WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:02.919 This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI 2 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.839 AM six forty The Gary and Shannon Show on demand 3 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.240 on the iHeartRadio app. 4 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.199 Macy's is ramping up store closures this year, struggling to 5 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:13.880 revive its business. In February, they announced that they're going 6 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:17.120 to shutter one hundred and fifty of the underperforming Macy's 7 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:19.519 stores within a few years, including fifty five by the 8 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.480 end of this year. Now, they said they're going to 9 00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:24.679 close sixty five locations by the end of this year. 10 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:25.719 They said they're going to. 11 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.600 Stay open through the holidays, let you shop, and then 12 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:33.439 do probably a massive clearance sale before they close for 13 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.799 good before the end of December. At this point, Macy's 14 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.840 has not yet announced which of the sixty five which 15 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:42.520 of their stores would make up the sixty five that 16 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:45.640 are supposed to be closing. Rams beat the forty nine 17 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:48.560 Ers last night, twelve to six. Thursday Night football and 18 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:51.920 Army Navy game is tomorrow afternoon, and then the college 19 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.079 bowl season starts Jackson State Tigers against South Carolina State 20 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.960 Bulldogs at the Cricket Celebration Bowl and the Salute to 21 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.640 Veterans Bowl between South Alabama Jaguars in the Western Michigan Broncos. 22 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.920 Trump is going to the Army Navy game. That's where 23 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:11.719 we start swampwatch. Swamp is horrible. 24 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:13.159 The government doesn't work. 25 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:13.959 Man. 26 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.920 We're gonna make us like an reality TV show. Corn 27 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:21.079 wasn't bad? Doos always a pleasure to be anywhere from Washington, DC. 28 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:25.280 Ay Joe, a town all too clearly built on a 29 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.920 swamp and in so many ways still a swamp. 30 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:29.159 I have a bunch of malarkey. 31 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:31.040 When he said drained the swamp, I said, Oh, that's 32 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:35.480 so he'll keep wash, you know the thing. So this 33 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:38.280 is Trump's fifth appearance at the game, the Army Navy 34 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:41.560 game he went as president, elected in twenty sixteen, and 35 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:45.719 then as president in eighteen, nineteen, and twenty. He's also 36 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:49.120 going to be on the sideline with Pete Haig Seth. 37 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.799 Of course, his pick for Defense Secretary, former Army Major 38 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.560 Ron DeSantis, will be there. Former Navy lawyer who will 39 00:01:57.680 --> 00:01:58.760 join Trump. 40 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:02.920 Jd. 41 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:07.439 Vance has invited Daniel Penny, the marine veteran recently evacuated 42 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:08.759 on the homicide charges. 43 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:09.159 Up in New York. 44 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:13.560 So that's going to be a good, low scoring game, 45 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:17.000 I think, is it Armies or Navy. One of them 46 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.039 is ranked at like number twenty two in the country. 47 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.840 They've had a great year, so it might not even 48 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:23.599 be a close game, but it will not be an 49 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:24.800 airborne game. 50 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:28.120 They will not. It's just they never passed the ball. 51 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:28.599 They don't. 52 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:31.479 I mean, I think last year they one of those 53 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.319 last one of the last couple of years they combined 54 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:37.599 for I think five pass attempts the entire game, like 55 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:40.719 it was being played in nineteen twenty eighth, something like that. 56 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:44.719 Nancy Pelosi is in the hospital. She was put in 57 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.360 the hospital in Luxembourg today after she was injured while traveling. 58 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:53.039 Now at this point, the spokesperson for the speaker Amerita, 59 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:58.199 said that she sustained an injury during an official engagement. 60 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:01.120 No details on the nature of the injury or how 61 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:03.159 it happened, but said that she was admitted to a 62 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:08.120 hospital for evaluation. According to somebody who was familiar with 63 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:10.840 the incident but is not authorized to comment, they said 64 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:15.240 that Nancy tripped going down marble stairs at the Grand 65 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.479 Ducal Palace and took a hard fall, which is never 66 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:25.479 good news and could be particularly bad news for someone 67 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:28.360 who's the age of eighty four. Regardless of what kind 68 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.520 of condition she's in going into that fall. This has 69 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:36.159 become a nursing home, and that's not necessarily good news 70 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.599 for the country. Mitch McConnell, of course, tripped and fell 71 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:43.560 in the Capitol after the Republican luncheon. He sprained his wrists, 72 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:46.120 sustained a small cut on his face. He's the one 73 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:50.400 who's frozen up several times. Nancy also wears four inch 74 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.240 stiletto heels wherever she goes, so that may have been 75 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:54.560 an issue on the marks. 76 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:56.639 So silly. 77 00:03:57.479 --> 00:04:00.240 We've heard about the pardons, of course, the commutation and 78 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.319 pardons that President Biden handed out earlier this week. One 79 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:09.680 of those pardons is commutations, I should say, is getting 80 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:15.520 particular attention because a judge, a former judge, Michael Conahan, 81 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:24.000 was convicted of corruption and sentenced to jail for seventeen 82 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.360 years because he was taking kickbacks for sending kids to 83 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:35.279 for profit detention facilities. He was sharing in two point 84 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:38.319 eight million dollars in the illegal payments from the builder 85 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:42.600 and the co owner of a couple of for profit lockups. 86 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:45.120 Another one of the judges also involved in the scheme. 87 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.879 The scandal is considered Pennsylvania's largest ever judicial corruption scheme, 88 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:54.639 with the state Supreme Court throwing out some four thousand 89 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:58.160 juvenile convictions involving more than twenty three hundred kids. After 90 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:01.800 this thing was uncovered again, the judge Michael Conahan pleaded 91 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:05.240 guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, but was released 92 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:09.439 from prison to home confinement because of his age over 93 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.519 the age of seventy and COVID when he had six 94 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.519 years left in his sentence. So some of the people 95 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.319 in what Joe Biden likes to refer to as his 96 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:20.079 hometown of Scranton, PA are a little pissed off that 97 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:25.160 he let this judge commuted the sentence for that judge. 98 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:29.839 I just want to corrections and retractions. I mean, not 99 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:32.319 really corrections or retractions, but something to keep an eye 100 00:05:32.360 --> 00:05:33.879 on if you're going to watch the Army Navy game. 101 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:40.279 Bryson Daly is the quarterback for Army, and his twenty 102 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:44.040 nine touchdowns is a record in the AAC. He's having 103 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:45.839 a hell of a year, breaking all the one. 104 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:46.720 Team nine touchdowns. 105 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:49.399 Yeah, actually a lot of upsetment that he wasn't in 106 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:54.079 the Heisman conversation. Apparently he is. He's a toss it. 107 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:54.720 He can run it. 108 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.560 He's like a linebacker running the ball, they say, so 109 00:05:57.680 --> 00:05:59.040 that might be exciting to watch. 110 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:02.519 It's gonna be chili. It's not gonna be a snowy 111 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:04.519 like it was before, but it is going to be chili. 112 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.920 Everywhere's chili. Aren't we under the Lake effect for more? 113 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.000 Most of the northeast where it's like below zero this weekend. 114 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:14.800 I didn't think it was gonna be that cold. I 115 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:16.319 thought it was gonna be like twenties maybe. 116 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:19.000 Remember the woman who claimed she was raped by the 117 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:21.000 duke all lacrosse players. 118 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.959 Can you believe that was nearly twenty years ago? That's crazy. 119 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.240 Now, she says she made up the whole story. It's 120 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:30.199 the first time she's admitted that publicly. She was on 121 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:34.319 a podcast. Crystal Magnum. Is her name, Crystal Mangum, Mangum. 122 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:35.160 Excuse no, no, no. 123 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.079 I fell for that too. I did that multiple times. 124 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:40.680 I said her name wrong, but I checked the spelling 125 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:42.240 a couple of times. Crystal Mangum. 126 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:49.120 They trusted me that I wouldn't betrayed their trust, and 127 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:55.959 I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped 128 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.000 me when they didn't, and that was wrong. 129 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.040 I already a whole conversation of race black. These were 130 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:10.040 white lacrosse players. She was black, and about just class 131 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:15.959 and race and wealth in this country and privilege. 132 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:19.160 And does do those things give you more or less 133 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.839 believability when something happens or you say something happens. 134 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:24.160 You know? 135 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.279 That was That was well before we had the Me 136 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.120 Too movement where we talked about believing all women. 137 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:33.839 But everybody jumped onto her train. 138 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:36.920 To support her because her description of it was was 139 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:42.279 so egregious. And these kids, I mean, these were college 140 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:50.000 kids whose reputations were completely destroyed by her. There continues 141 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:53.360 to be some earthquakes that are rattling right along the 142 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.439 one hundred and fifty mile long New Madrid fault line 143 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:59.120 in the Midwest. Scientists have warned that the fault line 144 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:02.240 could general rate of magnitude seven or higher in the 145 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:04.639 next fifty years. And the earthquakes in the last few 146 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.680 days have all been really small, especially by California standards. 147 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.480 They've been three point zero or less smaller. But they 148 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.240 said that even that many quakes of that size are 149 00:08:13.399 --> 00:08:16.720 very unusual in that area. For us, it's Tuesday, for them, 150 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.680 it's batten down the hatches. The big one is coming. 151 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:21.759 Back in DC. 152 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:24.680 Big report that came out from the Inspector General of 153 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.879 the Justice Department took a long time, but he said 154 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.399 that there were more than two dozen confidential human sources 155 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.679 in the crowd outside the Capitol on January sixth. And 156 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:36.960 there's an important distinction, and it depends on where you 157 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.600 read this story. The headline is there were no FBI 158 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:45.159 agents in the crowd. That's one headline. The other headline 159 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:50.200 is there were twenty six chs's and the confidential human 160 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:55.519 sources in the crowd. Now, many of them were not 161 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.480 instructed to go there by the FBI, but a few 162 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:03.320 of them were because they they were following or providing 163 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.559 information to the FBI about some of these suspect groups. 164 00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:09.639 Proud Boys was one of them, and they said that 165 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:14.720 many of the people of the two dozen who were 166 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:20.919 there at the Capitol on the January sixth, they said 167 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.960 seventeen of them did enter the restricted capital buildings or grounds. 168 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:28.320 None of those guys have been arrested. Three of the 169 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.399 informants referred to in the report as confidential human sources 170 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:35.480 were tasked specifically by the FBI field officers to go 171 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.360 to DC to report on subjects that were part of 172 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:45.480 domestic terrorism investigations. So they're keeping their eyes on specific 173 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:48.200 people for the FBI. But the FBI for a very 174 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:50.240 long time. I mean, if you remember, Christopher Ray, the 175 00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:52.799 director of the FBI, had said that there was no 176 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:57.879 violence that was perpetrated by FBI agents or sources. 177 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.679 Asking whether the violence at the capital on January sixth 178 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:05.639 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and 179 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:10.919 or agents, the answer is emphatically no, saying not violence 180 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.120 orchestrated by FBI sources or agents. 181 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:16.759 And it's one of those where it's kind of splitting hairs. 182 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:20.519 People are banging on Christopher Ray for lying about whether 183 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:23.720 or not FBI sources were there that day. He's saying 184 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.519 there were no agents there that day and that none 185 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:30.080 of the agents or sources did anything to foment any. 186 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:30.519 Of the violence. 187 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.360 Democrats may be getting honest with themselves. At least one Democrat. 188 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:40.360 Her name is Molly Murphy. She has delivered a speech. 189 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:44.320 This is the first post election meeting of the DNC 190 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:49.840 and the leadership there and she was Molly Murphy was 191 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.120 upholster to the Harris campaign. And she said today to 192 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:58.639 top Democratic Party officials that they must confront Trump far 193 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:02.840 differently differently than they did during his first term. She 194 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:05.799 had an urgent message for them not to focus on 195 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.720 every outrage but instead argue that he's hurting voters' bottom 196 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:16.320 lines their pocket books. It was a quiet indictment of 197 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:20.000 much of the party's long standing approach to Trump, and 198 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.000 they say it marked one of the most candid conversations 199 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.279 that Democrats have had. She said, the twenty twenty five 200 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:29.679 playbook cannot be the twenty seventeen playbook. This was at 201 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:33.440 the Higatt Regency in DC. She said that most Americans 202 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.679 support Trump's transition and that voters don't care about who 203 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:40.559 he's putting in cabinet positions. She said that Trump's going 204 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:42.960 to take office more popular than he was when he 205 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.080 first started his first term, though not as well liked 206 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:49.000 as Joe Biden and Obama when they were inaugurated. But 207 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:52.039 she stresses that Trump's strength for years has been that 208 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.600 voters approve of his handling of the economy and that 209 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:58.360 Democrats should aim in his second term to change that. 210 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.240 She said, these votes are saying I will give him 211 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:03.759 a pass on the outrageous if my costs come down. 212 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.159 That's what they need to hear. 213 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.879 Yeah, that's what they want. I mean, well, they don't 214 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:10.799 may not want to hear that. They don't write that 215 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:11.279 is what they do. 216 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:13.879 That was probably be a very unpopular speech because they 217 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.480 love the outrage. They love the can you believe this guy? 218 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.399 The incoming president elect administration to Trump administrations likely, they said, 219 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:25.759 to bring changes to seafood. Some of the industry said 220 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:28.679 the returning president will be I've never heard that term before, 221 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:32.080 but it makes sense. The returning president will be more 222 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:36.960 responsive to the seafood sector of the US economy. More 223 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:40.519 complicated picture, they said. Trump's pending trade hostilities with some 224 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:42.879 of our trading partners they set on the table for 225 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.639 tariffs with Canada and China, of course, could make an 226 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:49.720 already pricey kind of protein more expensive. But conservationists are 227 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:53.840 fearing that the president's emphasis on deregulation might jeopardize the 228 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:57.759 fish stocks that are already suffering. Many in the commercial 229 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:00.480 fishing and seafood processing industry said they do you expect 230 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:03.840 Trump to allow fishing and protected areas cracked down on 231 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:06.639 some of the offshore wind expansion, which can threaten some 232 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:09.840 of those populations. Also, Donald Trump's cabinet choices are not 233 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.679 normal to sen its confirmation process should be to be 234 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:17.840 published alongside one that made the opposite point. But because 235 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.200 of a tight deadline and because, according to The New 236 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.559 York Times, the LA Times editors were baffled by his demand, 237 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.879 so they just spiked the article and couldn't come up 238 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:29.879 with the second version of it in time. Prior to 239 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:33.600 the election, of course, you remember he spiked the planned 240 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:35.039 endorsement of Kamala Harris. 241 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:39.480 Guess whose birthdays are being celebrated today? 242 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.399 Today is December thirteenth. 243 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:48.600 Yes, two celebrities, Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift and Front of 244 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:50.919 the Show John Bon, Jovie, Dick Van Dijk. 245 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:52.919 Oh, if it's right, ninety nine today? 246 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.960 Yes, yes, safe marked safe from the Malibu fire. 247 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:59.600 Escape the fire with his wife Arlene and his cat Bobo. 248 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:01.840 Thanks to a couple of neighbors. If I'm not mistaken, 249 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:03.519 they helped them get out. That's why we check on 250 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:08.080 our friends when the fires come, right, you don't. 251 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:11.440 Listen to them. Of Jesus, Well, we hears it different 252 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:12.039 in sound. 253 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:14.919 Well, three years ago did the Center of our lives. 254 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:17.200 Something like that? Maybe it was two years ago. It 255 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:20.000 was two years ago because it was while mom was 256 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:20.879 not well. 257 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:21.200 Right. 258 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:23.799 This is the story is I was traveling up the 259 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:28.720 Central Coast to visit my mom when she was not well, 260 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:32.960 she was getting sicker, and as I'm driving home, this 261 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:39.720 song comes on the radio and I had never heard 262 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.000 it before. I guess i'd never heard I don't remember 263 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:43.559 hearing it. 264 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.200 One Sleep Sound the World of Difference. 265 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:49.600 Man, it was just the perfect song, perfect timing, it was, 266 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:51.120 and we can't get away from it now. 267 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.799 And then when my dad was dying, I would put 268 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:57.200 this on just and it's got got this like cathartic 269 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:01.639 feeling to it, right, So it's become kind of a 270 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.480 song we play all the time on the show, as 271 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.200 you know, and today we get to we get to 272 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.960 interview and talk to the singer of the Trumps of Jesus, 273 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:11.679 Russ Taff. 274 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:12.440 Welcome to the show. 275 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.840 Russ, Thanks guys, it's good to be here. 276 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:16.759 Man. 277 00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:18.240 I saw. 278 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:22.960 When we first started kind of learning about the song itself, 279 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.080 and then of course the recording that the Imperials did 280 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:26.279 that was the name of the group that you were 281 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:29.639 a part of. It brought in some pretty amazing things. 282 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.679 Tell us about your career in music. Was there something 283 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:34.799 you wanted to do as a kid and then you 284 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:35.840 get involved with it. 285 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:43.200 Well, yeah, I grew up by Fresno, in a little 286 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:47.600 town called Farmersville, California, by Bothelia and daddy was a 287 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:52.519 Pentecostal preacher and small little church about twenty people, and 288 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:58.360 music was just a big part of my family. And 289 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:02.559 my mother and her sisters for great singers, and they 290 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.320 told me I sank my first solo when I was 291 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:06.919 four years old. Mom put me on the altar and 292 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:11.600 I sang, and it was just a part of me. 293 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:14.399 I mean, I couldn't play sports very well. You know, 294 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:16.519 I'm short and slow, and there's not like a big 295 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:21.879 demand for that. But my deal was Mom taught me 296 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.360 how to play guitar when I was twelve, and I 297 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:28.159 would through the week, I would learn a song and 298 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:32.759 then Sunday night there was time and I would sing. 299 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:38.279 But something would happen to me when I sang. I 300 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:43.519 felt at home. I felt glory, I felt caught up 301 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:45.960 in something that was much bigger than me, and it 302 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:50.000 satisfied me. And when there's a lot of trauma in 303 00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:53.679 the home, there's just places of escape. That's just peace. 304 00:16:54.600 --> 00:17:00.120 And music has always been that for me, and I 305 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:04.000 mean I've done it my whole life, but it you know, 306 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:08.400 even alone. Music makes me cry, music makes me laugh, 307 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:12.240 music brings peace, you know, music makes me dance. And 308 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.759 so I have just been absorbed in it and never 309 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.559 knew that I would have a career, moved to Nashville 310 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:26.759 and travel worldwide, you know, writing songs and singing. But 311 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.119 I've just been blessed. I've been out here now forty 312 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:34.480 eight years and just came out with a new record 313 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:38.200 and new tours and everything else. So I've just been 314 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:41.519 so blessed, so blessed. But yeah, that song was one 315 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:46.720 of the first records I made with the Imperials, So yeah, 316 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:49.079 I still get a lot of requests for that. When 317 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.039 I traveled. 318 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:52.920 Russ you talked about trauma and the home, and I 319 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:56.359 was reading about your life and you had a rough 320 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:57.039 start there. 321 00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:02.559 Yes, yes I did. My daddy, like I said, he 322 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:07.880 was a preacher, but he was also an alcoholic and 323 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.000 there would be you know, he would preach like six 324 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:15.119 seven months and do really really well, and then he 325 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.440 would relapse big time and lay in the back bedroom 326 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:24.640 and drink and sober up and he loved to preach, 327 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.359 and there really was a call in his life that 328 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:32.319 he never got a handle on it. And so you know, 329 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:35.400 when when their addiction is going on in the home, 330 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:38.000 you know, you can stay out till like five in 331 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:41.240 the morning. Nobody cares because you know Mom's caught up 332 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:47.359 with him and her life is falling apart. But it was, 333 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:52.640 you know, and I've had three three brothers die from addiction. 334 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:58.039 It was just I don't know, it was by the 335 00:18:58.039 --> 00:19:00.599 time I was seven years old till he died in 336 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:05.240 ninety seven. He never got a hold of sobriety. And 337 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:08.759 so there was just constant chaos, just constant chaos. And 338 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:12.000 when you're a kid and you have to protect what's 339 00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:14.640 going on in the family, you know, you can't talk 340 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:19.759 outside the family, and so you know, you had to lie. 341 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:22.680 You just had to lie. And when you're a kid 342 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.000 and you love Jesus and you've been taught to be 343 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:28.359 a Christian, and all of a sudden, you're having to 344 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:32.960 not tell the truth of people when they wanted to know, 345 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:34.680 why is your dad not going to where? You know? 346 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:38.400 Why's your dad not in church? And so it just 347 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:42.960 tore the family all the pieces and I left the 348 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.759 home when I was seventeen. It was just I was 349 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:49.519 at a point I just could not live there anymore, 350 00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:53.440 and so I moved in with the family when I 351 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:58.240 was seventeen that just basically adopted me, and they've been 352 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:03.839 my parents of choice since I was seventeen. But trauma, 353 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:07.839 it follows you, you know, it just follows you. And 354 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:11.000 being told constantly in that household that you'll never be 355 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:14.000 good enough, you're not worth the bullet to shoot you with, 356 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:17.119 and you're just told that constantly. But that's what their 357 00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:20.400 parents told them. And so I get with the Imperials 358 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.839 when I'm twenty two years old and you're winning Grammys 359 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:27.720 and I remember the first one, and you know, the 360 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:31.640 party after the Grammys, and then you go back to 361 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:35.400 the hotel with my wife and within an hour, it's 362 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.400 gone the joy of the whole thing because I'm not 363 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:42.160 good enough. I shouldn't be getting this, I don't deserve this, 364 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:48.759 And you know, you never could really accept the success 365 00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:53.200 and you're singing in front of thousands of people and 366 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:57.359 you don't feel worthy because of those messages that were 367 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:02.160 just ingrained in your brain that you're not worthy, you're 368 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:05.200 not good enough. You'll never be good enough. But yet 369 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:09.000 you know you're living your dream, what you've always wanted 370 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:12.519 to do, and it's the greatest thing that can happen 371 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.599 to a singer. But when the concert was over, I'd 372 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:19.160 go to the back of the bus or go back 373 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:24.160 to the hotel, and then depression would come. I'm fooling everybody, 374 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:28.240 I'm faking out everybody, and I don't deserve this. So 375 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.599 you know, I went into my career just insecure and 376 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:37.519 afraid and afraid people will find out that I'm not 377 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:41.039 good enough to do this and I'm faking everybody out. 378 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:44.160 But it all started at trauma, you know, when I 379 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:48.279 was seven years old when dad started drinking. So it 380 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:54.759 caused chaos in my life. It's just absolutely retaboc. And 381 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.519 then you get married and because you grew up in 382 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.680 a home like that, you don't know how to love. 383 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:05.880 You know, love is conditional. And I tell you what 384 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:10.079 I've been in therapy thirty years. And then I had 385 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:15.519 my own doubt with alcoholism myself. I was twenty six. 386 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:19.279 I never drank, and I remember I had a beer 387 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:25.599 and those voices, those condemning voices, got quieter, and so 388 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:29.039 I had the second beer, and the voices got quieter, 389 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:33.160 and by the third beer, the voices were silent, those 390 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:38.400 condemning voices that haunted me, and honest to God, I 391 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:42.079 began to thank God. I you know, I'm Pentecostal, so 392 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:44.920 I lifted my hands and I began to say, this 393 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:47.880 must be the way, you know, ordinary people are, and 394 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.799 I can live this way. I can enjoy life, not 395 00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:53.839 knowing that it would turn on me so fast. And 396 00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:56.039 then all of a sudden, I'm hiding and I'm lying, 397 00:22:56.279 --> 00:22:59.759 and I turned into my dad and I hate myself. 398 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.359 I just absolutely hate myself. But there were some people 399 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:09.359 around me that I saw what was going on, because 400 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:11.480 I was hiding and I was lying, and I was 401 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:14.319