December 31, 2025 • 44 mins
Bradley Jay Filled In On NightSide with Dan Rea:
Bradley invited the listeners to check in and talk about how this year went and their plans and expectations for 2026! Bradley rung in the New Year as 2025 faded into the distance and a new future emerged!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Beasy
Boxton's Beach Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, look at that eleven o six and forty two seconds.
I know I don't need to say the forty two seconds,
but my point is, this is the last hour of
this year, twenty twenty five. Who among you boomers thought
you would make it this far? Remember the phrase never
trust anyone over thirty. Wasn't that the phrase, yeah, look
(00:30):
at you now, never trust anyone over eighty, now right?
I know that by the way open lines talk about anything,
you're like six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
And I know that it can sound cliche to talk
about New Year's resolutions. On the other hand, they're a
real thing. And I actually it has nothing to do
(00:55):
with New Year's but I would love to try a
new lifestyle and quit drinking, like, not drink at all.
I don't drink crazy amounts. I drink what I figure
is a normal amount. But I would I think it'd
be interesting to just not drink it all. What's that lifestyle?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Like?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
There's one big, big drawback with quitting drinking, and that
is you can't drink and you know, so it's fun. Yeah, Hey,
let's have a beer. It's part of so it's part
of life, and it would take a big turnaround to
not do that. I'm going to tell you though, I
(01:41):
am getting hypnotized to try it. I mean a little
bit of a buying because I might have to postpone
my hypnosis to try it, to quit drinking because I
want to, really, because I want to lose weight. There's
no way I'm going to lose weight if I still
drink beer, because I've I eat tremendously. You have no
(02:06):
idea how healthfully I eat, like broccoli, sardines, salmon, salads.
It couldn't be any more healthy. Yet dropping pounds is difficult,
so it's got to be Hey, at your age, it's
probably about the beer, and I don't drink that much
beer anyway, I'd like to. I think i'd like to
(02:28):
try that non drinking lifestyle, just to see what it's like.
People do it and they seem fine. Think of the
money saved and think of the pounds that will drop off.
I just think it's time for me to get a
little healthier, and losing weight would be the way to
do that, and probably not drinking would be that. Because
(02:52):
I really do it. I know, maybe not, because I
do enjoy Hey, let's go out and have a beer.
I have two beers sometimes me and that's it. I
never get drunk. I don't like getting drunk. I don't
like a headache. I don't like to be drunk. I
just like the slight edge off and the ritual of
(03:14):
opening your beer and talking with friends in a cool
bar like Brendan be and NJP or or Granny O'Malley's
on Harvard EV. We'll see. Now. The reason I'm getting
hypnotized is that I did quit smoking from hypnosis. And
(03:37):
really what this is coming down to is we're going
to have a hypnotist on tomorrow night. But let me
tell you about hypnosis and quitting things. Well, it works,
it can work. It worked for me. I smoked, and
I tried, actually many New Year's Eves to quit. I
(03:59):
remember crumpling up a package, throwing it in the trash,
and then minutes later going back in the trash and
getting a cigarette. So that's no good. But one day,
when I was working at WBCN, a hypnotist came in.
Barry was his name. He was unbelievably great. He he
(04:24):
was a hypnotist that he would hypnotize air traffic controllers
so they would relax and focus military people. I think
he was the best. And in a local town they
had a group session. There might have been twenty people
there in a high school classroom, and I went. I
(04:49):
didn't expect it to work at all, and he put
us under three times sort of under, you know, he
really he was really the usual relax and think about this,
thank you going down. I'm not going to do it,
because what if you've got hypnotized right now, I'd be
on the hook for it, So I'm not going to
do it. But it worked. When I left the hypnosis,
(05:13):
I didn't feel any differently. They did say don't drink
anything for a month because because alcohol will diminish whatever
we installed in you. And you know what, I never
had another cigarette. Can you believe it? And I know
how impossible that is. Some people say it's harder to
quit cigarettes than heroin. It is brutal. I'd tried so
(05:36):
many times before I walked away. Didn't feel any different,
but never had another cigarette ever, and no cravings. Just
forget all about it, follow the rules. I went back
for a refresher course. Forgot all about it. If you
wanted to work, if you believe it, it can work.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
One thing is it's kind of an all or nothing situation.
You can't get hypnotized to eat less because you can't
stop eating altogether. And it's a slippery slope. You eat
less in the beginning and then you just swoop back up.
It's kind of all or nothing. I don't think they
can hypnotize you to drink less. If they could just
(06:23):
hypnotize me to drink one half a glass of wine
a day, that would be good. But I don't think
they can do that. The rub is I am going
away to Venice later in the month, and I don't
want to not drink in Venice. What I mean, one
of the things you do on trips is you have
(06:44):
you know, you have a spritz here, you have a
spritz here. I'll tell you that story later. I do
have Alex and Millis. It's open lines. I love to
talk to you about your best New Years and your
worst New Years, or anything else that might pop into
your mind. As I say open lines. And Alex in Millis, Hi.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Alex, Hey, probably happy New Year. I'm here with with
our family at UH at a church, uh function, and
they're having a you know, a band in the New
Year's galla. Uh. So it's it's a lot of fun.
But as you get older, I think, uh, you know,
(07:23):
New Year's uh, you know, becomes just another day for
a lot of people. But I mean, you know, and
if you were to ask people, what is time?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You know?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
So so in other words, you don't you don't actually
uh you know see it. I mean it it's there,
but it's kind of like the wind, you know. Uh,
you don't see the wing, but you see its effect,
you know, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yes, you see the trees blowing around, right, and time
is like that because you don't see time, but you
see the wrinkles.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well, nowadays you can probably take care of that, you know,
if you go to a cosmetologist or.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, I'm gonna keep my wrinkles.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah I know that. It's show. It's it gives you
a character.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
But and you see, when you're a man in our society,
or if you're many many humans let's say, are able
to grow beards. And if you're able to grow a
beard right and you style it right, then you can
cover up all your facial agings and you you look
the same as long as you live.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yeah, that's that's true. For our New Year's resolution resolutions,
I don't know, they don't seem to work. But you know,
if if you were to tell me, I really don't
have too many vices, like I'm not a gambler. I
don't smoke, and I don't really drink that much. But
on the other hand, like I you know, I like
(08:56):
to indulge in sweets and like chocolate and stuff. But
if it doesn't affect me, you know, asparse my weight,
how come. I don't know if it's my genetics, but
I'm the type of person that have has eaten a
whole pizza, you know now before I get ready to
go to bed, you know. And I'm the same weight
(09:19):
throughout the years, even in high school. I remember, I
can still wear the same clothes like from forty years ago,
fifty years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know, you're bumming me out, Alex. I mean, yeah,
you're bumming us all out. We're jealous that you can
eat a pizza at every night and still how about
this argument?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
How about this argument? If if I get on a
plane and you know, buy a ticket, right, I weigh
one hundred and thirty seven pounds, not to just any
no disrespect. Disrespect you know on heavy people. But a
person that weighs twice my weight pays the same price
I do if I use the same analogy with my
(10:00):
with my luggage. Okay, if your bags are over fifty
pounds or whatever the cutoff is, you have to pay more.
So why do I pay the same price for a
ticket as a person that is not the same weight
as many?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Maybe they should do this. You get to take a
finite amount on board, and that amount is your weight
and the weight of your luggage. So there, the thinner
you are, the more luggages you get to take, or
the heavy you are, the less luggas you get to take.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
How's that that sounds good? You think it'll go through?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
No, it's not politically politically correct.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I guess I don't think it'll happen. But thank you,
thank you, Alex. I did hear that starting soon, airlines
are going to be strict about the size of your
carry on. And I just get so infuriated when I
travel because I have a tiny little backpack. When I
(11:01):
see people with a big old thing way too big
to fit in the little chest, you know, the thing
at the airport where you measure if your bag is
the right side way bigger than that with other carry
on stuff and a handbag. And I'm, you know, obeying
the rules because I'm a rule o bear, and just
like so many other things in our country, there's no enforcement.
(11:26):
So just break the rules, you know, if you can't
beat them, join them. Maybe I'll just stop breaking the
rules too. Looks like a before we get to gene
and Redding, I need to take a quick break and
I'll talk to you just just in just a sec.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
On WBZ, It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
It'll be interesting to see which hospital delivers the first
baby of twenty twenty six. You know, in the industry,
the baby industry, in the labor and delivery in mid
life section of medical care. It's a big deal New
Year's Eve because everybody wants to catch the first baby.
(12:09):
I haven't know because my significant other is in the biz.
That's the phrase catch a baby, not deliver catch got
the baby. They don't really catch them, I mean, you
know what I mean. They deliver them, but the phrases
catch anyway. I'm curious to see which hospital delivers the
(12:31):
very first baby. And you gotta know, you gotta wonder
do they kind of, you know, time things out to
try to be the first baby? Like if a woman
is in labor, does she try to hold out till midnight? Probably?
Or if she's the early in labor, do you think
she tries extra hard to be the first? Maybe because
(12:53):
I don't think it prizes or something. It's gene in Redding.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
Hello, Jean, thank you for talking about hypnotism and smoking.
That has been my that that's my last vice I have.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And yeah, what were the others? What were the other I.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Just I just stopped. I had a drinking buddy and
that person passed away, and it just didn't seem like,
you know, it would be fun anymore without that person
in my life. At no Usually it was you know
the weekend, you know, like Friday night, Saturday, and then uh,
(13:39):
I'd waste the whole day Saturday recovering.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
And then how much would you drink on one of
your party days?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
I would I would I liked the clue of Sombreros,
but I would get a bottle of kolua, three packs
of cigarettes and just sit at home with friends and
and and drink until I had just a little bit
for the morning, so I'd have a wake me up
(14:08):
and then I'd recover like a yeah, but and then
I would have to eat greasy, greasy food just to
feel better, like pizza or you know, just greasy eggs
or something.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Get my stomach back to.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
Where it needed to be, go back to work.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I haven't had a hangover for probably twenty years. I
just I hate hangovers.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
Well I quit in two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Okay, but now you still smoke?
Speaker 6 (14:38):
Oh yeah, and two packs a day? No about a
pack of day. But back in those days I was
smoking too bad. Three packs a day.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
How are you alive? They've been telling me smoking is
bad for you.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
But also with the eating. I work an overnight shift,
so that's my daytime, right.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You know.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
So I have my dinner at two o'clock in the morning,
and they say that you shouldn't eat any heavy meals
after six.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Well, it depends on what your day schedule is. I
want to get to the We do have a hypnotist
guest on tomorrow here.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Yes, yes, I heard that, so I'll be listening because
you don't know if you're going to get someone that's
really going to help you, or a witch doctor that
just wants to take your money and run off to
the next town.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
You know, the way you put it is funny. I
visualized a witch doctor taking your money and just running
off to the next time. I got that lady's money
and ready I'm gonna I'm going over the wellfam.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Yeah, and then on your way home, you buy a
pack a six.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
So, uh, you know you got to quit smoking, because yes,
it's just even if it doesn't kill you, it'll reduce
your quality of life.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Yeah, and I know there is hope.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I quit from being hypnotized and never had another one.
And if and if you try it once and it
doesn't work, to try it again and again, because.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Yes, well I've tried the patch in the pill, but
I'm not good with drugs like that tell your brain
to tell your body to do this. I don't do
good with stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I get it totally. I'm here to tell you it worked.
And I know of three other people in my workplace
who also quit forever from the same hymn.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
That's just a lot of hope, badly a lot of hope.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
You got to believe it, and I'm here to tell
you it's real. So hopefully you believe it. You gotta
do what they tell you. Probably they want you you
don't drink, so that's no problem. They won't want you
to drink afterwards because it does seem to dissipate whatever
they instilled in you. And if you fail, try again.
I know you can't imagine life without cigarettes. But that's
(17:17):
the beauty of hypnosis. You got to believe it works
and you got to follow the rules.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Awesome, we'll find out what.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
We'll find out what the hypnotist tomorrow says that hypnotists
has all been on night Side with Dan before, so
we know it's a quality hypnotists.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Okay, all right, maybe after I listen to not give
him a ring?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Okay, well call during you Well, I'll allow you to
call during that segment when he's on. I think it's ten.
I can't be sure tomorrow.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
Okay, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Is there a song, Jean Jean, you're young and alive?
Who did that song? Oh lines, give me a shout?
Talk about anything you want. I'd love to hear stories.
Do you have a nightmare New Year's Eve story? Or
do you have a really great New Year's Eve story.
I told you my bad one wasn't that bad. Let
(18:15):
me share well, one quick good one and then a
longer good one. The quick good one is I like
to work on New Year's Eve. I've always liked to
work on holidays. I don't know why. It feels special.
I feel like like a one of a special crew.
And this goes way back to when I worked in
(18:36):
the hospital, in the emergency department in a hospital, I
was a surgical technician and I worked in the emergency department,
and you know, we'd have snacks and it was cool
little decorations. I guess we felt special. And it's always
been that way. In the radio, I'd always volunteer to
work on New Year's and in some cases, of course,
(18:57):
you make more money working on a holiday. And as
a DJ, I was a club DJ for a while.
I was a radio DJ and a club DJ, which
you probably don't know. And I've worked, I've worked, oh
all around. But way back in the day, I spent
records at the Paradise at oh, what was that place
(19:19):
in Brighton? It's gone, I can't remember. I can't remember.
Had to go downstairs. And also at Bill's Bar Bills
Barr was one of the places. And one night Bill's
Bar on Lansdowne Street, and one night they asked me
to work and spend records on New Year's Eve and
(19:41):
they said, tell you what, if you can sell the
place out, If the place sells out, we'll give you
a bonus. And it was a massive bonus. And that
was cool because I did. I did sell out. I
didn't spend any money that night, got a couple of
free beers, had fun, and walked away with a giant,
giant chunk of cash. Now here's a travel New Year's
(20:04):
Eve that I If you enjoy travel stories, you might
like this. It was in the nineties and the first
big trip I ever went I met. I went from Hamburg, Germany,
all the way to Budapest and then back to Switzerland
way too much. But on my second stop, I went
to Berlin and somebody gave me a number to call.
(20:27):
I called and just the person didn't know me. I said, hello,
my name's Brad, and Bob w told me to call
if I was ever in Berlin. Believe it or not,
she shows up ten minutes later, lets me stay at
her house. She stays at her friend's house. We have
friends with friends still and we have traveled together and
(20:48):
all is great. But one time she said, my friend
Anya and Tom are going to Frag for New Year's Eve.
You want to go? I said yeah, And they said,
meet us in Berlin. We'll hang out here for a
night and then we'll go together, all four of us.
(21:10):
And it was so great. I didn't have to do
anything or plan anything. The four of us went on
the train to Prague. And it's fun to travel with
local people. They're one of the bummers is they'll speak
to each other in German. You have no idea what
they're saying. But Corolla is her name. Still, they had
(21:30):
planned the trip and they they booked this place like
a little out of town, kind of like Brighton would
be the Boston. I guess. We had to take a
taxi just about Brighton distance, but it was kind of
it was out not quite the country, but kind of
the country. And it was a tiny, tiny place. It
(21:52):
had five tables, five tables only, and it was a
fixed rice deal. You got all your food, all your drinks,
unlimited everything and even fireworks included for thirty bucks, which
is you know, even then in the nineties. That was
a good deal. So I just felt so free and
(22:16):
so international and mostly free though, being with these international
friends and in this intimate space in an exotic place.
I still have a picture of it. You know, I
should post it. We wore, you know, we wore. They
wore weird masks. That was part of the New Year's package.
(22:40):
So there's a picture of everybody looking kind of wasted,
but we really weren't. It was the weird masks, I guess.
Then we went out and shot off our fireworks and
then that went back into town. Oh actually no, we
didn't go back into town that night. We had We
stayed over and the bummer was we left our key
(23:01):
in the room, so about two am we had to
bang on it was it was kind of the equivalent
of an Airbnb. It was just somebody's house that we
rented out of room two rooms actually.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Forgot a key, so we had to knock on the
door at two am and haven't let us in. But
that was, I guess my best New Year's even memory.
I do love the traveling I am. If you want
to follow me on the next trip. I've kind of
taken a break from traveling because I've run out of
places that I want to go. I'm not I'm not
a traveler that goes everywhere. I don't want to go
(23:37):
to uncomfortable places anymore. I have a friend that'll go
to oh god, hot, sweaty places, I don't want to
go to. They look difficult. I like her. I like Europe,
I like the Middle East. I like Eastern Europe. I
like that kind of thing. Oh a Morocco, Turkey, all that.
(24:02):
But I don't. I've run out of all those places,
and so now I'm focusing on kind of nice places
and coming up with in this month is Venice in
the Winter Venice, and I'd love you to follow me
and share the experience with me. You can follow me
on Facebook or Instagram or any one of those you can.
(24:23):
I'll do live things. Venice in the winter is great.
In the summer it's hell. Don't ever go in the summer, awful, expensive, ripoff,
stinky mosquitoes, bad, even the locals hated. But in the
winter it's not that cold, like forty degrees, just kind
of bottle up far fewer people, all those little there
(24:45):
are no cars, very festive Christmas lights. I hope will
still be up. And they have these little things called chicketti,
which are the Venetian equivalent of tap us, but they're
all on bread mostly and all different toppings. I won't
even go into what they are. Little chicketti. Look it
(25:07):
up and you just spread it so you And I
remember the last time I went to this place, small place,
a hole in the wall, and the weather was just
like this, and there was a crazy Swiss guy there.
I mean he was on fire because he was doing snuff,
(25:29):
you know, the tobacco based stuff that just minty that
shoots a hole right through the top of your head.
And he was making everybody in a bar do snuff.
It wasn't making them, but he got the bar dunners
to do snuff. And he was I have a video
you can if you go to Bradley Jay Travel on YouTube.
The video of it's there. And I did it myself
(25:53):
and it was the strangest sensation. But he was going
on and on about how great America was. He gave
a whole speech and God blessed America. It was pretty cool,
a pretty cool moment. And a beautiful town in the
and you know, just no traffic. You can take a
water shuttle from the airport into town. So I'll share
(26:14):
all that with you. I'll make a big video. But
if you follow me on if you're following me, or
if you do follow me on Facebook or social media,
then you can follow it live. Let's take this break
and chat about anything, New Year's or otherwise on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on wb Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I have about twenty minutes to go till the year
is over, twenty twenty five open lines. It's open lines
for you, but it's also open lines for me, which
means I'm gonna pop a couple of things out here
that really wouldn't have a lot of legs, but in
this time period, at this time, it might be interesting
to talk about. First, if you're a person who plans
(27:01):
to do dry January, and that is wildly popular now,
it's a big deal now, started out with just a
few hundred folks doing it and now it's in the millions.
One thing that makes it a lot easier, there's you
may not be aware of this, but there are very
good tasting na beers, non alcoholic beers now. Really, in
(27:23):
order to survive, every every beer company an every brewer
has had to make, or most of them or many
of them have had to make good non alcoholic beers,
and they're nothing like the junk that used to be
with that weird near beer taste. Guinness as one, it's great.
(27:44):
There's one called Athletic, which is I think strictly an
a there's it's gonna, there's a pay, There's a i
think a pallel called run Wild. It's really good if
you want to get through dry January, if you want
to try that out. A lot of the joy of
drinking beer is a ritual, and so when you drink
(28:05):
these beers, the ritual is still there, getting it out
of the fridge, popping the top, tasting that brisk kind
of taste, uh, trying to think wein Stefaner has one
that's there are big sections in the in the liquor store.
(28:27):
There's even one maybe it's athletic. It is a light,
this regular na beer, and then there's a non alcoholic
beer light. It has twenty five calories. A lot of
them have like sixty sixty five, seventy. This is twenty
(28:50):
five caldies. If you're trying to lose weight, and you
might expect that it would be this, this non alcoholic
light beer would be terrible.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
It's kind of like bud light. It's good for you know,
it's very doable, and I actually am looking forward to
going home and have having one now. It's it's something
I've come to look forward to, which is interesting. So
there's that. If you're can try to dry January. Check
(29:22):
out the really wide range of non alcoholic beers next.
This is something I've noticed in the press, and I
would call upon the Boston Globe and i'll the press
to change this. When they will give an account of
(29:43):
say a person getting hit by a car or something,
or a person getting in an accident or other other things,
they will give the age. And I feel that as ageist,
they will say, eighty four year old man hit crossing
the street? Why is that relevant? Why are you Why
(30:06):
are you including that? Is it? Are you saying that
this person was too old to be walking across the street.
I think this age is to include that fact you
wouldn't give. There are certain other facts about the person
you wouldn't give. Why is the age necessary? And I
(30:28):
don't think it is, And I think it's a form
of agism to include that, and agism is another ism
like sexism and racism. You can't help your age, and
you shouldn't be. You shouldn't be treated differently because of
your age, shouldn't be excluded because of your age, shouldn't
be made fun of because of your age. And this
(30:49):
works the other way too. By the way, boomers say
bad stuff about Gen Z and millennials, You shouldn't you
shouldn't be dising an entire generation because you don't know them.
Not all millennials are, you know, out of the millennial
stereoty stereotype many many, many are not many are hard working.
(31:12):
That's something you could stop doing during the new year,
be a little better. I'd like to see press newspapers
not include the AD's not necessary. Let's see. Oh tomorrow,
I think is the day you can throw out your
(31:33):
Christmas cards. I don't know how long you keep them,
And you can throw out your Christmas tree. It's weird
to me. Sometimes sometimes they'll go out to the dumpster
by my house, like in like April, and I'll see
this burned out tree there and think, what do these
people keep this tree till April? What kind of place
(31:54):
do they have up there. I don't think I want
to go up there and uh yeah that Oh that's it.
Oh one other thing. This could be a whole topic
for another another time. I can't decide if it would
have the legs for a whole hour. But should kids
(32:15):
take phones to school? And it's not just that they
didn't used to? Why do kids? Look, I don't have children,
so I don't understand. I get it. Perhaps someone would
be able to explain to me in the new year
why kids need phones they can go on the internet
to take to school. They will say, well, well, I
(32:37):
need to get in touch with my child, my child,
But why don't you just call the school and they'll
go go get the kid? Right? Is that it? Or
is it like for stranger danger? Is that the reason?
I don't know? The risk versus the reward? Why do
(33:00):
kids need phones in school? You know that they are.
Some schools are attempting to have kids drop up there
their phones when they go in. Just like the old West,
leave your weapon, leave your weapon outside the bar. You
can't come in this saloon with your weapon. Same kind
(33:23):
of thing. But the kids are figuring out ways around it.
They'll bring in dummy phones and drop that in the
bag and keep their real phone. I don't know that
I'd be curious to know how parents feel about that
some time during the in the new year. One other
thing I'm thinking about is, and I don't know how
(33:44):
you feel about it, personal body cam. There are dash
cams that are meant to protect you if you're in
the right during a traffic accident, or if you in
any situation you might need proof that you were not
doing something wrong. There are police body cams to you know,
(34:06):
for accountability and for the protection of both the citizen
and the officer. I'm thinking of getting a personal body cam,
a teeny one that when I'm walking down the street.
When I'm i'd go on long walks, sometimes from you know,
(34:27):
from Brookline to the South End, or from South End
to Somerville. And since enforcement traffic enforcement is really has
really been reduced a lot, And since scooters don't seem
(34:49):
to be subject to the gas scooters, the delivery scooters
don't seem to be subject to any traffic laws at all.
We were on our own, We are on our own. You
need to watch out for yourself. There are bicycles, There
are e bikes that go forty miles an hour. There
(35:13):
are motor scooters, are delivery scooters in the bike lane,
and of course there are oh knows that are also
not paying attention to business or they're on their phone.
You're really on your own. And so I have two
things going for me. I wear a high viz jacket,
not very fashionable. It looks like like a tea worker
(35:35):
or an officer or a construction worker. It's orange, and
that is great. People see me far away, they'll stop
way before the crosswalk. It's a real it's a real
life saver. You might want to consider that because you
are on your own, especially if you're a kid or
you're older. If you get hit, you break a hip,
(35:58):
your life's never going to be the same. This last year,
twenty twenty five, we had somebody killed by a knee
bike and Copley Square somebody terrible damage down in the Cape.
It's there are more and more of them, they're more
and more scooded. You run your own. The other thing
is the bodycam. I want if something, if I get hit,
(36:20):
I'd love to have it on videotape. And so I
don't know. You may disagree with that notion. But'd say, well,
what about if I go into a store and you're
videotaping the barista at Starbucks? Well, I mean that's something
to talk about. That's something to consider. I'm gonna break
(36:42):
and we'll go to Boston, Bob after this on WBZ, you're.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
On Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Wow, this is the last ten minutes of the year
and last nine minutes of the year. I won't be
here with the big countdown. I'd give you a big countdown,
but I won't be here. I will be probably in
the elevator. A very not not special New Year's e
but had it was really special speaking with you. I
enjoyed the whole thing. Tonight, the last few minutes, I'm
going to be all alone like many of you. Actually,
(37:15):
we'll go to Boston, Bob, probably in Boston. How are
you doing.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Both, Brad?
Speaker 5 (37:21):
Brad, I'm calling to wish you a healthy and happy
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, let me wish you the same thing, happier and
even healthier twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
It's good to thank you, sir.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
Bos.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Appreciate that Bob's recovering from a serious illness and and
he's optimistic and he's been through hell, and so you know,
twenty twenty six, hopefully is going to be a bright
year for you.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
I hope so, and I hope to travel more. I
don't know if I shared this with you or not,
but have you ever been on a cruise?
Speaker 2 (37:55):
I have not. Why don't you, you know, convince.
Speaker 5 (37:59):
Me to do that, So I'll tell you both sides
of the story. So to celebrate my beating cancer, I
went on my first ever cruise. It was a bit
back and I don't know if I should say the
name of the cruise line, but I was not happy
(38:19):
with the experience, and I s yeah, I won't say.
I swore after that experience I would never cruise again
until a friend of mine who I follow on YouTube
and Facebook provided me with an offer I could not refuse.
So I went on another cruise with and I will
(38:41):
share the name.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Because it was a terrific experience.
Speaker 5 (38:43):
It was Virgin Voyages, and Virgin Voyages was amazing in
every aspect of the experience.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
It was just wonderful.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
The food was terrific, staff was terrific.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
By the way, the staff was terrific.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
On the not so great experience, but the food was
not good on the first experience, and unfortunately, on the
first experience, the cruise line allowed people to smoke in
their casino, which I found quite offensive, and they didn't
get any business from me because I couldn't go to
(39:20):
the casino because it slunk like cigarette smoke. But on
Virgin voyages there's no smoking in the casino.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
There was a wonderful time.
Speaker 5 (39:31):
The only thing I don't like about cruises bread is
every one of the ports that you go into there
what I considered to.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Be tourist traps.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
And the cruise port that I went originally, the one
that I did not appreciate was through Alaska. Alaska was
beautiful to look at, but like I said, the cruise
ports were like tourist traps. The second cruise on Virgin
was through the.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Caribbean, which I found amazing.
Speaker 5 (40:06):
The ports were beautiful to look at. Because of my illness,
I couldn't spend too much time on the ports because
it was too humid out.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
My breathing was not as easy as I'd like it
to pee.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
What ports did you go to?
Speaker 5 (40:21):
H for which one the Caribbean. The Caribbean we went through,
I started off in San Juan, which is a place
that I'd never been to in my life.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
It was beautiful.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
So we started off in San Juan and then we
went on to Antigua Saint Martin.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
I'm curious about sat Mine.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
Saint Martin was beautiful to look at. You know, there's
a there's a I didn't. I wasn't able to go myself,
but friends of mine who were on the cruise went
and they experience that. It's right near the airport where
you can be on the ocean where the airplanes land
and they almost touched your head.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Yeah, that's a big popular thing for.
Speaker 5 (41:13):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure your friend Mika would love that. Yes,
so there was that, and uh we also went.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
To uh, let's see, I said, Antigua. Antigua was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
We also went to.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
Having a brain clamp. It'll it'll come to me.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
What was the food that was so good on the
good cruise? What was it like?
Speaker 5 (41:46):
It was? It was just amazing. So comparing the first
cruise to the second cruise, the first cruise, and which
apparently is typical of cruises, they have these big, huge
common dining rooms that you go to to have your meals.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And I didn't really.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
Appreciate that Virgin Voyages separates themselves from the rest in
that they have They have separate restaurants, about twenty three
of them the exact all different types of food. They
had Italian, Mexican, American, other fears, and they don't have
(42:33):
like the typical cruises they have this. Typical cruises have
a big, huge buffet. I don't appreciate a buffet, and
apparently people who go on Virgin Voyages don't either.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
They don't have one.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
They have a galley with different types of foods that
are available that have served you, and it was just incredible.
I didn't have one bad thing to say about my
experience on Virgins.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Will it's something do you think about it? And of course,
if I do decide to go on a cruise out
think of the ones, the Virgin one that you recommend. Bobby,
so happy you're well and able to travel around and
really glad you call in because it's great to stay connected.
And also, Bob, you have a lot of stories from
your career as in the well you call it the
(43:17):
transportation business, but Bob was a limo driver. He can't
really tell secrets, but he's got a lot of stories
he can tell. So hopefully in twenty twenty six you
will share some of those cool stories.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
Yeah, I'll share what I can, but what the truth
we know?
Speaker 5 (43:33):
And I'm not a chaw for I actually promote and
I service show for Trump Vision around the globe.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
All right, Bob, I have to run. Thanks so much for.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
Colin healthy, Happy New Year, my friend, you.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Too and saved all of you. Let me leave you
with this one thing that you can all do in
twenty twenty six is be kind. You know, when you're mean,
a little bit of your soul dies, it really does.
And when you're nice, you can feel it a little
your soul grows a little bit. That includes and maybe
especially online. Don't be mean online. Block people who are
(44:10):
mean online, Avoid those those folks, and don't be one
of them online. Thank you for everything. I really appreciate
you all, and I wish you the best. I'll be
into tomorrow night and the next night here on WBZ,
and I hope you'll continue to stay with me. And
thanks Rob Brooks. Bye,
It's night Side with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Beasy
Boxton's Beach Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well, look at that eleven o six and forty two seconds.
I know I don't need to say the forty two seconds,
but my point is, this is the last hour of
this year, twenty twenty five. Who among you boomers thought
you would make it this far? Remember the phrase never
trust anyone over thirty. Wasn't that the phrase, yeah, look
(00:30):
at you now, never trust anyone over eighty, now right?
I know that by the way open lines talk about anything,
you're like six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
And I know that it can sound cliche to talk
about New Year's resolutions. On the other hand, they're a
real thing. And I actually it has nothing to do
(00:55):
with New Year's but I would love to try a
new lifestyle and quit drinking, like, not drink at all.
I don't drink crazy amounts. I drink what I figure
is a normal amount. But I would I think it'd
be interesting to just not drink it all. What's that lifestyle?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Like?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
There's one big, big drawback with quitting drinking, and that
is you can't drink and you know, so it's fun. Yeah, Hey,
let's have a beer. It's part of so it's part
of life, and it would take a big turnaround to
not do that. I'm going to tell you though, I
(01:41):
am getting hypnotized to try it. I mean a little
bit of a buying because I might have to postpone
my hypnosis to try it, to quit drinking because I
want to, really, because I want to lose weight. There's
no way I'm going to lose weight if I still
drink beer, because I've I eat tremendously. You have no
(02:06):
idea how healthfully I eat, like broccoli, sardines, salmon, salads.
It couldn't be any more healthy. Yet dropping pounds is difficult,
so it's got to be Hey, at your age, it's
probably about the beer, and I don't drink that much
beer anyway, I'd like to. I think i'd like to
(02:28):
try that non drinking lifestyle, just to see what it's like.
People do it and they seem fine. Think of the
money saved and think of the pounds that will drop off.
I just think it's time for me to get a
little healthier, and losing weight would be the way to
do that, and probably not drinking would be that. Because
(02:52):
I really do it. I know, maybe not, because I
do enjoy Hey, let's go out and have a beer.
I have two beers sometimes me and that's it. I
never get drunk. I don't like getting drunk. I don't
like a headache. I don't like to be drunk. I
just like the slight edge off and the ritual of
(03:14):
opening your beer and talking with friends in a cool
bar like Brendan be and NJP or or Granny O'Malley's
on Harvard EV. We'll see. Now. The reason I'm getting
hypnotized is that I did quit smoking from hypnosis. And
(03:37):
really what this is coming down to is we're going
to have a hypnotist on tomorrow night. But let me
tell you about hypnosis and quitting things. Well, it works,
it can work. It worked for me. I smoked, and
I tried, actually many New Year's Eves to quit. I
(03:59):
remember crumpling up a package, throwing it in the trash,
and then minutes later going back in the trash and
getting a cigarette. So that's no good. But one day,
when I was working at WBCN, a hypnotist came in.
Barry was his name. He was unbelievably great. He he
(04:24):
was a hypnotist that he would hypnotize air traffic controllers
so they would relax and focus military people. I think
he was the best. And in a local town they
had a group session. There might have been twenty people
there in a high school classroom, and I went. I
(04:49):
didn't expect it to work at all, and he put
us under three times sort of under, you know, he
really he was really the usual relax and think about this,
thank you going down. I'm not going to do it,
because what if you've got hypnotized right now, I'd be
on the hook for it, So I'm not going to
do it. But it worked. When I left the hypnosis,
(05:13):
I didn't feel any differently. They did say don't drink
anything for a month because because alcohol will diminish whatever
we installed in you. And you know what, I never
had another cigarette. Can you believe it? And I know
how impossible that is. Some people say it's harder to
quit cigarettes than heroin. It is brutal. I'd tried so
(05:36):
many times before I walked away. Didn't feel any different,
but never had another cigarette ever, and no cravings. Just
forget all about it, follow the rules. I went back
for a refresher course. Forgot all about it. If you
wanted to work, if you believe it, it can work.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
One thing is it's kind of an all or nothing situation.
You can't get hypnotized to eat less because you can't
stop eating altogether. And it's a slippery slope. You eat
less in the beginning and then you just swoop back up.
It's kind of all or nothing. I don't think they
can hypnotize you to drink less. If they could just
(06:23):
hypnotize me to drink one half a glass of wine
a day, that would be good. But I don't think
they can do that. The rub is I am going
away to Venice later in the month, and I don't
want to not drink in Venice. What I mean, one
of the things you do on trips is you have
(06:44):
you know, you have a spritz here, you have a
spritz here. I'll tell you that story later. I do
have Alex and Millis. It's open lines. I love to
talk to you about your best New Years and your
worst New Years, or anything else that might pop into
your mind. As I say open lines. And Alex in Millis, Hi.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Alex, Hey, probably happy New Year. I'm here with with
our family at UH at a church, uh function, and
they're having a you know, a band in the New
Year's galla. Uh. So it's it's a lot of fun.
But as you get older, I think, uh, you know,
(07:23):
New Year's uh, you know, becomes just another day for
a lot of people. But I mean, you know, and
if you were to ask people, what is time?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You know?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
So so in other words, you don't you don't actually
uh you know see it. I mean it it's there,
but it's kind of like the wind, you know. Uh,
you don't see the wing, but you see its effect,
you know, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yes, you see the trees blowing around, right, and time
is like that because you don't see time, but you
see the wrinkles.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well, nowadays you can probably take care of that, you know,
if you go to a cosmetologist or.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Yeah, I'm gonna keep my wrinkles.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah I know that. It's show. It's it gives you
a character.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
But and you see, when you're a man in our society,
or if you're many many humans let's say, are able
to grow beards. And if you're able to grow a
beard right and you style it right, then you can
cover up all your facial agings and you you look
the same as long as you live.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Yeah, that's that's true. For our New Year's resolution resolutions,
I don't know, they don't seem to work. But you know,
if if you were to tell me, I really don't
have too many vices, like I'm not a gambler. I
don't smoke, and I don't really drink that much. But
on the other hand, like I you know, I like
(08:56):
to indulge in sweets and like chocolate and stuff. But
if it doesn't affect me, you know, asparse my weight,
how come. I don't know if it's my genetics, but
I'm the type of person that have has eaten a
whole pizza, you know now before I get ready to
go to bed, you know. And I'm the same weight
(09:19):
throughout the years, even in high school. I remember, I
can still wear the same clothes like from forty years ago,
fifty years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
You know, you're bumming me out, Alex. I mean, yeah,
you're bumming us all out. We're jealous that you can
eat a pizza at every night and still how about
this argument?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
How about this argument? If if I get on a
plane and you know, buy a ticket, right, I weigh
one hundred and thirty seven pounds, not to just any
no disrespect. Disrespect you know on heavy people. But a
person that weighs twice my weight pays the same price
I do if I use the same analogy with my
(10:00):
with my luggage. Okay, if your bags are over fifty
pounds or whatever the cutoff is, you have to pay more.
So why do I pay the same price for a
ticket as a person that is not the same weight
as many?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Maybe they should do this. You get to take a
finite amount on board, and that amount is your weight
and the weight of your luggage. So there, the thinner
you are, the more luggages you get to take, or
the heavy you are, the less luggas you get to take.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
How's that that sounds good? You think it'll go through?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
No, it's not politically politically correct.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I guess I don't think it'll happen. But thank you,
thank you, Alex. I did hear that starting soon, airlines
are going to be strict about the size of your
carry on. And I just get so infuriated when I
travel because I have a tiny little backpack. When I
(11:01):
see people with a big old thing way too big
to fit in the little chest, you know, the thing
at the airport where you measure if your bag is
the right side way bigger than that with other carry
on stuff and a handbag. And I'm, you know, obeying
the rules because I'm a rule o bear, and just
like so many other things in our country, there's no enforcement.
(11:26):
So just break the rules, you know, if you can't
beat them, join them. Maybe I'll just stop breaking the
rules too. Looks like a before we get to gene
and Redding, I need to take a quick break and
I'll talk to you just just in just a sec.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
On WBZ, It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
It'll be interesting to see which hospital delivers the first
baby of twenty twenty six. You know, in the industry,
the baby industry, in the labor and delivery in mid
life section of medical care. It's a big deal New
Year's Eve because everybody wants to catch the first baby.
(12:09):
I haven't know because my significant other is in the biz.
That's the phrase catch a baby, not deliver catch got
the baby. They don't really catch them, I mean, you
know what I mean. They deliver them, but the phrases
catch anyway. I'm curious to see which hospital delivers the
(12:31):
very first baby. And you gotta know, you gotta wonder
do they kind of, you know, time things out to
try to be the first baby? Like if a woman
is in labor, does she try to hold out till midnight? Probably?
Or if she's the early in labor, do you think
she tries extra hard to be the first? Maybe because
(12:53):
I don't think it prizes or something. It's gene in Redding.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
Hello, Jean, thank you for talking about hypnotism and smoking.
That has been my that that's my last vice I have.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And yeah, what were the others? What were the other I.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Just I just stopped. I had a drinking buddy and
that person passed away, and it just didn't seem like,
you know, it would be fun anymore without that person
in my life. At no Usually it was you know
the weekend, you know, like Friday night, Saturday, and then uh,
(13:39):
I'd waste the whole day Saturday recovering.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
And then how much would you drink on one of
your party days?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
I would I would I liked the clue of Sombreros,
but I would get a bottle of kolua, three packs
of cigarettes and just sit at home with friends and
and and drink until I had just a little bit
for the morning, so I'd have a wake me up
(14:08):
and then I'd recover like a yeah, but and then
I would have to eat greasy, greasy food just to
feel better, like pizza or you know, just greasy eggs
or something.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
Get my stomach back to.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
Where it needed to be, go back to work.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
I haven't had a hangover for probably twenty years. I
just I hate hangovers.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
Well I quit in two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Okay, but now you still smoke?
Speaker 6 (14:38):
Oh yeah, and two packs a day? No about a
pack of day. But back in those days I was
smoking too bad. Three packs a day.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
How are you alive? They've been telling me smoking is
bad for you.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
But also with the eating. I work an overnight shift,
so that's my daytime, right.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
You know.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
So I have my dinner at two o'clock in the morning,
and they say that you shouldn't eat any heavy meals
after six.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Well, it depends on what your day schedule is. I
want to get to the We do have a hypnotist
guest on tomorrow here.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Yes, yes, I heard that, so I'll be listening because
you don't know if you're going to get someone that's
really going to help you, or a witch doctor that
just wants to take your money and run off to
the next town.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
You know, the way you put it is funny. I
visualized a witch doctor taking your money and just running
off to the next time. I got that lady's money
and ready I'm gonna I'm going over the wellfam.
Speaker 6 (15:58):
Yeah, and then on your way home, you buy a
pack a six.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
So, uh, you know you got to quit smoking, because yes,
it's just even if it doesn't kill you, it'll reduce
your quality of life.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
Yeah, and I know there is hope.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I quit from being hypnotized and never had another one.
And if and if you try it once and it
doesn't work, to try it again and again, because.
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Yes, well I've tried the patch in the pill, but
I'm not good with drugs like that tell your brain
to tell your body to do this. I don't do
good with stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I get it totally. I'm here to tell you it worked.
And I know of three other people in my workplace
who also quit forever from the same hymn.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
That's just a lot of hope, badly a lot of hope.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
You got to believe it, and I'm here to tell
you it's real. So hopefully you believe it. You gotta
do what they tell you. Probably they want you you
don't drink, so that's no problem. They won't want you
to drink afterwards because it does seem to dissipate whatever
they instilled in you. And if you fail, try again.
I know you can't imagine life without cigarettes. But that's
(17:17):
the beauty of hypnosis. You got to believe it works
and you got to follow the rules.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Awesome, we'll find out what.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
We'll find out what the hypnotist tomorrow says that hypnotists
has all been on night Side with Dan before, so
we know it's a quality hypnotists.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Okay, all right, maybe after I listen to not give
him a ring?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Okay, well call during you Well, I'll allow you to
call during that segment when he's on. I think it's ten.
I can't be sure tomorrow.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
Okay, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Is there a song, Jean Jean, you're young and alive?
Who did that song? Oh lines, give me a shout?
Talk about anything you want. I'd love to hear stories.
Do you have a nightmare New Year's Eve story? Or
do you have a really great New Year's Eve story.
I told you my bad one wasn't that bad. Let
(18:15):
me share well, one quick good one and then a
longer good one. The quick good one is I like
to work on New Year's Eve. I've always liked to
work on holidays. I don't know why. It feels special.
I feel like like a one of a special crew.
And this goes way back to when I worked in
(18:36):
the hospital, in the emergency department in a hospital, I
was a surgical technician and I worked in the emergency department,
and you know, we'd have snacks and it was cool
little decorations. I guess we felt special. And it's always
been that way. In the radio, I'd always volunteer to
work on New Year's and in some cases, of course,
(18:57):
you make more money working on a holiday. And as
a DJ, I was a club DJ for a while.
I was a radio DJ and a club DJ, which
you probably don't know. And I've worked, I've worked, oh
all around. But way back in the day, I spent
records at the Paradise at oh, what was that place
(19:19):
in Brighton? It's gone, I can't remember. I can't remember.
Had to go downstairs. And also at Bill's Bar Bills
Barr was one of the places. And one night Bill's
Bar on Lansdowne Street, and one night they asked me
to work and spend records on New Year's Eve and
(19:41):
they said, tell you what, if you can sell the
place out, If the place sells out, we'll give you
a bonus. And it was a massive bonus. And that
was cool because I did. I did sell out. I
didn't spend any money that night, got a couple of
free beers, had fun, and walked away with a giant,
giant chunk of cash. Now here's a travel New Year's
(20:04):
Eve that I If you enjoy travel stories, you might
like this. It was in the nineties and the first
big trip I ever went I met. I went from Hamburg, Germany,
all the way to Budapest and then back to Switzerland
way too much. But on my second stop, I went
to Berlin and somebody gave me a number to call.
(20:27):
I called and just the person didn't know me. I said, hello,
my name's Brad, and Bob w told me to call
if I was ever in Berlin. Believe it or not,
she shows up ten minutes later, lets me stay at
her house. She stays at her friend's house. We have
friends with friends still and we have traveled together and
(20:48):
all is great. But one time she said, my friend
Anya and Tom are going to Frag for New Year's Eve.
You want to go? I said yeah, And they said,
meet us in Berlin. We'll hang out here for a
night and then we'll go together, all four of us.
(21:10):
And it was so great. I didn't have to do
anything or plan anything. The four of us went on
the train to Prague. And it's fun to travel with
local people. They're one of the bummers is they'll speak
to each other in German. You have no idea what
they're saying. But Corolla is her name. Still, they had
(21:30):
planned the trip and they they booked this place like
a little out of town, kind of like Brighton would
be the Boston. I guess. We had to take a
taxi just about Brighton distance, but it was kind of
it was out not quite the country, but kind of
the country. And it was a tiny, tiny place. It
(21:52):
had five tables, five tables only, and it was a
fixed rice deal. You got all your food, all your drinks,
unlimited everything and even fireworks included for thirty bucks, which
is you know, even then in the nineties. That was
a good deal. So I just felt so free and
(22:16):
so international and mostly free though, being with these international
friends and in this intimate space in an exotic place.
I still have a picture of it. You know, I
should post it. We wore, you know, we wore. They
wore weird masks. That was part of the New Year's package.
(22:40):
So there's a picture of everybody looking kind of wasted,
but we really weren't. It was the weird masks, I guess.
Then we went out and shot off our fireworks and
then that went back into town. Oh actually no, we
didn't go back into town that night. We had We
stayed over and the bummer was we left our key
(23:01):
in the room, so about two am we had to
bang on it was it was kind of the equivalent
of an Airbnb. It was just somebody's house that we
rented out of room two rooms actually.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Forgot a key, so we had to knock on the
door at two am and haven't let us in. But
that was, I guess my best New Year's even memory.
I do love the traveling I am. If you want
to follow me on the next trip. I've kind of
taken a break from traveling because I've run out of
places that I want to go. I'm not I'm not
a traveler that goes everywhere. I don't want to go
(23:37):
to uncomfortable places anymore. I have a friend that'll go
to oh god, hot, sweaty places, I don't want to
go to. They look difficult. I like her. I like Europe,
I like the Middle East. I like Eastern Europe. I
like that kind of thing. Oh a Morocco, Turkey, all that.
(24:02):
But I don't. I've run out of all those places,
and so now I'm focusing on kind of nice places
and coming up with in this month is Venice in
the Winter Venice, and I'd love you to follow me
and share the experience with me. You can follow me
on Facebook or Instagram or any one of those you can.
(24:23):
I'll do live things. Venice in the winter is great.
In the summer it's hell. Don't ever go in the summer, awful, expensive, ripoff,
stinky mosquitoes, bad, even the locals hated. But in the
winter it's not that cold, like forty degrees, just kind
of bottle up far fewer people, all those little there
(24:45):
are no cars, very festive Christmas lights. I hope will
still be up. And they have these little things called chicketti,
which are the Venetian equivalent of tap us, but they're
all on bread mostly and all different toppings. I won't
even go into what they are. Little chicketti. Look it
(25:07):
up and you just spread it so you And I
remember the last time I went to this place, small place,
a hole in the wall, and the weather was just
like this, and there was a crazy Swiss guy there.
I mean he was on fire because he was doing snuff,
(25:29):
you know, the tobacco based stuff that just minty that
shoots a hole right through the top of your head.
And he was making everybody in a bar do snuff.
It wasn't making them, but he got the bar dunners
to do snuff. And he was I have a video
you can if you go to Bradley Jay Travel on YouTube.
The video of it's there. And I did it myself
(25:53):
and it was the strangest sensation. But he was going
on and on about how great America was. He gave
a whole speech and God blessed America. It was pretty cool,
a pretty cool moment. And a beautiful town in the
and you know, just no traffic. You can take a
water shuttle from the airport into town. So I'll share
(26:14):
all that with you. I'll make a big video. But
if you follow me on if you're following me, or
if you do follow me on Facebook or social media,
then you can follow it live. Let's take this break
and chat about anything, New Year's or otherwise on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on wb Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I have about twenty minutes to go till the year
is over, twenty twenty five open lines. It's open lines
for you, but it's also open lines for me, which
means I'm gonna pop a couple of things out here
that really wouldn't have a lot of legs, but in
this time period, at this time, it might be interesting
to talk about. First, if you're a person who plans
(27:01):
to do dry January, and that is wildly popular now,
it's a big deal now, started out with just a
few hundred folks doing it and now it's in the millions.
One thing that makes it a lot easier, there's you
may not be aware of this, but there are very
good tasting na beers, non alcoholic beers now. Really, in
(27:23):
order to survive, every every beer company an every brewer
has had to make, or most of them or many
of them have had to make good non alcoholic beers,
and they're nothing like the junk that used to be
with that weird near beer taste. Guinness as one, it's great.
(27:44):
There's one called Athletic, which is I think strictly an
a there's it's gonna, there's a pay, There's a i
think a pallel called run Wild. It's really good if
you want to get through dry January, if you want
to try that out. A lot of the joy of
drinking beer is a ritual, and so when you drink
(28:05):
these beers, the ritual is still there, getting it out
of the fridge, popping the top, tasting that brisk kind
of taste, uh, trying to think wein Stefaner has one
that's there are big sections in the in the liquor store.
(28:27):
There's even one maybe it's athletic. It is a light,
this regular na beer, and then there's a non alcoholic
beer light. It has twenty five calories. A lot of
them have like sixty sixty five, seventy. This is twenty
(28:50):
five caldies. If you're trying to lose weight, and you
might expect that it would be this, this non alcoholic
light beer would be terrible.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
It's kind of like bud light. It's good for you know,
it's very doable, and I actually am looking forward to
going home and have having one now. It's it's something
I've come to look forward to, which is interesting. So
there's that. If you're can try to dry January. Check
(29:22):
out the really wide range of non alcoholic beers next.
This is something I've noticed in the press, and I
would call upon the Boston Globe and i'll the press
to change this. When they will give an account of
(29:43):
say a person getting hit by a car or something,
or a person getting in an accident or other other things,
they will give the age. And I feel that as ageist,
they will say, eighty four year old man hit crossing
the street? Why is that relevant? Why are you Why
(30:06):
are you including that? Is it? Are you saying that
this person was too old to be walking across the street.
I think this age is to include that fact you
wouldn't give. There are certain other facts about the person
you wouldn't give. Why is the age necessary? And I
(30:28):
don't think it is, And I think it's a form
of agism to include that, and agism is another ism
like sexism and racism. You can't help your age, and
you shouldn't be. You shouldn't be treated differently because of
your age, shouldn't be excluded because of your age, shouldn't
be made fun of because of your age. And this
(30:49):
works the other way too. By the way, boomers say
bad stuff about Gen Z and millennials, You shouldn't you
shouldn't be dising an entire generation because you don't know them.
Not all millennials are, you know, out of the millennial
stereoty stereotype many many, many are not many are hard working.
(31:12):
That's something you could stop doing during the new year,
be a little better. I'd like to see press newspapers
not include the AD's not necessary. Let's see. Oh tomorrow,
I think is the day you can throw out your
(31:33):
Christmas cards. I don't know how long you keep them,
And you can throw out your Christmas tree. It's weird
to me. Sometimes sometimes they'll go out to the dumpster
by my house, like in like April, and I'll see
this burned out tree there and think, what do these
people keep this tree till April? What kind of place
(31:54):
do they have up there. I don't think I want
to go up there and uh yeah that Oh that's it.
Oh one other thing. This could be a whole topic
for another another time. I can't decide if it would
have the legs for a whole hour. But should kids
(32:15):
take phones to school? And it's not just that they
didn't used to? Why do kids? Look, I don't have children,
so I don't understand. I get it. Perhaps someone would
be able to explain to me in the new year
why kids need phones they can go on the internet
to take to school. They will say, well, well, I
(32:37):
need to get in touch with my child, my child,
But why don't you just call the school and they'll
go go get the kid? Right? Is that it? Or
is it like for stranger danger? Is that the reason?
I don't know? The risk versus the reward? Why do
(33:00):
kids need phones in school? You know that they are.
Some schools are attempting to have kids drop up there
their phones when they go in. Just like the old West,
leave your weapon, leave your weapon outside the bar. You
can't come in this saloon with your weapon. Same kind
(33:23):
of thing. But the kids are figuring out ways around it.
They'll bring in dummy phones and drop that in the
bag and keep their real phone. I don't know that
I'd be curious to know how parents feel about that
some time during the in the new year. One other
thing I'm thinking about is, and I don't know how
(33:44):
you feel about it, personal body cam. There are dash
cams that are meant to protect you if you're in
the right during a traffic accident, or if you in
any situation you might need proof that you were not
doing something wrong. There are police body cams to you know,
(34:06):
for accountability and for the protection of both the citizen
and the officer. I'm thinking of getting a personal body cam,
a teeny one that when I'm walking down the street.
When I'm i'd go on long walks, sometimes from you know,
(34:27):
from Brookline to the South End, or from South End
to Somerville. And since enforcement traffic enforcement is really has
really been reduced a lot, And since scooters don't seem
(34:49):
to be subject to the gas scooters, the delivery scooters
don't seem to be subject to any traffic laws at all.
We were on our own, We are on our own. You
need to watch out for yourself. There are bicycles, There
are e bikes that go forty miles an hour. There
(35:13):
are motor scooters, are delivery scooters in the bike lane,
and of course there are oh knows that are also
not paying attention to business or they're on their phone.
You're really on your own. And so I have two
things going for me. I wear a high viz jacket,
not very fashionable. It looks like like a tea worker
(35:35):
or an officer or a construction worker. It's orange, and
that is great. People see me far away, they'll stop
way before the crosswalk. It's a real it's a real
life saver. You might want to consider that because you
are on your own, especially if you're a kid or
you're older. If you get hit, you break a hip,
(35:58):
your life's never going to be the same. This last year,
twenty twenty five, we had somebody killed by a knee
bike and Copley Square somebody terrible damage down in the Cape.
It's there are more and more of them, they're more
and more scooded. You run your own. The other thing
is the bodycam. I want if something, if I get hit,
(36:20):
I'd love to have it on videotape. And so I
don't know. You may disagree with that notion. But'd say, well,
what about if I go into a store and you're
videotaping the barista at Starbucks? Well, I mean that's something
to talk about. That's something to consider. I'm gonna break
(36:42):
and we'll go to Boston, Bob after this on WBZ, you're.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
On Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Wow, this is the last ten minutes of the year
and last nine minutes of the year. I won't be
here with the big countdown. I'd give you a big countdown,
but I won't be here. I will be probably in
the elevator. A very not not special New Year's e
but had it was really special speaking with you. I
enjoyed the whole thing. Tonight, the last few minutes, I'm
going to be all alone like many of you. Actually,
(37:15):
we'll go to Boston, Bob, probably in Boston. How are
you doing.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
Both, Brad?
Speaker 5 (37:21):
Brad, I'm calling to wish you a healthy and happy
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Well, let me wish you the same thing, happier and
even healthier twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
It's good to thank you, sir.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
Bos.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Appreciate that Bob's recovering from a serious illness and and
he's optimistic and he's been through hell, and so you know,
twenty twenty six, hopefully is going to be a bright
year for you.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
I hope so, and I hope to travel more. I
don't know if I shared this with you or not,
but have you ever been on a cruise?
Speaker 2 (37:55):
I have not. Why don't you, you know, convince.
Speaker 5 (37:59):
Me to do that, So I'll tell you both sides
of the story. So to celebrate my beating cancer, I
went on my first ever cruise. It was a bit
back and I don't know if I should say the
name of the cruise line, but I was not happy
(38:19):
with the experience, and I s yeah, I won't say.
I swore after that experience I would never cruise again
until a friend of mine who I follow on YouTube
and Facebook provided me with an offer I could not refuse.
So I went on another cruise with and I will
(38:41):
share the name.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Because it was a terrific experience.
Speaker 5 (38:43):
It was Virgin Voyages, and Virgin Voyages was amazing in
every aspect of the experience.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
It was just wonderful.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
The food was terrific, staff was terrific.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
By the way, the staff was terrific.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
On the not so great experience, but the food was
not good on the first experience, and unfortunately, on the
first experience, the cruise line allowed people to smoke in
their casino, which I found quite offensive, and they didn't
get any business from me because I couldn't go to
(39:20):
the casino because it slunk like cigarette smoke. But on
Virgin voyages there's no smoking in the casino.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
There was a wonderful time.
Speaker 5 (39:31):
The only thing I don't like about cruises bread is
every one of the ports that you go into there
what I considered to.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
Be tourist traps.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
And the cruise port that I went originally, the one
that I did not appreciate was through Alaska. Alaska was
beautiful to look at, but like I said, the cruise
ports were like tourist traps. The second cruise on Virgin
was through the.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Caribbean, which I found amazing.
Speaker 5 (40:06):
The ports were beautiful to look at. Because of my illness,
I couldn't spend too much time on the ports because
it was too humid out.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
My breathing was not as easy as I'd like it
to pee.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
What ports did you go to?
Speaker 5 (40:21):
H for which one the Caribbean. The Caribbean we went through,
I started off in San Juan, which is a place
that I'd never been to in my life.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
It was beautiful.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
So we started off in San Juan and then we
went on to Antigua Saint Martin.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
I'm curious about sat Mine.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
Saint Martin was beautiful to look at. You know, there's
a there's a I didn't. I wasn't able to go myself,
but friends of mine who were on the cruise went
and they experience that. It's right near the airport where
you can be on the ocean where the airplanes land
and they almost touched your head.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Yeah, that's a big popular thing for.
Speaker 5 (41:13):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure your friend Mika would love that. Yes,
so there was that, and uh we also went.
Speaker 3 (41:25):
To uh, let's see, I said, Antigua. Antigua was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
And uh.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
We also went to.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
Having a brain clamp. It'll it'll come to me.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
What was the food that was so good on the
good cruise? What was it like?
Speaker 5 (41:46):
It was? It was just amazing. So comparing the first
cruise to the second cruise, the first cruise, and which
apparently is typical of cruises, they have these big, huge
common dining rooms that you go to to have your meals.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And I didn't really.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
Appreciate that Virgin Voyages separates themselves from the rest in
that they have They have separate restaurants, about twenty three
of them the exact all different types of food. They
had Italian, Mexican, American, other fears, and they don't have
(42:33):
like the typical cruises they have this. Typical cruises have
a big, huge buffet. I don't appreciate a buffet, and
apparently people who go on Virgin Voyages don't either.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
They don't have one.
Speaker 5 (42:44):
They have a galley with different types of foods that
are available that have served you, and it was just incredible.
I didn't have one bad thing to say about my
experience on Virgins.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Will it's something do you think about it? And of course,
if I do decide to go on a cruise out
think of the ones, the Virgin one that you recommend. Bobby,
so happy you're well and able to travel around and
really glad you call in because it's great to stay connected.
And also, Bob, you have a lot of stories from
your career as in the well you call it the
(43:17):
transportation business, but Bob was a limo driver. He can't
really tell secrets, but he's got a lot of stories
he can tell. So hopefully in twenty twenty six you
will share some of those cool stories.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
Yeah, I'll share what I can, but what the truth
we know?
Speaker 5 (43:33):
And I'm not a chaw for I actually promote and
I service show for Trump Vision around the globe.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
All right, Bob, I have to run. Thanks so much for.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
Colin healthy, Happy New Year, my friend, you.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Too and saved all of you. Let me leave you
with this one thing that you can all do in
twenty twenty six is be kind. You know, when you're mean,
a little bit of your soul dies, it really does.
And when you're nice, you can feel it a little
your soul grows a little bit. That includes and maybe
especially online. Don't be mean online. Block people who are
(44:10):
mean online, Avoid those those folks, and don't be one
of them online. Thank you for everything. I really appreciate
you all, and I wish you the best. I'll be
into tomorrow night and the next night here on WBZ,
and I hope you'll continue to stay with me. And
thanks Rob Brooks. Bye,
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