
became a very good friend of Robert Schwartzman so after we become very good
friends one day Robert is like "I'm going to direct my first movie you should
produce with me" and that's the moment I set up my foot in Hollywood to become
movie producer with Robert Schwartzman and then I
produced the two movies for Robert. Wow okay so it was it was music brought you
to the film world via Robert Schwartzman. Yes. So Al is this the first acting you've
ever done? Yes I'm really a first-time actor in this movie with the cast so I'm
very lucky to be in a movie with my very very very good friends so I feel in my
comfortable zone I feel very relaxed. Dude you're very natural you're very
good in the movie Al. Thank you because I'm very comfortable with the Carson and
Olivia. We did the old trick of rehearsing it like endlessly like oh wow
probably like rehearsed like every scene like 60 times 70 times. Wow. Because we were
living together so every night we got home we'd rehearse and almost all of it's
scripted I know it's I hope hopefully it seems like it's not but it is. Yeah it
doesn't seem scripted. Yeah. In a cool way it feels like you know kind of loose.
Yeah my friend Graham he had this he's like a writer on it was a writer on
Silicon Valley with me and he had this theory that like if you rehearse
something zero times it can be good and then if you rehearse it like five times
it's gonna be bad and then if you rehearse it like 70 times you can make
it now feel normal you know or natural. So I had that in my head. Horseshoe theory.
Is that the horse I like that yeah it's the shape of it. Or a bell curve. I think that's like a bunch of
things that like the extremes have something in common. Yeah horseshoe
theory is that the extremes politically bend towards each other. Yeah that makes sense.
Same as like zero and a hundred times of doing something. Man I can't wait to see
this movie. I haven't Carson what's the best way for people to watch it? I bought
it on my Apple TV because I'm a company man. There you go. This is an Apple program
that we're on. It's right there. So how long were you in the US Al when you guys
were living together and rehearsing and shooting the movie? It was 10 days. Oh
well so we yeah cuz sorry just because we shot it in Canada but Al came and
lived with me for 10 days too where we practiced. And then you rolled up to
Canada to shoot. Mm-hmm. So it sounds like Al you've been to the US many times and
so we heard this little that anecdote that's in the movie about being a little
depressed at the EDMification of the US but generally what have your
impressions been spending time in the US? It's very great. Also feel you know it's
not just me also my other friends. Everybody wants. The flight, the plane
arrive American to Los Angeles. When we walk out you see welcome to Los Angeles.
The mayor of Los Angeles. Welcome to Los Angeles. We always head down. We always
take our hat. You are welcome. We are happy to be in Los Angeles. It's just
another once we walk out from the customs gate. You know it's funny people say
Los Angeles the air is so no good. It's polluted. It's California air. It would be
great for you living in California in Los Angeles. That's the wonderful. All the
palm trees, the taco, the people, beautiful people. It's a great freedom.
It's just a catchy vibe. You're making me kind of excited about going back to Los
Angeles. Have you ever done like a deep American road trip? Have you ever like
you know been like Texas, Midwest, South? I only did a road trip from Los Angeles to
San Francisco. It was beautiful. The ocean was really beautiful. So you've
really seen California? Yeah, Seattle. Okay. Okay, all right. Yeah. So yeah you've seen
the whole West Coast. All right. Well there's a lot more to love. Next
time you come to the US you got to give us another report. Yeah. What's the live
music scene like in China right now or at least where you are? It's the same as
American and other countries. That's the same because rock and roll, also the pop
music, pop music, rock and roll, jazz, blues, all from western countries. So from us
it's all I don't know how to say the proper word. It's like a copycat. It's
like it's not from this. It's not from our culture. So I think the rock and roll
here, the blues, jazz, we have to learn from the western countries. So it's of
course as good as western rock and roll. But at this moment because nobody can do
international touring. So people for me I have this international ears. I have to
put up with all the **** band. At this moment my ears have to just listen to
some not very great musicians play music. I can't wait one day the gate
open. Everybody can do international travel. I can listen to some very, very
good musicians do live music again. Are there indoor shows happening? Like
because in the US it seems like I can't make heads or tails of it. Tours are
getting pushed or canceled. Then you see pictures of like some packed club. I just
don't know what's going on. But is it basically like a post-COVID music scene
now? Yeah but we have to do social distance. Also when we go to a live show
like club shows, we have to wear a mask. All these things. It's a kind of
sadness because that's the beauty of to see live music. Everybody laughing.
Everybody have this exciting face. But at this moment everybody wear a mask.
You know it's a happiness but also feel a little bit of sadness because of
the mask. But it's important to wear a mask. Right. Yeah. Kind of between a rock and a
hard place on that one. Well it seems like you're a little bit harsh on
the Chinese rock scene but is there any bright lights that you know that
you're excited about of Chinese rock bands? Maybe a little bit but that's the
thing man. This rock and roll culture is not from here. It's really from
Western countries. So no matter how great we are we still have missing something.
You know it's like we have a Chinese medicine. It's from our country. We have a
Chinese opera. No matter how hard, how many efforts, Western people try to sing
very good Chinese opera, doing Chinese medicine, Chinese martial art. But still
you guys missing something. I think this kind of thing, rock and roll, is really in
Western cultures a lot. It's tough times for rock and Western culture so I think
you got to be more optimistic. We need a Chinese rock band to save rock. Okay I
will quit my movie career. I will go back to play heavy metal. You might have to be
the one. Well thanks so much guys. I really I can't wait to see the movie.
Yeah there's a lot of heart in the movie. Yeah it's very the character. It was when
once Al D signed up to play Andy I rewrote the whole script with him in
mind. Oh wow. I can see that. There was even a guitar part that I cut out. Oh man.
We had a scene like it was sort of a montage of Al D playing guitar and then
the characters dancing and it was feeling really like an indie movie and
not in a good way. Right. So I had to cut it out but it was an impressive
performance. Yeah it's funny I like this movie a lot. It is a small movie but it
does not have the aspirational charms of many a Sundance film. It's a little blue.
A little yeah it's just you know they're trying to get by. I feel like if these
characters can survive that that's their success. So yeah it ain't easy for
everybody you know. Well and I was gonna say also listeners of the show are
familiar with The Long Dumb Road which you co-wrote and I would say that the
character that you play Carson is reminiscent of the Manzuka's character
Richard but with kind of a lot more edge. Yeah I'd say that's a fair assessment of
it. Yeah Richard never really feels dangerous in The Long Dumb Road whereas
your character beautiful Bill it has a lot of the same kind of philosophical
outlooks as Richard but is just unhinged shall we say. Yeah yeah I like movies
where it feels like people might get hurt in any moment you know what I mean.
Mm-hmm. I think that's what I was trying to where I was trying to get with that
guy so I'm glad you say that. You got to see some of our Stallions before the
end of the summer that's Joe Biden mandate. You gotta see some of our
Stallions. You gotta see some of our Stallions you're not gonna be able to
get into restaurants if you haven't seen it. Just on the topic of rock and roll
just because of the week that we're in as we end this anybody want to say
anything about Charlie Watts legendary drummer of the Rolling Stones who passed
away at age 80 this week. Long live rock and roll. Yep. There you go. Hell yeah.
Maybe that's the right note to end on. I feel that. Well thanks so much guys yeah
everybody see the movie and I hope you guys come back soon I hope we all can
hang out sometime. Yeah thanks for letting us talk about it I'm glad.
Oh absolutely. I never knew all that about Albee's rock and roll career so it's
good to hear. Fascinating lives. You know Carson and me we only talk about love all the time.
Love talks. Alright guys see you later. Alright thanks so much guys have a good one.
Thank you guys so much. Peace. Bye bye.
tearing our love apart
Aren't we the same two people who lived through years in the dark?
Ah, ah, ah
Every time I try to walk away
something makes me turn around and stay
And I can't tell you why
So just real quick before we move on to our next guest out of the long-stretch Rolodex hot off the presses
Yeah, just now the press releases come out saying that Mountain Dew has partnered with
Flamin' Hot Cheetos to make a Flamin' Hot Mountain Dew
Sounds real nasty just like all the other
Flamin' Hot combos they all they all sound disgusting
This is what the press release says. I just this is a great use of language
This is one of our most provocative beverages yet
And we're excited for Doonation and for Doonation to taste the unique blend of spicy and classy
Doonation
Flavor of Mountain Dew. I just provocative and Doonation. Sorry guys, but nothing's shocking at this point, right?
I mean, this is one of those things where it's just like if you told me they already did it
I'd be like, oh, I guess we missed that one. Yeah, it's just like we just kind of live in a world where
Nothing special. So it's you know, somebody anything you could think of if somebody are there Flamin' Hot Twinkies
Is there Mountain Dew flavored?
shredded wheat
Probably also it's a soda looking glass. I don't want provocative. I'm just trying to crack a can of soda
This isn't like a Lars van Trier movie. I don't and we I don't need provocative
Doesn't it feel like we're like two years from do you remember Nathan Fielder's?
excrement flavored frozen yogurt
Oh, yeah, the poo flavored fro-yo. I feel like that's like on a horizon like that
That's that's like gonna be prophetic at this bit. Oh, this also linked we talked about the Mountain Dew
Alcoholic beverage. Is it called Mountain Brew? No, but the title of the lawsuit Brew the Dew is
The sort of Mountain Dew beer. Yeah, it's Mountain Dew a hard
Said a hard seltzer alcohol. I mean, I just assume they infused alcohol into the gross
Yeah
Drink, it's hard Mountain Dew Mountain spelled MTN. No caffeine 5% alcohol
I also say like for that for this one
I mean mark it not that I'm into design of it
But you know since we talked about the sort of beverage bottle design
I guess I'd have to send it to you
I'm sort of into it in that it feels like really dark like it feels like not like abject
But like it is sort of like I think I brought up on the show
Remember Harley Davidson cigarettes when I was growing up. That was like they were if they were Davidson cigarettes. I don't remember those
There was a kid has never come up on the show before
I thought I had so when I when I was in high school Harley Davidson released cigarettes
this is gonna be sort of mid 90s, and I remember there was this one kid a non sing and
He smoked Harley Davidson was on the debate team and he smoked Harley Davidson cigarettes
It was a very small guy, but I just remember he'd pull out like it was already sort of like
Badass enough that he smoked and sort of out of character enough
They smoked but that he'd pull out the Harley Davidson cigarettes was amazing and the packaging was that it was black
It was a black box. That's hard with the like the eagle on it
I believe or the Harley Davidson logo and so yeah, but it was like very scary
I mean it was a you know cigarettes that just come in a black box. It's funny that there was Harley Davidson
Cigarettes because I'm sure I've referenced this on the show at some point in the last
500 episodes, but there's a movie that I've never actually seen but I know is there's an infamous movie
I think it's from the 80s that was called Harley Davidson meets the Marlboro man
And it was like an early branded film for two different brands where there's a guy who became the personification of Harley Davidson
There's a character named Harley Davidson, and he somehow met the Marlboro man
And they go on an adventure some shit actually Seinfeld pull that up cuz is it like a film like some sort of like Richard
Prince kind of like I don't know no this is like trash
This is a trash film Wow you never heard of Harley Davidson meets the Marlboro man. I've heard of it, but I
It's very dim. Yeah, Don Johnson Mickey Rourke race onto the screen is to modern-day Robin Hood. Oh, it's big. Whoa actors
Mickey Rourke and is that
Right it's called Harley Davidson and the Marlboro man also starring Giancarlo Esposito Gus spring. Oh breaking bad
What year did this movie come out
1991 okay, so this might be somebody's soul movie
I don't know if it was number one at the box office, but anybody who's born in 1981
I want you to double-check that Harley Davidson the Marlboro man is
your soul movie the film
Cost 23 million dollars to make and grossed seven million dollars at the domestic box office
Flop size more also in the film who great character act wait, so this is this is a big budget big name movie
Evidently. Whoa. Yeah, I mean these are two huge brands
I think they're definitely not going for an arthouse movie. I mean, it's no but
Fields character so
Fields character is named after the cigarette brand of Virginia Slims
Big John Studd's character is named after the whiskey brand Jack Daniels and
Eloy Casado's characters named after the tequila brand Jose Cuervo
So it's kind of like a Avengers an Avengers of
Ventures of
MCU this is yeah this universe
This is actually the time crisis soul movie, yeah, this is
TC movie club everyone
If time crisis was a person
They probably would have been born in 1981 right in between me and Jake and this would be their soul movie
Hell, yeah, the TC man was born in 81 and this is a soul movie Wow
Yeah
I'm so curious what the tone is if it's just like
It sounds like they just probably made a movie about a bunch of tough people and they just use the names or I wonder if
There's like a lot of reference to like the actual products. Yeah, like I wonder what era is
It said is like a Western is it like a motorcycle gang and like kind of proto sons of anarchy kind of situation
I mean, I'm just now I'm intrigued Kevin Thomas of the LA Times called it a mindless cobbling from countless buddy movies
Whereas Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly called it a kinetic formula shoot-em-up nice
It sounds like it was set present-day
like
1991 I don't think it was a period
Whatever it is. We should just
take the plot and
Just make it about like all our favorite brands
Mountain Dew and Flamin Hot Cheetos and just like Ansel Elgort as Mountain Dew
Timothy Chalamet as Flamin Hot Cheetos
Sidney Sweeney is Wendy
Colin Farrell as the Burger King
Wait, so it's like about the brands and it's like shut up and see the movie
It's a kinetic fast-paced shoot-em-up. They climb Mountain Dew. Yeah
Sort of like a holy mountain. Yeah, they go to mountain. Oh, it's like so this is actually the hero film Al Pacino is
McDonald. Oh, wait a second. Okay, so Matt sent over the synopsis
It's a daring heist to save their favorite saloon set in the near future
The biker and his cowboy pal knock over an armored car only to discover its payload is a new synthetic drug
That the bad guys will stop at nothing to get back. It's on HBO max. Oh
Wait, what the so wait, so
So Harley Davidson and Marlboro man are just two guys just two kind of like bar flies at a local saloon
I wonder if it opens is like the bartender comes like bad news guys. We got it closed and Harley Davidson's like no way
This is my favorite bar and he's like my good friend Marlboro man
Are we gonna stand for this and he's just like absolutely not
Let's figure something out. Is this guy's name Marlboro man? I'm just I bought the Harley Davidson could be a person's name
Yeah, I think what's happening is that they are these people have been named after the thing that they're associated with maybe so like Mickey
Mickey's character drives a Harley
Don Johnson's character smokes and then so they call them
They just leave those are their nicknames. It has a Dick Tracy vibe
Okay. Oh Tia Carreras in this Oh tight all-star. They should have had a the camel from camel cigarettes
bad guy
Joe camel just like this disgusting
weird
Camelman, that would be like Dick Tracy
It's just like this weird-ass camel man rolls into town and he's selling a synthetic
Drug to all the kids in the city and the Marlboro man Harley Davidson need to stop him
Are you picturing like practical latex effects or like CG like early proto CG?
It's gonna look like kangaroo jack
Yeah, actually, you know what fine you guys up you didn't put Joe Camel in Joe
Camel is gonna be in Mountain Dew and the Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Timothy Chalamet is Flamin' Hot Cheeto
Timothy Chalamet is Cheeto and he just wears sort of like that
Kanye just like a red
It's like a big red hoodie. Yeah, like a red leather
Suit, wait, is it a guy whose name is Cheeto or is he literally playing like a large?
No, we're gonna be like we're gonna go meet with the studio executives
We're gonna ask exactly that question Jake and we're just gonna say can you just shut the fuck up?
It's a kinetic shoot-'em-up. Yeah, it's a kinetic shooter. No. No, can I just stop you right there?
It really pisses me off when people ask these kind of questions. It's a kinetic shoot-'em-up
The guy's name is Cheeto. You don't have to explain this to people people are smarter than you give them credit for
Well, I'm funding the movie. I want to know if he's playing a human or not
He's gonna wear a red Yeezy sweatshirt and his name is Flamin' Hot Cheeto
Actually now I'm thinking of a totally different movie. That's just
Chester Cheeto versus Joe Camel
This is actually a CG. Yeah a children's animated film. Late period Tim Burton
Yeah
Johnny Depp is Johnny. Oh Johnny Depp is Chester Cheeto. That sounds like it actually happened. That definitely happened
Oh, yeah, like it's just called Chester. That's a good Mandela effect one
Just start saying the next time anybody ever brings up the Mandela effect to you
Like yeah when I always thought that it was Berenstain Bears
But it's Berenstain Bears and a lot of people remember it that way be like, yo, I'm with you
Like for instance, I thought that Johnny Depp as Chester Cheeto never happened, but actually that's a real film
No, no, no, I don't think that ever happened. No, it did. No, no millions of people remember seeing
Johnny Depp in the Chester Cheeto movie Tim Burton directed it it came out in
2017 it's kind of underwhelming at the box office, but they made up for it with merch
No, no millions of people remember seeing this movie. It was so huge in China. There's nothing on IMDB
I've talked with thousands of people we get together at conferences and we all remember
It was the fourth most successful movie in the Chinese box office of all time. Yeah. Yeah, Johnny Depp as Chester Cheeto
Uh-huh. No, no, trust me. They memory hold it. They don't want people to know about it, but millions of us saw it
Did we lose those guys?
He lost the guys everyone cut out for a second on me. I got Matt and Ezra
Yep, me too
Those guys got trapped in the matrix. They went into the universe
Where the Chester Cheeto Johnny Depp film was actually made
*music*
All right, so now we've got Mountain Brews and Richard Pictures and LA Takedown
Collaborator Aaron Olsen back on the program. Let's get him on the horn
Now let's go to the time crisis hotline
Hey Aaron, welcome back to time crisis. Hi. Thanks first question for you
Do you remember did you ever see that that late Tim Burton Johnny Depp Chester Cheeto movie?
Where Johnny Depp played Chester Cheeto?
It was after Alice in Wonderland and after Big Eyes. It was in that same run where they did Big Eyes
Yeah, after Big Eyes Alice in Wonderland, they did the will the new Willy Wonka. They did a Chester Cheeto movie
No, is this real? What's happened? Do you tell me? It's like a
2017 Tim Burton film
It's actually one of the better of that kind of late period Tim Burton CG movies
Have you ever seen a Harley Davidson in the Marlboro Man movie?
No, but I'm familiar with it that has the Dice Man in it, right?
Well, that's Andrew Dice Clay's in that too. I knew Aaron would be familiar with this movie. I think he plays a bouncer in it
I don't know. I mean
Is this correct? I don't know. I don't see Andrew Dice Clay
It seems like something you did
No, that'd be perfect. Maybe it's an uncredited cameo. I've heard of the film, but I can't say I've heard of this Chester Cheeto
Film, but I wouldn't be surprised
if they donned
Johnny Depp in some like orange cake dust and yeah, I don't do that
What won't he do? It's actually a really cool movie and Johnny had a lot of fun with it. He based a lot of his
character on kind of like early Ozzy Osbourne
because he just gets like real kind of like wild and crazy and he kind of felt like
Ozzy was like a cool person to pull from and
Anyway, welcome back to the show. How's it going? Thanks. It's good. Things are fine
How you guys doing doing great over here? Not bad Aaron your band le takedown
released an album called our feeling of natural high in March of
2020 yes, you were slated to play a
record release show doing exclusively doors covers on
like
Friday March 13th or something. Is that right? That's all correct
And yeah, if we're lucky it'll get canceled again, and then I'll get back on time crisis again after that to talk about it
That's what I was gonna say because you have a you've rescheduled the gig for a year and a half later
It's scheduled for what day September something September 10th
But you know it does it I was wondering about this as I you know
The Delta very and all this kind of stuff. I feel like there's I don't know what 50% chance this gets canceled again
There's a chance, you know, I'm in general, you know, I'm I have a lot of things coming up like live various
performances and I'm just taking the attitude of
saying yes, and then not trying to not be disappointed when they get canceled, but
Yeah, there's a chance and then there's a chance. I'll come back on time crisis and talk about how it got canceled again
And then we can just keep doing this for years to come I think
The doors show that never happened if this one gets canceled
I mean we've talked at length on time crisis about how the people kind of turned their back on the doors in
The 90s the doors were considered one of the major classic rock bands people like Jim Morrison
They had posters of him and then people really turned their back on the doors if this show gets canceled
I think that's definitive proof that not only have rock fans turn their backs on the doors the universe has
Hmm on the quantum level if this one gets canceled again
I'm sorry doors fans like that's that the Lord on the towel
Crosby wins
They don't swing man, they do not swing
I'm just picturing like
Crosby like overlaid with the like the clouds in the sky and he's just like laughing his ass off laughs like evil Crosby laugh
He's dead
No, he's just he's not dead he's just he just represents like
The Godhead I'm picturing a situation like someone tweets at him like doors cover band show canceled
And then he's kind of by himself in his house nodding
smiling and doing a
Good man, just clapping by himself. Yeah, you know, that would be a classic Crosby treat
Yeah, just he quote tweets it just like some rando just treats it him. Hey cross
There's been a doors cover band in LA that just had their second show in a row get canceled and cross
You just quote read that above it, right good
Good period
Serves them right. What's the name of the doors cover band again writers on the doors a the doors
experience
I think we have John Nixon Richard pictures and Mountain Bruce to thank for that one writers on the doors
Colors experience. Yes
Experience a the doors
I
Like the wordy names. It kind of reminds me a little bit of our
Eagles band that never played a gig where it was dick pics presents. No wait, what was it?
barely Eagles, right, right I
Don't want to get too contentious here, but I just got asked I'm hearing that John from Richard pictures is involved in this was
The offer ever extended to Jake was there a lack of interest?
I'm not trying to stir shit up in the organization, but is it possible?
Did you feel like you know what Jake maybe Jake swings too hard?
- that's not a nice cover band. I
Definitely have the least amount of swing of any of the people that we play music with I can I can vouch for that
Not my foot but I
Don't know. I mean Jake was there when the initial when the genesis of this happened. Yeah, I don't know what I would do
That's more the thing, you know, there's no I mean the doors was a pretty minimalist outfit
So I there's just not a lot for me to do with the doors cover band
Like it's Richard pictures and Mountain Brews. My plate is full
I think that might have been the thing too is like you were just I can imagine the situation having gone
Like oh, that's cool guys. Like miss it this out or like I'm just out. I mean to be honest
I never received an offer. Okay?
But that's okay
No offense taken. I don't think there'd be much for me to do. Yeah, one question
I have is when you do touch me how big is the horn section and string section that you're bringing with you huge
We got the the Phil harmonic. So for touch me you're gonna have about 40 people on stage
Yeah at the permanent records Road
No, yeah, we're just doing it it's gonna be
Keys Ryan's gonna be playing keys. There's we're not gonna have any horns or anything
And then I think John even learned the sax solo on the guitar
Of course he did. Yeah
So yeah, it's we're not having any horns. We're keeping it, you know Roadhouse II and this shows on September 10th
Do you think you're gonna make it to midnight? And if so
Are you gonna say anything about the 20th anniversary of 9/11?
You know, you've given me an idea, but I don't know what I could possibly say or what you know
Our Jim could you know, maybe he could recite a poem like an American prayer
Excerpts at the stroke of midnight. Isn't there a Dora song called the end?
Yes. Oh, yeah, you could go into the end and when you do the kind of spoken word you can say something about
9/11 or something kind of serious
We can go into the inside job angle and like, you know, just this will be the perfect. Oh, yeah a tower 7 monologue
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Jessica who's our Jim can just totally go off on a do her Crosby actually Crosby at Monterey
And do the whole conspiracy rant and it'll be great. All right. Well, that's something to look forward to
So yeah, just at least say hey guys
I know some of you in the crowd are probably expecting we're gonna do a whole
9/11 20th anniversary rap tonight because it's the night before we just wanted to say we don't think that's appropriate
If anybody wants to come rap with us after the show, we'll be at the merch table
Yeah, what as you're saying it might be weirder if you don't do it right I just gotta say that sucks
The last the last thing I want is people to come up to me at a merch table
Ready to talk about 9/11 like one in the morning. Yeah, I will say I do you gotta say something
Yeah, okay. I get that. Yeah, you know, it'll be the elephant in the room if we don't address it
Everyone's gonna be just because it's the 20th anniversary. Is that why yes, I do think that somewhere out there
there is someone who a thinks the doors are the quintessential American band and
Then thus is gonna be like listening to the doors
commemorating the 20th
Year anniversary of 9/11. I feel like in someone's head out there that makes sense. Yes
They're definitely over the age of 50. I think the doors might be the quintessential American band
But something you know, what's weird about it?
I got to think more about this, but I remember the doors being very big in the 90s
They were considered one of the most important American classic rock bands and then in the following decades that changed
Did 9/11 have something to do with it in some weird way?
I'm being serious like they're really I mean anybody who was actually alive during 9/11 and certainly in the years that followed
remember there was so much talk about
Irony is dead and this changes everything and this is like a watershed moment for culture
People said a lot of stuff like that. Was there something about the post 9/11 era?
That was unfavorable to the doors in their legacy. I feel like they would have thrived like they represent a
bold
American bravado in a way that
Probably would have resonated with people at the time who are getting amped up about America or are they too far out?
Are they like, you know, they had a song called 20th Century Fox
Well, they were 20th century band man, because they got left in the 20th century
We're trying to change all that here at the Roadhouse by playing to 50 people
I'm very curious to see a if this show happens and be how that affects the trajectory of the doors because the last 20 years
Have been very anti doors. Are you gonna play any LA takedown material or is it only doors? It's only doors
I respect the conceptual tightness of that Ryan Weinstein
Who will be DJing the show will be playing songs from our album throughout the night
He also hopefully will play I made a years ago a light my fire
house
mix
Based off of a note. I left myself that just said light my fire house mix, but it's just a house
Version of light my fire and I had it cut for him a long time ago on a record
And so hopefully he'll be playing that but it's just the opening riff
Okay, so even there's something for dance music fans
Oh, yeah, anybody who lives within 500 miles of Los Angeles get your ass to the permanent records Roadhouse
on September 10th to see
riders on the doors a the doors
Experience did I get it right? You got it, right?
Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna add to that. Please get vaccinated
Before you come to our show. Oh, yeah that too. We just throw that in there and
Make sure you've seen your soul movie. You can't get into the show or any gathering until you've seen your soul movie
Also true. I think I listened to the episode where you talked about soul movies
We did one episode of a of time crisis
but you also might have heard about it on the daily or pod save America because Joe wrote or Joe Rogan because
Joe Biden was doing kind of a press tour to talk about soul movies
Because he's serious about it. Yeah, that was a great episode of the Joe Rogan experience when President Biden went on and talked about soul movies
Racked up like 10 million views in the first week
Jeez, okay, you guys clearly know what I'm what I'm listening to in my spare time
I
You know Aaron
I was thinking about you the other day because I came across this
This gentle giant album cover, you know gentle giant I do they have one of the great mascots of rock
Do you know this it's called acquiring the taste. Can you see it at all?
It's so similar to your dad's airbrushed painting that you used
It's like I don't know if you could really see the texture like yeah
Yeah cover and then it's it has that same look of like kind of 70s air and it's just such a crazy cover to acquiring
The taste yes, and is that a it's a tongue-licking a peach
Yeah, it's so graphic. That is a great album title to acquiring the taste
Acquiring the taste and honestly, I'm not a big gentle giant head or anything
But that is the that is a good entry point for the band. So it is aptly that album in particular
Yeah, also I should point out gentle Giants mascot is like a bald guy with the beard. I don't know if you've ever seen that
No, he's the gentle giant. I guess he's just a human as far as I can tell this cover is psycho
It's amazing. I'm honored that that gross man looking at peaches cracked made you think of me
We got to start a gentle giant cover band
It's the band is called acquiring the taste a gentle giant tribute that probably exists
probably doesn't
Okay, let's get into the top five
Okay, so this week for the top five we're comparing the top five hits of two different years
1965 and
1995 30 years apart but a lot changed in those 30 years. So Aaron you pick these years, right?
Yeah, how'd you come up with 65 and 95?
I couldn't decide between 65 or 95 just because I thought you know, those are okay
95 is probably my peak of paying attention to current music. Hmm. How old I was 10
I still have a VHS tape
That's your peak Wow. I think so
I kept it
you know VHS tape in the VCR and I
Record every time a music video came on that I liked and I still have the tape and it's like pretty sure that's from 95
95 is also the year your soul movie came out. What kind of
Videos, would you have been recording in 95? What would come on like TV that you'd be like, oh, yeah
There were like some kind of grail videos that I was like waiting for and that I never got I remember really wanting to catch
So what you want? Oh
It was all like they're in a forest and it's all fish. I yeah. Yeah, there's like back loser is on there twice for some reason
Mother
I think it's called mother 95. It's the day Rollins band the
Right, but it's like a different version of mother
But it has a lot of concert footage and I always thought it was really hilarious like how well shampooed his hair was
You thought this was funny when you were 10. Yeah, I thought Danzig was pretty funny when I was 10
He's also wearing a mesh tank top. I thought all these things were I remember that video?
Yeah, and it like has all these cuts it like cuts to him. He's shaking his head really
I don't know worth watching that video. Yeah, that stuff's on there. There's
This letter song. I know that's actually not on there some Nirvana. There's like the interstitials
That they had like it was like a guy
Spinning a globe picking a place to move to I don't know
It was just the weird but 95 was my peak of being interested in MTV at least and then 65
I love the music of the 60s. So I thought
No, let's try that
Roughly, we're 30 years apart. We're in yeah, roughly. We're 30 years from 95
We're getting there
pretty close
All right. Well the number five song this week in 1965 was the four tops with it's the same old song a
classic
Holland dozer Holland song
♪ ♪
♪ You're sweet as a honeybee ♪
♪ But like a honeybee sings ♪
♪ You're gonna let my heart in pain ♪
♪ All you left is my favorite song ♪
♪ The one you dance to all night long ♪
♪ Used to bring sweet memories ♪
♪ Of a tender love that used to be ♪
♪ Now it's the same old song ♪
♪ But with a different meaning ♪
♪ Since you've been gone ♪
The drums are really hypnotic on this song.
I remember having a Casio keyboard
and that was the Motown beat.
Oh, really?
Oh, was this?
Yeah, preset beats.
It's just snare on every beat.
And then the kick comes in
between the last two snares, usually.
It's worth noting that this is 32 years later
after this song came out,
the Four Tops starred in a commercial for Velveeta
where they reworked this song
as not the same old side.
Sample lyric, "For a side dish made to please,
you only want Velveeta shells and cheese."
It's not the same old side.
Okay.
That doesn't feel like clear,
like that needs explanation.
Like would you, a side?
Yeah, it's a little side dish, but yeah.
I know, I understand.
No, no, it's like a mixed metaphor.
Like usually I think with like fun marketing,
you'd want to take something familiar
and change one thing about it.
Like if you were,
I don't know why you'd be selling a song,
but you might say, "It's not the same old song."
That sounds like some morning radio thing
where they're like, "Andy and Debra,
it's not the same old song.
We're playing all the new music."
That would make sense, straightforward.
They do a twist.
It's not the same old song.
Or you could do, "It's the same old side."
You know, you just change one thing.
They've done too much to it.
They might as well have changed every word in that.
Yeah, right.
Very forced.
But I like to think in '97,
the four tops still had like cultural cache to be like,
"Let's get the four tops."
There's a lot of boomers who are now in their fifties
who are buying mac and cheese for their kids.
Yep.
Divorced dads.
A lot of divorced dads listening to oldies radio.
Or popping by the Vons on their way home from work,
picking up a boxed mac.
You wanna know something?
I think it might've been, yeah.
Well, I'm also thinking mac and cheese is an aside.
I mean, I know it's a side.
I know you can get it if you get like a meat and three,
but especially for kids, it's the meal.
That is the main.
But also--
I'm just like, none of this is,
none of this works. Yeah, you know what?
This is funny.
This is like bringing back memories
'cause I very rarely had Velveeta shells and cheese.
Yeah, Kraft.
Yeah, you'd have Kraft mac and cheese is the classic.
So my question is, I mean,
I don't wanna derail the whole show,
but like is Velveeta some like,
even that name, when you actually look at it,
what the (beep) is that Velveeta?
I mean, I'm guessing, I'm going out on,
Seinfeld, can you start looking it up?
'Cause I'm gonna go out on a limb here
and guess that some execs somewhere
probably were like mac and cheese is seen
as like kinda like a (beep) kid food,
but it tastes really good and people love it.
Let's make a version that sounds kinda classy
for divorced dads, older people,
and let's change something about it.
Going back to the rule about you change one thing.
Let's change one thing about mac and cheese
to make it feel more grown up.
Let's change the pasta.
What else could it be?
What's something that sounds classy?
How about shells and cheese?
Shells makes you think about a beach vacation.
Something like, okay, I like that.
So what are we gonna call the shells and cheese?
Now that's something a 50 year old divorced dad can have.
That's a dignified meal for that guy.
Kraft mac and cheese at the condo does not feel good.
Now shells and cheese, it's simple, but it's dignified.
All right, so what do we call this?
Let's come up with a word that almost sounds like
it could be like a European perfume.
Let's do like a fake word.
Okay, but let's base it off something classy.
How about velvet?
Classy, all right.
Velveeta.
That's how I think this came about.
Seinfeld, any truth to that?
None.
- No, yeah.
- None.
- Velveeta, so shells and cheese.
- Great theory though.
- It's a great theory, it's a great story.
The Velveeta shells and cheese came out in '84,
decades after Velveeta was founded in 1918
by Emil Frey of the Monroe Cheese Company.
- Emil Velveeta, an immigrant from Italy.
- It's Vemley.
Velveeta is owned by Kraft.
So it's Kraft Velveeta shells and cheese.
- Okay, so if it's owned by the same company,
there's definitely been a conversation somewhere
where somebody was like, all right,
so we're talking about the guy who's ready to move up
to Velveeta shells and cheese from Kraft Mac and Cheese.
What's going on with that guy in his life?
You know, who is he or she?
What are they doing?
- Little older.
- Like graduating to this involves getting divorced.
- Yeah.
- Well, yeah, I mean, I think who's the guy--
- You win some, you lose some.
- That ate it growing up
and now it would feel too regressive to continue to eat it.
- 100%.
- So we just need to spin it, but it's got, you know,
we got to spin it, but we don't want to lose,
we don't want to lose that buyer.
- It's not the same old sad.
- Sound like you said sad.
It's a new kind of sad.
- Yeah.
Are you over the age of 30 and find it depressing
when you cook up some Mac and Cheese for your dinner?
Well, guess what?
You're in luck.
- It's not the same.
(Jared humming)
Even if I'm wrong about the Velveeta origin story,
100%, at least once Kraft acquired it,
it became part of like the life cycle.
- Well, you didn't want to derail the whole show,
but you did.
- Just rolling over to some dude's house
and just like looking in the cupboard,
just like, bro, you still eat Mac and Cheese?
Come on, man, let's go get you some Velveeta.
Come on, bro.
- I'd be remiss if I didn't point out
that I tried Cheetos brand Mac and Cheese a few days ago.
And at first I was delighted,
and then I was disgusted by the end of the meal.
It made me feel very sick.
- Wait, it was Flamin' Hot Cheetos Mac and Cheese?
- No, just not, no Flamin' Hot,
just straight up Cheetos Mac and Cheese.
The powder looked like Cheetos dust.
- That's a missed opportunity.
- I think the Flamin' Hot version does exist,
but I've always been a classic Cheetos fan.
- It's better probably.
- Seinfeld was updating the thread in real time.
- It was a journey.
- And it went from good to bad to worse
in the course of about 90 minutes.
- It tasted just like Cheetos,
and I thought that was great upon first bite,
and then, I mean, I just felt so queasy by the end.
But now we're really, we're so far off topic.
- No, that's actually a big part
of the Johnny Depp Chester Cheeto movie.
He's trying to launch a mac and cheese brand.
It's the day of the big launch,
and then Joe Camel comes to town and kidnaps him,
and a whole, you know, hijinks ensue.
All right, the number five song in 1995,
we're gonna make up for lost time.
All for One, "I Can Love You Like That,"
produced by David Foster.
- Oh, hell yeah.
- That's classic '90s, "Nehu."
- Yeah.
- This is interesting.
So, All for One, they had a bigger hit than this,
which was "I Swear."
That was a massive song.
And both "I Swear" and this song, "I Can Love You Like That,"
are covers of John Michael Montgomery,
who's a country guy.
- Interesting.
♪ Found me a kiss, Juliet ♪
♪ And all this time that you've been waiting ♪
♪ You don't have to wait no more ♪
♪ I can love you like that ♪
♪ I would make you my world ♪
- Oh yeah, I remember this song.
So Montgomery's version of this song
reached number one on the country charts.
Wow.
- Country and R&B, two sides of the same coin, man.
Oh yeah, you could hear it so clearly.
♪ I can love you like that ♪
♪ I can love you like that ♪
- Okay, just for the hell of it,
we gotta hear the country version.
(gentle music)
♪ They read you Cinderella ♪
♪ You hoped it would come true ♪
♪ That one day your prince charming would come rescue you ♪
♪ You like romantic movies ♪
♪ You never will forget ♪
♪ The way you felt when Romeo kissed Juliet ♪
♪ All this time that you've been waiting ♪
♪ You don't have to wait no more ♪
- I can hear Don Henley singing this too.
♪ Oh ♪
- Oh yeah, that raspy.
♪ I can love you like that ♪
♪ I would make you my world ♪
♪ Move heaven and earth ♪
♪ If you were my girl ♪
♪ I would give you my heart ♪
♪ Be all that you need ♪
♪ Show you you're everything that's precious to me ♪
♪ If you give me a chance ♪
- Okay.
A good song works in different contexts.
Okay, the number four song back in '65.
Oh, this is a major song.
The Righteous Brothers with "Unchained Melody."
♪ Oh my love ♪
- Love it.
- Such a beautiful song.
I love this song.
♪ My darling ♪
♪ I've hungered for your touch ♪
- I've actually gone deep on this song before.
It was written for a movie in the '50s
that was like a prison break movie called "Unchained."
- Wow.
- And I think it was originally like
the composer wrote an instrumental piece
called "Unchained Melody,"
which is why the title has nothing to do with the words.
- It was just like an instrumental,
like orchestral piece or something?
- I think maybe the composer wrote it
and then they got a lyricist in,
and maybe in the movie a guy sings it on guitar or something
but it's like basically the title
is just the name of the movie, "Unchained Melody."
Just some guy in prison like missing his girl.
- Oh, this is interesting too.
This is one of these examples where the B-side,
it was released as a B-side originally
with the Righteous Brothers.
- What was the A-side?
- "Hung On You," which I don't know.
But I feel like that's a thing that you hear about
every now and then where like,
it's the B-side that takes off.
Some DJ somewhere preferred the B-side
and played the (beep) out of it.
- I'm pretty sure that "Great Chicago Ballad" was a B-side.
- "If You Leave Me Now?"
- Yeah, and I think Rod Stewart, Maggie Mae
was also a B-side.
- Well, for reason to believe, I think.
- Yes.
- There was a cover of the song performed by Elvis
that was released like a month before he died.
- Oh, that's an amazing version.
- Yeah, I've definitely heard Elvis sing this.
- Yeah, live.
- Have you heard the Fleetwoods version?
- Oh, I bet that's good.
- Oh yeah, I love the Fleetwoods, Mr. Blue.
I feel like once we did a whole bit about the Fleetwoods,
I cannot remember it.
But they were an Olympia, Washington-based outfit.
- Right, right, we talked about them.
- Remember when we were like talking about the Fleetwoods
being a local Olympia band in the '50s?
- Right.
- But yeah, I remember I always like,
this song loomed very large also in the '90s
because it was in "Ghost," which I think came out in like 1990
and I just remember always like hearing this big,
beautiful, like old song in the '90s and being like,
"Whoa," and be like, "What's this song called?"
And having no access to the Wikipedia yet
and being like, "It's called 'Unchained Melody'"
and I was like, "Damn, these guys just like write
"this beautiful, powerful song."
And they were just like, "What do we call this song?"
And they're just like,
"I mean, this melody is unchained, bro.
"Let's just (beep) call it 'Unchained Melody.'"
I mean, how else could you describe
this powerful piece of music?
I feel you, man, "Unchained Melody."
Who gives a (beep)?
- All right.
- Could so easily be a nu metal song.
- Unchained.
- Yeah, like.
I mean, the Righteous Brothers had a kind of a moment
around that time 'cause it's also Top Gun, right?
- '80s, yeah.
- I mean, that's like turn of the '90s.
I mean, late '80s. - Years apart, yeah.
- Wait, what song do they have in Top Gun?
♪ You never close your eyes ♪
- You lost that love and feeling.
- Oh, yeah. - Cruz sings it.
- Oh, right, Cruz sings it at the karaoke.
- Oh, yeah.
Shout out to the Righteous Brothers.
The number four song in 1995, also a song from a film.
This one's "Pocahontas."
- Oh, hell yeah.
- I remember this movie coming.
I mean, I'm sure you do too, Aaron,
'cause we're about the same age.
"Pocahontas" might act, what's your birthday?
- April 85.
- What's the date?
- First.
- Seinfeld, can you just double check
what movie was number one at the box office
April 1st, 1995?
All right, let's throw in "Colors of the Wind"
while Seinfeld looks up Aaron's soul movie.
- It's all about the blue corn moon, right?
- This is a good song.
It's not the best '90s Disney ballad.
It's not as good as "I Can Show You the World."
- Oh, this is very low key.
- From what I can tell, the film was "Outbreak,"
which had been riding high at number one since mid-March,
and then it was replaced by "Bad Boys" a week later.
So April 7th, "Bad Boys," "Outbreak."
- Okay, so it sounds like "Outbreak"
is your soul movie, brother.
- All right, thank you.
- That's your soul movie, brother.
Make sure you watch it.
- Seen it, but maybe it's time to re-watch.
- You gotta re-watch it by the end of the calendar year.
- It's very relevant,
especially considering the plight of your "Doors" show.
- Yeah.
♪ Have you ever heard the wolf cry ♪
♪ To the blue corn moon ♪
- That's all I remember about this song
is the blue corn moon.
- The blue corn moon, yes.
I've never heard this song.
- Really?
This was inescapable for me.
- Is "Beauty and the Beast" early '90s?
- Yeah, that was that Disney run.
It's like "Beauty and the Beast," "Lion King,"
"Pocahontas," and "Aladdin."
You know, it's a crazy run for Disney.
Okay, let's move on.
The number three song this week in '65,
"The Beach Boys" with "California Girls."
- Man, '65 doesn't quit.
- Brian Wilson was inspired to write this song
during his first time taking LSD.
Wow, don't really think of this as a very psychedelic song.
- Wait, really?
- I think it's more this intro.
That's how I've always read that.
- The music was the psychedelic part?
- Yeah, I don't think naming all the kinds of girls.
I mean, maybe.
- Maybe, dude, that is pretty trippy.
- He's like, "Oh my God, there are so many kinds of girls."
- Right.
Here's the quote from Brian Wilson's memoir.
"The idea of 'California Girls' is that there's this guy
"who thinks about girls all the time,
"so much that he starts to imagine all kinds.
"But there's only one kind he really wants,
"and that's right there at home.
"The music started off like those old cowboy movies
"when the hero's riding slowly into town.
"I was playing that at the piano after an acid trip.
"I played it until I almost couldn't hear what I was playing
"and then I saw the melody hovering over the piano part."
Okay, yeah, so I guess it is kind of trippy.
- Oh, I love this postscript.
Mike Love was not originally listed as the song's co-writer
but was awarded a credit after his successful 1990s lawsuit
for songwriting credits.
- Oh, of course.
- Perfect.
♪ The West Coast has the sunshine ♪
♪ And the girls are gets a tan ♪
♪ I dig a friend's body ♪
- Mike Love has such a funny voice.
- Yes.
- All time.
- I guess it is kind of trippy
when you actually think about the phrase,
"I wish they all could be California girls."
'Cause it is a little bit like, what do you mean by that?
Do you wish that all the girls in the world
had the same, looked like California girls?
Or do you wish that all girls lived in California?
Do you wish that California was like population,
I mean, this isn't the '60s,
that the population of California
was like 3 billion people.
Do you wish that the whole world was California?
- So this is actually like deep Cold War propaganda.
- Has this come up on the show before?
I feel like this conversation has been had.
- I think it did come up on the show
like four or five years ago.
And for the longest time, I thought it was,
I wish they could all beat California girls.
- Violent.
- Well, no, but they like could best them.
- Top, like best them, top them.
- Yeah, I wish, he feels bad for like other girls.
That's what I always thought.
- It's funny that you talk about this
being Cold War propaganda.
We're gonna do a 10-part podcast series
where we talk about the CIA connections
to California girls by the Beach Boys.
That Brian Wilson Adson trip
was actually part of the MKUltra series of experiments.
- We're gonna get Tom O'Neill to call back in.
- We're gonna get Tom O'Neill back on the show.
But it's funny that you talk about it
being Cold War propaganda
because maybe Paul McCartney perceived that
when he wrote "Back in the USSR,"
which three years after this song,
which is basically a parody of this song.
- There is a Manson connection
through the Wilson brothers.
- Whoa.
- It all connects, man.
- Okay, let's put the lid back on this, man.
We don't want any trouble.
The number three song back in 1995.
Ooh, this is a classic, "Shaggy" with "Boombastic."
- Oh, yeah.
♪ Mr. Boombastic ♪
♪ My heart is a boombastic romantic fantastic lover ♪
- How much did it blow your mind
when you found out he didn't have a Jamaican accent?
- See, I've heard this.
- Is this a Mandela effect?
- I've heard this story that Shaggy's from New York,
but the thing I never understood is like,
is Shaggy a Jamaican dude
who maybe he moved to New York when he was like 10?
Does he maybe have Jamaican heritage?
What's the Shaggy story?
'Cause I've heard this.
- Is he the guy that did the record with Sting?
- Yes.
- Also, I think I just found that out when you said that.
(laughing)
So, I don't know how I feel about this.
- I've always been hearing this.
- Well, you know what's weird?
I'm noticing in the producer credits,
Robert Livingston and Sting International.
Is that a coincidence?
- Yeah, I think it's a coincidence.
He worked with a producer named Sting International,
and then 20 years later, he made an album with Sting.
- I'm watching an interview with him
where he begins with a,
it's in a recent one around the Sting stuff.
And he starts off with, you know,
I'm Shaggy, you know, Mr. Boombastic, heavy patois.
And then he immediately is like,
so let me tell you about this Sting collab.
It is a full on-
- Really?
- Yes.
- Matt, can you play us a little bit of this?
- Yo, this is Mr. Love-a-love-a-Boombastic
up front and personal.
Atta Shaggy!
- So that's the Shaggy we know.
- I think that being an ambassador for reggae,
it doesn't just fall in my hands.
I think any artist that brings this music
of dancehall or reggae outside-
- No, that's-
- Now I'm hearing something.
Now I'm hearing something.
- Yeah, yeah, he has an accent.
- Shaggy is Jamaican.
He was born in Kingston.
- Okay, I see.
This is a conspiracy theory.
- How old was he when he moved?
- He was 17 years old.
He moved to Brooklyn.
Then he joined the military.
Then he was stationed in North Carolina for a while.
And then he started making music.
- Okay, so that explains it.
Shaggy, you're a stand-up guy.
Yeah, I've always, 'cause I remember people
always telling me, "Oh, you know, Shaggy's a fake-in-Jamaican."
That's a term that people used to use a lot.
And this makes sense.
When he speaks, he's got, he lived in two places,
so he's got like a slight accent,
a kind of unusual mix of two accents.
He turns it up to 11 for the music, that's true.
But it's not quite as wild as if you're like,
this guy has no connection to Jamaica.
That would be insane.
But as I've always--
- Well, I stand relatively corrected.
But that is how I remember it growing up, you're right.
The basic rumor--
- No, right, people were very concerned
with fake-in-Jamaicans in the '90s.
The number two song, 1965, again, 1965,
just won't quit, The Beatles.
Back to back with the Beach Boys.
The Beatles with "Help."
♪ Help, I need somebody ♪
♪ Help, not just anybody ♪
♪ Help, you know I need someone ♪
♪ Help ♪
♪ When I was younger, so much younger than today ♪
♪ I never needed anybody's help in any way ♪
♪ Now, but now these days are gone ♪
♪ I'm not so self-assured ♪
- Is there a cowbell in that?
What's that snare?
Or is it just a snare?
- I feel like we're getting--
- Is he hitting the rim?
- Oh, maybe that's what it is.
It's also super trebly in my earbuds.
♪ Help me get my feet back on the ground ♪
♪ Won't you please, please help me ♪
- John Lennon said "Help" is one
of his favorite Beatles records
because I meant it, it's real.
The lyric is as good now as it was then, it's no different.
And it makes me feel secure to know
that I was that aware of myself then.
It was just me singing "Help" and I meant it.
- Yeah, I guess "Help" is when they kind of started
doing the more like kind of self-reflective.
- Self-aware.
- Yeah, that's-- - Art rock.
- In the movie, they have the scene
where they're sitting in that like recessed living room
doing, God, what song?
One of those, one of the folky like Post Dillon songs.
- Oh, like "Hide Your Love Away" or something?
- Yeah, it's "Hide Your Love Away," yeah.
There's a very subpar cover of this
from some TV show of Jerry Lewis and son, Gary Lewis,
of Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
- Wow.
- Doing-- - Covering "Help"?
- Wow. - Covering "Help," yeah.
- Classic Beatles song, and I think you're right, Jake.
This "Help" is kind of like a turning point record
of them becoming more self-aware.
It's funny, like I feel like there's been a bunch
of records in this year, in the past few years
that people talk about like self-aware pop stars
writing songs about having a compromised life
or feeling like they made a deal with the devil
for the fame and all that stuff.
I wonder if, is "Help" the first stressed out pop star song?
That's somebody who became really famous
in the years before the song, and they drop a song.
Like Michael Jackson, he had "Leave Me Alone"
in the '80s, right?
♪ Leave me alone ♪
- Great song, great video.
- Yeah.
- My God.
- Was "Help" the first stressed out pop star
being just like, "This (beep) is too much, leave me alone"?
- This media circus, overwhelming, yeah, maybe.
- Yeah.
- I mean, the Beatles were like the first band
for that to happen, right?
- To have Beatlemania?
- Yeah, I mean, they invented modern pop music.
I mean, well, the cult of the Beatles became
what we know as like--
- Yeah.
- You got your 19th century "Lista-mania,"
people freaking out for Franz Liszt.
♪ Lista-mania ♪
I'm trying to think if there's earlier Beatles songs
that touch on that, I guess.
- No, but no, of course, Aaron, you're totally right
that there's something, the Beatles,
there was fan hysteria before the Beatles,
but the Beatles were the first like modern,
global pop star fan hysteria thing.
That's why they got their own term, Beatlemania.
The number two song, oh wow, 1995 is some good ones too.
This is such an evocative song of this era.
The number two song in 1995, TLC, "Waterfalls."
- Oh wow.
Covered this in a band once.
- Really?
- Oh yeah.
- This actually would be a great song to noodle over,
like in the beginning, that,
♪ Do do do do do do do ♪
Yeah, this could be like a good Richard Pictures cover.
- So much yellow.
- Look at that raspy voice.
- Oh yeah.
♪ A son that she just can't touch ♪
♪ If any time he's in the jam ♪
♪ She'll be by his side ♪
♪ But he doesn't realize he hurts her so much ♪
- Well, speaking of the Beatles too,
there's that Paul McCartney solo song.
- Right.
- "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls."
♪ Don't go chasing waterfalls ♪
- Yeah, great song.
♪ He goes out and he makes his money ♪
♪ The best way he knows how ♪
♪ Another body laying cold in the garter ♪
♪ Listen to me ♪
- Produced by the great Organized Confusion.
- Who's that?
- They were like kind of in Atlanta in this era
and they had connections to like the outcast world.
I mean, when you really listen to this,
this sounds like an outcast song too.
Can you picture like Andre 3000 on this?
- Which singer is the really raspy one?
- I think T-Boz.
She's definitely in the pantheon of raspy voice singers.
I've never considered that before,
but she's up there with Henley, Ryan Adams, Rod Stewart,
all the greats.
♪ She gives him loving that his body can handle ♪
♪ But all he can say is baby it's okay ♪
- So this is the 19th biggest single of the whole decade.
- Isn't this video feature some like pretty
cutting edge computer graphics?
- Computer graphics, yeah.
- Liquid Terminator style.
- Yeah, they all become water versions of themselves.
♪ And he doesn't know why ♪
♪ Three letters took him to his spine ♪
♪ No rest in place, you don't hear me ♪
- I feel like a deadhead could really get into this song.
Picture like 1995, some old dude like working
at a coffee shop in Vermont,
and like some young kids put this on.
I could just like picture like the old head
just being kind of like,
now this is what I'm talking about.
All right, okay, I see.
Yeah, this is good music, man.
Like this would sound great next to like,
I don't know, like Fire on the Mountain.
I could make a mixtape between like Blind Melon,
this into Fire on the Mountain, Ruben and Cherise.
- Yeah, into some Jagger, Seal Band stuff.
- Yeah.
- Cats Under the Stars.
- They love each other.
- Oh, totally. - Oh, totally.
- Yeah, Jerry Garcia band live, 11 Minute, Shining Star.
- I mean, we've kind of touched on a concept
that this is making me think of,
of pics kind of covering songs as if--
- Jake told me about this.
- Like as if the dead were still going,
or well, I don't know, stirring and (beep)
- We did Althea into Plush once.
- (laughs) Star Temple Pilots?
- Yeah, we did Althea into Plush back into Althea.
- I think we back into Althea.
- It was sick.
- You know, there are like Joe Russo's Almost Dead.
They do J-Rad, they'll do stuff like that.
They'll like go into a Radiohead song back into the dead.
But I like the idea of just like a band,
and maybe this is part of the idea,
a band that just gets up on stage.
You don't play any dead songs.
You only do cover songs in the style of the Grateful Dead.
- And everyone's like, I thought this was a dead cover band.
No, we are, we are, but hear me out.
And then you have to explain this concept.
- You know how the dead would cover songs?
We're doing an all covers night.
We're a dead cover band,
and we're doing an all covers night.
Opening with Waterfalls by TLC.
- Waterfalls into Plush, into Salisbury Hill.
(imitates waterfalls)
Oh yeah, that'd be perfect.
- Yeah.
- The number one song in 1965,
1965 really coming strong.
Actually both years, good choices, Aaron.
- Thanks.
- The number one song this week in 1965,
the beautiful I Got You Babe, Sonny and Cher.
Written and produced by Sonny Bono.
- I didn't know he wrote and produced, that's cool.
- Yeah, I didn't know that either.
- Wasn't he like Lee Hazelwood's guy?
- Phil Spector.
- I thought he was Lee Hazelwood's guy or something.
- Oh, I think he did work with him.
And it says he also worked for Phil Spector.
- Okay.
Phil Spector's main guy was Jack Nietzsche,
like for arranging and stuff.
♪ I got you babe ♪
- Did Groundhog Day kind of ruin this song for you guys?
- Ruin?
- Well, not ruin, but like recontextualize
and like forever.
- And hear it over and over again?
- Like kind of change your association or?
- I haven't seen that movie in 30 years, so.
Is Sonny Bono the most accomplished,
artistically accomplished member of Congress ever?
- Was he a member of Congress or like?
- Yeah, I think he was a Congressman.
- He was a Senator.
- I thought he was the mayor of it, he wasn't.
I thought he was the mayor.
- Was the mayor of Palm Springs at some point?
Pretty sure he was a Congressman.
Okay, let's just.
- There's a, isn't there a highway out to the desert
that's like Congressman Sonny Bono, whatever.
- And then he died in a skiing accident, I think.
- Yeah. - Hold on.
He was the 16th mayor of Palm Springs.
And yeah, he was a member of the US House of Representatives.
- There you go.
- Wow.
♪ You're always wrong ♪
♪ Don't let them say your hair's too long ♪
♪ 'Cause I don't care who you are and you're wrong ♪
♪ Then put your little hand in mine ♪
♪ There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb ♪
- Hey.
- This is gonna be a non thing,
but I was thinking of you Jake recently.
There was some Senator, damn it, I can't even think.
There's a Senator who is in some like obscure
70s, 60s band that had one hit
that like you're probably a fan of.
- Wait, is it the guy from Orleans?
- Yes, it is.
- A US Senator?
- Yes, it's the guy from Orleans.
- I think Orleans had multiple hits.
- Maybe two.
♪ Dance with me ♪
♪ I want to be your partner, can't you see ♪
- Wait, that guy's a US Senator now?
- Yeah. - From where?
- Democratic US Senator.
- Wow.
- Well, I'm still gonna give the edge to Sonny Bono.
- Still the one.
- From what?
- Still the one, that's their big thing.
- Oh yeah.
- I love that. - Oh yeah, so they had two hits.
♪ I want you, babe ♪
- Okay, I have a question.
Do you think when this song came out in 1965
that babe was kind of like a cool word?
Like Sonny Bono had like heard
like some of those early Dylan songs,
like when Dylan's calling people babe
and was like, oh, that's pretty hip to call somebody babe.
And then this was like the mainstream version
of like the cool word.
- Definitely. - You know what I mean?
- Yeah, it ain't me babe to I got you babe.
- Yeah, he was listening to Dylan, it ain't me babe.
And he's like, yeah, you could literally picture Sonny Bono
like, yeah, I just think that's a pretty hip thing
to like to call your old lady babe.
You know, like baby, there's a million baby songs.
Babe is real hip, you know, you got Dylan saying it.
Like I'm gonna, that was kind of my inspiration.
- Where did babe come from?
And why was it hip?
- Yeah, it's less infantilizing than baby.
Baby is real like 50s, you know.
- Baby.
- And babe fit the Zeitgeist of the times or something.
You know, people.
- It's cool, yeah, I guess it's cool just to have just babe.
- I feel like Sonny Bono was more than just trying
to use the word babe.
I feel like he was just trying to rewrite, it ain't me babe.
And he was like, I can do something like this
and like flip it or something, you know,
and like I'm gonna do my version of that.
- Do you think it was like a 50s sort of more rat packy
baby then became sort of to babe?
I'm trying to find, yeah.
- I also wonder if men and women called each other babe.
It could go either way.
- Well, you got like Babe Ruth.
- Cher could call Sonny babe, hey babe.
- I guess babe also, it's at a certain point,
babe became a very West Coast thing to say.
Like almost like some Hollywood.
- Oh yeah.
- Babe, listen, then you flash forward to--
- Let's do lunch babe.
- Yeah, flash forward to Ellis and Die Hard, you got Bubby.
(laughing)
- To Ellis and Die Hard.
Babe, I mean, I negotiate with a fountain pen,
you're holding a machine gun, what's the difference?
- Yeah, exactly.
- But also now when I think of the word babe,
I think of it, it's something that like,
maybe like a slightly condescending,
older woman might say to a younger woman.
Oh babe, you got so much to learn babe.
Doesn't that sound like, oh yeah,
I work with this older woman and she's just like,
she gives me a lot of unasked for advice.
She's just like, Patricia, come here babe.
Oh babe, that is not how you use the label maker.
Come here babe.
What's up babe?
Boyfriend break up with you?
You can tell me, I've seen it all.
- I got you babe.
- I feel like when--
- I got you babe.
- The babe movie about the pig, the talking pigs,
babe, pig--
- Killed it for you?
- Yeah, it sort of changed the game.
Somebody's soul movie is babe.
- What year did babe come out?
Did babe come out in 1995?
- I want to guess '95.
Let's see here, feels like a '95, yeah, it is '95.
- Wow.
- Wow, that's weird.
That's weird.
- It's crazy dude.
- You guys watch swingers anytime recently?
- Couple years ago.
- Yeah, last five years.
- I watched it over quarantine.
- Lots of babes?
- Well, it's not the babe, it's not babes.
It's the, I mean, it actually so much more than I remember
the way that he says baby
and calls everyone beautiful babies.
And it's just like, it's like,
but it's not even just like three or four times
where I remembered it.
It's like hundreds of times in the movie.
He's like, look at all the beautiful babies.
Look at all, hey baby, baby, baby.
It's really--
- 'Cause they were trying to redo like a Rat Pack thing.
- Exactly.
- Hey baby, oh baby, what's the problem baby, baby.
We need a people's history of the word babe.
- Well, I'll tell you the first use of it was in 19,
the first use of baby was in 1839.
- Of babe?
- Using baby as a term of endearment.
That's the first sort of known use of it
where sugar appeared in 1930.
So--
- So baby predates sugar.
- Yeah, I'm sure that babe is just sort of a reaction
to that more Rat Packy baby, baby,
but yeah, something maybe hipper in the 60s.
- You guys, it's the 60s.
We're not calling chicks baby anymore, babe.
- We're not calling chicks baby anymore.
We're calling them chicks.
- We're calling chicks, chicks.
The number one song in 1995.
Oh, this is another big one.
I think these are both like very evocative
of the 60s and the 90s.
The number one song this week in 1995.
I think we've heard this on TC before.
- Yeah.
- Seal, "Kiss from a Rose."
(singing in foreign language)
- This song is kind of proggy, right?
- Oh yeah.
- There's a few surprising changes.
- Very Renaissance intro.
- Did I ever share my Seal story with you guys?
- I don't think so.
- So I was at this, it was an event,
but it was with like hundreds of people,
you know, like a few hundred people.
So it's almost like, it was like a TED talky type thing.
So it wasn't an intimate group
and he was one of the speakers
and he was sort of talking about his process.
At the end, he was like, you know,
to sort of think creatively, I go on a lot of hikes.
I hike Runyon Canyon.
And if anybody here wants to go on a hike with me,
just meet me after this.
I'll give you my phone number
and we can go on a hike together.
And obviously it's a huge regret I didn't do it,
but it wasn't an ironic,
like this is to hundreds of people, Seal was like,
see me after my speech, go on a hike with me
and we'll get creative.
- Whoa.
- And I did, I have to think about it.
I had this sort of moment with him afterwards
where we talked, he came up to me
'cause I was, didn't really know anyone at this event
and I was alone and he came up and just was like,
what's up man?
That, and I know I've told that Bieber story
that people have brought up to me.
Those are two like super kind vibe guys.
But I mean, yeah, so if you want,
probably head out around 7.30 AM to Runyon Canyon,
you're gonna see Seal just on a hike.
- And Seal, he was at a TED Talk-esque event
with hundreds of people and he just saw you by yourself
and he just said, he just walked up to you and was like,
hey lonely man, what's your story?
- Yeah, yeah.
Everyone sort of, I did get the feeling,
I was invited sort of last minute to this event
and I really didn't know anybody
and maybe I just had that energy,
but he came up to me and he was like,
yeah, what's up lonely man?
But just the,
but the idea of telling a huge auditorium of people,
come see me, I'll give you my phone number
if you ever wanna go on a hike together.
I just, I never forget it.
- If you wanna talk about 9/11,
give me my phone number and give me a call.
We'll talk.
- That's how you end.
That's how you end.
You don't wanna talk at the merch table,
but give me your number and we'll go on a hike.
- We won't do it at 1am.
We'll wake up early.
- Then it busts into this part.
- Oh yeah.
♪ I've been kissed by a rose on the bridge ♪
- I love that this beautiful song is attached
to Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze.
And like.
- No, no, it's a different movie.
That's Batman and Robin.
This is Batman Forever, which is Tommy Lee Jones.
And yes, and Jim Carrey as the Riddler.
- Yeah, well that's just as good.
I just saw a video of Jim Carrey singing,
I am the walrus with George Martin orchestrating.
- Wow.
It's like serious?
- It's hard to say.
I mean.
- Is it a live event?
- It's like in an in studio, like video.
It's (beep) up.
I don't know why George Martin did that.
- Should we just go out on this kiss from a rose?
Yeah, this is perfect.
All right.
Thanks to Al D Carson Mel Aaron Olson.
This has been another time crisis.
We'll see in two weeks.
♪ Ooh, but I get a feelin' strange I was being ♪
♪ Now that your rose is a blue ♪
♪ A light hits the blue on the bridge ♪
♪ It's like a baby to a kiss from a rose on the bridge ♪
♪ Ooh, but I get a feelin' strange I'm being ♪
♪ Now that your rose is a blue ♪
♪ A light hits the blue on the bridge ♪
- Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig.
A cane egg.
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