April 21, 2026 • 41 mins
8:05PM: Gov. Healey signs a Cannabis Reform Bill for MA. A look at the changes that will be made to Massachusetts' marijuana industry and the state agency that oversees it.
Guest: Steve Reilly - Head of Government Relations for Insa (a vertically integrated, independent cannabis company)
8:15PM: A Mickey Mantle 1965-67 Yankees Game-Used Bat Sells for $84k, a 1957-58 Topps Basketball Unopened 5 Cent Wax Pack NM 7 Nets $74k, and an Extremely Rare 1914 Boston “Miracle” Braves Ring Fetches $72k in Auction! A look at how much vintage baseball memorabilia is worth nowadays!
Guest: Jordan Gilroy - Director of Acquisitions at Lelands (the world’s first sports memorabilia and card auction house)
8:30PM: The National Association of Convenience Stores Foundation Nationwide Campaign To Honor First Responders with National Award Opens up Nominations for 2026 Including K9 Officers for the First Time.
Guest: Kevin O’Connell - Executive Director of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Foundation
8:45PM: What is the trend 'Nonnamaxxing'? Experts reveal why this trend may improve mental, physical health…
Guest: Dr. Christopher S. Taylor - mental health expert/therapist who heads up the Taylor Counseling Group
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm telling you Boston's Knees Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Thank you very much, Madison. As we move into a
Tuesday night, we had kind of a wild show last
night on Nightside, which I enjoyed, and I hope some
of you did as well. I hope all of you did,
whether you got planked or not. The only two people
got planked last night, I must have. They could have
been more. There could have been more. Anyway, good evening, everybody.
(00:28):
Welcome on into a Tuesday nine edition of Nightside. My
name is Dan Ray, the host of the program. We
have a great show lined up for you today. There
are developments in the Middle East tonight. President Trump has
extended the ceasefire. H This was after the stock market
closed on a very down note. Today we'll get to
all of that. We'll also talk about the efforts to
(00:52):
reduce the state income tax here in Massachusetts, which is
now at five percent, to reduce it to four percent.
And we will be speaking with Jim Sturgios of the
Pioneer Institute. So that's that's the show beginning at nine o'clock.
But we have four really interesting guests on different topics Cannabis, sports, memorabilia,
(01:16):
a convenience store foundation that wants to reward canine dogs
around the country, and a trend called I guess it's
non maxing and it's exactly what it sounds like. But
to start things off, we're going to talk with Steve Riley.
Steve is joining us tonight. He's the head of government
(01:37):
relations and Steve the group says INSA. I must tell you,
I'm not familiar with INSERS. It's described as a vertically
integrated independent cannabis company. I'm sure you can explain to
us that to us in language everyone would understand. Welcome
to night Side.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I can do that. Thanks for having me on, Dan,
You're very welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Tell us what is and it's also looks like it's
capital I and then lowercase NSA. Is that a typo
or is that intentional?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
That's correct, and it's a conflation of indica and sativa,
the dominance trains of cannabis, so that the two words
together create INSA.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Gotcha, okay, And you're the head of governmental relations for INSA,
so not using a bad word here, But is that
a lobbying group a trade association? How would you describe
the group?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So INSA is a vertically integrated operator. We have cannabis
operations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. I grew
up in Springfield. We started the company a couple friends
of mine that I grew up with in the city.
We started in Massachusetts and expanded it outward. Most of
the cannabis businesses in the state came into Massachusetts from
(02:53):
other places like Colorado or California.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So you're a home yeah, correct, home grown Okay, pardon
the yeah. And that therefore, I assume you buy the product,
post sale, the product, retail the product. When you say
vertically integrated, that's what that means to me. Tell me
if I'm right or wrong on that.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Yeah, we do everything. So we've got a production facility
in East Hampton, Massachusetts, which is about one hundred thousand
square feet, and then we have a number of dispensaries
in Massachusetts there in East Hampton, we have two in Springfield,
one in Avon, and then one in Salem, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So you are a company that must be a leader
in the field and Massachusetts. And I have followed this
from Afar. I'm not a cannabis guy. To be really
honest with you. So those questions were genuine and I've
learned a lot from you. Already. We had this cannabis
(03:51):
Commission in Massachusetts with five members. The state Treasurer appointed
I guess the director of the executive director who was
shamed and O'Brien and they were in a war of words,
and then it looks to me like the legislature swooped
in and said, guess what, We're going to have a
different cannabis commission. Am I describing that accurately?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, that's fairly accurate.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I think that there's been issues with the regulator since
the beginning of the program, and it's something that operators
in the industry have been saying for quite a while,
but I don't think had much traction with legislators until
roughly about I want to say, I think it was
in June last year when the Inspector General came out
with a report about some of the dysfunction at the CCC.
(04:39):
You know, a lot of it having to do with
just operations there, but some of it having to do
with the statute itself and the structure of the CCC
and how it was created, and there being confusion between
board members and the executive director who does what You've
got five full time board members on the now previous
(05:00):
version of the CCC without really clear lines as to
what they do versus what the director does. And that's
what they said.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Then, for people who are not probably as deep into
the weeds put the pun as you are, the five
member board has been disbanded by the legislation. I assume
it no longer exists.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Okay, so effective on the governor's signature.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Okay, So the governor signed it, I think it was
this past weekend, just two or three days ago, and
she now appoints the new members and it's only a
three member board who'll be reporting to her, as I
understand it, and if I'm wrong, help me out correct me.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
No, that's that's correct, and that's very intentional from the legislature.
That's closer to what we have with alcohol. At the
ABCC prior to doing cannabis, I did a lot of
that work and that's been an effective regulator in the
state for quite a number of years, and I think
it was intentional for the legislature to create a model
closer to that with cannabis. So that's what they're going
(06:03):
to see the new board.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
The question I'm trying to get at is what is
all of this going to mean to the average or
normal cannabis user here in mass Massachusetts. I'm you know,
somebody who goes in. I guess now you can buy
two ounces as opposed to an ounce, and you can
(06:25):
even walk down the street with the two ounces and
you're not going to be bothered. But but what are
the practical impacts on people who do you know, unlike
me use use pot Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
So you have some of those things in the law
that are that are a change, like very specific things
like a purchase limit of two ounce being raised from
one ounce. But I think generally what they're going to
see is better operators. You know, right now, one of
the difficulties with the current regulator is that it's really
rewarded folks that don't comply with the rules. And I
think what we're going to start to see is that
(07:00):
hopefully the new regulator will enforce rules related to things
like advertising and discounts and the similar things like that.
So what we should see is more consistency across dispensaries.
Because one of the problems we've had is with regulators
and inconsistency from basically inspector to inspector.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Okay, so so where we see I just haven't noticed
a lot of pot ads on TV. Okay, I mean.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We can't advertise it on TV. That's one of the
reasons we can't advertise on TV.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So when you I think you just mentioned that there
would be more advertisements, does that mean newspapers, radio stations.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I think more consistency in what you're seeing. So right now,
what you see is some companies do things that other
companies don't do because their individual inspector takes a different
position on what the regulations say than another inspector.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
That I can understand.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
If so, an example would be the ability to post
discounts on your website. So some inspectors say you can,
some say you can't, and that would be an example
of one of the problems today.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And yeah, under the umbrella of advertising, you have the
potential for inducements to to get people to uh use
more or what or whatever. So so so you, as
somebody who really understands this much better than I do,
give me the bottom line. With the change of the
(08:32):
commission from the five to the three and now Governor
Healy is running it the state treasurer and her battle
with Shannon O'Brien. That's yesterday's newspapers. So that's gone as
I understand it. Give me, give me two or three
reasons why you think this is a better You've talked
(08:55):
about better in the sense that you'll get better directions,
But from the public's point of view, what's the impact
going to be.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
We have an elected official that's now accountable for cannabis.
So in the previous commission, one of the issues we
had is that there were three elected officials that appointed
five members, so there was no accountability. When there were
issues there at the CCC, it was easy for the
Attorney General to be able to say, well, you know,
I hope they fixed that problem over there. But now
that all the appointees are under the governor in her office,
(09:27):
it's squarely her responsibility for anything that's a problem there.
And I think that's the biggest key of the legislation
is that now there's someone accountable to the people.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, this is really a the buck stops here moment. Yeah, okay,
look a lot of things changing. I saw President Trump
on Saturday morning, sign I guess was an executive order
dealing with psychedelics for people who find some help those
dealing with PTSD medical problems. So the world is a changing,
(10:01):
there's no doubt about it, and you're in the vanguard, Steve,
So congratulations and best of luck. I hope that it's
changing for the better. Only time will tell. As we
say in the news business, Steve, if anyone wants to
get in touch with you for more information, is there
our website. You can direct them to.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Ye insod dot com. That's I n s A dot com.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Sounds great and thanks for explaining to me what insome means.
I feel like I'm kind of a hip dude now
a little bit more hipnois before the.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
No worries, no problem, Steve.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Steve Riley, the head of government relations for INSOT, a
vertically integrated independent cannabis company. We'll be back on nightside.
We're going to talk about something I know a lot
more about, and that is baseball and sports memorabilia. Yeah,
we're going to talk about the Mickey Mantle baseball bat.
I knew Mickey Mantle. I'm gonna talk about tops basketball cards, uh,
(10:55):
and even of Boston Braves Miracle Braves World Series. Ring,
whatts to talk about? A fellow named Jordan Gilroy, director
of acquisitions at Leland's, which is really a great I'm
going to use the word auction house, but that's a
it's a it's the world's first sports memorabilia and card
(11:15):
auction house. So we'll we'll give it the we'll give
it the full title. When he joins is coming back
on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I am delighted to welcome Jordan Gilroy. Jordan is the
director of acquisitions at Leland's, the World's first sports memorabilia
and card auction house. Jordan Gilroy, Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I love talking about things like baseball, cards, game autograph,
baseball as I'm a big baseball guy, big baseball guy.
So I see that you have just sold a Mickey
Mantle sixty five to sixty seven game used back eighty
four thousand dollars and.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
A lot of money, A.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Lot of money, A lot of money. A fifty seven
to fifty eight tops basketball unopened, five cent wax pack.
That's that went for seventy four thousand. How many cards
are going to be in.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
That five that not enough to warrant the price.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And then extremely rare, and it is extremely rare. Nineteen
fourteen Boston Miracle Braves ring, they were back like about
seventy five games, I think on the fourth of July
or whatever it was, and they they won the pennant
and won the World Series that year for seventy two
thousand dollars. I didn't realize World Series teams got World
(12:48):
Series rings back in nineteen fourteen.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
They It's actually an interesting story, you like, the teams
do that now where they make a ring and gave
it to everyone. Back then, it was not so simple.
I mean, this was only the first, the third nineteen
fourteen Braves ring to ever surface publicly, and all three
are different because the team didn't make one model and
(13:15):
give it to everyone. We believe that they are you know,
custom made and custom ordered by the players, because the
only other two were Marinville and Uhevers, yeah, and Johnny Evers,
and all three of them different rings, so you would
have thought that they'd all look the same if the
team so.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I assume then that there is nothing in circulation of
whoever won the World Series of the Pennant in nineteen fifteen.
I think the Red Sox were in there in nineteen fifteen.
Now and subsequent years, when when did World Series rings
first start to materialize, you know, get presented to individual players. Now,
the Red Sox had a guy and I think it
(13:57):
was twenty eighteen, I forget his name, but he came
up and he pinned Tran in one game during the
regular season September call up. Got a World Series ring.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Yeah, that's awesome. That's very expensive. Yes, In nineteen twenty two,
the New York Giants are pretty much known as like
the first team to give out rings to their players.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
All right, So how's Leland's doing? You know, the sports
card industry, which is a great industry. Something that I
don't want to tell you, but I follow this stuff
very closely, and I was delighted. My producer today told
me you're going to be on How do people get
(14:42):
involved with you? Guys? I guess you just got to
sign up at Leland's and then look at what you
have to offer and some items you can put a
bit on them and see how you make out. They're
not all going to be six figure items. I assume
there's some items that are available to more more common folk,
(15:05):
people who could spend six thousand or a six figure
item for a baseball, old baseball card or a baseball.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Yes, they're about fifteen hundred lots in the auction and
they range from you know, one hundred to two hundred
dollars up to six figures plus. So there's a little
bit of everything for everyone. And yeah, I mean, it
really is as simple as going to our site and
signing up and just putting a couple of references in there,
and then once does check out, the people are good
(15:33):
to go.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
And you Leland's has been around for how long? I
mean they were the first I remember them many many
years ago. When did they start up?
Speaker 5 (15:44):
I would say the early to mid eighties, you know,
I mean they were collecting way before then. But Leland's
itself is you know, forty plus years.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah, and and of course these items. I wrote
a piece for Newsweek magazine in nineteen eighty nine, which
you can still find if you want. I called it
sociology one on one in a shoe box, And basically
I was a television reporter who traveled the country in
the eighty eight presidential campaign, and I remember going through
(16:14):
a lot of small towns Springfield, Missouri and seeing shrim
Lawla lanes Lawla form of catcher with the Yankees and
the White Sox, and going through Papa Michigan and realizing
that it was where Charlie Popaul Maxwell was from. And
that was when in the late eighties people thought they
were going to buy baseball cards new baseball cards and
stashed them away for fifteen years and put their kids
(16:36):
to college. And of course at that point the market
was flooded. You guys aren't dealing with common cards that
you know, a lot of people have pitched out. Now.
You really want to see things back as what as
early as the turn of last century?
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Correct earlier the better. Yeah, further back you go, the
more value you have. You know, there are always there's
always going to be value in modern players, but overall
the bulk of the value is in the vintage hall
of famers, and you know, the guys like Ruth Mantle,
Cobb Garrick, they really lead the charge.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, it's it's fascinating because then the peaks and values
with the market. It's kind of like the stock market.
You know, thing something you buy today might increase in
value if depending upon what what the market will bear
as it will. What's the easiest way for people to
check out Leland's and UH and this h really cornucopia
(17:39):
of of interesting items.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
There are a couple avenues. One is our website obviously
lelands dot com and then Leland's Auctions on Instagram, Leland's
Auctions on Facebook. And if you sign up on our website,
you're put on the email list, so you get emails
that way, so it's you know, you also get catalogs
too if you sign up, So it's it's good to
sign up on our website, even if you don't want
(18:05):
to bid anything, just to you know, stay in the loop.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah. The catalogs, by the way, have always been beautiful.
I must tell you you you don't spare much experience
with UH with those catalogs. They're they're they're great reading.
I mean, just if you're a sports fan, it's it's
a it's a fascinating reading material. How how long if
I could ask Jordan, have you been with Leland's and
(18:29):
how'd you get involved in it? I'm sure that you
didn't do major in in college in sports memorabilia.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
I wish I wish that was an option, because I
definitely would have. But I've been here for over ten
years and started a few months out of college. Uh,
and I majored in college in business and sport management,
so you know, minus the management part. Sport and business,
you know, he kind of combined into this. And I
(18:59):
was always a collector, you know, back into elementary school.
So it's just, uh, you know, I got lucky that So.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
What was what was the first year that you were
collecting baseball cards?
Speaker 5 (19:12):
I would say probably like fourth or fifth grade. I
forget what age that is, but.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That would be like ten or eleven, nine or ten
something like that.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
That sounds about right.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So you were child of the seventies, I'm guessing maybe.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Or.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
Oh I was born in ninety three.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Okay, so so you'd never collected then in the in
the twentieth century, who was your favorite player.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I'm a big fan of Albert Poohols and eazierro Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well those are two Hall of famers you picked. You
picked good players, that's for sure. Jordan, congratulations. I enjoyed
the conversation. It's I'm a big fan of Leland's and
I'm a big fan of what you do because if
he kids involved in this, whether or not. The baseball
cards I learned to read. I learned to do mathematics
(20:06):
on my top's baseball cards when I literally was a
child in the fifties. And that was what my article
in Newsweek magazine was about back in nineteen eighty nine.
It was I learned geography, I learned everything from the
back of a baseball Cardy I can tell you I
could do. I could do a college presentation on the value,
(20:28):
the inherent value, not the financial value, but just the
inherent value the information that is on a small baseball card.
You learn how to do multiplication, and you learn how
to do long division, you learn how to do percentages.
You know, it's it's it's it is an absolute eye opener.
And any child, boy or girl who's interested in baseball
(20:48):
cards at an early age, I think it helps them
in school, particularly in math in my opinion. Anyway, Jordan,
I go on too long. I thank you so much
for your time tonight and a big fan of Lee,
thanks for being available tonight and hopefully we get you
a few more fans who are now going to check
it out. Leland's dot com.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
You're welcome to look at it. Thank you, having a
great night, Thank you much, thank you, by bye. When
we get back, we're going to talk about the National
Association of Convenience Stores. They have a foundation, and they
have a nationwide campaign. They want to honor first responders
with national awards for nominations for twenty twenty six, including
(21:31):
K nine officers for the first time and those of
us who love dogs. We're going to love this interview.
And then at eight forty five, we're going to talk
about the new trend. Experts are calling it non non
a maxing. Can't even pronounce it. I think it means
just sitting back and taking it easy, something I have
(21:52):
never done. But I'm going to certainly keep my ears open.
We talk with doctor Christopher Taylor about non amaxing. Coming
back on side. It's night Side Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio. All right, thanks very much, Ben Parker. Want
and welcome Kevin O'Connell. He's the executive director of the
National Association of Convenience Stores Foundation. Kevin, welcome to Night Side.
(22:17):
How are you, sir.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Thanks for having me tonight.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
You folks have I guessed I guess for years have
honored first responders with national awards, but you're going to
open up the competition this year to include canine officers.
That's how I read this story. Is that accurate?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
We are honoring four legged first responder heroes?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
That's the new element to this national award.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Okay, so how long have you honored two legged first responders?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
So I'll go back almost a decade before COVID time. So,
as you know, convenience stores are open twenty four to seven.
This is our way to connect the twenty four to
seven first responders and the convenient stores together. And so
back in twenty nineteen, on July twenty fourth, so seven
twenty four, twenty four to seven backwards, we started the National.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
First Responder's Day.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So thirty five thousand to fifty thousand convenience stores participate
in fifty states, free coffee, free drinks, et cetera. So
that's coming up in three months. But last year we said,
you know what, so many of these these you know,
these local heroes do so much for us, and it
goes on herald it goes unnoticed, and so let's shine
a national spotlight on some heroic folks.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Well, by the way, I had never heard of your organization,
but I think it's a great organization. Look, everyone in
this audience at some point during their life needed to
go to a twenty four hour store to get something
for someone, whether it's you know, aspirin or you know,
some some sort of you know, over the counter medication,
(23:59):
or weather or not. They were starving at the end
of the day and they needed to get a little
bit of food. There was nothing in the house, and
those stores would not be open without a police presidence.
Not necessarily inside the stores obviously, but the people who
were staffing those stores, they're heroes because every night they
go to work. You can have some very desperate people
(24:21):
walking through that door at two o'clock or two thirty
or four o'clock in the morning when no one else
is around, and think they can walk out with you know,
some cash in hand. And I just think this is
a great coupling of the service that you folks and
your members provide. And there are people who I know
are listening to me right now who work in you know,
(24:44):
twenty four hour stores, and it takes some it takes
some courage to do that in twenty four hour gas stations,
for example. So so how will how can people submit
a nomination either for a person or for a canine?
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, so twenty four to seven day dot org backslash
first responder. So two four seven day dot org backslash
first responder. And you know what you just said, Our
convenience stores are generally the last to close, if at all,
and the first reopen for that gas, ice, water, milk
and uh and you know potentially even cash and ATM
(25:26):
and and what we have found also last year was
one of our top three winners was from Marshall, Indiana,
and she was a convenience store employee that was also
a volunteer firefighter and saved two different people, two different times,
having a heart attack in the store at you know,
all hours.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And the third thing I'll say is what you also
mentioned is we're open twenty four to seven and a
lot of these shift workers, you know, doctors, nurses, EMTs.
They're coming in for that cup of coffee, that beef turkey,
that protein snack that uh, you know fountain drink at
all hours to refuel, you know, when nothing else is opened.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Yeah, And again the fact that there are overnight police officers,
you know, with or without canines, sometimes with sometimes without,
but the fact that they're on patrol, Uh, it may
cause a few of these folks who are desperate to
think twice about doing something stupid. You know, they say
(26:23):
nothing good happens after midnight. Well, again, if you need,
you know, some medicine, you know, for a child who's
running a fever and you need to go pick up
some over the counter medication, that's great. But at the
same time, if someone is out there and is deciding
that they're going to take advantage of what they consider
to be an off hour for police officers, yeah, they
(26:47):
get surprised many times.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And yeah, we do a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
We do a lot for the for the communities, so
everything from what we're talking about, so disaster relief, first responders,
hungry leaf food insecurity, food recovery, as well as we
do we actually give scholarships believe or not to frontline
convenience or employees in their families. So we do a
lot to give back to those frontline workers.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Yeah. Yeah. The other thing is there's a lot of
young people who are the frontline workers. And I know
there's also some folks who are retired and it's a
second job. But you know, in this in this day
and age, a lot of it. I know that you're
not speaking on behalf of the different chains, but a
lot of the chains tell the people who are working there,
if someone comes in, you know, let them, give them
(27:30):
what they want, don't fight them, don't get into a problems.
And that's the lawyers making sure that the customers other
customers aren't in the line of fire or something like
or something like that. But it has to be frustrating
for someone who's there and has worked you know, long
into the night and in the early morning hours and
they have some person come in with a knife or
(27:54):
it's telling them they have a gun and empty the
cash register. That has to be a real debilitating experience.
And that's why again you you represent heroes. So let's
go how people one more time? Did they have to
tell a story in order to enter someone or how.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Do they Yeah? Yeah, so again this is two four
seven day got or backslash first responder And you know,
to be honest, this should take somebody less than five
minutes to fill out. If there's a news article or
something else that they want to you know, link to
to support their story. Again it's an ant uncle, co worker. Uh,
maybe it's the first responder that saved them from from
(28:32):
uh you know, something that happened in their neighborhood. They
can they can nominate, and you know the one thing
I want to shore we talk about is uh a
lot of our partners. You know, the first place winner
is going to get free gas for a year compliments
of GSTV. They're going to get a trip to Las
Vegas to our huge KNAC show, which is the largest
convenience store show in the country, five hundred dollars gift
(28:55):
card from income, a nice plaque, nice ceremony. So there's
a lot, you know, we're going to do for the
top winner, along with a few other runner ups.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
So you will pick one winner from across the country,
and then we have some runner ups from other states.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right what a yeah, Well have some rather runners up
runner ups and then again on July twenty fourth. This
is a way that you know, I think in your
neck of the woods is Columbus, Columbia, Cumberland Farms or
whatever might be a lot of those local committee stories
can celebrate their local heroes too. If they're not one
of the first winners or one of the runners up.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, oh no, we have. Let me tell you. In
New England there's there's a lot of twenty four to
seven stores of all stripes. And yes, you know, I
worked for many years as a morning television reporter, so
I was out oftentimes at four in the morning. That
was when my shift started, and you were sometimes looking
(29:47):
for that you know that, that coffee shop. And it's again,
they are a lifeblood of our society. It's as simple
as that. So thank you for what you do. And
I'd never heard of the Next Association of Convenience Stores Foundation,
but I'm delighted to know that you're doing this and
that you are acknowledging the courage of a lot of
(30:09):
people who are out there when most of us are
home snugging our bedsleep and a lot of people are
out there making sure that everybody gets what they need
and has what they need. And it's a it can
be a dangerous job. Thanks, Kevin, I appreciate your time
very much.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Great, thanks for having us tonight.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Welcome. When we get back, we will talk with doctor
Christopher S. Taylor's a mental health expert therapist who heads
up Taylor Counseling Group, and we're going to talk about
something called non amaxing. Basically, experts reveal why this trend
may improve your mental and physical health. I think I
understand it, but we'll understand it for sure. What it's
(30:46):
explained by doctor Christopher Taylor. Right after this break on Nightside.
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's
news radio. All right, back to our fourth and final
guest in this o'clock hour, and i'd love to introduce
to all of you doctor Christopher Taylor. He's a mental
health expert therapist heads up Taylor Counseling Group, and he's
(31:08):
going to talk to us about a new trend called
nana maxing. I must be honest with you, doctor Taylor.
I've never heard of this term, but I think I
can figure out what it means, right, Ahad Sir tell
us about it.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah, I don't think any of us really heard about
it until a couple of months ago when it got
a little popular on Instagram. But basically, nona is an
Italian word for grandmother. Yes, uh yeah. And I love
the irony of the term nona maxing because you know,
we love to try to maximize our lifestyle these days.
(31:42):
But really it's kind of the opposite of that. It's
it's letting go and just kind of taking the easy
way home, you know, taking a nice stroll by the beach,
putting your phone away, having a meal with somebody, relaxing,
not multitasking, just just being present in the moment.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Well, I assume that's a great way to live, if
you're allowed to live that way. I mean, I'm not sure,
to be really honest with you, is that that's something
that most people in our society can do. Maybe there's
other cultures around the world where they will take an
(32:22):
afternoon siesta.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
Yeah, I mean, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
The French generally take August off. I think, if I'm
not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Oh god, amazing, But I.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Think I think that's true. I think that it's the
cous uh in France and nobody's working anyway, and I
just think it's sort of antithetical to what we do
in America. So is this something that one of the
new the younger generations have developed. I'm assuming that this
(32:57):
is not something that well, the older generation now, I
guess are the baby boomers, of which I am one.
I don't think there's too many of us who are
not a max No, no, no maxim.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I think you might be doing it without realizing it.
I mean, I think you go on a walk and
you just enjoy the scenery. You know, that's kind of
what it's about.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Well, that's smelling the roses, right.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Well yeah, but that's known a maxing. It is smelling
the roads. It's being present in the moment with what
you're doing. It's it's it's about. It's about. It's about
stop multitasking. Let's stop trying to do eight things at once.
Let's let's stop doom scrolling while we're watching Netflix. Let's
just enjoy the movie.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Yeah. I get it. I totally get it. And I
work a very long day. I do a four hour
radio show from eight to midnight. And when I tell you,
I am working for the moment I get up in
the morning, I am and uh I'm talking to people
and trying to come up for the best I can
for my show. So I don't know I'm ever going
(34:02):
to be a uh nonah max Er in my life.
I enjoy getting things done. I I if I if
I book can book a guest, or if my producer
book's a guest. Okay, we're taking care of that. That's
just the way I'm wired. How do I turn around
to become anything close to Anna Maxer?
Speaker 5 (34:26):
Well, you're already doing it right now.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
We're present, You and I are having a conversation together.
Are you doing five? Are you doing five other things?
Are you present with me?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
No, I'm totally. I have to be present with absolutely.
I have to focus on on my my phone, my callers,
my guests. That's part of But I'm working hard. I
mean mentally, I'm listening, you know, I'm actively listening to
what you're saying, and I'm trying to pick up. This
is what I do. I mean, I interview you know,
(34:54):
dozens of people, well dozens of phone callers a week
and on about you know, sometimes as many as ten
or eleven or twelve topics somehows we got, whether it's war,
the Middle East or talking with you about this. Yeah,
I take it really seriously. But I guess I know
I can. I can. I can be an anomax or
(35:14):
simultaneously with a worker bee.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well, yeah they're not, they're not. You know, they can
work together rightly exclusive, No, they're not. They're not. You
can work hard and still have that work ethic and
still and still get up every day be an entrepreneur. Drive, drive, drive,
But when you get home, you can put your phone
away and you can have intentional time with your family.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah. I don't put it away, but but I ignore
it a lot. So I mean once once. For me,
my day ends at midnight. I my time to relax
is weekends. To be really honest with you, and that's
those are the two days of the week that I
that I enjoy the most because I can I can
(36:04):
play with a grandchild, spend you know, get a couple
of errands done that that I need to get done. Mother,
it's taking some laundry and getting it, getting it cleaned.
How does this this concept that you said you yourself
said you were unfamiliar with a couple of months ago,
(36:25):
how does it fit into not only your lifestyle but
what you have counseled people about over over the years.
Is this something that you did unconsciously as a therapist anyway?
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Oh, one hundred percent, Okay, I'm all about it. I'm
all about intentionality. For me, every patient comes in the
door with a problem and an issue in a moral conundrum.
But it's all about what the intention is, what's at
the core of it? What what what's about your values?
And are you making choices that are in line with
your values? And that's what nonamaxing is about. It's it's
(37:02):
it's not about this like Las Fair lifestyle where I
take the whole month of August off, and you know
I do, I take a three hour lunch. I mean, sure,
that's all great, but but it's really at the core,
it's really about being present and being intentional and making
choices that are in line with your authentic self. That's
(37:24):
what it's really about.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
What percentage of the American people do you think fulfill
that goal? I'm just cool.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
As a profession I think we we we are struggling
a lot right now.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Okay, that's fair, that's fair, and it's good.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Loneliness isn't. Loneliness is a pandemic right now, really, oh
for sure.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
And that is physical loneliness or emotional loneliness, because they
can be different both.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I think we're we're waiting longer. We see gen z
Is waiting longer to get married. Now they're waiting longer
to have kids. And that has a lot to do
with the economy and other things. But but they are
waiting longer, and we find that that comes with emotional connection.
We meet first on the internet usually now, which has
some pros and cons to it. But you know, it's
(38:15):
it's very easy to ghost. It's very easy to walk
away from things, you know, quiet quitting. H you know,
all those trends all all kind of all kind of
come together that coalesce into this concept of loneliness where
we just we feel more and more alone these days,
and and and it's it's just it's tough for everybody.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
So let me let me ask you just there's some
way question here when you when you talk about quiet
quitting and some of the some of the the actions
have now been given names. Uh, but my theory is
that people have always ghosted other people. Uh, you know,
people have have already have always quietly quit. Well do
(38:55):
you think that those activities or in activities, whichever they are,
are more prevalent today?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I think they are a little bit more prevalent. But
I think every generation kind of has his own version
of it, you know, I know, I mean, you know,
my father is a boomer like you, and and I
think he always instilled in me the concept of if
you sign an agreement, you see it through. You know
you don't, you don't quit, you don't give up. And
I think that value has changed a little bit today
(39:26):
where we say, hey, this, this agreement is no longer
working for my needs and my desires, so I might
I might bow out, I might quit and get out
of the way.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Well, fascinating conversation. I really enjoyed the conversation. You good
at what you do. I'm sure you knew that without
my approval, But I challenge you a little bit and
you gave me great answers. How can folks get in
touch with you? It doesn't look to me like you're
a local to here, to New England from the aera code.
(39:57):
But if folks, do you have a book people can
or give us some way in which people can connect
with you.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Well, thanks for that invitation. No, I love Boston. Unfortunately
I am a Texan, but yeah, you can find me
at Taylor Counselinggroup dot com. I do have a book
coming out on June called You Are Here, and it's
about helping people find their way and identity and this
very messy world that we live in.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Well, I'll make a deal with you, since you're a
really good guest. When that book comes out, do you
let me know and we'll have you on the show.
We'll do an hour and we'll take phone calls from listeners.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Done deal, Happy to do it.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Done deal. I like that doctor Christopher Taylor, mental health
expert therapist who heads up the Taylor Counseling Group. It's
Taylor Counselinggroup dot com. Really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Thank you much, you as well, Thanks so much for
having me.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
You betcha we get back. We're going to talk about
the Massachusetts state income tax. It's five percent? Now what
about four? Do I hear four? But coming back on
Night's side, I'm going to talk with Jim Stugios. He's
the executive director of the Pioneer Institute Y
It's night Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm telling you Boston's Knees Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Thank you very much, Madison. As we move into a
Tuesday night, we had kind of a wild show last
night on Nightside, which I enjoyed, and I hope some
of you did as well. I hope all of you did,
whether you got planked or not. The only two people
got planked last night, I must have. They could have
been more. There could have been more. Anyway, good evening, everybody.
(00:28):
Welcome on into a Tuesday nine edition of Nightside. My
name is Dan Ray, the host of the program. We
have a great show lined up for you today. There
are developments in the Middle East tonight. President Trump has
extended the ceasefire. H This was after the stock market
closed on a very down note. Today we'll get to
all of that. We'll also talk about the efforts to
(00:52):
reduce the state income tax here in Massachusetts, which is
now at five percent, to reduce it to four percent.
And we will be speaking with Jim Sturgios of the
Pioneer Institute. So that's that's the show beginning at nine o'clock.
But we have four really interesting guests on different topics Cannabis, sports, memorabilia,
(01:16):
a convenience store foundation that wants to reward canine dogs
around the country, and a trend called I guess it's
non maxing and it's exactly what it sounds like. But
to start things off, we're going to talk with Steve Riley.
Steve is joining us tonight. He's the head of government
(01:37):
relations and Steve the group says INSA. I must tell you,
I'm not familiar with INSERS. It's described as a vertically
integrated independent cannabis company. I'm sure you can explain to
us that to us in language everyone would understand. Welcome
to night Side.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I can do that. Thanks for having me on, Dan,
You're very welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Tell us what is and it's also looks like it's
capital I and then lowercase NSA. Is that a typo
or is that intentional?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
That's correct, and it's a conflation of indica and sativa,
the dominance trains of cannabis, so that the two words
together create INSA.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Gotcha, okay, And you're the head of governmental relations for INSA,
so not using a bad word here, But is that
a lobbying group a trade association? How would you describe
the group?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So INSA is a vertically integrated operator. We have cannabis
operations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. I grew
up in Springfield. We started the company a couple friends
of mine that I grew up with in the city.
We started in Massachusetts and expanded it outward. Most of
the cannabis businesses in the state came into Massachusetts from
(02:53):
other places like Colorado or California.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
So you're a home yeah, correct, home grown Okay, pardon
the yeah. And that therefore, I assume you buy the product,
post sale, the product, retail the product. When you say
vertically integrated, that's what that means to me. Tell me
if I'm right or wrong on that.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Yeah, we do everything. So we've got a production facility
in East Hampton, Massachusetts, which is about one hundred thousand
square feet, and then we have a number of dispensaries
in Massachusetts there in East Hampton, we have two in Springfield,
one in Avon, and then one in Salem, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So you are a company that must be a leader
in the field and Massachusetts. And I have followed this
from Afar. I'm not a cannabis guy. To be really
honest with you. So those questions were genuine and I've
learned a lot from you. Already. We had this cannabis
(03:51):
Commission in Massachusetts with five members. The state Treasurer appointed
I guess the director of the executive director who was
shamed and O'Brien and they were in a war of words,
and then it looks to me like the legislature swooped
in and said, guess what, We're going to have a
different cannabis commission. Am I describing that accurately?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, that's fairly accurate.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I think that there's been issues with the regulator since
the beginning of the program, and it's something that operators
in the industry have been saying for quite a while,
but I don't think had much traction with legislators until
roughly about I want to say, I think it was
in June last year when the Inspector General came out
with a report about some of the dysfunction at the CCC.
(04:39):
You know, a lot of it having to do with
just operations there, but some of it having to do
with the statute itself and the structure of the CCC
and how it was created, and there being confusion between
board members and the executive director who does what You've
got five full time board members on the now previous
(05:00):
version of the CCC without really clear lines as to
what they do versus what the director does. And that's
what they said.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Then, for people who are not probably as deep into
the weeds put the pun as you are, the five
member board has been disbanded by the legislation. I assume
it no longer exists.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Okay, so effective on the governor's signature.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Okay, So the governor signed it, I think it was
this past weekend, just two or three days ago, and
she now appoints the new members and it's only a
three member board who'll be reporting to her, as I
understand it, and if I'm wrong, help me out correct me.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
No, that's that's correct, and that's very intentional from the legislature.
That's closer to what we have with alcohol. At the
ABCC prior to doing cannabis, I did a lot of
that work and that's been an effective regulator in the
state for quite a number of years, and I think
it was intentional for the legislature to create a model
closer to that with cannabis. So that's what they're going
(06:03):
to see the new board.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
The question I'm trying to get at is what is
all of this going to mean to the average or
normal cannabis user here in mass Massachusetts. I'm you know,
somebody who goes in. I guess now you can buy
two ounces as opposed to an ounce, and you can
(06:25):
even walk down the street with the two ounces and
you're not going to be bothered. But but what are
the practical impacts on people who do you know, unlike
me use use pot Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
So you have some of those things in the law
that are that are a change, like very specific things
like a purchase limit of two ounce being raised from
one ounce. But I think generally what they're going to
see is better operators. You know, right now, one of
the difficulties with the current regulator is that it's really
rewarded folks that don't comply with the rules. And I
think what we're going to start to see is that
(07:00):
hopefully the new regulator will enforce rules related to things
like advertising and discounts and the similar things like that.
So what we should see is more consistency across dispensaries.
Because one of the problems we've had is with regulators
and inconsistency from basically inspector to inspector.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Okay, so so where we see I just haven't noticed
a lot of pot ads on TV. Okay, I mean.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We can't advertise it on TV. That's one of the
reasons we can't advertise on TV.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So when you I think you just mentioned that there
would be more advertisements, does that mean newspapers, radio stations.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
I think more consistency in what you're seeing. So right now,
what you see is some companies do things that other
companies don't do because their individual inspector takes a different
position on what the regulations say than another inspector.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
That I can understand.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
If so, an example would be the ability to post
discounts on your website. So some inspectors say you can,
some say you can't, and that would be an example
of one of the problems today.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And yeah, under the umbrella of advertising, you have the
potential for inducements to to get people to uh use
more or what or whatever. So so so you, as
somebody who really understands this much better than I do,
give me the bottom line. With the change of the
(08:32):
commission from the five to the three and now Governor
Healy is running it the state treasurer and her battle
with Shannon O'Brien. That's yesterday's newspapers. So that's gone as
I understand it. Give me, give me two or three
reasons why you think this is a better You've talked
(08:55):
about better in the sense that you'll get better directions,
But from the public's point of view, what's the impact
going to be.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
We have an elected official that's now accountable for cannabis.
So in the previous commission, one of the issues we
had is that there were three elected officials that appointed
five members, so there was no accountability. When there were
issues there at the CCC, it was easy for the
Attorney General to be able to say, well, you know,
I hope they fixed that problem over there. But now
that all the appointees are under the governor in her office,
(09:27):
it's squarely her responsibility for anything that's a problem there.
And I think that's the biggest key of the legislation
is that now there's someone accountable to the people.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, this is really a the buck stops here moment. Yeah, okay,
look a lot of things changing. I saw President Trump
on Saturday morning, sign I guess was an executive order
dealing with psychedelics for people who find some help those
dealing with PTSD medical problems. So the world is a changing,
(10:01):
there's no doubt about it, and you're in the vanguard, Steve,
So congratulations and best of luck. I hope that it's
changing for the better. Only time will tell. As we
say in the news business, Steve, if anyone wants to
get in touch with you for more information, is there
our website. You can direct them to.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Ye insod dot com. That's I n s A dot com.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Sounds great and thanks for explaining to me what insome means.
I feel like I'm kind of a hip dude now
a little bit more hipnois before the.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
No worries, no problem, Steve.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Steve Riley, the head of government relations for INSOT, a
vertically integrated independent cannabis company. We'll be back on nightside.
We're going to talk about something I know a lot
more about, and that is baseball and sports memorabilia. Yeah,
we're going to talk about the Mickey Mantle baseball bat.
I knew Mickey Mantle. I'm gonna talk about tops basketball cards, uh,
(10:55):
and even of Boston Braves Miracle Braves World Series. Ring,
whatts to talk about? A fellow named Jordan Gilroy, director
of acquisitions at Leland's, which is really a great I'm
going to use the word auction house, but that's a
it's a it's the world's first sports memorabilia and card
(11:15):
auction house. So we'll we'll give it the we'll give
it the full title. When he joins is coming back
on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I am delighted to welcome Jordan Gilroy. Jordan is the
director of acquisitions at Leland's, the World's first sports memorabilia
and card auction house. Jordan Gilroy, Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I love talking about things like baseball, cards, game autograph,
baseball as I'm a big baseball guy, big baseball guy.
So I see that you have just sold a Mickey
Mantle sixty five to sixty seven game used back eighty
four thousand dollars and.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
A lot of money, A.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Lot of money, A lot of money. A fifty seven
to fifty eight tops basketball unopened, five cent wax pack.
That's that went for seventy four thousand. How many cards
are going to be in.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
That five that not enough to warrant the price.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
And then extremely rare, and it is extremely rare. Nineteen
fourteen Boston Miracle Braves ring, they were back like about
seventy five games, I think on the fourth of July
or whatever it was, and they they won the pennant
and won the World Series that year for seventy two
thousand dollars. I didn't realize World Series teams got World
(12:48):
Series rings back in nineteen fourteen.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
They It's actually an interesting story, you like, the teams
do that now where they make a ring and gave
it to everyone. Back then, it was not so simple.
I mean, this was only the first, the third nineteen
fourteen Braves ring to ever surface publicly, and all three
are different because the team didn't make one model and
(13:15):
give it to everyone. We believe that they are you know,
custom made and custom ordered by the players, because the
only other two were Marinville and Uhevers, yeah, and Johnny Evers,
and all three of them different rings, so you would
have thought that they'd all look the same if the
team so.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I assume then that there is nothing in circulation of
whoever won the World Series of the Pennant in nineteen fifteen.
I think the Red Sox were in there in nineteen fifteen.
Now and subsequent years, when when did World Series rings
first start to materialize, you know, get presented to individual players. Now,
the Red Sox had a guy and I think it
(13:57):
was twenty eighteen, I forget his name, but he came
up and he pinned Tran in one game during the
regular season September call up. Got a World Series ring.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
Yeah, that's awesome. That's very expensive. Yes, In nineteen twenty two,
the New York Giants are pretty much known as like
the first team to give out rings to their players.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
All right, So how's Leland's doing? You know, the sports
card industry, which is a great industry. Something that I
don't want to tell you, but I follow this stuff
very closely, and I was delighted. My producer today told
me you're going to be on How do people get
(14:42):
involved with you? Guys? I guess you just got to
sign up at Leland's and then look at what you
have to offer and some items you can put a
bit on them and see how you make out. They're
not all going to be six figure items. I assume
there's some items that are available to more more common folk,
(15:05):
people who could spend six thousand or a six figure
item for a baseball, old baseball card or a baseball.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Yes, they're about fifteen hundred lots in the auction and
they range from you know, one hundred to two hundred
dollars up to six figures plus. So there's a little
bit of everything for everyone. And yeah, I mean, it
really is as simple as going to our site and
signing up and just putting a couple of references in there,
and then once does check out, the people are good
(15:33):
to go.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
And you Leland's has been around for how long? I
mean they were the first I remember them many many
years ago. When did they start up?
Speaker 5 (15:44):
I would say the early to mid eighties, you know,
I mean they were collecting way before then. But Leland's
itself is you know, forty plus years.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, yeah, and and of course these items. I wrote
a piece for Newsweek magazine in nineteen eighty nine, which
you can still find if you want. I called it
sociology one on one in a shoe box, And basically
I was a television reporter who traveled the country in
the eighty eight presidential campaign, and I remember going through
(16:14):
a lot of small towns Springfield, Missouri and seeing shrim
Lawla lanes Lawla form of catcher with the Yankees and
the White Sox, and going through Papa Michigan and realizing
that it was where Charlie Popaul Maxwell was from. And
that was when in the late eighties people thought they
were going to buy baseball cards new baseball cards and
stashed them away for fifteen years and put their kids
(16:36):
to college. And of course at that point the market
was flooded. You guys aren't dealing with common cards that
you know, a lot of people have pitched out. Now.
You really want to see things back as what as
early as the turn of last century?
Speaker 5 (16:54):
Correct earlier the better. Yeah, further back you go, the
more value you have. You know, there are always there's
always going to be value in modern players, but overall
the bulk of the value is in the vintage hall
of famers, and you know, the guys like Ruth Mantle,
Cobb Garrick, they really lead the charge.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, it's it's fascinating because then the peaks and values
with the market. It's kind of like the stock market.
You know, thing something you buy today might increase in
value if depending upon what what the market will bear
as it will. What's the easiest way for people to
check out Leland's and UH and this h really cornucopia
(17:39):
of of interesting items.
Speaker 5 (17:43):
There are a couple avenues. One is our website obviously
lelands dot com and then Leland's Auctions on Instagram, Leland's
Auctions on Facebook. And if you sign up on our website,
you're put on the email list, so you get emails
that way, so it's you know, you also get catalogs
too if you sign up, So it's it's good to
sign up on our website, even if you don't want
(18:05):
to bid anything, just to you know, stay in the loop.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah. The catalogs, by the way, have always been beautiful.
I must tell you you you don't spare much experience
with UH with those catalogs. They're they're they're great reading.
I mean, just if you're a sports fan, it's it's
a it's a fascinating reading material. How how long if
I could ask Jordan, have you been with Leland's and
(18:29):
how'd you get involved in it? I'm sure that you
didn't do major in in college in sports memorabilia.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
I wish I wish that was an option, because I
definitely would have. But I've been here for over ten
years and started a few months out of college. Uh,
and I majored in college in business and sport management,
so you know, minus the management part. Sport and business,
you know, he kind of combined into this. And I
(18:59):
was always a collector, you know, back into elementary school.
So it's just, uh, you know, I got lucky that So.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
What was what was the first year that you were
collecting baseball cards?
Speaker 5 (19:12):
I would say probably like fourth or fifth grade. I
forget what age that is, but.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That would be like ten or eleven, nine or ten
something like that.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
That sounds about right.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So you were child of the seventies, I'm guessing maybe.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Or.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
Oh I was born in ninety three.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Okay, so so you'd never collected then in the in
the twentieth century, who was your favorite player.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
I'm a big fan of Albert Poohols and eazierro Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Well those are two Hall of famers you picked. You
picked good players, that's for sure. Jordan, congratulations. I enjoyed
the conversation. It's I'm a big fan of Leland's and
I'm a big fan of what you do because if
he kids involved in this, whether or not. The baseball
cards I learned to read. I learned to do mathematics
(20:06):
on my top's baseball cards when I literally was a
child in the fifties. And that was what my article
in Newsweek magazine was about back in nineteen eighty nine.
It was I learned geography, I learned everything from the
back of a baseball Cardy I can tell you I
could do. I could do a college presentation on the value,
(20:28):
the inherent value, not the financial value, but just the
inherent value the information that is on a small baseball card.
You learn how to do multiplication, and you learn how
to do long division, you learn how to do percentages.
You know, it's it's it's it is an absolute eye opener.
And any child, boy or girl who's interested in baseball
(20:48):
cards at an early age, I think it helps them
in school, particularly in math in my opinion. Anyway, Jordan,
I go on too long. I thank you so much
for your time tonight and a big fan of Lee,
thanks for being available tonight and hopefully we get you
a few more fans who are now going to check
it out. Leland's dot com.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Yeah, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
You're welcome to look at it. Thank you, having a
great night, Thank you much, thank you, by bye. When
we get back, we're going to talk about the National
Association of Convenience Stores. They have a foundation, and they
have a nationwide campaign. They want to honor first responders
with national awards for nominations for twenty twenty six, including
(21:31):
K nine officers for the first time and those of
us who love dogs. We're going to love this interview.
And then at eight forty five, we're going to talk
about the new trend. Experts are calling it non non
a maxing. Can't even pronounce it. I think it means
just sitting back and taking it easy, something I have
(21:52):
never done. But I'm going to certainly keep my ears open.
We talk with doctor Christopher Taylor about non amaxing. Coming
back on side. It's night Side Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio. All right, thanks very much, Ben Parker. Want
and welcome Kevin O'Connell. He's the executive director of the
National Association of Convenience Stores Foundation. Kevin, welcome to Night Side.
(22:17):
How are you, sir.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Thanks for having me tonight.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
You folks have I guessed I guess for years have
honored first responders with national awards, but you're going to
open up the competition this year to include canine officers.
That's how I read this story. Is that accurate?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
We are honoring four legged first responder heroes?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
That's the new element to this national award.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Okay, so how long have you honored two legged first responders?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
So I'll go back almost a decade before COVID time. So,
as you know, convenience stores are open twenty four to seven.
This is our way to connect the twenty four to
seven first responders and the convenient stores together. And so
back in twenty nineteen, on July twenty fourth, so seven
twenty four, twenty four to seven backwards, we started the National.
Speaker 5 (23:15):
First Responder's Day.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So thirty five thousand to fifty thousand convenience stores participate
in fifty states, free coffee, free drinks, et cetera. So
that's coming up in three months. But last year we said,
you know what, so many of these these you know,
these local heroes do so much for us, and it
goes on herald it goes unnoticed, and so let's shine
a national spotlight on some heroic folks.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Well, by the way, I had never heard of your organization,
but I think it's a great organization. Look, everyone in
this audience at some point during their life needed to
go to a twenty four hour store to get something
for someone, whether it's you know, aspirin or you know,
some some sort of you know, over the counter medication,
(23:59):
or weather or not. They were starving at the end
of the day and they needed to get a little
bit of food. There was nothing in the house, and
those stores would not be open without a police presidence.
Not necessarily inside the stores obviously, but the people who
were staffing those stores, they're heroes because every night they
go to work. You can have some very desperate people
(24:21):
walking through that door at two o'clock or two thirty
or four o'clock in the morning when no one else
is around, and think they can walk out with you know,
some cash in hand. And I just think this is
a great coupling of the service that you folks and
your members provide. And there are people who I know
are listening to me right now who work in you know,
(24:44):
twenty four hour stores, and it takes some it takes
some courage to do that in twenty four hour gas stations,
for example. So so how will how can people submit
a nomination either for a person or for a canine?
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, so twenty four to seven day dot org backslash
first responder. So two four seven day dot org backslash
first responder. And you know what you just said, Our
convenience stores are generally the last to close, if at all,
and the first reopen for that gas, ice, water, milk
and uh and you know potentially even cash and ATM
(25:26):
and and what we have found also last year was
one of our top three winners was from Marshall, Indiana,
and she was a convenience store employee that was also
a volunteer firefighter and saved two different people, two different times,
having a heart attack in the store at you know,
all hours.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And the third thing I'll say is what you also
mentioned is we're open twenty four to seven and a
lot of these shift workers, you know, doctors, nurses, EMTs.
They're coming in for that cup of coffee, that beef turkey,
that protein snack that uh, you know fountain drink at
all hours to refuel, you know, when nothing else is opened.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Yeah, And again the fact that there are overnight police officers,
you know, with or without canines, sometimes with sometimes without,
but the fact that they're on patrol, Uh, it may
cause a few of these folks who are desperate to
think twice about doing something stupid. You know, they say
(26:23):
nothing good happens after midnight. Well, again, if you need,
you know, some medicine, you know, for a child who's
running a fever and you need to go pick up
some over the counter medication, that's great. But at the
same time, if someone is out there and is deciding
that they're going to take advantage of what they consider
to be an off hour for police officers, yeah, they
(26:47):
get surprised many times.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And yeah, we do a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
We do a lot for the for the communities, so
everything from what we're talking about, so disaster relief, first responders,
hungry leaf food insecurity, food recovery, as well as we
do we actually give scholarships believe or not to frontline
convenience or employees in their families. So we do a
lot to give back to those frontline workers.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Yeah. Yeah. The other thing is there's a lot of
young people who are the frontline workers. And I know
there's also some folks who are retired and it's a
second job. But you know, in this in this day
and age, a lot of it. I know that you're
not speaking on behalf of the different chains, but a
lot of the chains tell the people who are working there,
if someone comes in, you know, let them, give them
(27:30):
what they want, don't fight them, don't get into a problems.
And that's the lawyers making sure that the customers other
customers aren't in the line of fire or something like
or something like that. But it has to be frustrating
for someone who's there and has worked you know, long
into the night and in the early morning hours and
they have some person come in with a knife or
(27:54):
it's telling them they have a gun and empty the
cash register. That has to be a real debilitating experience.
And that's why again you you represent heroes. So let's
go how people one more time? Did they have to
tell a story in order to enter someone or how.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Do they Yeah? Yeah, so again this is two four
seven day got or backslash first responder And you know,
to be honest, this should take somebody less than five
minutes to fill out. If there's a news article or
something else that they want to you know, link to
to support their story. Again it's an ant uncle, co worker. Uh,
maybe it's the first responder that saved them from from
(28:32):
uh you know, something that happened in their neighborhood. They
can they can nominate, and you know the one thing
I want to shore we talk about is uh a
lot of our partners. You know, the first place winner
is going to get free gas for a year compliments
of GSTV. They're going to get a trip to Las
Vegas to our huge KNAC show, which is the largest
convenience store show in the country, five hundred dollars gift
(28:55):
card from income, a nice plaque, nice ceremony. So there's
a lot, you know, we're going to do for the
top winner, along with a few other runner ups.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
So you will pick one winner from across the country,
and then we have some runner ups from other states.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Right what a yeah, Well have some rather runners up
runner ups and then again on July twenty fourth. This
is a way that you know, I think in your
neck of the woods is Columbus, Columbia, Cumberland Farms or
whatever might be a lot of those local committee stories
can celebrate their local heroes too. If they're not one
of the first winners or one of the runners up.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah, oh no, we have. Let me tell you. In
New England there's there's a lot of twenty four to
seven stores of all stripes. And yes, you know, I
worked for many years as a morning television reporter, so
I was out oftentimes at four in the morning. That
was when my shift started, and you were sometimes looking
(29:47):
for that you know that, that coffee shop. And it's again,
they are a lifeblood of our society. It's as simple
as that. So thank you for what you do. And
I'd never heard of the Next Association of Convenience Stores Foundation,
but I'm delighted to know that you're doing this and
that you are acknowledging the courage of a lot of
(30:09):
people who are out there when most of us are
home snugging our bedsleep and a lot of people are
out there making sure that everybody gets what they need
and has what they need. And it's a it can
be a dangerous job. Thanks, Kevin, I appreciate your time
very much.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Great, thanks for having us tonight.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Welcome. When we get back, we will talk with doctor
Christopher S. Taylor's a mental health expert therapist who heads
up Taylor Counseling Group, and we're going to talk about
something called non amaxing. Basically, experts reveal why this trend
may improve your mental and physical health. I think I
understand it, but we'll understand it for sure. What it's
(30:46):
explained by doctor Christopher Taylor. Right after this break on Nightside.
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Boston's
news radio. All right, back to our fourth and final
guest in this o'clock hour, and i'd love to introduce
to all of you doctor Christopher Taylor. He's a mental
health expert therapist heads up Taylor Counseling Group, and he's
(31:08):
going to talk to us about a new trend called
nana maxing. I must be honest with you, doctor Taylor.
I've never heard of this term, but I think I
can figure out what it means, right, Ahad Sir tell
us about it.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah, I don't think any of us really heard about
it until a couple of months ago when it got
a little popular on Instagram. But basically, nona is an
Italian word for grandmother. Yes, uh yeah. And I love
the irony of the term nona maxing because you know,
we love to try to maximize our lifestyle these days.
(31:42):
But really it's kind of the opposite of that. It's
it's letting go and just kind of taking the easy
way home, you know, taking a nice stroll by the beach,
putting your phone away, having a meal with somebody, relaxing,
not multitasking, just just being present in the moment.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Well, I assume that's a great way to live, if
you're allowed to live that way. I mean, I'm not sure,
to be really honest with you, is that that's something
that most people in our society can do. Maybe there's
other cultures around the world where they will take an
(32:22):
afternoon siesta.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
Yeah, I mean, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
The French generally take August off. I think, if I'm
not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Oh god, amazing, But I.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Think I think that's true. I think that it's the
cous uh in France and nobody's working anyway, and I
just think it's sort of antithetical to what we do
in America. So is this something that one of the
new the younger generations have developed. I'm assuming that this
(32:57):
is not something that well, the older generation now, I
guess are the baby boomers, of which I am one.
I don't think there's too many of us who are
not a max No, no, no maxim.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I think you might be doing it without realizing it.
I mean, I think you go on a walk and
you just enjoy the scenery. You know, that's kind of
what it's about.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Well, that's smelling the roses, right.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Well yeah, but that's known a maxing. It is smelling
the roads. It's being present in the moment with what
you're doing. It's it's it's about. It's about. It's about
stop multitasking. Let's stop trying to do eight things at once.
Let's let's stop doom scrolling while we're watching Netflix. Let's
just enjoy the movie.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Yeah. I get it. I totally get it. And I
work a very long day. I do a four hour
radio show from eight to midnight. And when I tell you,
I am working for the moment I get up in
the morning, I am and uh I'm talking to people
and trying to come up for the best I can
for my show. So I don't know I'm ever going
(34:02):
to be a uh nonah max Er in my life.
I enjoy getting things done. I I if I if
I book can book a guest, or if my producer
book's a guest. Okay, we're taking care of that. That's
just the way I'm wired. How do I turn around
to become anything close to Anna Maxer?
Speaker 5 (34:26):
Well, you're already doing it right now.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
We're present, You and I are having a conversation together.
Are you doing five? Are you doing five other things?
Are you present with me?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
No, I'm totally. I have to be present with absolutely.
I have to focus on on my my phone, my callers,
my guests. That's part of But I'm working hard. I
mean mentally, I'm listening, you know, I'm actively listening to
what you're saying, and I'm trying to pick up. This
is what I do. I mean, I interview you know,
(34:54):
dozens of people, well dozens of phone callers a week
and on about you know, sometimes as many as ten
or eleven or twelve topics somehows we got, whether it's war,
the Middle East or talking with you about this. Yeah,
I take it really seriously. But I guess I know
I can. I can. I can be an anomax or
(35:14):
simultaneously with a worker bee.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well, yeah they're not, they're not. You know, they can
work together rightly exclusive, No, they're not. They're not. You
can work hard and still have that work ethic and
still and still get up every day be an entrepreneur. Drive, drive, drive,
But when you get home, you can put your phone
away and you can have intentional time with your family.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah. I don't put it away, but but I ignore
it a lot. So I mean once once. For me,
my day ends at midnight. I my time to relax
is weekends. To be really honest with you, and that's
those are the two days of the week that I
that I enjoy the most because I can I can
(36:04):
play with a grandchild, spend you know, get a couple
of errands done that that I need to get done. Mother,
it's taking some laundry and getting it, getting it cleaned.
How does this this concept that you said you yourself
said you were unfamiliar with a couple of months ago,
(36:25):
how does it fit into not only your lifestyle but
what you have counseled people about over over the years.
Is this something that you did unconsciously as a therapist anyway?
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Oh, one hundred percent, Okay, I'm all about it. I'm
all about intentionality. For me, every patient comes in the
door with a problem and an issue in a moral conundrum.
But it's all about what the intention is, what's at
the core of it? What what what's about your values?
And are you making choices that are in line with
your values? And that's what nonamaxing is about. It's it's
(37:02):
it's not about this like Las Fair lifestyle where I
take the whole month of August off, and you know
I do, I take a three hour lunch. I mean, sure,
that's all great, but but it's really at the core,
it's really about being present and being intentional and making
choices that are in line with your authentic self. That's
(37:24):
what it's really about.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
What percentage of the American people do you think fulfill
that goal? I'm just cool.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
As a profession I think we we we are struggling
a lot right now.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Okay, that's fair, that's fair, and it's good.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Loneliness isn't. Loneliness is a pandemic right now, really, oh
for sure.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
And that is physical loneliness or emotional loneliness, because they
can be different both.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I think we're we're waiting longer. We see gen z
Is waiting longer to get married. Now they're waiting longer
to have kids. And that has a lot to do
with the economy and other things. But but they are
waiting longer, and we find that that comes with emotional connection.
We meet first on the internet usually now, which has
some pros and cons to it. But you know, it's
(38:15):
it's very easy to ghost. It's very easy to walk
away from things, you know, quiet quitting. H you know,
all those trends all all kind of all kind of
come together that coalesce into this concept of loneliness where
we just we feel more and more alone these days,
and and and it's it's just it's tough for everybody.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
So let me let me ask you just there's some
way question here when you when you talk about quiet
quitting and some of the some of the the actions
have now been given names. Uh, but my theory is
that people have always ghosted other people. Uh, you know,
people have have already have always quietly quit. Well do
(38:55):
you think that those activities or in activities, whichever they are,
are more prevalent today?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I think they are a little bit more prevalent. But
I think every generation kind of has his own version
of it, you know, I know, I mean, you know,
my father is a boomer like you, and and I
think he always instilled in me the concept of if
you sign an agreement, you see it through. You know
you don't, you don't quit, you don't give up. And
I think that value has changed a little bit today
(39:26):
where we say, hey, this, this agreement is no longer
working for my needs and my desires, so I might
I might bow out, I might quit and get out
of the way.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Well, fascinating conversation. I really enjoyed the conversation. You good
at what you do. I'm sure you knew that without
my approval, But I challenge you a little bit and
you gave me great answers. How can folks get in
touch with you? It doesn't look to me like you're
a local to here, to New England from the aera code.
(39:57):
But if folks, do you have a book people can
or give us some way in which people can connect
with you.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Well, thanks for that invitation. No, I love Boston. Unfortunately
I am a Texan, but yeah, you can find me
at Taylor Counselinggroup dot com. I do have a book
coming out on June called You Are Here, and it's
about helping people find their way and identity and this
very messy world that we live in.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Well, I'll make a deal with you, since you're a
really good guest. When that book comes out, do you
let me know and we'll have you on the show.
We'll do an hour and we'll take phone calls from listeners.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Done deal, Happy to do it.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
Done deal. I like that doctor Christopher Taylor, mental health
expert therapist who heads up the Taylor Counseling Group. It's
Taylor Counselinggroup dot com. Really enjoyed the conversation.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Thank you much, you as well, Thanks so much for
having me.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
You betcha we get back. We're going to talk about
the Massachusetts state income tax. It's five percent? Now what
about four? Do I hear four? But coming back on
Night's side, I'm going to talk with Jim Stugios. He's
the executive director of the Pioneer Institute Y
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Kingdom of Fraud
It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polygamist organization in Salt Lake City. To whom Jacob is desperate to prove his worth. Kingdom of Fraud is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of Kingdom of Fraud completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!