People listening online who are not in the Manchester area are probably confused. It's
Taco Tour, everybody, welcome, Here we go. It's that time again,
Matt Connerton Unleashed and we are live from the studios of w m N
HIM and Glorious downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. Also on Comcast ninety seven.
If you're in Manchester, and hello to all of our online listeners across the
nation and around the globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot
com for all your live streaming options, social media links, contact info,
show archives, etc. Etc. Today is Thursday May fourth, two thousand
twenty three, and I know this, uh you know, there's a Star
Wars related thing. May the fourth be with you and whatnot. But more
importantly, we have more important matters at hand, my friends, because it
is Taco Tour here in the downtown Manchester, New Hampshire area. So very
exciting. It's a big deal. Hopefully it uh it's a little cloudy out
there. Hopefully it doesn't rain, but uh, you know, it's it's
cloudy, but it hasn't rained yet that I know of, at least,
you know. I mean, I've been inside here, but so hopefully that
holds and everyone has a wonderful Taco Tour. I did hear the band Donnerher
earlier. I could hear them out there. I'm not sure where they're playing
exactly, but but I heard I heard one of their songs, call Me
Soon. Great band from the area. But yeah, So it's a busy
day here in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. DJ Reckless I thought was going
to be joining us. I don't know where he went, but he is
going to be DJ tonight at the six o three Bar and Grill right up
the street here in downtown Manchester for the after party, the Taco Tour after
party, So make sure if you're around you stop it and see DJ Reckless.
Also we should mention one of the participants in the Taco Tour. Of
course, I think probably most, if not all, of the restaurants downtown
here are participating in this event. But the Hopknot of course, our wonderful
sponsor, right across the street in the Brady Sullivan at one thousand Elm Street,
they are participating. And I did see Kenny. We chatted for a
couple of minutes before the show today, but he said here's what you've got
to know if you're planning on stopping by. We're serving walking tacos for three
dollars cash your choice black bean or chicken. We also have three dollars doskis?
Is that how you say? At Doski? Doseki? Right? Doseki?
Abber loggers inside you can pay cash or a card for your beer.
It's going to be a huge turnout, so make sure you get here early
so you don't miss out. And I can actually I can actually see the
hop Knot from here right across the street, so I do see see people
around and about. I think that what time does it get over at eight
o'clock? I think I think it's four to eight Taco Tour. So yeah,
come on down to come on down to downtown Manchester, stopping too the
hop Knot. Of course, there's so many restaurants participating in the Taco Tour.
It's a great event. And uh, if you're a regular listener here
of WMH ninety five point three, you've you've heard a lot about it,
no doubt on the Morning Show with Peter White. And I think that Peter
White and the Morning Show crew they're probably out and about getting some tacos as
well, So there you go, Taco tour right here in Manchester, New
Hampshire. And of course for the Star Wars fans made the fourth bee with
you. I'm more of a track ee myself, always much more into Star
Trek than Star Wars, but we do have an exciting show. Like I
said, I thought DJ Reckless was here, but he must have. He
must have gotten stuck over at the six zero three. He was headed there.
We rode together and he was heading over there to make sure everything was
ready for later. So maybe he got caught up in something there. Duty
calls, So there you go, Oh Texas. Mike is in the chat
room. He says, I'm on my third taco already. Yes. Also
coming up in the second hour today, we're going to have Kevin Hammer.
He's going to be skyping in from I believe he's in Schenectady in New York,
the state of New York. Kevin interesting guy. He is a he's
a walk away from the Democratic Party who became a Republican. But our friend
Billy Painter from Outlaw Radio suggested that we talked to him, and we've talked
to him a little bit on his book Messenger and he you know, he
was talking about and also not only in Messenger, but he talked about this
too in his interview. He was on a couple of months ago on Billy
Painter's show out Law Radio, and they were talking in Kevin seems to be
a guy who's really interested in having discussions outside of the the echo chamber,
you know that that is our ideologically divided and polarized politics in the United States.
So I'm looking forward to talking with him. I think it's going to
be really interesting. So Kevin Hammer will be joining us in the second hour
of the program today for a bit vs Skype. Six three two five six
seven is a number if you'd like to join us. Six three two five
O six O seven. Although we should be getting a call. Uh oh,
actually we're getting the call right now. Our friend EASYG is calling to
do his vaunted entertainment report. And everyone does so love Easyg's entertainment report,
don't they, EASYG? I hope. So I'm going there a couple of
years ago, and the weather wasn't as bright and sunny as it was,
and the lines weren't as long, so yeah, it was all a drizzly
and so you know, if people come down tonight, they probably won't be
as long lines as they were last year. I don't think it was a
little sunny last year, and like a million people came downtown and yeah,
blah blah. So far. I mean a lot of people are still at
work, obviously, but so far, just from where I sit, because
I can see, I can see downtown, it doesn't look terribly busy yet,
so I suggest whether it turns people. I think it's only fifth pitting
rest or something. Yeah, it's not bad. I mean it's not like
it's it's not like it's called out. But it's not terribly warm either,
so I could probably ask for better weather. But like you pointed out,
oh actually I do see a long line at uh oh, somebody's got a
long line for me. Yeah, I can't tell. I can't tell who
that is because there's a tree in the way where the sign is. But
somebody out there's got a big line for me. And so yeah, if
you're thinking about getting some talk, get on down to downtown Manchester, do
it right now before the lines get long, and enjoy some delicious tacos.
Now, do you easy? G at the assistant Living facility there and Nashua.
Do they ever serve tacos there? Once in a while they do?
Yeah? Well good? Uh? Now do you when they when they serve
them, do you get to enjoy them? Or does Bruce steal them from
you? Sometimes I get depends, but sometimes Bruce gets to him first.
I'll tell you you gotta do something about that guy. I knew it.
I knew it. Well, easy, gu what have you got for us?
Do you have an entertainment report? I got a couple of things cook
in the end. Oh well cooking Milly? All right, let me hit
your music here? He was once a thought them around the way? Easy?
You want to know about stock market crashes? COVID nineteen drive buys,
celebrity gossip, easy gez watch entertainment reports, Stowes does zat nutting but a
jeep bank baby back? Are you ready for let's find out? Ready,
let's go by the way. I always look by the way, z.
Isaac Banks in the chat room says, oh geez, Bruce by Bruce.
Yeah, well, I always look for somebody knew a decade the show too,
And uh, I arnthe I haven't done this one. I don't know
if you knew this. It was a grand Marshall for the Tacole Tour.
Um Ah, they're gonna do that. You know. It's not parade downtown.
So I don't know how that happens. But the gate the show to
Alisa Wray. She is the Grand Marshall the Taco Tour. Many people didn't
know that they have a Grand Marshal the Taco Tour. Now is there any
truth to the rumor that it was supposed to be Peter White and then you
ruined it for him? Yeah? I know many years ago he went out
Lemo. Yeah, and after that he said, so Taco too many of
them. But it was fun though, huh yep. Not only is the
Star Wars Day at four three tomorrow is Revenge at the Fifth. Oh yes,
Revenge of the Fifth and another movie that they put off. I saw
another the first three of them. I really haven't seen a sentence. So
yeah. I have not kept up on Star Wars. Like I said earlier,
I'm much more of a trekkie. I'd much rather enjoy something star trek
watch a lot of those movie theories like I want to Hooks. It went
out of business. A lot of people just watching on the TV on their
phone now and we're making on their TV streaming. Yeah, I got seventy
of the television. They will really going to movie theaters anymore. Well,
you know, over the course of the pandemic, a lot of things that
we're supposed to come out in theaters ended up coming out on streaming services instead,
like Bill and Ted Saved the World for example, that was supposed to
have a theatrical release, but it ended up coming out and streaming. Yeah,
so if you headed on to the the world out of the Taco tour
is over. I think it's over hundred restaurants, and I believe they're probably
still having some sales on a hand in the street called the Breeze Teas Attack
on burthendnights. I don't know how that's long they can having for a T
shirts hats. I think definite shot glasses too, believe it or not,
And I believe in every I mean all the entertainment tonight is over at nine
two point, probably sponsoring all the events in the free visinately a Veteran's part,
and they mentioned Donna, her Super Nothing band stand, Jeffrey Kin's Faint
Violey That's not broken and call Colleen Green So and I only need Donna is
gonna be their whole ton of music from forty eight pm. And we checked
out of course twice. Amla McCarthey as saying at the Tyco tour not a
bunch of spark, but right across the street from where you are, Donna
her must have been soundtracking earlier. That must be what I heard, because
I could actually hear them all the way down here. Well to meet there.
If there was a lead act, I think they would be the lead
act. Yes, yes, I agree, great band, great great people,
new stuff come up here. I know you'll be excited about this event.
I just confirmed this with the folks in the Economic department me twenty nine
on a Monday. It's a free event right down I'm Street. Bring your
friends, a family event. Two o'clock parade, a Memorial Day parade that's
about thirty minutes, and then you have a thirty minutes ceremony as Peterman's Parker.
You know the Mayor will be there in a couple of dignitaries. You'll
say some say some stuff. And I only had one of the bands from
local bands here. You know he is um Memorial West or Central will place
and taps and all that, all the interesting stuff I'm just excited for.
As you put it, a couple of dignitaries. We'll say some stuff,
right, I don't know. I know once a mayor and maybe sometimes it's
the other local I don't know who, but he might have a grand marshal.
So I'll to h investigate that. Well, almost every paride as a
grand marshal. It's getting busy out there. And then another event coming out
right all that corner now me twenty first on a Sunday, also another family
events rain or shine. The same with the paride. The only reason they
would cancel it if there was a uh, you know, monsoon rain.
They can't play. They can't people can't play that the instruments, you know,
but nobody wants to go out is really pouring. So they do say
rain or signed. But to the degree it was this event is rain to
sign as Venom's Park as noontime walking against hungress. So I met a lot
of people up from the station. That's where I rising for the shelter and
other places to get a free T shirt. That's where only for the walkers,
by the way. Yeah, but dogs, soda, pop, watermelon,
chips, the cookies. So they do feed you after the events they
do. I don't know, I don't know if this is true. Can
you confirm this? If you did not walk in the event, but you
try to grab some of this, uh, some of that food that they
put out there, that you are immediately tas, is that true? Uh?
Yeah, yeah, it's not a good idea like I did. Yeah,
I don't do what I did a couple of years ago. Right,
probably told the lave you and and and you were tays correct. Now,
if you if you could have avoided that, would would would you have her?
Or if you had it all to do again, would you? Was
it worth getting tased to enjoy a dog? Don't be dumb like me?
Don't right, don't taste me, bro, I'm just enjoying a dog.
That's what you said. I remember those were your exact words. Yeah.
Well, anyways, getting getting onto another topic now, I don't know quite
all the details, but if Christman has been um in a commercial on ninety
seven point five station, believe it or not, I heard it was pretty
good. She's up, she's up for an awards, He's a top ten
I'm gonna awards she could get and then um same with the details of further
announcement. And then if mccaze's up for six awards, is she I don't
know she made the second round because I haven't heard earning news on her page.
If I do well, I'll let everybody know. But hey, they're
superstars thinking without these awards in my book, and I get new music from
her. We've heard it last week. It was smoke is available on all
all platforms. And as he's gonna be playing twentieth again this month. Now
Landstone Boston as a country crawled country fast. He starts at ten o'clock and
obviously it's a paid event. You get thirty five tickets or you get the
VIP tickets. Well, go through the last one. I'm sorry, we
have a question for you. In the chat room, Scott Scott Robinson says,
is Amanda McCarthy still around? We don't hear about her anymore. Well,
she's living down in Pennsylvania now, like everybody knows that. I thought
she lived in Nashville. Does He does come up here for a couple of
times a year, But she's lives she's living. I'll try Pennsylvania. She's
down in um Nashville, Tennessee. Yeah, that's what Tennessee. Yes,
okay, if she lives down there now with her husband down Tom. Also,
now Scott hasn't asked this question yet, but he's probably wondering any news
on the Hulkster. Uh no, no, nos as good news, I
guess okay. And also now Isaac Banks has posted something in the chat room.
Now easyg this might be something that Isaac would want to admit to The
Morning Show for love advice, as they do on Fridays. Although this isn't
love, this is more of a family thing. So I'm going to run
this by you because this might be something that you've run into with Bruce there
in Nashua. So let's see if you have any advice. Isaac Banks says,
last night, my oldest brother want me to sleep in the couch?
Is my bro Mike Banks. And I said to him no, because my
oldest brother want to sleep on my bed and I told him no. Any
advice for Isaac in this situation, no, kind of lost by that question.
Isaac also said, my brother played me and joke me last night.
Mike Banks. My brother makes music of beats and there is you can go
to at Dark Park Productions. Oh, very good. So it sounds like
easyg It was just a roller coaster of things with Isaac Banks and his brother.
They had a agreement over the couch and the bed and uh but everything
worked out okay in the end, and they were just joking around and making
some beats. Yeah, well, I'm confused if anyways, this event is
April Coorsman doing in Massachuos, says tickets available at April Coorsman dot com.
You know, we'll go through the list again. Who's gonna be there,
Ay Bruss, Amantha Ray, Morgan Johnson, Kevin Horson, Mattie Ryan and
Captis Rob Packman, Matson now Nick Cassie ADDIE's Thrower at Lisa Smith Back Roads
and Southern City Band. And that's gonna, i mean probably a long day
event. And course every Wednesday she can playing Vermont Chillington River Shop at six
o'clock and ticketed the event. Tills He's not you've been doing that for a
while now, um, and that she's got a couple of events, but
they're down the roads. We have another question from Scott Robinson. Now this
is regarding Amanda McCarthy, she doesn't have any shows anymore. Will U see
all her dates? No matter where they were? Yeah? I know,
uh the what's his face there? Went to went to Tennessee to see her.
What's this right now? Yeah? Stephen if you remember that his name
Stephen was Stephen? Yeah, stefinite Philburg went down there. Ye. Yeah,
you refer to him as what's his name or what's his face? Definitely
Philburg. I'm sorry if you listening. Yeah, that was unusual, but
most people don't want to hear about those dates all over the place. I
don't only announce it when she plays here in local in New Hampshire. Yes,
from right, but if you want to go see for County will be
all over the place. He's going to be back at the Goat in the
Manchester at four o'clock the Goat on May twenty nine, and then Dune twenty
six is other days. Oh yeah, a lot of ways to free event?
Is it donating job? We don't forget to tape your way staff?
Yes, giving you great help and then um oh yeah here we go.
You see more events here and flip the pain, flip the page, turn
the page. Be more events. He's really busy. May twenty as is
coming around the corners. He's gonna be the backyard brewer right here in Manchester.
Who are we talking about? Against free event of courseman, oh yeah,
sorry, I lose track. April Cushman once again we donation job and
make sure your tippy waitress please and wait staff. And then May six he's
going to be the monster trucks right around the corner here Foxborough Masters doing a
national anthem and tickets our about fifteen dollars. Very good to me, you
get done online. And then Made twenty as he's gonna also the two events.
I guess this doesn't make any sense here. No, this doesn't make
any sense. I'm confused. I'll go back to that because I have listed
two events on the same day. So tat May twenty six of the foundery
and mantras at six o'clock once against the free event, but do any some
job will be there and don't forget to wait, don't forget the tippy waitresses.
And Made twenty seven is to start our company up four thirty and uh
yeah, May twentieth at noontime, and this is where m Robert Dion plays
main crew um on on are the words that's okay O g U n q
U, I T a garten quit. Yes, it's gonna be there at
at twelve o'clock. Say it with me except for one our free I think
you can say a gun quit. I drew fourteen a flog day, five
o'clock at the courtyard at the Marriot. Right here, just once and local
to say a gun quit. I want to hear you say it. Yes,
I know you can do it. I gotten quite quick. You were
so close. All getting back to Amanda, he's work on the new songs
for a new album. Not a gun quit. The song on Spotify,
but it's a song by Christian Needs. It's called always Smoking Mirrors on the
on the show, Spotify, an Apple on all the platforms, and then
said, oh yeah, Katie Dombas is really bi. You know she's got
some uh oh yeah, we're gonna get to this part here. Yeah during
the page. Oh yeah, new music coming out. It's not on Spotify
for some reason, but all the other platforms. It's called when Seasons Change
and Please. She's working on four more songs down the road, is looking
to put them out together. I guess for an album, so that they're
always really busy. You've got a whole message show it's coming up. We
only got a few because they're down the road. Down the road is gonna
be a May thirty first at six thirty doors seven o'clock to a thirty shows
songwriter around up and the tickets are fifteen to ten to fifteen dollars is a
reasonable and Justin Cole in the Holly Furlough will be there and it's not a
good definition right May tend to six thirty and the law Leaving Room session hosted
by Lanching Lee and that's another ticket event and married as fifteen dollars and then
she's playing in May eighteenth as a cure goulers have forgotten weeks ago. The
Block Manchester is also a free event. But don't forget to the donas and
jar and your waitress and ways staff. You're very impro vision and jazz trios
more than the other one twenty five dollars. Pianist Michael are are with what
is it will be playing and yep, and there's a lot of shows coming
up, but they're uh, they're down the road, as it was down
the road at six o'clock songwriters round up. Jackie Turan and Allie Brodrey will
be there. I'll be right out lady before Yes, Allie Boudre's I believe
ten to fifteen dollars. I was going through the the new shows. Oh,
Alie Brodrey, of course, what you have not seen her alive?
Alie Brodrey both. I believe it's Brown's Bodie, isn't it. Yeah,
I've not seen her live now yeah, Stephen Philbrook has entered the chat room?
Easy, would you like to uh? Would you like to take this
opportunity to apologize to him for for referring to him him as what's his face?
Stefan? So sorry about that. Very nice. So you've learned his
name. They give me trouble where I live here too, They say,
uh, Eric, you're you're missing up the guys. You're missing up the
guy's name. It's good to say the name instead of watch his face?
Right, Yes, what's his face is not typically a term of endearment.
Actually saying his name is much nicer. Yes, I agree, right,
yes, I remember, I know, I know. Stephen is such a
common name. It's hard to keep track of all the Stephens, you know.
I understand. Yeah, m hm, alrighty, So I guess that's
gonna wrap up. I'll find out information where where Christman is gonna be playing
instead of two places at the same time once, thank you don't make any
sense? Well, they could both be on the same day, just at
different times. You have, but five or six doesn't don't know? Now
you did request you had requested me? Easyg that I end your report with
an April Cushman song in a small town? Why this song? Why?
Why? What? What does this song mean to you? In a small
town by Swans either Hampshire. So that's what she wrote about a small town.
It's a small time. A lot of people lived there, not exactly
a booming metropolis. That's true, right, she has a big farm down
there, animals and horses, and so you told us what the song might
mean to her. But what does this song mean to you? Well?
I really thought about it, Okay, it's a good song. You just
like it. Nothing wrong with that. You just like the song, Like
they say on prior to interruption, I'll try to do better the next time,
all right, that's all I canna do, right, try to do
better? Well, that's uh, that's all we can ask, all right,
easy know you did, you did wonderfully, You did wonderfully. All
right, bye bye, all right, EASYG leaves us, and I will
go ahead and play him out us once that thought from around the way,
Easy You want to know about stock market crashes, COVID nineteen, drive buys,
celebrity gossip, easy Gee's gotcha, entertainment reports stats, Wow, thank
nutting, but a jeep, thank baby back? Are you ready for let's
find out? Betty? Let go all right, very good, and we
will because we are so appreciative. We will. We will honor Easyg's request,
and we will play this April Cushman song is called in a Small Town.
She is very talented. I'm sure we'll get around the show at some
point. We'd love to talk with her. She's um. There's a song
speaking of Amna McCarthy. There's a song that Amana McCarthy wrote called the Long
Haul that April awarded, but Amanda wrote it and played a live version for
us in studio. But so they've they've worked together on some things. I
think April Kushman also, I think she had written something that Amanda has recorded,
but I'm not sure about that. But let's we'll give this a listen,
We'll show some love to our sponsors, and then we'll be right back.
There's plenty more Matt Connerton unleashed to come. It is the Taco Tour.
Oh those, oh, those lines are getting long. Those lines are
getting long out there. This is going to be a very successful event.
All right. Here's April Cushman. This is called in a Small Town Tacos
on My Mind by John Leva. That is the remix. Actually, I
played the original version at the top of the show today. That's the remix
of that. If you're looking for him online, he's got a YouTube channel.
He's got a lot of good stuff on there. His name is John
Leva and Leva is l. E. Y Va if you want to look
him up. But I don't know him. I just I was looking for
for some taco related music for the show today because it is Taco Tour here
in down town Manchester and looking across the street, the line at the hop
Knot they're doing what they call walking tacos. It's getting long. Definitely looks
like a successful event. And I don't see any sign of rain yet.
It's cloudy, but actually the sun looks like it's poking through there. I
think EASYG is back on the line. Hello, Yeah, it just isn't
investigating way your Taco tour was a song was playing the h is he also
playing? Because we're playing a mass? Twus? Isn't he May twenty and
he's gonna play at the Backyard Brewery so at sixty cook Manchester though apparently should
be one of the know a couple of acts that going first and then will
travel all the way to Manchester. So and then I found out the right
day now Thursday May, like I do three events on the same day.
Obviously, Thursday May twenty fifth should be a Stratford mass at five o'clock Independence
in because I mean, I think never on your show saying that Peter White
Show was on Peter White the event over the the thing downtown for the charity
there is this cafe. Yes, it gives the wrong date. So that's
good. Yeah, you do idea have the right dates because people want to
show these events. It's a really good idea the right date. Yes,
So that's my correction, and uh, have a great day, all right,
bye bye, Wow? What are you should have known by now?
Easy doesn't that was easy. Gee, who is he talking about? Was
it April Coachman or a mana McCarthy? I don't even know U six Z
three two five h six O seven. If you'd like to join us today
on the program six zo three two five o six zero seven, you'd also
text us at six one seven nine one seven four four seven six. I'm
on social media at Matt Connerton. You can email me Matt at Matt Connerton
dot com, and of course you can interact and opine in the Facebook live
chat. But the best thing to do so that we can hear and enjoy
your dulcet tones is to give us a call at six zoo three two five
O six Z seven six zo three two five six o seven. It is
Taco Tour in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, and it looks like it's getting
busy out there, and it looks like the weather is holding up, So
come on down, get some tacos, big line at the Hopknot. I'll
just remind you quickly what's going on there today. Kenny posted this on social
media. Here's what you've got to know. If you're planning on stopping by,
we're serving walking tacos for three dollars cash your choice black bean or chicken.
We also have three dollar Doseki's Amber loggers. Inside you can pay cash
or card for your beer. It's gonna be a huge turnout, so make
sure you get here early so you don't miss out. Hashtag Taco Tour.
So that is going on right now for those of you listening live, So
come on down to downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. I do want to say
hello to everybody in the Facebook live chat. And then, by the way,
at the top of the hour, we're gonna be joined via Skype by
Kevin Hammer from the Great State of New York, looking forward to speaking with
him. EASYG is in the chat room and says happy Stars Day. I
think he meant happy Star Wars. You know, it's a May the Fourth
be with you. That's the other thing that goes on today. Oh and
then he clarified it. Charles Richardson from the Great State of Florida joins us
in the chat and says, hey, everyone, Happy Thursday. Be positive
and enjoy the day. Thank you, Charles, and thank you for the
positive message. Jay Fed also joins us in the chat and says good afternoon,
everyone as well as Jenny is in the chat room and says shalom,
peeps. Charles said something in the chat room that I do not dare read
on the air, but that is funny. Regarding one of the taco related
songs that I played, Jay Fed says, I'd rather have chicken tenders over
tacos. Really, chicken tenders have been a big subject here on WMAH recently
on the morning show. I know that, and I know that Nick Lavalley,
who happens to be in the band Donna Her who I heard sound checking
earlier up a Veterans park. I believe I know that he wants to He's
trying to get Manchester sort of rebranded from manch Vegas, which I never liked
calling it that, calling it Tendertown. So there you go. Charles Richardson
says, pineapple on pizza over tacos any day. That's disgusting, sir,
That is I don't know if we can be friends anymore. I'm horrified by
that. How dare you? Jay Fed says, I would like to try
the Big Mac taco? Is there such a thing? Never quite sure,
never quite sure how to say this name when I see it in the chatroom.
But Dary Nordeen, I hope I'm saying that somewhat correctly says the most
beautiful channel in the world, your brother and friend. I follow you from
North Africa, Morocco. I do not follow you from Spain. Greetings to
you, all right, well, greetings to you. Welcome. We are
truly international, my friend, my friends, a global phenomenon, I dare
say. Jay fed says there is no need to be confused over taco songs.
Isaac Banks. Again, we tried to get some advice from easyg for
our friend Isaac Banks from I believe, by the way, if I'm not
mistaken, from Greensboro, North Carolina. Isaac said, good afternoon hashtag Matt
and I love tacos from Taco Bell. Good afternoon hashtag cat Lee. Well.
The good news about the taco tour here, which is ongoing in downtown
Manchester, New Hampshire, is uh, you don't have to go to Taco
Bell. You can get some nothing against Taco Bell, but you can,
you know, in case they're a future responsor. I don't want to say
anything bad, but but you can get the good stuff right here and downtown
Manchester really again, I'm not saying anything about Taco Bell. But Texas Mike
is in the chat says, I'm on my third taco already, and that
was at the top of the show, so he's probably on his eighth taco
by now. Isaac Banks says, hashtag my brother Mike Banks, he is
okay, he will apologize to my mom and forgive him to my mom.
Well, that's nice, that's very nice. Scott Robinson says, have you
seen the Picard series? Excellent for Trackees. I have not. I know
that Jenny was watching that at one point. I think that's on paramount plus.
Everything I've heard about it is that it's absolutely phenomenal. People rave about
Piccard, but I have not seen it. Texas Mike says, in my
first oh, in my first line at Blue Aqua Retro Retro, is that
what it is? Restaurant bar? Blue Aqua, the bar up the street.
Here, I'm pointing as though I'm not on a radio show. If
you can see me pointing, you see me pointing up the street. I
mean, if you're watching online you can see. But they have an alligator
tacom My goodness, my goodness, Isaac Bank says, last night, I
couldn't sleep at all because my brother chat messages me. Is my brother?
I told him I am straight? Oh, so you you came out to
your brother, but in reverse or something. I'm not sure exactly how that
works, but I'm glad that your brother knows that you're straight. That's good.
I guess. I'm not sure why your brother would care. But while
you are in the never mind, I'm not gonna I'm gonna pull back on
that. Let's see. Scott Robinson says, easy. Did you ever have
a taco a forbidden fruit? Oh? I didn't know they participate? All
right, let's see, and we already went over the trauma, the drama
rather that Isaac Banks is going through with his brother that he posted in the
chat room. Uh, let's see. I just want to make sure we
don't miss anybody here. Miriam Bannish shows us in the Facebook live chat.
Hello, Miriam, nice to see you. Isaac Banks says, good afternoon.
Fran Man Sandridge, how are you doing? And how is Ethan Ross
getting better? To return next Thursday to rehearsal of Inner Rhythm Choir. Oh,
and Isaac says, hashtag Matt fran man is Sandbridge from Greensboro, North
Carolina. I wouldn't have guessed. Isaac also says taco to her hashtag Matt,
that is extraordinary, extraordinary. Oh boy, Isaac is very verbose today.
Taco Tour is the best. Isaac says, yes, yes. Melanie
Liberty is in the chat room, says my mom and my mom and I
are leaving Taco Tour now. So yummy. Oh wow, very good,
very good. Well, if you'd like to get in with a quick call,
we are rapidly approaching the top of the hour, and we do have
a guest who's gonna be skyping in. I'm gonna play actually something non taco
related when it's time for the break. My dad has been recommending a band
to me called the Rock Dwellers. They are on the Sea coast, and
apparently he saw them, I think at the Stone Church saw them live.
I always say my dad's hipper than me when it comes to new music.
You know, he's in his seventies, but he's always loved hearing new stuff.
You know, so many people, I think most people, they get
to a certain age and they say, okay, that's it. I've heard
all the music. I ever want to hear and I'm only going to like
music up to this point in my life. But my dad's never been like
that. He loves hearing new stuff. He listens to college radio WUNH on
the Sea Coast. But he recommended this band to me, the Rock Dwellers,
and I looked them up online and I really like them. So we're
actually gonna we're gonna play something from them at the top of the hour.
I might sneak in one more taco related song as well. Today we'll see,
and then after that we'll speak with our guests. Who's gonna be skyping
in Kevin Hammer from the Great State of New York. But some quick news,
Oh, Stephen Philberk had mentioned in the face Spook live chat. Ed
Shearon found not guilty or actually, more accurately, not liable. Jenny and
I talked about this quite a bit on Monday. Ed Shearon was being sued
by the one of the writers of Let's Get It On, by Marvin Gay.
Ed Sharon was being sued for his song. Actually, I have the
article here, we can look at this quickly, and apparently he was found
not liable as he did not steal the song. Ed Sharon's song It's a
twenty four hit, Thinking out Loud. I'm really glad about this. I'm
glad that he was found not liable. I think that well, obviously I
don't approve of musicians stealing music from other musicians. I think that we get
into a very dangerous zone. And you know, the lawsuit against Robin Thick
over the song Blurred Lines is a great example where that was actually the estate
of Marvin Gay suing over that, if I remember correctly, over up because
they claimed that Blurred Lines kind of stole the vibe, for lack of a
better way of putting it, from I forget what the Marvin Gay song was.
And it's it's just we're in a very dangerous place artistically where you can
actually write something and have a hit song and then get sued not because you
stole someone's lyrics or even stole someone's melody, but just because you stole kind
of the the vibe of what they did on a previous song, or a
very common chord progression that is used in many many songs. You happen to
use it and somebody says, uh, I think we have a I think
we have a cash grab here potentially. I think that gets us into a
very dangerous place. I was disappointed that Robin Thick was successfully sued over the
song Blurred Lines, even though I hate the song, but I didn't like
to see that. But I'm glad that Ed Shearon was not sued successfully.
But this is from media. I Ed Shearon blast dangerous copyright k after jury
victory. I won't be a piggy bank for anyone to shake, says you're
a musician. Ed Sharon expressed a mixture of relief and frustration after a jury
verdict in his favor in a copyright infringement case, telling reporters that if he
had lost, it would have been dangerous for music creators everywhere. I agree.
The lawsuit accused Sharon's twenty fourteen hit song Thinking Out Loud of having similarities
with some of the chord progressions, melodies, and rhythms in Marvin Gay's nineteen
seventy three classic tune Let's Get It On. The complaint was filed by the
family of Ed Townsend, who co wrote the song with Gay, so ed
Townsend's estate effectively. Sharon attended the trial in New York City and testified in
defense of his song, which he wrote with his frequent collaborator, singer songwriter
Amy Wadge, pointing out that both songs were based on chord progressions that were
very common in pop music. And that's an important point because again, if
you can successfully sue ed Sharon over this song and it is ultimately about a
common chord progression, then that opens the floodgates to all kinds of lawsuits and
there are in pop music. And again, Jenny and I got into this
in some depth on Monday, I think it was Monday. In pop music,
there are there are only so many different chord progressions that are commonly used,
you know. There's only so many progressions, there's only so many chords,
there's only so many notes, you know. And everyone is inspired by
something that they heard before them. So again, I would never justify or
rationalize just blatant thievery if somebody else's music or any other form of creative output.
But everyone was inspired by something. And I think I do think it
is clear that Ed Shearon, with that song and the way it's constructed and
the way the song is produced, probably very much inspired by the Marvin Gay
classic, but not not a copy not a rip off, and so I'm
really happy that that he won this loss suit. It says you're Today A
jury returned to verdict in their favor and d Sharon's favor and Amy Wadd's favor,
finding that Thinking Out Loud did not infringe on Gay and Townsend's copyright in
their song. Speaking of the press shortly after the verdict, Sharon said he
was quote obviously very happy with the outcome of the case. It looks like
I'm not having to retire from my day job after all. At the same
time, I'm unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to
court at all, unquote, describing how this case had taken eight years of
quote talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies, and four chords,
which are also different and used by songwriters every day all over the world.
Unquote. He continued, pointing out the impact on songwriters. Quote.
These chords are common building blocks which are used to create music long before Let's
Get It On was written, and we'll be used to make music long after
we are all gone. They are in a songwriter's alphabet, our toolkit,
and should be there for all of us to use. No one owns them
or the way they are played, in the same way nobody owns the color
blue. Unquote. Sorry if I had suddenly distracted, I I hear it
sounds like a mariachi band down on Elm Street. It is Taco Tuesday,
my friends. No, I'm sorry, it's not Taco Tuesday. It's Thursday.
It's a taco tour. I meant to say, Ah, tripped up
on the illiteration of it all. Sharon blasted the opposing and the idea of
tacos. Sharon blasted the opposing counsel for making unfounded claims with their experts who
had left out words and notes to create quote, misleading comparisons and disinformation and
try to manipulate my song to try to convince the jury that they had a
genuine claim unquote. He expressed how he was grateful the jury quote saw through
the attempted manipulation and called such cases so dangerous for both songwriters facing this kind
of litigation threat and potential claimants who may be convinced to bring a bogus claim
unquote. There you go, who's getting loud out there? All right?
Here's what we're gonna do. We're going to take a quick break and I'm
gonna play as a promise, I'm gonna play a track from the Rock Dwellers.
This is a really good band that my dad is a fan of.
So I'm gonna play this song called There and Back Again. No, actually,
I'm not gonna play that one. I'm gonna play Obsession. I might
save the other one for later. Obsession is the one that I liked the
most. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go with this one. Obsession. We'll
play this, We'll show some love to our amazing sponsors, and then we'll
be back. We'll have our guest, Kevin Hammer, joining an USBA skype
from the state of New York. There is plenty more to come, my
friends on this Matt Connerton Unleashed, don't go away. Who Welcome back,
everybody, It is Matt Connerton Unleashed as we enter the second hour. Numero
Dose here from the studios of wm n H ninety five point three FM and
Glorious Downtown, Manchester, New Hampshire, also on Comcast seven. If you're
in Manchester, and hello to all of our online listeners across the nation and
around the globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot com for
all your live streaming options, social media links, contact info, show archives,
etc. Et cetera. Today is Thursday May fourth, a, two
thousand twenty three, and it is the Taco Tour day right here in downtown
Manchester. And I'm looking out this window and the lines are getting long.
Uh the hop not, of course, our amazing sponsor and the Brady Sullivan
at one thousand Elm Street, they're doing They're doing tacos, they are participating.
There's a lot going on downtown, so it's it's definitely worth checking it
out. And it looks like the weather is holding up, so I hope
to hope to look out the window and see you down there. But we
are live. We're gonna bring in a we have a great guest on via
Skype. We're gonna bring in in just a moment. But if you'd like
to enter the discussion that we are about to have, six zo three two
five six Z seven is a studio line six zo three two five six Z
seven. You know also text me at six one seven nine one seven four
four seven X. I'm on social media at Matt Connerton. You can email
me Matt at Matt Connerton dot com. You can interact endo Pine in the
Facebook live chat. But the best thing to do so that we can hear
and enjoy your Dulca tones is to give us a call at six zero three
two five zero six zero seven. And we have Kevin Hammer via Skype.
Kevin are you there? Yes, I am hello, welcome to the show.
Glad glad to be here. I just want to check and you hear
me clearly? Yeah, yeah, absolutely can hear me. Okay, a
bit choppy, a bit staticky, but I can make I can make everything
out everywhere just saying okay, good good. Yeah. Technology will will not
always be exactly what we wanted to be, that's for sure, absolutely.
But uh yeah, yesterday we had a band on all the way from Germany
called Factory of Art, and uh, you know, when when you're getting
transcontinental, it can be especially a challenging and they were skyping in but they
had a little bit of a problem connecting. You know. Eventually it worked,
but I had to had to give it a few shots. But where
where are you Are you in Schenectady in New York? Yes, yep,
I do reside in Schenectady, New York. Okay, it's not that far
from the capitol Albany, New York. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
have some I have some family in New York State. Spend some time there
as a kid, because I haven't been there in a while, well at
least not not in terms of spending any real time there. But um my,
uh, my dad's second wife, her family is in I don't know
if you know Frankfort. It's uh kind of near uh, I guess it's
kind of near Utica. Um, yeah, I'm aware of the Frankfort area
absolutely. Okay, Yeah, it's kind of funny in that area. You've
got all those you know, they don't even really call them towns. They
call them villages like Frankfurt and Ilion and and it's hard to tell where one
ends and and and another one begins. It's they're kind of like a like
one city sort of match together, but it's really like a series of neighborhoods.
It's interesting, but it's funny. Yeah, it's it is funny up
here. I actually grew up in a community where the Amish had posts to
tie up their horses. So really, no kidding in New York or were
you. Yes, Oh wow. I was born and raised in Scaria,
Montgomery Counties in New York State. Uh. And it's funny because most people
when you say you're from New York, they go to the city. But
I grew up in small town, rural New York. Like I said that,
we had an Amish community. Uh, you know, Mennonites. You
know, we we had all that out there. And like I said,
our bank, our post you know, the post office, our grocery store,
they all had post to um tie up their horses. In fact,
they put in a brand new a few years ago. They put in a
brand new sign in the center of town. Uh buggy parking, No kidding,
Oh yep. Oh that's cool. That's interesting. Interesting. Um you
ever see that that that show Amish Mafia. I think it was actually set
in Pennsylvania. Did you see that? I think it was on the Learning
Channel. No, I'm aware that it exists, but no I have I
have actually never seen a full episode. I saw a trailer for it once
and I found it very amusing. It's a it's a trip. I just
I know someone actually, someone who claims to be a real New Yorker from
from the city who uh will often brag about the time that he interviewed Lebanon
Levi from Amish Mafia, and it's kind of like, wow, that's uh
quite the brag there, but uh yeah, that that that ship. I
have seen the show. It's it's kind of a trip. But now,
what is your current statis in terms of are you a candidate or do you
currently hold office? Well, I I am currently a candidate. Um I
will. I not going to speak so much to the uh you know,
the race right now my campaign. Yeah, right now, we're the Democrats.
I am a Republican. The Democrats have their primaries, uh, their
primary coming up. Uh you know, so we're just switching out to the
community eight now, still knocking on doors, getting getting our names out there.
I ran in twenty twenty one for city council and I'm running again,
Okay in Sconnectady. Yep, in Sconnectedy. Gotcha. Now, have you
held office before or if you run, did you run for office prior to
twenty twenty one. No, twenty twenty one was my first time entering politics
in that in that fashion. Okay. Prior to that, I had been
involved more on the activist side since probably around College. Okay, and now
you came to us by way of our friend Billy Painter, or Bad Billy
as he is as his online persona. Although I personally I don't know what
you think, Kevin, I think he should just use his real name.
I think Billy Painter is a cool name. I don't know why. I
just like the way it sounds. But uh, but yeah, he had
he had recommended, and I'm glad he connected us, and I did.
I didn't get a chance to see quite the whole thing, but I did
watch most of um, your interview, Billy's interview with you, I should
say, on Outlaw Radio and very interesting and U and you know we had
talked via messenger and you had mentioned, you know, you're a Republican,
but you you know, you like to be able to discuss things with people
outside of the echo chamber, and um, you know, one of the
things that I try to do with this show, and this is part of
what it's part of what made you interesting as a guest, and why I
think Billy suggested you come on is you know I m and I'm an independent,
but I would probably best describe my politics and when I go with this
particular description people seem to agree with me. I'm center left, but with
a heavy dose of libertarian in some ways too. But I really like talking
to um. You know, I I don't personally enjoy having discussions that are
strictly you know, ideological, the sort of cable news to people yelling at
each other, you know. I like to dig deeper, and I like
talking to people whom uh you know. I mean, of course, it's
nice to talk to people with whom I agree. It's also nice to talk
to people with whom I disagree and have a real discussion and an exchange of
ideas. And uh, my impression both from Billy and what you had said
on Messenger is that you're very open to that as well, and that you
like to address things outside the echo chamber. So um, so, I
think that's very cool, and I'm very interested in so a couple of things
about you that are that are interesting also in addition to that that I wanted
to ask you about. UM. One is I would like to hear your
story about how Billy described you as a walk away from the Democratic Party,
and you you alluded to it a moment ago as well, um, that
you used to be a Democrat, And it's interesting you. You said something
interesting in your conversation with Billy on his show. You were talking about how
you really kind of feel more like an independent. But you know the way
the system works in New York. You know, if you want to vote,
or I suppose if you want to be a candidate in your case,
because you're an active candidates. You know, you're an active candidate. Independence
generally don't win, so you know, you almost you almost have to pick
a side, um in that sense. But I do want to ask you
more about all of that, your your journey and and and how you've changed
politically or if you have changed. You know, sometimes people will say regardless
of which party they left, you know, I hear people say, well
the party didn't you know, I didn't leave the party, the party left
me. But I'm curious to hear more about that. The other thing that's
that's interesting about you is um, so you are and and it's right on
on the website there that I was looking at. You know, you're you're
openly gay and in a party that I think I think there's a perception and
and you might refute this today, I don't know, or it might be
a concern. I'm curious to hear you address this. Um, but there
is a perception that the Republican Party today has kind of taken an anti LGBTQ
bent or. But then again, I also realize you're in New York and
the Republican Party of New York State is not the same as, say,
no disrespect to the South, but the Republican Party of Alabama, you know.
So so maybe maybe maybe where you are, and I suspect this is
the case, but I'll be interested to hear you address this. Maybe where
you are it just doesn't matter. I mean, I know George Santos is
an openly gay Republican allegedly. Of course, you don't know whether you can
believe anything anything he says, but he is an openly gay Republican from New
York, and nobody seems to care that he's gay. So everyone's very interested
in whether he's actually telling the truth about anything, but nobody seems to care
that he's gay. So, um, so, you know, in the
Northeast, maybe it's just not an issue. I don't know, but i'd
be curious to get your perspective on that. But um, but yeah,
any any of that that you want to address. I know I threw a
lot at you at once, but you're I'm very curious to learn more about
you. And um, your conversation with Billy left me with a lot of
questions. So as you can tell sore where Oh no, absolutely, yeah,
a lot of a lot of ground at me. Um, you know
where to start on the map. Um, no, Well, it is
true. I was once I was registered Democrat identified actually self identified as a
leftist at one point. You know, I was involved as an activist more
during the time when s JW was more commonly used social justice warrior back back
in those you don't you don't really hear that anymore. Um. I had
a journey, which um, I mean there was a lot involved in it,
and I came to embrace more my conservative values. Now. Part of
that journey, um was indeed the fact, as you said, many people
say I didn't leave the party, the party left me. The Democratic Party
went further to the left. That's true. However, at around the same
time, I was also connecting to some more of my conservative root values that
had that had always been there. So it really it really was a mixture.
Um, I can't I can't say that, you know, now,
I you know, identifying as a conservative and speaking to conservative values, I
can't say that they weren't there at all. Right, they were there even
when I was more on the left. It's just how my interactions went on
the left ultimately led to me embracing more of those conservative values, um,
and ultimately rejecting a lot of the ideology that I saw on the rise on
the left. Now, you it is, it is true that um.
In regards I like to say today, UM, that I prefer to discuss
values, not party. Yes, and that that really has become more and
more of my focus. Uh. Not too long ago, I was having
a discussion with two gentlemen about issues locally and as. When we got done
with our conversation, you know, I was expressing my opinion. I was
talking about specific issues. And when we got done with the conversation and the
one guy left, the other guy, who happens to be a Republican,
a conservative like myself, he goes, Wow, he goes, that was
impressive. He goes. Usually when me and the other guy try to you
know, me and my other friend try to talk to him. You know,
he's hard Democrat and he will yell at us, get frustrated with us
and all that, and I go, I understand that, and I've had
that experience as well. But did you notice something in our conversation. Not
once did I mention party affiliation during this entire conversation. I just spoke about
the issues and my personal values, which well, leaving party out of it
allowed us to have a better connection. Yeah, that makes sense because you
when you had that conversation with Billy on his show, you were talking about
that there's a moment, uh that I and I wanted to kind of mention
this to you, and and I liked what you had to say. There's
a moment where you gave him, you offered him some advice on you know,
he's he's Uh. He was talking about his daughter and a political sort
of a political conversation interaction that he had had with his daughter. And you
said to Billy, can I give you some advice and the advice that you
gave him? And I I won't, uh, I'm sure I won't get
it out as eloquently as you put it, because I really liked what you
had to say. But your suggestion was, you know, start with you
know, don't don't talk about political party with your daughter, talk about specific
issues and uh and and and just stick to that. And I really again,
the way you said it was very very good. Um. I can't
remember exactly how you put it, but it really resonated with me because,
you know, I feel like we live in a world where people are so
hyper focused on party identification and ideology that there's no room to even um express
anything outside of what's expected to you, for example, on social media.
Um, if you are on either left or right, you know, if
you're if you're a Republican and uh and and you say, well, you
know, I'm a Republican, but here's something that I do give President Biden
credit for. I think he's right on. You know, maybe you know
the way he's supplied weapons in Ukraine or whatever, if that's something you happen
to agree with him on. If you if you give Biden credit for anything
as a Republican, you'll get dog piled. You'll get called a rhino,
you know, you'll get called a I don't know, a socialist, whatever
it is, right, uh And and in the inverse, if you're a
Democrat and you say, well, you know, I don't. I don't
like Trump, but I did agree with him on the debt ceiling. That
was something that he got right. Uh, you'll get dog piled by your
your fellow Democrats and it's like, how can you dare say anything good about
Trump? And so uh it's and and that just perpetuates you know, we
we we live in a world where it's like you've really you're expected to be
locked in on one side or the other. And so I think your approach
is smart. Uh, you know, talk about the you know, forget
about the political identification. Uh, start with the issues and and and go
from there. Because at the end of the day, especially when you're talking
about local things, UM, I think there's a lot of room for agreement.
You know, if you're talking about if you're running for city council or
something like that, I think there's probably a lot more room for agreement and
less room for ideology uh than there isn't on a broader scale anyway. So
I think what the way you approach it and the way you think about it,
I think makes a lot of sense. We've gotten the we we've gotten
to a point where if you're talking about a politician, whether they be Democrat,
Republican, whatever they may be, and you are on that opposite end
of the political spectrum, at least that's your party affiliation, and you do
speak kind of to them in any way, you do get that attack.
Unfortunately, we are that polarized, although I would say that we're polarized in
regards to what the media highlights, in regards to what the politicians highlight,
but not so much when it comes to day today Americans, everyday americans who
I feel actually can have more conversations. And I know in fact we can
because I've taken part in those conversations. It's more on the social media where
I get the conflict, but in person, I've had in depth conversations with
people on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Sure we did not agree,
but we remain civil, absolutely, and I think in part that's because
we and I was I had a friend once kind of put it this way.
He was saying, you know, it's it's kind of like we're at
this point, you know, say, there was a historical a dictator and
monstrous dictator, right, and that dictator happened to say, um, puppies
are cute. Well, after that point, no one could ever say puppies
are cute because this dictator said it right, right, so no one,
no one can say puppies are cute now, um you know. So it's
it's very interesting that we have gotten into that, and it's it does exist
on both sides of the aisle, all across the political spectrum. Now,
for me personally, it's interesting because I look back to my roots and where
I came from. One of the things I actually feel very fortunate in regards
to is that I did not have very political parents. My parents never discussed
voting with me. To be honest, some people may not look fondly upon
that, um you know, for various reasons, but it's just not who
my parents were. Can I remember once asking them about voting, and both
my parents had the same view. Why bother they're all crooked anyways, across
across the board. And that's a common view actually from me. Especially when
I entered UM college and I started looking at the world around me, I
realized something that was true. Whether I liked it or not. You know,
there's the saying that you don't have to believe in the devil. All
that matters is the devil believes in you. And that's true when it comes
to politics. You can say you don't care about politics. You can say
that you don't you don't care. You know, it doesn't impact your life.
But that's just not true. I had a conversation with a friend who
lives in a more rural area and he was telling me earlier. He had
been telling me in the week about he was putting in a duck pond and
you know, in a coupe for the ducks and all that stuff. And
then later on he was telling me how politics doesn't impact his life, you
know, so he just doesn't want anything to do with it. And I
remembered back to our earlier conversation and I asked him, owing the answer probably,
I said, I have a question. You think politics doesn't impact your
life? I got a question. Did you check all the zoning laws and
regulations when you put in that pond and you put in that hoop, Because
if you did not follow them to the tea, those were passed, those
rules were passed by government, by local government. So yes, it does.
In politics impacts us from the moment we are born and before we go.
We were born. You know, if you're born in a hospital,
there are regulations, policies at the hospital has to follow that have been implemented
by government. Government does impact us from womb to tomb, um and even
after the tomb. To be honest, because they can you know semties.
So I mean, politics does impact you, whether you like it or not.
Someone seem to that um that realization. When I entered college, I
got involved and at the time it was more on the left. I was
actually I was an activist. I was a co founder of the of one
of the GSAs at my college. Um at the first college I went to,
and I really did fall into more with the left, and for me,
that did end up eventually taking more of an extreme turn at one point
to where I did cut out family over over politics. The one thing I
never did I never told anyone they didn't have a right to speak. Um.
This is where it honestly started to change for me is when I actually
got that treatment in return, and I'm actually thankful that I did. To
be honest, I started to question things on the left at the time.
And like I said, I don't say this to say that everyone who has
left or leaning has these personality traits or takes part in this behavior. Of
course, I'm speaking to the experience I had during my journey from the left
to the right. And you know, and I've met I've met people on
the right who are very big on if you don't have this specific view,
then you're cut off right, nothing nothing to do with you. But for
me, I experienced it largely on the left and still do to this day.
Um, what it happened was, I think, as I always I
always kind of say, I think what really ultimately was going to result in
my conflict with the left was that I'm very stubborn and I don't respond well
to people trying to put me in my place. I'm someone who always asked
questions. Yeah. I wasn't the child who easily accepted when my parents told
me something. I wasn't the child to really accept because I said so.
I was the child who would ask why, yeah, And I view that
as important. You tell a child not to touch a burning stove, why
not explain to them why they shouldn't touch the hot stove because they could get
hurt instead of just saying because I said so, right, They're more likely
to rebel against that and actually touch the stove and get and get burnt.
But if you explain to them why, you're gonna probably have a different result.
I mean, they could still do it, you know, but but
you're probably gonna at least they're gonna have a better understanding. And I I
really had that personality from the time I was very young. Trust me,
it frustrated my mother at times, but my mother let me. Let my
mother understood where my logic was was going. And ultimately, I think this
personality trait is what eventually caused me to conflict with the left as it moved
further and further to the left. Because when I entered the left, there
was a lot of things that were preached that I absolutely believed in and still
do actually believe into this day. It's just when I noticed a lot of
double standards and hypocrisy on the rise, that was when I started to conflict
because I started to ask more questions. Yeah, and I do have a
few examples of those that I found where I was starting to like, For
example, you know, there was this we would say, all right,
you shouldn't judge someone by the color of their skin. Absolutely absolutely, you
shouldn't. That's wrong, that's racist. To have a prejudice against someone based
on the color of their skin. That is racism. That is the definition
of racism. Right, It's wrong to judge someone's entire character based on their
sex. Absolutely absolutely agreed with that, and I still agree with that deeply.
It's wrong to judge someone hate someone based on their sexual orientation, and
you know, in regards homosexuality, heterosecution. Still I still believe that.
However, I noticed that there became more and more among my friends as double
standard, meaning they believed that racism only went one way, sexism only one
way, Hating someone based on sexual orientation only went went only went one way,
and that if you were the oppressed quote unquote demographic, you had every
right to treat other people however you wanted based on these characteristics because you were
the oppressed. And that just didn't sit right with me. I think that
it's just as wrong for me to attack a heterosexual man for being heterosexual,
to call him some kind of name a slur related to that, as it
would be for him to call me a slur in regards to my sexual orientation.
I saw that as just as wrong. But unfortunately, on the progressive
left right now, they don't see that as they see one is wrong but
not the other. Um, but where were these Were there expert personal experiences
that you had where this came up? Because I don't, I don't.
I mean, well, first of all, I mean to say, so
I fundamentally agree with you. I mean, any anybody, uh, you
know, being prejudiced against anyone is as a form of prejudice. Like I'm
not a big fan of the term, and you might agree, I'm not
a big fan of the term reverse racism. I think racism is yeah yeah,
um, but but I am, I am curious. So uh,
I mean, were there personal experiences that you were having or did something happen
you online where where you began to notice because I don't feel like I see
while I agree with you, um, in principle, I haven't. Granted,
I don't really engage much online in politics. I kind of save it
all for the show. Um. But I so I agree with you in
principle, but it's not something I've seen, Like I can't, off the
top of my head think of a lot of examples of straight people being attacked
for being straight. I'm not sure. So I'm just can you clarify that
a little bit. I'm just curious where where you were running into that,
and and and if you can walk us through how you responded to that when
you encountered it, and how that drew you to to see hypocrisy and double
standards and so forth. Well, let me, I guess, let me
explain, because I know the perspective you're coming from. In my personal life.
When I say I was an activist, well I may not have,
you know, been high up there and gotten a lot of attention. I
was very much involved in activism, and I did end up with friends who
went further and further to left, like not just people on social media,
people in my circle of friends who, for example, over a political disagreement
one friend I had, he did try to get someone fired from their job.
He t but he docks them like I knew people who honestly were at
that level of encouraging people to cut off family even divorce their spouses over political
disagreements. Like my circle of friends was hard went hard left. So it
wasn't even social media, which, don't get me wrong, I experienced that
on social media of course. Yeah, I was part of a law of
left leaning political groups and chats and everything like that. But I had people
in my life, people I had known for years, who were also of
this mentality in act actually took part in these actions. And like when I
had the falling out with my family member over politics, a lot of my
friends encouraged me to cut her out of my life and never talk to her
again. And this was someone who is my baby cousin. I'm about I'm
all about four years older than her, and I was there when she was
born and we had a falling out over politics. And at the time,
I was much more extreme and much more of you know that you gotta agree
with me on this or else I don't want to talk to you. And
I was surrounded by people who had that same mentality and encouraged that mentality in
me. Now, I still made the decision, right, I'm not.
No one held a gun to my head or anything. Not to say that
someone wanted to do that. These days, it seems like some might,
But no, I still made that decision. So I still take responsibility for
my actions there. I'm not going to sit here and claim that I was
completely helpless they I was. I was forced to, you know, by
threat of my life or anything. I ultimately was the one that made those
decisions. But all so that was my circle of friends or just to clarify,
because I actually marched on Washington, DC, I protested outside my capital.
I went to organizational meetings. UM, I helped organize protests, I
spoke at protests. I was deeply involved on in regards to the activity locally
when it came to the left. Yeah, yeah, um, I will.
Actually, uh, I want to kind of retract and rephrase something I
said when you mentioned when you mentioned specifically people trying to get people fired from
their jobs or because of maybe not you know, whatever it is, their
their position or something. I have seen examples of that. Actually, so
I was not. I'm realizing now I'm because as you're talking, I'm thinking
of specific things you know where Um. It kind of reminds me of the
what what Candice Owens talked about. Although in in I don't believe her story,
I do believe your story because I've seen examples of what you're talking about.
I have, and it's starting to come back to me. Candice,
I don't I don't. I don't know how you feel about her. I
don't believe her, but that's a separate conversation. But I but I know
what you're saying, and it's it's um, yeah, if if somebody,
um, you know, somebody uh does something that that someone perceives as uh
and and they may be right in their perception that it's prejudiced or something,
and then they go and they try to get that person fired from their job.
Uh, that type of thing. Uh. Yeah, I don't like
to see that either. I think I think people do go much too far
with that or the dock singe that goes on. And so I I understand,
Uh, you're being repelled by that. Um. I've never I've never
been an activist in that way, so I've not experienced that. But I've
never been in that position either. But I have seen that kind of thing
happen, Kevin. So I do get where you're coming from on that.
And let me let me just because you asked for a specific examples, so
um, there were specific examples, especially around twenty sixteen going into twenty seventeen,
because obviously that's when things really heated up. Yeah, and that was
when you know, I cut out a family member. But then I started
to really question myself on that. I over politics was going to cut out
someone that I had known literally since the day she was born. Yeah,
over over politics. I had a falling out with well, my in laws
event you know, eventually for a little bit. And you know, I
don't regret. Some people might say they regret these falling out, these falling
outs, I don't because I stepped back and reflected on them and more I
became critical myself. What could I have done differently? What could I have
said differently? Yea. And some of the UM, some of the things
that happened personally where I actually became a target in my circle of friends UM
started around that time. So I don't know if you recall, UM,
when a group of four UM young individuals who happened to be black kidnapped a
young UM man with mental health issues and tortured him and recorded it. I,
you know, and we're in we're calling, and we're using racial slurs
and you know, uh, you know, towards towards white's. During that,
I remember in my group of friends saying, oh, okay, here's
an act of racism. Just as we've called out acts of racism against other
other demographics, other racial demographics, here's an act of racism that we should
call out as well. Like I said, in my mind, racism is
racism and it's wrong and we should call out. But when I to call
that out, people in my own circle of friends said, no, you
can't do that. That's not racism. Was that a violent act yes?
Was that prejudice yes? And I'm like prejudices in the definition of racism,
But you know, I started getting push pushed back with that. UM.
Another thing that that happened to me is I had made a lot of posts
critical of Christianity in regards to while the LGBT community UM, and I had
you know, I had made a number of posts and friends had my friends
in my closed circle, they had liked and shared them. Well, I
made a similar post, except this post. I was being critical of Islam
in regards to how it has how that how that religion has treated homosexuals,
UM and other people from the community over over our span of years. And
I was told I couldn't, I should take down that post because my post
against Christianity were fine, but my my post being critical of Islam, we're
wrong because in the context of America, we're talking about minority demographic So I'm
punching down, and this just didn't make sense to me. I realized what
came. The biggest issue I had was inconsistency and logic. If you have
a specific set of values and you don't apply them equally across the board,
I have to question you. I have to question if you can and then
you don't acknowledge the double standards, the hypocrisy at play in your own mind.
Don't get me wrong, we all have our double standards join right,
like when it comes to policy, like there are things that yes, children
shouldn't do, but adults can. Right. That's that's one case where absolutely
into me, that's that's legitimate. I stand by that. But this was
very different. And more and more I started speaking on issues and getting told
to be quiet by those in my circle of friends. To the well,
I was actually removed from several uh messaging groups that I had been part of
on social media where I actually knew the people in person. And then one
individual was amusing the one that tried to get a guy fired from his job.
Yeah, there was a protest locally in front of in front of my
police station. Actually, and this I had already been started being very open
about my criticisms of the left, and I had starting I had started to
embrace more of my conservative values in part as a result of that, started
reflecting more upon who I really am, really soul searching. But during that
time I hadn't heard from him as much. Yea, I happened to go
to that protest. I saw him there. He kind of looked at me,
then looked away, and someone I had been at his house. I
had celebrated with him, celebrated birthdays, like really, we had hung out,
and sure enough I went to look him up on social media. Not
only had he unfriended me on social media, he had blocked me as well.
Yeah, so this is what started to happen. And one I think
one big thing issue for me was my unwavering belief in free speech, no
matter what even my days when I was the furthest to the left I had
ever gotten. I still while I might cut people out, I might have
cut people out, I still didn't believe that they should be silenced right.
I still believed that they had a right to speak to their values, to
what they believed, even if their values hurt my feelings, I just want
to associate with them if it hurt my feelings. I believed that to my
core and I still do so. When a number of my friends started taking
those actions of well, we're gonna work to get people fired, We're gonna
even you know docs, people release their information and even sometimes go after family
members, all because people were just speaking their values. That for me was
like, I'm done. I have to step away from this, and that
was when my journey really started to where I am today. Yeah yeah,
um no, I can. I can understand all of that, and now
I'm curious the other aspect that I'm really interested in it. So, um,
it is my theory, correct, Kevin, that you as a as
an openly gay man in the Republican Party in the state of New York probably
not an issue or have you or have you run in any have you run
in any problems with that where where maybe some maybe somebody just uh gives you
a hard time. Well, I'm not someone who tries to um blind myself
to reality or tries to deny truth. Um. Of course, the Republican
Party has not had a history that has been great with individuals who like myself,
are gay. Right, Yeah, yeah, that's that's a fact.
Then again, it wasn't too long ago that you had Biden up there talking
about marriage being between a man and a woman. So but furthermore, I
want, I want to um I put it this way now with people,
because people do say to me, how can you vote this way? How
can you have these values when the party that you're a part of, UM
you know, have had, has had this history when it comes to the
LGBT community. Well, I'm like, well, first of all, there's
a great deal in the LGBT community that I stand firmly against what I see,
especially in the current lgbt Q all the way to Z a community that
I just I absolutely am adamantly against. So first of all, there's that.
And second of all, even if let's say the Republican Party today put
out a platform that all homosexuals should be put to death. Right, even
if that were to happen today, my values on freedom of speech, the
first Amendment would be the same, The second Amendment would be the same,
Abortion would be the same, border issues would be the same. I would
still have these values. So would I vote for a politician that wanted me
put to death? No? But I would vote for a politician that supported
that fought for the values that I preach, and yes, they happen to
be conservative and Republican. And that's just the fact. So when people try
to bring up the history, I'm like, well, that's also the point.
It's history, right, yeah, because we can spend all day going
down history, going down that road as to who did what and who did
when? I mean, do you want to go back to segregation? Do
you want to go back to Democratic Party? I mean, how far do
you want to take this? Well? Yeah, yeah, no, I
understand that. But what I'm curious though, Kevin is like, do you
get any pushback you know, you're a candidate for office as a Republican,
do you get any pushback in your own party in New York? Because because
if you look at the Republican Party's history with say, for example, marriage
equality, um uh, you know, obviously there are Republicans. Well I'll
just give you just a quick example. So here in New Hampshire we were
actually ahead of the curve on marriage equality because um and uh, Jenny was
was serving in the in the House, uh, in the legislature here uh
in New Hampshire at the time. But um so uh, there there were
a large contingent of Republicans uh in New Hampshire who voted in favor of marriage
equality and then voted against repealing it when some Republicans tried to repeal it in
the next term. So so we were ahead of the curve. But part
of what contributed to that was was, you know, some Republicans who said,
no, we we we, you know, let's let's go ahead,
and let's go ahead and do this. Uh. Not not all of them,
of course, plenty of them opposed it as well, but um and
there there are certainly Republicans who who bristle at the idea of undoing that for
example. Um so, um so, there are a lot of Republicans who
are pro marriage equality. But I'm just wondering, I mean, do you
do you run into any any fellow Republicans or Republicans you've campaigned with, for
example, who who have any issue. Again, I wouldn't think that it
would be a problem in in New York, not to you know, bring
Northeastern elitism into it. But you know, we can We're both Northeasterners.
We can do that. Um. Whereas you know, if you were if
you were running for city council in Alabama or Mississippi or Oklahoma. You know,
as a Republican, you you might very well, uh, you know,
you might run into some trouble. But I'm wondering, have you had
any of that here or or has it? Has that part been pretty smooth
because to your credit, you don't try to hide it. Um. You
know, again the website I was looking at, you know, you could
try to slide one by and refer to your partner on that website, but
you don't. You refer to him as your husband. If you had said
partner and captain ambiguous, you might foolsome people, but you're not trying to
fool anybody, which I really respect you for. Um. Because of the
position that you're in, no one could blame you if you did try to
sneak one by, you know what I mean? So and so, so
it's it's so it's interesting, I guess, first of all, it's a
matter of my approach, right, Yeah, is to me. To me,
there's nothing special in that that I that I do reference my husband in
my description. I've seen plenty of profiles where, you know, a male
candidate will say my wife in regards to explaining why he's running for office,
my wife, my family. I'm running because I want my family to have
to live in a safer, safer community. And that's the thing is First
of all, I want to stress I am not a gay candidate. I
am not a gay Republican. I am a Republican candidate who happens to be
gay, who happens to be a homosexual. So gay is not the priority
of my identity. Yeah, it's not something I put any work into.
It's something I just am. So that's also the idea of taking pride in
that. To me, one of the things is taking pride in an identity
that you didn't work for. That's where you get into narcissism and you get
into more entitlements. So for me, when I when I go to speak
to a Republican on the street or not, you know, I knock on
their door, I don't introduce myself as HI, I'm Kevin the homosexual.
I introduced myself as HI, my name is Kevin Hammer. I'm running for
city council. Um, these are the issues that I'm focusing on, and
that's where the conversation is. Yeah, I have I interacted with any pushback,
Yeah, I've interact but to me, it's no different. So so
I have out with Republicans, h I had. I do have an example
of one Republican who couldn't get past the fact that I happen to be a
homosexual man. Um But at the same time, I have people on the
left who can't get past the fact that I'm a homosexual who's a Republican.
So I witnessed it on both sides. Now, when we go some marriage
equality specifically, I was involved as an activist during that time. I actually
marched on Washington, DC for the Equality March in two thousand and nine.
Um so, yeah, yes, it was two thousand and nine, I
believe, Um so, I was involved, you know, in that.
But to be honest, my view even on that to a degree has changed
in regards to what I why I personally was was fighting for was is.
I wanted legal protections. I wanted to be able to have to live my
life with and with a man that I fell in love with and not have
to worry about my family or anyone else coming in during certain times, say
I was injured in the hospital, I don't want to worry about my family
coming in and laying claim to me. I didn't want to worry about if
I were to pass away my spouse, you know, being able to inherit
what I leave him in my will. I didn't want to worry about that.
Now a lot of people say, well, you could still follow those
you know, the legal processes and leave. The problem is is that there
was a history of it when we didn't have those legal protections that even if
someone said, okay, I'm going to sign off that this person makes all
medical decisions for me if I'm incapacitated, or that my items go to this
families would often come in and there was a history of this and challenge it
on the basis of morality and even say well, we feel that our relative
was brainwashed into this lifestyle, and therefore we want, you know, we
want custody, we want a right to him to make those decisions about his
health, or we want to right to his estate. And if a judge,
if a judge's morality was in line with that family. Quite often it
didn't matter if there was a will, it didn't matter, you know,
if anything was on paper, the judge would go with that. So for
me, it wasn't about even the word marriage. I just wanted security in
the fact that there were legal protections for me and the man that I love.
Yeah, that's a big that's a big part of why, um,
civil unions. In my view, that wasn't enough. You know, that
was sort of the compromise when when when civil unions came in and it was
like, well but but as you know, some of the examples that you
gave are reasons why even civil unions didn't quite hold up. And that's that's
one of the reasons why it was it was so important in my view.
You know, like I said, I've always been pro marriage equality. But
Kevin, we are. You've been very generous with your time. We're already
it's about ten minutes of five, so we'll we'll let you go. I
know you got to get to get to dinner and so forth. But UM,
not to put you on the spot, but I would like to do
this again soon because I've really enjoyed the conversation. I feel like we barely
scratched the surface. And uh, you know, you're an interesting guy.
So I do hope we can do this again soon. But before we let
you go, please, is there anything that we should know for anyone who
might be listening online in your area where where they should go to learn more
about your campaign or social media or anything you want to make sure our listeners
know about, or anything that you're that you might be involved in online politically
or otherwise that people should know about. Well. I mean, for um,
in regards to my campaign, where you can learn more about me and
also my other amazing candidates who are running alongside me. I really do have
some great people surrounding me. You on Facebook, you can go to your
GOP candidates for Schenectady City Council. It is actually the same on Twitter.
Um. There you can find links to our website and just just learn more
about us. But ultimately, I guess what I want to leave people with
is just to really work on avoiding the echo chambers that we have today in
our society, regardless of whether they are on the right or the left.
Echo chambers, I truly believe are one of the greatest dangers in our society
today. We Once you get trapped in them, you get this mentality to
actually hate the other side. Yes, And the scary thing about that is
once you convince yourself to hate someone, to hate a group of people,
history shows us that eventually you can justify doing the most horrific things to those
individuals. So get out of your echo chambers if you're in it, think
about your think about your life for a moment. Say, do I have
a friend, not an acquaintance. Do I have a friend or someone that
I can have deeper conversations with who's of a different perspective on this issue or
that issue, or a different political affiliation. And do we have these conversations.
If not, work on changing that, work on making connections, because
like I said, it's the it's the politicians, it's the media, it's
the hardcore activists that are creating this view that we are so divided that we
can't stand each other. But on the streets, I feel that we very
much still can have conversations. Oh yeah, and people treat each other differently
in person than they do on social media anyway. Absolutely. Yeah, So,
by the way, I would love to come back on UM, I'm
very much enjoying this conversation in your right over all the topics in general,
we've just barely scratched the surface. Yeah, because I've definitely had an interesting
journey, uh, from from left to right and my walk away experience as
well. Yeah, yeah, definitely, Well we will will set something up,
Jenny, Jenny will connect with you on that and uh and and will
make it happen because I've enjoyed this very much. All Right, Kevin Hammer,
thank you again so much for joining us today, and we will talk
soon. Let's have a good day, all right, YouTube bye bye,
all right, very good. That was Kevin Hammer, a Republican from Schenectady,
New York. He is on the ballot for all I don't know if
there's a ballot yet, but he's running for city council there in Schenectady.
And uh yeah, and I you know, I really like what he had
to say about, you know, getting out of the echo chambers, because
that's and that's part of the reason why I wanted to talk with him today
is because that's something that we talk about a lot on this show, you
know, and I really believe that, you know. In fact, we
were talking just the other day about algorithms, you know, and how on
social media, whether it be YouTube or Facebook or whatever it is, you're
you're actively served up content that matches what you've already looked at, what you've
already absorbed so you're constantly being fed information that reinforces what you already think.
And that's good in one sense, right from a customer service standpoint, because
you want to you want to be suggested, so to speak, products or
services or content that you are going to be interested in. So you know,
it's no different than on social media in terms of content. It's no
different from when say you're shopping on Amazon. You want to be presented with
products that somehow align with things that you've previously purchased or things that you've previously
looked at. So that all makes sense. So the algorithms are necessary evil.
But the evil part in the necessary evil is that, yeah, it
does reinforce these echo chambers that we all get trapped in and that we're vulnerable
too. And if you can have constructive intellectual discussions outside of that and outside
of being you know, trapped in an ideology. And you know, Kevin
put it very well when he said, what happens is that gets reinforced to
the point where people who disagree with each other begin to hate each other.
And that's the worst part, and a lot of terrible things become justified because
of that hatred. So yeah, so there you go. But like I
said, I feel like we barely scratched the surface with Kevin, so we
will do that again soon. But we are approaching the top of the hour,
my friends, I'm going to leave you with another track from the band
Rock Dwellers in a Moment, this band that my dad suggested, There and
back again. A great song. But if you're thinking about coming downtown for
the Taco Tour, please do looks like it's going pretty well out there.
Of course, the Hopknot's got a lot going on for Taco Tour. You
should check that out. And thank you again Easy G for the entertainment report.
And we do have a guest tomorrow. Truth is going to be skyping
or calling in. We've had him many times on the show. But he's
got a new single and I believe tomorrow we will be the world radio premiere
right here on Matt Connerton unleashed of the new single from Truth, So we
look forward to that. Isaac Sierra is his name on Facebook, and uh
he's he's a great guy and he does a lot in terms of activism.
He does a lot, uh in terms of mental health activism. So here's
a little bit, you know, what we're gonna play. Uh, we
are going to play that rock Dweller song. But before we do that,
because it is Taco Tour, tacos, no need to ask why. All
right, very good, go enjoy some delicious tacos. And if you miss
any part of today's show, it'll be up in just a little bit at
WMNH radio dot org and on my website Matt Connerton dot com. Oh,
by the way, if you're wondering about YouTube, they denied my appeal.
We'll talk about that tomorrow. All right. Here's this is called There and
Back again. This is from the band great band from the seacoast here in
New Hampshire. This is by the Rock Dwellers. Check this out and now
I'll talk to y'all a little bit later. By everybody,