It's a great song, but I don't know it. Welcome everybody, here
we go. It is that time again, Matt Connerton unleashed and we are
live from the studios of w m n HM in glorious downtown Manchester, New
Hampshire. Although it's looking like it's going to rain, it got very dark
and cloudy, but it was glorious. It's always glorious of course. Uh
here in Manchester, of course on ninety five point three FM and a comcast
ninety seven. Also if you happen to be 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 of your live streaming options,
social media links, contact info, show archives, etc. Etc.
Today is Wednesday, July twelve, twenty twenty three. By the way,
the song that I opened with that was called You Belong You See that is
from grim Rock and Joel from grim Rock is going to be joining us today
in the second hour, actually at the top of the hour, we're going
to do the world radio premiere of his brand new single don't you really looking
forward to us sharing that with you? But I wanted to open with another
one of his other songs today on the show, and and we'll probably play
a little more later too, but don't you the world radio premiere of the
new single coming up today at five pm in the Eastern time zone here on
the program, and then we'll have we'll talk with grim Rock. I'm not
sure whether to call him Joeld or Grim or I'll just ask him. We'll
see no, but really looking forward to that. So that's gonna be cool.
And by the way, for those of you watching online, he did
send me this, he sent anyone too, these great shirts, these great
grim Rock shirts fits perfectly, really really cool. And I also have a
sticker that I'm gonna put on the wall that he sent as well. So
looking forward to that. So that'll be coming up in the second hour.
In the first hour, in a few minutes, I'm gonna be joined by
Eric Pilcher, our friend from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Of course, Eric
does the classic film reviews for us on Fridays, but we also do a
segment every Wednesday. I call him my favorite conservative and he's gonna be joining
us. He's he wanted to talk about this hazing scandal at Northwestern University,
which has been a pretty big deal. You know, I'm not a sports
guy myself, but some stories obviously transcend sports, and that one certainly does.
That's been interesting to follow. And I also want to ask him about
the something we've talked about before on the show with Eric about the live golf
l I V. The Saudi Arabia trying to take over golf is how some
people are looking at it. Well, we'll talk about that too, and
I have a couple other things to ask him about too, So we'll always
have a good time with Eric. So he's gonna be joining us, and
of course I want to learn more about his how he constructed that amazing guitar
solo on the new song from Jerry and the Scumbags, that song I'm the
man, of course. Uh, it's been interesting. You know, we've
all been working remotely on that. You know, Matts, that's yours truly,
I'm credited as well, and Billy Painter, and of course Eric,
Eric Pincher as he is known by his stage name. Here we go,
Eric, is that you? Yes? It is? Oh good? It
was for some reason I was clicking in and it wasn't picking up right away.
I was like, oh, I hope, I hope we don't have
a malfunction here. You know how Skype can be. Skype can be very
Skype very finicky. Certainly, yes, yes, before we get before we
get to talk, and too, I do want to say hello to everybody
in the Facebook live chat. Scott Robinson joins us and says, this is
regarding the clip that I played to open the show. Sometimes I like to
throw in a little best of clip I played that time that the ghost of
a don Imus called us live on the air. Scott said, this sounds
like Gene Simmons from Kiss with marbles in his mouth a little inside. But
yes. Mike from Queen City Cabinetry, one of our great sponsors here at
WMNH and also one of our co hosts on Friday nights for retro Spectrum Radio,
he says, good afternoon everyone. Jenny is in there of course,
and says shalom peeps. Also Rondo Favero from California, Paul C. Says
greetings from Sonny, Bangladesh. Again, if you don't listen to Retrospectrum Radio,
you don't know what that refers to you, which is why you should
listen to Retrospectrum Radio Friday nights. Here Charmagne Davis Elliott joins us and says,
good afternoon everyone. Hello. Uh, let's see uh Eric, I
see here and there. And also I'm never sure I'm saying his name correctly,
Eric nan Rone. I'm going to assume that's what he's got a podcast
called the Nano Second Podcast. Um, so welcome, everybody. Welcome,
uh and uh Eric. Eric is with us on Skype, which means the
studio phone line is open. So if you have anything to contribute to our
conversation today, you can call us at six ZO three two five zero six
zero seven six ZO three two five zero six zoo 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 end O Pine in the Facebook
live chat. But the best thing to do so that we can here and
enjoy your dulcet tones is give us a call at six O three two five
zero six zero seven. And uh, you know, speaking of music,
h Eric, Uh, yeah, I had no idea you were so talented,
but hearing your your your solo on that song, I'm the man,
just magnificent, sir, Thank you, thank you, thank you. Like
I said, I just picked up a guitar and it was magic. Yeah,
Matt, you cannot take away my right to rock. That's right,
nor would I ever try to. Frankly, I mean, you know I
want you. Oh. Dylan Reynolds is in the Facebook live chat and he
agrees. He says, you're great on that song. Thank you, Dylan,
I appreciate it. You know, you're always nervous when you do something
outside of your comfort zone. But you know, as many will learn in
the month of October with classic film reviews, sometimes you just gotta go out
of your comfort zone. Yes, that's right. Oh. Speaking of which,
Scott Robinson has a question for you regarding your classic film reviews. I
have not seen it. I asked him if it was good. I'm always
open to film suggestions. Yes, Scott is for listeners. Scott is asking
if you've watched the film Affliction with Nick Nolty and James Coburn. I've never
seen that movie either, but I've I've heard that it's very very good.
But uh, but I have not I have not. Well that right?
Well will that be on a Is that a possibility for a future film review?
I would have to watch it? There are, but there are.
I love suggestions, and I'm glad you brought this up. I love it
when anyone email messages me suggestions because one, it shows they listen, and
two it makes me feel good that they value my opinion. Yeah, selecting
a film is two is twofold or threefold, depending on how you view it.
One I have to watch it, and if I watch it and do
not enjoy it, I will not review it. Reason being is I do
not believe in giving a film a bad review. UM. That that happened
because my film instructor in college told me that. UM told me, don't
ever share your opinion on a film as you're leaving the movie theater. Wait
a second, though, Wait a second. Oh, okay, you know
what. I just realized. Maybe this doesn't count because it was an April
Fools joke. I was gonna say you reviewed, you did review Freddie got
fingered by Tom Green. Yes, but that was April Fools. And if
there's anyone out there that tries to tell me that's a good movie, I'm
going I'm going to ask that they get their heads examined, just out of
concern for their own well being. Yes. By the way, our friend
Ron is on the line. He might have a film review request. We'll
see hi, Ron, Hi do Hello? Hello? I did have a
film request. Couldn't get that out, and I'm bumming. I was watching
the other channel for a couple of minutes and if Eric was playing some kind
of guitar riff like Son of a Gun, I wish I would have heard
it. But on any note, I wonder if either one of you guys
have ever seen the movie. And I think it's called unthinkable or unimaginable.
It's about a US terrorist and the negotiations on how to get him to talk.
Have you ever seen either one of you seen it or heard of that.
I think it's unthinkable, isn't it. Yeah? I'm thinking that it's
a black guy. I keep thinking tends on Washington. But it's not him.
It's a Oh it might be it's Samuel Jackson. That's who it is.
What a great movie. If you haven't, Yeah, have you seen
that? Eric? I haven't seen that. I have not. No,
m Well, I might have to ask well, I would give that five
thumbs up if you have a board and you could dig it up on your
TV. It's a matter of fact. Tonight, when there's nothing going on,
I might watch it again. It'll be the fourth time I've seen it.
But it's wow. I won't even get into any details. But that
was nice. Well, that was It was Samuel Jackson, and it was
either unimaginable or unthinkable. I think it was Unthinkable's he's he negotiates, he
doesn't negotiate. He tries to get information out of the terrorists in the worst
ways, stuff that the US wouldn't consider illegal, but he doesn't anyway.
So all right, would that being said, carry on, my friends,
all right, thank you, Ron, appreciate the call. By the way,
Dylan Reynolds was suggesting a film review of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall. Total
Recall is actually you know this, Matt, and long time listeners know this
as well. I have a list of films that I want to review,
and Total Recall is on the list. The thing to keep in mind is
that Paul Verhoeven directed it, and Paul Verhoeven has a style that he trans
translates to each and every one of his films. So have just recently done
Starship Troopers, which was directed by him. I want to see it kind
of spread out, gotcha? Gotcha? Because I would love to review Robo
Cop as well, which is also directed by Beethoven. Yes. Uh,
and Eric Nanaron is asking, uh, this is probably for both of us.
Have you seen Unbroken? I've seen that. Have you seen that,
Eric? Unbroken? I would there's a there's a few films named unbroken.
Oh uh, I think that's uh, the one with um Bruce Willis.
That's the first one that occurred to me when I saw that, when I
saw that title's directed Oh, Unbreakable. Yes, I'm sorry, that's uh
directed by M Knight Shamalan and I am not a fan of his. Okay,
yeah, that's probably so. I just I don't know why I thought.
Uh, yeah, I don't usually make that mistake, but yeah,
Unbreakable. I do like that film. So I have not seen a film
called unbroken. Apparently there's one on Netflix. Angelina Joni's Unbroken to be shown
in Japan after racism protests. Interesting. Yeah, I'd be curious to know
more about that. But yeah, but what I was saying and then we'll
get into Northwestern about suggestions is one, I have to like the film,
And because when I heard that from my instructor, when he said, never
give your opinion on a film as you're leaving the theater. And he said
that because if it's a bad one, you could ruin it for a person
near you, right, could have enjoyed the film, right. And that's
not something I ever want to do. I don't want to review a film
someone enjoys and say, oh, this was a steaming pile. You know,
That's not what classic film reviews is about. It's about maybe getting someone
to see a film they've never seen before, or get interested in a film
they weren't interested in, or remember why they loved a specific film. It's
about being positive about film. And ever since then, I've always hated when
reviewers just go on TV or what write a review that just trashes a film.
It's like, why, why waste your energy doing something so so negative.
See when I was a kid and I would watch Siskel and Ebert,
I always enjoyed it when they really hated a movie. I thought that.
I thought it was kind of fun that Some of my favorite books on film
are Roger Ebert's your movie sucks. Oh, yes, you've you've recommended that
book before. Yeah, I love because Roger Ebert takes he it's an art
form to him and bashing a film like his review of I Spit on Your
Grave a beautiful. I remember him saying that in an interview once that that
was the worst film he felt. Oh it was. It was on Donahue,
Ciscolinebert were on Donahue. I was a big film Donahue fam when I
was a kid, and he said that was the worst film ever. He
said to this about two films I Spit on Your Grave in Caligula. Oh
okay, yeah, he said, it is the biggest pile of bleep I've
ever seen in my life. And it's the only two films he's ever walked
out on. Oh wow. And yes, Dirk don and I have watched
Caligula on Blu Ray twice. So if you want to honor us for doing
that, it would be appreciated. Um. Yeah, Scott says, That's
why I want you to watch Affliction. It takes place in New Hampshire and
J. James Colburn is a force in the movie. It will not disappoint
interesting well, um, yeah, I didn't. I didn't know that.
I didn't know that it takes place in New Hampshire. That film, I
will definitely put it on my list, and with the New Hampshire tie,
it would be a good film to have on Classic Film Reviews certainly. Yes,
yes, well so we can get to uh whow. Yeah, time
is flying as it always does. Oh, by the way, something I
wanted to tell you too. On I think it was on Monday in the
chat room somebody made a very nice compliment about you because I was talking,
oh you know what, Trudy from the Hopknot was here and we were talking
about having discussions with people we disagree with politically and whatnot, and your name
came up and I mentioned how I always refer to you as my favorite conservative,
and Miriam banished in the chat room, said that you are her favorite
conservative as well. Wow that means a lot. Yes, yes, I
look, if politics is really a part to the backbone of America, and
if we can't talk about it, then to me, everyone that paid the
price for our freedom, that price is it's diminished. We should be able
to talk about politics and disagree and be peaceful about it. In amicable.
Yes, I mean, obviously it's a lot more uncommon than I would want
it to be. Well, it's awful how some people act when talking about
politics. Yes, well what I what I said Monday too is you know,
most people when they talk about politics, it's not so much about is
it's not they're not necessarily concerned with being right, but they just want to
make you think that they're right, or they want to prove that they're right,
or they want to prove that you're wrong. And if you're having a
conversation, you know, about politics with someone with whom you disagree, oftentimes
the two people end up just talking past each other because while one person is
saying something, the other isn't really listening. Rather, they're trying to think
of their next talking point that they're going to fire at the person who's talking.
And you know, and like it's a microcosm of life really in that
the way people talk about politics, it's kind of the same way that people
argue about, you know, just about anything that two people are arguing about.
You know, people when when they don't listen because they're too busy thinking
about what they're going to say next, and they often if you, if
you just pay attention to two people having in an argument, you'll realize that
they're not even necessarily arguing about the same thing. And that happens in all
all aspects of life. People end up arguing about two different things because they're
not listening to each other, and neither of them truly realizes what the other
person is saying. And of course there's a lack of empathy there and so
forth. So so yeah, it's nice to be able to Uh, I'm
laughing at something Michael Albert said in the chat room, but I won't.
I'm not going to respectfully, I'm not going to read that comment. It
made me chuckle. Yes, yes, but uh, but but it's I
wouldn't be inclined to agree with him. I like the I like the person
personally that uh, Michael Albert is referring to. I just but I but
I also understand the sentiment. Um. All right, well let's let's get
to it, Eric. So let's talk about this scandal, this hazing scandal
at Northwestern University. UM, and uh, I'll let you kind of Uh,
let's start with UM, you followed this obviously closer than I have,
although I'm aware of this story. And I was actually listening to a Pat
McAfee video earlier from his show talking about it. But uh, kind of
catch us up on this what's going on there? You have to actually go
back fifteen years ago. Yeah, um to understand the gravity of this situation.
Pat Fitzgerald is Northwestern University the now former Northwestern football coach. He was
a two time linebacker of the Year when he played for Northwestern. He was
a part of the team that put that made Northwestern successful. Northwestern had never
had a winning record in football in the Big Ten until nineteen ninety six.
They made the Rose Bowl and Pat Fitzgerald was one of the stars of that
team. After he graduated, he went through the coaching ranks. In two
thousand and six, their head coach, Randy Walker I believe was his name.
I could be wrong, died of a heart attack suddenly and very tragically.
In pet Fitzgerald took over the team. Northwestern as a football program has
six bull wins throughout their history. Pet Fitzgerald has been their head coach for
five of them. Oh wow, he must have been pretty young then when
he took over, right, Yeah, he's he just turned I believe he's
in his low fifties. Now, Oh, I was looking up online.
I think he's forty eight. Yeah, he's not even in his fifties.
Yeah. Yeah, So he's still a young man. So he must have
been so fifteen years ago. So he was bad at math. Wow,
he was still what early early to mid thirties when he took over his coach.
I assume that's I assume that's young for a college football coach, right.
Very I believe he. I believe he has the record or is very
close to it for the youngest head coach in college football history. Okay,
Um, now, Eric, Eric Nannarone, I'm going to get to your
point here in a few moments that we'll get to that. Um. What
had happened is earlier this year, the Northwestern director of compliance had gotten an
email that said hazing within the Northwestern football program. They launched launched an investigation
that concluded Friday. One of the many key points here is Northwestern did not
publicly release all the findings. They said that their understanding was end quote path,
Fitzgerald and the coaching staff did not know about it, but could have
prevented it, did not know about it, but could have prevented it.
That's interesting, very So it was announced that path Fitzgerald would be suspended for
two weeks without pay, effective immediately. So I guess it just had drilled
down on that statement a little bit because at first it sounds a little almost
self contradictory. But as I'm processing it, I realized or were they suggesting
so he didn't know about it? But maybe if if he had done things
differently from a sort of in terms of the culture of the football program there,
maybe maybe none of this would have happened. I guess that's what they're
saying, right, so lo and behold. On Sunday, an unnamed Northwestern
player spoke with the Northwestern University student newspaper. Of note here, Northwestern is
known for journalism, like if you there are so many great journalists that have
come from that school. Okay, um, and he this player spoke in
depth about it. Of note, the player left the program this past season
of a situation called running And I'm going to try to be as politically correct
as I can be when speaking of this. Okay, where the leadership team
of the football team, if a player had done something wrong or not or
made a mistake, countless mistakes whatever. They would do certain things to him
that were simulating, not stimulating, simulating sexual assault. Okay, wow that
and he said absolutely Pat Fitzgerald knew about it, and even went further to
say, Pat Fitzgerald that practice would do a specific clap above his head to
indicate to the football leadership group that this player needed to have needed to have
a run put on him. Oh my god. So that's wow. So
so in other words, so Pat's Pat Fitzgerald the coach. He not only
knew about it, but according to what this player says, he not only
knew about it, but he was actually directing it in a sense. He
was indicating, you know, do do that to this player. Wow,
that's yes, awful if it's true. And of course this is alleged,
we should be clear about that. But you're in the day. Northwestern athletic
director have stated that what we're gonna he was going to reevaluate Pat Fitzgerald's punishment
because he said, I focused more on what he didn't know than what he
knew. What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine.
So coming Tuesday Monday, Pat Fitzgerald was fired. Yeah, as Northwestern head
coach one. Here are my issues with this one. Northwestern absolutely new the
allegations and what they were. They were hoping to pull what I call a
Ray Rice where the NFL knew Ray Rice punched his girlfriend in the face and
knocked her out. They chose not to act because they hoped it would go
away. Eric, refresh, My memory is Ray Rice? Is that the
one with the elevator? Yes? Gotcha? Okay, I remember now?
Yep. I have believed and always will believe that the NFL knew the Baltimore
Ravens knew, because how do you not? Right? Um? Sorry,
got it? Took a drink now of no peptitz Gerald was working tirelessly to
secure an eight hundred million dollars new football stadium that was very close to getting
pushed across the finish line. Yeah, that's probably out the window now.
And I'm not saying that, Oh that's wrong and the no, I'm saying
that that's probably over. He is gone. This football program is going about
to be in shambles because you're going to have players transfer, go to the
transfer portal and get out of Dodge. Because what I'm gonna say is we
are moments away from the NC double a stepping in, and I do believe
Northwestern's football program should be suspended at minimum for two years, Okay, And
that's what Eric Nanarone was saying in the chat him. Yeah, if this
is true, of the football program needs to be suspended, although he was
saying for a year, you think two years. I think two years.
And I think they didn't do it to Penn State. And I agreed with
them not doing it to Penn State because in a way, you're punishing kids
that were not a part of the program when those horrible and horrendous acts occurred.
Yeah, you're punishing players that had nothing to do with it by doing
this, I would advocate that Northwestern be hit with the infamous ncuble, a
death penalty for this, which is a two year suspension. Give me a
moment, I will explain what the death penalty is. Okay. It's only
happened to one school in the history of college athletics. Southern Methodist University in
the eighties got it, okay, and it they still haven't recovered from it.
So here is what it is. Sorry, I'm trying to find what
that's Okay, in the page I clicked on, Yeah, that's all right
if you're just joining us. Our friend Eric Pilcher as well as says he
is every Wednesday, and we're talking about the situation with the Hazian scandal at
Northwestern University. Basically, what it is is the death penalty is a part
of the repeat violator's rule. Obviously, Northwestern is not a repeat violator.
I would argue they are because this is a part of the culture of the
team. And Pat Fitzgerald was there for fifteen years, so you do the
math. Basically, what it is is no no athletics for one no program
for one year, okay, no program for one year when they come back,
no television for year two okay, no televised games, no postseason,
so no bowls, and no scholarships. And this has only happened once.
It is only happened once in modern in the modern NCAA era, Why why
was it done? This was at Southern Methodist University. Southern Methodist University took
paying players to a whole nother level. They signed players to contracts. Did
we talk about this before, Yes, we have. Okay, this buyer's
contract sounding familiar, Dickerson, The joke was Eric Dickerson made more at SMU
than he did in the NFL, and Eric Dickerson has admitted yes he did.
Um is he the guy who, uh you told me about somebody before
who uh they let they let one of the schools buy him a car that's
ericson Yeah, yeah, and then he ended up and then he ended up
not going with that school, and he anybody kept the car because his attitude
was, well, what are you gonna what are you gonna do? Like
you buying me this car? Was he illegal to begin with? So what
are you gonna? So what are you gonna do about it? He kept
the gold plated trans am. A part it's it's such as a great story.
There's a part of me that thinks that's repulsive him. There's a part
of me that admires him. Um, I'm you know what, God bless
Eric Dickerson. I mean, I mean it's it's not right morally and ethically,
it's not right, and yet it's kind of like, Wow, you
kind of have to respect him. Who's actually more wrong in this? You
can't expect an eighteen year old kid to not take in nineteen eighty five and
cold plate in trans am, right, right? Because if it's it's just
it's just wild. Um. So that was that was that was that Southern
Methodist University. Yeah, okay. Actually to clarify, Texas, A and
M bought in the car. Oh okay. He's like, I don't want
to go to AMM, I want to go to a SMU. What do
I do with this car? And that was the sticking point in the SMU
boosters are like, we'll take care of that. Well, he'd probably already
registered it, and you know, can't just give it back now. I
right, the loan was in his grand mama's name. Now totally above the
board. Oh good, Yeah, living in living in a two room shack
in the slums of Texas and they gotta trans am. Wow. Yeah.
Now regarding Northwestern, Eric Nannarone says, in the chat room, they had
a white board with names of the players that we're going to get that punishment
allegedly in the Yeah, I remember I heard Pat McAfee talking about that too.
In the practice room, the locker room, they had a white board
with names of the players who are going to be hazed, which is almost
a euphemism, uh, based on that term, based on what you had
described. Uh. Yeah, and and and that's the thing is and all
of this is alleged, nothing has been proven. But let's be real here.
Northwestern is now faced with having to pay Pat Fitzgerald forty million dollars.
Oh my god. Really, yes, he just signed a contract extension in
January of twenty twenty one for ten years. Wow. There's no h there's
no clause in there that I mean, I'm sure there is some sort of
clause it says if he does something really egregious, they don't have to pay
him. But that's not what happened here because they can't they can't prove that
he knew. Here's where Northwestern is in some trouble with that one. They
already punished him. Oh, with the two week suspension. They had already
announced his punishment. Yeah, I guess. And I'm still kind of getting
caught up on this. But my understanding from what peppitz Gerald's lawyers have said
is that at Illinois state law indicates once you have punished an employee, you
can't retroactively go back and repunish them. Oh wow, no kidding. That's
my interpretation of it. I could be wrong, yea. So this is
a very bad situation because Northwestern put athletics ahead of morals and what is right.
You put an eight hundred million dollars stadium ahead of what is right.
This is disgusting and this is deplorable. This, and I'll say this,
when I was involved in football, Yes, we did hazing. I'll say
it. We did it. We did tow whipping lines. Oh that seems
almost quaint compared to some of what we've been hearing about here. I never,
and I swear on everything, I never heard of anything like this happening
or witnessed it. Yeah, um, but yeah, yeah, it really.
You sit there and you're just like wow, Wow. By the way,
what does Fitzgerald say? I assume he hasn't said anything, right,
He hasn't addressed us publicly, had a meeting with the players, um and
his staff. Otherwise, it was a pretty blanket statement that he appreciates his
time at Northwestern, he disagrees with the decision, that he knew of no
hazing. It was pretty boiler play of what you would expect. Well,
when when did when did that happen? After the suspension or after the firing?
After the firing, okay, bension. His statement was that he agrees
that he should have been more informed and paid more attention to little details.
Look, this has been my argument. Anytime there's a scandal within a college
athletic program or a specific team, your job as the head coach is to
know everything that goes on. That is your job. Just like Rick Pettina
when it Louisville, he allowed hookers to go in party with recruits in a
dormitory named after his brother in law who died in during the nine to eleven
attacks. Wow. Wow, And he's like, well, that was all
done by one of our one of our general one of our graduate assistants.
How do you not know? Yeah, you think these kids are just coming
to Louisville because you're a nice guy. I'm fascinating. I'm fascinated by the
dynamic of so after he's fired, so they let him have this meeting with
the players, and assuming if everything that's alleged is true and he knew,
then he's going and having this meeting with them, tell him, tell him
the very people with whom he colluded with on the hazing, effectively telling them,
well, I disagree with the decision because I didn't know. When they
know that he knew when when you know what I mean, when you know
he's he's got to look these kids in the face who he knows, they
know that he knew, and tell them, Well, I don't agree with
the decision because obviously I didn't know. When you know, everyone knows he
knew Northwestern in their infinite wisdom. And I say that using with sarcasm.
Yes, decided to let the players release a statement because players are upset,
and I mean it makes perfect sense to let them release an official statement.
They stood behind their coach and accused the players that have released this information of
whying. Nothing like this ever occurred. It's just someone trying to tear down
our success that could not be successful at Northwestern. Uh oh boy, Well
so what so what happens? Well, first of all, by the way,
we should shed no tears for Fitzgerald, because even even even if he
even if he really didn't know, which is hard to believe, but even
if he really didn't know, the guy's getting forty million dollars to you know,
lose his job or at the very least a chunk of that. Yeah,
this is not going to see the courts. They're gonna settle. Northwestern
wants this to go away as quickly as they can. Oh, okay,
so he won't necessarily get so they might negotiate something, right, Okay,
Right, Northwestern wants this to go away because and again I don't want anyone
to think I'm in agreeance with Northwestern here, I am not. I think
the athletic director needs to be fired. I think the president of the university
needs to be fired. I think a ton more heads need to roll down
the hill after this. But football season is a little over fifty days away.
You want this to go away, but there is no I mean,
in terms of national media, this will blow over, as all things do.
But if you're if you're there, especially if you're there as part of
that community or have any connection to the college whatsoever, this isn't going This
isn't going away for a long time. I mean, people aren't going to
forget about this, right. And my cousin Joe brought up something and I
agreed with I agree with him. In essence, he said people have already
forgotten about Penn State. Well, that's kind of a blanket statement. I
don't think people have forgotten, right, I don't think you ever forget.
I mean I will remember where I was the day, the very minute it
was announced Joe Paterno was fired. Yeah. Oh, I remember. I
was in the cafeteria of my at my at the university I was attending,
and I remember a majority of them got up and rammed in the TV and
esp End was on, and you literally just stood there frozen. Well listen,
I mean I can. I can prove your point too, because you
mentioned Penn State to me. I'm not a sports guy, as you know,
but as soon as you say Penn State, I remember Joe Paterno and
Sandusky and everything you know. So no, of course people haven't forgotten a
guy like me who doesn't follow sports. But I did. I did follow
that story because that's one of those stories like this, one that transcends sports.
Oh god, I remember vividly. I remember because I was also the
sports editor of my university student newspaper. Yeah, and like I literally went
right into the newspaper office and it's like, you know, we gotta do
something about this. We have like how do we cover this at a Catholic
university? Yeah, and how do we do this in a way that we
can talk to our school and not be negative? So it was a tough
situation. So I will always remember Penn State and just because if for nothing
else, Penn State was a national power for so many years and they still
haven't recovered well, And again I was, I'm not gonna I mean,
they've had successes, they've been to a couple of Rose Bulls, but not
they haven't competed for national titles like they did. They haven't had like the
primetime games they've had have been in essence because of who they were playing,
not because of Penn State. Yeah. So yeah, it's it's I do.
What really hurts for Northwestern is Northwestern has this image is the Harvard of
the Midwest, and this kills that um in so many ways. And it
was already hard for Northwestern to get recruits because of their academic standards. It's
going to be that much harder. Now. How do you, as a
parent, advocate for your kid to go to Northwestern right on a football scholarship?
Yeah, I mean, yes, Pat Pitzgerald's gone, But who's to
say that some of the kids that committed, that allegedly committed these acts aren't
still there? Right exactly exactly, Well, hopefully this this will have if
they are still there. Hopefully this will have put some fear into them and
nothing like this will will continue to happen. Wow. Well, so so
there's still more. There's still more to this story coming right in terms of
you know, we'll find out in the weeks to come, what what happens
that were that the NC double A is going to get involved here? Yeah?
I mean I don't see how they can't. Did they? Did they
get directly involved with Penn State? Yes, they're the one gave them the
two year bull band. Okay, the NC double A is the only one
that can issue that punishment. Schools can do what's called self sanctioning, where
to try to soften the blow of NC double A punishment, they can say,
Okay, we're gonna sit out the postseason for this year. Yeah,
we're going to reduce our in home scholar our in home recruiting visits, We're
going to reduce scholarships. Um. In some in in most cases, the
NC double as like, oh that's good enough. We're lazy old white men,
we don't want to do anything. Um, so they let it go.
I don't see how this one gets let go right right? This one,
this one is, this is, this is Penn State level. This
in a way it's it's more I don't want to say more disturbing because it's
not. But in a way it's it's a part of the culture. Like
there were actually young men that brought into this is being a good thing.
Yeah, that's what's that. That's what disgusts me as a sports fan,
because you this is a this had to be a part of the culture,
right, and that there were young men that brought bought into this and thinking
this was okay. The Penn State was just one awful, disgusting, wretched,
vile human being that calls himself a man. And and I'm not saying
this to offend or started debate. We will never know what Joe Paterno knew,
What Joe Paterno didn't know, what the president in the ad knew,
what they didn't know. We need to give up on that. We'll never
know the full truth there. Yeah, Paterno's dead for anyone who doesn't know.
Yeah, yes, and well but even before then we would have never
known. Right. Um do I think Penn State did scapegoa? Did Joe
Paterno very much? So? Um? Do I think he deserved to be
fired? Yes, do I think we could have done more? Absolutely?
But do I think that there was a great deal of scapegoatism that Penn State
put on him? Yes? Um. To me, what makes this situation
more like, like not worse than I'm trying to put it into words,
but and I know I'm not doing a good job. But what makes it
more disturbing is that it was a culture right and that these young men that
this happened to, we're forced to believe that it was their fault that it
was happening to them. Yeah, No, it's it's it's uh pretty pretty
disgusting. Um, well, Eric, we are we are already approaching the
top of the hour. It goes so fast, my friend, so we
will have to leave it there. Yes, sorry, oh no, no
not at all. No, great, great discussion, and um I learned
some things too. Um. But before we let you go, because we
got to get to a break and then we've got a world radio premiere of
the new grim Rock song. But before you go, can you give a
quick plug for a Friday's Classic film review? Yes, I'm writing the script
tonight. It's This week's classic film review is National Lampoon's Vacation with Chevy Chase
and Beverly DeAngelo and a bit part by a very young John Candy. Oh,
I forgot that he was in that. I haven't seen that in so
long. Yes, we look forward to that, and of course I'm very
appropriate for the time of year. So yes, assuming that's why I chose
it. And uh you, we've already discussed this. There are some I
like to think big things happening in the fall. Yes, absolutely classic film
reviews that I think a lot of people will be a fan of. October.
We are going to be looking at one of the most controversial and scariest
films ever made. And some of you might know what that is, but
if you don't, you'll just have to wait till October because it's going to
be amazing. Yes, Yes, Melanie will be very happy. I see
her. I know, Malanie, you'll be happy. I'm actually shocked.
I haven't gotten a message from her yet about it. Yeah, very good,
All right, Eric, Well we gotta let you go. Thank you
so much, my friend, and we look forward to the film review on
Friday. Yes, it's a pleasure as always, Matt, thanks for having
me. All right, you gotta take care, Bye bye bye all right,
very nice. That was our friend Eric Pilcher. Of course we look
forward to his classic film reviews every Friday, and this Friday is National Lampoon's
Vacation, the first one, the first vacation movie. Melanie says, sorry,
I wasn't listening. What are we talking about? I don't worry about
it, don't worry about it. But we need to get to a quick
break, show some love to our amazing sponsors, and then we're gonna go
from that right to the world radio premiere of the new single from grim Rock.
It's called don't You Really Really Good Stuff? And then we're going to
have grim Rock on the line with us via Skype, and we're gonna we're
gonna talk and I'm really looking forward to that. So and if you're just
tuning in, if you happened to be watching online, you can see I've
got this wonderful shirt that was sent to me. But so we're gonna do
that first, first a break and then the world radio premiere of don't You
brand new single from grim Rock Don't Go Away. Plenty more to come w
M N h RIP, the novel show Gold run Away, going to My
Tell Me Something? Who I think you'll mind out my mind gold running Away
when you go when you were running by by running want to go running away
away Back, time to go running black Time. I love it. That
is the world radio premiere the brand new single Don't You from Grim Rock and
Uh I think we have Grim on the on the skype with us. Hello.
Are you there? Yes? I am. Can you hear them?
Okay? Yeah? You sound great? You sound great? What should I
call you? Should I call you Grim? Should I call you Joel?
What should I call you? Everybody calls me Grim? All right? Nickname
name came together? KNA Yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah. I
love the track that is uh, don't You? And I played at the
top of the show, I played what did I play? Oh you belong
you see? And I'll play something else too at the end of our conversation.
But great stuff. You are in Pennsylvania? Is that correct? Yes,
I'm in Pittsburgh. Oh okay, yeah we were. Actually Pennsylvania came
up in the previous hour. Eric Pilter and I we talked a little bit
about penn State. Completely different subject but geographically relevant, I suppose. But
so tell us about tell us about Grim Rock? Is it? Is it?
Just you. Is this a solo project or do you collaborate with other
people? I saw a YouTube video that you put up of your recording and
it looks like you were doing everything yourself. Yeah, it's actually a solo
project. I have all my own instruments, my own home studio and stuff.
I play all my own instruments. I do my own vocals. I
have done collaborations like with Trench Gun and Al Warren and some other people,
and have had lyrics you know, from other people like Mark Kushack and Matt
Oyster and Jason Klem and put him into music. So I mean I've had
other input and had done collaborations, but it's it's mostly just me, a
solo project all my stuff. Is that how you've always worked or have you
been in bands or or do you have you always done solo material. I've
been in bands before. I played with people with people, I played with
just me and a guitar player and a drum machine. I played all kind
of different ways, and yeah, it just happened to be that the original
music is what I wanted to do, and I couldn't really get anybody in
my immediate area that really wanted to do what I'm trying to do, and
so I'm just kind of here my own you know. Yeah, I mean
I would imagine obviously it's a lot of work doing everything yourself, and it's
a lot of responsibility. But at the same time, I would also guess
that it's probably very liberating. Right, you don't have to you don't have
to check with anybody else. Hey, what do you think of what do
you think of these lyrics? Or you know, or you know, what
do you think of this baseline? You can just do it all I mean
is that do you find that it's liberating or do you ever find that it's
more work than maybe you'd like, maybe you miss collaborating, or how do
you feel about that it's low both. I mean, it is liberating just
to stay here and do it and be like, wow, I like this
because maybe somebody else wouldn't, you know what I mean. Yeah, But
in a way it's kind of lonely sometimes because you're always like, well,
wish somebody else had an input it, because sometimes I do get stuck with
you know, things, and I got a bunch of tracks sitting on my
desktop that I'm just sitting there waiting to put together one day when I get
inspired and can get something with it, you know, right right? Um,
how much music have you put out doing doing this project to grim Rock
where it's just you doing everything. I got probably about twenty tracks on Spotify.
I got some more going up, yeah, and then I have Don't
You and I have some other songs gonna be for the g R five album
that's going to come out. Cool. Cool is what does g R five
mean? I mean, it's says grim It's grim Rock five. It's actually
gonna be technically my fifth release, even though I've released singles and things.
It's technically my fifth release. Okay. The other ones were EPs, and
I had one single that I kind of is released because I didn't have the
tracks that I wanted to put with it. I couldn't complete in time,
and it's completely different from the rest of the stuff, so I couldn't really
add it to anything else. Yeah. Yeah. Um. By the way,
so I wanted to ask you too kind of interesting, so um,
looking at your website, uh, and and some of your social media and
so forth, there's a certain aesthetic that makes it look like it's like it's
kind of a metal you know, almost like almost like a King Diamond kind
of kind of vibe. But then the music isn't really that. It's it's
more just, I don't know how you describe it. It's kind of it's
almost got like a like a nineties alternative vibe to some of it. Maybe
that's more of a production thing. The production is kind of raw, which
I like. I love the way the guitar sound. Nobody records guitars like
that anymore, um, the way that you do, and I think it's
really cool. But um, is that is that intentional? Or am I
misconstruing something when I see that, because it looks like visually it's kind of
one thing, but the music is something else to me, at least that's
my perception. But I'm kind of fascinated by that. No, You're absolutely
correct. Originally, when I wanted to do this project, you know,
i'd had the face makeup kind of thing ready to go, and I initially
wanted to do way heavier music than I did. Oh and it just didn't
happen that way, and and I just went from there. And you are
right, you know, as far as it's really hard to label, you
know, I've had a lot of different people ask me, what do you
consider it. I kind of house it under an all tarted rock because I
really don't know what the label it as. Yeah, because it's varies,
you know, And as far as the way I record that is intentional.
I love the raw kind of like the like the sixties garage rock kind of
sound. Yeah, I mean the raw sound to it. Oh yeah,
yeah, very um even with and it's cool that you're able to get that
even with Because the drums, do you play a drum set or is that
all programmed? No? I actually play a drum set. It is machine.
It is an Elas's command Mesh drum machine, but it is a full
kit. Okay, yeah, because it sounds like I mean, even that,
even the drums sound raw and sound acoustics, So that's that's impressive.
Although it's funny. Um yeah, I've seen examples where some of these new
uh electronic drum kits. It's remarkable how how acoustic you can actually make them
sound and how far the technology has come with that. But um, yeah,
it does have garage you said garage rock. Yeah, it does have
that vibe and uh yeah, very cool. And I mean and the guitars
too, um Like I said, there's a rawness there it. Some of
it reminds me of um almost like Neil Young kind of style where it's uh,
just not not super slick and produced. I have a particular and this
is kind of the audio engineer and producer inside of me coming out a little
bit, but I have had for a long time kind of a frustration with
the way that the way that electric guitars tend to sound. Now because um
uh, somewhere along the line, I think it happens somewhere in the tooth
thousands. I don't know, everybody just kind of decided that guitars should sound
like kazoos. Almost not really, but but you know, I mean,
I'm speaking hyperbolically, it's my frustration with it. But even even really heavy
bands, the guitars sound small, and I don't know why that happened.
I'm finally noticing some pushback on that from some of these bands who seem to
be getting back to having guitars that actually sound loud. But um, but
it's refreshing to hear the kind of guitar sound that you get. Is that
is that kind of the same tone that you've always used, or is that
something that's evolved. It's kind of evolved. It's it's a little more gritty
than what I used to use. Yeah, and I play really unconventional things
together. Put unconventional things together. Like I have a Jackson Rhodes guitar.
I love it to death, but it's through an older vox amp and that's
how I get my sound. Man, I tweak at samp and then that's
how it comes out. But those pickups are hot on a guitar, but
gleb be coming through that vlox amp, it just it makes a whole different
sound. It's not the same. It's coming through a marshal you know,
or any other kind of big scale amp, you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, So you do all the mixering and
mastering and everything yourself, or the mixing I do the mastering. I kind
of cheat sometimes I use online sometimes sometimes I have a couple of guys that
help me once in a while. Yeah you know, don't you, friend
Trench Gunny help me with mastering that one? Okay, okay, yeah,
yeah, no, it sounds great. And then so now what about playing
live? Do you um? Because obviously it's it's just you do. Do
you get out and play shows or how does that work? Yes? I
do, actually, and what I do with that is I have backing tracks
on a tab would believe it or not? Yeah, and I run my
tablet through you know, a system, so that changes the line level noise,
you know, a line level winto a mixable item and it's everything but
the guitar and the vocals. Okay. And when I play my live shows,
I don't leave backing guitars or backing vocals in it. So it forces
me to have to do all the things and try to mix up a little
bit that that way, it keeps each show that I do, I can
do something a little fresh one way or another. It doesn't sound the same
right right, which it is the same, you know right now. So
now when you play out in terms of esthetically, do you do the face
paint and everything? Yes, I do. I didn't the last time I
was out because it was an open mic and it was a really different crowd
that probably I don't know, I might have got arrested then. But generally,
yes, I do. I put the face paint on. I get
all made up for that. That's my persona. So and what kind of
reactions do you get when because obviously again you know, as we talked about,
and I just think it's I think I think it's pretty cool to you
know, throw people a curve. Um, What are the reactions like when
people see you in the face paint and then they hear you play and it's
not you know, because they see you in the face paint, they're expecting
that, you know, and then it's and then then it's not. It's
these really melodic songs. Um. Do do you get some interesting reactions with
that? Yeah? I do. I get it from every which direction too.
It's not even just getting up there on stage. You know. I'll
stop at stores like it's on the way the gigs and stuff, and and
people are you just scaring lights out of them? Or they're all like I
have a picture with you, you know, and it's it's like it's not
Halloween. I'm like, yeah, I know, but it's kind of cool,
you know kind of thing. Yeah, you know. So yeah,
But then when you get up on stage, are people surprised when they hear
the music? I think so. I think so because I think they're really
looking for that split and odish song, you know, Sila, and it's
not happening. But I mean, I don't get I don't get anything negative
thrown at me, you know, as far as that, you know what
I mean. It's just I've had a lot of people talk about that,
you know, just the image doesn't match the music. But I'm all right
with that too, you know. Yeah, No, I think that's cool.
I think that that makes it very intriguing. Um. I I enjoyed
being surprised when I saw your picture and then I heard the music. I
enjoyed being surprised. There's something just cool about that, so um, you
know. And I not that I would have minded if it were super heavier,
you know, because I love that stuff too. I love all kinds
of music. But um, but it was. But I remember, in
fact, I think Jenny and I had a conversation about it. I think
I said her I was like, oh wow, I didn't expect I didn't
expect this to be the sound. But it's pretty cool. And I can't
think of anyone contemporary who really sounds like you. You know, it is
kind of an old school garage band vibe. And do you find, uh,
is there anybody in your area who's who's doing kind of what you're doing,
because if you're out in the scene playing shows, I would assume there's
other musicians who you're opening for, they're opening for you and you're kind of
teaming up with or or maybe not. Are there other musicians in your area
who kind of fit in with what you're doing, who you can play shows
with it and it seems to work. Uh, it kind of depends.
I played a show in Meansburg last November and it seemed like it fit there
with the with the selection of people that they had and I opened up for
there was four bands including myself. Yeah, and it's something to fit there.
But I've had I've been other places where it just it was just outstanding
compared to everything else because it was just so different, you know what I
mean. Yeah, No, that's cool though. That's um you know,
it helps you stand out, and I think that's um probably a helpful thing.
You know. Sometimes musicians will you know, I talk to them and
they're kind of like, well, I don't know. Sometimes I worry that
what I'm doing sounds too different. It's like, but yeah, that's how
you stand out. If you sound like whatever's currently trendy or whatever you think
you're supposed to sound like rather than what you want to sound like. Then
you know, you just kind of end up being one in the pack.
But if you can if you can stand out and be unique, um,
that's what helps get people interested in what you're doing. Um. I always
use the example of what if What if Kurt Cobain had had told Dave Grohl
and Chris nova Selik, you know, I think we should. You know,
the hair bands are are pretty successful right now. I think Nirvana should
sound like them. You know what would have happened exactly, you know,
but he did what he wanted, and they did what they wanted to together
and ended up being one of the biggest bands of all time. So,
um, so I did what you're doing. So, um, when does
g R five come out? Do you have an ETA on that when the
full album comes out? I keep changing it. It keeps getting pushed back
and pushed back. Yeah, I'm hoping now by the end of September,
you know. Yeah, so I still gotta bob. I have two other
tracks that are finished. I gotta finish up like mixing and everything. Then
I have four other tracks that I'm working on, So let's just take them
a long time with everything going on, to get these things done and done
the way I want to have him done, you know. So yeah,
yeah, and everything everything that you've released so far, it's all available on
Spotify for people who want to check it out. Yes, everywhere excellent,
excellent. By the way, when the album is h is ready, is
there any kind of a a theme to it or any anything that because this
will be your first full length, right the others have been singles and EPs?
Yes, is do you have any kind of Is there any kind of
a theme with the album, because it seems like with what you're doing,
I could imagine you having a theme to it. Um, there is a
theme and there's not a theme. It's not really something I can say,
well it's is you know, a venture in outer space or some kind of
physical theme like that. It's just more like I want to I'm trying to
break into a segment, a little different segment with what I'm doing. You
know, it's not much different from what I was doing before, but it's
still a little different. It's enough to I think it's going to do,
you know, I hopefully do better, you know, than the last releases.
But there's really I mean a physical set a theme down. I can't
really place one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just curious,
by the way, for people watching online, that was Peter White. I
was just waving at who was in the room momentarily Peter White from the Morning
Show. He always he'll come in and he'll go like do the shust sound,
So I don't acknowledge that he's here, but wow, all right,
that's Peter White. Um right, that's right, all right? Uh well,
Grim, what should people know? Um? What do you want to
make sure that our listeners know? Who want to keep up with what you're
doing online? How to get your music, how to uh you know,
we might have people in your area who want to catch a show. Um,
just fill us in on what people should know about social media and anything
else, or how they can get one of these school shirts. Thank you
again for the shirt. I absolutely love it, and the sticker and the
stick yeah yeah, yeah, the shirts. I did have a web store
up and I didn't do very well with it, so I took it down.
Oh okay, honestly, I mean I just you know, yeah,
but I'll send anybody decals though, you know what I mean. So if
anybody wants to send me a d M an address, I'll mailma deco.
Oh very nice, very nice. But to keep up with things, I
mean just Grim rock and roll dot com. You know, I do have
a big website. It's really filled up with things. Um, and they
can catch me if they put at Grim rock and roll and spell it all
out in one word, they can find me anywhere. So yeah, yeah,
outstanding. I'm gonna um, I'm gonna close out the segment with this
track Haunted, one of the ones you sent us that I really like a
lot. I like all of them, but and I think I think Don't
You is my favorite. It's just so catchy. But I really like the
song Haunted. So we'll we'll we'll play that in just a moment. But
m Grim, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been
wonderful, really nice to talk to you. I really like the music.
And when the album comes out, we'll definitely have to have you back.
Absolutely, and I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate your opportunity.
Oh great, absolutely, my friend. Absolutely all right, it is wonderful
to speak with you. I'm gonna hit this track and uh, but we
will we will talk to you very soon. I'm sure all right, thank
you, I hope so all right, you got a man, take care?
Bye bye, all right. That was wonderful. That was grim from
grim Rock, And we're gonna play this, uh, this track Haunted.
If you missed it, we did the world radio premiere of the new single
don't You. But I have a feeling you'll be uh, you'll be hearing
that again on the show in the future. That might be one of our
one of our songs that we play now and then, because I really like
it a lot. But I like this one too, So let's give this
a listen. This is grim Rock. This is called Haunted. We're gonna
give this a spin and then we'll come back and get into some more stuff
on the show today. This is Matt Connerton unleashed. We are live from
the studios of Whin three FM, and here it is. This is Haunted
by grim Rock. To the Cree recalls people playing nether Side that day from
in Ri from the bla in your mind, yes say winness now wid coming
coming my right, I leave in your mind. Why you riding your mind
in your right eye, while in your mind your bi in your man.
Welcome back, everybody, as we cruise in our final segment today of 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 and hello to alv our online listeners a
usination 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, etcetera, etcetera. Today is Wednesday, July twelve, two
thousand twenty three. So nice have you all with me. Thank you again
to grim Rock for joining us or Grimm from grim Rock. We did the
world radio premiere of the new single at Don't You So If you miss that,
of course you can check the archive of the show after the show is
done at WMNH Radio dot org and of course my website Matt Connerton dot com.
We also in the first hour we were joined by our friend Eric Pilcher,
my favorite conservative all the way from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We had
a great discussion. But as we a cruise into our final segment today,
the phone line is open if you would like to join us if you have
something on your mind. Six zo three two five six Z seven six zo
three two five h six Z seven is the studio line. 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 endo Pine in the Facebook live
chat. But the best thing to do so that we can hear and enjoy
your dulcet tones is give us a call at six three two five six seven
six three two five six seven. I do want to probably save it for
tomorrow. I don't think I've got any guests booked tomorrow, so I do
want to at some point, as I've been teasing and teasing, I want
to get into the recent Supreme Court decisions and kind of analyze those. But
that's a big discussion that's going to take more time than we have left today,
So probably gonna shoot for tomorrow on that Friday's show. Very excited about.
So of course, on Friday, not only do we have Eric Pilcher's
classic film review, and this week the subject is the film Vacation National Lampoon's
vacation to be more precise. But also my friend Dave Wally is going to
be joining us in the second hour and we're gonna feature some tracks from Satellite
Union, his band, and Dave is I went to high school with Dave,
a very talented musician. And also I'd booked at least one or maybe
more events for a band that he was in after high school called October Suns.
But Dave does a lot of great stuff. Very talented guy and really
looking forward to Friday's show. Let's see. So we've got a lot coming
up. But I think right now, oh by the way, the reason
Peter White was here too because I did reference it, he's gonna be doing
the He's gonna be at the I think he's running at the movies at the
park up the street, Victory Park. I think it is tonight. The
film is Goonies, So if you'd like to see Goonies, I just hope
it doesn't rain. It did cloud up out there, but that will be
there and you can go there and say hello to Peter White of The Morning
Show with Peter White, which of course airs weekdays from seven to nine am
here on WMNH with a replay from two to four pm right before this show.
But some breaking media news And I did want to ask Eric about this
because we do discuss media quite a bit on the during our discussions during our
segment on Wednesdays, but we just didn't have time. But this news has
broken actually right before I got on the air today. I think Fox News
has another lawsuit on their hands. They're being sued for defamation by Trump supporter
Ray Apps over January six conspiracy claims. Now, if the name Ray Apps
is familiar to you, but you're not quite sure how you know it,
he was the gentleman who was at the January six insurrection, as I like
to call it. Not everyone agrees that that is an appropriate term, but
I stand by it. Insurrection, of course, being defined as a by
Webster's I believe is a violent uprising against a government or authority. So I
don't know how it's not an insurrection, So that is my editorial choice to
use that term. Um. But anyway, Ray Epps was there. But
one of the one of the things that insurrection apologists will try to use to
uh downplay the event is they'll they'll say it you know, it was the
FBI's fault, and they'll of course, Chris Ray today did testify before Congress,
Chris Ray ahead of the FBI. We might might get to that tomorrow
as well. I don't think we'll get to it today. But um,
Tucker Carlson was putting forth the story some kind of an alarm outside. Tucker
Carlson was claiming that ray Epps was actually an undercover FBI agent, or or
maybe it was just that he was an FBI informant or something, but ray
Epps was working with the FBI, and that and that that that being evidence
that it was all the FBI's fault. January sixth Um, and this is
not true. Yes, actually it says right here. Yes, he was
accused of being an undercover FBI agent, which is not true. Ray Epps
actually was sincere in his Maga hood, his marauding Maga hood that day or
maganests and he was not working as an undercover FBI agent. But Tucker Carlson
would go on his show and say this even though you know, because you
don't need any evidence to believe in this nonsense. And now he is being
sued or I'm sorry, Fox News is being sued for defamation, and we
still don't know exactly, by the way, what went into Tucker Carlson's ouster
from Fox News. But one of the many theories, and I think this
has actually become a pretty prevalent theory, is that he was ousted because of
this lawsuit that was inevitably going to come. But there's other theories as well,
or it might have been a combination of things, and probably was.
This is from CNBC dot Com some key points. Fox News was sued for
defamation by Ray Epps four spreading falsehoods quote unquote that Epps was an undercover FBI
agent who was responsible for encouraging the mob of Trump backers that invaded the US
capital on January six, twenty twenty one. Epps's lawsuit in Delaware accused as
recently ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson of being the major proponent of that false
smear against the Arizona man. The suit comes months after Fox News's corporate parent
agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems seven hundred eighty seven point five million dollars to
settle that company's own defamation lawsuit against Foxcorp. Of making false claims about the
outcome of the twenty twenty presidential election. By the way, one of the
consequences seat you can really you can really ruin somebody's life by making false claims,
you know, like Ruby Freeman and uh is it Georgia? You know,
Uh? Trump claimed that Ruby Freeman was a what did he call her?
A notorious vote hustler in that call, you know, that quote unquote
perfect call he had with Brad Raffinsburger, and that went out publicly and then
next thing you know, Ruby Freeman is looking over her shoulder everywhere she goes
because you know, without any evidence or whatever. You know, Trump just
said that. I just bring that example up to say that, you know,
making a false accusation about somebody based on nothing can really ruin somebody's life.
Ray Apps is effectively at his life ruined because imagine, imagine if you're
say, for example, you know, you've got some militia buddy who you
know, think you're one of them, and then they're watching Tucker Carlson at
night, and Tucker Carlson is telling them that that you're actually an undercover FBI
agent and you're not really one of them, one of these militia. Dudes,
Well, guess who's gonna come knocking at your door pretty soon in a
rage when they've just learned from Tucker Carlson falsely, but they don't know that
they've just learned from Tucker Carlson that you're you've this whole time, you've been
an undercover FBI agent, even though it's not true. You know what's gonna
happen to you, what's gonna happen to your family, and that's situation,
right, So he basically had to go into hiding. So he had his
life ruined, Ray Apps. He had his life ruined by Tucker Carlson going
on Fox News and saying this based on nothing. It says here some details
from the article. Again, this is from CNBC dot Com. Fox News
was sued for defamation today. This was this just happened today? Self described
Donald Trump supporter Ray Epps for spreading falsehoods that Epps was an undercover FBI agent
who was responsible for encouraging a mob of Trump backers that invaded the US capital
on January six, twenty twenty one. Yes, and an agent provocateur is
a term you'll often hear us. You know that this claim that there were
FBI agents there, who who were you know, trying to trying to get
everybody to act up, you know, as if, first of all,
I just find the notion of an absurd on its face. But also even
if that is true, that's still no excuse. In other words, if
you commit a crime because somebody encourages you to commit a crime, you've still
committed a crime. You don't just get to say, well, well,
somebody provoked me into doing this, so I just, you know, so
you can't hold me accountable. Somebody said, yeah, somebody, somebody tried
to get me to do something. Somebody told me, yeah, you should
go commit that crime, and I said, do Okay, I guess I
will. Can't hold me accountable. Doesn't work that way. The suit by
the Arizona resident Epps was filed nearly three months after Fox News's corporate parent agreed
to pay Dominion Voting Systems seven hundred eighty seven and a half million dollars to
settle that company's defamation lawsuit against Foxcorp. By making false claims about the outcome
of the twenty twenty presidential election. The suit by Epps, a former US
marine, yeah by the way that this is a veteran. This has been
done too, not that it should be done to anybody, but this is
someone who served his country, who had his life ruined by Tucker Carlson.
The suit by Epps, a former US Marine, said that as Fox recently
learned in the dominion case quote, its lies have consequences unquote. The suit
accuses former Fox News host Sucker Carlson, who has fired on the heels of
the dominion settlement, of being the primary promoter of the false conspiracy theory about
Epps. He was among the throng of supporters of then President Trump who gathered
outside the capital on jan six, And by the way, I believe he
was the primary promoter of that conspiracy theory on Fox. I don't know if
anyone else on Fox. I don't remember seen or hearing specific examples of anyone
else on Fox saying this. I think this was mainly coming from Tucker Carlson.
Epps and other Trump backers believed false claims by Trump and his allies that
the twenty twenty presidential election had been rigged in favor of President Joe Biden.
A joint session of Congress was set to confirm Biden's victory that day, and
we all know that. Quote. In the aftermath of the events of January
six, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or
the Republican Party unquote, said Epps's complaint filed in these aimed Delaware Superior Court,
where Dominions sued. Quote. Eventually they turned on one of their own,
telling a fantastical story in which Ray Epps, who was a Trump supporter
that participated in the protests on January sixth, was an undercover FBI agent and
was responsible for the mob that violently broke into the Capitol and interfered with the
peaceful transition of power for the first time in this country's history. Unquote.
Again, that's from the lawsuit Epps and his complaints said Fox News. Fox
News's quote lies have destroyed unquote his and his wife, Robbin's lives. The
suit also said that in May, the US Department of Justice notified Epps quote
that it would seek to charge him criminally for events on January six, twenty
twenty one, two and a half years later. Unquote. The complaints said,
quote, the relentless attacks by Fox and mister Carl's and the resulting political
pressure likely resulted in the criminal charges, Although it is difficult to believe that
the Department of Justice would have pursued this matter if Fox had not focused its
lies on Epps. Ultimately, the criminal charges conclusively demonstrate the falsehood of the
story that mister Carlson and Fox told about Epps. Epps was not a federal
agent. He was a loyal Fox viewer and Trump's supporter. Unquote. Fox
News Today sought to have Epps's lawsuit transferred to US District Court in Delaware.
A Fox spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
So we kind of knew this was coming, this particular development, and it
is. It is here. It has arrived. But we'll move on from
that. Something else that is very very important, and we only have a
little bit of time left. But it appears that Ukraine is on its way
to becoming a member of NATO, but not yet. So there is a
path. You know, you often hear seems like usually in politics when you
hear the word path, you're a path to citizenship when we're talking about immigration,
but no, a path to being a member of NATO. For Ukraine.
Zolenski had been a very unhappy you know, he almost he almost didn't
go to h He almost didn't go to this meeting. He was threatening to
not show up at the G seven meeting for the NATO summit. But uh,
you know, and I thought he was probably pushing a little harder than
he should have. But today it was announced and Biden gave a speech in
Lithuania which was actually about broader issues about NATO. But but that was part
of it. Of course, this is from CNN assurances that Ukraine's future is
in NATO and new security guarantees Kam Morris at final day of summit. So
Zolenski what he had been pushing for was he wanted INTNATO now. But obviously
that you can't do that because if we were to if NATO were to make
Ukraine it's thirty third member as they're now finalizing by the way, Sweden,
Turkey, Urdawan of Turkey has said that because in order to bring new members
in TONATO, it has to be a unanimous vote, so you have to
have everybody the thirty plus countries that are already in NATO have to vote yay
to allow a new country in and Turkey. While when Finland and Sweden were
initially seems like a year ago now, maybe it was when they were initially
considered and wanted to join NATO. Finland got in relatively quickly, I believe,
but Sweden has been held up by Urduwan in Turkey. Turkey I always
say, probably the least helpful member of NATO, but they are, they
are a member of NATO, They're part of the family. And Urduwan finally
agreed to let Sweden in. So Sweden is in. There's um a theory
that part of that might have to do with the f sixteens that Turkey is
now getting from the United States. Obviously, Biden had to give Turkey something
to talk Urduwan into agreeing to allow Sweden to get in. But Sweden's getting
in, so Ukraine is next, it looks like. But it can't happen
right away because it can't happen as long as Ukraine is still war with Russia.
Obviously, now, the way that Zolanski was pushing for this was he
was suggesting that he wanted Ukraine and NATO now, and he wants NATO to
help, but we can't, as I say all the time on the show,
and we discuss this, you know, there's always people, there's always
people out there who would say, oh, we gotta do more, and
we gotta you know, NATO, it's time for NATO to directly confront Russia.
Can't happen. It simply can't happen. It's much too dangerous if we
go to war with Russia directly. I mean, you know, we're effectively
fighting a proxy war in a sense already, but if we directly engage Russia
militarily, that would likely escalate very quickly into well, a nuclear exchange,
which we can't allow to happen. So Ukraine cannot be a part of NATO
until until Russia withdraws from Ukraine. So that could be a while. Now.
Biden seem to indicate that he thought it might be a couple of months.
I think this war might very well drag on for years, much like
you know, I mean, hey, the Russians are used to something like
that. How long were they in Afghanistan? Not as long as we were,
necessarily, But I mean, I really do think that's a possibility.
I'm actually surprised when people say, well, you know, maybe a few
more months and then Russia will finally have no choice but to withdraw. I
think that's been very optimistic, so it might be years before Ukraine is actually
in NATO. But we can't allow them in in an official capacity because we
can't trigger Article five, which then puts all of NATO at war with Russia.
Now I agree with some ambivalence. I basically agree that Ukraine should be
allowed in to NATO, but I also agree with that being delayed until the
issue with Russia is resolved for obvious reasons. The other thing that has been
a subject of great controversy recently is the Biden administration deciding to give cluster bombs
to the Ukrainian military to use. And that's that's been quite controversial, and
I think it's something upon which reasonable people can disagree and not terribly partisan either.
There are some both Republicans and Democrats who have been very critical of the
Biden administration. There is a treaty which says that we don't use cluster bombs,
but the United States never actually signed on to that treaty, so we're
under no obligation to not use them. It's been our policy not to use
them, but we are going to use them or I'm sorry, we're not
using them. We're giving them to Ukraine to use, and those cluster bombs
will help, might help significantly. The Russians use them. We don't use
them because of them. And again this is why the objections to it are
not unreasonable, and I'm open to those arguments. But the reason we're not
supposed to use them, why using them is discouraged is because the cluster bombs,
it's like they've got well they're called that because they have a cluster of
smaller bombs inside the larger bomb. So when the cluster bomb is detonated,
smaller bombs or they're actually called bomblets are released and dispersed effectively, and then
they explode and on impact and cause all kinds of damage. But the problem
is not all of these bomblets necessarily detonate. So if you drop a cluster
bomb and the bomblets dispersed, but you have maybe one or two that don't
detonate on impact, now what you effectively have is minds. You have minds
where wherever those undetonated bomblets land. And this has been a big problem,
for example in Laos where they're still trying to find all the all all of
these where cluster bombs have been used, where they've left behind these mines where
you know, again you've got a child walking along, walking through a field,
doesn't know that that's there, touches it, steps on, it ends
up getting killed. So it's very, very dangerous. The reason I agree,
though, the rationale for why these cluster bombs are being given to Ukraine
with our blessing to use them is because they're running out of munitions. And
so the calculation, and Biden himself said, you know that he had to
be convinced. It took a while to convince him to do this because he
understood its contra diversial and the potential consequences. But the thing of it is,
and I agree with this assessment, again with ambivalence, but I agree,
if Ukraine is allowed to run out of ammunition, it's over. This
will have all been for nothing. If Ukraine runs out of ammunition, the
Russians will then be able to take over. They will finally be able to
fulfill their mission of conquering Ukraine. So yeah, you can say all you
want to, well, it's not right to use these cluster bombs because of
the potential consequences after the war where you have these unexploded minds effectively. But
if it's not going to matter, if if, if you don't do this
and you just ultimately you're handing the Russians of victory, you know, then
you haven't. I guess what I'm saying is there really is no other option.
It's a last resort type of thing. So I agree with the decision.
I understand the objections, but again, if you allow them, if
you don't give them the cluster bombs, and you allow them to run out
of ammunition, then this is all this is all for not and you know
the Russians will win at that point. That's my view of it. So
so I agree with the decision, and as far as letting Ukraine and Tornato
again, I basically agree. I The only thing I worry about with that
is how will Putin respond? And I don't mean that I think I'm as
concerned. I'm always concerned about Putin responding to anything that we do in this
area in an escalatory way. But that's always a worry. But what I'm
also can concerned about is because Putin has been arguing he argues to his people
to keep them compliant and to keep them believing in him effectively, and using
Russian state media to do that. He puts forth the rationale that this war
is not Russia versus Ukraine, it's Russia versus NATO. And I'm a little
bit worried that now, by opening this path for Ukraine to become a part
of NATO, that that actually plays into Putin's hands a little bit rhetorically,
and that it makes it It does make it easier, I think for him
to make that argument, put forth that argument to the Russian people, see,
look what's happening now, Ukraine's being welcomed into NATO. See it really
is it's us versus NATO. We're not at war with Ukraine, We're at
war with all of NATO. I think this makes it easier for him make
that argument. But I also think that it's entirely possible, and again this
is on the pro Ukraine being given this opportunity side of the Ledger. I
also think it's entirely possible that Putin will see this and begin to really think,
Okay, I've got to find an off ramp here, because not only
I mean he might be thinking, unless he's just too arrogant to confront this
reality. If he is thinking, if he is still a rational actor,
as we say, I would think he might be thinking, Okay, it's
bad enough that not only did NATO not fall apart, but that they've hung
together and added two more countries in Finland and Sweden. Bad enough all of
that, but now on top of that, Ukraine is now going to be
joining NATO. I've got to find a way out of this. We'll see.
I'm hopeful that that is where this goes, but I don't think it's
going to be. And anybody who says, well, you know, we've
got a few more months and then you know Ukraine can be a part of
NATO that I think has been unrealistically optimistic. Unfortunately, I think this is
all going to drag on for a while, and Zelenski is going to have
to be a little patient. But I mean he did get I mean,
this is a big step though, This is a big step. This is
a change because prior to this it had been no, no, no,
Ukraine's not ready. Ukraine's not ready. Now now Ukraine probably is ready or
will be soon. But we can't allow that to happen. Yet Tom Blanchard
in the chat room says, the Russians are deliberately planting land mines. Yeah,
well that's what I mean, Tom, it's you know, the Russians
are doing this anyway, so the cluster bombs. For Ukraine to be able
to use these cluster bombs, I don't think it's bad. I mean again,
they have to map. They have to map where they're using these because
if this works and it does repel Russia and they do eventually withdraw, they're
gonna have to go back and find all the unexploded bomblets. So they have
to map this, and they have to do this very carefully and accurately.
Chris Rose from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts joins us Hichris in the chat room.
But we gotta go, we are out of time. Thank you again to
grim from grim Rock, and thank you again, of course to our friend
Eric Pilcher, everybody in the chatroom, everyone who call it today, and
if you miss any partner today's show it we'll be up in just a little
bit at WMH radio dot org and on my website Matt Connerton dot com.
Goonies in the Park tonight. If you get a chance, swing down there,
say hello to Peter White. And if you're listening live on Wednesday,
but leave a replay of Grantited. State of Mind is coming up next with
the Great Rob as a Veto, and I'll talk to y'all a little bit
later. Here's a little more grim rock to play us out today. By
everybody I know, is that I never doubt here I see it's all inside
of you, sky b