July 21, 2025 • 34 mins
'The Bear' has Dave wondering about the true cost of being so busy all the time. Has corporate exploitation robbed us of our free time? Dave talks business sense, Ticketmaster monopoly, the scam of streaming services, Turnstile, and draws parallels between the decline of comic books and vinyl records.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Welcome back to Direct Edition, a podcast about nothing and
everything. I'm your host, Dave.
Before we get started, for a little bit of context of what
I'm going to talk about today, I'm going to play this clip from
episode 9 of Season 4 from The Bear.
Trust me, there's no spoilers involved in this clip.
It just kind of want to illustrate a point, so here it
is. It's about 15 seconds.
(00:33):
You know, I'm just thinking, literally just now just
thinking. Tell me.
The businesses in the world thatgive the most amount of joy try
to anyway, right? Unfortunately they're all just
shitty ass businesses, right? Restaurants.
Movies. The theater.
When's the last time you saw a play, huh?
(00:54):
Well to be fair, the last time Isaw anything it it looked like
the inside of a restaurant. My point exactly, Isn't it no
time for enjoyment? Something about that really hit
me as I was watching this season, which I really love.
This season there was a lot of emotional growth in the
characters, but that's not what I want to talk about.
It's something that Oliver Plattsays right there at the end to,
(01:17):
you know, there's there's no time for enjoyment anymore.
And last week I talked about that.
I talked about enjoying things, trying things, specifically food
is one of the things I talked about.
But this hit home because it wasillustrating something that I
hadn't really thought about. And they say, you know, he says
(01:38):
that you think about all the businesses that bring people
enjoyment and they're all shit businesses.
And I don't. He didn't mean it like it's a
bad business to own. But the business model in 2025
doesn't leave any room for making money or for enjoyment.
On the other side, because I want to take movies.
(02:00):
We can talk about movies or comics.
We can talk about restaurants. I have never really worked in
the restaurant industry. I worked in the service
industry. I worked in a cafeteria at an
amusement park on Long Island. I worked at a Subway restaurant.
And that, I think, was the extent of my food service
industry. But I have got like about two
years of it. But like for, for example, for
(02:22):
movies, you know, we're getting bombarded with movies, you know,
starting at the summer movie tentpole thing, right?
It used to start, I want to say it started in June, but really
kind of crescendo it on July 4th.
And now it starts in, in, in, you know, sometimes in some
cases it's like end of April, but very early May.
(02:45):
And, and you know, I remember when X-Men came out and like
life was a little bit simpler. We got our trailers and you
know, we, we, we went to see themovie.
But then these days because of the Internet, obviously, but
also because like we're in getting so much information
about these movies. It almost feels like you already
(03:10):
know you want to see the movie and you feel like you've seen it
by the time it came out or you're like, oh, this movie's
going to be terrible because there's just like so much coming
at you at once. But the movie industry changed
so much and the way they releasethings and the money they put
into marketing and the way they market them.
And, and so movies almost destined to fail these days
(03:31):
unless everybody goes and see it, sees it.
So, you know, the, the, the theater industry, right?
Like the ticket prices just keepgoing up and up and up and it
keeps people away from the movies.
But that's because of the business model of the movies and
streaming and home viewing has shifted that people are just
happier to wait to see it at home, which chips away at what
(03:55):
the movie going experience really is, is seeing it in a
theater with a whole bunch of people and reacting at once and
feeling that movie at once or enjoying it.
Or I mean, I don't think I've ever really been in a packed
movie theater where people were visibly not enjoying themselves.
Like, I think you're caught up in the moment and sure, there's
some time for reflection. But the point of what he was
(04:17):
saying is like, people work so hard on every front that own
these businesses that run these businesses that are part of
these businesses that are part of these industries that there's
no time to enjoy anything anymore.
Like, you know, and, and So whatreally hit me about this is
(04:37):
there's a piece of, of what I dotoo, where I'm lucky that I can
enjoy what I do for a living because I do what I love, but it
leaves me with no time. It leaves me with no time to do
anything else that I enjoy. And that's kind of what, what's
(04:58):
her name? IO Edebiri.
I think that's how you say your name says.
It's like, you know, he's like, when's the last time you went
and saw a place? She's like, I don't remember the
last time I did anything. And that wasn't in the inside of
a kitchen because she's working so hard.
She's working 80 hours a week. And obviously it's a fictional
TV show, but it's based off a very real industry in a very
real lifestyle of being part of a small business that you're
(05:21):
working so hard to make successful that you have no time
to do anything else. And it, it, it, I think that's
one of the reasons too, that we're faced with declining, you
know, let's just say sales, for example, of, of music and, you
know, live shows and movie theaters and restaurants closing
(05:44):
is because everybody's kind of caught in this rat race in the,
in the world of like a business that brings enjoyment.
I'm not talking about corporations.
Like you have a corporate job. And look, I work corporate for a
long time too, but you have a corporate job, like you leave,
things still go like, you know, that that that ball keeps
(06:05):
rolling. You come back in and do your
job. And you know, there's a lot of
people that work way too much attheir corporate job.
I have a couple of friends that are like that, but that thing is
going to sink or swim without you.
If they replace you, then replace you like, it's a
different story when you're a, you're in a band, you know, like
(06:28):
the lead singer leaves and maybeif it's a big band, it keeps
going and maybe it's lucky enough to get a singer that
works. But if you're a small band,
that's the end of it. And, and so, I mean, it's
capitalism, right? It's, it's, it's capitalism that
destroys everything. Because if you have a successful
(06:51):
business, let's say a restaurantand everybody's, you know,
operating at full capacity, 100%things are are going great, but
everybody still has to get paid.And then all of a sudden the
landlord decides to raise its rent, their your rent.
And all of a sudden the city says, well, this is not zoned
(07:15):
for their, you know, whatever itis, it's just, it feels like
that point illustrated so much of what we've seen in the last
15 years and the things that we love and the people that bring
them for enjoyment. You know, I, I often think about
(07:38):
some of my musician friends in the past who stopped going to
live shows because it's just like, I can't, I don't have time
and I don't enjoy it because if that's the only thing I'm doing
with my free time, then it's gotto be the best show I've ever
been to, you know, or, or whatever.
So it just got me thinking in general about how hard we work
these days as people, what whatever it is we're doing.
(08:00):
And you know, I'm not like I'm not trying to take away from the
40 hour workweek people who, youknow, have a salary or an hourly
job. Like you guys and gals work so
fucking hard. I mean, I have friends that are
teachers and they sure as hell don't make anywhere near what
they should be making. And they barely even make enough
to live a comfortable life. And I come from, you know,
(08:23):
family with one parent that was a teacher, but it was, you know,
my mom retired in 2004. Like she retired before things
got really bad in the education system.
They were starting to decline. But you know, they've gotten so
much worse. But, you know, I have a friend,
somebody that I've, I've been friendly with him and say he's
like a close friend, but a friend that owns a coffee shop,
(08:45):
a very successful coffee shop in, in Seattle called Porch
Light Coffee and Records. And it's a coffee and record
shop. It's kind of the dream.
And Zach started 16 years ago and I met him, I think it was
like the 6th birthday or 5th birthday of the, of the, of the
coffee shop that they celebratedthe year, the summer, my first
summer in Seattle. And you know, he had I think 2
(09:08):
employees, maybe 3 at one point.But it's like he worked so hard
on on that and keeping that and building that up.
But also he's a designer and he would, he does freelance design
work and he's very successful inthat and the record shop and,
you know, it's all this stuff, but it's, it's like what he
brings so much enjoyment to so many people's lives in Seattle.
(09:32):
But it's like, you know, it tookhim a long time before he could
step away and take vacations andstuff because he's also a
photographer. So he would document that stuff.
And you just, it's just like a no win situation these days.
If you want to open up a small business that employs people, is
successful, brings joy to people, but also like gives you
(09:54):
time to enjoy things yourself. And I, I feel like a, maybe I've
gotten away from the point a little bit and maybe it's just,
it's just going to be me doing that today.
But you know, I, I just think about all the great restaurants
that I really grew to love aftermoving to Seattle, that most of
them don't exist anymore. And, you know, the comic stores
(10:16):
that we all enjoyed as kids thataren't around anymore.
Now, obviously that's part of, you know, the times that became
what the speculator boom was andyou know, the gluttonous 90s
that led to the collapse, but still comic stores started
closing again. And and then obviously COVID hit
and it's, you know, if you couldn't pivot, you weren't
(10:38):
going to survive. And, and you know, those stores
that did pivot really got to be super successful.
But even successful businesses fell these days, small
businesses because there's just so much crushing weight on top
of you. And the bearer obviously
illustrates that so much. Like I said, it's fiction, but
it definitely reflects an industry that is not fiction.
(11:02):
And you know, do do you take time to enjoy things if you work
60 hours a week doing your thing?
I mean, like I said, I'm fortunate enough to really enjoy
what I do to the molecular levelof like, oh cool, I get to, you
know, here we go. I'll give you a perfect example.
(11:23):
This past weekend I purchased a piece of a comic collection,
which actually you all the stuffthat's kind of on the back wall
here is from that collection. And it was via friend who bought
it. He paid a lot for it and he
needed to recoup some of his money.
But, you know, it entailed me taking my Saturday driving 3
hours out to the middle of Washington, spending about 6
(11:45):
hours there, driving 3 hours back, and then yesterday
spending another couple hours going through it and begging and
boarding it and like, assessing condition.
But at that same time, I'm sitting here with a podcast on
that I really like, you know, background noise, looking
through comics, some of them that I've never seen before,
discovering things inside comics, like a lot of
(12:07):
underground Robert Crumb stuff. And I found a Bernie Writes in
thing that was illustrated undera different pen name.
And so at the same time, I'm learning and I'm enjoying, but
it's still work and it's still my weekend and it's still
something that I do. I probably work every day of the
week. And I know I need to take time
(12:28):
to do other things. But my justification behind it
is really thinking about how I spent my time from let's say 20
to the age of about 35 fucking off and doing what I wanted,
being irresponsible with money and enjoying it.
You know, I spent a portion of my life going to wrestling the
(12:53):
paper views around the country, you know, couple of summer
slams, couple of Wrestlemanias, like on my own dime and and just
kind of like throwing away my responsibility to anything else
or building any type of nest egg, which is fine because I'm
still here and I'm still good. But also, you know, I, I think
about all the concerts that I went to and like, I wouldn't
trade that for anything. You know, I spoke about it on
(13:16):
this podcast before. I've seen Pearl Jam 40 times.
I've seen 9 Inch nails definitely over 20 times and
handful of other bands that I could say I've seen into the
multiple digits. And, and that's great, but
being, you know, self-employed at the age of 45, running a
(13:36):
business that depends on me and me only, there's nobody else
that's going to do this. I think it's OK for me to hunker
down and just say this is my life, like my job is my life and
I'm not. I can step away this week.
As of tonight, I have to go to the airport at 2:00 in the
(13:57):
morning to pick my oldest friendup whose flight got very
delayed. And I'm going to spend 4 days
hanging, 4 1/2 days hanging out with him.
And I'm not doing any work this week.
I've just have to upload a videoand upload this podcast and
that's really it. And it's nice to be able to say
like, hey, I'm I'm allowed to dothat to myself.
(14:19):
You know, tell your boss I'm taking the week off.
Well, I'm looking at him. And that's a piece of freedom
that I mean, if this doesn't last, if I go back and I like
everything crumbles and you know, in two years I have to go
back to the working world. I will think back to these, you
know, years of saying I did it. And, you know, if I go back to
(14:46):
the working world, it means thatI have to use my time off to do
the things I want to do. But right now I get to take the
time off and I don't have to worry about like, oh, I'm not
going to be able to pay my billsbecause the business is running
the way that I've constructed it.
I mean, I am a creature of habit, but there are so many
(15:09):
people out there. I probably hazard 95% of the
people out there of the working class don't have to don't get
that luxury. They don't.
And you know, I have friends that work different jobs in
freelance and they work job to job.
And some of them I actually employ, which is God, that makes
(15:30):
me feel so fulfilled too, to to hire somebody and say, Hey, this
is what I want you to do. Dan, my editor.
And you know, we're still learning each other's nuances,
but I hate you guys are watchingthe podcast.
(15:51):
You see how it looks and how it sounds and it, it, it's, I think
that's really like somebody, somebody in this fucking stupid
ass Internet accused me of beinga capitalist once.
And I'm like, OK, but how are we, you know, how are we going
to say, how are we going to use the word capitalist?
(16:12):
Or, you know, if you're going togeneralize anybody that makes
money doing something a capitalist, sure.
But I, when I think about being a capitalist, I think about
exploitation and I think about how capitalism exploits
everybody from the working classto the consumer.
(16:33):
Do you know, and everything in between.
And the top is what gets all themoney and the bottom gets
absolutely nothing. OK, I exploit myself.
So it really does make me feel good to be able to hire somebody
and employ them and pay them andand you don't do it in a way
(16:55):
that like the person I'm paying is happy and what I'm getting is
happy because that's exactly what a service should be, right?
It shouldn't be what the Internet companies do to us or
stream yard where it's like I pay you because it's the only
choice I have and you fuck me ashard as you can and don't even
don't even give me a like a breath mint in the morning.
(17:20):
Fucking no breath mint, but you don't cook me breakfast in the
morning. OK, CenturyLink, But I think,
you know, I was talking to. Who the hell was I talking to?
I was talking to somebody this weekend about.
I wish we could kind of go back to the days where bartering was
(17:40):
a heavy way to do business with somebody.
Like I'll put this out to anybody in my audience, but if
you're a professional framer, you know, and you do framing of
artwork and you ever want to make a trade for comics for
framing, I'm your guy. I'm your guy.
I, I think it's really crazy with the frame industry.
It's a very much like the eyeglass industry, just anything
(18:02):
specialty. It's very expensive because not
everybody can do it, which I understand, but I also work
behind the scenes on the framingindustry when I work for the
sports memorabilia job and I know what the cost is on that
stuff. And I'm not talking about like
high end museum or gallery frame.
I'm just talking about like yoursimple, you know, double matted,
(18:23):
you know, plexi UV frame. I know how much the cost of that
is. I'm just saying I would do the
barter. But it's, it's interesting that
that that kind of went away, obviously went away a long time
ago. But there are people that do it.
And this person who works with afriend of mine, they do graphics
(18:44):
and science and stuff like that.And he was telling me like he
trades it to local businesses for whatever it is that they do,
if it's something he's interested in.
And that's great. You know, I would do it too.
You know, you've got something, some service or whatever that I
need and you want certain comics, let's do it.
That works out for everybody. And anyway, I got away from what
(19:09):
I was saying about, you know, enjoying and and all this.
This is a weird one. This is one that I'm going to
get meta with this. I'm going to tell you the inside
baseball of this. I'm just recording this because
I knew I wanted to talk, but I wasn't 100% sure where I wanted
to go. And that quote, I saved it on my
(19:30):
computer. And I think there's just so
much, you know, I talked with mybuddy Scott a lot about the
concerts and stuff and, and whatwe used to do and how we used to
go and like COVID, how COVID like really, you know, it's,
it's like every business took advantage of COVID, every single
corporation and mega business took advantage of COVID.
(19:52):
How they saw that, you know, cost of things were going up.
So they just jacked it all the way up.
And when COVID kind of subsided,that floor was the now was what
the ceiling was. And the music industry is so
fucking guilty with that. I mean, I know there's a lot of
stuff going on in the news rightnow about Ticketmaster and Live
Nation. And you know, we've all known
(20:12):
it's monopoly for years and years and years.
And Ticketmaster is the worst. Live Nation is just as bad.
And I guess they're one company now or some shit.
But Pearl Jam fought them. Taylor Swift tried to fight
them, Robert Smith fought them, and actually he was one of the
very few people that was able todo away with the dynamic
pricing. But Liam Finn and Crowded House,
(20:33):
if you listen to my interview with him, they were also able to
push Live Nation to refund all of the people in that New
Zealand tour during COVID for the dynamic pricing.
What we talked about in the, youknow, what me and Scott talk
about, it's just how like we talked about even seeing some of
these bands, you know, 5-6 yearsago, seven years ago, how it'd
(20:57):
be like, oh, 60 bucks for a ticket, you know, it's the tie,
but whatever, I'll go. You know, we didn't really
hesitate. But now those same bands are
doing bigger tours. And by bigger, I mean they're
playing bigger stadiums because the music industry is in a
terrible hole and the touring industry is in a terrible hole
for musicians because they have to give so much money to Live
(21:20):
Nation or Ticketmaster, whatever.
And so they're forced. They're they're I don't know if
they're being forced or if it's just kind of like that's the way
things are going of these bands.They would play, you know, like
hockey arenas, you know, whatever that is 2528 thousand.
And now they're playing stadiumswhich are double.
And generally from my recollection, I didn't go to a
(21:44):
ton of stadium shows, but stadium shows were cheaper.
That's usually how it worked. It's like if you're packing 65
or 55,000 people in a stadium, the ticket prices go are a
little bit lower because everybody's views kind of a
little bit shittier unless you're really close.
And it's it's just not the same experience.
(22:07):
And so a lot of these bands are just playing these shows and
then like tickets are like 200 bucks face value and the dynamic
ticket pricing. And it's just, it just makes me,
it makes me not want to go to shows, not because I don't want
to support the band, but I don'twant to support the machine.
And that's just one of the industries that like everything
went haywire after COVID and it never came back.
(22:29):
And so I think we're a little bit less inclined to go to shows
now. And which means you're not going
to enjoy the things you used to enjoy because you either don't
have the time or you don't have the money because you have to
spend more time making that money to afford to go to the
thing. And, and I just, I don't, I
(22:50):
don't see it ever going back. And unless, you know, something
revolutionary happens and like Isaid with the movie industry, I
think they're pumping out more shit because they're trying to
make more money and they're trying to make more money
because there's no money being made because these movies are
all kind of flopping or they're not making a ton of money.
(23:11):
And so it's just a cycle. It's going to perpetuate itself
until something breaks that cycle.
I stopped collecting records because I saw what I saw in the
comic industry really happened in the record world, the final
world over. You know, kind of like not while
(23:33):
COVID started, but it was like kind of on the peak to the
downturn where I think a lot of these record labels companies,
whatever, saw how many people were just buying records because
they were home and they had money.
And so like, oh, fuck it, let's just pump out more color
variants because these people will collect anything.
And sure, you can blame yourselfif you're the collector for
(23:57):
having obsessive tastes. But the other thing is it's,
it's just they're they're funneling it in.
They're making it like, oh, you need this.
And it's tough. Like taking advantage of
collectors is a very easy thing.We've all been there and with
comics, we've been there with records, we've been there.
It's happening with DVDs and Blurays now because streaming
(24:19):
killed physical media. So all these boutique, all these
boutique DVD or Blu-ray makers are putting out versions of
movies and you know, a lot of them are really cool with extra
stuff that's never been seen before.
But a lot of it's just repackaged shit that you
probably already own. And it's just, once something
(24:42):
becomes a trend or becomes a little bit popular in the
collecting space, it just, it gets exploited eventually by
some or multiple people and it, it makes me pull away.
I try not to exploit my customers.
You know, I, I try to keep my prices low so that nobody feels
(25:06):
like they're paying top dollar. They're always happy to come
back. I'll tell people outright, you
know, if I charge less for the stuff that I sell, you're going
to come back and buy more for me.
That's exactly how it works and that's how it should work.
You are happy with something, you're not spending all your
money on it. You're going to come back and
buy more. And then if you get out of
(25:28):
collecting, that's cool. Like I completely understand and
watch people come and go. I still enjoy doing it.
I still enjoy bringing people books.
I still enjoy reading comics, collecting comics, talking about
them and looking through them and and appreciating the art.
I still enjoy music. Do I buy records anymore?
Not really. That's why you saw the rise of
(25:48):
band camp, because band camp is for the artists.
And during COVID, they started doing these Fridays where they
weren't taking any fees and you could just digitally download an
album from a band and buy it, and the band would get all the
money for it. But then I became a thing where
it's like, well, now they're asking me to double dip.
(26:11):
They want me to buy the vinyl, but if I want to download, I
have to pay for that. And that's where I'm out.
I'm just out. Like I get it, the struggles of
a musician to make ends meet, but you shouldn't ask me to
double dip. If I buy a record, especially
directly from you or a small label, you should be giving me a
(26:33):
download of that. I'm not harming anything by
owning that album digitally and on a fiscal.
But you're telling me that I need to buy both if I want both,
Which is bullshit because that'snever how music worked since I
was a kid. You buy a record, you can put it
on the tape, you buy ACD, you can put it on the tape you buy,
(26:53):
and then we buy ACD. You can RIP it onto your
computer. Did I say CD to tape?
Vinyl to tape, CD to computer. You could probably figure out
some other ways. But then it was when vinyl came
back by the vinyl. Get the digital download.
Now it's by the vinyl. Sometimes that quality is
garbage and you don't get shit. Sometimes you don't even get
(27:15):
liner notes and now it's by the vinyl.
And then stream the album. Also, I'm a big sound quality
audio file guy, not like super. I need the best headphones in my
amp and all that stuff. I'm not like that.
But when you listen to somethingon Spotify it and then you feel
like listen to it on a vinyl or you listen to it on the CD.
(27:38):
Like Spotify sounds like trash when you download even the MP3
on your iPhone in a stereo sounds better than Spotify's
garbage. And it, it's just such a
convoluted mess that everything's turned into and it
leads to less enjoyment. Look, I sound like I'm not
enjoying music anymore. I love music.
(27:59):
I listen to music all the time, all day, probably four or five
hours a day, I'm listening to music.
But I just don't like the way things have gone in that aspect,
you know, even and I never did it because I don't like, I don't
really like reading comics digitally.
I'm not against it. I did it for a while on an iPad.
(28:20):
But even Marvel DCI think they still do the digital download
codes or Marvel did it for yearswhere you peel off the sticker
and you could download the comicand or, you know, read it on
your tablet or whatever. Like that's the way to do it.
I give people to if you give people a secondary way to listen
to something and they don't haveto pay for it, chances are
(28:41):
they're going to come back and spend more money.
It, it, it, it's a kind of a simple thing.
You give somebody some, you give, you give more than what
they're used to getting or you give them something extra and
it's going to stick in your brain and it's going to be like,
yeah, of course I want to go back and buy this or I want to,
you know, patron this business again.
(29:01):
It's the same thing with the restaurant.
You know, if the quality of the food is good, you, you like it,
right? That's your baseline for
enjoying a meal, is to enjoy themeal.
But if the service is great or they're a little extra, like do
something extra, like, you know,they give you some cookies or
they give you a free little dessert taster test, you're
going to go back. I mean, it's so easy.
Like, it's such an easy equation.
(29:23):
I know not everything is as easyas that when it comes to money
and like costs of stuff, but thelittle things add up to more
success. It really does.
You know, it's like with their local comic store.
If if you go to a comic store, everyone stay in your, the store
owner's great. Or he, he's like, here, I'll
(29:46):
give you a great example of something that my LCS owner did.
Damian, there was the week that the new Joe Quesada Black
Panther book came out. I was like, oh, how is it?
He's like, yeah, you know, I, I enjoyed it, whatever we were
talking about, like, yeah, maybeI'll pick it up and trade.
And then he was like, you know what?
We had a couple of damaged copies that I was going to send
back. He's like, I'll just give you 1.
(30:07):
And he gave it to me and I read it and I liked it.
And I'm going to buy issue 2 this week.
It's just those little things. If I can do that with somebody,
you know, throw an extra comic in and they appreciate that,
maybe, maybe they'll think of menext time they want to buy
something as a gift for somebodyelse.
I, I don't know, you know, it's just so, so with the music
(30:28):
industry, if they went back to doing certain things that don't
really lose money and they incentivize people to spend more
money, I don't think the problems would be as prevalent
as they are. Because not for every Taylor
Swift out there, there's 10,000 people struggling to make ends
(30:50):
meet or small, small bands on small labels that have a home.
You know, that's that's one of the things that bugs me out
about this, you know, trying to get certain people on this
podcast. It's like I'm, I am reaching for
some big names in the movie industry, the comic industry.
There's still some names I'd love to have on that I haven't
(31:12):
gotten. But the music industry, it's
like it's so fractured and broken and there's no like not
everybody reads Rolling Stone. Nobody goes like to websites
anymore for music news like theyused to.
Like, I don't, I don't can't tell you the last time I looked
at consequence of Sound ever since they started doing these
crazy pop up ads and Pitchfork and stuff.
Why wouldn't you want to come and talk about your music on a
(31:32):
podcast? Even if it reaches one new
person, that's one person that didn't know your music
yesterday. That's one person that might
stream your music. It's one person that might go
see your show little by little. I mean, it's how the DIY scenes
started. It's how some of these bands got
huge in the, you know, in whatever genre music you want to
(31:53):
point out, you would talk about the punk.
You know, punk was word of mouthfor shows and fan scenes and rap
was mixtapes and and live performances.
You know, like there's so many people that have gotten these
huge careers that started just by talking about their music and
getting it out there. Anywho, the quote at the
(32:14):
beginning was just kind of like needed to.
I, I wanted everybody to hear that, to think about that.
I'll play it again right now andthen we'll get out of here.
But Dano hit it. When's the last time you saw a
play, huh? Well, to be fair, the last time
I saw anything it looked like the inside of a restaurant.
My point exactly is no time for enjoyment.
All right, friends, thank you for listening to me rant about
(32:36):
this. But I think this is a good
companion to last week's episodeabout trying things and you know
how I'm feeling about the industries that support these
things. I think that this space here is
one of these spaces that I wouldlike to be able to bring you
something that maybe you didn't know you, you know, you didn't
(32:58):
know about and you enjoy now. And look, I know not too many
people are going to throw this in the comment section, but 65
episodes into this podcast, I'd love to hear from you, my
listener, One thing that I opened my mouth about that you
didn't know about, you didn't listen to you to read whatever
that you said. Yeah, I'm going to try this.
(33:18):
And you tried it whether you liked it or not.
I like if you told me you listened to Liam Finn's new
album Hyperverse and it wasn't your thing.
Let's let me hear from you because honestly, at the root of
this podcast is I want to be able to introduce my listeners,
my friends, my community into something new.
And I'll give you most recently,I think an album that you
(33:43):
probably have heard about if you're into newer music, but
really, really enjoying the new Turnstile album, which is called
Never Enough. They're a hardcore punk band
that's been around over 10 yearsnow because I saw them live a
couple of times about 8 years ago now.
And yeah, they made this great album called Never Enough and
(34:03):
it's all over the place. I'm hearing it in a lot of
different places. And it's they got a high energy
live show and this album really does set an example with that.
So yeah, check it out if you haven't heard it yet.
I appreciate you for listening to this podcast and supporting
it. If you can rate it on Spotify or
Apple, leave a comment, whateverit is, you can help drop a like
(34:26):
or comment on YouTube, subscribeto it somewhere else.
It would be in the world to me. And we're on the way to almost
1000 subscribers. So there's been another episode
of Direct Edition. Thank you and I'll see you next
week.
Welcome back to Direct Edition, a podcast about nothing and
everything. I'm your host, Dave.
Before we get started, for a little bit of context of what
I'm going to talk about today, I'm going to play this clip from
episode 9 of Season 4 from The Bear.
Trust me, there's no spoilers involved in this clip.
It just kind of want to illustrate a point, so here it
is. It's about 15 seconds.
(00:33):
You know, I'm just thinking, literally just now just
thinking. Tell me.
The businesses in the world thatgive the most amount of joy try
to anyway, right? Unfortunately they're all just
shitty ass businesses, right? Restaurants.
Movies. The theater.
When's the last time you saw a play, huh?
(00:54):
Well to be fair, the last time Isaw anything it it looked like
the inside of a restaurant. My point exactly, Isn't it no
time for enjoyment? Something about that really hit
me as I was watching this season, which I really love.
This season there was a lot of emotional growth in the
characters, but that's not what I want to talk about.
It's something that Oliver Plattsays right there at the end to,
(01:17):
you know, there's there's no time for enjoyment anymore.
And last week I talked about that.
I talked about enjoying things, trying things, specifically food
is one of the things I talked about.
But this hit home because it wasillustrating something that I
hadn't really thought about. And they say, you know, he says
(01:38):
that you think about all the businesses that bring people
enjoyment and they're all shit businesses.
And I don't. He didn't mean it like it's a
bad business to own. But the business model in 2025
doesn't leave any room for making money or for enjoyment.
On the other side, because I want to take movies.
(02:00):
We can talk about movies or comics.
We can talk about restaurants. I have never really worked in
the restaurant industry. I worked in the service
industry. I worked in a cafeteria at an
amusement park on Long Island. I worked at a Subway restaurant.
And that, I think, was the extent of my food service
industry. But I have got like about two
years of it. But like for, for example, for
(02:22):
movies, you know, we're getting bombarded with movies, you know,
starting at the summer movie tentpole thing, right?
It used to start, I want to say it started in June, but really
kind of crescendo it on July 4th.
And now it starts in, in, in, you know, sometimes in some
cases it's like end of April, but very early May.
(02:45):
And, and you know, I remember when X-Men came out and like
life was a little bit simpler. We got our trailers and you
know, we, we, we went to see themovie.
But then these days because of the Internet, obviously, but
also because like we're in getting so much information
about these movies. It almost feels like you already
(03:10):
know you want to see the movie and you feel like you've seen it
by the time it came out or you're like, oh, this movie's
going to be terrible because there's just like so much coming
at you at once. But the movie industry changed
so much and the way they releasethings and the money they put
into marketing and the way they market them.
And, and so movies almost destined to fail these days
(03:31):
unless everybody goes and see it, sees it.
So, you know, the, the, the theater industry, right?
Like the ticket prices just keepgoing up and up and up and it
keeps people away from the movies.
But that's because of the business model of the movies and
streaming and home viewing has shifted that people are just
happier to wait to see it at home, which chips away at what
(03:55):
the movie going experience really is, is seeing it in a
theater with a whole bunch of people and reacting at once and
feeling that movie at once or enjoying it.
Or I mean, I don't think I've ever really been in a packed
movie theater where people were visibly not enjoying themselves.
Like, I think you're caught up in the moment and sure, there's
some time for reflection. But the point of what he was
(04:17):
saying is like, people work so hard on every front that own
these businesses that run these businesses that are part of
these businesses that are part of these industries that there's
no time to enjoy anything anymore.
Like, you know, and, and So whatreally hit me about this is
(04:37):
there's a piece of, of what I dotoo, where I'm lucky that I can
enjoy what I do for a living because I do what I love, but it
leaves me with no time. It leaves me with no time to do
anything else that I enjoy. And that's kind of what, what's
(04:58):
her name? IO Edebiri.
I think that's how you say your name says.
It's like, you know, he's like, when's the last time you went
and saw a place? She's like, I don't remember the
last time I did anything. And that wasn't in the inside of
a kitchen because she's working so hard.
She's working 80 hours a week. And obviously it's a fictional
TV show, but it's based off a very real industry in a very
real lifestyle of being part of a small business that you're
(05:21):
working so hard to make successful that you have no time
to do anything else. And it, it, it, I think that's
one of the reasons too, that we're faced with declining, you
know, let's just say sales, for example, of, of music and, you
know, live shows and movie theaters and restaurants closing
(05:44):
is because everybody's kind of caught in this rat race in the,
in the world of like a business that brings enjoyment.
I'm not talking about corporations.
Like you have a corporate job. And look, I work corporate for a
long time too, but you have a corporate job, like you leave,
things still go like, you know, that that that ball keeps
(06:05):
rolling. You come back in and do your
job. And you know, there's a lot of
people that work way too much attheir corporate job.
I have a couple of friends that are like that, but that thing is
going to sink or swim without you.
If they replace you, then replace you like, it's a
different story when you're a, you're in a band, you know, like
(06:28):
the lead singer leaves and maybeif it's a big band, it keeps
going and maybe it's lucky enough to get a singer that
works. But if you're a small band,
that's the end of it. And, and so, I mean, it's
capitalism, right? It's, it's, it's capitalism that
destroys everything. Because if you have a successful
(06:51):
business, let's say a restaurantand everybody's, you know,
operating at full capacity, 100%things are are going great, but
everybody still has to get paid.And then all of a sudden the
landlord decides to raise its rent, their your rent.
And all of a sudden the city says, well, this is not zoned
(07:15):
for their, you know, whatever itis, it's just, it feels like
that point illustrated so much of what we've seen in the last
15 years and the things that we love and the people that bring
them for enjoyment. You know, I, I often think about
(07:38):
some of my musician friends in the past who stopped going to
live shows because it's just like, I can't, I don't have time
and I don't enjoy it because if that's the only thing I'm doing
with my free time, then it's gotto be the best show I've ever
been to, you know, or, or whatever.
So it just got me thinking in general about how hard we work
these days as people, what whatever it is we're doing.
(08:00):
And you know, I'm not like I'm not trying to take away from the
40 hour workweek people who, youknow, have a salary or an hourly
job. Like you guys and gals work so
fucking hard. I mean, I have friends that are
teachers and they sure as hell don't make anywhere near what
they should be making. And they barely even make enough
to live a comfortable life. And I come from, you know,
(08:23):
family with one parent that was a teacher, but it was, you know,
my mom retired in 2004. Like she retired before things
got really bad in the education system.
They were starting to decline. But you know, they've gotten so
much worse. But, you know, I have a friend,
somebody that I've, I've been friendly with him and say he's
like a close friend, but a friend that owns a coffee shop,
(08:45):
a very successful coffee shop in, in Seattle called Porch
Light Coffee and Records. And it's a coffee and record
shop. It's kind of the dream.
And Zach started 16 years ago and I met him, I think it was
like the 6th birthday or 5th birthday of the, of the, of the
coffee shop that they celebratedthe year, the summer, my first
summer in Seattle. And you know, he had I think 2
(09:08):
employees, maybe 3 at one point.But it's like he worked so hard
on on that and keeping that and building that up.
But also he's a designer and he would, he does freelance design
work and he's very successful inthat and the record shop and,
you know, it's all this stuff, but it's, it's like what he
brings so much enjoyment to so many people's lives in Seattle.
(09:32):
But it's like, you know, it tookhim a long time before he could
step away and take vacations andstuff because he's also a
photographer. So he would document that stuff.
And you just, it's just like a no win situation these days.
If you want to open up a small business that employs people, is
successful, brings joy to people, but also like gives you
(09:54):
time to enjoy things yourself. And I, I feel like a, maybe I've
gotten away from the point a little bit and maybe it's just,
it's just going to be me doing that today.
But you know, I, I just think about all the great restaurants
that I really grew to love aftermoving to Seattle, that most of
them don't exist anymore. And, you know, the comic stores
(10:16):
that we all enjoyed as kids thataren't around anymore.
Now, obviously that's part of, you know, the times that became
what the speculator boom was andyou know, the gluttonous 90s
that led to the collapse, but still comic stores started
closing again. And and then obviously COVID hit
and it's, you know, if you couldn't pivot, you weren't
(10:38):
going to survive. And, and you know, those stores
that did pivot really got to be super successful.
But even successful businesses fell these days, small
businesses because there's just so much crushing weight on top
of you. And the bearer obviously
illustrates that so much. Like I said, it's fiction, but
it definitely reflects an industry that is not fiction.
(11:02):
And you know, do do you take time to enjoy things if you work
60 hours a week doing your thing?
I mean, like I said, I'm fortunate enough to really enjoy
what I do to the molecular levelof like, oh cool, I get to, you
know, here we go. I'll give you a perfect example.
(11:23):
This past weekend I purchased a piece of a comic collection,
which actually you all the stuffthat's kind of on the back wall
here is from that collection. And it was via friend who bought
it. He paid a lot for it and he
needed to recoup some of his money.
But, you know, it entailed me taking my Saturday driving 3
hours out to the middle of Washington, spending about 6
(11:45):
hours there, driving 3 hours back, and then yesterday
spending another couple hours going through it and begging and
boarding it and like, assessing condition.
But at that same time, I'm sitting here with a podcast on
that I really like, you know, background noise, looking
through comics, some of them that I've never seen before,
discovering things inside comics, like a lot of
(12:07):
underground Robert Crumb stuff. And I found a Bernie Writes in
thing that was illustrated undera different pen name.
And so at the same time, I'm learning and I'm enjoying, but
it's still work and it's still my weekend and it's still
something that I do. I probably work every day of the
week. And I know I need to take time
(12:28):
to do other things. But my justification behind it
is really thinking about how I spent my time from let's say 20
to the age of about 35 fucking off and doing what I wanted,
being irresponsible with money and enjoying it.
You know, I spent a portion of my life going to wrestling the
(12:53):
paper views around the country, you know, couple of summer
slams, couple of Wrestlemanias, like on my own dime and and just
kind of like throwing away my responsibility to anything else
or building any type of nest egg, which is fine because I'm
still here and I'm still good. But also, you know, I, I think
about all the concerts that I went to and like, I wouldn't
trade that for anything. You know, I spoke about it on
(13:16):
this podcast before. I've seen Pearl Jam 40 times.
I've seen 9 Inch nails definitely over 20 times and
handful of other bands that I could say I've seen into the
multiple digits. And, and that's great, but
being, you know, self-employed at the age of 45, running a
(13:36):
business that depends on me and me only, there's nobody else
that's going to do this. I think it's OK for me to hunker
down and just say this is my life, like my job is my life and
I'm not. I can step away this week.
As of tonight, I have to go to the airport at 2:00 in the
(13:57):
morning to pick my oldest friendup whose flight got very
delayed. And I'm going to spend 4 days
hanging, 4 1/2 days hanging out with him.
And I'm not doing any work this week.
I've just have to upload a videoand upload this podcast and
that's really it. And it's nice to be able to say
like, hey, I'm I'm allowed to dothat to myself.
(14:19):
You know, tell your boss I'm taking the week off.
Well, I'm looking at him. And that's a piece of freedom
that I mean, if this doesn't last, if I go back and I like
everything crumbles and you know, in two years I have to go
back to the working world. I will think back to these, you
know, years of saying I did it. And, you know, if I go back to
(14:46):
the working world, it means thatI have to use my time off to do
the things I want to do. But right now I get to take the
time off and I don't have to worry about like, oh, I'm not
going to be able to pay my billsbecause the business is running
the way that I've constructed it.
I mean, I am a creature of habit, but there are so many
(15:09):
people out there. I probably hazard 95% of the
people out there of the working class don't have to don't get
that luxury. They don't.
And you know, I have friends that work different jobs in
freelance and they work job to job.
And some of them I actually employ, which is God, that makes
(15:30):
me feel so fulfilled too, to to hire somebody and say, Hey, this
is what I want you to do. Dan, my editor.
And you know, we're still learning each other's nuances,
but I hate you guys are watchingthe podcast.
(15:51):
You see how it looks and how it sounds and it, it, it's, I think
that's really like somebody, somebody in this fucking stupid
ass Internet accused me of beinga capitalist once.
And I'm like, OK, but how are we, you know, how are we going
to say, how are we going to use the word capitalist?
(16:12):
Or, you know, if you're going togeneralize anybody that makes
money doing something a capitalist, sure.
But I, when I think about being a capitalist, I think about
exploitation and I think about how capitalism exploits
everybody from the working classto the consumer.
(16:33):
Do you know, and everything in between.
And the top is what gets all themoney and the bottom gets
absolutely nothing. OK, I exploit myself.
So it really does make me feel good to be able to hire somebody
and employ them and pay them andand you don't do it in a way
(16:55):
that like the person I'm paying is happy and what I'm getting is
happy because that's exactly what a service should be, right?
It shouldn't be what the Internet companies do to us or
stream yard where it's like I pay you because it's the only
choice I have and you fuck me ashard as you can and don't even
don't even give me a like a breath mint in the morning.
(17:20):
Fucking no breath mint, but you don't cook me breakfast in the
morning. OK, CenturyLink, But I think,
you know, I was talking to. Who the hell was I talking to?
I was talking to somebody this weekend about.
I wish we could kind of go back to the days where bartering was
(17:40):
a heavy way to do business with somebody.
Like I'll put this out to anybody in my audience, but if
you're a professional framer, you know, and you do framing of
artwork and you ever want to make a trade for comics for
framing, I'm your guy. I'm your guy.
I, I think it's really crazy with the frame industry.
It's a very much like the eyeglass industry, just anything
(18:02):
specialty. It's very expensive because not
everybody can do it, which I understand, but I also work
behind the scenes on the framingindustry when I work for the
sports memorabilia job and I know what the cost is on that
stuff. And I'm not talking about like
high end museum or gallery frame.
I'm just talking about like yoursimple, you know, double matted,
(18:23):
you know, plexi UV frame. I know how much the cost of that
is. I'm just saying I would do the
barter. But it's, it's interesting that
that that kind of went away, obviously went away a long time
ago. But there are people that do it.
And this person who works with afriend of mine, they do graphics
(18:44):
and science and stuff like that.And he was telling me like he
trades it to local businesses for whatever it is that they do,
if it's something he's interested in.
And that's great. You know, I would do it too.
You know, you've got something, some service or whatever that I
need and you want certain comics, let's do it.
That works out for everybody. And anyway, I got away from what
(19:09):
I was saying about, you know, enjoying and and all this.
This is a weird one. This is one that I'm going to
get meta with this. I'm going to tell you the inside
baseball of this. I'm just recording this because
I knew I wanted to talk, but I wasn't 100% sure where I wanted
to go. And that quote, I saved it on my
(19:30):
computer. And I think there's just so
much, you know, I talked with mybuddy Scott a lot about the
concerts and stuff and, and whatwe used to do and how we used to
go and like COVID, how COVID like really, you know, it's,
it's like every business took advantage of COVID, every single
corporation and mega business took advantage of COVID.
(19:52):
How they saw that, you know, cost of things were going up.
So they just jacked it all the way up.
And when COVID kind of subsided,that floor was the now was what
the ceiling was. And the music industry is so
fucking guilty with that. I mean, I know there's a lot of
stuff going on in the news rightnow about Ticketmaster and Live
Nation. And you know, we've all known
(20:12):
it's monopoly for years and years and years.
And Ticketmaster is the worst. Live Nation is just as bad.
And I guess they're one company now or some shit.
But Pearl Jam fought them. Taylor Swift tried to fight
them, Robert Smith fought them, and actually he was one of the
very few people that was able todo away with the dynamic
pricing. But Liam Finn and Crowded House,
(20:33):
if you listen to my interview with him, they were also able to
push Live Nation to refund all of the people in that New
Zealand tour during COVID for the dynamic pricing.
What we talked about in the, youknow, what me and Scott talk
about, it's just how like we talked about even seeing some of
these bands, you know, 5-6 yearsago, seven years ago, how it'd
(20:57):
be like, oh, 60 bucks for a ticket, you know, it's the tie,
but whatever, I'll go. You know, we didn't really
hesitate. But now those same bands are
doing bigger tours. And by bigger, I mean they're
playing bigger stadiums because the music industry is in a
terrible hole and the touring industry is in a terrible hole
for musicians because they have to give so much money to Live
(21:20):
Nation or Ticketmaster, whatever.
And so they're forced. They're they're I don't know if
they're being forced or if it's just kind of like that's the way
things are going of these bands.They would play, you know, like
hockey arenas, you know, whatever that is 2528 thousand.
And now they're playing stadiumswhich are double.
And generally from my recollection, I didn't go to a
(21:44):
ton of stadium shows, but stadium shows were cheaper.
That's usually how it worked. It's like if you're packing 65
or 55,000 people in a stadium, the ticket prices go are a
little bit lower because everybody's views kind of a
little bit shittier unless you're really close.
And it's it's just not the same experience.
(22:07):
And so a lot of these bands are just playing these shows and
then like tickets are like 200 bucks face value and the dynamic
ticket pricing. And it's just, it just makes me,
it makes me not want to go to shows, not because I don't want
to support the band, but I don'twant to support the machine.
And that's just one of the industries that like everything
went haywire after COVID and it never came back.
(22:29):
And so I think we're a little bit less inclined to go to shows
now. And which means you're not going
to enjoy the things you used to enjoy because you either don't
have the time or you don't have the money because you have to
spend more time making that money to afford to go to the
thing. And, and I just, I don't, I
(22:50):
don't see it ever going back. And unless, you know, something
revolutionary happens and like Isaid with the movie industry, I
think they're pumping out more shit because they're trying to
make more money and they're trying to make more money
because there's no money being made because these movies are
all kind of flopping or they're not making a ton of money.
(23:11):
And so it's just a cycle. It's going to perpetuate itself
until something breaks that cycle.
I stopped collecting records because I saw what I saw in the
comic industry really happened in the record world, the final
world over. You know, kind of like not while
(23:33):
COVID started, but it was like kind of on the peak to the
downturn where I think a lot of these record labels companies,
whatever, saw how many people were just buying records because
they were home and they had money.
And so like, oh, fuck it, let's just pump out more color
variants because these people will collect anything.
And sure, you can blame yourselfif you're the collector for
(23:57):
having obsessive tastes. But the other thing is it's,
it's just they're they're funneling it in.
They're making it like, oh, you need this.
And it's tough. Like taking advantage of
collectors is a very easy thing.We've all been there and with
comics, we've been there with records, we've been there.
It's happening with DVDs and Blurays now because streaming
(24:19):
killed physical media. So all these boutique, all these
boutique DVD or Blu-ray makers are putting out versions of
movies and you know, a lot of them are really cool with extra
stuff that's never been seen before.
But a lot of it's just repackaged shit that you
probably already own. And it's just, once something
(24:42):
becomes a trend or becomes a little bit popular in the
collecting space, it just, it gets exploited eventually by
some or multiple people and it, it makes me pull away.
I try not to exploit my customers.
You know, I, I try to keep my prices low so that nobody feels
(25:06):
like they're paying top dollar. They're always happy to come
back. I'll tell people outright, you
know, if I charge less for the stuff that I sell, you're going
to come back and buy more for me.
That's exactly how it works and that's how it should work.
You are happy with something, you're not spending all your
money on it. You're going to come back and
buy more. And then if you get out of
(25:28):
collecting, that's cool. Like I completely understand and
watch people come and go. I still enjoy doing it.
I still enjoy bringing people books.
I still enjoy reading comics, collecting comics, talking about
them and looking through them and and appreciating the art.
I still enjoy music. Do I buy records anymore?
Not really. That's why you saw the rise of
(25:48):
band camp, because band camp is for the artists.
And during COVID, they started doing these Fridays where they
weren't taking any fees and you could just digitally download an
album from a band and buy it, and the band would get all the
money for it. But then I became a thing where
it's like, well, now they're asking me to double dip.
(26:11):
They want me to buy the vinyl, but if I want to download, I
have to pay for that. And that's where I'm out.
I'm just out. Like I get it, the struggles of
a musician to make ends meet, but you shouldn't ask me to
double dip. If I buy a record, especially
directly from you or a small label, you should be giving me a
(26:33):
download of that. I'm not harming anything by
owning that album digitally and on a fiscal.
But you're telling me that I need to buy both if I want both,
Which is bullshit because that'snever how music worked since I
was a kid. You buy a record, you can put it
on the tape, you buy ACD, you can put it on the tape you buy,
(26:53):
and then we buy ACD. You can RIP it onto your
computer. Did I say CD to tape?
Vinyl to tape, CD to computer. You could probably figure out
some other ways. But then it was when vinyl came
back by the vinyl. Get the digital download.
Now it's by the vinyl. Sometimes that quality is
garbage and you don't get shit. Sometimes you don't even get
(27:15):
liner notes and now it's by the vinyl.
And then stream the album. Also, I'm a big sound quality
audio file guy, not like super. I need the best headphones in my
amp and all that stuff. I'm not like that.
But when you listen to somethingon Spotify it and then you feel
like listen to it on a vinyl or you listen to it on the CD.
(27:38):
Like Spotify sounds like trash when you download even the MP3
on your iPhone in a stereo sounds better than Spotify's
garbage. And it, it's just such a
convoluted mess that everything's turned into and it
leads to less enjoyment. Look, I sound like I'm not
enjoying music anymore. I love music.
(27:59):
I listen to music all the time, all day, probably four or five
hours a day, I'm listening to music.
But I just don't like the way things have gone in that aspect,
you know, even and I never did it because I don't like, I don't
really like reading comics digitally.
I'm not against it. I did it for a while on an iPad.
(28:20):
But even Marvel DCI think they still do the digital download
codes or Marvel did it for yearswhere you peel off the sticker
and you could download the comicand or, you know, read it on
your tablet or whatever. Like that's the way to do it.
I give people to if you give people a secondary way to listen
to something and they don't haveto pay for it, chances are
(28:41):
they're going to come back and spend more money.
It, it, it, it's a kind of a simple thing.
You give somebody some, you give, you give more than what
they're used to getting or you give them something extra and
it's going to stick in your brain and it's going to be like,
yeah, of course I want to go back and buy this or I want to,
you know, patron this business again.
(29:01):
It's the same thing with the restaurant.
You know, if the quality of the food is good, you, you like it,
right? That's your baseline for
enjoying a meal, is to enjoy themeal.
But if the service is great or they're a little extra, like do
something extra, like, you know,they give you some cookies or
they give you a free little dessert taster test, you're
going to go back. I mean, it's so easy.
Like, it's such an easy equation.
(29:23):
I know not everything is as easyas that when it comes to money
and like costs of stuff, but thelittle things add up to more
success. It really does.
You know, it's like with their local comic store.
If if you go to a comic store, everyone stay in your, the store
owner's great. Or he, he's like, here, I'll
(29:46):
give you a great example of something that my LCS owner did.
Damian, there was the week that the new Joe Quesada Black
Panther book came out. I was like, oh, how is it?
He's like, yeah, you know, I, I enjoyed it, whatever we were
talking about, like, yeah, maybeI'll pick it up and trade.
And then he was like, you know what?
We had a couple of damaged copies that I was going to send
back. He's like, I'll just give you 1.
(30:07):
And he gave it to me and I read it and I liked it.
And I'm going to buy issue 2 this week.
It's just those little things. If I can do that with somebody,
you know, throw an extra comic in and they appreciate that,
maybe, maybe they'll think of menext time they want to buy
something as a gift for somebodyelse.
I, I don't know, you know, it's just so, so with the music
(30:28):
industry, if they went back to doing certain things that don't
really lose money and they incentivize people to spend more
money, I don't think the problems would be as prevalent
as they are. Because not for every Taylor
Swift out there, there's 10,000 people struggling to make ends
(30:50):
meet or small, small bands on small labels that have a home.
You know, that's that's one of the things that bugs me out
about this, you know, trying to get certain people on this
podcast. It's like I'm, I am reaching for
some big names in the movie industry, the comic industry.
There's still some names I'd love to have on that I haven't
(31:12):
gotten. But the music industry, it's
like it's so fractured and broken and there's no like not
everybody reads Rolling Stone. Nobody goes like to websites
anymore for music news like theyused to.
Like, I don't, I don't can't tell you the last time I looked
at consequence of Sound ever since they started doing these
crazy pop up ads and Pitchfork and stuff.
Why wouldn't you want to come and talk about your music on a
(31:32):
podcast? Even if it reaches one new
person, that's one person that didn't know your music
yesterday. That's one person that might
stream your music. It's one person that might go
see your show little by little. I mean, it's how the DIY scenes
started. It's how some of these bands got
huge in the, you know, in whatever genre music you want to
(31:53):
point out, you would talk about the punk.
You know, punk was word of mouthfor shows and fan scenes and rap
was mixtapes and and live performances.
You know, like there's so many people that have gotten these
huge careers that started just by talking about their music and
getting it out there. Anywho, the quote at the
(32:14):
beginning was just kind of like needed to.
I, I wanted everybody to hear that, to think about that.
I'll play it again right now andthen we'll get out of here.
But Dano hit it. When's the last time you saw a
play, huh? Well, to be fair, the last time
I saw anything it looked like the inside of a restaurant.
My point exactly is no time for enjoyment.
All right, friends, thank you for listening to me rant about
(32:36):
this. But I think this is a good
companion to last week's episodeabout trying things and you know
how I'm feeling about the industries that support these
things. I think that this space here is
one of these spaces that I wouldlike to be able to bring you
something that maybe you didn't know you, you know, you didn't
(32:58):
know about and you enjoy now. And look, I know not too many
people are going to throw this in the comment section, but 65
episodes into this podcast, I'd love to hear from you, my
listener, One thing that I opened my mouth about that you
didn't know about, you didn't listen to you to read whatever
that you said. Yeah, I'm going to try this.
(33:18):
And you tried it whether you liked it or not.
I like if you told me you listened to Liam Finn's new
album Hyperverse and it wasn't your thing.
Let's let me hear from you because honestly, at the root of
this podcast is I want to be able to introduce my listeners,
my friends, my community into something new.
And I'll give you most recently,I think an album that you
(33:43):
probably have heard about if you're into newer music, but
really, really enjoying the new Turnstile album, which is called
Never Enough. They're a hardcore punk band
that's been around over 10 yearsnow because I saw them live a
couple of times about 8 years ago now.
And yeah, they made this great album called Never Enough and
(34:03):
it's all over the place. I'm hearing it in a lot of
different places. And it's they got a high energy
live show and this album really does set an example with that.
So yeah, check it out if you haven't heard it yet.
I appreciate you for listening to this podcast and supporting
it. If you can rate it on Spotify or
Apple, leave a comment, whateverit is, you can help drop a like
(34:26):
or comment on YouTube, subscribeto it somewhere else.
It would be in the world to me. And we're on the way to almost
1000 subscribers. So there's been another episode
of Direct Edition. Thank you and I'll see you next
week.
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