January 3, 2026 • 42 mins
This podcast episode centers on the intricate world of barbecue, featuring an engaging conversation with Stretch, a notable figure from Grinders in Kansas City. We delve into his unique journey from art school to the culinary realm, highlighting his experiences in the competitive barbecue scene and the challenges faced during the pandemic. Stretch shares insightful anecdotes about his transition into music and how his artistic background influences his culinary creations. Furthermore, we examine the evolving dynamics of the restaurant industry, particularly in light of recent economic shifts and societal expectations. This episode offers a profound exploration of the intersection between art, food, and personal passion, as Stretch candidly reflects on his experiences and aspirations within these interconnected domains.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Grinders
- Kia
- Heritage Steel
- Gunter Wilhelm
- Hammerstahl
- Original Juan's
- Guy Fieri
- Rod Gray
- Myron Mixon
- Tuffy Stone
- Travis Clark
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:46):
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt.
So fire up your grill, lightthe charcoal, and get your smoker
cooking.
Now from the Turn It Go Burnit studios in Portland, here's jt.
This is an encore.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to the nation.
The barbecue Nation.
I'm jt, along with my co host,co pilot, and hall of famer, Ms.
Leanne Whippen.
(01:06):
Dave and Chris are wanderingaround like usual, looking for something
to do.
We'd like to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef the way nature intended.
You can check them outonline@painted hillsnaturalbeef.com.
well, we've got a man for youtoday that if you don't know him,
you should.
You might want to wear bodyarmor around that.
Or earmuffs.
(01:27):
Or earmuffs.
And so we've got Stretch fromGrinders World Galactic Headquarters.
But my first question, buddy,is this.
Are you?
It's gonna be, are you?
Are you a hairy thunderer or acosmic muffin when you've got World
Galactic Headquarters?
You know, I can't answer thatdue to making someone else, you know,
(01:49):
they'll Whip out their P34space modulator.
Oh, it's all good.
It's all good.
So how the heck are you, man?
I am slam jam, man.
It's all good, though.
Rolled into 23 with gunsablazing, if you will, you know.
Yeah, you're like guns androses these days with your little
(02:12):
music stuff.
Yeah.
This is something that'scompletely new for me and kind of
scary at the same time.
And I love trying new stuff.
And like I tell everybody, ifit's not fun, I won't do it.
So far, recording music is fun.
And my last song, first Bite,that I did with Black Auction, charted
for eight weeks, did a recorddeal and just cut a whole new album.
(02:34):
And it's, you know, it's goingto chart.
I hope too, but if not, youknow, they're talking about touring
and having fun, you know.
Oh, that's awesome.
Did you write it?
So, yeah, I wrote a lot of thelyrics and concept wise and then
the guys helped fill in the blanks.
And the music side, we kind ofall worked together on it.
It was good collaboration.
That's great.
(02:55):
Were you able to walk uprightout of the studio sessions when you
went home?
I'll tell you what, the rock,I always.
I was a rock and roll guy myearly years of art school.
I was with some rock androllers and stuff and did touring
and, you know, none of usslept back then.
But I'VE always gotten upearly in the morning and recording.
I was down outside Nashville,recorded for three weeks in December.
And I'm not built for thisrock and roll lifestyle.
(03:16):
I get up early in the morning,and then we work late.
So, you know, they don't starttill the crack of noon.
Right.
And so I'm already up forfive, six hours.
But really not a lot going onwhen you're living on the tour bus,
you know?
Yeah, but, you know, I can getthrough the night and party like
everybody else, but it was.
It was rough.
That's five, six hours a day of.
You know, I don't do yoga, you know.
(03:40):
You don't eat vegetables.
Near my food.
It's osmosis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're a sculptor, you're a musician.
Now you're doing that.
How did you get involved doing grinders?
And, I mean, that's a hugething, actually.
And how did you get all thisin the food world?
(04:03):
Wow.
So how much time we got?
So I. I came out to KansasCity from Philadelphia.
I grew up in Philly.
I worked in a couplerestaurants there.
I think you've probably heardof them.
That's called McDonald's.
There's a couple of themaround now.
But I started eating when Iwas really young and found that there
were other people that ate alot, and they'd eat around brunch
(04:26):
time and lunch, and in theafternoon, people would get together
and eat.
So we kind of all cametogether, and it was kind of a unique
situation.
We all like food, but my firstjob in a kitchen was I was at a Woolworth.
You guys know Woolworth?
Oh, yeah.
Apartment store out EastPhilly area.
And I was a stock boy, and Igot caught.
Probably shouldn't tell astory, but, you know, I was young.
(04:47):
I got caught behind the littledeli counter there inhaling whipped
cream canisters.
The.
The deli lady is like, whatare you doing back here?
And I'm like, no, I waschecking out your equipment, which,
by the way, you should nevertell another woman.
And Staggy Maggie, you know,at the Arms.
(05:08):
And so I dropped my first frybasket when I was in high school
and then went to art school inKansas City.
And I worked a littlerestaurant here and there with a
guy named George.
He had a cheese shop.
And if you've seen my Triple Depisode, he was on there.
And so in grad school, Iworked in restaurants and just made
my way so I could make artworkall day long and then work in rock
and roll club at night.
(05:29):
And cook and bartend and makemy money and get booze and food and
you know, pick up chicks.
The essentials in life, man.
The essentials, you have to do that.
You know, so that's kind ofhow it all happened.
And then I moved into backKansas City and worked at the Art
Institute.
Then I got invited to New York.
(05:49):
And when I moved back rightbefore 9 11, Kansas City was great.
And the only problem was theart scene was blunting, but there
wasn't good pizza that wasopen seven days a week that had beer
and there was no cheesesteaksand New York style.
So I missed that.
And I opened Grinders withanother buddy of mine back then,
oh, almost 20 years ago.
Good for you.
And you're still upright and breathing.
(06:11):
That's to be said forsomething positive for a restaurant
guy, man, I'll tell.
You, Covid hit us hard.
We lost two places, but rightnow we still have two open.
We have Grinders out atbaseball stadium.
The team didn't do so wellthis year.
And then we got our food truck.
And then, you know, we dobarbecue too on the side.
Yeah, a little barbecue on the side.
That's where I'm sure that theChiefs are bringing you some business.
(06:33):
Right?
You know, we're not really asports bar, but you know, the Chiefs
people do bring, you know,people if they're hardcore Chiefs
fans, they got their bars theygo to or they're going to.
And I think smart people stayat home and watch the Chiefs because
it's a lot less expensive.
Right?
Yeah.
You know, wow, that's.
That's incredible to hear thatyou, you survive.
(06:55):
We've talked to so many peoplestretch over the last couple of weeks,
including myself.
Including yourself, that theCOVID thing just kicked their ass
in the restaurant business.
Yeah, the COVID kicked it ass.
The government doesn't helptoo much on anything.
They keep changing laws oneverything, whether it's tip sharing
or this other thing and youknow, raising wages and taking wages
(07:18):
away and what you can spend, Imean, it's, it's.
You need a full time group ofpeople just handling that through
the accountants.
They don't make it easy, youknow, and that's.
I guess so.
Well, it's tough.
I'm glad I'm not in it anymorebecause the short time I was in it,
it was very trying, I'll putit that way.
Even on the best of days, Icouldn't imagine trying to run an
(07:41):
outfit.
Now when you've got, you know,80,000 bureaucrats in Washington
or The state capitol,wherever, you know, conjuring up
things just to make your life miserable.
That's what I always thoughtit was.
They just, maybe they didn'tlike to go out to dinner, I don't
know.
But they sure as hell madeyour life miserable.
It's tough.
And I'll tell you, everybodycame out of COVID kind of considerate,
(08:04):
but they also thought since itwas over that everything should be
back to normal.
And they all know thateverything at their house went up
and gas has gone up andelectric's gone up and cost of goods
have gone up.
But for some reason they don'tthink it happens at a restaurant.
And so they bitch and whine.
I mean, any industry, again,it's like you don't have customers
or employees.
It's a great business to be in.
(08:24):
But the government, I mean, they.
Let me say this, if I didn'tget my funding from the government,
I would not be here, right?
I would not have been able tomake it.
But we went from closing tworestaurants and the two that are
open, we had 117 employees andwe have like 65 now.
And we're only open six days aweek, not seven days a week.
And we still can't get enoughpeople to stay working.
(08:46):
Our music venue went from, youknow, 20 plus shows down to 12 shows
a year.
And you know, just the cost ofgoods, everything from rubber gloves
at, you know, 60 bucks a caseto 120 bucks a case or just the food
supply chain, the normal fiveblend cheese we get comes and goes.
You can't be consistent with product.
Right.
So, you know, it's tough.
(09:07):
That's, that's very difficultbecause people come in, they expect
certain things, they expectcertain flavors, you know, they,
whatever it is, and then youcan't provide that.
That's.
I think that lends itself,excuse me, to some ears that are
being bent either directly orindirectly on the chat boards or
(09:28):
whatever because you, it's notyour fault you can't deliver it,
you know, because the productsaren't there.
They, they.
I don't think everybodyunderstands it.
And some people get real credible.
I think in the United Stateseverybody should be a waiter or waitress
or in the service industry forat least six months, kind of like
they do in Europe where yougot to be in the military for a year.
(09:49):
Right.
Everybody would be a littlemore compassionate when they see,
you know, an 18 year old kidor even a 25 trying to make their,
you know, money, you know,serving people and demanding and
it's rough I mean, I see himgoing through it, and, you know,
I'm not an operator.
I'm not in there every day inthe trenches like I used to be.
And the guys and girls.
I just had lunch down there.
(10:09):
I mean, it's.
It's a little light for, youknow, Thursday down there, but there's
still bitching and whininggoing on in the normal drama of a
restaurant, and everybodywants to be busy to bring home the
money.
And, you know, it's not likethe old days where you left with
a pocket full of cash.
Now everything's credit card,so they don't leave at the end of
the day with cash.
They got to wait till theircheck comes.
And it's a.
It's a different world.
(10:30):
Yeah.
I was listening to what yousaid, that they should be waiters
or waitresses or whatever.
I kind of feel that way aboutbarbecue judging.
The judges should have to compete.
Yeah.
They only make them do thatwhen they want to be a master judge.
Right, right.
So, anyway, I'll get off that subject.
(10:50):
Oh, that's fine.
That's fine.
You know, you've done a lot oftv, and it's.
I guess you're like buddieswith Guy Fieri.
Is that true?
So it's Guy Fieri Fieri.
I will actually be at hishouse next week for his birthday.
Oh, the big birthday bash.
55 guys turning 55.
(11:11):
Yeah.
Looks great.
Aren't you guys soul mates or something?
Because you guys are both in the.
Hall of fame together, sortof, I guess, by association and by
trophies that you make.
Yeah, yeah, I'm looking at itright now.
You haven't cut yourself openon it yet.
We had Rod Gray on the otherday, and he actually made the rack
of ribs cast that trophy, soit's kind of cool.
(11:33):
Yeah.
Yep.
Rod is probably one of themain reasons why I got into barbecue.
And it's interesting becauseRod came to me about two weeks before
we were both asked to be onPitmasters, and you're not supposed
to talk to anybody, so he cameto me as a sculptor.
And then two weeks later, wefound out we were both going to be
on Pitmasters together.
And that episode.
Well, that season, Rod won theentire season.
(11:57):
True.
Bud won team of the year, andI came in third.
I was lucky.
I didn't come in fifth or sixth.
Yeah, you still compete, too,which is amazing that you find time
to do everything and you haverubs and sauces.
I'll stop now.
We'll have another segment on that.
Yeah, we're going to take a break.
We're going to be back with Stretch.
I know his real name, butwe're going to call him Stretch right
(12:19):
after this on Barbecue Nation.
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(12:44):
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
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(13:13):
This is an encore.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with Ms. LeanneWhippin and Mr.
Stretch here from Grinders inKansas City.
I like his world galactic headquarters.
Anytime they kind of get that,I don't know what you call it out
there stuff, you're talkingabout the universe.
I'm in.
(13:34):
I'm in.
If you want to contact us,just call Leanne.
I don't.
I'm not taking.
Should we put her.
Should we put her mobilenumber private?
Oh, yeah, yeah, sure.
Yeah, we'll do that.
We'll post.
Post that on the website.
1-800-With-T. Yeah.
Now watch out.
You're going to get her allworked up.
(13:54):
You know, like I said in theemail, Stretch, it doesn't take much.
No, no, it doesn't take much.
All right, let's talk aboutbarbecue for a little bit.
Hence the name of the show,Barbecue Nation.
Had you ever done any barbecuebefore you moved to Kansas City?
I guess I kind of grew upwatching my dad grill a little bit,
(14:15):
but I didn't really startbarbecuing, so till I was in art
school and it was more of asurvival tactic and it was more grilling.
Some of the studios we livedin, we weren't allowed to have kitchens,
but you could have a grill.
And some of the early ways Icooked was like hamburgers on irons
or soup and coffee makers orhot dogs on nails.
So we got kind of creative onhow we had to cook stuff.
(14:36):
I could used to put a hot dogon the end of my welding electrode
and cook those.
So it wasn't really barbecue.
For instance, you know, any wood.
I Had.
We'd burn it.
And food never tasted good ifit had glue in the wood, like two
by fours and stuff like that.
We cooked it.
Oh, yeah.
Well, you know, it's.
It's kind of fun to.
To do that.
(14:57):
I mean, I've done that.
Have you ever done steaks on pitchforks?
No, but I've done something ona rake once.
I'm trying to think of what it was.
I'm sure there was food involved.
Yeah.
A squirrel on a rake.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I've cut shoppingcarts open and use the grid on that.
(15:21):
I've used metal racks, thestainless ones out of refrigerators
as well as stoves to cook meaton and have fires underneath them.
Sure.
Did you put that.
Once you cut the bottom out ofthe shopping cart, did you put it
back in the shopping cart storage.
So some fool came by and took.
It, and somebody probablywanted to buy it.
(15:41):
Yeah.
I think when we appropriatedthose shopping carts, we never went
back to the location where they.
I got it.
I got.
That's.
That's a wise move, my friend.
Wise move.
I think we needed the cart forthe wheels, and then there was just
scraps around the studio.
How much time do you dedicate?
I mean, you're.
You're very busy, but how muchtime do you dedicate to food versus
(16:05):
your artwork?
You know, it's.
I'd like to say it's 50.
50 this morning has all beenfabricating the new barbecue store.
Proud Souls is moving in upnorth Kansas City.
So I've been fabricating someracks for those gu.
And, you know, I cooked a nicedinner last night.
I made a nice wagyu steak andsome risotto.
(16:27):
So, you know, I wouldn't say Icook every day, but I'm processing
food.
Right.
Well, you got that risotto down.
I know Leanne likes to cookrisotto, so.
I do.
Yeah.
And I was saying that you havesauces and rubs, and it's my understanding,
was it your sauce or your rubthat took a recent first place?
(16:48):
What was that?
Oh, probably.
I think it was the rub, actually.
I think rub took second thisyear with the National Barbecue Association.
We don't.
I think the sauce got a first earlier.
You know, last year.
We don't really apply outthere very often anymore on that
stuff.
We've won a lot of scovies.
We've won the awards, and it'sjust not necessarily worth submitting
(17:09):
them anymore.
Yeah, well, if you win at somepoint, what's the point?
And it gets expensive and youHave a lot of products.
If you submit, you know, anentry for each one, it can cost some
bucks.
It can.
And so we're working ongetting my red sauce.
My rock and red sauce will beready for retail soon.
And then my dough balls fromthe restaurant.
So we're always working onsome products with.
(17:32):
There's another musician.
We might be doing a sauce witha hot sauce, which is going to be
fun.
So, you know, I. I kind of.
Kind of a prostitute formaking sauces.
How did you come up or how didyou come by the name of Stretch?
Oh, wow, man.
I'll tell you, it's.
(17:52):
It goes back.
I did one porn.
It was, it was a short feature.
Yeah, I was in and out.
I. I had to fluff myself.
It was.
Yeah, I did.
Yeah, I have that.
You know, it's one of thosedownloaded, I think I got in junior
high somewhere.
And it's.
(18:13):
There's been so manyvariations of where the story came
from and how I got the name.
I don't even think I know anymore.
But probably around early 90swhen I started hardcore into my artwork,
I started signing the nameStretched instead of my real name.
And then.
Or my last name for that matter.
And then somewhere in mid thelate 90s, I capitalized it and it
(18:35):
is my trademark name.
Capitalized and myentertainment name.
I never changed it legallybecause when I travel overseas.
Oh yeah.
It doesn't transfer over some language.
It's not like, you know, novameaning, you know, don't go fast
or move.
It's just they don'tunderstand the elasticity of it.
However, my Spanish name is Alexander.
(18:56):
Yeah, you can't lean.
Don't forget to breathebetween the jokes.
Yeah.
Can't you just show them yourmembership card to pornhub and let
them let you go through like Jeff?
I'm not even going to ask youhow you know that name or you're
aware of that now.
(19:17):
I.
Now I told you, I do researchon everybody.
Oh my God.
See this door behind me very close.
Doesn't that door swing both ways?
Yeah.
You should do stand up comedy.
I swear to God, you're so darn funny.
(19:39):
It.
It is so good, I'll tell you that.
What do you.
Did you actually work on theblends, your rubs and your sauces?
Do you do all that yourself or.
Do you have a crew that workswith you?
So rub was all me.
When I first started my hot sauces.
I went in with flavor profilesand I worked with the guys that were
at Original Wands originallyat Original Juan's to make my first
(20:01):
sauce, and then they were kindof hybrids off of that.
I knew the flavor profiles Iwanted and moved in from there.
When we did the bangingbarbecue sauce, the black auction
guy sauce, I asked them fortheir flavor profiles, and then I
just tweaked them, and weworked together, collaborated, and
we're kind of doing the samething with this other band.
Oh, cool.
Cool.
And the rub's the same way?
(20:23):
Yes, same thing.
You know, I won't say thatanything is new.
You know, you find your bestflavor profiles, and you start combining
flavor profiles for what you need.
And that's how I came acrossmy rub.
Yeah, all the standardcharacters are in there.
We're gonna take another break.
We're gonna be back withStretch, and we're gonna explore
more about his movie business.
(20:49):
Like you said, they're allshort features.
Anyway, we'll be back in justa couple minutes on Barbecue Nation.
Don't go away.
Hey, everybody, it's jt And Ihave eaten.
If you've ever looked at me,you know that.
(21:09):
But I have eaten seafood allover the world, and I can tell you
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(21:30):
Check it out.
This is an encore.
What are we doing?
Oh, yeah.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
We'd like to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef you can be proud to serveyour family and friends.
You can check them outonline@painted hillsnaturalbeef.com
(21:52):
and also, Gunter Wilhelm knives.
See, I said Gunther, but I getcorrected all the time.
Gunther.
Gunther.
Okay, so you got the name downnow with Gunter, but great knives,
great efficiency in yourkitchen, and Leanne has them.
(22:12):
I have some.
I don't know if Stretch hasany, but they're.
They're good knives.
Give them a shot, Gunter.
Wilhelmknives.com okay.
My God, here we go.
When you started messingaround in barbecue, how did you make
the leap to competitive barbecue?
Wow.
First off, I'm glad, AndyReid, you've taken your time out
(22:35):
of your schedule to interviewme over here.
I think you'd really be busydoing the old razzle dazzle plays
you got going on with the Chiefs.
So, you know, I cook barbecueat the restaurant, and then I got
invited, and I Have friendsdoing competition barbecue, but I'd
go hang out at the parties.
And then I did this littleshow called Pitmasters, and there's
(22:56):
this fellow named Myron Mixonand Tuffy and Franklin was under
his judges, and Rod Gray wason the show, and True Bud and I literally.
That was literally the firsttime I ever did competition barbecue
was on Pitmasters.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Everybody says, don't burn theburnt ends.
(23:17):
Well, I burned the hell out ofhim on the show, but I had so many
fires going.
I had.
We got confused, but I hadgreat burn ends.
And Myron came by after, andhe's like, what are these burn ends
here?
I said, those are for the crew.
He's like, God damn it.
Goddamn Batman barbecue.
You want to won a show?
But I fell in love withcooking competition right then and
(23:37):
there.
And I said, wow, this is fun.
So I applied for, you know, todo a comp, and it was in somewhere
out here just outside Kansas City.
And I got a second place callin chicken and like an eighth place
in ribs.
I was like, wow, this is easy.
And then it went downhill from there.
(23:58):
My meat to alcohol ratio wasway off.
Oh, yeah.
You know, it was fun, but, youknow, you had to start getting serious
about it.
So I think, like most people,your first three years were kind
of throwaway years.
And I look back at some of theboxes I created back then, and, wow,
they were rough.
I mean, some of the greenerylooked like in a 1970 porn star boxes.
(24:21):
Which is shocking becauseyou're an artist, and you would think
that you would absolutely,from the get go, pay attention to
your box.
It was hard enough justgetting the meat in the box.
Too many metaphors going on it.
But it was, you know, I didn'trealize that I could prep before
I got there.
And we were under a tent, andit was rough and wind blowing.
(24:44):
Little by little, you know,the food started looking better and
better.
And as you learn how to managefires and.
And be prepared with, youknow, your cuts of meat, on how you
had to cook my.
I cooked an entire brisket.
You know, I cooked, you know,whole pork butts.
I never really trimmed them down.
And so you're waiting.
You're cooking, you know, for10, 12 hours rather than, you know,
(25:06):
wrapping stuff directly.
And I didn't, you know, reallypay attention any of the videos.
And then I took a Rod Grayclass, and, you know, Andy Gronman
was one of the guys, got me myfirst smoker through.
I had a Yoder and Thenwrestling yoders and pellets and
things getting unplugged andthen burning stuff up.
And then I took a Travis Clark play.
I like taking classes and seehow other people do it, and I'd probably
(25:29):
excel a lot faster, but Idon't want to copy people.
I want to do my own.
My own thing, right.
So I really enjoy it and that,you know, I think one of those first
couple of years I maybe gotfive, six in.
Then I got.
I think the most I've everdone in one season is 15.
And I think I only quite a bitlast year.
And I just really enjoyed it.
It was like a miniaturevacation where you go out and when
(25:51):
I moved from a tent to atrailer to an RV and then back to
a trailer cooking rig made allthe difference in the world.
But I still enjoy like thekosher queues.
What I've got to do whereeverybody's on ground 0 with a 10
by 1010 and a 22 inch WeberSmoky Mountain and a kettle, and
you have to, you know, pickthe meats and can't touch them until
(26:14):
Saturday night.
And, you know, the rabbi startthe fire.
It neutralizes the landfilland I really enjoy doing that.
But now it's.
If you don't have a fortythousand dollar rig and watch a bunch
of videos and everyone's usingthe same ingredients, it's just,
I mean, some of these guys arejust, they're just machines.
I think they do it half intheir sleep, you know, and they're
winning.
So it's kind of taken a littlebit of the fun.
(26:35):
After last season, I'm alittle jaded with some of the judging
that went on.
I had a real sour taste in mymouth after last season, I'll tell
you that.
When I know my food was dialedin and I think a lot of the judges
are, they need to take awaythe coolers.
Do not let people take thefood home.
Make them eat it there.
Make them sample what we justspent a lot of money and time presenting
(26:59):
and, you know, rather than onelittle nibble and throwing a Ziploc
bag and taking home to their family.
I agree.
I agree.
Wow.
I didn't know you were feedingthe masses.
Every cook now, I mean, theyload up.
You know, these guys, gals arecoming in with their coolers, they
take one little nibble, youknow, wow.
If they do that, I should beable to take a bite of my meat, put
it in the box.
(27:20):
So you're.
You're telling me your garnishkind of look like a 70s shag rug.
Is that what you're telling?
I've seen his boxes recentlyand they're beautiful.
So he stepped.
I was talking about theoriginal ones when he said they weren't.
They were rough.
They were rough.
Yeah.
You know, I never paid attention.
I tried doing the flips andstuff like that and making them at
(27:40):
home, and that never worked.
And I tried freezing theparsley and thawing it out.
I mean, I was doing all sortsof stuff.
I was all over the place as an artist.
I was even, you know, youknow, the Chinese have those purple
ribs and I was, you know,trying to color the fat.
You know, stuff like that.
I was doing all sorts of fun stuff.
You ever do that, Leah?
Did you take any lessons fromStretch and try to like color?
(28:03):
No, but he was kind enough toloan me his jambo last year when
I was doing a little rib cookoff thing, which was very kind.
And I didn't even know he hadone, so that was cool.
Is that what I tell you, thatI went looking for something, I came
back and my whole smoker wasnever cleaned out by you or Seth.
And it was all moldy.
No.
I recall Seth saying that hewas going to clean it because I had
(28:25):
to catch a flight.
No.
It was winter.
Remember how cold it was?
It was freezing.
It was snowing.
Yes, I recall.
Good times.
All right.
We don't want to get anybodyin any trouble here, but why the
hell didn't you clean out a smoker?
Smoker out.
Now, it's funny because I'lllet people that smoke every now.
(28:46):
And I have a couple jambos andthey're great smokers.
And usually people withjambos, they, you know how to treat
them.
But mine have logos on them.
So I let somebody borrowed afew years ago at the Royal and everybody
kept going to their locationand asking where I was.
They said real quick.
So they covered up my logos.
That's all good.
What's the.
(29:06):
What's the biggest thing that.
That you've learned?
And you just said you like totake classes and stuff, Stretch.
But since you started in,well, on Pitmasters, really.
And then today about yourwhole process there, we've got some
folks that are die hardlisteners that we got to get into
the process a little bit for them.
(29:27):
So what have you learned themost or what the most important thing
you think you learned?
Taking your time, patient andorganization and just being as repetitive
as possible.
I mean, you really have tohave it dialed in, make the notes,
keep the notes, have yourschedule posted.
When I Show up at a contest.
I have a series of alarms onmy phone, and I'm religious about
(29:51):
it.
I mean, you're going out andyou're doing shots and you're having
food, and you're doing the raffles.
You got to get back and tryand stay on schedule for your injection
time period.
Don't make big, drastic movesif it doesn't work because the judges
didn't like something.
Unless it's obvious.
I always like to say, do yourpractices at home, but no one has
time to practice at home.
(30:12):
You know, no one's cookingwhole briskets at home unless you
really have to feed a bunch of people.
So, you know, my practice isalways kind of on location.
Just keep good notes and beorganized about it.
Try and be as consistent as possible.
There's already so manyvariables with just the meat that
comes in.
It's always a different animal.
And just because you have sixthighs in a box or you cook 24, what's
(30:34):
the chances that they evencame from the same bird or a slab
of ribs came from the same animal?
So there's already those problems.
You know, start off with, Idon't use bark on any of my wood.
You know, that takes the barkout of the element.
Because of all the differentstuff that can be in a bark, you
want to keep the same flavorprofiles, try and stick with the
same charcoal, so you'realways getting that same flavor.
(30:56):
I don't think you need to beas anal as some of these guys and
gals out there, you know,checking the moisture content in
their wood.
I think that's ridiculous.
I don't want to ever be that analogy.
But, you know, as Toffee Stonesays, it's about overcoming problems.
What happens when you have thewrong color smoke?
What happens when you can'tget this fire hot enough or your
(31:17):
meat's finished?
So have everything prepared,know what you got to do, and overcome
it.
It's like being in the military.
I think overcome any obstaclesis the key.
And if you have it all laidout and you go through it, you have
your checklist that you haveyour Sprinter bottle and your hand
sanitizer and your gloves, andyou know where your spatulas and
your tongs and your rubs and,you know, just go right down the
(31:37):
line.
Every cook and that just comeswith experience, because that one
time you have to go do oneoverseas or in another location where
you don't have your normal rig.
You got to know what to take,and, you know, whether it's the foil,
don't be chintzy on thin foil,get the thicker stuff or learn how
to double it up so you know,you don't drip it.
You know it doesn't poke through.
(31:58):
So there's a lot of littlethings that add up to that.
And know your timing, youknow, know your timing.
If you want to cook forfriends and have your friends there
and drink and party, thenthat's what's going to happen.
You're going to drink and party.
If you want to compete, havesome cocktails, but try and be in
bed by 11:30.
Yeah, I know.
We had one guest on the show.
In fact, this was beforeLeanne joined me.
(32:21):
He told me what he did withhis wood.
He would get his wood ready,he would peel the bark off of it
and all that.
And then when his wife wouldgo to bed at night, he would put
it in the oven in the kitchenand dry it out.
He would put it at like, Idon't know what he said, 150 or 175.
The biggest problem with thatis he had to stay up later than his
wife and he had to get upearlier than his wife every day the
(32:44):
week before a competitionbecause he would.
That's how he was drying hiswood out.
So I thought, good God, you know.
You know you can buy pre kilnwood, dried wood.
Yeah, yeah, right.
I think he knows that.
I think he knows that now.
I'm pretty sure of that.
At least I hope so.
We're going to take anotherbreak and we're going to be back
with Stretch here on BarbecueNation right after this.
(33:06):
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(33:31):
Hey everybody, J.T.
here.
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(33:59):
This is an encore.
Welcome back to BarbecueNation here on the USA Radio Network.
Ms. Leanne Whippen is my co host.
She's across the screen from me.
We've got Stretch from who isthe world Galactic commander at Grinders
in Kansas City.
And of course, you've got mesitting here babbling on as usual.
Did you think you would end uphere where you're at?
(34:21):
Yeah, I pretty much have beenriding that train for a long time.
That yeehaw.
Get up.
That's all I wanted to do isget up in the morning.
I never think I'm going tomake it through the day.
Especially those early yearsof rock and roll and partying and
sculpture where I lived in mystudios around the clock and just
made stuff.
We were.
You know, it wasn't until, Idon't know, maybe eight years ago
that I actually realized thatI was actually a human.
(34:42):
And things can break in your body.
Yeah, that happens.
This thing called gravity andgetting old, you know.
All of a sudden I'm oncholesterol medication.
But no, I've never really hadany goals or plans.
It's kind of.
I haven't had a real job sincelike 1994.
(35:04):
You know, the restaurant givesme money, of course, but.
And I worked there, but Inever really had a job.
I could come and go whenever I wanted.
So I didn't know what wasgoing to happen.
Never really worried about money.
If I needed money, I'd makestuff or fabricate and keep on trucking.
But little by little, all of asudden, you have to worry about all
your employees and you can'tlive as crazy as I did.
(35:25):
And a family on top of it now.
But I never really, you know,I've always been the guy to take
chances, you know, and youcan't, you know, it's fun for me,
you know, I don't put myfamily in jeopardy all the time.
That's right.
Is there a little stretchrunning around?
There's a couple of them.
(35:45):
Oh, yeah.
There'S a little stretch inhis twin stuff.
Oh, sorry about that.
I gotta let the dogs out.
I have twin nine year olds,the Mugwumps.
Oh, they do some cooking with me.
Actually, Jax was makingrisotto last night with me and Charlie
cooks, and they've gone to acouple of contests here and there.
They like running up on stageand getting trophies.
(36:09):
They worked in your food truck?
Oh, they work in the food truck.
Yeah, I make my kids work.
They're just nine.
So next summer, right afterthey turn 10, I'm gonna let them
start living in the house.
So that'll be cool.
So they better keep somethingto look forward to, you know, we
got the basement cleared out.
(36:30):
You know, they don't have tolive in their drums anymore.
So then I Can make smokers.
There you go.
There you go.
There you go.
Well, as soon as they learnhow to use a flush toilet, you'll.
You'll have it whipped, I'lltell you now.
Jax did the hamburger contestat the Royal a couple years last
year.
The year before he had a blastdoing that.
And they've gone out.
(36:51):
They were judges on a hot dogeating hot dog contest we did somewhere.
And then they were judges at asteak cook off somewhere.
Not an sca, but another one.
So they've had a lot of fundoing some TV with me and getting
into the food side of things.
They're.
They were on my last video wedid for First Bite that we cut last
year that charted.
(37:12):
And then they're doing somevocals on the new album, too.
Oh, good for them.
It's great.
I was going to tell you, youknow, when you're getting old, when
you have more prescriptionbottles than friends, you.
Know what the prescription'sfor, I guess.
Well, yeah, you know, contentis always important, you might say.
(37:34):
It's all good.
So do you think you're goingto keep on with your restaurants?
So, you know, I actuallytalked about that today with one
of my assistants down there.
I said, you know, we'repushing 20 years.
You know, we're the OGs in thearea because we're very early on
opened up and there's more andmore restaurants coming in.
Will we ever do the numbers weused to?
Probably not, but I'd love tokeep it going.
(37:55):
I mean, I just show up now andshake some babies and kiss some hands
here and there.
But it could go another 10, 15 years.
It's just, do I want to dealwith it, you know, or the kids want
to get involved?
It'll be, you know, I have no want.
It's not as much fun as itused to be.
The climate of employees andall the different movements.
And I can get myself in realtrouble if I don't use correct terminology.
(38:20):
So it's.
It's different now.
It's not as there's too manyrules and regulations and insurances
and being a semi celebrity, Ican't speak my mind like I used to.
Right.
Because the lawsuits andeverything else, so it's just not
as much fun.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, it is true.
Because you get jumped on.
We've got, you know, where weused to have to read books and magazines
(38:42):
and newspapers.
Now you can just look at yourphone or whatever, and people's responses
to what you say can come in aflash, literally.
And you know, if you'veoffended somebody, God forbid, you
know, that that stuff comesback to haunt you so perfectly.
Understand that.
(39:06):
What do you have coming upbeside the music stuff?
Wow.
So let's see.
I got a trophy I got to make.
I can't tell you what it's forfor next week.
Then we got Guy's birthday.
Well, this weekend I'mrecording and Guy's birthday.
I'm up for a TV show thatcould take me away for 10 weeks.
Whoa.
(39:26):
In another country.
And I should know about thatin the next 10 days.
And that will decide where Iam from February to maybe.
Wow.
That's a long time.
Yeah, it is.
So I'm on hold for.
You know, my Memphis in May ison hold right the second.
My application, because Idon't know if I'll be back in time
if I get the gig.
(39:47):
And, you know, if it happens,it happens.
I have plenty to do.
And then next month, we'refilming a video, and then we have
south beach food and wine, and that's.
I have everything cleared justin case I get this gig.
So is it a competition?
It is a competition show, butnot food.
(40:11):
Okay.
And I'm not a competitor.
I'd be a builder.
Oh, cool.
Oh, I thought it was going tobe like one of those housewives shows,
but, you know, like, househubby show, you know, that, you know,
with your.
You know.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So you refer to, like, theExtreme Home Makeovers, right?
(40:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Why are you.
Why are you blushing, Leanne?
That's a whole different point.
That's lighting.
It's lighting.
I see.
I did a half a dozen or so ofthose Extreme Home Makeovers.
Those were fun.
We did those.
We did the bar rescues.
We did all sorts of shows.
That's cool.
Yeah, those are a lot of fun.
(40:51):
Remember, people, reality shows?
Like Myron said the first timehe was on my show years ago, he goes,
there's not a damn thing realabout a reality show.
And I agree.
And I cleaned up that languagea lot.
And some of it's real.
(41:12):
I wouldn't.
Well, the camera guys are real.
Yeah, yeah.
You know that Dill drill.
Dill.
Whatever.
Well, we know Stretch, so weknow Stretch is real, so Stretch
is very real.
It's all good.
We're gonna do after hours ina minute here, Stretch, and that's
where we can say things thatare only on the Internet that are
(41:36):
not on radio so we don't getin trouble.
Okay.
So I want you to look forwardto that because I got some great
questions for you there and.
And so I have to be cautious.
How I answer them though.
That's all right.
Well, that's up to you.
It's free reign, right?
Yeah, Jeff.
Yeah, it's free reign.
I was getting a little nervousin the beginning of this whole interview
(41:57):
that we were gonna have toplug it as an after hour show, but
we made it through and now you can.
You're all in.
Now sometimes I have to beatmyself like mother.
We're gonna get out of here.
And like I said, we'll be backin a little bit with after hours
stretch.
Thank you, buddy.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, thanks.
(42:17):
Thanks, guys.
Like I said, we're getting outof here.
Remember our motto.
Turn it, don't burn it.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions in association
with Envision Networks andSalem Media Group.
All rights reserved.
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt.
So fire up your grill, lightthe charcoal, and get your smoker
cooking.
Now from the Turn It Go Burnit studios in Portland, here's jt.
This is an encore.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to the nation.
The barbecue Nation.
I'm jt, along with my co host,co pilot, and hall of famer, Ms.
Leanne Whippen.
(01:06):
Dave and Chris are wanderingaround like usual, looking for something
to do.
We'd like to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef the way nature intended.
You can check them outonline@painted hillsnaturalbeef.com.
well, we've got a man for youtoday that if you don't know him,
you should.
You might want to wear bodyarmor around that.
Or earmuffs.
(01:27):
Or earmuffs.
And so we've got Stretch fromGrinders World Galactic Headquarters.
But my first question, buddy,is this.
Are you?
It's gonna be, are you?
Are you a hairy thunderer or acosmic muffin when you've got World
Galactic Headquarters?
You know, I can't answer thatdue to making someone else, you know,
(01:49):
they'll Whip out their P34space modulator.
Oh, it's all good.
It's all good.
So how the heck are you, man?
I am slam jam, man.
It's all good, though.
Rolled into 23 with gunsablazing, if you will, you know.
Yeah, you're like guns androses these days with your little
(02:12):
music stuff.
Yeah.
This is something that'scompletely new for me and kind of
scary at the same time.
And I love trying new stuff.
And like I tell everybody, ifit's not fun, I won't do it.
So far, recording music is fun.
And my last song, first Bite,that I did with Black Auction, charted
for eight weeks, did a recorddeal and just cut a whole new album.
(02:34):
And it's, you know, it's goingto chart.
I hope too, but if not, youknow, they're talking about touring
and having fun, you know.
Oh, that's awesome.
Did you write it?
So, yeah, I wrote a lot of thelyrics and concept wise and then
the guys helped fill in the blanks.
And the music side, we kind ofall worked together on it.
It was good collaboration.
That's great.
(02:55):
Were you able to walk uprightout of the studio sessions when you
went home?
I'll tell you what, the rock,I always.
I was a rock and roll guy myearly years of art school.
I was with some rock androllers and stuff and did touring
and, you know, none of usslept back then.
But I'VE always gotten upearly in the morning and recording.
I was down outside Nashville,recorded for three weeks in December.
And I'm not built for thisrock and roll lifestyle.
(03:16):
I get up early in the morning,and then we work late.
So, you know, they don't starttill the crack of noon.
Right.
And so I'm already up forfive, six hours.
But really not a lot going onwhen you're living on the tour bus,
you know?
Yeah, but, you know, I can getthrough the night and party like
everybody else, but it was.
It was rough.
That's five, six hours a day of.
You know, I don't do yoga, you know.
(03:40):
You don't eat vegetables.
Near my food.
It's osmosis.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're a sculptor, you're a musician.
Now you're doing that.
How did you get involved doing grinders?
And, I mean, that's a hugething, actually.
And how did you get all thisin the food world?
(04:03):
Wow.
So how much time we got?
So I. I came out to KansasCity from Philadelphia.
I grew up in Philly.
I worked in a couplerestaurants there.
I think you've probably heardof them.
That's called McDonald's.
There's a couple of themaround now.
But I started eating when Iwas really young and found that there
were other people that ate alot, and they'd eat around brunch
(04:26):
time and lunch, and in theafternoon, people would get together
and eat.
So we kind of all cametogether, and it was kind of a unique
situation.
We all like food, but my firstjob in a kitchen was I was at a Woolworth.
You guys know Woolworth?
Oh, yeah.
Apartment store out EastPhilly area.
And I was a stock boy, and Igot caught.
Probably shouldn't tell astory, but, you know, I was young.
(04:47):
I got caught behind the littledeli counter there inhaling whipped
cream canisters.
The.
The deli lady is like, whatare you doing back here?
And I'm like, no, I waschecking out your equipment, which,
by the way, you should nevertell another woman.
And Staggy Maggie, you know,at the Arms.
(05:08):
And so I dropped my first frybasket when I was in high school
and then went to art school inKansas City.
And I worked a littlerestaurant here and there with a
guy named George.
He had a cheese shop.
And if you've seen my Triple Depisode, he was on there.
And so in grad school, Iworked in restaurants and just made
my way so I could make artworkall day long and then work in rock
and roll club at night.
(05:29):
And cook and bartend and makemy money and get booze and food and
you know, pick up chicks.
The essentials in life, man.
The essentials, you have to do that.
You know, so that's kind ofhow it all happened.
And then I moved into backKansas City and worked at the Art
Institute.
Then I got invited to New York.
(05:49):
And when I moved back rightbefore 9 11, Kansas City was great.
And the only problem was theart scene was blunting, but there
wasn't good pizza that wasopen seven days a week that had beer
and there was no cheesesteaksand New York style.
So I missed that.
And I opened Grinders withanother buddy of mine back then,
oh, almost 20 years ago.
Good for you.
And you're still upright and breathing.
(06:11):
That's to be said forsomething positive for a restaurant
guy, man, I'll tell.
You, Covid hit us hard.
We lost two places, but rightnow we still have two open.
We have Grinders out atbaseball stadium.
The team didn't do so wellthis year.
And then we got our food truck.
And then, you know, we dobarbecue too on the side.
Yeah, a little barbecue on the side.
That's where I'm sure that theChiefs are bringing you some business.
(06:33):
Right?
You know, we're not really asports bar, but you know, the Chiefs
people do bring, you know,people if they're hardcore Chiefs
fans, they got their bars theygo to or they're going to.
And I think smart people stayat home and watch the Chiefs because
it's a lot less expensive.
Right?
Yeah.
You know, wow, that's.
That's incredible to hear thatyou, you survive.
(06:55):
We've talked to so many peoplestretch over the last couple of weeks,
including myself.
Including yourself, that theCOVID thing just kicked their ass
in the restaurant business.
Yeah, the COVID kicked it ass.
The government doesn't helptoo much on anything.
They keep changing laws oneverything, whether it's tip sharing
or this other thing and youknow, raising wages and taking wages
(07:18):
away and what you can spend, Imean, it's, it's.
You need a full time group ofpeople just handling that through
the accountants.
They don't make it easy, youknow, and that's.
I guess so.
Well, it's tough.
I'm glad I'm not in it anymorebecause the short time I was in it,
it was very trying, I'll putit that way.
Even on the best of days, Icouldn't imagine trying to run an
(07:41):
outfit.
Now when you've got, you know,80,000 bureaucrats in Washington
or The state capitol,wherever, you know, conjuring up
things just to make your life miserable.
That's what I always thoughtit was.
They just, maybe they didn'tlike to go out to dinner, I don't
know.
But they sure as hell madeyour life miserable.
It's tough.
And I'll tell you, everybodycame out of COVID kind of considerate,
(08:04):
but they also thought since itwas over that everything should be
back to normal.
And they all know thateverything at their house went up
and gas has gone up andelectric's gone up and cost of goods
have gone up.
But for some reason they don'tthink it happens at a restaurant.
And so they bitch and whine.
I mean, any industry, again,it's like you don't have customers
or employees.
It's a great business to be in.
(08:24):
But the government, I mean, they.
Let me say this, if I didn'tget my funding from the government,
I would not be here, right?
I would not have been able tomake it.
But we went from closing tworestaurants and the two that are
open, we had 117 employees andwe have like 65 now.
And we're only open six days aweek, not seven days a week.
And we still can't get enoughpeople to stay working.
(08:46):
Our music venue went from, youknow, 20 plus shows down to 12 shows
a year.
And you know, just the cost ofgoods, everything from rubber gloves
at, you know, 60 bucks a caseto 120 bucks a case or just the food
supply chain, the normal fiveblend cheese we get comes and goes.
You can't be consistent with product.
Right.
So, you know, it's tough.
(09:07):
That's, that's very difficultbecause people come in, they expect
certain things, they expectcertain flavors, you know, they,
whatever it is, and then youcan't provide that.
That's.
I think that lends itself,excuse me, to some ears that are
being bent either directly orindirectly on the chat boards or
(09:28):
whatever because you, it's notyour fault you can't deliver it,
you know, because the productsaren't there.
They, they.
I don't think everybodyunderstands it.
And some people get real credible.
I think in the United Stateseverybody should be a waiter or waitress
or in the service industry forat least six months, kind of like
they do in Europe where yougot to be in the military for a year.
(09:49):
Right.
Everybody would be a littlemore compassionate when they see,
you know, an 18 year old kidor even a 25 trying to make their,
you know, money, you know,serving people and demanding and
it's rough I mean, I see himgoing through it, and, you know,
I'm not an operator.
I'm not in there every day inthe trenches like I used to be.
And the guys and girls.
I just had lunch down there.
(10:09):
I mean, it's.
It's a little light for, youknow, Thursday down there, but there's
still bitching and whininggoing on in the normal drama of a
restaurant, and everybodywants to be busy to bring home the
money.
And, you know, it's not likethe old days where you left with
a pocket full of cash.
Now everything's credit card,so they don't leave at the end of
the day with cash.
They got to wait till theircheck comes.
And it's a.
It's a different world.
(10:30):
Yeah.
I was listening to what yousaid, that they should be waiters
or waitresses or whatever.
I kind of feel that way aboutbarbecue judging.
The judges should have to compete.
Yeah.
They only make them do thatwhen they want to be a master judge.
Right, right.
So, anyway, I'll get off that subject.
(10:50):
Oh, that's fine.
That's fine.
You know, you've done a lot oftv, and it's.
I guess you're like buddieswith Guy Fieri.
Is that true?
So it's Guy Fieri Fieri.
I will actually be at hishouse next week for his birthday.
Oh, the big birthday bash.
55 guys turning 55.
(11:11):
Yeah.
Looks great.
Aren't you guys soul mates or something?
Because you guys are both in the.
Hall of fame together, sortof, I guess, by association and by
trophies that you make.
Yeah, yeah, I'm looking at itright now.
You haven't cut yourself openon it yet.
We had Rod Gray on the otherday, and he actually made the rack
of ribs cast that trophy, soit's kind of cool.
(11:33):
Yeah.
Yep.
Rod is probably one of themain reasons why I got into barbecue.
And it's interesting becauseRod came to me about two weeks before
we were both asked to be onPitmasters, and you're not supposed
to talk to anybody, so he cameto me as a sculptor.
And then two weeks later, wefound out we were both going to be
on Pitmasters together.
And that episode.
Well, that season, Rod won theentire season.
(11:57):
True.
Bud won team of the year, andI came in third.
I was lucky.
I didn't come in fifth or sixth.
Yeah, you still compete, too,which is amazing that you find time
to do everything and you haverubs and sauces.
I'll stop now.
We'll have another segment on that.
Yeah, we're going to take a break.
We're going to be back with Stretch.
I know his real name, butwe're going to call him Stretch right
(12:19):
after this on Barbecue Nation.
It's the Kia season of newtradition sales event at Weston Kia.
Choose from over a thousandvehicles like a new Kia sportage,
Soul, Telluride or K5 gas,electric or hybrid grid.
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1994-2025 Weston Kia sold morenew Kias than any other Kia dealer
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Reported by Kia Corp.
(12:44):
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here.
I want to tell you aboutsomething really cool.
Heritage steel cookware.
I just got mine.
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(13:13):
This is an encore.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
I'm JT along with Ms. LeanneWhippin and Mr.
Stretch here from Grinders inKansas City.
I like his world galactic headquarters.
Anytime they kind of get that,I don't know what you call it out
there stuff, you're talkingabout the universe.
I'm in.
(13:34):
I'm in.
If you want to contact us,just call Leanne.
I don't.
I'm not taking.
Should we put her.
Should we put her mobilenumber private?
Oh, yeah, yeah, sure.
Yeah, we'll do that.
We'll post.
Post that on the website.
1-800-With-T. Yeah.
Now watch out.
You're going to get her allworked up.
(13:54):
You know, like I said in theemail, Stretch, it doesn't take much.
No, no, it doesn't take much.
All right, let's talk aboutbarbecue for a little bit.
Hence the name of the show,Barbecue Nation.
Had you ever done any barbecuebefore you moved to Kansas City?
I guess I kind of grew upwatching my dad grill a little bit,
(14:15):
but I didn't really startbarbecuing, so till I was in art
school and it was more of asurvival tactic and it was more grilling.
Some of the studios we livedin, we weren't allowed to have kitchens,
but you could have a grill.
And some of the early ways Icooked was like hamburgers on irons
or soup and coffee makers orhot dogs on nails.
So we got kind of creative onhow we had to cook stuff.
(14:36):
I could used to put a hot dogon the end of my welding electrode
and cook those.
So it wasn't really barbecue.
For instance, you know, any wood.
I Had.
We'd burn it.
And food never tasted good ifit had glue in the wood, like two
by fours and stuff like that.
We cooked it.
Oh, yeah.
Well, you know, it's.
It's kind of fun to.
To do that.
(14:57):
I mean, I've done that.
Have you ever done steaks on pitchforks?
No, but I've done something ona rake once.
I'm trying to think of what it was.
I'm sure there was food involved.
Yeah.
A squirrel on a rake.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I've cut shoppingcarts open and use the grid on that.
(15:21):
I've used metal racks, thestainless ones out of refrigerators
as well as stoves to cook meaton and have fires underneath them.
Sure.
Did you put that.
Once you cut the bottom out ofthe shopping cart, did you put it
back in the shopping cart storage.
So some fool came by and took.
It, and somebody probablywanted to buy it.
(15:41):
Yeah.
I think when we appropriatedthose shopping carts, we never went
back to the location where they.
I got it.
I got.
That's.
That's a wise move, my friend.
Wise move.
I think we needed the cart forthe wheels, and then there was just
scraps around the studio.
How much time do you dedicate?
I mean, you're.
You're very busy, but how muchtime do you dedicate to food versus
(16:05):
your artwork?
You know, it's.
I'd like to say it's 50.
50 this morning has all beenfabricating the new barbecue store.
Proud Souls is moving in upnorth Kansas City.
So I've been fabricating someracks for those gu.
And, you know, I cooked a nicedinner last night.
I made a nice wagyu steak andsome risotto.
(16:27):
So, you know, I wouldn't say Icook every day, but I'm processing
food.
Right.
Well, you got that risotto down.
I know Leanne likes to cookrisotto, so.
I do.
Yeah.
And I was saying that you havesauces and rubs, and it's my understanding,
was it your sauce or your rubthat took a recent first place?
(16:48):
What was that?
Oh, probably.
I think it was the rub, actually.
I think rub took second thisyear with the National Barbecue Association.
We don't.
I think the sauce got a first earlier.
You know, last year.
We don't really apply outthere very often anymore on that
stuff.
We've won a lot of scovies.
We've won the awards, and it'sjust not necessarily worth submitting
(17:09):
them anymore.
Yeah, well, if you win at somepoint, what's the point?
And it gets expensive and youHave a lot of products.
If you submit, you know, anentry for each one, it can cost some
bucks.
It can.
And so we're working ongetting my red sauce.
My rock and red sauce will beready for retail soon.
And then my dough balls fromthe restaurant.
So we're always working onsome products with.
(17:32):
There's another musician.
We might be doing a sauce witha hot sauce, which is going to be
fun.
So, you know, I. I kind of.
Kind of a prostitute formaking sauces.
How did you come up or how didyou come by the name of Stretch?
Oh, wow, man.
I'll tell you, it's.
(17:52):
It goes back.
I did one porn.
It was, it was a short feature.
Yeah, I was in and out.
I. I had to fluff myself.
It was.
Yeah, I did.
Yeah, I have that.
You know, it's one of thosedownloaded, I think I got in junior
high somewhere.
And it's.
(18:13):
There's been so manyvariations of where the story came
from and how I got the name.
I don't even think I know anymore.
But probably around early 90swhen I started hardcore into my artwork,
I started signing the nameStretched instead of my real name.
And then.
Or my last name for that matter.
And then somewhere in mid thelate 90s, I capitalized it and it
(18:35):
is my trademark name.
Capitalized and myentertainment name.
I never changed it legallybecause when I travel overseas.
Oh yeah.
It doesn't transfer over some language.
It's not like, you know, novameaning, you know, don't go fast
or move.
It's just they don'tunderstand the elasticity of it.
However, my Spanish name is Alexander.
(18:56):
Yeah, you can't lean.
Don't forget to breathebetween the jokes.
Yeah.
Can't you just show them yourmembership card to pornhub and let
them let you go through like Jeff?
I'm not even going to ask youhow you know that name or you're
aware of that now.
(19:17):
I.
Now I told you, I do researchon everybody.
Oh my God.
See this door behind me very close.
Doesn't that door swing both ways?
Yeah.
You should do stand up comedy.
I swear to God, you're so darn funny.
(19:39):
It.
It is so good, I'll tell you that.
What do you.
Did you actually work on theblends, your rubs and your sauces?
Do you do all that yourself or.
Do you have a crew that workswith you?
So rub was all me.
When I first started my hot sauces.
I went in with flavor profilesand I worked with the guys that were
at Original Wands originallyat Original Juan's to make my first
(20:01):
sauce, and then they were kindof hybrids off of that.
I knew the flavor profiles Iwanted and moved in from there.
When we did the bangingbarbecue sauce, the black auction
guy sauce, I asked them fortheir flavor profiles, and then I
just tweaked them, and weworked together, collaborated, and
we're kind of doing the samething with this other band.
Oh, cool.
Cool.
And the rub's the same way?
(20:23):
Yes, same thing.
You know, I won't say thatanything is new.
You know, you find your bestflavor profiles, and you start combining
flavor profiles for what you need.
And that's how I came acrossmy rub.
Yeah, all the standardcharacters are in there.
We're gonna take another break.
We're gonna be back withStretch, and we're gonna explore
more about his movie business.
(20:49):
Like you said, they're allshort features.
Anyway, we'll be back in justa couple minutes on Barbecue Nation.
Don't go away.
Hey, everybody, it's jt And Ihave eaten.
If you've ever looked at me,you know that.
(21:09):
But I have eaten seafood allover the world, and I can tell you
there's no place better thanhere in Oregon and our Dungeness
crab.
If you want to learn moreabout Oregon Dungeness crab, just
go to oregondungeness.org andfind out how to cook it, how to catch
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there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
(21:30):
Check it out.
This is an encore.
What are we doing?
Oh, yeah.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
We'd like to thank the folksat Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Beef you can be proud to serveyour family and friends.
You can check them outonline@painted hillsnaturalbeef.com
(21:52):
and also, Gunter Wilhelm knives.
See, I said Gunther, but I getcorrected all the time.
Gunther.
Gunther.
Okay, so you got the name downnow with Gunter, but great knives,
great efficiency in yourkitchen, and Leanne has them.
(22:12):
I have some.
I don't know if Stretch hasany, but they're.
They're good knives.
Give them a shot, Gunter.
Wilhelmknives.com okay.
My God, here we go.
When you started messingaround in barbecue, how did you make
the leap to competitive barbecue?
Wow.
First off, I'm glad, AndyReid, you've taken your time out
(22:35):
of your schedule to interviewme over here.
I think you'd really be busydoing the old razzle dazzle plays
you got going on with the Chiefs.
So, you know, I cook barbecueat the restaurant, and then I got
invited, and I Have friendsdoing competition barbecue, but I'd
go hang out at the parties.
And then I did this littleshow called Pitmasters, and there's
(22:56):
this fellow named Myron Mixonand Tuffy and Franklin was under
his judges, and Rod Gray wason the show, and True Bud and I literally.
That was literally the firsttime I ever did competition barbecue
was on Pitmasters.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Everybody says, don't burn theburnt ends.
(23:17):
Well, I burned the hell out ofhim on the show, but I had so many
fires going.
I had.
We got confused, but I hadgreat burn ends.
And Myron came by after, andhe's like, what are these burn ends
here?
I said, those are for the crew.
He's like, God damn it.
Goddamn Batman barbecue.
You want to won a show?
But I fell in love withcooking competition right then and
(23:37):
there.
And I said, wow, this is fun.
So I applied for, you know, todo a comp, and it was in somewhere
out here just outside Kansas City.
And I got a second place callin chicken and like an eighth place
in ribs.
I was like, wow, this is easy.
And then it went downhill from there.
(23:58):
My meat to alcohol ratio wasway off.
Oh, yeah.
You know, it was fun, but, youknow, you had to start getting serious
about it.
So I think, like most people,your first three years were kind
of throwaway years.
And I look back at some of theboxes I created back then, and, wow,
they were rough.
I mean, some of the greenerylooked like in a 1970 porn star boxes.
(24:21):
Which is shocking becauseyou're an artist, and you would think
that you would absolutely,from the get go, pay attention to
your box.
It was hard enough justgetting the meat in the box.
Too many metaphors going on it.
But it was, you know, I didn'trealize that I could prep before
I got there.
And we were under a tent, andit was rough and wind blowing.
(24:44):
Little by little, you know,the food started looking better and
better.
And as you learn how to managefires and.
And be prepared with, youknow, your cuts of meat, on how you
had to cook my.
I cooked an entire brisket.
You know, I cooked, you know,whole pork butts.
I never really trimmed them down.
And so you're waiting.
You're cooking, you know, for10, 12 hours rather than, you know,
(25:06):
wrapping stuff directly.
And I didn't, you know, reallypay attention any of the videos.
And then I took a Rod Grayclass, and, you know, Andy Gronman
was one of the guys, got me myfirst smoker through.
I had a Yoder and Thenwrestling yoders and pellets and
things getting unplugged andthen burning stuff up.
And then I took a Travis Clark play.
I like taking classes and seehow other people do it, and I'd probably
(25:29):
excel a lot faster, but Idon't want to copy people.
I want to do my own.
My own thing, right.
So I really enjoy it and that,you know, I think one of those first
couple of years I maybe gotfive, six in.
Then I got.
I think the most I've everdone in one season is 15.
And I think I only quite a bitlast year.
And I just really enjoyed it.
It was like a miniaturevacation where you go out and when
(25:51):
I moved from a tent to atrailer to an RV and then back to
a trailer cooking rig made allthe difference in the world.
But I still enjoy like thekosher queues.
What I've got to do whereeverybody's on ground 0 with a 10
by 1010 and a 22 inch WeberSmoky Mountain and a kettle, and
you have to, you know, pickthe meats and can't touch them until
(26:14):
Saturday night.
And, you know, the rabbi startthe fire.
It neutralizes the landfilland I really enjoy doing that.
But now it's.
If you don't have a fortythousand dollar rig and watch a bunch
of videos and everyone's usingthe same ingredients, it's just,
I mean, some of these guys arejust, they're just machines.
I think they do it half intheir sleep, you know, and they're
winning.
So it's kind of taken a littlebit of the fun.
(26:35):
After last season, I'm alittle jaded with some of the judging
that went on.
I had a real sour taste in mymouth after last season, I'll tell
you that.
When I know my food was dialedin and I think a lot of the judges
are, they need to take awaythe coolers.
Do not let people take thefood home.
Make them eat it there.
Make them sample what we justspent a lot of money and time presenting
(26:59):
and, you know, rather than onelittle nibble and throwing a Ziploc
bag and taking home to their family.
I agree.
I agree.
Wow.
I didn't know you were feedingthe masses.
Every cook now, I mean, theyload up.
You know, these guys, gals arecoming in with their coolers, they
take one little nibble, youknow, wow.
If they do that, I should beable to take a bite of my meat, put
it in the box.
(27:20):
So you're.
You're telling me your garnishkind of look like a 70s shag rug.
Is that what you're telling?
I've seen his boxes recentlyand they're beautiful.
So he stepped.
I was talking about theoriginal ones when he said they weren't.
They were rough.
They were rough.
Yeah.
You know, I never paid attention.
I tried doing the flips andstuff like that and making them at
(27:40):
home, and that never worked.
And I tried freezing theparsley and thawing it out.
I mean, I was doing all sortsof stuff.
I was all over the place as an artist.
I was even, you know, youknow, the Chinese have those purple
ribs and I was, you know,trying to color the fat.
You know, stuff like that.
I was doing all sorts of fun stuff.
You ever do that, Leah?
Did you take any lessons fromStretch and try to like color?
(28:03):
No, but he was kind enough toloan me his jambo last year when
I was doing a little rib cookoff thing, which was very kind.
And I didn't even know he hadone, so that was cool.
Is that what I tell you, thatI went looking for something, I came
back and my whole smoker wasnever cleaned out by you or Seth.
And it was all moldy.
No.
I recall Seth saying that hewas going to clean it because I had
(28:25):
to catch a flight.
No.
It was winter.
Remember how cold it was?
It was freezing.
It was snowing.
Yes, I recall.
Good times.
All right.
We don't want to get anybodyin any trouble here, but why the
hell didn't you clean out a smoker?
Smoker out.
Now, it's funny because I'lllet people that smoke every now.
(28:46):
And I have a couple jambos andthey're great smokers.
And usually people withjambos, they, you know how to treat
them.
But mine have logos on them.
So I let somebody borrowed afew years ago at the Royal and everybody
kept going to their locationand asking where I was.
They said real quick.
So they covered up my logos.
That's all good.
What's the.
(29:06):
What's the biggest thing that.
That you've learned?
And you just said you like totake classes and stuff, Stretch.
But since you started in,well, on Pitmasters, really.
And then today about yourwhole process there, we've got some
folks that are die hardlisteners that we got to get into
the process a little bit for them.
(29:27):
So what have you learned themost or what the most important thing
you think you learned?
Taking your time, patient andorganization and just being as repetitive
as possible.
I mean, you really have tohave it dialed in, make the notes,
keep the notes, have yourschedule posted.
When I Show up at a contest.
I have a series of alarms onmy phone, and I'm religious about
(29:51):
it.
I mean, you're going out andyou're doing shots and you're having
food, and you're doing the raffles.
You got to get back and tryand stay on schedule for your injection
time period.
Don't make big, drastic movesif it doesn't work because the judges
didn't like something.
Unless it's obvious.
I always like to say, do yourpractices at home, but no one has
time to practice at home.
(30:12):
You know, no one's cookingwhole briskets at home unless you
really have to feed a bunch of people.
So, you know, my practice isalways kind of on location.
Just keep good notes and beorganized about it.
Try and be as consistent as possible.
There's already so manyvariables with just the meat that
comes in.
It's always a different animal.
And just because you have sixthighs in a box or you cook 24, what's
(30:34):
the chances that they evencame from the same bird or a slab
of ribs came from the same animal?
So there's already those problems.
You know, start off with, Idon't use bark on any of my wood.
You know, that takes the barkout of the element.
Because of all the differentstuff that can be in a bark, you
want to keep the same flavorprofiles, try and stick with the
same charcoal, so you'realways getting that same flavor.
(30:56):
I don't think you need to beas anal as some of these guys and
gals out there, you know,checking the moisture content in
their wood.
I think that's ridiculous.
I don't want to ever be that analogy.
But, you know, as Toffee Stonesays, it's about overcoming problems.
What happens when you have thewrong color smoke?
What happens when you can'tget this fire hot enough or your
(31:17):
meat's finished?
So have everything prepared,know what you got to do, and overcome
it.
It's like being in the military.
I think overcome any obstaclesis the key.
And if you have it all laidout and you go through it, you have
your checklist that you haveyour Sprinter bottle and your hand
sanitizer and your gloves, andyou know where your spatulas and
your tongs and your rubs and,you know, just go right down the
(31:37):
line.
Every cook and that just comeswith experience, because that one
time you have to go do oneoverseas or in another location where
you don't have your normal rig.
You got to know what to take,and, you know, whether it's the foil,
don't be chintzy on thin foil,get the thicker stuff or learn how
to double it up so you know,you don't drip it.
You know it doesn't poke through.
(31:58):
So there's a lot of littlethings that add up to that.
And know your timing, youknow, know your timing.
If you want to cook forfriends and have your friends there
and drink and party, thenthat's what's going to happen.
You're going to drink and party.
If you want to compete, havesome cocktails, but try and be in
bed by 11:30.
Yeah, I know.
We had one guest on the show.
In fact, this was beforeLeanne joined me.
(32:21):
He told me what he did withhis wood.
He would get his wood ready,he would peel the bark off of it
and all that.
And then when his wife wouldgo to bed at night, he would put
it in the oven in the kitchenand dry it out.
He would put it at like, Idon't know what he said, 150 or 175.
The biggest problem with thatis he had to stay up later than his
wife and he had to get upearlier than his wife every day the
(32:44):
week before a competitionbecause he would.
That's how he was drying hiswood out.
So I thought, good God, you know.
You know you can buy pre kilnwood, dried wood.
Yeah, yeah, right.
I think he knows that.
I think he knows that now.
I'm pretty sure of that.
At least I hope so.
We're going to take anotherbreak and we're going to be back
with Stretch here on BarbecueNation right after this.
(33:06):
It's the Kia season of newtradition sales event at Weston Kia.
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Reported by Kia Cor.
(33:31):
Hey everybody, J.T.
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(33:59):
This is an encore.
Welcome back to BarbecueNation here on the USA Radio Network.
Ms. Leanne Whippen is my co host.
She's across the screen from me.
We've got Stretch from who isthe world Galactic commander at Grinders
in Kansas City.
And of course, you've got mesitting here babbling on as usual.
Did you think you would end uphere where you're at?
(34:21):
Yeah, I pretty much have beenriding that train for a long time.
That yeehaw.
Get up.
That's all I wanted to do isget up in the morning.
I never think I'm going tomake it through the day.
Especially those early yearsof rock and roll and partying and
sculpture where I lived in mystudios around the clock and just
made stuff.
We were.
You know, it wasn't until, Idon't know, maybe eight years ago
that I actually realized thatI was actually a human.
(34:42):
And things can break in your body.
Yeah, that happens.
This thing called gravity andgetting old, you know.
All of a sudden I'm oncholesterol medication.
But no, I've never really hadany goals or plans.
It's kind of.
I haven't had a real job sincelike 1994.
(35:04):
You know, the restaurant givesme money, of course, but.
And I worked there, but Inever really had a job.
I could come and go whenever I wanted.
So I didn't know what wasgoing to happen.
Never really worried about money.
If I needed money, I'd makestuff or fabricate and keep on trucking.
But little by little, all of asudden, you have to worry about all
your employees and you can'tlive as crazy as I did.
(35:25):
And a family on top of it now.
But I never really, you know,I've always been the guy to take
chances, you know, and youcan't, you know, it's fun for me,
you know, I don't put myfamily in jeopardy all the time.
That's right.
Is there a little stretchrunning around?
There's a couple of them.
(35:45):
Oh, yeah.
There'S a little stretch inhis twin stuff.
Oh, sorry about that.
I gotta let the dogs out.
I have twin nine year olds,the Mugwumps.
Oh, they do some cooking with me.
Actually, Jax was makingrisotto last night with me and Charlie
cooks, and they've gone to acouple of contests here and there.
They like running up on stageand getting trophies.
(36:09):
They worked in your food truck?
Oh, they work in the food truck.
Yeah, I make my kids work.
They're just nine.
So next summer, right afterthey turn 10, I'm gonna let them
start living in the house.
So that'll be cool.
So they better keep somethingto look forward to, you know, we
got the basement cleared out.
(36:30):
You know, they don't have tolive in their drums anymore.
So then I Can make smokers.
There you go.
There you go.
There you go.
Well, as soon as they learnhow to use a flush toilet, you'll.
You'll have it whipped, I'lltell you now.
Jax did the hamburger contestat the Royal a couple years last
year.
The year before he had a blastdoing that.
And they've gone out.
(36:51):
They were judges on a hot dogeating hot dog contest we did somewhere.
And then they were judges at asteak cook off somewhere.
Not an sca, but another one.
So they've had a lot of fundoing some TV with me and getting
into the food side of things.
They're.
They were on my last video wedid for First Bite that we cut last
year that charted.
(37:12):
And then they're doing somevocals on the new album, too.
Oh, good for them.
It's great.
I was going to tell you, youknow, when you're getting old, when
you have more prescriptionbottles than friends, you.
Know what the prescription'sfor, I guess.
Well, yeah, you know, contentis always important, you might say.
(37:34):
It's all good.
So do you think you're goingto keep on with your restaurants?
So, you know, I actuallytalked about that today with one
of my assistants down there.
I said, you know, we'repushing 20 years.
You know, we're the OGs in thearea because we're very early on
opened up and there's more andmore restaurants coming in.
Will we ever do the numbers weused to?
Probably not, but I'd love tokeep it going.
(37:55):
I mean, I just show up now andshake some babies and kiss some hands
here and there.
But it could go another 10, 15 years.
It's just, do I want to dealwith it, you know, or the kids want
to get involved?
It'll be, you know, I have no want.
It's not as much fun as itused to be.
The climate of employees andall the different movements.
And I can get myself in realtrouble if I don't use correct terminology.
(38:20):
So it's.
It's different now.
It's not as there's too manyrules and regulations and insurances
and being a semi celebrity, Ican't speak my mind like I used to.
Right.
Because the lawsuits andeverything else, so it's just not
as much fun.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, it is true.
Because you get jumped on.
We've got, you know, where weused to have to read books and magazines
(38:42):
and newspapers.
Now you can just look at yourphone or whatever, and people's responses
to what you say can come in aflash, literally.
And you know, if you'veoffended somebody, God forbid, you
know, that that stuff comesback to haunt you so perfectly.
Understand that.
(39:06):
What do you have coming upbeside the music stuff?
Wow.
So let's see.
I got a trophy I got to make.
I can't tell you what it's forfor next week.
Then we got Guy's birthday.
Well, this weekend I'mrecording and Guy's birthday.
I'm up for a TV show thatcould take me away for 10 weeks.
Whoa.
(39:26):
In another country.
And I should know about thatin the next 10 days.
And that will decide where Iam from February to maybe.
Wow.
That's a long time.
Yeah, it is.
So I'm on hold for.
You know, my Memphis in May ison hold right the second.
My application, because Idon't know if I'll be back in time
if I get the gig.
(39:47):
And, you know, if it happens,it happens.
I have plenty to do.
And then next month, we'refilming a video, and then we have
south beach food and wine, and that's.
I have everything cleared justin case I get this gig.
So is it a competition?
It is a competition show, butnot food.
(40:11):
Okay.
And I'm not a competitor.
I'd be a builder.
Oh, cool.
Oh, I thought it was going tobe like one of those housewives shows,
but, you know, like, househubby show, you know, that, you know,
with your.
You know.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So you refer to, like, theExtreme Home Makeovers, right?
(40:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Why are you.
Why are you blushing, Leanne?
That's a whole different point.
That's lighting.
It's lighting.
I see.
I did a half a dozen or so ofthose Extreme Home Makeovers.
Those were fun.
We did those.
We did the bar rescues.
We did all sorts of shows.
That's cool.
Yeah, those are a lot of fun.
(40:51):
Remember, people, reality shows?
Like Myron said the first timehe was on my show years ago, he goes,
there's not a damn thing realabout a reality show.
And I agree.
And I cleaned up that languagea lot.
And some of it's real.
(41:12):
I wouldn't.
Well, the camera guys are real.
Yeah, yeah.
You know that Dill drill.
Dill.
Whatever.
Well, we know Stretch, so weknow Stretch is real, so Stretch
is very real.
It's all good.
We're gonna do after hours ina minute here, Stretch, and that's
where we can say things thatare only on the Internet that are
(41:36):
not on radio so we don't getin trouble.
Okay.
So I want you to look forwardto that because I got some great
questions for you there and.
And so I have to be cautious.
How I answer them though.
That's all right.
Well, that's up to you.
It's free reign, right?
Yeah, Jeff.
Yeah, it's free reign.
I was getting a little nervousin the beginning of this whole interview
(41:57):
that we were gonna have toplug it as an after hour show, but
we made it through and now you can.
You're all in.
Now sometimes I have to beatmyself like mother.
We're gonna get out of here.
And like I said, we'll be backin a little bit with after hours
stretch.
Thank you, buddy.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, thanks.
(42:17):
Thanks, guys.
Like I said, we're getting outof here.
Remember our motto.
Turn it, don't burn it.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions in association
with Envision Networks andSalem Media Group.
All rights reserved.
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