Welcome everybody, here we go. It is that time again, Happy Friday.
It is Matt Connerton Unleashed and we are live from the studios of w
m n H ninety five point three FM in glorious downtown Manchester, New Hampshire.
Also on Comcast ninety seven. If you're in Manchester. 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
Friday, July fourteen, two thousand twenty three, so nice to have you
all with me. We have an exciting show for you today. Coming up
in just a little bit, we have Eric Pilcher's classic film review, as
we do every Friday, and this week the subject is a National Lampoon's Vacation,
the first of the series, of course. And then coming up at
five pm, my old friend from high school, Dave Wally, is going
to be joining us via Skype all the way from the windy city of Chicago,
and we're going to talk about his band, Satellite Union. Actually just
played one of their songs. If you don't go not that wasn't one of
the ones he sent me to play, but I like to play. I
like to play a couple of one or two longer songs at the beginning of
the show as I'm getting settled in, so and I really like that song
quite a bit, so I played that one and also played something from Jasmine
Man called Mountain Green. And I played that because Jasmine Man is going to
be performing live tomorrow night at the Hop Knot. She seems to be in
the regular rotation there. She pops up there I think every six weeks or
so, very very talented, so she will be there tomorrow night from seven
to nine pm, so I wanted to play something of hers as well.
So lots to get to today. Of course, Friday my favorite day of
the week. It's my long day here at WMNH. I do this show
and then I'm back tonight from eight to eleven PM for Retro Spectrum Radio with
Pauli C and of course DJ Steve and Mike from Queen City Cabinetry also join
us for that. So Fridays are very very busy here. Speaking of Fridays
also, and I did mention Jasmine Man tomorrow night at the Hop Knot,
our amazing sponsor right across the street at one thousand Elm Street tonight. Well
here's what they posted on social media. Hoppy Friday. Y'all hoppy not a
reference to John Hopwood, but to Hoppy as an hop Knot. We've got
options for you this weekend. Be the live music or just listen to the
live music. We've got karaoke tonight with Dj Joe that is from seven pm
to midnight tonight at the hop Knot. Tomorrow we've got live music from the
fabulous Jasmine Man from seven to nine pm. So there you go. So
if you're out and about tonight, I suggest you go to the hop Knot.
Not only is there a karaoke, but they've got those delicious gourmet pretzels
and an ever burgeoning assortment of craft beer and it's it's a wonderful place and
such a wonderful association to have with them. So we've got a lot to
get to. But if you'd like to give us a call six zo three
two five O six Z seven, the studio line is open six zo three
two five O six zoh seven. You can also text me 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 pine in the Facebook live chat and we'll say hello
everybody in there in just a moment. But the best thing to do so
that we can hear and enjoy your dulcet tones is to give us a call
at six three two five six zero seven. By the way, speaking of
Retrospectrum Radio, because I do see our friend Paul Cee is in the Facebook
live chat. Here's what's going on. Here's what's going on tonight, and
then I'll tell you about another thing that's a big show coming up. But
tonight, Retrospectrum Radio returns with an all new, fun filled, action packed
laugh a minute episode will be featuring our monthly installment of Name that theme.
Will play twenty six songs. You guess what they have in common? The
mayhem resumes, he says, resumes because of course we were off last week.
Resumes at eight pm Eastern. Do join us. Also, Paul posted
this and he put it in the chat room two for those of you who
are in there. But this is a long one, but this is going
to be a really cool show. Two weeks from today, we will be
joined in the studio by TV, film producer, director, and my old
friend, Aaron Zadovski. I hope I'm saying that correctly, Zadovski Zadovski.
Aaron has worked with dozens of TV and film stars and musicians over the years,
many of whom he has developed long term friendships with. According to IMDb.
He has also directed many hosts segments, voiceovers, and promos for television
music specials, and has directed interview segments with James Brown, The Red Hot
Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Vanessa Williams, Michael McDonald, Ball, Bob
Weir, and Les Paul. Aaron also appears in the twenty twenty two Netflix
miniseries train Wreck Woodstock ninety nine, which he was a part of. His
resume is endless. Aaron resides in New York, but he was kind enough
to contact me to let me know he loves my radio show and wants to
come to the studio live and tell a few war stories. And perhaps we
may get a call from one of his old friends. So that will be
two weeks from tonight. Yeah, and Aaron was on the show once before,
a vafoe owner Skype. He joined us and talked a lot about that
documentary that he's in, about the Woodstock documentary Woodstock ninety nine to be specific,
and really interesting guy, great career, so that will be cool to
meet him. He'll be live in studio with us, so really looking forward
to that. So that will be two weeks from today, so lots coming
up and very very excited about that. Let's see who else we have in
the Facebook live chat and then well we'll get into some stuff. Melanie Liberty
I see is in the chat and says, hey, guys, I hope
all as well Melanie, there in the great state of Vermont with of course
you've had challenges there with all the flooding and torrential rainfall and so forth.
Eric Pilcher is in the chat room and says, good afternoon, peeps.
Eric, our friend from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Of course, he joins
me every Wednesday, he is my favorite conservative and joins me, joins,
joins me, I'm so excited for Friday is my favorite day. I can't
even talk. Joins me every Wednesday, of course for a segment during the
first hour. But then of course also, as I mentioned earlier, his
classic film review Every Friday, and if you are just joining us this week,
the subject is National Lampoon's vacation. Paul see I did mention is in
the chat room, he says, Hello, big fan. Rocky Hubert joins
us. He says, Hi, I just moved to the city. Is
this the Howee Car Show? No, this is not. But I do
believe Howee Car in terms of political talk radio. I believe that he is
my competitor in this market, and I just can't wait till that ratings book
comes out sweeps a week and all that to see how much we're crushing him.
No, I say that joking. I mean I used my competitor technically,
But Howee Car has been around for a long, long, long,
long long time, and I'm sure he has he has a large audience.
He's syndicated on multiple stations regionally, and I'm sure he has an audience of
listeners who have been with him for a long, long, long, long
long time, probably going all the way back to the Civil War for all
I know. So let's see. DJ Steve joins us in the Facebook live
chat, says, good afternoon, Happy Friday. Hello, sir, I
will see you tonight for Retrospectrum Radio. Melanie says regarding Retrospectrum Radio. Laugh
a minute. That's a bit of a stretch, actually, Melanie, Paul's
Paul doesn't like to brag. It's actually a laugh every two minutes if you're
really paying attention. Let's see. Oh, Mike from Queen City Cabinetry isn't
the Facebook live chat Mike. Not only is he one of our co hosts
on Retrospectrum Radio, but Queen City Cabinetry is one of our great sponsors here
at WMH ninety five point three FM. You can bring your kitchen to life
with Queen City Cabinetry. And our friend Shannon is on the line. High
sha A good afternoon. Yeah, I saw I saw on social media the
other day. Uh, Kyle, Kyle Clayton went to give you a big
hug, Yes he did. How is he? How is he as a
hugger? And uh? And and how would you describe the embrace? Was
it a full a full body embrace? Was it? Was it kind of
like more just like a bro hug? What? What kind of a hug?
Was it? In between? In between? Very diplomatic not yes,
thank you I should be a politician. No, I'm just kidding. No.
I called because because Policeason on a Facebook and and DJ Steve and Mike
Telapedo saw all you guys have a good time tonight. Thank you, and
my best to Melanie and Jay bed up there. I don't know if they
got their electricity back, but yeah, they've it's been if I saw one
news report that said it's actually been worse than a Hurricane Irene what they've been
dealing with there, And that was pretty That was in eleven. Seems like
it seems like it was more than a decade ago. Yeah, I mean
time it all rolls, it all kind of blurrs together. But um,
yeah, I mean it was a while ago. It might have been twenty
eleven. Melanie can tell us or Jay fed if he's in there. Uh,
they'll they'll know. I'm sure it's uh forever etched in their minds.
Yeah, I'm it doesn't matter why, but I just for some reason put
that date to it for that year. Yeah, no, I rain but
yeah, no, I just want to say hid everybody because I can't.
I don't call in retrospectrum, right, I don't really have you don't have
you. Guys don't have time to take calls, but I also can't chat
on Facebook, so I'm saying my highlows. Now, well, we appreciate
that. Oh and by the way, Jay fed says, we are doing
fine, thank you. Yeah, so they're okay, they're okay there.
Good, make sure he's good enough. Gasoline for the Jenny? What gasolene
for Jenny? The Jenny the generator? Oh jeez, you confused me,
Shannon. I thought you I thought there was some I didn't know where you
were going with that. I was like, gasolene for the Jenny. What.
Oh. By the way, that reminds me was while you're on the
phone, Shannon, wishing people good shows and nope, you're doing well and
all that. Sunday is Jenny's birthday. If you'd like to wish her a
happy birthday. Yes, happy birthday, Jenny. Yes, I love you,
she's a sweetie. Yes, Sunday of the sixteenth, sho By Sunday
of the sixteenth will be her birthday. Okay, I will remember that next
year. Because you haven't mentioned this, have you. I don't know that
I have or that she has, but I thought I would mention it today.
So people can wish her a happy birthday. I have a very happy
special birthday, Swenny. We're not here Sunday, obviously, Yes, Oh,
so we're not here Sunday. Obviously. I thought i'd mentioned it today.
Yeah, oh j Jay Fed says, the power is on. All
right, good good, very good, all right, Shannon, all right,
well we appreciate the call. Yes, and I appreciate you. We
appreciate you, Shannon, Thank you, all right, take care all right
you two bye bye, all right. Always nice here from our friend Shannon,
and that does open up the line for you. Six zoo three two
five six seven six three two five zero six zero seven. By the way,
hello to Nathan Pajari, if I'm saying that correctly. From the band
Dank Sinatra, who we had on recently, great great band. Jay Fed
says, I think our community of Woodstock is better now than during Hurricane Irene,
but the state of Vermont is worse this round. Yeah, I mean,
it really is incredible. Well, Melanie had posted some pictures that I
saw on Facebook, and of course all all the footage of the flooding that
I've seen on the news. It's really stunning. It's just not something you
expect in the Northeast. You know, it's kind of something. I mean,
this goes way back to uh was it six Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
It's you know, a place like that, you you expect. I
mean, that was really that. That was just horribly devastating and a lot
of people died in that. But you know, geographically, you kind of
expect they're going to have a problem there where they have a lot of rainfall
in a short period of time, and they had that terrible hurricane because they're
under you know, below sea level. But you don't necessarily expect that in
this part of the country. You know, how often do you really see
massive flooding in the Northeast or at least this far into into New England.
I mean, you know, of course there was a New Jersey when they
had that. Um god, what year was at that was during the Obama
administration anyway, Yeah, that must have been. That was during his first
sermon. I think so that might have been twenty eleven, twenty twelve.
I'm not sure, but I can't keep it all straight. But yeah,
you just don't expect that in Vermont necessarily. Um, I mean, we've
had a little bit of flooding here in uh Manchester, A couple of once
or twice over the period that I've lived here, but not much. Oh.
Eric Pilcher says, honored to be your favorite conservative sir. Yes,
yes, um, let's see. I thought I saw somebody else pop in
there too. Well, if I missed anyone, I apologize. Um six
three two five six seven six three two five six seven. By the way,
there is some h It looks like there's a little bit of more information.
I suppose it's Friday, so it's a good day to get into this.
H. They found some cocaine recently at the White House, and um,
there has been a an investigation. Let's see, this is an update.
This is via media as Secret Service began briefing lawmakers. CNN reports their
sources say the probe and a cocaine found at the White House is over,
and shared those filings. The Secret Service discovered a suspicious powder on a Sunday
night nearly two weeks ago, initial testing of which indicated the substance was cocaine,
after which a full lab panel confirmed the preliminary test, and coverage of
the discovery dominated news coverage in a slow summer newsweek, slow summer new When
do we ever have a slow summer slow newsweek? On yesterday's morning edition of
CNN News Central, as USSS United States Secret Service was giving a classified briefing
that Congress demanded, CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond told Cape bulled on Bulldan,
I don't know how you say her name that. While one source told
him the probe ended without a suspect being identified, another gave him their strongest
theory as to who left the coke. By the way, if you watch,
if you happen to watch Fox News, they've already figured it out.
I think Judge Janine Pierro said it's Hunter Biden, and actually I got a
text message from someone else who believes it's Hunter Biden too. How you could
possibly know that without having been part of the investigation, I have no idea.
It's just wild conjecture, really. But if you're committed to hating President
Biden and thereby for extension his son, then of course that's you know,
Okam's razor. I guess. Okay, So here's the exchange that happened on
CNN. So Kate Bulled Wan, However, you say her name said,
who knew we would have to continue reporting on something like this. We have
an update now on the investigation into the bag of cocaine found in the White
House West Wing earlier this month. Jeremy Diamond is back with us. He's
got the very latest on this. Jeremy, I just left you a moment
ago, and then the Secret Service was about to brief on Capitol Hill.
What are you learning? And Jeremy Diamond said this, Yeah, that's right,
Kate. I've just learned. According to two sources familiar with the investigation,
that the Secret Service has concluded its investigation under this bag of cocaine that
was found inside the West Wing nearly two weeks ago, and they have been
unable to identify a suspect. One of those sources tells me that they combed
through hundreds of individuals and visitor logs and surveillance footage, but they were ultimately
unable to link this baggie of cocaine to one individual. Now, the second
source who is familiar with the investigation, told me that the leading theory remains
that it was one of those visitors who was entering the West Wing entrance where
visitors come in to take those West wing tours over the holiday weekend. Who
is believed to have left this baggie of cocaine that has not been confirmed.
That is not the conclusive conclusion. Oh, what a horrible sentence. That
is not the conclusive conclusion. I don't like redundancies. That's very redundant,
conclusive conclusion. Why would you say something like that. Personally, I try
never to be redundant or repetitive or monotonous, or just say the same thing
over and over. I try never to do that. I endeavor never to
do that. I make an effort to not do that kind of thing.
Let's see. But he goes on, he says, but it does remain
the leading theory despite the fact that they were not able to identify a suspect.
As you mentioned, Kate, the Secret Services currently briefing lawmakers on Capitol
Hill in a classified setting about the status of this investigation, and I expect
they're sharing many of these same details with them right now. So I don't
think, you know, we'll probably never know for sure. I mean again,
obviously, if you're of a particular political best or if you're a consumer
of a particular news channel, you've already made up your mind. Obviously it
was Hunter Biden hanging out there and you know, just having some coke.
But I mean, again, that's just wild conjecture. It could have been
anybody. A lot of people are in and out of there, So there
you go. Rocky Hubert says in the chat room. Large bodies of water,
such as rivers, have what is called a hundred year flood. Every
hundred years or so, there's usually a very large flood. Do they know
what caused this one rain? And our friend Ron is on the line,
High Ron, Hello, Mann, how are you doing today? Good Ron?
How are you? Yeah? Not Dad. I don't know exacts on
it, but I wrote of saying that one person in Vermont actually drowned in
their home. Ah, I don't know, you know, it's kind of
strange, but that's what I heard when Verson drowned over there. Well,
yeah, I mean that that that can happen. Um. I remember during
Hurricane Katrina they found um a lot of people. What had happened was they
had gone into and I don't know if this is I don't know the story
about what happened to this person in Vermont, but I remember during Katrina,
a lot of people went into their attics. Uh, you know, they're
just trying to get to higher and higher ground and then they got trapped in
their attics. Um, so I don't know, but that's yeah, that's
terrible. I also were on the news yesterday that Farmers Assurance will no longer
insure people from Florida. You don't know if you clapped out or not,
just due to the you know, the possibility of hurricanes and so forth,
and down in Florida we are farmers bumm? Is that how the jingle goes?
See it's a good jingle because it's stuck in my head. Perfect.
Um, yes, I think if I'm not mistaken, Ron, I think
they might be then insurance company now to pull out of Florida. California is
also having a similar problem, although for different reasons. In Florida it's because
of flooding due to hurricanes. I believe in California, insurance companies are pulling
out now because of all the wildfires. Climate change is really if you believe
in that, which I absolutely do, climate change is really causing a lot
of these insurance companies to have to begin to restrict geographically where they are able
to ensure because it's no longer profitable for them, right. I don't know
the latest on these wildfires. Uh. I hope these lanes are hid in
the right spots and the right places to help out with you know, fires.
It's like California. I don't even know they have a wildfire every year.
I don't know how to could be any florest flift? Yeah, yeah,
you know. Coincidentally, Jenny and I were watching the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary
that's on Is it Netflix or Hulu, It's on one of those, and
during the portion where they cover when he was governor of California, that was
a major crisis that he had to deal with. I suppose every governor of
California has to. But he talked extensively about how how devastating it was to
him and how demoralizing it was when you know, there was one night when
he went to bed, they were telling him, you know, how many
hundreds of wildfires were currently burning in the state of California. And then when
he woke up in the morning, his aids at the state House, Aaron
Sacramento, told him that number had effectively doubled or tripled or whatever it was.
Just overnight just uh they yeah, I mean out West in general,
but especially California just has a terrible time. It gets worse every year.
But it's Hey, what's tonight's topic? Oh, on retro Spectrum Radio with
policy tonight is another name that theme. We have twenty six songs and you
have to guess what they have in common. Oh cool, cool, cool
cool. Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like a good turn. It
will be a good time. I'm not not that I claim to be psychic,
but I just assume it will be a good time. I'm optimistic.
Well, I just wanted to stay hello, have a good weekend, and
you know, for very little input. But uh, you know that's it's
just crazy with this, with this weather, I don't know, you know.
And then this luckily in Vermont, um the President declared it a national
event. You know, so I try to help him out because do you
say, there's the air infrastructure and stuff like that. It's like it's terrible,
just you know, I can't imagine. Yeah, Well, like I
said, in the northeast, especially New England specifically, you just don't tend
to see a lot of flooding. Um. But uh so when you don't
expect it. It's especially devastating because you're just not prepared for those contingencies.
But I've seen photos in this show businesses where the water was higher than the
light switches. You know, light switches are at forty eight I mean,
but uh, yeah, the water was up higher than the light switches in
disguised business hall. I mean, I know if it was a business,
it was a home. Yeah, yeah, Well when you mentioned a business
I was seeing I saw one news story where this u I think it was
these two women who own this business together and they had just moved in.
They just moved in to this location. I think it was in downtown mont
Mont Pelee or like nine days ago, and they move in, they get
all set up, and now everything's wrecked because of the flood waters. So
it's so sad. I mean, I'm sure they have insurance, but so
it's yeah, you just you hate to see it, and you know,
you hard to imagine the I'm out of doubtful. So quickly it was like
eight inches in an hour in some places. Oh, it's incredible. Well,
I'll tell you what. Even here in Manchester, you know, it
was a couple of weeks ago now or a few weeks ago. But there
was that day where we just got this terrible downpour and I kept waiting for
it to let up before I left the house to come to the station.
And I kept waiting and waiting, and it got to a point where I
couldn't wait anymore. I was going to run out of time. So I
get out on the road and coming down that big hill by where the ride
it is on the west side, I was like, I'm coming to the
intersection and I was like, oh no, I hope I can get through
that intersection because there was so much water on the road because it was raining
so hard for so long. And you know, I did get through the
intersection, but it was a little dicey. Well, it there's any good
that comes out of this. A lot of places were experiencing drop and you
know, it's hard to say it, but I mean, if there's any
good out of it, at least it might help with the water table,
like California was. I don't know if they've ever got any rain to rebuild
their water ships, but I remember when Swatsnake it was in there. You
know, that was their biggest thing, the fear of water that they that
they might have to restrict businesses and everything else because everything's going out. As
a matter of fact, I don't know if I start on the news too
that lake meat starting to come back up to just catch that. I did
not, But that's good news. Yeah, it's come up considerably. That's
good news. Lake meat is very important. As far as California. It's
interesting, I don't know. I mean, at one point they had more
they actually had more water than they could even capture in a sense, because
they had parts of California actually had a harsher winter than we had here in
terms of snowfall. So they oh, yeah, they ended up with a
lot of snow in areas of the state where they do not usually get any
snow. Ever, they had so much snow there were houses where it was
up to the roof, and then there was worried. I don't think the
flooding ended up being as bad from what I can recall, as they were
worried about. But you know, they went from you know, having droughts
every every year to suddenly being in a situation where they were about to have
more water than they knew what to do with, and they were trying to
figure out how they were going to capture enough of it too, you know,
make use of it. Well, that's kind of like Texas. It's
a plane. There's no you know, no place for the water to go.
And what was it just a few years back. That's uh, they
got rain. That's just devastated him with huge you know, water right up
to the stop signes kind of thing, because the water has no place to
go. Well, speaking of that, the process that can't move it.
Yeah, well, speaking of no place to go, Rocky points out in
the chat room that flash flooding doesn't help drought because it can't be the rainfalls
too quickly. It can't all be absorbed into the ground. Ah that's true.
Yeah, I've heard that, so yeah he's correct. Yeah, yeah,
Mat Before I foll the airways, yesterday's show is so good. Does
ever a pipe be to it? Wow, I'll be tuned in. I
really enjoyed yesterday's show. I'm enjoining today show too, don't get me wrong.
Sure, sure when you get into the you know, then you know
the nitty gritty like yesterday, that was excellent, good show. Oh,
thank you, Ron, I appreciate that very much, appreciate it. Thank
you. All right, my friends. I'll be looking forward to hearing from
you guys. All right, Ron, thank you for the call. I
appreciate it. Oh right, take it all right, by Black. Yes,
if you're wondering what Ron is referring to. And I really appreciate the
positive feedback on that yesterday on the show, I really for pretty much the
full two hours. I don't know that we covered much else. Um well,
I might have taken a couple of side streets when Dave Ridley called in,
as often winds up being the case, but I discussed we did kind
of a deep dive on Cuba, which is an underreported story in media.
I mean, the media is certainly covering it, but I think I think
the current situation needs to be getting more attention than it is. And if
you didn't hear yesterday's show or any of it, and you don't know what
I'm talking about in Cuba right now, we have a situation where not only
does the relationship between Cuba and Russia seem to be strengthening, but the relationship
between Cuba and China also growing a budding romance, as I believe I put
it yesterday, so much so that there. China is looking at putting a
base, a training base in Cuba on the island of Cuba, which means
China would have a base one hundred miles off the coast of Florida. So
I think that deserves some attention. But Mike Toils on the line, Hey,
Mike, how are you doing good? How are you good? Good?
Hey? I wanted to call on yesterday. I had, but I
had to go somewhere and I had to shut you off. But um,
talking about the Chinese, I find it amazing that this country is so las
fair about the actions the Chinese are doing lately, such as Cuba, such
as spy balloons, where the President of the United States said, and now
the government has come out and said, yes, they were spy balloons,
And the President of United States said, I'm not going to say nothing.
He's probably embarrassed that they got away from him. That's that. That was
our reaction, and the and the one, the biggest one of all.
We now physically know we have a fent in all problem in this country,
but for some reason, we allow China to sell the product to make fentanyl
to the Triangle countries and they make it and ship it over here. So
China makes money and they're killing Americans and we allow that to happen. That
just blows my mind. Well, gotta gotta find a solution. I mean,
what's the We don't have a lot of time. I gotta get Derek's
review. But just quickly, Mike, if you could, what would be
your solution on that, specifically the last one. I mean, obviously you
gotta go right at him. You gotta go. You gotta go sanction to
sanction, you gotta say, hey, I'm gonna we're gonna cut you off
from major products. We're gonna whatever whatever they can do sanction wise, to
try to tighten it both economically and financially. Are financially and monetarily put it
that way, with products and stuff. You got to say, hey,
we're not screwing around here. Stop you're killing our Americans. You're killing our
kids. Eighteen to forty five. The number one killer in the United States
is fentanyl, and we're allowing it. We just everybody. We don't even
talk about it. We just allow it to happen. There's a Good sixty
If you don't believe me, there's a Good sixty minutes article with the head
of the Internal lab DA and she shows where everything's coming from China to the
Triangle countries. Yeah, so they and they cook it up and make it
all up and ship it here and kill our people in China. Is happier
than a pig in mud, you know what I mean? Sure getting the
double whammy. They're getting the money for it, and they're and they're himing
Americans. It's perfect. Right now, we have a base in Cuba,
We've got spy balloons going over. I mean, it's got to stop here.
Well, there's there's no base in Cuba yet, but but my concern
is that that's about to happen, that it's even being talked about. It
infuriates me and I can't believe. I just can't believe it. I that
was a big That was kind of the big theme yesterday during the show is
I'm sitting here in disbelief that it's July of twenty twenty three and we're talking
about the Russians sending naval ships to Cuba and the Chinese potentially putting a base
there, and I'm just I'm beside myself and I'm frustrated, just like you
with the fetenol Mike, which I'm also concerned about. I'm I'm frustrated that
more people aren't talking about Cuba. And I feel like Cuba just kind of,
you know, it slides off everybody's radar um and uh, you know,
until there's a real problem to confront. And i feel like it's happened
again, and I'm I'm very frustrated by it. Hey, one, I
know, you gotta go. One last note. The US, the US
and two thousands, they've already admitted. They've already said that Chinese has had
a base there since twenty nineteen. So this is longer than when you think
this isn't just starting. They've been there. Wait, that's already, that's
already admitted to by the military. Uh that that got by me. The
Chinese have a base right now that they're operating in Cuba. I'm reading Military
Times. China has the spy base in Cuba since at least two thousand,
nineteen, US confirms, and we're just we're just ignoring it. Here you
go, Joey. Yeah, So anyways, yeah, we'll see what happens.
But all right, I'll let you go. You know, you got
other stuff to do, all right, Mike, I appreciate the call.
Have a great weekend, all right, by alright, bye bye, all
right. That was our friend Mike Doyle, and um, we do need
to get to Eric Pilcher's classic film review and this week the subject is National
Lampoon's vacation. So we're going to give that a listen. Then we'll show
some love to our amazing sponsors. We're gonna play a little satellite union and
then when we come back in the second hour, we will have my friend
Dave Wally from the band Satellite Union, skyping in from the great city of
Chicago. Really looking forward to talking with Dave. But uh yeah, so
we've got we've got a busy show. But without further ado, here it
is one of our very popular segments on the show every Friday. This is
Eric Pilcher's classic film review of National Lampoons This summer. When you think vacations,
vacation, see the Real America? Hey Underpins, Hey yellow what it's
friendly? Okay, I'm okay. Don't you want to look at the Grand
Carrier. It's educational, correct, and most of all, it's fun.
The dog went on the picnic basket. What Chevy Chase Beverly DeAngelo, Imagene
Coca, Randy Quaid, John Candy, and Christie Brinkley. Well, are
you gonna go for it? It's crazy, it's crazy, it's crazy.
Take you for a ride this summer. When you think vacation, think National
Lampoons Vacation. I'm gonna check under the hood. Family vacations are as much
a part of summer as Fourth of July fireworks, cookout, going to the
beach, or any other time honored summer tradition you can think of. Family
vacations have also provided some of the greatest comedies in the history of cinema.
This week's film is arguably the greatest of them all. Released in nineteen eighty
three, directed by Harold Ramis and based on a short story that appeared in
the famed National Lampoon magazine. National Lampoon's Vacation tells the story of family man
Clark Griswold chevy Chase in his decade spanning role, who wants to take his
family of his wife, daughter, and son on a cross country vacation to
the fictional amusement park Wally World. What should be a peaceful trip unravels in
hilarity with mishaps and family members throwing a wrench into the plans. The film
co stars Beverly DeAngelo as Clark's wife, Randy Quaid as the lovable cousin Eddie,
and the debuting Christine Brinkley, plus a memorable bit part by the late
John Candy. Our next clip is the first scene in the film. This
is important because it builds the chaos that is set to befall the Griswolds.
When going to pick up a new car, Clark is shocked when the swarmy
salesman played by comedy legend Eugene Levy brings him a car that is not at
all what he ordered. This shows how quickly Clark's emotions can change, and
now he tries to stay cool and often fails throughout difficult situations. Out there,
she is, Claire right here the wagon, Dad, This is not
the car you ordered. Take it easy, Rusty had This is not the
car I ordered. I distinctly ordered the Antarctic blue super sports Wagon with the
CBE and the optional rally Fund pack. You didn't order the metallic P metallic
P, No Antarctic blue the sports Wagon. This isn't even the right model,
you know, I think you're right. I don't think this is the
car. This is the new wagon Queen Family truckster. This is a There's
a damn fine automobile. If you want my honest opinion, beach the hell
out of the sports wagon. But I want to make you happy. Huh
that important. I'll get to the bottom of this. Yes, mister,
mister Griswold ordered the blue sports wagon. Where is it? I don't know,
so I know it must have happened. It didn't come in had I'm
not your ordinary every day fool. Okay, Now, I'd like my Antarctic
blue supersports Wagon right now, and if you can't get it for me,
I'm gonna take my business elsewhere. Where's my old car. I'm just as
upset as you are, Believe me. Damn Imports. Get mister Griswold's car
back and bring it back here and I can get you the wagon. There's
no problem there. The problem is it might take six weeks. Now,
I owe it to myself to tell you, mister Griswold, But if you're
thicking to take in the Tribe Press country, this is the automobile you should
be using. The wagon. Queint Family truckster. You think you hate it
now? But wait, will you drive it? I don't want to drive
it. I just want my old car back. Okay, I'm not falling
for this bit. Oh wait, let's go right, Clark, Is that
the right car? No it isn't, Honey, I changed my mind.
They flatten their old car like a pancake. Are you serious? Is this
really our car? Dad? What happened? I thought we were gonna get
the little sports thing. Oh no, the sports wagon must too small.
Besides, I got a great deal on this one. Let me tell you,
honey, We're taking the whole tribe across country. Believe me, this
is your automobile. Whist still running? Oh? All new cars do dad?
I'll take care in a second. You may think you hate it now
on a but what are you driving? Broth and are back. When talking
about any of the films in the Vacation series, one would have to include
cousin Eddie, played by Quaid. As important as the Clark Griswold character is
to these movies, one could argue that Eddie is more memorable, an argument
I certainly make. He is the quintessential embarrassing family member. He is off
color somewhat dim and very socially awkward. Despite his shortcomings, he is lovable
and, even in his own affable way, charming. Our next scene shows
all of this at a cookout when Clark in the family visit cousin Eddie and
his family. How do you like yours? Clark? Oh? Meeting rare
little pink inside? Oh you're fine? Light or dark? Oh, either
way, it doesn't matter, I think. Can I help you with that
cool legg please? M m mmmm. I don't know when they call this
stuff Hamburger Helper. It's just fine by itself. Huh uh. I like
you better than tune to help her myself, don't you, Clark? You're
the gourmet around here. Ed No meeting this, You get plenty of to
meet at home. People like have some catch up, real tomato catch up,
Patty, Oh, nothing but the best? And Dna Helper's getting called?
Is that your aunt? Ether? And Edna? After all these years,
you're looking so good. Oh hi, Edna, nice to see you
again. You remember, Clark, don't you? You were the ones that
sent me the fruitcake for Christmas that made me so sick. Oh, I'm
sorry. We thought you enjoyed fruitcake. You enjoy throwing up every five minutes,
Claude Clark, I thought so well? Am I gonna eat? Or
am I gonna starve to death? Catherine? Did you tell Clark and Ellen
the good news? H? No, I was just about to Catherine,
what's the good news? You're driving me the friend. No matter how memorable
cousin Eddie is, when you're reminiscing about any of the films in this series,
some of the most quotable lines and top scenes do come from Clark Griswold.
These scenes are when Clark is just exasperated, fed up, and passed
his limit on what he will take this film. The first film in the
series sets that character trait up first, with the family wanting to go home
despite bearing down on wally World. Clark briefly loses his cool, and then
in our final clip, when the family finally arrives at wally World after the
difficult journey, they learn it was all for not the park is closed for
two weeks. This leads to a brief but very memorable appearance by John Candy
as the park security I don't want to be in the car anymore. I
want to go home. I don't want to go to Wally World, Clark,
under the circumstances, I wouldn't mind if we just went home. In
retrospect, it seems like a pretty bad idea driving out. It's been one
disaster after another. Yeah, it's been a real drag, Dad, Maybe
we can try some moment's time. Wally World's overriding anyway, What do you
think? I think in the head we're turn hours working fun park and you
want to bail out. Well, I'll tell you something. This is no
longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. I'm
gonna have fun, and you're gonna have fun. We're all gonna have so
much fun. Will lead classic surgery. Don't remove our gardens files. You'll
be whistling zimpany dude, auties. I gotta be crazy. I'm gonna pilgrimage
to see him phrase Marty Moose Ho, Dad, you want to ask for
something? Hold to And now the family arrives to wally World. First,
one's here, first, one's here, first, one's here. But we're
so far away, Clark right right, And at the end of the day,
when the lot's all full and everybody's fighting to get out, of here
will be the first one's out too, right? Why because we're the Griswalls.
Come on, Horacio. Sorry, folks were closed for two weeks to
clean and repair America's favorite family fund park. Sorry, what lork? What
are you doing? We watched this program? Why his toys? We go
to his movies? He owes us? Doesn't he owe us? He owes
the Grizzwols? Right? Hey, rd he owes us. Clark, you're
scaring me. Don't be scared. I just think somebody owes us an explanation.
That's all. Come on, come on, come on, Clark,
what will you listen to me? Let's just find a hotel. I'll call
my parents all why was the money? We can fly home and forget this
entire vacation ever had. Honey, Honey, just relaxed. Okay, I
told you. I'm not angry anymore. I'm in complete control. I'm sure
they're not preparing every ride. At the same time, I think they owe
us a little explanation. I think they owe us a little fun. Okay,
whatever happens, just trust me. We just trust me, kids.
Sorry, folk, parks closed the moose Au Front have told you, Yes,
we're here. To see mister Roy Wally, what's your name for Clark?
W Griswol? What's just regarding mister Grizzwol. We're Republicanism relations or there's
a hunter inspection to a personal matter? Oh inspection? Oh nobody, nobody
notified this office of over anything. Well, I'm notifying you. I'm afraid
I'm gonna need a little more to not sir. Okay, Dooky, how's
this Clark? Have you lost your mind? Where did you get that sporting
good star? Honey? Now you listen to me fat as you do what
I say and I won't be any problem. Okay, okay, we just
throw two thousand, four hundred and sixty miles just for a little Roy Whalley
Entertainment. The moose as your clothes. I say, you're open. We're
not really violent people. This is our first gun. No it isn't.
Calling this film a success would be a massive understatement. It made over eight
and a half million dollars it's opening weekend debuting is the number one film.
It ended up grossing over sixty one million dollars dollars worldwide overall. Making it
even more of a success is the film was only made on a fifteen million
dollar budget. It also featured a changing of the guard for National Lampoon.
It replaced the smut locker room humor that it was known for in large part
due to the magazine and the film Animal House that we previously looked at,
and replaced it with a more slapstick, witty, physical comedy. This film
is still endearing today. It has spawned five sequels, and recently this film
celebrated its fortieth anniversary. What makes it timeless, hilarious and quite memorable is
that while watching it, one finds themselves reminiscing about past vacations, good,
bad, or downright awful. And when you do, I dare you not
to try and smile or chuckle. And that is what every comedy film should
strive for, to leave a great memory and a smile on our faces.
I hope you joined me next week, when we will look at Steven Spielberg's
mind blowing beautiful science fiction epic Close Encounters of the Third Time for WMNH and
Matt Conterton Unleashed. This has been a classic film. Reviewed with Eric Filter,
Oh, don't Wake Out, Jack, Beach, Nig Jack, Queen,
Take right Off the West Coast Team. I din't little about don't go,
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black over time the B and then he did beside and the time that's all
the better Fride. She saw frit from my Friend in the Back by the
mixtad from the Black Wo So many times I hadmember ride the one igin mas
B Stay another that is catchy as hell. That is mixtape from the band
A Satellite Union. Here on Matt Connerton unleashed and the voice is familiar.
I believe we have Dave Wally from Satellite Union on Skype. Hello Dave,
how do you Matt? How are you good? Good? Professionally? Do
you use Dave or David? You know, I've always gone by either.
I grew up my father being David and me being or being Dave and me
being David, and then you know, somehow an adult life that flipped.
Yeah, I have a son David. Everybody pretty much calls me Dave,
so yeah, Dave's fine, but all enswity either yeah, yeah, so
yeah, that is uh, that is great. I was kind of pulled
back the curtain a little bit. I was asking, h I was asking
Dave on Skype earlier, what what would be a good one to play at
the top of the segment. And yeah, yeah, very very catchy song.
Um and uh, I'm excited to talk to Dave too, because you
know, as I mentioned, Dave and I went to high school together.
So you still sound the same. The voice hasn't changed. Man, you
sound great. Yeah, a little a little gray, a little more gray
than I was, a few more pounds and back then. But uh,
I was noticing you look great, by the way, Oh thank you.
I have good skin. Right. What's that I said? Clean living?
Yeah, pretty much. I mean I never got into drugs. I don't
drink much. I actually hardly at all. Really, I don't smoke.
I yeah, I'm a pretty Uh I always say I'm so clean. I'm
actually boring. I uh yeah, I really, Uh yeah, I do.
I live pretty clean. I always have. I was never a partier,
you know, even even in high school. I was never a partier.
I don't remember if you were. I don't think you were either,
were you really I was a late bloomer. Yeah, yeah, I had
a spell really like summer of senior year through the big nineties. It was
kind of my my wilder times. But yeah, I never really had the
wilder times. That might be why I just never. But I'm an introvert,
you know, like I don't. I never liked to go into parties,
and even in high school, if I did go to a party,
I would I would drink at parties just because I was such an introvert that
it was the only way I could actually function as a human being trying to
socialize. Sure, you know, but it was the only way I could
get by. But yeah, it was never um it was never really my
thing. But um now, how did you how did you end up in
Chicago, the great city of Chicago if you lived there a long time?
Well, I oh threes when I wound up moving out there following uh mine
now white, Okay, we were you know, just a little history.
I used to be an actor director. That's what I went to school for
and and ventured in u you know, through my twenties and and kind of
into my early thirties. We came out to study its second city watch kind
of if you know, you know, you're just coming off that vacation segment,
you know, you know some of the the big names from Second City
there. Yeah, we got into the conservatory there, and I never expected
to stay here, to be honest, I always felt like I would wind
up back east, and you know, jobs family, we just stayed.
Yeah, now that's great. Yeah. I spent some time in Chicago when
I was a kid because when my parents split up, my mother, who
was from there, originally moved back there. So I would spend h I
would spend the summers out there. It's been been a while since i've been
there, but um, but uh yeah, it's a no, it's a
great it's a great city. Um are you? Uh so the band Satellite
Union, you're you're based in Chicago. Obviously you're all from that area,
right, Um. Yeah, so really everyone's in Chicago. Well, have
a south suburb, bass players in the southern suburb, and the guitar player
is in northern suburb. Yeah yeah, pretty much right outside and and you
know we meet in the middle. Yeah. Yeah, Now, how long
has the band existed? So really we're in our second year. Okay,
Yeah, it's fairly new. I was with this line up. Bass player
Mark Iwanski was new to my previous band, Company Man, Eric Delbovi,
the drummer. He and I have way back when I started playing again.
You know, I was a bass player and he and I were a rhythm
section for a couple of projects, and that's how we got to know each
other. And yeah, we were doing a band called Company Man. That's
really where I first started exploring songwriting and being a lead singer. You know.
It's kind of one of these things where it happened by accident in as
a rhythm section sing or quit and I was like, well, I can
sing, and then I was like, oh, but I can't sing and
play bass apparently, so I pick up guitar and I just you know,
I'm basically cowboy chords and power chords, but you know, it works and
that it kind of just took off from there, and then we had a
little bit of a breakup with the guitarist leaving Company Man, and I just
kind of felt like the band wasn't company Man without him, so we regrouped
a Saturdayite union a couple of years ago and where Forge and Ahead excellent,
excellent. That's fascinating to me. That so you can't. You can't sing
lead and play bass at the same time. No, not the way I
want to. I mean, if I wanted to, you know, just
chug on root notes, fine, yeah, I could do that. But
when my brain is telling me my fingers want to do one thing and then
the melody and everything that's coming on my face, it doesn't pair up.
It's interesting my brain can't do it. Yeah. Yeah. I think when
you get someone like Staying or Getty Lee or you know, I really think
they're exceptions, right, because it's just a challenging marriage of your hands and
mouth, the two things going on at once. I've never really if I
dumb down the baseline, I'm fine, but I don't want to do that,
you know, right, right exactly? So in in satellite Union,
So who who writes the songs? You all write together? Are you the
primary songwriter or the primary songwriter? Although you know, I can never take
full credit for anything, I think once it comes out of my you know,
demo, it gets new life in rehearsals and it becomes something else.
So I think, you know, indeed, I lay the groundwork, and
I think the band comes in and you know, helps me make it good.
Yeah. Yeah. Um. What I really like about these songs is
they have a certain timelessness about them, which is interesting because so I was
looking at the website, and the website I forgot the exact verbiage. I
don't have it in front of me, but you know, I says something
about it. It kind of, um gives you kind of a nostalgia vibe,
you know, like like they're songs that kind of remind you of you
know, growing up and listening to the radio and you know, or hearing
hearing the radio while in the car with your family or whatnot. But the
songs themselves, I think are timeless in that like a song like Mixtape,
which is so catchy. I really I really love that. Yeah. I
mean that that could have come out twenty years ago, or it could probably
come out twenty years in the future and it would just work. And I'm
curious, is that intentional on your part to do something that is timeless or
is that organic? Does it just happen that way? I think it's organic.
I'll give a lot of credit to John Abbey at Kingside Sound Labs where
we recorded. I think he just did a really good job capturing the band.
I think the reason why the songs themselves sound timeless is because it really
is hitting square in the middle of rock and roll. You know, it's
not We're not it's a hard rock band, but it's not metal. It's
a punky band, but it's not punk. It's you know, there's all
kinds of flavors in it, and I just think we unapologetically try to just
do what we feel, and I'm glad it comes across. It's kind Lissa,
but you know, I can't say it's superintentional. In fact, was
really meant to have a touch of that kind of sixties bebop reinvented by bands
like the Smitherings. Yeah. Yeah, there was kind of a dated vibe
when I wrote it, but I'm glad it translates. Yeah, I can
hear that in there, so I know what you're talking about. But I
think that that vibe in and of itself is sort of timeless, right,
if that makes sense? Yeah, we all keep coming back. Um,
Now, do you guys play out? Do you do a lot of live
shows? You know, not as much as I think we'd like. Yeah,
we get out there about once a month, okay, and which is
good in some ways because we don't necessarily want to oversaturate. We're not.
We're all we've all got day jobs, we've all got families, and you
know, we work around that. So once a month is really about where
we like to land. Um that we do more of like something popped up,
But generally we try to book once a month, right, And I
think that's fine. You know, it's it's a scott interesting scene because there's
tons of bands. Um, there's a lot of venues, but it's it's
a pretty competitive market. Oh no doubt. Yeah, we had a band,
Um, I forget who it was now, there was somebody from Chicago
that we had on a few months ago. They were a metal band and
and but uh, but they kind of said the same thing. You know,
there's a lot of venues, but it's so competitive, there's so many
bands there. But are there a lot of bands there that are doing something
like what you're doing? Um? Are you no? I know what you're
asking? Yeah, no, not really. I mean we kind of where
one of the only straight ahead rock bands that I know of. I mean,
there's a lot of all great alternative sounding bands. There's a lot of
great metal bands. There's a lot of great folk bands. Um, but
I think when I hear us on venues with other bands and things like that,
we really are just a straight ahead rock band. Yeah, and it
kind of has We kind of have a little bit of a corner market on
that at least because it's not many people are doing it, at least not
the way we are, which is kind of apologetically garage. Yeah. Yeah.
So when you play, when you play out, do you ever,
do you guys do covers or do you just strictly do originals? We do,
um, but even our covers are a little bit obscure. I think
the the most recognizable we do is to love Somebody by the bags, our
own take on it, and still do a couple of driving and crying songs
which nobody knows, but we like them, no kidding, Oh wow,
that's that's that's cool. So we still we try to stay mostly original.
Yeah. Yeah, No. It's fun though when you can do covers that
are are kind of obscure, but that uh, you know that people don't
necessarily know. I was in a band called My Life Crisis, and we
did we did a kiss song. We did one kiss song in that band.
We did very few covers, but we did a song called I don't
know if you'll even know, it's pretty obscure, a song called Hate from
their Carnival of Souls album, which nobody really bought because it was it almost
didn't even get released. It was it was kind of post non makeup era.
It was like this leftover album that hadn't come out. So we would
play this song called Hate and people would come up to us after the shows
and they were like, oh, I really liked that song Hate, and
or they or they would ask us what it was called. Oh, yeah,
yeah, and we wouldn't tell them because only the most die hard Kiss
fan would even have a clue. And it was kind of it was kind
of fun, you know. It was like it was like having this bonus
song in our arsenal that we didn't actually write and had nothing to do with,
but nobody knew. You know. We did the band to social distortion.
Oh yeah, absolutely. The guitar player who goes by the name Johnny
two Bags put an album out made twenty oh gosh, maybe twenty fifteen,
twenty fourteen, I'm trying to remember, but there's a song of his Hope
Guys Hard, that we've been playing since the early company Man days, and
it was just an easy song to learn. Yeah, and yeah, we
still play it and people are aways like, that's such a great song.
I mean that's well I didn't write it right, But so we love playing
stuff like that because it does give us a little something more um yeah,
west around, more recognizable tunes about I think we are who we are.
So when we play something, you know, it's either we have to nail
it in our own way or it doesn't work right right now, that makes
sense. Now, when have you been in Have you been in quite a
few bands over the years, because the last time I saw you in person
it must have been way back in the days of October Suns with um and
who was that? And so that was with Kurt and Kurt extra Jason Lane
and Chris Peters and Chris Peters. Yes, you can still see Chris all
over New Hampshire, Yeah, doing solo stuff. And you know, we
still connect with those guys all the time. Where this talk of a twenty
five year reunion show really next year? Yeah, so oh wow, oh
that's cool. So um so after so after October Suns were you because you
were in that band for a while, right, that band went for a
while. Yeah. In fact, it was sadly you know when I announced
my parture. And I think it's always been kind of a back and forth
with me in the early days. You know, I love playing music,
but I was really you know, my heart at the time was in acting
and directing. Yeah, and I literally played my last gig at Pinochi's Alehouse
with them, I think on a Saturday night and left Sunday morning. Wow,
no kidding, back back into three okay, Um, all right,
so when you left, So when you left and O three and you went,
you went right to Chicago, Yeah, okay, and then uh so
now when you went to Chicago initially, so that was to work with um
did you work with Second City? Right off the bat, it was.
I was accepted, I think with their conservatory program, which is you know,
they call it the most expensive T shirt in Chicago. You pay them
a lot of money, go through the classes, and you know, you
get your T shirt at the end of at the end of your five classes
or whatever you took. But it was it was a great experience. I
mean, I wouldn't trade it for anything, and met a lot of Greek
through it. Yeah wow, okay, So and how long how long was
that? How long was did the classes go? You know, I think
it was about a year and a half overall to complete them all. Okay.
Yeah, And you know, it was kind of again one of those
things where it was at the time, you know, I had looked in
New York, I'd done some children's theater tours and things like that, and
that, you know, I was looking for what was next. Um again,
my my my now wife, I don't think wanted to move back to
didn't want to move to New York. She really liked Chicago and I really
liked her, so eventually I followed her out. Okay, so that's where
she's from originally, No, she's from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That's story.
Oh okay, I got you, I got you. Okay. So
after Second City then then what then? You know, I fumbled around with
shows on the improv scene, directed a couple of comedies, and then you
know, I had, you know, by my son was born, and
I think I kind of just got to a point where it wasn't making a
ton of money. I had some cool experiences, and it got to be
making a choice between was I going to be a good dad or was I
going to still fight to this dream. And I was kind of burning out
on the dream, so I eventually kind of let it go. The day
job became the career, and you know, I really didn't do anything artistically
for a number of years until I auditioned for a band called the Newberries as
a note falling Stars. It was the first one played bass with them.
Then a band called the Newberries, which is pretty cool, kind of a
Smith's Morrissey vibe, which is where I met Eric. And you know,
like I said, just kind of bounced around a couple of projects and ultimately
landed. So when you started, when you started playing again, what what
was it that spurred you to do that? Was was there did you just
miss it or was there something specific they kind of pushed you back into it.
I think it was just needing something artistic, yeah, something, And
I love music. I you know, I've always loved playing. I've always
loved I mean, I didn't really start songwriting seriously until Company Man, but
even before that, you know, I had a couple of token songs with
October songs. I enjoyed the process, learned more about it since. But
yeah, it was just needing something. I think I'm just one of those
people. I need to have something creative going on in my life to be
fulfilled. No, it makes sense. Um, I think I think most
people are like that. I think probably more people are like that than they
necessarily realize. You know. Um, it's funny too. I get the
you know, I haven't I haven't been in a band and probably eleven or
twelve years. But you know, I still get the itch. But I
kind of get I kind of get my creative fulfilment out of doing this.
I guess so. But but you know, but there are those moments,
you know, where I think about it. You know, Oh, yeah,
it's a great thing. You can always find something. I mean,
I've always felt especially you played bass, now, yeah, yeah, I
played Bass's was someone looking for a bass player? Oh, you're not kidding.
I was, you know, when I was active in the scene.
As far as being a musician, I was kind of I was kind of
sought after at one point, although I was also self aware enough to realize
it had nothing to do with my bass plane. I'm not I'm not a
great you know, I'm an Okay, bass player. But I just I
was more. I have a reputation in the scene for being you know,
again, like we talked about earlier, I'm not a partier, so you
don't have to worry about me showing pilled up or drunk or anything. You
know, I'll be at rehearsal on time, I'll be at the shows on
time, and this and that. So I built up a really good reputation
that way. Nothing independable exactly. I mean, it doesn't seem that rock
and roll, and yet it makes people want to play rock and roll music
with you if they know you're gonna show up. So so yes, yeah,
I was. I was pretty busy at one At one point I was
playing in three different bands and we were all actively gigging. Um. But
uh, you know, but it would be hard to do that now,
just you know, other other things kind of kind of take over. But
so what's um, what's kind of the do you have a long term trajectory
for satellite union or um? Are you just kind of we're not coluding ourselves
expecting to be you know, uh touring the nation anytime soon. Sure,
But at the same time, I think we all have a drive to create
the best music we can while we're together, to play out as much as
we can every opportunity we get. I think we've kind of discussed, but
haven't really nailed it yet. Um, I was really interested. One of
the things I love about listening to your show is hearing all the different bands
and their approach to this music scene that's so much different than it was when
you and I were younger. Right, Oh yeah, It's all about follows
and streaming and social media, and it's a challenge, especially you know,
a man of a certain age, right, trying to navigate social media do
it effectively. You know, that's the that's the the tough thing thing here.
But yeah, I mean we're, like I said, we're the hardest
working dad band. I know. There you go, there you go fighters
who I think qualify as a dad man. It is. It is very
much different than when we were when we were growing up. You know,
it's, um, it used to be you know, most most you know,
the big bands that were signed of course, say you know, release
an album them and then go on tour and then eventually release another album and
go on tour and uh and if you were not in a big band,
if you were just starting out, you know, you were going to uh
either you know, either playing with friends from high school or going to a
place like Strings and Things where I took lessons and uh you know, looking
at the bulletin board and seeing who needed who needed somebody to little tag Oh
yeah, I want it? Yeah yeah. And now it's a different world,
and I think, um, you know, it's kind of a double
edged sword because I think with the environment that we're in now, with social
media and with the internet, um, you know, it's it's um,
it's it's more complicated in a lot of ways, but there's also more opportunity
than there used to be, and that now you can distribute your music and
promote your music in so many different ways that were not available when we were
growing up. So we're on all the major streams exactly for free. Yeah
yeah, I mean we kind of when we put it out there, especially
this release, which was our first release, it was more important to us
to be able to use it as a you know, as a tool for
promotion, and then for anybody who wants to listen to it. I'd rather
have people just listening to it. And it seems to be working, you
know, where I love looking at our Spotify stats and everything like that and
just seeing how we're doing. Yeah. So yeah, I mean this one.
I don't know if we'll change the business plan in the future, but
yeah, this one, I'll link up the here now page which can get
you to Apple, Spotify, Pandora, pretty much all the major streaming services.
So I'll put that in your chat. Yeah. Yeah, but that's
um. Yeah, I mean, it's it's great that you're able to get
your music out there. It's I think for the bands that are really grinding
trying to make it, I think it's a harder, a much harder haul.
Yeah. Yeah, you're competing with so much because so you know,
at any given second of the day, there's god knows how many artists around
the world are uploading music right now as we speak. But it's um.
But it's fantastic to have so much music available, you know. I occasionally
I'll reference on the show my father, who you know, he's in his
seventies and most people, geez, I don't know, by the time they
hit thirty, they kind of just stop in terms of what they're willing to
enjoy for new music. But my dad's never been like that he lives on
the Seacoast and he listens to w U n H. He loves college radio,
and he loves hearing new music. And he says, we live in
a golden age of music. And he's probably the only seventy something year old
guy you'd hear say that, But that's that's how he feels about it,
because there's so much great stuff out there, and and and just more of
it every day. There's just more music being added to the world, and
it's it's pretty a pretty incredible time to be alive in that respect. Oh
yeah, And a lot of the bands that I discover, if I'm not
hearing it from a friend or or something like that, is just based on
my listening preferences, right, And so've you know, just discovered a lot
of cool bands, you know, and I wouldn't have necessarily found based on
my you know, there's a couple of the Gaslight amm who was I don't
know if there's I think they are still around, but not a band that
was super popular or even on my rabar. But now I listen to them
all the time and they're just one of those bands that popped up in my
feed one day and I was like, dang, I like these guys.
Oh yeah, you know, and now they're in my right the rotation.
So it's it's that ability, you know, it's there is a part of
me that kind of loved that thumbing through a record store and things like that.
But you know, yeah, I agree, you can hear a lot
of you can discover a lot. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I
you know, I've I've wonderful memories of going to record stores and kind of
thumbing through and finding stuff. But they're nice memories. But I wouldn't trade
that, you know, I wouldn't trade to go back to that with what
we have now and just all the music that we have available to us.
And I don't know if you're like me, but it kind of it kind
of bums me out whenever I hear, especially when it's somebody from our generation,
you know who you know, they'll say things like, oh, there's
no good music anymore, and it's like, oh my god, just just
look for it. It's there, it's right in front of you. But
people don't want to look for it and they just want to complain, and
it's so frustrating. Yeah. I get that. I absolutely get that.
But I also think it's you know, that's that's a personal thing. You
know, there are people who really they don't discover new things because they don't
want to. You know, you're you're yeah happy, you know, if
you want to remain happily siloed and you know with the things that you're comfortable
with, that's your choice. So yeah, it doesn't really bug me out
as much. Yeah, I want to us but discover Satellite Union. But
you know, if they want to just silo up and listen to Aussie that's
cool, right, right, Hey, where does the name come from?
By the way, I like the name. It's a cool name. Oh,
just all right, I'd love all the personalities in our band, but
I we are kind of a pretreable unch and this name really came from everybody
pitching and staying really kind of nonchalant. But well, that one's okay.
Yeah, I don't know if I like that one. Yeah. And then
eventually it was the one that had the least amount of negative feelings. I
hope, so we kind of Yeah, but since then, I've gotten so
many compliments on the name of the band. People will come up and at
shows to just be like, I love the name. Oh yeah, so
we stumbled onto something good. Yeah, yeah, No, it's a very
cool name. It's a very cool name. I think originally we were Feeds
Union. That was the proposed name, and then eventually that kind of I
think, I can't remember if there are other bands named Themes the Union,
and we wanted something a little bit more unique. Yeah, somehow stumbled on
satellite and that seemed to work, and there weren't a lot Yeah, I
think there were, I like Unions out there. Yeah, I mean that.
Yeah, that's that's That's something that as time goes on and there's more
and more people making music, that it becomes a greater and greater challenge is
finding a really cool name that nobody else already has, because you know,
and and I run into it with this show, Like sometimes I'll have a
guest on and I go to find some of their stuff online, and it's
like, you know, I'll find several bands, oh um, or in
the case of Dank Sinatra for example, and you know, and I love
those guys, and I know Fredo might even be listening because he listens to
the show a lot. But if you look up Dank Sinatra online, there's
um, a bunch of hip hop artists. What after I heard him on
your show, I liked him on Facebook as I kind of loosely connected them
a little bit. Yeah yeah, but uh, but that's a name that's
actually um, I'll tell you. I'll tell you a quick anecdote. You
know Xander Carlson of course, yes, yeah, and uh, and he
might even be listening because I think he U he liked the post on Facebook
about today's show. So, Hixander, if you're listening, And uh,
I love Xander. I hope he doesn't mind me telling this story. But
it was actually a few years after high school. I ran into Zander.
I even remember exactly where it was. It was at Hanifford and Conquered and
he was telling him telling me about this new band he had just joined or
had just started, and I asked him what the name of the band was,
and he said the band was called Intuition, and I just thought,
oh, no, like, I'm sure there's probably already a whole bunch of
bands that are actively using the name Intuition. It's just too obvious. Now.
I didn't say that to him because I'm too polite. And this was
this was sort of pre internet, or you know, we had we had
the Internet, but it was still in the in the days of AOL.
You know, you put the disk in and you hope it at some point
connects. So it wasn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world to just go
online and see who else already is using that name. But I remember he
said that to me once. Yeah this was before this was even before that.
So so he said that to me, and I just remember thinking,
oh, it's too obvious, and then swear to god, I ran into
him again, like a few months later or six months later, and I
asked him how the band was doing, and he goes, uh, yeah,
we had to change our name, so we've ran into another band already
us in that name. And I thought, yeah, I kind of I'm
not surprised, And again I was too polite to say it. I'm unfailingly
polite, but yeah, I wasn't surprised at all. Yeah, you know,
it sounds like a name that would be scrawled on a lot of high
school notebooks. Yes, absolutely, Now, Dave, are you doing Are
you involved in any other musical projects or any other creative projects or is it
just a satellite union? That you're focused on these days. Well, I
mean the closest thing I have to another project, believe it or not,
is just staying in touch with October Suns. Yeah. We did a project
a couple of years ago, go I can't remember. It was Talent of
the Pandemic. There's a thing called the RPM Challenge, which is actually based
out of Portsma Financer, I think, where you try to write an album,
write and record an album in the month of February. Yep. So
I got together with I think it was my bass player, our bass player,
the band's bass player, Mark Iwanski. Don't like me saying he contributed.
I wrote. I think I wrote all the songs. Kirk played drums,
Jason Lane recorded some guitar tracks, Peters let some vocals, and it
was just kind of this fun community project. But we've always talked about you
know, we still have a text thread. We still keep in touch and
every now and then I'll send them to the current say hey, what would
you do with this? And yeah, So that's kind of and it's fun
again you talk about what this world allows us to do now musically, it's
very cool to be able to collaborate with that band. Who I still love.
I should be talking more about the band that I love now, the
band IM with, but but yeah, it's great to have that connection and
still be able to create a little bit with those guys. Is that available
online what you guys did for the RPM challenge? I believe it is.
In fact, there's an early mixtape originally came from that Five Pounder project.
I believe I still have it up on SoundCloud. Oh if I can find
it, I'll send you a link. Yeah, please please, i'd I'd
be very curious to hear that. Definitely. Definitely. Um, well,
Dave, this has been great. It's wonderful to talk to you man.
Um Yeah, absolutely, and I appreciate you having me on it. You
know, it's kind of I love seeing people I know doing well. So
you know, when I saw your show come up, I think it was
a feed my Facebook feed, I was like, oh cool, Yeah,
started listening and I just I you're doing such a great job of the show.
I love kind of the the down the middle political views where you know
that you don't necessarily lean heavily one way or the other. I think that's
important. Thank you, And just hearing all the new artists and musicians.
I think you're doing a great job with this. Oh thank you, Dave.
That that means a lot to me, my friend, I appreciate that.
And uh yeah, I love it and and uh yeah, it's it's
been it's actually really only been within the last year that we've really ramped up
the musical part of it. And uh, you know, I've always had
musical guests, but we're trying to do a lot more of that than we
used to it. It kind of it's better for my mental health, you
know, to kind of balance the music and the politics, right. Yeah,
well, you know that's what like a war, you know, we
talked about that one a little bit. That's what that is about. I
really don't like to write politically because I think you and I share a very
similar headspace that you know, I like to exist in a world of gray
where I can see both sides and not as much black and white. Yeah,
but it really was just kind of looking at our country the way it
is, and it feels, you know, there's such a division um and
it's palpable, and and that's you know, that's what that song was about.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, very cool. You know what I'm gonna
play that when we wrap up in a moment, I'm gonna I'm gonna play
that song to close out the segment. And I'm so I'm glad you brought
that up. And yeah, absolutely absolutely another great track. Um, what
should people know, Dave to find to keep up with everything you guys are
doing? And um, do you have anything? Are you playing any shows
this weekend? We're not, We're not. We're actually our next books show
right now is not until augusta, August nineteen at Montrose Saloon. Um,
which is actually gonna be a great if any of Chicago folks are listening.
We've got this Roger's Park takeover, uh happening with the Untold, Dirty and
Black Partridge. Um, so that should be a really fun show. I'm
hoping to see a lot of people that we know from uh at Rogers Parking.
Uh kind of show up. Wow. Speaking of great names, huh
the Untold, Dirty and Black part Yeah, those are great, very cool,
very cool. And what what should people know to you? Guys?
Have a website of course, Satellite Music. I'm sorry, um, Satellite
Union Music dot com. Correct, Satellite Union Music dot com. Um,
yeah, we were on I think I do fairly well on Instagram, which
feeds into Facebook. We have a Twitter account, but yeah, if you
look us up, Satellite Union should find us. Okay, okay, excellent,
Yeah, and uh yeah, you guys are very easy to to find
and google. Um Dave, thank you again so much. We're gonna play
that track like a war in a moment. But this has been wonderful.
I really appreciate you joining me today. And of course after the show,
this will be available and we'll we'll share it out and tag you and everything.
But I really like the band. I really like what you're doing.
It's it's great stuff. So keep up the great work, my friend,
and we'll have to do this again in the future. This is uh,
this has been really really cool. I think you're the only um No,
actually you're not the only. Technically, you're not the only person I went
to high school with who I've interviewed. There's one other um oh who I
forget his name. Now do you remember the guy with the gray hair.
He had gray hair in high school? Er? Yes, him, I've
inter I've had him on the show with with his band. That was U
he did he it was Fuzzbox. Um Now it's uh, Sam Stand Up
Audio is his new band, all right, Yeah, yeah he is.
Yeah, Jenny and I went to uh went to see them. Uh they
played right here in Manchester and uh really really good. But he so technically
though he went to UM, I think he went to PA but he was
part of the he came to Conquered High for the Voke program. Yea,
but I uh but I always tell everybody I said, yeah, Joe had
gray hair in high school, and of course now it's totally gray. But
uh, it's just such a weird thing anyway, I've always been fascinated by
that. Um all right, but uh, but you're the only person I
who actually went to technically went to Conquered High who I've had on the show,
I believe. Yeah, I hope you know. I'm wearing a T
shirt right now. Oh you are yep. I can actually see you on
Skype. Yes, I don't think you can see me, but I can
see you. Y'all. Very nice, very nice. Ye. Hey you
did that for you, you did Hey, you know what, I'm gonna
take a picture of that with my phone. All right, don't go anywhere
just yet. I'm trying to because I'll post it actually I might use it
as the thumbnail for when I post the interview and I'm trying to get to
here we go one, got it? Very nice. I appreciate that,
Dave. Hey, I'll let you know if I come back to New hampsherd
love to come in and play some acoustic definitely count on it. Yes,
definitely let me know. I would love that. I would love that,
all right, Dave? Very good? Well, yeah, we'll let you
go. I'm gonna play this track like a war, and I appreciate you
and great work with Satellite Union and we will we will talk to you soon,
my friend. Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure, all
right, Dave, you got it? Take care byebye? Like all right,
very nice. That was my friend Dave Wally from the band Satellite Union.
And let's give this a listen. Uh, this is like a war.
Another great track from these guys and very topical. As we discussed.
Sorry here it is stop standing crossed about how how on to pretend we were
as a band? Darkness, rain out, wish I could see out the
walls of this house, dark shape and like one where times illmember and lo
you free but on it and now oh that is so good, like a
war from a satellite union. And thank you again to my friend Dave Wally
for joining me on the show today. That was that was very very cool.
Such a talented gentleman and uh and a great guy. And he wore
a kiss shirt which I did take a picture of. You was on Skype,
y'all couldn't see him, but uh, and my dad's on the line.
Hello, Hey, it's just a Jerry Robinson show. No, just
kidding. I'll come back to that. Yes, um, I'll be brief.
I wanted to catch part of your show him out on Facebook. Often
I'm able to do that, but my phone broke down. It's like Murphy
Claw. So I have a new phone for some reason. I can get
you now, I can. I can see you, but you're you're not
you know. It's static, says live, but when I hit on,
it just goes to a black screen. So I'm assuming that your Skype guest
called in already, yes, yes, yeah, So I just I just
wanted to mention I do a little sandwich here, quickly, intellectual sandwich.
I want to say something just innocuous and positive and end with a very positive
note. But so my first point is your analysis yesterday. Good shows this
week. I disagree with some conclusions, but good shows and musical guests.
Jeff par excellence, Matt, great musical guests. Jenny is really bringing them
in. So congratulations on that and the other practical but philosophical, spiritual,
general generic says. Issue I wanted to talk about was your analysis yesterday.
And I'm not going to win to add any length. It's a complex issue,
but your analysis yesterday. I was a China, Cuba, Russian evil
link and I you know, you know, I don't appreciate Biden's leadership generally,
although I think they struck the right balance in Europe with regard to Ukraine
and the EU. Agree the NATO, I should say I was saying when
I went, I mean NATO, So I give him credit for that whenever
he does something right, which is rare in my judgment. But I'm not
gonna goin to that. But um but I don't blame him for um uh.
What's happening in Cuba. The question, though, Matt is we could
disagree about how it happened. Mark Rubio was involved in that and others.
But here's the thing. These are the Cuba and forty five's taken a more
circumstance. Cuba went back. They agree to do certain things with the Obama
administration, they went back on all of them, including human rights in their
country, economic development, free markets, etc. They're bad actors right now
with the current leadership. I love the human people, but the leadership is
really very totalitarian, authoritarian, violent, and Marxists to the core. The
question now is what is Biden in his administration? And I say it's only
because they're an office. How that happened as another story, but anyway,
so what are they going to do now about this? Because as you know,
Matt, I have taken a fundamental position for a long time, and
I've talked to colleagues about that, some of whom disagree with me, but
many of whom have agreed with me that we need to we can have competition.
Janet yelling bowling like that in China and drive me crazy, but we
can have competition, and we need competition. But we need to disabuse ourselves
of the notion that China has anything but evil regard toward us. They have
a hundred year plan to take us down, not necessarily militarily, but they
don't rule that out either at the moment that Janet Yellen was bowing to these
knuckleheads, these communists torturers in China, m Jijing Ping was meeting with the
Red Army um, you know, talking about an operation in Cuba. They
were going to do a joint military operation and other operations in the South China
Sea with the goal of having war with Western countries. That you know,
that's on record. So my point is that we should be disengaging from them.
We should shut down every police station because they're harassing their their own people
right now. But they'll they'll harass h straight white guys like Marty if they
have a chance. But so they need to go. And what I would
say is Biden would, oh, man, this is this would be a
great opportunity for him to redeem them some somewhere in history by rather than being
on the take to China, say no, we're going to take back all
the land you purchased around our bases in the farmland you and Bill Gates,
What a guy that guy is? Bill Gates, Oh my god, don't
get me started. And we're going to have the Confucius centers looked at very
carefully, but basically We're going to bring our corporations into tow to bring manufacturing
as much as we can as quickly as we can back to the USA,
including the development of minerals and the development of medications. So that's my stand
Matt on that. The other thing I wanted to say for your international arnis
just something to think about, was that Christopher Ray was going to testify I
know if you saw this to the Judicial Committee on Monday, and he did
sort of testify. The reason I hedge is he didn't say much. Everything
from that guy is well, I can't go into that, or that's redacted
or that's under investigation. It's like the Hunter Biden thing. So they used
Elite. I don't know if you've seen the big report out, but they
used four times illegally a false FISA warrant and to spy on the Trump administration,
which they did and in theory wiretap other Americans too. It could have
been us. You'd never like to hear that, man, but I'm telling
you it could have been us. So anyway, that's illegal. Second point,
they sent their guys out to Twitter and Facebook and other media outlets.
A couple more I won't go into to say to them, we don't want
you printing any of this material at all on Hunter Biden. The laptop we
think you know they didn't. They didn't say definitively, but they said the
laptop we're pretty sure is simply Russian disinformation. They were lying that, and
they knew that. And now we can't even get the ten twenty four because
it's so redacted. It wouldn't there's nothing in there for us. Two other
quick points and they'll get to Jerry. This is wonderful. Jerry is amazing.
So they formed a unit with the objective of infultrating guys like your dad.
What do I mean by that because I'm a constitutional conservative, Neil Thomas.
No, because I'm Roman Catholic and I'm practicing my faith, my Christian
faith. And when they were at when Christopher Rays asked about that, he
says, well, we're looking into that. Looking into that you make a
decision about that's illegal, that's an ethical, that's immoral, that's totalitarianism,
parsils. And finally, of course they formed a task group. This is
the final point, man. And this came out on the judicial hearings,
and I've read about it for a long time. Now protract the period time.
But then it came out that they were also forming a group to infiltrate
any family, starting with Christians, starting with Christians, but any family who
was they in their regard, their judgment, conservative and pushing back on the
left wing policies of any kind. That's the FBI we have today, man,
And it started with Comey. And there are there are many agents who
are doing a good job, don't get me wrong. And the whistleblowers I'm
telling you, like Gary U. Sanley and others, was Stephen friends,
they need to be listened to and listen to very carefully, whatever your political
persuasion is. So I just want to get that out there, Matt.
And it's not to disagree with you or debate you. And you know I
take a stand against it as a father's son principal. People can disagree with
that, but that's my stand on that. But finally, on a good
note, Jerry Robinson, Oh my god, is that guy good? Yes?
Yeah, I love Jerry Robinson that song. I love both songs,
the New Orleans song but also even better. I mean they're both great songs.
But I'm a man. Can you imagine that? Oh my God,
Matt. You know, I love music and I believe in it, and
I've been around a long time. Thank God for the grace of God and
my own efforts and wellness. But that song would be a hit in the
fifties of sixties and seventies, right up. Do you see what I'm saying?
I agree? Yes, Oh my god. And then Jerry Robinson has
that unique cutting edge, old school sense of humor that's dry but insightful and
in a little bit cutting and incisive. We love. I don't know how
you found him, but Matt, I do agree with you on this.
We disagree on some important dishes, but we agree on this. Jerry Robinson
could be He's so talented and insightful and musically talented. He could be the
next Howard Stern. Yeah you make that statement, Matt, I agree with
you completely, Thank you. Yes, yes, well, Dad, I'm
glad. I'm glad we can end on a good note. We are out
of time, though, so we gotta we gotta let you go. Oh
sorry, Oh no, that's that's okay. We're just we're up against the
clock. But thank you for the call. I appreciate it. And now
very welcome, good, good, shows Matt this week. I appreciate your
work. You're right, you're just growing in that and I appreciate it.
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. All right, Dad, we
gotta go. Thank you. I love you and I'll talk to you later.
I love you too, talk to you later. Be well bybye.
All right, byebye, all right, very good, very good. All
right, we do have to go. I will be back tonight eight to
eleven pm Retro Spectrum Radio with Paul Ecu, so tune in for that.
Thank you again, of course, Dave Wally from Satellite Union, and of
course Eric Pilter for another great classic film review. And here is a little
bit of Jerry the Scumbags. I'm the man. I'll talk it to y'all
a little bit later. By everybody, I do what I want to be.
Trust you lose it. Sounding tis down