Welcome to Big Blend Radio's virtual cafe! Pull up a seat and let's find out who we're having a happy hour conversation with today. So welcome everybody, it is time for another happy hour and as I'm going to say on today's show, what happens with an author, a travel writer, a death doula and two musicians walk into a bar. We're going to find out, welcome to the Big Blend Radio Virtual Cafe. I don't even know if we should call it a cafe, maybe it should be like a, you know, one of those old school bars, like saloon, we want it to be dirty and guy far, maybe it, oh, I like to be easy, oh, oh, I'm going to change the cafe where to speak easy or so right because it's a radio show, it's a podcast, makes total sense. And we can speak easy. We can, we can say anything we want. We're all adults, so we can do what we want. And none of us are cruel, but some of us kill off characters. The other one helps the characters transcend to the next destination. And then others create music and the other one might photograph it on the way if she's traveling around. So that's really how this happy hour is going to be. So let me bring in our cast of characters. We've got author Matt Coste who made us start this new channel, not just an episode, Matt. He made us bring back the happy hour hangout show. So welcome back. How are you? I'm fantastic. I guess I'm anointed king of the happy hour. I think so. I don't know. But he just, he's like, I want more company. I'm like, I can do that. We've got lots of friends here in the Big Blend Radio World. And I know our happy hour shows. We have a champagne Sunday show. We is our flagship show. And I think that may have to come back too because I don't know. We like to toast two things around here. We like to have our little, doesn't have to be alcohol just so everyone knows it can be tea, it could be coffee, could be soda, whatever you want. But it's about taking time and enjoying a conversation. So everyone from Matt, go to mattcost.net. Matt, give everyone an overview of all your, you've got so many books and you've got a new one coming out. Which is about to hit our mailbox. We're excited. Yes, it's on the way to you. I write historical fiction and mysteries. So histories and mysteries is my thing. I have several different mystery series. And the most recent one coming out in July 31st, which Lisa's getting a copy in her mailbox very soon. It's called City Gonna Skew, which is the second book in my historical PI mystery series, Brooklyn eight Balot series set in 1924 Brooklyn. And that's part of how we met you with Velma gone awry. I mean, you can't go, you can't mess around with these titles. Velma. We went around and now we're a skew. Yeah, but Velma, where did the name Velma? Sorry. I was about to say something really wrong, because our car name is Malva, by the way, from a Seinfeld episode. So that's a whole other conversation. But yeah, Velma, what, where did that name come from? I'm not even really sure where I pulled that out of it. I was looking for a good German female name. Velma across that. It just kind of jumped out at me and I thought that would be a good one. It is. I don't think we hear that many Velmas anymore. That was kind of a generational name, don't you think? Like a certain period, there were Velmas and then they subsided. There was like Agnes was one at one time. There was a bunch of Agni running around, Agnes or Agni. I don't know. Anyway, so everyone, that cost, I think you're gonna have to be a resident on the Happy Hour show, since you've poked us to doing it again. So we might go astute a time or two, but that's okay. We have travel writer and photographer Joe Clark, and she is a resident here on Big Glenn Radio. Everybody is. And she goes everywhere, but she likes to have a glass of wine in her hand. In fact, her blog site is haveglasswilltravel.com. She's based out of South Carolina. Matt is based out in Maine. So we're doing a little road trip today. So welcome back, Joe. How are you? Great. How are you? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. However, I hate to tell you I'm not having wine right now. You would think I'm on you. I'm in Tucson. I'm having beer. It's a beer time. Oh, yeah. I love my beer, though. I'm serious. I do love my beer. Apparently my great grandma did too. She would not have a day goodbye without her glass of beer. So, you know, your family does it. Do it. Well, maybe, maybe not. But good to have you back on the show. You know, Joe has a podcast with us every second Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern time where she talks about her adventures. She's been all over. Where are we going next? The last time was Virginia. We did the three hours of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Where are we going next? Namibia, right? Is that the next destination? We're going to Namibia next in Africa. Cool. Back to your stomping grounds. That is, that's my homeland. I know I was born in the States, but that's my homeland. It is. That's what you claim. Yeah, it is. I once you get the African dirt under your fingernails, you can't go back. Just saying. But then after correctly, it's the four hours. You learn the three hours in school. Did I say three hours? Four hours. Four hours. Yeah, the four hours of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rhino, Redford, Run Oak and Rocky Mountain. But listen, here's the deal. We're unhappy. I might not be able to count to the four by the time we're done today. I know, but you got to get one setting up myself for success. Rocky Mountain's the one with the speakeasy and the distilleries. Okay. So, everyone speaking of speakeasy, it's already been a change that our show will now be about, you know, congregating virtually in a speakeasy instead of a cafe. Cafe is too polite and too clean for us. I don't know. But I want to bring Lee Bravadani on the show. And, you know, I love it because we did meet over an email over her answering the happy hour show question. So, it's really good to have her back on a happy hour show. And she's been on our show for a number of years talking about trust. She is the trust architect, but she's also changed up in careers. And she is known as the sole journey doula. And that means she helps people pass on. She helps people with end of life planning. And so, if you're going to have someone help you on the way out, you better trust them. And sometimes you may want them to guard you from, you know, family members you don't like at the hospital door when you just say, "Let me go. Don't let him in. I want to go peacefully." It could be that way. But we have a podcast with her every Thursday. In fact, as we're recording it, it's airing. But Lee, we do this. It's called the sole journey doula. And her website is sole journey doula. So, welcome back. How are you, Lee? I'm good. It feels like we just talked. I know. I know. So, what is in your glass? I want to know if it's Amber or not. It's not tequila. I'm actually having a pinaigrigio. And it's Santa Margarita, which is one of my kind of go-to favorites. And that's what I'm sitting right now. Amber Lipses for Sunday night with a cigar. Oh, you naughty girl. So, wait. So, you're in Savannah right now, but you're also in Nova Scotia at the same time. Well, we just built the house in Nova Scotia. You can do two places at once as a sole journey. I'm just saying you're loud. But, yeah, we divide our time between Savannah, Georgia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Right now, my heart's in Nova Scotia, even though my body's in Savannah. See? Because my husband and my dogs are up in Nova Scotia. Aw, you're away from them. That's, yeah. Well, but you're on the happy hour show. So, that's fun. That's fun. Okay. So, I can be happy and have a glass of wine. I love it. And we did get to meet Lee when we were in Savannah. And I told her, I promised her, I said, we're going to get a sit in Savannah, Georgia, but that's it. As people know, Nancy and I travel the country and full time, and we pets along the way so we can do our podcast and work. And I told her, we'll be in Savannah so we can meet you. And we did. I did it by the end of the year as I promised. And we went and had margarita and tacos together. It was cool. We had a good time. Yeah, it was great. It was fun. And we're going to go stay in Georgia right now. See, we're kind of going down the coastline. But I think Joe, I think I probably, yeah, I did it right. No, Joe. Yeah, did I do it right? Joe, you're South Carolina then Georgia. Yeah, I did it right. We're going to see, we're going to hang out with Joey Stucky, who is an incredible musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, also the music ambassador of Macon, Georgia. He is also an ambassador for those who cannot see. He travels the country talking about being a blind musician and what technology can do for blind musicians. And he also co-hosts our fourth Sunday, Big Daily Blen Show, which is a daily show, but it's on every fourth Sunday. And we just, we love Joey and we're going to see you this year because we're coming back through Georgia. Joey's happening this year. See, it is. I am excited. I'm so excited. Yes. Yes. This is the year. How are you? How are you? I'm well, my friend. I'm doing well. Good. Good. Everyone, Joey Stucky.com is a website to go to. And I'm excited. Our next show together is going to air this fourth Sunday. And we talked about musicians with families, like musical families, which I thought was fun. Yeah. And a lady I interviewed right after I chatted with you, just came back from Wales. And she says, do you know the beachies came from Wales? And I'm like, I do now because of you. And we were just talking about the beachies. Yeah. I did not know that. I did not know that where they were from. Yeah. Oh, no, no, Wales, the Isle of Man. Sorry, which is our family history. Oh, now I got it screwed up. I don't know. I don't know if my memory is serving me. I'm going to have to play googly machine. We'll get it straight. But anyway, no, it's cool. It's cool. That was such. Okay, wait, let me see. Is it? No, they say they're from Australia. So. So now we don't know. Well, now we really don't know. No, now I really have to go do real research and go on Wikipedia. Oh my God. If the day is when we just believe everything on Wikipedia, I want to bring our next guest on who you have met, right? After connecting on his shows, vocalist and composer Johnny Shafer, he's award winning, just also with his, not only his music, but also videos that he creates with his husband Paco. We have Johnny Shafer, so to hear Johnny.com to learn more about him. But welcome back, Johnny. How are you? I'm doing very well. Thank you. Hot, but doing well. Well, I'm going to walk around and tell everybody that I'm hot. They may not believe me, but it's all good with me. But hey, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny also co-hosts our first Sunday big blend, big daily blend show. And our next one, well, the last one was super fun, but the next one we're going to be doing. What are we doing? The last one was ice cream socials. And now all I get is ads for ice cream. Like don't eat ice cream. This is a health thing. And then, I don't know, but I'm being ice cream. What are we doing next? What are we doing? What's the next one? We had a topic. Do you remember? I don't remember. You have new music. That's what I know. Do you have new music? Are we allowed to talk about it? Yeah. Yeah, we're going to be, yeah, for it's, I think we're coming out with it on looks like it'll be on the night, so. Of August? So, yeah. That's exciting. That's exciting. That's exciting. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Okay. So, speak easy. Y'all want us to change it to speak easy? I think it's a very good thing. So, what about a password? We need to think about a password because you don't historically get into a speak easy. I think Matt, speak easy. You've kind of written about them before, haven't you? Yeah. I could share a story if you want of my upcoming book. I come across, I read the 1924 Brooklyn Eagle for research and I came across a mention of the back room, which was a speak easy and lower Manhattan. And then I came across the fact that some of the characters I use in the book, which are Charlie Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Seagal and Meyer Lansby hung out in the back room of the back room. And it was here that they planned murder incorporated and laid the foundation for the modern day mafia. So, I made plans with the manager to go visit the back room of the back room because it was still existing exactly like it was. And so, one Friday in lower Manhattan, my wife, my daughter and myself went, you know, the typical through the dark New York street, down through the metal grates and down the concrete stairs and down a smoke filled alley. He's setting up the scene. Listen to this. Oh my God. He's not a writer. We go upstairs and open the door and the music erupts out. There's jazz band planes, great big chandeliers hanging. Everybody's drinking out of pewter teacups because obviously prohibition agents were kind of stupid. And if they saw everybody's drinking out of pewter teacups, they would have just thought they were in the wrong place, I guess. So, they've kept everything exactly the same as it was. Of course, the manager was not there. So, it was up to my daughter to go find somebody to get us into the back room, up the back room. And we went through the bookcase into the back room. And it was pretty creepy. Just imagining Lansky and Luciano and the cigar planning murder incorporated in this little dingy room of the back room. So, that's my back room story. That's cool. Now, did you have to have a passcode though to get in? I did not. They must have done away with that. Because I can tell you what the password is. Well, you went to a speak easy. Tell us about that experience. A couple of them. Yeah, a couple of them. There's one in Floyd. One in Floyd and one in Rocky Mountain. But you ask at the counter, you have to ask for a wooden nickel for the coat machine or a buffalo nickel for the coat machine. And you put that nickel in the coat machine and you open the coat machine up to get into the speak easy. But the password is blind pig. You ask, I tell them, you know, I heard you have a blind pig. I want to see the blind pig. And I have a nickel to see the blind pig. And that let them know that you knew there was a speak easy there. And you knew how much it costs to get in. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's incredible. Like to have that. So, yeah, because you guys eat a lot of pork out there, don't you? That's a thing. I don't know where the blind part, Joey, no offense to you. Because he ain't a blind pig as far as I know. I like I like blind pigs. I mean, you know, any excuse to go rooting around? Bacon? Absolutely. Everything's better with bacon. You're right. I do want to touch on Lucky Luciano. We've had a guest on our show over the years, Christian Chipolini. I don't know if I'm pronouncing his name correctly because I probably did it wrong on the show too. He wrote Lucky Luciano mysterious tales of a gangland legend. He knows everything about the games and the mafia. And we've actually had a mafia dude on our show. And then I said, well, what are you doing now? He goes, I'm in trucking. And then he fretted me on LinkedIn. And recently, he's gone away, so I don't know what happened. So I'm like, that's a true story. But there's a, we've had interesting authors on the show over the years. So I'm just saying, Matt, I'll connect you with him if you ever want to talk to him. He's really cool. He's really done a lot on Luciano. And, you know, it's so funny because with characters like this, you get there's a, we all love the villains, right? But I had to be reminded a couple times, maybe three or four times on the podcast that we've done with, with, with Chris. And then also, Ron Cheposick, who's been on the show, he's the publisher of all of these and, and Barbara Casey's also part of this, also an amazing author. In fact, her interviews up on our women making history podcast today on Catherine Kelly, which she is the wife of the gangster, Machine Gun Kelly. And we're recording the day before this airs, which is tomorrow, Friday. It's his birthday. So I was like, we have to air this. She did the biography of her. And she was the mastermind of all of what was going down. And that includes being connected with Bonnie and Clyde. And the women were behind half of the murders and the crime. They were the, their husbands did it. They masterminded it. It's pretty interesting. But anyway, they did all these series of books called the gangland mysteries. And anyway, I just, if you want to connect with them, Matt, I'm just saying they, they've covered a ton on the gangs. But when they were on the show, you forget that these people killed people, like really. So when you do your research on things like this, Matt, do you kind of not, you can't really be romanced by the villain, but people are romanced by the villains. Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, I would hesitate to, you know, go sit down and speak easy with some mafia personality in a dark alley and have a chat to do research. I think I'd stay well within the bounds of safety before doing anything like that. But you'd watch so you could write about it. Let me listen. Let me watch, you know, but I don't know. It's some, we've kind of, there's a, there is a weird romance part of the dark. Joe, going in speak easy. Do you feel that little bit of romance towards the darker side? Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of interesting when you go in and you, you sort of feel like you've got stepped back in history, the year back in that, I mean, it was from the 20s to 1933. So you've got a 13 year span of prohibition that people were sneaking around to do any drinking and partying. So it's kind of, you know, you watch the door for a flapper and a lot of times the people who work there are dressed as flappers and the bartenders are wearing the suspenders and a lot of them with the green visors like they would have had for, for dealing poker and things like that. So they kind of dress the part and they make all kinds of really neat craft cocktails. The ones that are in a, they come inside the cloak. And then when they lift it, the smoke dissipates and your drink is there. So it's pretty cool. That is cool. Lee, you and I talked on your podcasts. It's airing right now as we talk on the last episode, we talked about letting go of things, you know, if you've done something wrong, get on with it, move forward so that you can have a happy end of life, right? Not a happy ending, but a happy end of life. And you, me and I were talking about this. And now I'm thinking, what if you were in the mafia, how do you just let go of like, I've murdered all these people? Like, that's a little, that's a little harsher, right? To, yeah, that's a, that's a different thing. Like, you are going to have to do some soul searching for that one, right? That's pretty well. Yeah, I'd be interested in finding out how many of them are sociopathic because a lot of that means that they just don't, it doesn't hit them the way that, okay, that was a bad choice of words, but yeah, funny. Yeah, so, so, you know, in a lot of the work I do, it's, it's not from my perspective and what I do, it's not as much around the dying moment, it's about what's leading up to it. And as long as you've got too deep planted on the ground, you're still alive and you still have a huge opportunity to live a life that gives you a lot more peace towards the end. So letting go can be in the moment now of letting go things that don't serve you or, you know, and, and living a full life, like there's things that I think you gather people around you, who live this really full life and do things that fills their spirit. So at the end of the road, they can say, well, you know, like I had, I had a pretty good run. I've traveled the world, I've tasted the wines, I played the music that have made people smile, I've, I've written the books that just engage people and, and make my, you know, soul thing because it's being, you know, I'm, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Wow, you just, you just did a whole round. You just did a synopsis of everybody on the show today. I love this music, travel books, I'm liking this, you know, cocktails is always good too. I can listen. I love what you do listen, you know, and it's good that you're a trusted architect, you know, that's important as you pass on, you want someone like, I wasn't kidding around about you know, sending the other, the, the relative you don't want around away, you know, when you die, if you don't want someone around you, you don't want them. Like, you know, yeah, look, that vending machine over there is calling you, it's even blinking and saying, come to me, you know, so, you know, we're telling the person in the bed, okay, be quiet because I'm going to lie for you, which is, you know, like, I'm going to talk about, I'm going to lie and say that you're asleep, and it's not a good time and maybe come back another day. Yeah, exactly, exactly. You know, I'm going to go to Joey and Johnny about this as musicians, because we're talking about speakeasies and bars, and you know, you got to think about the blues brothers going in and they playing raw high and getting pelted by beer bottles and stuff. And as I know what it's like when you play, like comedians, well, Lee does improv. And I think, you know, those, I mean, I don't know, what happens when do you, when you stand up at a book event, Matt, do you ever get like that feeling of a comedian like you're going to bomb? Or is it fine? Like, do you ever get butterflies on that? I have to ask that. I certainly do, you know, especially when I'm doing a new talker, a new booker, you know, sort of broaching a new subject. I'm worried about stumbling my way through. But after I've done it a few times, I feel a little more comfortable with it. But then you always, you know, can possibly have the, the, the dead crowd that doesn't react to anything you say, so then you do. Then you need to call Lee. She'll send them on. Send them on. So, so, Joey and Johnny, have you been, have you performed in a place where you're like, God, get me the hell out of here? Like, they don't listen. They're, let's go with you, Johnny. I mean, you're, you're in the south. You never know, beer bottles fly behind chicken wire. I mean, I know that's kind of the west too. But what, have you ever played it? Like, especially being blind? Oh my God. Someone could be throwing something. You don't even see it coming, well, I mean, literally see it coming your way. Have you ever experienced anything like that? Yeah, I, I'm not a big fan of large masses of humanity, not in their right mind. And, and, and so my, my bandmates think it's hilarious to go load the van and let all the drunk people come talk to me because I know that I'm not in favor of that. It's not that I'm not in mind talking because obviously I don't. And it's not that I'll take pictures, I'll sign stuff. I'm glad to, to chat. But what happens is, I'll be sitting there and standing there, and all of a sudden there's just somebody in my personal space that's very shocking. And I've had, when we were the house band at the Ritz Carlton for six months, you would not believe the number of immediate, unebriated bridesmaids that tried to sit in my lap while I was playing. And that's a real shock. You can't see it coming. You're like, Oh, no. And that was sudden there's, there's a 130 pound woman that's fallen on top of you and drooling on you. That's just terror. So, but, but I mean, honestly, I mean, I, I love having a good time. I don't, I put a lot of research into where I go perform and, and you know, if I decide to do it, and I really have never, I, I knock on wood, I've nearly had a crowd that didn't respond. I've had, I had some crowds that took time to warm up, but I've nearly had a crowd that didn't respond. And I don't really worry. It doesn't make me nervous because that's what I do. It's a natural extension of my spirit. It's just a little bit more intense when I'm on stage, but it's really no different than what, when I'm off stage. I mean, it's just a little bit more energy, a little bit more projection of that energy to other people, but it's, it's not. But I, I did have a, when I was in California, I did have a gimmick that I left because it seems sketchy. And these three guys, we were outside, I won't say the venue, but we were outside getting ready to load in. And that was just me and my wife. I was doing just guitar and vocal. And these guys said, oh, there's a blind man. I bet we could take the guitars from him. And so the, the Uber driver said, we're leaving. And we all just got back in the car and left because it was a real sketchy part of town. And somebody else had booked that show for me. I hadn't booked it myself. They didn't do their research. So, but yeah, I, I love, I love to play and I love to, to, to be part of a group. And I love to be part of a group having a good time. There's some stories I could tell that are a little off color, shall we say, about some, some people that have had too much of a good time and decided to come share that with me at the end of the show. But I won't, I won't tell those stories, but it was, it's funny now, but at the time, I was not happy with my bandmates for leaving me in that situation. I can't wait to meet you in person. I want to hear those stories because, you know, I have a million, believe me, I've got more than you'll ever want to hear. I think musicians and bartenders hear everything bartenders, they need a drink. I mean, they really are like the, they're the psychologists of the, God, they need a drink. They need something. I know Johnny would, I know Johnny would agree with me. And as we've, we've had an opportunity to talk for a couple of a while. And, and, and you know, musicians are philosophers and, you know, therapists and, you know, that's part of what makes our art compelling is that we're able to give you something you can use as a tool to make your life better. But the, the, you know, actually the, the, the biggest qualities we came from to be a producer and make records is not the technical stuff, which I certainly know, but it's the, it's the ability to be a psychiatrist for the day. Because if you keep everybody happy, you have a professional, you have a productive session. If, if people are not happy, the work doesn't get done. So anyway, yeah, I know, or you could be fleet with Matt, you know, there's a lot of that. Yeah, that can happen. But Johnny, yeah, I mean, that even ties in, but I want to go into a gig thing. If you had a gig that's wild and crazy like that, like a venue. Well, I think, I think for me, I kind of going along with what Joey saying, you know, my music comes from my heart. And if I'm in a venue where, where I essentially end up being background music and people aren't really paying attention, they're talking so loud that, that, that you can't even really hear what I'm doing that well. I don't enjoy that. And I don't even know I'm there. It's just, I, I don't want to be background music. If I'm performing somewhere, I'd like to share my music with people and not just be music actors, you know, they could just put on a jukebox or something instead of, you know, having me there. So I think that's, Johnny, how many times have you even asked to play like stuff that's totally not even your style of music? I've been people come up and be like, Hey, you played Taylor Swift, but I'm like, uh, no, whoa, don't tell me on that. I want you to go out. Taylor Swift fan. I actually like Taylor Swift, but that's not what I do. Have you, have you ever come up and try to make you a jukebox? No. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I am pretty eclectic, but it, and, and, but I know what I can do and what I can't do. And I'm not going to try to, you know, go listen to that if that's what you want. You know, I remember a woman coming up to me after our band playing. She's like, we're, we're doing this private gig. And she comes up, she's, if you don't place Mustang Sally, I'm not tipping you. I'm like, I don't want your money, blah, blah, blah, blink, blink, blink. Um, because it was insane. I'm like, what, you know, that was a warm up song, our band use. And like she heard it earlier. And I remember that was always our warm up song. Like it wasn't for anything other than a warm up and sound check thing. And I remember doing a gig once when all the horse people got started doing a chain dance thing and then we're all looking and like the bass player went down in his knees giggling, Nancy's down. We're all, we all got the giggles, like, because, but we, we're good at it. We, we know how to play that song, but and people were like, play it again, play it. And I'm like, what? It's like being told to please play free bird, you know, and you don't. Yeah. We don't have a band group. I'm on Facebook. They make jokes about that all the time. Yeah. I mean, we, we did a good one. Yeah. Yeah. I can give everybody a free bird. I remember we did a gig in the ocean side. We had like two to 3000 people and we're like, well, okay, great. And we had this really, our rhythm guitarist turned out to be a rapist later. But anyway, Matt Coste, you can put him in the book. I'll tell you about that story later. But he's like bringing up girls. He's like looking at me. Like this is our rhythm guitarist going, look at the tits on that. And I'm like, what are you doing? People can hear you over the mic. What are you doing? We have this gig. We have a, I think we were seven or nine piece at that time because we had drummers, percussionists, two to three. It was insane. So do you know what happened? The management for the Everly brothers wanted us to be their opening act. The Everly, I talked about that with you, Joey. Are you kidding me? And then when the Everly brothers heard what we did, they're like, hell no. And then maybe they saw our guitarist try to grab these girls and our band didn't last it blew up, but because of that kind of stuff. But that's the thing. It's like that weird thing. But let's speak easy. We've been talking about the speak easy. I want a good password. What we can use for this bacon from, bacon from Macon. That's the name of our of our of our baseball team. Bacon, bacon. Yeah, it really is. And they play the bananas. I like it. Oh, that's funny. That's funny. Now, I always thought that the password should be shenanigans. I like shenanigans because I say that a lot. And apparently, if I don't use that word, I get in trouble. So Matt, do you have a word? I'm up for shenanigans. That's starting to win. Do you have a word, Matt? Shenanigans, bacon, the blind pig, they're all good. Maybe put them all together. Wouldn't it, uh oh. Oh, wouldn't it, right? I have, how many times have I said that they're picking with nickel? So that's, that's, uh, my parents say it. I just, I, my great friend, mother used to say it. And I, I've, uh, I tell them my interns that. So that's, uh, you know, that's, that's, that's one of my phrases. The other, the other phrase that I tell my interns, just because I'm trying to make my interns old for their time, because youth is wasted on the young, uh, is basically, uh, something like, uh, life's hard and then comes the, and then comes the, the revelation. Yeah, that, yeah, that, that the revelation does come at some point. That's an old, that's an old, that's an old, uh, preacher's expression. My grandfather was a Baptist minister. So I have, I have several of those wonderful. Now I see where the music comes from. Does he, that's, he could not, he could not sing. He could not sing. He was not a good singer. He wanted to be, but he, he wasn't. And my dad is actually, uh, even worse. Um, he's actually been paid not to play before. Um, so well, I mean, but you, you and Joey have that kind of connection. I mean, Johnny on that in regards to like, okay, church music, right? And to me, like, gospel is, you know, I, I, when we got to this country and stuff, I would watch BET because of the black gospel music because I was like, oh man, they're going down. They're going home. I was closer, closer to me with African music than anything. It just was so, I don't know. I, and, and you can listen to white gospel too. Um, you know, but there's some of it that just is like, you're going, you're, you're being sent. I mean, Lee, do you ever get like, when, when it comes to being a soul journey doula and a death doula music can, can people say, listen, when I'm going, can you put this music on? Like Nancy says, if she ever wants to just take her sock on, she says, she says red wine may be a joint. You know, she doesn't even smoke, but she says in a jacuzzi with Neil Young, and she's out, not Neil Young, uh, Neil Diamond, and I'm out. I'm out. That'll put me out. Very different meals. Very different. You play Neil Young to Nancy. She does. She's, she's a fan of his songwriting, but not his singing. That's a very, I am not allowed to play Neil Young. So I just say, there is no Neil Young, um, allowed. I, if he's playing with Crazy Horse, I'm in, or Lucas Nelson, the promise of the real, and Micah Nelson, I'm in. Um, I'm in, but she's not. But anyway, I suppose it's a Neil, any Neil, you, she's like, if, if I need to take myself out, play Neil Diamond, give me red wine in the jacuzzi, I'm out. So I don't know what that means. Apparently that's where my mom wants to go. But it's music. You put her in the jacuzzi and dunk her head. I don't know. I, but I mean, I don't know if you've carried, I, you know, but that, but she said, if I have to go, if I have to take myself out, that's how I'm going to do it. You know, I mean, come on. Everybody thinks about how they can go. I can tell you that just about everybody has their playlist that they want to be hearing and they want to listen to, um, as they're, as they're leaving. So I haven't seen too many people who say, no, I want it quiet. Most people have the music that they want to play and a friend. Yeah, a friend, her dad, um, he had this long playlist and the song that he was listening to when he, he had his last breath was Leonard Cohen's hallelujah, which, okay. Perfect. Yeah, pretty perfect. Wow, we need to do a whole show on this. Oh my gosh, we could do a whole show on like leaving this plane to the next leaving on the jet plane. That'd be part of it. Sorry. I was, uh, three of my, no, no, no, go. I was with three of my parents when they, uh, well, I, my parents were divorced and each we married. One of, one of the four is still alive, but the other three, I was with each of them when they passed and, uh, we were kind of their caregivers and all of them, yeah, music we, we sat around and sang and we sang their favorite hong. Uh, my mom, you know, we made a playlist on her, on her tablet, um, of all her favorite music and it was, you know, all different kinds of things choir stuff and, and, and then in the 80s, uh, during the AIDS crisis, I was in a, um, organization through Project Angel Food called, uh, um, Project Night Light and a lot of the guys, you know, their families, uh, they were passing from AIDS. Their families didn't want anything to do with them. So the hospital would call us and say, this person is passing, would you come and be with them? And so we would, they called it like a midwife to the dying and we would sit with them and they always wanted to sing. And so I would sing with them and it was always a really beautiful experience. Um, just, uh, the music would just kind of, their, their face would light up and the music was a way for them to, to pass over. So I definitely came out for that. That's the other name for a death doula is a death midwife. Mm hmm. Well, you were way, you were doing it way before I ever heard anything about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's amazing. I mean, the power of music. So I want to go to Joe, Joe, when you travel as a travel writer, photographer, I know you like your wine, but is music part of it for you when you travel? Do you want to go see what's going on, on the cultural side? Yeah. I enjoy going to live music venues. And I like most, any kind of music, especially if I can, if I know the words, if it has words, um, I enjoy jazz. So I think I kind of gravitate to the, speak easy because of the jazz, because I do like jazz, but I love beach music living here. You know, we go to beach music concerts every, every week or two, there's something going on usually free. We had the tams last week down in Georgetown and they put on a fabulous show. He's been on stage for 48 years. His daddy put him on stage when he was six years old. And so his son is now with the band. So the tams have a three generation lineage now. And man, they can, they can work a crowd. So yeah, I do enjoy the music. That's cool. What about you, Matt? Does music come into your writing? I think we touched on that once about you while you're writing music in the background, yay or nay, and then in with your characters and settings. Yeah, certainly I, I write in my living room. Um, so there's often a lot of chaos around. So I put on noise canceling headphones and listen to soft jazz music. And so I probably listen to, you know, six or eight hours of soft jazz music every day without really hearing any of that probably it's just kind of blocking things out. But I, I do greatly enjoy jazz. I like writing about the jazz and the roaring twenties. That's been a lot of fun for me. So Coleman Hawkins makes appearances in the book and, um, Fletch Henderson and Mae West and some other people like that. So I do enjoy incorporating music into things. Yeah, music is part of life, man. And I mean, if you don't, uh, the birds, I mean, we all have the birds outside, right? And I don't know, it's that to me, the best way to start your days with a good sunrise and some birds, you know, it's like just listening to them reminds you that it's a sound of life, you know, and music is, I don't know, once in a while you, we talked about that, Joey, I think it was with you, Joey, about people maybe not liking music and you're like, what planet did you come from? Are you in the alien? What happened there? Um, but now, okay, so now that we're speakeasy, now I have to go reform it. Everything are logos. Okay. But, um, so it kind of goes with the speakeasy. Um, let's talk about a speakeasy song that you want on a jukebox. Okay. So I'm going to start with you, Joey. What song should we have on the jukebox? Boy, that's a great question. Um, probably something like, you know, stopping at the Savoy or some kind of some kind of Coleman Hawkins stop, stop 20 stop type music. That's probably what you need. Um, so that's, that's, that's, that's it. That's it. I have a hard time picking just one, but I do, I do think, at least for me, the 20s always make me think of, you know, blaring trumpets and, um, you know, a lot of, a lot of real fast runs and, um, so that's what I, that's what I always think of. Ooh, we have to do sing, sing, sing. Absolutely. Yeah. We have to have Duke Ellington. He's the man. Absolutely. Duke Ellington is the man. That's it. Like he is, if you ever say like, what's the top 10 musicians? Like Duke Ellington is on there for me. I don't know. I can't explain it, but he is, he has, yes. That's it. Duke Ellington is on there. Okay. So Johnny, what about you? Since you both make music lists on our shows, on our big daily blend shows. Yeah. Oh my gosh. We're gonna have to do a speak easy playlist now. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Be easy. They're kind of a thing in LA right now. Uh, you may have even seen people are posting like little videos of them on Instagram and they, they tend to be very, they're, they almost look like dark rides at Disneyland. Like they have, they always have a theme and they're very, they have like black lit so that the drinks all glow and, and they're, they're kind of, uh, really moody. Like it's almost like being in the haunted mansion or like pirate park or something like they're very, so they all have, they're very heavily into the theme and then meet the music that I might have been, been to them. I haven't been to any that have like, well, they have stages, but when I was there, none of them had anybody performing, but the, the music that they were playing was, was really kind of a moody sort of, um, there, there was some jazz, but it was instrumental jazz or like kind of folk tree singing, um, like a torch. I remember, yeah, there was one that they played Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt. Yeah. So it was, it was very, uh, kind of, you know, sort of, yeah, they're kind of creating this, yeah, like this moody vibe, like kind of, uh, low-key sort of things. Twin Peaks can be there. Yeah, yeah. Oh, the Twin Peaks soundtrack. That's some, that's some, so Moon Glow, one of my favorite songs of all time could go in there then. Oh, yeah. For the end of the night. Yeah. God bless the child. Oh, oh. There you go. Now, who are you going to have sing that? 'Cause so many people are so, yeah, Lady Day. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 'Cause yeah, Blood, Sweat, and Tears did that, but it's not the same as Lady Day at all. Joey just like, no. She's, she's, she's, she is the ultimate. I mean, just, just so... Even Billy Holiday. Just, you know, like putting on a Billy Holiday record in the background, that kind of speaks of that era. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then you can have Sister for that. I don't know. Is that a thought come out? Yeah. I mean, that's, what about you, Joe? Any music you want to add to the playlist? The jukebox. I mean, it would be the little albums that came out on the jukebox, right at that time. Dream a little dream of me. Oh, oh, George Brown. Oh, oh, what about the little brown jug? Maple Leaf rag. Yeah. The entertainer. Scott Drop it too. Eyes of Blue. Koo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo-choo. Anybody see my girl? My gosh. All right, I'm not dating myself at all. We just have good memories for all these that we've heard on the right yet. Yeah. It's my story and I'm sticking to it. No, I love that era of music. The 40s, as that moon glow to me, is just one of the best songs ever written. I can't explain it, but, but yeah, Matt, do you have any songs to add to the playlist? I think we'd have to get Louis Armstrong in the middle school. Oh, duh. Yeah. Don't forget to mess around or something like that. Oh, hey, yeah. Yeah. Save and our cab Callaway, many of the moocher. That would be good. Oh, yeah. What about you, fella? What about Ella? Ella, absolutely. But then I would want to bring, you know, I don't know. See, but then I'd start going on my blues kick. After that, I start going, okay, now we're going to bring this blues artist. We're going to bring Coco Taylor. We're going to bring all, no, and then, no. So now I'll, oh, yeah, I've got to have miles. That album of his Kinda Blue, which was in 1959, is probably one of my favorite jazz records, and is the one that taught me the most about being a jazz musician. And that's an excellent choice. What a great player. So why can't we bring some contemporary in like Herbie Hancock? Sure. Well, I like that we're really done, too. Yeah, great. And it sounds like absolutely. It sounds like what Johnny's saying with the, with the, the modern speakeasies is they're playing a lot of modern music that fits the mood. So that's kind of cool. I like that. Yeah, they are. Yeah. I think I always like a blend. Haha. But I think it's a pattern and cocktails. Okay, let's go around the room and see what everyone's having to drink tonight. I think some of you already said something. Lee, we know you're having some wine. What are you having, Matt? And do you have snacks? What are your snacks? Anybody got snacks for the happy hour? I am going to have to confess that this happy hour, I am only drinking water. For sure. I was, I was hoping you would never ask. Ah, that's okay. Everybody doesn't matter. A happy hour is whatever you, whatever makes you happy. Yeah, that means he feels that the very strongest feeling about just water. Yeah. So. Showing what are you drinking? Well, Lisa, as you know, uh, blind and drunk are terrible ideas. And, uh, but, uh, actually, Johnny, I think Johnny was, was talking about it earlier. It's, it's way too hot outside. And it's also hot inside despite the best efforts of one's air condition. And as you are aware, I call my fans a collectively the Stuckyverse. And I have recently decreed from on high the Stuckyverse that ice cream no longer has any calories. So you can eat as much as you want because it's so hot. So I'm having a Coke float tonight. That's what I'm having. Ooh, I love it. Oh, that sounds good. It does sound good. That sounds good. And there's no calories whatsoever. No, no, no, no, no. Because you can't see them anyway. We can't see calories. If I can't see them, they can't see me. So that's how I guess. Exactly. I don't exactly. Yeah. Joe, what are you drinking? Oh, you know, I'm drinking one. Um, a Rosa Imperial. It's, um, kind of an effervice, effervescent Italian red. Um, just like that herself an Italian stallion, y'all. That's it. That's it. That's it. Like refreshing. And I would be having it with some baked cheddar cheese crappers that like crunch too loud for the radiant. Oh, well, I just had, I know this sounds crazy, but I got here, my friend, even who was on the last podcast. Um, and her dog Poppy that barfed while we were doing the podcast is lying next to me. Um, but she said, Lisa, I've got this huge thing of Bree cheese, which I know you love and I don't eat it. Please eat it. Well, I thought, well, I better have some, you know, food if I'm going to have a beer. And of course, I really have a thing about Mexican beer and, um, Doseckeys, at least that's what I have right now. And, um, it's really good. I love my Doseckeys. Just a nice light beer. I love IPAs, but, um, I just, it is hot and you don't want anything heavy. And it's, it's, I'm having like water right now. That's how it feels to me. And I like to put a little teeny teeny bit of salt and a lot of pepper on my beer. Just weird. Never heard of pepper. Yeah. And it was never heard of that. You know, I know that you always put salt, but I never heard of pepper pepper, a little pepper. You put chili powder. Maybe it's from living in Mexico that you start doing chili spice. You put chili on it too, man. I do it to cantaloupe too. If you eat melon, put some pepper on it. It's good for your digestion too. Uh, so going to that Johnny, um, get pock on for that. Should we put salt pepper on our beer? But, um, yeah, what are you having today? Uh, mojito. I like the crush, but in the summertime, the crush, um, mint in the dreams. They're really refreshing. I mean, that's like a nice, cool, uh, I don't know, just, uh, when I'm hot, when it's really hot. You're in the Kentucky races now. That's cool though. Mojito's are good. Last time I had a mojito was in Mexico, believe it or not. Yeah. Um, yeah. And, and yeah, that's a whole other story and where I won't get into it on this show, but it would probably fit. But let's, okay. Today, as this podcast airs, it is national daiquiri day. Any of you enjoy a daiquiri? I, I, I do, I do have my daiquiri sometimes. My favorite. Yeah. My favorite is the peach daiquiri. Oh, well, that's your Georgia peach. Absolutely. Yeah. We got two Georgia peaches on the chef, but one's a Canadian Georgian peach. Lee, Lee, do you like a daiquiri or no? I do. A peach sounds really good. I also like strawberry daiquiri. Yeah. I used to, I used to like the strawberry daiquiri, but my wife's allergic, so I don't, I just banned them from the house just to make sure that she doesn't get near them. Yeah. Yeah. The peach sounds like more refreshing, like strawberry, like strawberry margaritas are too sweet. Yeah. Like it starts getting too, like, nah. But the peach sounds good. That sounds good. Okay. Now, Joe, are you going to have a daiquiri? I heard Joe. Sure. I'm not going to let you drink alone. And I'm what kind of friend would I be? Yeah. I know. Listen to that boy. She's from South Carolina and Virginia. So can you tell? Now, I know. Now, what happens in Maine with daiquiri? Do you even have daiquiri's up there in Maine? We do have daiquiri's and I like a daiquiri on occasion, but I might diverge off of the daiquiri a little bit into something that Joe, you might appreciate. My dad's favorite drink, which he has won every day, is ice cream, diet, Coke, and scotch. Nice. Whoa. Really? Holy cow. That's a combo. Well, it's good. It's, oh, because there's a name belly. We will have to name it. Maybe we'll call it the blind pig. I love it. There you go. Perfect. The blind pig. I like it. And I was all set for a root beer float after you got started talking about floods. Well, this is interesting because, you know, when we were in England in South Africa, which was the colonial side, right, it was always the blind pig or the, you know, the boar's head pups, you know, always British centric and they always had a pig or a hog involved. Now the east coast is more that way. It pigs, hogs. So I don't, I mean, obviously the British landed there and more on your side, Matt. So I don't know what was going on, but from some time it went from pigs to hogs and hogs are a little bit different. There's wild hogs. There's not a, I don't know what's going on with the pig, but we do want the bacon. And don't get the boars. Oh, the boars, the boars head, that's it. The boars head, that was, that is the thing, the boars. Okay. Do we have a difference between the three pig, hog and boar? Boars big, hogs medium, pig is small. I mean, I took here usually wild and have those huge long tusks and they're dangerous down here in South Carolina. Yeah, we haven't in Georgia, too, with people, people go wild boar hunting in Georgia. But you're here too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the wild boars go hunting too. Yeah, they can make you feel pretty bad. Yeah, I had one of my students come in to school one day when I was still teaching. And he was just covered in bruises and cuts and scrapes. And I said, what in the world happened to you? And he said, well, he was riding his bike down a country road near his house. And a wild boar chased him. He got bored. Yeah, he got bored because he ran out of the road and into a ditch, which threw him off his bicycle. And then the boar just about pour him up. Oh, that's rough. Yeah. Wow. Lisa, I rolled my eyes that you just see them. I know. Okay, I just want to do that. I could feel it. I could feel it. I could feel it. That's a nice Western Union lady. Listen, I grew up with ward hogs. So that's a little different. And they speak easy to work on. And they're almost ugly. Well, actually, so wait a minute, I have to really go back into the happy hour history. So how the whole happy hour show. Well, I mean, that's kind of a natural for Nancy and I happened is that we call having a cocktail at the end of the day, wiggy. And a wiggy is you take your first sip. It goes down as it starts to hit your tail feathers right above your butt crack. You start to shake and you get the wiggies. You got the wiggy butt. So it was actually originally called the wiggy butt club. And I do have the old logo somewhere where Nancy painted this bar circular bar with elephants and giraffes and pigs and hogs or whatever all around it. And it was called the wiggy butt club. And so there's a bunch of us that talk and I have a friend up in Winnipeg. And his name is wiggy. I mean, he has a real name, but his name is wiggy. And it's like what you doing wiggy and hi wiggy. We all call each other wiggy. And I can't, I mean, wiggy is about the feeling of like, when you feel the joys of spring, let's put it that way. And you feel that all like, whoa, not sexual, really, but just that little giddy feeling of joy, right? And if you've had a long way to be the speaking the password. Wiggy. I do too. That's great. Or wiggy. But did we want the wiggy, but I want the wiggy, but yeah, wiggy, but okay, wiggy wiggy. I'm going to have to find that old logo because like what animals around the water in home? Okay, so what animal like Matt, what animal are you going to represent on the next show? I guess I'll have to go with the warthog. Here it comes. The warthogs of Maine. I don't know who sounds so good, but all right. So Joe, what's your, what's your fog? What's your animal? I'm thinking Zebra. Oh, oh, she's got duality. Uh huh. Uh huh. I get you. I get you. Chain horseing around. Okay. Lee, what's your animal? Okay. Everybody keep, keep this clean because it's a Canadian symbol and it's the beaver. Oh, oh, oh, oh. This so goes, this so ties into a thing later. Oh my gosh. Okay. I want to hear everybody else's in a second. Oh boy. But okay. Johnny, what's your animal? Uh, let's see. Can it be a bird? I mean like, sure. I guess like, uh, thinking like an exotic bird, like maybe a kind of a parakeet or something that's, can get some color in the room. And it can be a parrot that knows how to, how about a chicken? No, the word knows the words that it can start. You want to hear it then? How about a macaw? How about a macaw? That's a macaw. That's got a lot of color. Yeah. When the, when the hunger hung around some, some colorful characters and can. Parents, is a pirate ship macaw? Yeah, I like that. Crazy vocabulary. You get to hang out with pirates. Yeah, exactly. Joey, what about you? I, you know, I, I have to say this isn't particularly entertaining, but I have a, I collect elephants. So I do like a good elephant. Oh, no. What am I? What am I bucket? What am I bucket list? One of my bucket list things to do is to go hug an elephant. So we'll hope. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's what everybody said. So at some point, some point I'll, hopefully I'll get, I'll get, get there. So we'll just say if I can get someone to pay me to go there. Oh, no, no, you can go to Kenya. They have an orphanage that I used to go when I was a little girl. There's an orphanage for a wildlife there. I think it's through shelter and trust. I may have the name wrong. They take an orphan, the animals, and you get to help them. Like, you can go in and feed them. You can be part of that. And like baby rhinos and elephants and stuff. And they really, they shelter the animals that can hurt, especially from trophy hunting and stuff. So it's really cool. It's, it, it, children's trust. I think it is. I know I even follow them on Facebook, but as a kid, I mean, we lived around the corner from the people that have the giraffes come into their, put their, how their, you know, faces into your breakfast table. We lived around the corner from them. It's cool. It was really cool. I mean, yeah, elephants, I've had the upfront experience of elephants from being charged. I really don't want. Oh, yes. What were you, what were you doing? Actually, nothing. We were just in the way of mama and baby on a road in, in the park. We've also been in a park where we're just coming up the top of a hill. And there was an elephant right there. And we all needed to just keep quiet and not move and do anything in my grandma was with me and goes, Oh, I want to take the picture. My mom's like, no. Nancy's like, and then the elephants just started pushing the, we call it Combi a van, started pushing. And there's swampy on the other side. And that was really cool. The swamp area where we were, you could actually go underground in this little area. Like you have bird blinds, right, where you can see birds and stuff where you're sheltered. So the birds are safe and everything. And you, you're not disturbing. They have it under the springs and Missuma Springs, I think is the name. You go under and you can see the hippos swim underground, like in the water. It is like insane. While we were there, it was a boom song snake went through anyway. But anyway, that was cool. We were trapped by a boom song. But it honestly, they are, when people talk about animals not feeling, it's bull. And an elephant is a bull too. Elephants feel and care. And it is so magical when you see how they help each other as a village with the babies. It is something you'll just never. It's amazing. And Joey, even if you can't see them, you will feel it. You will feel it. You will absolutely feel it. They are wise, they know. And what's interesting, their closest relative is called a dasi, which is a rock hyena. It's not a hyena, but it's a dasi. It's like almost like our miniature marmot. It's like a little wood check, maybe teeny teeny, but it lives in the rocks out there. Have you seen one? Is that what you're saying, me? A dasi? Have you seen one? No, I've ridden an elephant when I lived in India. Oh, that's a different, yeah. You can see them walking along the road. But, you know, like that was pretty common. And so saying to someone, whoa, I rode an elephant when after you'd lived there for a year, they'd kind of look at you and go, uh-huh. Yeah, you know what? Yeah. Go to Jordan and ride a camel. It's normal. Yeah. Lee, how old did you live in India? That was 10 years ago, and I lived there for a year. Nice. And I loved it. Absolutely loved it. I've been wanting to visit, and I've, I'm just waiting to find a university that wants to have me come speak or something so I can go down. But it's, it's, I've been wanting to visit and, you know, it seems like a pretty cool country for the best I can tell from travel shows. Isn't Ricky Kev there? Yeah, he sure is. Maybe you can connect through him. That's exactly what I was thinking, Johnny. You read my mind. You read because Ricky is, Ricky is, Ricky's the man. He does so many cool things. Yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely. And he's hooked me up. My dad was born in India. My grandparents were missionaries there, which I don't like to talk about, but the, and so he was born and raised there until he, until he got out of high school. So interesting. My grandma had lots of good, good Indian being recipes and chicken curry and different things. And it was really good chutney. It sounds, it sounds weird, but, but nana, tomatoes and onions. Yep. And the combination is really good. It has to be with something like curry or it. Yeah, it's really great. Indian food is the best thing. I mean, I grew up with Indian food because South Africa, Kenya, and England, that also has a ton of England. They have tons of Indian food. And it's all different. So like when we got here, I was like, I'm used to eating what we call samusas. And then they say samosas here, it's like all different. I don't know. I don't, I mean, samusa was in South Africa and Kenya. That's how we said it. And Indian people said it, but not even here, they don't say samosa. It's like in South Africa, they said pizza instead of pizza, which I thought like y'all are weird. I didn't say y'all there. But, but the best samusa I've had in this country, and it's still not, I can't explain the dough is different. It's so different and thinner and crispier than but was in Dinuba at a pizza place. Johnny, go figure, Dinuba, California, you know where I'm done, but yep, it's a Manhattan pizza place and Indian family owned it and ran it and they said samusa, I'm like, please bring them, I'll do anything. And they had carried peas in there. I'm like, oh, yes, I am in heaven because I, and chapatis, I make chapatis. I just, oh, I want, I want, yeah, I really miss Indian food. It's part of your lifestyle. And then you come to the States and it was like, yeah, what? I didn't know what to do with the food here at all. I didn't know everybody's like here's this giant root beer, giant pizzas. And I'm like, why does it everything have to be so giant? I mean, and then go to the grocery stores, Nancy and I, our first time here, we moved and got a house and everything and we went to go to the grocery store. We didn't know what to buy. We didn't know what was what, why do you have 20 things of this? What is that? And we ended up filling a cart and then walking out because we were too overwhelmed with everything here. It was crazy. It was really big culture shock for us to come home. It was too much. Then my best friend from South Africa, who lives in England, came over a couple of years ago and I took her to Walmart and she did exactly the same thing as we did, even though she lives in England. She goes and she went exactly to the same thing I did went to the butter and said exactly the same thing. Why do you have more than one butter? Butter is butter. And that because I started to freak out, I'm like, what's wrong with the other butter? Why, which one's the correct one? That was my thing coming to this country. And she did exactly the same thing. Why would butter not be butter? Why is one butter better than another butter? Because it comes from a cow and butter is butter. And so it was really weird. It was weird to relive it through her and yet she lives in England. And then she goes, oh, look at all these options here. Why does in England have this? I'm like, did you just see what you just went through? Did you not see that? It was really odd. It was really odd. So anyway, I want to go to Lee, you brought up beavers. Okay, so has anybody been to a Bucky's? I have to ask. Yes, yes. Okay, okay, when I'm driving from here to Canada, you stop at a Bucky's and the the pulled pork sandwiches are amazing. Oh, we're back to the bacon. Okay, Joe, I know you the Bucky's. Come on, you did the Bucky's. Been to a Bucky's. I like the Busy Bee in Florida. There's a similar chain and I mean, you got to love a place that has a woman who for eight hours a day does nothing but make fudge. Okay, Joey, you know, I'm going to have to bring up Uranus. Yeah. Anybody heard Uranus in Missouri? Has anybody heard it? You told me about it. That's the only one that's the only ways that I know about it. Yeah, Uranus in Missouri is they said it's the best place to get chocolate is in Uranus. And it is Uranus. It's called Uranus. Go look it up. Uranus fudge factory. And when you go on their website, I'm not making it up. It's funny as heck. However, if I bring up Bucky's and Uranus, we have to bring up stuckies. I just I shouldn't have said Uranus. I was thinking about stuckies. Yeah, I mean, obviously they're not roll, not longs. Yeah, but the con laws. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that is something that my cousin, it's a long story, but my cousin has brought the whole chain back and has been working really hard to do that. And her grandfather was the one that started it all. And it's nice to have it back in the family for a while. It would have been sold to pet milk and some other people had bought it over the years back in the like 90s. And then back in the early ots, they started with the Stucky's Express, which was a small aisle, and some of the bigger gas station chains. And now the Stucky stores back there were still were a handful of Stucky's that were still owned and run independently. But she really brought it back and the con logs are better than ever. I must tell you, and I use them a lot because it has my name right on the on the wrapper. And I also get a family discount. I'm coming to see you. I use those con logs a lot when I travel to teach, I always always bring a box and hand them out to different professors or whoever's invited me to come and do master classes or whatever. So it's just it's a great branding tool, but they really do have the cleanest restrooms on the interstate. That's that's important to know because listen, I know every rest area in this country. And I go there, not just to pee and take a break, but to watch people. It's our favorite. It's our hobby. People watching at rest areas. We've seen the weirdest things. We've watched drug deals. We've seen people change genders and dress accordingly. We have seen people like a woman give her husband or boyfriend a manicure in a very harsh way. On the only bench in a rest area. Grab his toe and start cutting literally. It wasn't pleasant. We have really seen I we've seen people lock their baby in a car. We've seen people wear things they shouldn't. We've seen people do exercise movements you never want to see. It's been interesting. It's been interesting. We've also outrun tornadoes staying there and watch the tornadoes. It's been interesting, but I want to go. Matt, what happens in Maine in regards to things like roadside foodstops, like buckies and stuckies and places like that? Our most famous is Moody's Diner, which is up route one towards Camden. And they're very famous for their blueberry pie. You guys like pie? Yeah. Nice. Pie. That's a thing because all the bed and breakfast I've talked to in Maine because we were going to go up there a couple of years ago. They're like, you've got to go to a rock port for this pie festival. It says pie, pie, pie. I know everyone goes for lobster, but it seems like pie and lobster have a war going on. At in Moxie, we just had the Moxie Festival, which is a soda that tastes really horrible, but it's our state soda. So we seem to enjoy and relish and celebrate it. Wow. So Lee, up in Nova Scotia, what do you have? Well, it's kind of the Canadian chain that everybody thinks about as Tim Hortons. And so you can tell if you want to do a test to see if someone's really Canadian, ask them what a double double is. Anyone else? Double, toil and shovel, fire, burn, and cold and bubble. In and out. Yeah, California. So a double double is double sugar, double cream. So if you go up to the answer and you say, yeah, I'll have a medium double double, they give you a coffee with two sugar, two cream. So that's probably the one. And I don't particularly like their coffee, but it feels very Canadian to me. And then up in Halifax, the oldest drive-in. What's that? You call it Timmies, right? Yeah. Yeah. Tim Hortons is own affection. Timmies. And they have the best timbets, which are the donut holes. That are really good. So if you're in for a little bit of a sweet hit, you ask for some timmies and a double double. And that's, you know, if it's a test to get across the border and you have to prove you're Canadian, take double and I'll have timmies. Okay. All right. I, you know, this show has gone into all kinds of lands here. Joe, is there anything in South Carolina beyond buckies? Uh, parkers. Okay. There's, um, they have fried chicken, you know, they have a food counter that apparently is pretty good. And they, they are growing leaps and bounds. I think we're getting like seven new parkers in this county and just got one in Georgetown County or two. So yeah, parkers coming along pretty fast. So Johnny, would you say in and out is like, calif, people go to California just and they want to have in and out burgers and Jack, not that far either. Like we don't get Jack in the box. I don't ever see them anywhere else. Yeah. They're, they're so pretty popular here. When, when I was a kid, we used to go to Howard Johnson's a lot. And on our way to San Jose, Paco and I always like to stop at Casa de Fruta. It's pretty elaborate. Uh, I love Casa de Fruta. They have a little train that Casa de Fruta, you always have to ride on it and they go through the scary tunnel and it's really cute. And they have, but they have a, a lot of really good locally grown fruits and nuts and, and the restaurant there's fun to eat at. And they have wine. It's kind of a nice level. They have wine. They have wine and they have a carousel. And I think carousels are not the loss of art. Like, we need to save these carousels across the country. So, um, Lee was on our show. Um, and Joey was kind of inspired. We did the summer road trip music show with you. And then, you know, it inspired me to think, Oh my gosh, road trips bucket list. How many movies? We remember we're talking about movies and road trips. And that inspired me to talk to Lee about dying and bucket list because how many movies, because remember you kept asking me about movies and every movie I had was about people dying. They're dying and they went on a road trip. And so Lee's podcast that month was about bucket lists road trip bucket lists, which is doing very well. By the way, apparently a lot of people do think that. And so then we, we had this whole conversation and asked people to reply and lead the responses are all over the place. Um, but I'm going to bring some of them up. We have like Costa Rica, New York City, San Diego, Iceland, all kinds of places all over. But here's the one that I thought was interesting because you brought up the beaver. The huge lake in Canada created by deep beaver dams that is so large, it can be seen from outer space. That is a bucket list of excursion for someone before they die. I have never heard of it. Me neither, but you brought up beavers. And this is an answer to your question on your podcast. So, okay, there you go. Now I have to find out a huge lake in Canada created by beaver dams that is so large, it can be seen from outer space. I wonder if William Shatner looked at that and said, my, that's a big beaver down there. I mean, come on, that's funny. No, he didn't say that. He said, bye, that's a big beaver. Oh, my gosh, my gosh. All right, so, um, we've, we've touched on this, but I want to know from each of you bucket list before you die, where are you going, Matt, where are you going? Because you, you, I mean, we're all going to get there at some point where we want to go. So I'm keeping it positive, right? Law of attraction just saying it will happen. Maybe, maybe not. But, um, by the way, speaking of things like that, um, we'll be doing a, um, cult show in November, right, Matt? Yes. Is it November? We're doing a show for cult awareness day. Um, so anybody have been cleared on that? Yep, you are. You're, you're bringing a special guest on that. And, um, I think it's really important to do and fascinating and quirky. Um, but yeah, Matt, where do you want to go before you die? Uh, I guess Australia would have to be at the top of the list to get down under and go see that exotic slice of the, of the world. So, why does that not surprise me for some reason? It's a little hot for you though, just saying, but I could probably find a cooler time to go. I think you can manage it. It's, it's just one trip, right? Um, Johnny, where are you going before you die? I really want to see the Northern Lights. I've always wanted to see their Aurora Borealis. So, I don't know where I can do that. They're coming closer and closer into the States now, further down. They are. They are. It's happening. Um, yeah. So, what about you, Joey? Well, I certainly like the idea of Australia. What I don't like is a 20 hour flight. Um, so I don't know, but I definitely want to get there. I, I, that's on my bucket list. But the one that tops it, uh, when I was eight years old, I was obsessed with the pyramids and just how interesting they were. And so that's going to Egypt and being able to touch the pyramids and just, you know, get a chance to experience the space and, and just, uh, explore that area with, is really at the top of my list. That's, that's, I've always wanted to do it. Um, and, uh, that's, that's, that's, I think for me, it had that half the Australia is a close second, but the pyramids would be my top. Are you going to get on a camel? Is that a doable thing? Of course. Oh, yeah. I'll get on a camel at least once. Yeah. When they spit, they really stink. I can't see, I can't see or I can't see or smell. So it won't bother me at all. I, when I photographed, I did a thing with camels in Yuma, Arizona in that area. So the military brought camels in and we called upon the Muslim people to bring camels into our country to use as the ships of the roads during war. It didn't work. Um, so if you go up towards courtside, Arizona, there's a hijab monument to, um, a camel. And I've actually seen a camel walking in the dunes of glamorous. Um, you may know that area, Johnny, it's, um, out in East San Diego, Imperial County. There's an hour driving from Yuma back home one day and we saw a dude, you know, in the flowy robes with a camel and we're like, we haven't even had wine yet. What the hell? Really? And it's true. The history is real and there are still people with camels and I went on years ago. I mean years and years ago on a photo thing with a camel farm thing. And we were doing a whole story on this area in Yuma and I photographed the camels, which I love. They were one of my favorite animals. In fact, yeah, I'd like to be a camel and hang out with them. And this camel hanging on my neck and then spit all down my, the back of my shirt. And I really smelled bad. We had to go into the casino after that. And this is when people could smoke in casinos. I think they still can and whatever. But it was like people were smoking at their casino machines. And you know, people that are die hard gamblers are attached to their machines. People turned around when I walked by. That's how much I smelled from the camel. I was like, I thought it was, I thought it was really funny. I thought it was really, really, really funny. But Joe Clark, I'm interested to hear from you where you're going before you die since you do travel the world. Boy, I thought I knew and there are so many good ideas already, though. You know, Iceland for the northern lights. Although we had the northern lights here in Myrtle Beach. You did. That's traveling south. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The northern lights came south. See, Glenn Campbell is going to start singing southern lights. I need to. Okay. Sorry. Anyway, in Australia, definitely is on my list. I want to go back to Thailand. Man, any of those places and travel writers, they'll give you a list. They can. I know. And the pyramids, you know, that one even there, but there it is. But I didn't find the name of your lake or at least the name of the park in Canada that would Buffalo National Park. Oh, that's where the lake is that you can see from outer space. The Beaver Lake. The Beaver Lake. And apparently it is. They they dammed up the Burke River. Damn beavers. I know. I'll jump with those damn beavers. Hey, it's in the name. Well done. Thank you. She's a journalist. See, there you go. I love that. Thank you. Lee, where are you going? There's a couple of places that. She's going to the Beaver Lake places that I haven't been to yet. Well, Beaver Lake, you know, I'm not going to go there, but two places that I haven't been yet. I'd like to go to Petra in Jordan. Oh, yeah. And kind of quite a ways from there, New Zealand and places that I've been that I'd like to go back is Egypt. And I lived in India for a year and I have a love of India and we traveled pretty extensively when we were there and I'd love to go back and spend some time with some friends that I made there in Mumbai and then go to Kerala and go see the Taj Mahal again. I mean, that India is pretty magical. I love it. But it's pretty magical. It's stinky, you know, but that's part. It's pretty stinky and hot. I like the stinkies though, because you get used to the stinkies, but then like you know, when you drive into the stinky, it becomes part of your sense memory. Matt, as an author, do stinky places mean something to you as when you write? That's a hell of a question. It's always good to throw into a scene that really evokes a good emotion, I think, if you, you know, use words like stench and stinky and things like that. Just good. Stench is a good word. Yeah, that just kind of drives all but real an emotional feeling almost. You'll always think of P and barf when you hear stench is P and barf immediately. It's like, okay, some it's body X, you know, anyway, that's real pleasant. Happy, happy hour. All right, so it is today as this airs, worked with friends day. So I wanted to go around the room and I wanted each of you to give each other a word and when you hear the word, you just say whatever comes to your mind, what that word means to you. So this could be dangerous. So Matt, will you please give Lee a word? Eight. Go Lee. So what is the word again? You've read eight. You got eight. Yes. Eight. Okay. Full. I just eight. Full. Just eight. Oh, like eight. So did you mean the number eight or the full eight? Like, you know, I kind of went with it being ambiguous to see what would happen. Well, she's full. Yeah, no, I think I I eight. I'm full. I'm I'm I love it. I love efficiency. Oh, look at that. I love it. I love this. This is fun. Okay. So Lee, please give Johnny a word. Tranquility. I pictured right away a lake like a scenic lake with yeah with with trees around it and just relaxing, you know, sitting by the lake looking at the lake. I could do that all day. That's nice. Joe came to my mind. Joe, please give Joey a word. Sharp. Darpow. It makes me think of tax. Okay, tax and I thought you would go for a flat. I know. Blind man driving. There it is. No, no. All right. So, Joey, please give Matt a word philosophy. Oh, thoughts, I guess is the first thing that popped into my mind would be thoughts. Yeah, we're all full of those. Yeah, when you see them, do you see them in bubbles with people's writing in them like a cartoon? I don't. I will now, I think. I know because we're like words are visual too, right? So that's an interesting part of that, you know, so all right. So Johnny, please give Lee a word. Frosty. Canadian winter. I was going to say snowman. I had to stop myself from burning up. Seriously. Oh, well, there we go. There we go. I like it. I like it. Okay, so let me get, let me get this all straight. Everybody's got to have their thing. So we got to get Matt. Well, Matt's done his thing. We got Johnny, Joey. Let's see. We got to get everybody here. So, oh, look who's going to get it next. Hmm. Let me see. I think we have to give you one, Lisa. No, no. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Not yet. Not yet. I think Lisa's word should be mitochondria reticulum. That's what we should give her. No, no, no, not yet. Be nice. Be nice. Okay. So wait, no, no, be nice. I know it's never it's never going to be nice. I know that turn her mouth play. You deserve words. I'm saying. Okay. So hold on a second. I got I got my notes all muddled up. Who did not give someone a word here? Hold on. Everything got twirled around. Joe had a word. I can't remember. Joe has had Joe. Oh, Joe has not had a word, but someone has to give her a word. Who did you can do it because we're giving you one. That's how that's how it should be. Okay. No, someone did not give. Okay. Joe, I'm giving you a word. I'm in trouble. See, now I know you too well now. See, that's crazy. Okay. Wait, Joe, your word is wine. That's just so easy. My word is one. Mm hmm. Bottle. Well, that's good because that's always my answer. People said, what kind of wine do you like? And I say, I like this. I like this. All right. Because we keep talking about, you know, we've done death. I'm looking at each person on this show today done death. Well, we've done travel. Well, we've done food. Well, we've done, you know, beavers. We've done all kinds of things, but I want to go back into the book world. So I would like to create a character for Matt's next book. He doesn't know he's writing this book, but Matt, what book would we just, you know, we're just going to create a book right now. So give us a title. Yeah, let's just create a book. So what would the book title be? Just the gospel shenanigans of wiggie. Oh God. Damn. That's good. That is good. Matt, that was awesome. That's awesome. That is good. Okay. I like this. Okay. So let's create the main character. So we're going to go through what makes a character. So Matt, please help me ask each person a question so we can create the character. I'm going to start with you and ask, is the character male female, maybe could be both, could be anything. Tell me who the male, I mean, the main character is male female, what? We'll go with female. Okay. So now you ask everyone a question. So I'll lead you through this since I screwed up before you ask Lee, the next question of how this character is going to be. Well, let's start off with a description. What does this character look like Lee? She's a feisty middle aged woman with hair that's in a braid down her back. And it's an afraid to put on work boots and get outside and work in the yard. All right. Okay. So Matt, now go to Joe. What is to be added? What is the backstory of this character that makes her so feisty? Uh oh. Go into the travel writer. Here we go. He was involved with a gangster and sang in a speaking scene, but now she's in hiding. Oh, I love it. I love it. I know. I know it. I feel this. Okay. Okay. So we've got Lee, we got Joe. So now Matt, go to Joey. Uh, Joey, every good character has flaws. What flaws does our character have? The Tennessee to leap before they look. So the Tennessee to not think about the situation before it happens just to just to just to go. That can be a strength as well. But in this instance, it's going to be a flaw. Which explains why she's in hiding. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, this is fun. This is fun. Well, you have two songwriters here on the show. And everyone writes Lee is also an author. You know, so everybody on this show today writes. And this is why this is getting fun. So now Matt lead Johnny to The Neverland of this lady. So Johnny, what is this character looking for trying to achieve, uh, create in life? She's trying to find her soulmate, but she's looking in all their own places. Dirty girl. So she keeps. So she, she keeps. She doesn't know. She knows she wants somebody, but she's never really thought about what she wants. And she's attracted to all the wrong people and, and just keeps making really poor choice, relationship choices. And gets into a lot of, then, and then these people get into her into a lot of trouble. Wow. Matt, what's her name? Wiggy. I love it. Wiggy is her first name, but what is her last name, Lisa? What do you think? Family part, but yeah, but not with two T's because it is the gospel shenanigans of Wiggy. So but there's more. There's always more in make it. But but oh, we could do a Z. We could do a but ski. You know, we call that with dogs. You know, dogs love their butts to be scratched, right? So it's a butt ski. And some dogs greet you by butt skiing. Anyway, that's a whole other story. Well, thank you all. So now we have the shenanigans of what the heck, but we have our speaking Z word. Thank you all for recreating our happy hour show. It has been fun. I know we went way over time. So thank you for sticking it out. It's been fun. We didn't know we were going to go to Beaver Lake and to the pyramids. We didn't know we were going to meet Wiggy. Really, we didn't know all these things, but it's been fun. Everyone, again, the links are in the episode notes as always. So please keep up with Johnny Shafer at here johnny.com. Joey Stucky at joeystucky.com. Lee Brovadani at souljourneydula.com. Joe Clark at haveglassworldtravel.com and author Matt cost at Matt cost.net. And his next book is coming out soon. So go check it out. Thank you all. Cheers. Cheers. Thanks for joining us here on Big Blend Radio's happy hour podcast. New episodes air every second Monday and third Friday. Visit us at big blend radio.com.
