Episode 145 FLASH ( Hawaii Radio Jock )

Remember when nightlife was about being present instead of posting about it? Flash and Thaddeus Park take us on a nostalgic journey through Hawaii's golden era of clubbing, when every night of the week featured packed venues and genuine human connections.

This conversation reveals how nightlife promotion evolved from guerrilla marketing tactics (running from security while distributing flyers in parking lots) to today's digital-first approach. Flash explains how successful promoters developed exceptional social skills by learning to connect with strangers face-to-face—a stark contrast to today's social media marketing. Both hosts lament how smartphone culture has fundamentally changed the clubgoing experience, with patrons more focused on documenting moments than living them.

The evolution of DJing provides another fascinating lens, from DJs lugging crates of vinyl to today's digital setups. Flash recounts witnessing 8-Track demonstrate one of the first Pioneer CDJs—a revolutionary moment when digital began replacing analog. They discuss how veteran DJs like Taco, Compose, and Technique developed skills that some modern performers bypass entirely.

Between sharing celebrity encounters and concert memories, the conversation turns heartfelt when discussing Super C-Dub's lasting legacy through the Aloha Cancer Project. Her remarkable ability to find the best in everyone exemplifies the authentic connection that defined Hawaii's nightlife at its peak.

Ready for a dose of nostalgia that might just inspire you to put your phone down next time you're out? This episode reminds us what we've gained in convenience—and what we've lost in authentic connection—as technology has transformed how we experience nightlife and music. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:08):
okay, welcome to another edition of the above the
bridge podcast.
I'm your host, thaddeus park.
If this is your first timechecking out our podcast, you
can find us on any platformplatform iheart radio, spotify,
pandora, apple podcast, um, alsoour youtube, as well as

(00:29):
atbpodcom.
Please like, subscribe, leave acomment.
It matters, so I appreciate thesupport.
Uh, first I think I want to dois shout out our sponsor, um,
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Aloha, okay, this week my guestis someone I've known in the
nightlife industry for sinceI've started, someone that I
really enjoy his uhconversations, his company and
somebody I thought was alwayscool in the nightlife industry
that's crazy that we've been inpart of.

(03:03):
He's all now a radio host, adish jockey Is that what they
call them now, dish jockeys?

Speaker 1 (03:11):
I don't know, I don't know.
They DJ, but like to you and me, a DJ is something different.
Right, I, I, I call.
I call them jocks, or I callmyself on the air a jock, I call
myself on the air a jock.
But that's just what I do atiHeartRadio.
But yeah, okay, I'm not likeCompose.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, you're not on the ones and twos.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Spinning records Jesus.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So his name is Flash, and welcome to my show.
I'm so stoked that you're here.
You're like one of the peopleI've been wanting to have on and
, yeah, it just worked out.
This was the best timing.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
You know, every podcast needs their token, holly
, so I'm happy to jump on board,Brad.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
the biggest question I had when I told people you're
come on is ask him if that's hisreal name, and I know the
answer.
But you can answer that for me.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Of course it's not my real name.
My real name is Robert.
It's no secret.
But you know, nobody ever callsme that.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
So that's cool.
That's my middle name, by theway, really.
Yeah, thaddeus Robert.
Yeah, after my grandfather.
Yeah, so we're both Bobs.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
If anyone ever calls me Bob, I will never talk to
them again.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, you and me both , bro, I've been going down
memory lane with Taco.
I had Ronnie on Peter people weall know Kind of.
When we met.
Well, I got to talk to you andyour friends at Becky mitts

(04:49):
going away party.
We kind of went down memorylane of all the nightclub stuff
back in the day and you were ahuge, huge part of the Hawaii
nightlife scene and you andflash.
But I remember meeting you atthe wave.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
You mean me and Maddie boy.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, yeah, maddie.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yep Pussy cat lounge.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Was it yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:16):
And I think that was the first time I met you and
that that party was amazing.
It was a Tuesday, right.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, that was a.
That was back in the days whenevery single night, there was at
least one place somewhere thatwas as busy as any nightclub
could be and there was at leastone spot literally seven days a
week.
In fact, tuesday there wasthree different events on

(05:44):
Tuesdays.
It's crazy to think that howthat business was sustainable
for this town back then, whereyou had Ocean Club, they were
packed every Tuesday, rick Rockhad Pipeline every Tuesday and I
had Pussycat Lounge everyTuesday at the Wave, so it was
like the slowest night of theweek.
What, in theory, should be theslowest night of the week was

(06:07):
like the best industry night intown because there was you know
three different events that wereyou know doing the sales of you
know a Saturday night.
And it's it's.
It's crazy, it used to be thatway.
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
I get choked up about that kind of stuff and pussycat
lounge you.
That way, it was a lot of fun.
I get choked up about that kindof stuff.
And Pussycat Lounge?
You're right, it was a Tuesdayand because most of the other
industry venues are closed, itwas, like you said, an industry
event.
I like the Wave and I'm goingto tell you why.
And it's probably not the bestmoral, ethical thing, but the

(06:45):
wave was till 4 and if youdidn't, I could go out through
the whole night and if youdidn't pull a chick by 2 o'clock
you could go to the wave andthe percentage goes up.
I had like a 90% success rateat the wave good for you.
Yeah, wave and the maze was likethe guarantees.
I had like a 90% success rateat the wave.

(07:06):
Good for you, good for you.
It was wave and the maze waslike the guarantees back in the
day.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Ah, the maze man.
I haven't heard that club namein a long time.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
I just see Gale recently.
He came to the district maybe afew months ago with his
daughters yeah, His daughterswere at Republic for some emo
thing and he came down and askedif he could show them into
district.
They were like 19.
And I made it cool.
Of course they couldn't drinkor anything, but I brought KO

(07:37):
and his daughter into thedistrict and it was just.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
It was cool, KO's the same right and I'm sure you've
known that guy for a while, butyeah, I I haven't seen him in a
while, but every time I run intohim it's, it's just good to
catch up.
We, we always had a goodrelationship but, um, yeah, it's
, you know, those are good days.
I feel like everyone that wassort of involved in the scene

(08:02):
back then even though I guesstechnically we were all
competitors, but everyone sortof had their own lane and that
made for everybody being prettyfriendly with each other and
that was cool and I feel likeeveryone has sort of, you know,
stayed at least friendly, if notactual friends you know
throughout least friendly if notactual friends you know

(08:25):
throughout through through allthese years.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
it's really cool to see actually, yeah, I was just
talking to um hansen about it.
It was we could shout out levelh yeah, shout out to level h.
Like we could actually go tofour different promoters events
and, like you said, there it wascool, it was fun like I.
I became friends with you guys,like with architects, vertical

(08:51):
junkies.
It wasn't like, oh, there arecompetitors, like fuck them or
whatever.
It was like, oh no, come have adrink, and it was all aloha.
And, like you said, there wereso many different venues and the
piece of the pie was so huge.
It wasn't like, oh, if itflashes during an event, we're
screwed, because then nobody'sgoing to come to our spot.

(09:11):
We had our own genres and goingaround to everybody else's
stuff was one of my funnestthings and I remember your
Hanohano room was what did youguys call it?
Skyline or something like that.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Skyline.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, that was the best.
It was like a a different crowdthan what we were used to, but
when we got there it was justthe same.
Aloha, vibe and man, you guyshad that place jumping yeah it
was, uh, it was good times.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
We I mean, you know, obviously, maddie and I, being
like we were the only Howleypromoters outside- of.
G-spot who was throwing ravesRight?
But, we really had a lane all toourselves and we were purposely
going for something a littledifferent than than everybody
else, but it was, you're right,bouncing around between everyone

(10:03):
else's parties, especially whenyour own party was happening.
Yes, sneak out and just like,go, do like one shot at every
everyone else's spot, and it wascool to see that.
You know, everyone else couldbe busy.
We could all be busy at thesame time, with all vastly
different crowds and differentmusic and different vibes.

(10:24):
But all good and yeah, it wasjust, it was.
It was super fun.
It was a really cool scene tobe a part of.
I feel lucky and fortunate tobe a part of it.
And you know, it's so differentthan how it is now it's sort of
hard to explain to people howdifferent it is and how.
You know the that likenightlife industry, isn't it?

(10:48):
It doesn't really exist like itused to, right?
So, um, that's a shame to see.
You know, other things havecropped up, more of the
restaurant bar scene.
But you know, as far as astraight up nightlife scene,
it's just.
You know there is no promotersanymore, right?
And you know, back in the dayafter a while it was a running
joke.
Everyone was either a promoteror a DJ and a girl was a go-go

(11:11):
or a bottle service it was greatto see that that industry could
thrive in that way.
But it is cool to see how peoplehave changed and evolved over
the years and, you know, stayedrelevant as well.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, I like you just touched on so many different
things that got me smiling.
I would me and Peter would havethis thing and what you said,
like our events going on andwe'd be like ninja, we would
tell each other, ninja and meand peter would just dig out and
go jump two different spots andcome back and ronnie'd be like
where are you?

(11:51):
Guys, where are you?
Our events going on?
it was like oh, we're just well,that's kind of a good ron
impression right there yeah, hey, flashy flashy, flashy, come do
shop with me yo and you guysare super cool, because I
remember you had it was ravidrums, I think his name was rose

(12:11):
oh, robbie drums robbie drums.
And then you guys did thetwisted cuts where the girls
would come in the adam sacksyeah, cut up the shirts.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, those guys.
I'm still friends with thoseguys to this day.
We all stay in touch.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Oh, that's super cool .
Yeah, and it was a differentvibe to the club scene that I
was used to and, like you said,everybody had their own lane and
it was cool to experience.
I am disappointed how the clubscene is now not for me
personally, but for the youngergeneration.

(12:47):
They don't get to experiencewhat we experience and I don't
know at some points I think thatit's because I'm old and it's
like you don't know how good itwas or whatever but I feel like
they really don't because theyreally don't have those
opportunities.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
They don't have the opportunities.
You know, I mean, they don'thave the opportunities.
Number one, number two thischanged everything, exactly.
Yeah, so you know we're talkingabout a time when people were
going out.
You know there was nosmartphones.
Um, in fact, I could remembereven when texting came into play
as a promoter oh yeah, andbeing able to take advantage of

(13:30):
texting to help promote yourevents.
So you had to be present andwhen you went out, you had to
actually interact with peopleand, like talk to people, and
you know you aren't worriedabout posting anything or
looking cool or any of you knowthe, the things that come along.
Um, you know, with social media, I'm sure, as a promoter, you
know, from a marketingstandpoint, there's a lot of

(13:50):
pluses to it, but I'm just goingin and be able to experience an
event.
Um, most of social media is, is, is is a detriment to it gets
in the way of just having funand enjoying the party and,
quite frankly, three quarters ofthe things that went on at the
wave after two o'clock youcouldn't even do today because

(14:13):
of, you know, cameras, and soit's just.
You know there's differenttimes.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
I didn't even think of that.
Yeah, there'll be a lot moreevidence and we'd be a lot more
incriminating ourselves backthen.
But I agree with you and ithurts me a little bit to see
that's the direction that theyouth is going to.
It's not about being in themoment, it's being about showing

(14:40):
people the moment you're in andnobody really cares.
It took a lot of balls.
When you're, nobody cares yeah,nobody cares nobody cares,
especially nobody gives a shitwhat you're eating for dinner.
That drives me nuts.
Nobody cares that you're havingsome stew plate from some.
Yeah, nobody cares but um, tobe, to be present and in the

(15:03):
moment where we would have to goand actually, as promoters, go
up to people and Ronnie wouldcall these things bullets and it
was a VIP pass to our event andI would have to go up to a girl
somewhere someplace and be likehi, I'm Thad, we're doing an
event over here.
I want to invite you.
Oh, poor Thad, I'm sure that wasso hard for you well, it's a

(15:26):
lot more risky than fucking text, like going on social media and
just sending a message where Idon't have to take the risk of
being rejected and, as a clubgoer, as a patron, I don't have
to go up to a bunch of girls andbe like, hey, can I get you a
drink?
And like risking rejection,like you could do that on your

(15:48):
couch and hopefully they'llrespond.
If they don't on social media,then hey, I just delete you and
it never happened and I don'tsave, I don't lose face, and I'm
sure you've done it before.
Where went up to a bunch ofgirls at a club and, hey, I'm
flash, this is my band, thankyou for coming, can I get you a
drink?
And they just like shut youdown or whatever.
And then it's like okay, I'mwalking how dare you that never

(16:13):
happened?

Speaker 1 (16:14):
what happened to me no, that was you know it.
It takes a um, I mean, I didn'tnever really thought about it,
but it takes a certain kind ofpersonality to be a promoter to
begin with.
But then when you, when you're,when you actually start doing it
and you're doing it for a whileand you know people like you
and me were doing it for years,it really does sort of hone your

(16:38):
social skills, where you haveto learn, at least if you're
going to be successful, how totalk to anybody Right, how to
walk up to strangers guys,girls're going to be successful,
how to talk to anybody right,how to walk up to strangers guys
, girls, whatever.
You know any kind of person.
You know any type of age range,any type of demo.
You know rich, poor, whatever,and you have to be able to go up

(16:59):
and connect with them, andconnect with them quickly and
also win them over to your sideto get them to want to come to
your event.
Right, and it does.
It takes a special skill set todo that, but also, after you do
it for a while, you'reobviously only going to get
better and better at that.
Yeah, and I think you know,promoters these days they're not

(17:22):
doing that and that is in partwhy parties today I don't think
are as successful, because youdon't have that personal
connection to the people puttingon the event, like yeah, I
follow them on socials or thisor that or whatever, but it's
not the same as, like yo, my boyis DJing tonight, oh my God.

(17:43):
Like my best friend isbartending tonight, whatever.
Like I love that girl behindthe bar.
She's the best you know there.
There's just so.
It's just.
It makes for, um, a differenttype of party.
I think because of that, and Ithink that is in part why clubs
and promoters as a whole sort ofwent on the decline is because

(18:05):
they relied too much on theirphones and not the old school
way of doing things, you know.
And you know it sucks flyering,parking lots and stuff, but
there's, there's, it makes you abetter person and I just feel
like it's just different, youknow.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
I agree.
I'm honestly stoked to hearyour insight on that.
Speaking about flying parkinglots, man, what was the craziest
I've rolled up to people whofeed in their car?
I stepped in puke like we wererunning them parking lots hard
and half the time they justthrow those flyers away.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
I think the craziest thing and Maddie boy and I used
to do it all the time andsometimes you're doing it while
you're also going out, doingshots, bouncing around to all
your other friends, parties,like literally in the middle of
that.
So you're dressed to go out,like you know, to go out, go out
and then, but you're alsoflyering the parking lot,

(19:07):
flyering the parking lot,flyering chinatown, um, but
usually I mean, the crazieststuff for us was when we were on
a night when you weren't goingout and you were like dressed to
go flyer and it's like, okay,we're, like, we're gonna, we're
literally gonna fly, sent likeput out 5 000 flyers tonight
here's half stack for you, halfstack for me and inevitably on

(19:31):
those nights you're gonna getchased by security um.
And getting chased by securityum is something that happens
often and it's never not scary,it's fun though it's fun.
Yeah, of course it's fun Causeyou never get caught.
Yeah, I never got caught, or wenever got caught and I don't
really.
I can't really remember anybodythat we, that any of us knew

(19:53):
like really getting caught.
Yeah, I'm sure in hindsight nowit doesn't seem like you would
have gotten in all that muchtrouble.
They just would have you know,said, don't do that anymore.
Like you take them all off well,that would really suck, yeah,
but but yeah it was.
It was never fun running awayfrom security in the moment, but

(20:15):
it was like as soon as it wasover and you made it, you're
like, oh my god, that was soexciting, now let's go to the
bar and have a shot.
It was always fun after, butthat was, I think, the most.
The craziest stuff we ever didwas run away from security and
at times in a multi-levelparking lot, like like the UH
parking lot right across fromStan Sheriff, where you're on

(20:38):
multiple levels and then youhave to go down multiple levels
and you're evading multiplesecurity on multiple levels at
the same time.
Um, and again, this ispre-airpods, pre-smartphone so
it was like harder tocommunicate with each other and
your team as you're doing it andum yeah, I don't mean days, but
they were very fun we had nexttail.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Now that you remember next tail, the walkie.
Talkies.
That's how we would do it, andwe I remember Zanzibar Parking
lot was multi-tiered and Peterbe like hey, they're coming
after Us on this floor and thenwe're just Running around.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, it was, it was good, that lot was tricky
because that lot was so smallyeah and it.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, it was hard to get around that one and like we
we've Done, stand sheriff thatParking lot.
Yeah, it was hard to get aroundthat one and like we we've done
, stand sheriff that parking lot.
Yeah, it was good times and thepeople don't even fly her
anymore.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
I don't even remember the last time I've even seen a
club flyer yeah, and they should, because people, because
everyone is like you have to zagwhen everyone else is zigging.
Right, if you want to stand outas a promoter and if I was
going to like throw partiesagain, like for real, for real,
I would do a lot of tactile,like tangible, in real life

(21:54):
stuff.
Right, that people can touch,can feel, because you're just
way too inundated on your phonebut you would have a flyer lane
or whatever.
All to yourself, right.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
And so you would really a flyer lane or whatever,
all to yourself, right, and soyou would really really stand
out.
Yep, and it's guerrillamarketing.
Uh, for our event that we'redoing now.
We actually printed, uh, vippasses and I've been passing
them out and the reaction I'vebeen getting is oh, what is this
?
Or it's the vip pass, justbring this to the club.
It gave value to the card thatI'm giving them, because if you
bring it and, yeah, it's oldschool guerrilla marketing and
that's the funnest, I alwaysenjoy that but at the clubs now

(22:34):
I noticed that the people thereare, like I said, too, in tune
to being on social media to showpeople what they're doing.
They don't have a um engagementand it's, they stay in their own
clique.
It's all about look at me,we're in the vip taking shots

(22:56):
and it bums me out.
I was at a third eye blindconcert years ago and I always
tell this story because it itmattered to me that the lead
singer like throughout theconcert they're singing and
every concert everybody'sfilming with their phones, and
he stopped the concert.
He said for this one songeverybody, put your phones away,

(23:16):
don't put out your phone.
Let's all be in the momenttogether and enjoy this song
together, as a band and as acrowd.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Let's be in this moment, not behind a screen, and
I'm standing there like fuck,this is how life is supposed to
be, like this is and and forcertain moments, yeah, and it
does totally change what yourexperience of going to a
nightclub is, or what yourexperience of going to a concert

(23:49):
is, or what your experience ofjust going to an event is.
It changes, right, and it'slike you're not actually having
fun, you're pretending to havefun or you're you're sort of
showcasing that you're havingfun and it's.
It's like you said, everyoneit's all about themselves and

(24:11):
really, if everyone is postingwith that in mind, then no one
is going to watch anyone else'sshit.
They're just going to be likepaying attention to their own
stuff.
You know, I remember, you knowgood DJs especially when you
know I was would be flying DJsout, like there would be people
standing around the DJ boothjust wanting to watch what the

(24:34):
DJ was doing, how they weremixing, what songs they were
playing, how they were beatmatching and what they were
doing.
And now it's like no, like noone is that present anymore,
right, and it's like even forthat same thing, you would get
up and you're going to Shazamthe song or you're going to film
them or you can go watch theirYouTube tutorial later, whatever

(24:57):
, as opposed to just reallybeing in that moment going, wow,
this DJ is so incredible andyou've just done nothing but
focus all your attention onwatching that guy mix for the
last, or girl mix for the last,like 15 minutes or 30 minutes or
whatever.
And you know, especially likewhen it comes to dancing.
You know everybody dances now,like everyone else is watching

(25:18):
them and as, as opposed to like,especially at the wave, like
people did not give a fuck zero.
The wave, from day one, was azero fucks given, you know, safe
space for anybody to doanything, and that's what made
the wave so great, and it's likeyou just wouldn't see something
like that anymore.
Even if you're like that,someone else will film you

(25:40):
acting like a fool and thenyou're gonna get put on blast
and go viral for all the wrongreasons you know, for looking
like an idiot on the dance flooror whatever and you're just out
there having fun being yourself, and that's

Speaker 2 (25:52):
that's what this, this society, is missing right
now.
Like you said, everybody's tooscared to get caught on film
doing something that they lovebecause it might make them look
awkward or whatever.
Like right, right, I see somecrazy shit at the wave and some
crazy dance moves and peoplehaving fun, bro, and honestly,

(26:13):
that's what life's about.
You mentioned like the DJs andstuff and just the evolution of
DJs.
I remember when they had tobring their milk crates full of
vinyl, so now they bring a thumbdrive.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
It's fucking wild.
I was, um, I was actually justthinking about this the other
night, um, and this is reallygonna date myself, but some of
the you know, some people willremember I remember we had um
kid cuddy I think it was kidcuddy dj at the wave and he
brought, obviously, like we hadto pay for this right Shipping
18 milk crates of records, 18milk crates that he put up on

(26:54):
the stage behind him and it'slike you know, you think about
that, that's what's on yourthumb drive now or in your
laptop.
Like, essentially, those 18crates was not his whole record
collection, that was just histraveling touring collection,
right, and that was his databasefor the night.
But he actually had to thumbthrough and just watch.

(27:15):
He could.
He could thumb through albumsso fast and you know, I don't
know how he had him like set upand categorized right, but
obviously there was some sort ofsystem.
I remember at a DMC it was aDMC semifinal of the Pacific
that we did it at the wave withG-Spot and A-Track was the DMC

(27:38):
champion at the time.
So he did a demo after the localcontest.
He did a demo after after thelocal contest and he was the
first person.
He had a beta version of apioneer CDJ and no one had ever
heard, even heard of this, letalone seen it.
It wasn't bait, it was still inbeta and a track at the time 16

(28:01):
years old and it was like blewthe entire room away that this
kid was djing with.
Like where is all those milkcrates, right?
Where are all the like?
What do you mean?
It's all like in the thing and,um, it's crazy to think that,
um, number one, I'm that old andI've seen that evolution come
out to now.
That's like industry standard,right.

(28:23):
And now to the point of whereyou get someone that literally
just presses play on a pre-mixand then pretends to DJ, even if
they are DJ.
It's pretty, it's pretty mindblowing to think of the
transformation of club DJs andjust nightlife DJs in general
and and a lot of it is for theworst, obviously, compared to

(28:46):
the old school guys that reallyhad to learn, you know, in a
with a different skillset.
Um, and there is obviously allof your favorite DJs, anyone
watching this, pretty much anyof your favorite DJs that are
still out there in clubland inHawaii.
Are those guys, right?
You know Taco and Compose andTechnique and you know, there's

(29:09):
Mass Funk is another one.
There's a lot of guys that havejust been around forever, and
I'm forgetting a million peopleright now, but in some of the
especially hip hop, guys-hop,guys, sub-zero still doing it
drama still doing it, yeah butyou can tell the difference
between I mean it if if you area discerning nightlife person,

(29:32):
or especially if you're in theindustry, you can tell someone
that that has the properfoundation and skillet as a DJ
and learned the right way,instead of someone I don't know
how to DJ at all but I could godownload a YouTube mix and get
my laptop out, press play at anightclub tomorrow and look like
I was the best DJ ever, right,like I'll just go take an old AM

(29:56):
mix or a four-color Zach mixand then be like, oh my God,
look at that guy take an old ammix or a four color zach mix and
then be like, oh my god, thatguy it's
just everybody or do whateverand jump up and down on the dj
rig and uh, you know, when I wasat the republic and you know,
you get all these edm acts,really big edm acts, coming
through and we're, you know,we're spending a ton of money,

(30:18):
there's a ton of production intoit and it's just like this
guy's literally just pressingplay and then just jumping
around and dancing and actinglike like an idiot and people
are going, people are goingcrazy for it.
But it's like I'm not sayingthat guy, guys like that or
girls like that aren't good DJs.
It's just when they're touringyou, not mixing it's easy to

(30:41):
take the easy way out, right,it's.
It's a much easier to press,play and then just jump around
and have fun instead of like Ireally need to focus on my craft
right now.
Yeah, um, it's just wild.
How, how different that is.
Maddie boy and I used to jokeall the time.
It's like, you know, we reallymissed the boat and we should
have become DJs, because that'swhere the real money ended up

(31:04):
being and there's just all thesestupid silly gimmicks and it's
just like half the DJs you knowaren't even really spinning
records properly or, you know,or mixing properly anymore.
It's just like we're alwayslike.
If we could, just if that wouldbe, the one thing we would
change is we would have been,you know, put on our masks and

(31:24):
be the next daft punk orwhatever and just and throw cake
.
Yeah, half of these djs don'teven use headphones, man, like
this, they're just line matchinglike, yeah, if, if a dj doesn't
have on, that is like close tored flag number one right there.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yeah, exactly it's crazy In your opinion.
How do you like the musicnowadays, Like you're in the
radio industry and kind ofsomewhat in the nightlife.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
But I'm disappointed.
I mean, obviously radio musicand radio artists is going to be
different to some degree andyou're not getting the remix of
different to some degree andyou're not getting the remix of
the songs right.
You're not getting the clubmixes yeah um.
So the stuff that's that's onthe radio, I don't think is um,
and certainly the stuff on thestation I'm on or stations I'm
on, um.

(32:14):
But behind the scenes,regardless of what genre of
music you're in now, a lot ofpeople are using the same
producers, a lot of people areusing the same songwriters, and
so the music is and ends up it's.
I feel like at least popularmusic is getting a lot more

(32:36):
homogenized because you'regetting the same five producers
that are producing everybody.
You're getting the same likefive guys making beats for
everybody, um.
And then you're getting likeyou know, oh, country's the hot
genre right now.
So now you know, you've got,you know, everyone doing the
country version of their songs,or everyone doing a country

(32:59):
album.
Or it's like oh, I, I'm arapper, but I'll get a big
country artist to do a verse onmy song, and vice versa, because
everyone wants to like, I'mgoing to cross my fans with your
fans and then I can, in theory,get new, new fans out of that.
So you're getting so much crosspollination in music.
It makes for a bunch ofinteresting stuff, for sure.

(33:20):
But it's like like, oh, k-pop'sbig right now, so bruno does a
k-pop collab, you know.
It's just like oh, country'sbig right now.
So beyonce is gonna, you know,release a country album.
Um, because everyone wants tolike oh, where's the?
The potential revenue that Ihaven't tapped into yet, right?
So part of it is greed and partof it is just, for whatever

(33:42):
reason.
Again, the homogenization in.
But some of it's good because,or some of people are, some
people are coming from the rightplace and they they just.
The internet means that peopleare not a fan of just one genre
anymore, right.
The access to all musicanywhere in the world all the
time means, because you'reexposed to so much more music,

(34:05):
now you can be a fan of a lotmore music.
So then you get someone likepost malone, who's like I became
successful as a rapper but Igrew up on nirvana, so I want to
do some music that's like that,and now I'm so successful that
I have the window to do that.
He, like, he's doing it in inlike a true organic way.
That's, that's cool to see.

(34:27):
But other people are doing itfor a money, grab, um, or their
producers or agents or managersare telling them to do that
because they could make moremoney.
So for all those differentreasons.
Again, for better or worse, alot of music is just sounds like
a lot more homogenized now andyou know you're getting artists

(34:51):
from every genre that there isgoing to Nashville to use the
Nashville songwriters becausethose guys are the best at
writing songs, even thoughthey've only wrote country songs
, you know, up until lately.
Now those guys are being, youknow, hired to write songs for
every genre possible.
I mean, sooner or later, ifeveryone's just using the same

(35:11):
behind the scenes people foranything, you know, whether it's
TV, movies, music, whatever,there's going to be um, a
homogenization, and it's sort ofa um, everybody going towards
like the lowest commondenominator um, that is not good
, um, and that causes everythingto sound alike, look alike, um,

(35:32):
and that's not as interesting,obviously yeah, that's good to
get your insight on that.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
I trip up because a lot of the younger generation
listens to music that I grew upLike my daughter.
We were at the gym and she'slike hey, dad, you want one of
my AirPods.
So I put in her AirPod and Ilistened.
She's like I have a Spotifyplaylist and she had like Tupac,

(36:01):
she had Biggie, she had likeold school stuff and I'm
thinking like, how do you evenknow this song Like you weren't
even close to being born whenthis came out and it just made
me think like she was moreattracted to the music I grew up
in versus the music that she'sliving now.
And for me it was never likethat.

(36:22):
I didn't like my dad's shit andhe was always like oh, your
stuff's so junk, it's the newstuff, there's no soul or
anything.
And now I feel like I'm sayingthat about the new music.
We grew up on Tupac and thatkind of stuff where it was
poetry.
And I listen to some of thestuff now and it's just garbage

(36:45):
and I could be like could be thefact that I'm older or whatever
, but the fact that my daughterwas drawn to my generation's
music blew me away and I didn'tforce it on her, she she seeked
it out and gravitated towards itand then became a fan of it,
and I was blown away by herSpotify playlist.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Granted, she has some .

Speaker 2 (37:06):
SZA and stuff like that on there, but yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yeah, did you ask her what attracted her to that
music in the first place?

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yes, and she said it sounds better and it means more.
That's what she said it meansmore.
And I'm like oh shit, I, I dida good job there's.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
I mean, there still is really good music out there
but, it's not, it's you know youhave to seek it out, right,
like the most popular musicthat's out there in any genre
isn't doing anybody any favors,but you could probably say that
across all time and everygeneration has shit on the
generation.

(37:44):
You know, before them and afterthem's music, right, every
generation thinks theirgeneration's music is the best.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Yeah, I was unlike you in that, like, I loved a lot
of my parents' music.
But you know my parents werelistening to C&K and Kalapana
and Stevie Wonder and LedZeppelin and the Doors, and so
you know that for certain typesof music you know the 60s, 70s

(38:12):
and 80s that was a golden era ofa certain kind of music.
Obviously, for hip hop,nothing's going to be better
than the 90s, right?

Speaker 2 (38:19):
I mean, that was that , is the, that is the go-to for
for sure yeah, the same, like Ididn't like my parents music,
but I did like past music at thetime and I know you were
surprised when I brought it upwhen we're at becky miss thing,
but I'm a rocker.
My, yeah, I love rock.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
I, that's my yeah, I've known you a long time.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
I had no idea yeah, and that's my go-to, like I, I
like rock more than any othermusic, but I have metallica
tattoos, like I I that's my shit.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
Tell everyone.
I don't know if you've talkedabout this on your show before,
but tell everyone how many timesyou've seen Metallica and how
you're you're.
You're you like fly.
Metallica is one of my favoritebands.
I think I've seen them live.
I think five or six times.
But I mean you, you have mebeat.
You're the guy jumping on aplane every tour to go and see
them.
How many times have you seenthem?

Speaker 2 (39:14):
live.
I don't even know.
I've seen them every time theycame to Hawaii, but every night,
like if they came to Hawaii anddid a three-show.
I went all three nights.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
I went, yeah, I went to… and then you were deaf
afterwards for a month, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
I have a scar on my calf from like moshing and like
getting tossed into the chairs.
We are actually going to Levi'sStadium in June, right, because
Metallica has a.
This is going to blow me away.
Two-night set, two separate,totally different sets.
Yeah, so it's a Wednesday and aFriday.

(39:52):
They give you a break inbetween and I'm so excited for
that.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
That's smart for them .
So, from the businessstandpoint standpoint, they do
that because if, as a fan, thenyou buy tickets to both shows,
right, instead of I just need togo one night.
No, now I have to go bothnights my sister saw them at
oracle park when it was at&tpark, which, for those that
don't know metallica, is fromthe bay area right, right there
San.
Francisco band so playing inOracle park.

(40:20):
You know the giant stadium islike ground zero for them, and
Levi's stadium too, although youknow Santa Clara is like an
hour away but still that's homeof the night, but uh, yeah,
that's uh, that's crazy.
I can't remember Did I tell youthis, but you know Kirk Hammett
right, he lives in Hawaii andhis wife is my high school

(40:43):
classmate lonnie.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Oh, I didn't know that yeah, so, uh, it's.
It's awesome to think thatmetallica has like really
serious um hawaii ties yeah,it's funny because my sister was
buying a christmas tree by rockbottom a bunch of years ago and
she hits me up and she's like,um, yeah, kirk hammett's here.
I'm like don't fuck around, I'mcoming, like of course, I mean

(41:07):
I didn't go but I was just likeshe's, he's here, and I'm
thinking like kirk hammett'sbuying a christmas tree and I I
I'd probably be ashamed ofmyself, what I would do.
I probably fan girl out likeI've been.
You're in the radio industry.
What celebrities have you met?
And I always ask this questionand I know a lot of people feel

(41:29):
the same it's like they they arelet down or they're blown away
like what were some of the onesthat you were super stoked to
meet?

Speaker 1 (41:38):
I mean far, far and away.
I met I mean I've met somecelebrities through radio, of
course, through iHeartRadio, butfar and away, when I worked
with BAMP and you know, doingwell over 100 concerts a year
for years, I mean that's, that'swhen you meet the most
celebrities, and not justcelebrities that are performing

(42:01):
on stage but depending on whothe artist is and other
celebrities want to come and seethem.
Right, and speaking of KirkHammett, if you ever see Maddie
boy, maddie boy has a great KirkHammett story for you.
But one of the cool thingsabout Kirk living in Hawaii is
there was a time with you know,any any big BAM rock show, kirk

(42:22):
Hammett would want to come tothe show and he would just hang
out side stage because he could,because he could, he would just
hang out side stage and watchthe show and it's just like,
even though it would never beplanned like they, you know a
tech would always have a guitarready in case he wanted to come

(42:42):
out and you know usually whetherit was an encore or towards the
end of the end of the concert.
You know Kirk, you know younever know he might come out and
jam and do a song with whoeverthe band is, and, and a lot of
times he did, and that wasreally cool to see.
You know, he's just such a hugefan of music, yeah.

(43:02):
But I've yeah, I've had my fairshare of encounters with
musicians and artists, good andbad, and I think and this even
goes back to I met a ton ofcelebrities at the Wave as well.
At the wave as well, um, I, Ithink there's something in

(43:26):
particular about Hawaii where,like, I'm pretty sure this
person is an asshole Most of thetime.
I'm pretty sure they might bean asshole on most stops of the
tour, but when celebrities cometo Hawaii, whether it's for work
or to play, it just puts themin a different headspace.
This is just my own personalspeculation and obviously I've

(43:47):
had a lot of conversations witha lot of artists, in particular
about a lot of people end theirtours.
The last stop of a tour or a bigbreak in the middle of a tour
is in hawaii.
Um, maybe the north americanside of the tour is done right

(44:07):
and they're routing through asiaor australia, but before they
do that leg of the tour, they'relike let's stop in hawaii for a
week and we'll do one show, butthen we'll just like decompress
or whatever and rest up.
So a lot of people there's,even though they're performing,
they're sort of in vacation modewhen they come here and they

(44:28):
just seem to be a lot nicer.
You know, it's just it's notgoing to be the same as playing
like a gig in Tucson or whatever, right, yeah, yeah, it's just a
different vibe and, and acrossthe board, you know, everyone
that you talk to does say, evenbehind the scenes um, is,
everyone here is just so niceand it's, you know.

(44:50):
You know they might not saythis, but it really is like the
Aloha spirit, right, so that'ssort of like is is sort of
forces them, I think, to be alittle bit nicer.
Um, I mean, I've definitely runinto my fair share of assholes,
for sure, and you know this,club nights like oh yeah, if

(45:13):
you're a celebrity and bottleservice is sold out and I can't
do anything for you.
Sorry, like, if you're, you knowwe would do theme parties and
I'm sorry if you're a celebrity,but if you're not wearing all
white we're not going to let youin, you know.
So when you have to tell acelebrity, no is usually when
you're going to see them attheir worst, but that's when you
tell any human no, that'susually when you see them at

(45:33):
their worst, especially ifthey've had a few drinks.
Um, cutting off celebrities isalways, you know, interesting
how you have to go about doingthat.
But I would say you know forthe most.
I know it's not like a funanswer, but for the most part
everyone has been really nice.
The people that have been trueassholes I can't really talk

(45:58):
about publicly.
I'd be happy to tell you allthe stories you want.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Um, you know um off the air we'll do that at a bar
one night, yeah, yeah yeah,really, for the most part,
everybody is truly nice andpeople do say that.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
like you know, people here are nicer and they
appreciate that and again, Ithink a lot of people just look
at it as like an extendedvacation, even though they're
working.
I know that's a boring answer,but that's so funny.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
I had to do that and, like everything you're talking
about just triggers some memoryand I literally had to tell
Rampage Jackson, the MMA fighter.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Good luck with that.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
He couldn't come into Oceans because he had a T-shirt
on and I was just like, like,oh what?
Like you tell him.
And I was like fuck, okay, I'lltell him.
And sorry, bro, like you can'tcome he.
He was mad, but he was cool atthe same time.
But I just was thinking how amI gonna tell this guy he can't

(46:55):
come in because he's wearing at-shirt?

Speaker 1 (46:57):
he looks like king kong and fuck like, yeah, he
used to come into apartmentthree all the time.
Yeah, um, when there was forwhen he I think he was here
filming for something, that'sthe other thing is people coming
through right, they're filmingfor a tv show or a movie and
they're just here for um a shortperiod of time.
But I have way, way morestories of celebrities being

(47:19):
super nice um than I do of beingassholes, thank god.
Oh yeah, I did have onecelebrity, um, I won't say who
it was a dj that was um.
That uh, I I think como and Ihad flown about.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Wow, I haven't heard that name in a while.
That'll be, you know, rip.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
He was, in a lot of ways, the goat of like
everything that Maddie and Iwere doing.
Como had sort of done firstthat really like high-end,
elevated, like I'm not trying toget everyone, I'm going to like
charge the most cover, LikeMaddie and I get a lot of credit
for doing a lot of stuff.
I think that Como did first andI mean he was, um, he's really

(48:06):
missed.
Um, you know Maddie and I talkabout him often and and and
really what could have been, andit's just a shame he's not here
anymore and um, you know himand I were really close.
He was my best friend beforeMaddie came along and um, that
guy, just he had way more ideasthan he ever know knew what to
do with.
But anyway, como and I are.

(48:26):
So we had teamed up.
We were flying out a dj to dosome shows and I'd pick this guy
up at the airport and, uh, thefirst thing he said was like
take me to waikiki.
I heard that's where all thehookers are.
Like I want to get a hooker andlike I want like a big bag of

(48:47):
weed and like a big bag of blow,and I'm just like Jesus, like
I've like you've been in my carfor three minutes, like calm
down, and this dude was soexcited because he'd heard.
He's like I've heard all aboutthe hawaii hookers and I'm just
he literally wanted me to likedrive him into waikiki and like
pick one off the street.
Yeah, I'm like I am not puttinga hooker in my car.

(49:10):
You can do whatever you want onyour own time, but, like, I'm
taking you.
So this is when soundcheck isand like, whatever you do, like
don't get so fucked up thatyou're not only gonna soundcheck
but then not, you know, do thegig.
He crushed the show.
It was a soul that I think hehe's at two nights I can't
remember, but I mean it was asold-out show.

(49:31):
Everyone was happy, but thatwas just one thing.
I'm like god he was.
He was an asshole and he wasfor the style of music he played
.
He was my all-time favorite inand it was just oh man yeah yeah
, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Yeah, I remember those hookers in waikiki back in
the day.
It had the the clear heels.
That's how you could tellthey're hookers again different
times.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
It was really.
Life was a lot more fun back.
Oh yeah, 100, all the wayaround?

Speaker 2 (50:05):
yeah, um, was there somebody you ever fanboyed over
like, oh shit, like so stoked tomeet kind or you don't get like
that yeah, no, well it's.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
It's far and few between.
Kirk Hammett was was a big one.
I met the police are myfavorite band of all time.
Oh, and I actually met StuartCopeland, the drummer, who is
arguably one of the top fiverock drummers of all time.

(50:38):
One of the top five rockdrummers of all time.
Um, I met stewart copeland, um,like when I was a teenager and
completely lost my shit and Ithink he was like he was the
first celebrity that I met.
Um, but if, but, if I ran intostewart copeland tomorrow, it
would be the same thing.
Um, I did get to meet sting umin a very personal, private

(51:02):
setting, in in a um at the oldk-boy.
Oh, I actually like sat in aroom with him while he did the
whole interview and hung outwith him for quite a bit of time
.
Um, that's cool.
He showed up in studio for theinterview that he could have
done over the phone and heshowed up 15 minutes early and I

(51:22):
was there the whole time and wewere hanging out just chatting.
He could not have been fuckingnicer I I just super cool I
couldn't believe it.
Um, he was so nice, um, and thatwas.
You know, whatever yourfavorite band of all time is
like, if I met James Hetfield orum, that I would.
I did meet Lars.

(51:43):
Um, lars Ulrich, the drummer ofMetallica.
He actually showed up to.
We did a official Metallicaafter party at the wave and he
actually showed up.
Holy shit, and I was.
I grew up a drummer, playingdrums and at the time that was

(52:06):
what tour was that for?
And justice, no, and justice.
I was still in high school.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
I did go to that show .
I went to the show, yeah, bothnights.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
That show, so that show, so that show.
So the reason why the chairs atat the Blaisdell Arena now are
all on the on the floor levelare all bolted together.
The reason why they do that nowis because of the injustice for
all stop of Metallica at thearena, because all the chairs

(52:38):
back then were individual chairsand everyone on the floor
picked up their chairs and threwthem in a pile in the center of
the arena so that they couldmake a giant pit.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Yep, and I have a scar from one of those chairs
from that concert is on on mycalf.
No joke.
Yeah, oh, I believe it.
I mean I was there I went.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
I think I went two of the three shows and and the
same thing happened every night.
Yeah, after that show was theimpetus for them connecting all
the chairs the way they do inBig Long Things.
But meeting Lars was prettycool Usually.
It's funny because usually thepeople you fangirl over aren't

(53:19):
like the people you would thinkLike.
I was super stoked.
I can't even remember his name.
He was on that TV and markduplass was on that show.
Yeah, like all these guysbecame big after, but I was just

(53:44):
so into this tv show and I likethat show too, yeah steve
razzanini, I think his name was.
He was the redhead on the showthe ginger oh, okay and I mean,
and he did a show at therepublic for like 200 people or
something.
I mean no one came to a show,nobody cared who it was, but I
was like holy shit, you're onthe league.
Like I love that.

(54:04):
That was, that was a cool one.
Um, but most like really bigartists, even as a, if you're
like the promoter, you don'teven have a chance to interact
with them, Right, Um, but um, Iwouldn't say a fangirled over
him, but it was like it wasreally cool to meet boy george,

(54:25):
oh shit, yeah, and he was super,super nice to me.
I had interviewed him over thephone ahead of time, so when I
ran into him backstage at theconcert, at the arena, like he
remembered me, um, and and hewas just really nice.
But you know, I it's just funnybecause usually who you're
fangirling over isn't the peoplethat people would think right

(54:47):
yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, I was.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
I I never call in favors much because I know how
it is, but I at one point umstone temple pilots.
The lead singer passed away,obviously, and chester
bennington yeah, chesterbennington was the like, took
over for spots and just sohappened stone temple pilots was

(55:13):
scheduled to be at the republicand when I found that out
chester bennington was gonnaheadline a Stone Temple pilot
show at the Republic.
I called Rob immediately.
I said Rob, I don't ask foranything.
I'm always cool with you,always take care, but I don't
ask for anything.
This one I want all access inthe green room downstairs.

(55:37):
I want to meet ChesterBennington because Linkin Park
is my second favorite band on inthe green room downstairs.
I wanted to meet chesterbennington because, like lincoln
park is my second favorite band.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
So I was like, and he was hooked it up and they never
came because lincoln parkstarted touring and chester, I
remember, I remember those showsand I was um, I grew up like
liking stp as well and thenobviously I like Linkin Park, so
to have like the combo of thetwo was like oh my god, this was

(56:03):
gonna be so cool and I if I'mnot mistaken those shows
canceled pretty late in the game.
Like, yes, I mean we weredefinitely up and on sale for a
while and I think, right out ofthe gate, we had scheduled two
shows.
Um and I we may have even had athird in our back pocket, I
can't remember but um, that justI mean to have Chester

(56:24):
Bennington perform in a placethe size of the Republic.
Just ridiculous, um, truly.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
I was, I was, I have an autographed uh.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
Lincoln park autograph Lincoln park guitar
hanging on the wall outside myoffice with chester's autograph
on it, um I'm gonna have to getthat from you.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
But yeah, that's like thanks to iheart radio kind of
thing that wasn't anything thatthat I did, but um it is cool to
look at that and think, wow,man, that's, that was chester.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
But yeah, I totally forgot about the those shows at
the republic.
That just would have beeninsane.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
It would have been and I don't know.
Like, hey, this was my thing.
Ryan Sean was our resident DJback in the day and every single
Artist Groove Network event andonly me and him probably
realized it because I told himto do it.
But the last song of everynight was Plush from Stone

(57:20):
Temple and that's one of myfavorite all time songs ever.
And to hear, to be able to seechester bennington sing that
song live, I might have just, Imight have just earned in my
pants like that would have beenit.
I would have been done I.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
I am surprised that, ronnie, let you play that song
every night.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
He was all fucked up by that time, so he didn't even.
He probably didn't even know.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
No, not Ronnie, get out of here.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
He wouldn't even know that it was happening.
But every single night and youcan ask Ryan, sean plush, that
was our, that was our endingsong, every single night.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
I love it.
You know, that's another thing.
That's the old school promoters.
We could drink all like thiswhole new generation.
We could drink, all those kidsunder the table I think we still
can guarantee easily.
There was a time when I was likedrinking a bottle a night by

(58:16):
myself and that was.
I mean, that wasn't anythingspecial, that that was just the
norm.
Yeah, and yeah, that was.
You know we have.
I can't believe we've gone thislong without talking about
Blaze.
But Blaze and I did partiestogether after Matty Boy and I
did when Matty Boy retiredbecause he was over it, yeah,
and he was big time with BAMP atthat point.

(58:37):
But Blaze could drink morezecould drink more than I think,
more than anyone else I couldknow, which is really saying
something.
And he would would always juststay like this, like Japanese
motherfucker, would just be solike I'm just going to be Asian
the whole time and just beJapanese and I would be like you

(58:58):
know, have my shirt off, doingthe worm on the floor and
jumping up on the bar andthrowing napkins and it's like
Blaze has drank just as much asme and he looks like how he did,
you know when the night started.
Yeah, he was.
He was just like even Steven,all the time yeah, I always
appreciate that about him.
It's just like you know that ittakes a that's, that's a that's

(59:22):
a special skill set yeah,definitely, definitely one.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
I didn't have, but I never took my shirt off and did
the worm more.
I'm vomiting in the bathroom.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
That would be my yeah I never vomit till much later.
I wish I would vomit sooneryeah, those are good times.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
I um to get back to the lincoln park thing.
I got to see them live at leastonce in my life with chester
and oh, with chester.
I'm actually going in Septemberto watch them play it in
Sacramento in September,backtown With a girl.

(01:00:05):
But we were at Hard Rock andLinkin Park played.
It was the day before the VMAsand cool story, which Hard Rock,
hard Rock in Vegas.
They played in the parking lot.
I still have the pick and Ihave, uh, the ticket stuff.
But I have something super cool,the um and like this is like

(01:00:29):
thad fanboy now.
So I made my way to the frontit was me and mark and I made my
way to the front and at the endof the concert they, the
drummers, throw out thedrumstick right, and we went to
catch it and it hit our hand andit fell on the other side of
the barrier and I was tellingthe security hey, pass the

(01:00:53):
drumstick.
And he's like no, and he tookthe drumstick and he put it
right underneath the stage andI'm thinking like fuck, just
give us the drumstick.
And he put it like rightunderneath the the stage and I'm
thinking like fuck, just giveus the drumstick man like you're
not even a fan, or he just, hejust wouldn't.
And mike for him to do that yeahhe wanted to be a dick yeah,

(01:01:14):
and at the end of the concertthe band jumped down and was
shaking everybody's hand andmike shinoda came up to us and I
shook his hand and we're like,hey, can you get us the
drumstick?
So mike shinoda crawled underthe stage, got the drumstick and
gave it to me I have it righthere.
I'll show you lincoln parkdrumstick man and nice it.

(01:01:44):
It still has like the dings fromthe, the rim shots and all that
.
But this was handed to me frommike shinoda after he crawled
under the stage to get it for me, so that's a cool story.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
For me it's like the biggest deal ever, but yeah you
know that um joe hon.
Actually he has a place inhawaii yeah, I know exactly
where he lives.
He lives next to one of ourclose friends okay, I was gonna
say, I'm not gonna say where helives.
I met him there.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
actually he was working out and our friend
brought me in there and I waslike, oh my god, like yeah, it
was pretty cool, he is supercool.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Yeah, he's super nice .
I I've I've hung out with him afew times.
He's good friends with uh DDKand I know Daniel a little bit.
So, um, I've hung out with hima couple of times and I mean,
you would never in a millionyears know that he's like in
Lincoln park.
He could not be more low key.
Oh yeah, I mean he just he ishappy to blend into the

(01:02:49):
background and to just justchill and be like it's crazy.
Um, just, I mean the fact thathe's in Lincoln park and and how
he acts is just it's, it'sfunny to me in the best possible
way, like I mean he's just socool and so down to earth and
just really really nice.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
You know, me and our friend that lives in the same
building as him tried to get himto DJ our one of our events
because his birthday and mybirthday, our friend's birthday
and my birthday is pretty muchwithin three or four days and
that was our goal and he wasdown to do it.
But he had a prior engagementin the mainland and I was like

(01:03:33):
if Johan DJ'd my birthday party,that would have been next level
fucking props.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
What do you think of their new music?

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
I oh, it's kind of rough.
I I have my opinion is I likeit.
I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
It's not a guy, because that guy would be
scrutinized yeah, it was smartfor them to go the other way
completely.
So, no one, you couldn'tcompare it right.
It's apples and oranges.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
I, I like yeah, I like a few songs.
I.
I like that you can catch thatlincoln park feel and I think
the girl does a great job and Iwant to, I want to see her um
live.
I'm not gonna lie.
When they announced it I wasdriving to the gym and they came
out with a it was a um, ontheir website it was.

(01:04:26):
They did a concert and I Ipulled over and I watched it and
I to hear them play likecertain songs again as lincoln
park like kind of kind of got mein the fields.
You know what I mean and andI'm not going to say I cried,

(01:04:46):
but I did fucking feel it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
They're supposedly they're recording new music
again already.
Even though their new albumjust came out, like six months
ago, they're already recordingnew music.
They didn't say when it's goingto be coming out, but they're
going to have a new album outsooner rather than later.
I would say within the nextyear yeah, I think it's pretty
incredible that's actually agood sign.
That means that that they're,you know, behind the scenes.

(01:05:14):
They're gelling right and theyhave good chemistry playing on
the road and something you know,new music and new like the
creative juices got goingperforming on the road together.
So I think this album wouldprobably be a better
representation of the of thepotential of the new lincoln
park as opposed to the firstalbum yeah, and they don't have

(01:05:36):
to be that band.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
They can evolve into what it is now and I appreciate
that and I'm excited to see them.
I do like that.
They do play the older songstoo and I, I, yeah.
I mean it is what it is like ifyou want to see lincoln park,
this is lincoln park and there'sno way you can bring that back,
but you can move forward withit and I didn't know they were

(01:06:01):
making new.
But that also tells me thatit's connecting with the fans
and for me, linkin Park andMetallica connected dots in my
life and moments and helped methrough stuff and made me
stronger because of the wordsand the lyrics that I'm

(01:06:22):
connected to them.
And it's like when you see thispodcast, the beginning of my
intro, hopper boy remix, nothingelse matters, and that's from
metallica, which is one of myall-time favorite songs and um,
I know you're tripping boy yeah,yeah, dj hoppa boy.
But yeah, I think music doessomething to you in that time of

(01:06:48):
life that you can draw andremember.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
So of course I'm happy that's why people are so
connected to the music of theiryouth, right?
Because that's, like you know,the most formative years in your
life.
Yeah, are those years, andwhatever music you were
listening to at that time isgoing to have the biggest impact
on you.

(01:07:11):
When the police reunion tourcame, when they had broken up
and then they got back togetherafter how many years, I flew to
Seattle and actually G-Spot waswith me.
G-spot flew up with me too.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Flew to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
Seattle, saw them in Seattle and I got, I got
emotional both nights Like I hada lump in my throat, tears in
my eyes both nights.
And then they came to the arenaand they did three nights at
the arena and I went, I went andthis was at the other end of
the tour, Um, so this was like ayear later or whatever.
Um, I went to all three nightsand got emotional again and it's

(01:07:47):
just like it's not just youknow whoever the band is, or the
music, or the songs, it's notjust that, it's just that's
reconnecting to that time inyour life and there's such a
nostalgia factor to that andthat's something that's so
powerful about music that it'sreally hard to um replicate with
any other um like artistic form, I think yeah, and I feel it

(01:08:15):
too.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
I we went to guns and roses at aloha stadium and at
Aloha Stadium, and when we werekids yeah, when we were kids my
sister and I you know Heidi, she, um, she and I love Guns N'
Roses and she.
We were in different places,but one of my favorite songs is
Patience from Guns N' Roses, andwhen that song came, on.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
You like all the slow jams.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Yeah, you like all the the ballads because I could
play guitar, so I like that.
Yeah, oh, metallica, myall-time favorite song is
creeping death like that's my.
I'll hear that and lose my shit.
Yeah, but, um, when patiencecame on, my sister facetimed me
while they're playing live,where both of us are in the

(01:09:00):
stadium and fuck, that was thatwas one of the coolest moments.
Like that was super cool for me.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
And yeah, his music does that and yeah it's cool to
hear Enjoy Guns N' Roses livewhile you can.
Cause Axl does not look right.

Speaker 2 (01:09:17):
He does not, bro, he's, he's got the situations
going on here.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
I don't know he has so much work done.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
He's like a.
He's a's got the situationsgoing on here.
I don't know, bro, he, he hasso much work done.
He's like a, he's a, he camebig slash looks the same yeah
duff looks cool, like yeah, butI met duff.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
I met duff, um, when I used to work at a strip club
called, uh, pure platinum.
He came in.
In hindsight I should have beena lot more like, oh my god, um,
but I but I wasn't for somereason.
But in hindsight it's like, wow, you know, that was from guns
and roses and that was like theywere in their peak time oh yeah

(01:09:58):
, this was like early 90s oh,they lose your illusion just
came out kind of, or yeah, musthave, and I.
I guess they were here for I atthat time.
I was working all the time, Iwasn't really going to shows,
but they must have been here forshows and again, he was super
nice that's super cool.

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
I'm um, my daughter has a volleyball tournament next
month in vegas and motleyfucking crew has a residency
that I'm gonna go see.
That's gonna be like the fifthtime I'm gonna see motley crew,
but I got it speaking of leadsingers that, uh, they oh yeah,
vince, neal, he needs, he needsjesus or something he needs.

(01:10:37):
I don't know.
I say no to seconds bro thatguy is.

Speaker 1 (01:10:43):
I actually really like their album with that other
singer.
I can't remember his name, Ithink it was the guy from the
screaming trees, um, and it wasso awesome to hear motley crew
with like a singer who couldactually really sing yeah but um
, the last time I saw, wheneverthe last time motley played the
arena, I think I went- I wasthere, yeah, and it's like it's

(01:11:07):
carnivores oh.
Mick, mick, mick's Mars back orMick Mars back is all fucked up,
right.
So he's just kind of likeleaning up against whatever he
was leaning up against, cause hecan barely move.
Vince sounded like shit, butNikki six and Tommy were just
crushing it.
Yeah, um, and it's just uh.

(01:11:27):
I mean, you know mick mars hasactual real health problems,
right with this he's.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
He's not touring with him anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
They got a yeah but um, and I know they're all
pissed off at each other now,but it's just like vince was
like vince.
There's no excuse for vince tosound that shitty like he just
needs to take care of himselfand it's like dude.
All you need to do is stayquasi healthy, Like that's
pretty much his only job and hecan't do it.
It sucks.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
Yeah, but yeah, I'm going to be there, I will see
that.
Yeah, guns N' Roses, I meanMotley Crue, was a fun band.

Speaker 1 (01:11:59):
What's your favorite Motley song?

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
I don't even want to tell you, because it's going to
be the same.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
Is it Home Sweet Home ?
Please don't tell me it's HomeSweet Home.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
I honestly like Kickstart my Heart because what
I used to train that got megoing.
What is it, dr?
Feel Good is pretty good.
I like Girls um girls, girls,girls, wild side.

(01:12:28):
Live wire is one of myfavorites.
I would say live wire um yeah,if they're girls don't go away
mad that that might be just goaway.
Yeah, just go away.
Yeah, that was uh.
Yeah, see, that music was fun.
I love all that shit.
Plus, like you said, howsongwriters and all that.

(01:12:50):
One thing I loved about rock isthey play their own instruments
and they write their own music.
I remember Kid Rock was beinginterviewed one time and they
were talking about how MTV hadthat was had that show making
the band, and he said, fuck allthat, what I, what I'm used to,
is making the band.
That happens in your garagewith a fucking case of beer, and

(01:13:12):
that that's what I, why I loverock, you know, I mean yeah, and
that's you know to.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
to your point about the making the band, that gets
it back to like everyone's usingthe same producers and the same
songwriters, so it all soundsthe same.
And you know, if you're, ifyou're, a band, you know
everyone is writing the music totheir own instrument, right,
and so that that's no other bandin the world is going to sound
like your band.

(01:13:41):
Because of that, no other bandin the world is going to sound
like your band because of that,right, like the signature sound
that bands have, that that youcan't really replicate, um, in
these other types of music.
But, um, yeah, I don't know,but it's, it's a shame that that
music as a whole is sort of youknow, popularity wise, it's

(01:14:02):
just it's it.
It doesn't sell a ton oftickets like it used to.
You know, popularity wise, it'sjust it's it.
It doesn't sell a ton oftickets like it used to.
You know, lollapalooza justthis morning announced um,
announced their full lineup andfor the first time ever, for the
first time ever, lollapalooza,which was founded by Perry
Farrell of Jane's, Addiction andhe started that festival

(01:14:23):
because bands like jane'saddiction didn't have their own
festival, so it was the.
It was the first big alternativefestival.
For the first time ever, lalapalooza doesn't have a rock
headliner um, in this year'slineup.
Really, the only one of themain bands is corn um, and it's
just's just.
It's.
It's really telling thatLollapalooza doesn't even have a

(01:14:46):
lot of alternative acts.
Coachella used to have a lotmore alternative and especially
Indie acts and you know all thatstyle of music is just.
You know it's.
It's not what the cool kids arelistening to anymore.
In a way, it's cool becauseit's like now, you know, not
everyone likes to like what'ssuper popular, right?
So I feel like if you are atrue rock fan, it's OK that this

(01:15:10):
isn't like the big, massivething, yeah, but on the downside
, it like it doesn't get therespect and love that it
deserves as a genre genre.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
Unfortunately, speaking of james addiction, I
seen like a couple months agoperry farrell just lost it at a
show.

Speaker 1 (01:15:29):
It hit, uh, dave navarro, yeah, punched him in
the face.
Yeah, I went on and found onyoutube, um, and this tells you
like I guess behind the scenes,like because this is be a really
dick thing for a sound tech todo, but but the sound tech did
it, which tells you how much theband and how much the the crew
behind the scenes don't likePerry Farrell.

(01:15:50):
Is the sound tech released the,the raw audio from the board,
where you could hear exactlywhat Perry and Dave were saying
to each other what Perry andDave were saying to each other
right, not the, not the viralvideo that went out, because
that's the mix of all, all ofthe different channels and and

(01:16:10):
plus the audience.
This was just the recording ofthe two of them and you could
really hear how fucked up Perrywas and how just totally
confused and taken aback Davewas.
Like I've never seen or heardof uh, you know, a lead singer
punching their guitarist.
Yeah, I mean, that's somethinglike punk rock bands would do,
but that's on purpose, becausethat's part of what being punk

(01:16:31):
rock is.
Yeah but, this was somethingelse and it was again like he
needs help, like he needs oh,yeah, he needs a boy.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
Yeah, yeah, he needs jesus.
Well, shoots flash.
We've been going for over anhour and and if we go down this
road up, this podcast is gonnabe 19 hours long, because I um,
I'm enjoying this, but before Iwe jump off, I wanted to um
bring this up because it's veryimportant.

(01:17:01):
I know you're keeping um superc-dubs legacy alive and I see
your post and reading some ofthe stuff just makes me remember
how much of an awesome personshe was and I feel like people
need to know it and remember it,and I'm glad you're doing that

(01:17:22):
on your social media and and Ialways do like a little bit of
research when I'm doing thesethings and those ones with super
c-dub um stuck out to me themost and I just wanted you to to
be able to share a little bitabout her, because it fucking
matters, bro.
She, she was such an awesomeperson.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Yeah, and, and to be clear, I'm I'm not, I'm not
keeping her memory alive becauseshe touched so many people.
Um, everybody is keeping hermemory alive because, uh, she
was just that awesome and youknow a lot.
Anyone is to keep the AlohaCancer Project going, the

(01:18:25):
foundation that Super CW startedwith Daniel Daniel Gray, who's
also passed away from cancer.
He was, you know, owner of Sohoand they were great friends and
actually met Daniel throughKrista, um, but you know,

(01:18:48):
krista's legacy I I thinkultimately is just that of
kindness and of just being likeoptimistic, and I mean talk
about the ultimate.
You know, always look at theglass half full person.
Um, and she really did.
You know, people want, peoplewant to be around people like
that right, like she was sopositive all the time and just

(01:19:09):
so happy all the time and shejust had a really great ability.
You could be the shittiestperson, but she could find the
one good thing about you andthen, you know, talk about that
one good thing about a shittyperson and sing that from the
rooftops and really she just didsuch a good job of finding the

(01:19:31):
best in everybody and lettingeveryone else know about what
those best qualities were abouteverybody and it's just.
You know there's never reallybeen anybody else like that and
that I've been around and youknow I would love to meet more
people like that.
Having people like that in yourlife is it's just so good for

(01:19:53):
you, it's so healthy to bearound people that are that
positive and that uplift,uplifting all the time.
I have her with me every day.
I've got I don't know if youcan see it my super CW hat.
She used to come into my officeat iHeartRadio all the time and

(01:20:13):
we would have coffee togetherbecause she did a show here for
a weekly show and when she wouldcome in and record, she brought
this coffee cup so that shecould just we'd always have a
couple coffees together andeventually she's like I'm just
gonna like leave this coffee cuphere, you know, be for you, and
I'm just gonna leave in youroffice.
She would like leave me post-itnotes in my office all the time

(01:20:34):
, even when I wasn't around.
But that's super cool save thisone thing of hers that I have in
my office.
I don't know if you can seethat it says you're the shit.
That's awesome Like you know,this just reminds me of Krista
so much.
She used to have this up at herdesk and then at her house
you're the shit that's.
That's like Krista's.

(01:20:55):
You know, that's what Kristathought about everyone.
She thought everyone was theshit.
She thought everyone wasawesome and again, that's why so
many people loved her.
Like who doesn't want to bearound, someone who just thinks
you're awesome.
Even even when you go and theyknow you're not, she's just
going to be like you know what.
Let's just focus on the awesomepart of you and I think those

(01:21:18):
are just great life lessons thatthat anybody would be, you know
, would be smart for anyone totake a little bit of that with
them.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
Definitely.
And one thing I loved about heris anytime you ran into her and
I wasn't as close, I just knewher through the industry, but
anytime I talked to her she wasengaged with me fully for that
moment and that conversation itwasn't like like she actually

(01:21:48):
cared and she actually wasinterested in in that
conversation and and she always,like you said, you made you
feel good.
It's like aloha is uh,infectious and she had that
infection everything she touched.

Speaker 1 (01:22:02):
And yeah, I I definitely didn't want to end
this without bringing her up,because if I know how close you
were and it matters, brah,people need to know and yeah,
and yeah, um, she had a book orshe had a share doc called the
cancer plan of attack that sheshared with anyone that wanted
to know about cancer and about,not, how they could go about it.

(01:22:26):
But she's like, hey, this iswhat worked for me.
These are questions that Ineeded to get answered.
These are questions that anyoneis going to have, whether you
have cancer or know someoneclose with cancer and you know,
even when she was alive, theshare doc like had over.
You know well over 10,000people were using the doc Um and
Becker is actually taking hercancer plan of attack and making

(01:22:50):
it into a book and getting itpublished.
Um, pbs just did a um did aspecial where they they re-aired
her.
The documentary that we did onher, um, that you can go to the
PBS website and see and youcould obviously just go and find
it on YouTubeaired.
The documentary that we did onher that you can go to the PBS
website and see and you couldobviously just go and find it on
YouTube.
But the documentary that GeraldElmore ended up finishing with

(01:23:14):
Nella Media Group did fantasticwork.
If anyone wants to learn more,not just about Krista, but
really just I.
I mean she was justinspirational on how to live
life, you know yeah, that'ssuper cool.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
My uh friend's brother and his wife ended up uh
taking her dog, so they haveher dog.
I don't I don't know how that'sgoing, but I know they had he
passed away boo oh yeah I got atext um that long ago, within
the last year or so.

Speaker 1 (01:23:46):
It's like oh, just wanted to let you know that he
passed away.
I was like holy shit, that dogwas still alive.
Yeah, it's like oh.

Speaker 2 (01:23:53):
Yeah right, Exactly Right on flash.

Speaker 1 (01:24:02):
Yeah, man, it was a lot of fun.
Happy to do this anytime.

Speaker 2 (01:24:05):
Yeah, I'm going to definitely call you on it.
And now you know I'm a rock fan, so if you're at a show and you
see Curry having this thing,better fucking ring bro.
But, yeah, I appreciate you and,like I said, I've been in this
nightlife industry and you'reone of the gems that I met and

(01:24:28):
so, like you always had thatsame good vibe and aloha and
smiles and shots, like when wewent to Becky Mitz's thing.
They're like where's Flash?
And I'm like he's at thefucking bar, I guarantee it.
And like we're going there.
And then my I'm like he's atthe fucking bar, I guarantee it,
and like we're going there.
And then my daughter was likeflash from the radio.
I go, yeah, you want to meethim.

(01:24:49):
She goes, yeah, that's why Ibrought her, because she, she
wanted to put the face to thevoice, because I listened to
star and she knew exactly whoyou are.
And she's like you're for realhis friend, like you guys are
for real friends.
I'm like, yes, you'd besurprised of the shit we've done
.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
And for her.
It was pretty cool.
Go tell your daughtereverything we've done, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
But I appreciate you.
Flash, come on.
Yeah, you're definitelysomebody I looked up to and was
stoked to call friend in thiscrazy life we've lived and, um
it, you do meet a lot of greatpeople in in this crazy industry
and like real friends and um, Iappreciate you from coming on

(01:25:32):
this show and I appreciate youbeing able to have a a long
conversation that'suninterrupted and brad it's the
most sober I've ever beentalking to you, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Right on man Well.

Speaker 2 (01:25:51):
social media where can people find you?

Speaker 1 (01:25:55):
At flashy 808 on everything.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
Right on, all right.
And for us, as always, you canfind us on above the bridge
podcast, on instagram, ouryoutube channel above the bridge
podcast.
Our website is atbpodcom and mypersonal instagram is
thaddydaddyhi.
All right, well, shock us, forthe cameras we're out.

(01:26:21):
Shout out to the artist networkaloha yeah, agn, thank you.