Episode #121: Feeney Talks with Joey Batts

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
All right, all right.
Feeney talks with friends.
Episode 121 Where Joey Bats.
Joey Bats is my best friend, right?
This is Feeney. Talks with friends.
My name is Eric Feeney, founderand president of Friends of Feeney.
Our mission is to help
children and families that need assistanceafter heartbreak or tragedy.
And I use this podcastto talk to wonderful friends

(00:21):
that are doing great things.What's up Joey?
What is good buddy?
Yo, thank you so much for having me, man.
With the man,the myth, the legend. Right here.
There it.
Is. There it is.
He's on a sticker.Get the stickers, people.
Best thing I ever did, bro.
Best thing I ever didwas put my face on a sticker.
Man. A lot stop signs.
West Hartford, Hartford.

(00:42):
And then we got another cool sticker.
We're going to talk about the hip hopfor homeless.
Hip hop for the homeless.
Absolutely. We're in year 11.
Your lives. Is exciting.
I'm so excited to talk with you.
This is a long time coming.
I want to thank you,
our common friend Matt Conway,for putting us together to connection.
I knew I wanted to talk to youjust when I saw your nonprofit,

(01:04):
like, launch, and I was like, I'meverybody's best friend.
This is friends with Feeney.
Like this makes. Sense. Yup.
Like the stars aligned.
Like we'd be idiotsto not be in the same room.
You know what I'm saying?
So it's a long time coming.
I love it. I'm excited.
I hope that we could continueto collaborate for years to come in.

(01:24):
This is. This is a great start.Yeah. Very excited yet?
This is a long time coming.
It is meant to be your best friend.
Friends of Feeney.
You said it.
Hip hop for the homeless, year 11. Yeah.
How are we doing?
We excited.
Yo, we're we're super excited.
We're super excited.
We're in some marketsthat we've been in before.
We're in some new markets.

(01:46):
I have some amazing artists performing,and I got some new people coming out.
It's just.
It's just going to be incredible,man. I'm excited.
Every year I get geeked. Every.
It never gets old,you know what I mean? Every year.
Where does idea come from?
What was the inspiration?
I had been like playingand I, you know, I've been gigging out
with my band Joey Bats and them and we,you know, we were we were crushing it.

(02:08):
We were killing it,you know, and and I getting gigs
was was no hard thing, you know,but I just was like,
year round, I'm playing,I'm making music, I'm making money.
And it's just it was very like,selfish or like, self-involved.
But I always wanted to do more.
And, you know, we've always heardthe concept of like, benefit concerts.
I was like, you know,I want to do. That, right?

(02:31):
Let me put a beacon out there.
I didn't know what it was, but
when I threw the beacon out there,everybody came out the woodworks.
Yo, I got you.
What do you need?
The venue owners. The bar managers.
The bartenders, people who wantedto sponsor, people who wanted to perform.
People who were just willing to, like,volunteer themselves in any way possible.
So the second part of that plan was,

(02:54):
what do I want to benefit?
And, at the time, this was this was 2014.
At the time, I was having conversationswith with students and,
you know, in passing, a student was like,
oh, yeah, you know, I've been couchsurfing for, you know, a month now.
And like, dude, I'm like.

(03:14):
In high school, right?
Like, you know whatI'm saying to my buddies, how's this week?
And I'm doing this this weekend.
But then I was like,when are you going to go home?
It was like, home.There's there's no home.
So it wasn't like that was the first time,like the archetype
of like the homeless person was like
shattered my mind and like, caused meto, like, reboot, you know what I mean?
Where I was just like, yo, homelessness.

(03:35):
Houselessnessbeing displaced affects so many, you know?
And much like yourself, like,I spend such a such a big part of my day,
a big part of my life with, with,with younger people, with students.
And that's when I was like,if these people really are being affected
by something and impacted by something,I could use my reach
and my fame, my local famefor for something really good.

(03:59):
And, that was likethe second piece of the puzzle.
And then we just kindof hit the ground running.
That's an awesome, awesome story.
And you never know why and how.
Some things just come naturally, you know,and then or or organically.
Yeah. And, this is cool. Yeah.
A lot in common.
I'm a teacher. You're a teacher? Yeah.

(04:19):
Both started nonprofits. Yeah.
I was yours.
Congratulations. November15th. Manchester.
Yeah. Happened?
Yeah. Yeah.
We had our.
Big ribbon cutting ceremony.It was awesome.
So even though we've been doing thisfor ten years,
it has been officially grassroots.

(04:40):
Both due to my this inabilityto to understand the inner
workings of a nonprofit and both because,like, that big packet of paperwork.
Was just so ominous.
I was like, I'm not messing with that.
You know what I mean?
But I had some people who helped me out.
You mentioned Matt Conway.
He was just like, hey,I know some people who help me.
Why don't you talk to my lawyer?

(05:02):
Shout out to my lawyer.
My guy Bernie. He's awesome.
He was like, yo, I got you.
I'll help you with whatever you need.We'll make this happen.
Because I knew Feeney.
I knew, I knew after last year, I waslike, we're going to stay right here.
We're going to vibrate here like,this is our ceiling.
And it was a good thing, right?
But we want. More.
And you need to be legitimate, right?

(05:23):
You need to be on paper.
You need people to know.
Even if they trust the hell out of you.
They need to know where the money's going.
And a lot of people want to see papertrails, and a lot of people want,
you know, if you're applying
for grants and stuff like that,you need that legitimacy of a nonprofit.
So I stopped dragging my, my tail andand we got it going.
And, this will be our first official touras an official incorporated nonprofit.

(05:48):
Yeah.
So I expect huge, huge, tremendous things.
But I'm also staying in my stratosphereand and remaining realistic, you know.
Congratulations.Thank you bro. Thank you. This feels good.
Yeah.
2019 we went officialbut we started 2014 families.
But then when official 2019.
Yeah again with some advice from friends.

(06:09):
And Johnny's job kind of helped us dope.
Fellow nonprofit in West Hartford.
So you're doing great things.
Thank you. Man.
And a lot of people told methat's the way to do it.
Instead of just, like,having nothing, having no foundation
and just being like, I'm a nonprofit,this is what I do.
So, like, I've had a decade,you had a half a decade to realize, like.
Oh, this is what.

(06:29):
It looks like, or this is what we do,or this is where I want our energy to go
to, in our power to go to, in our strengththey go to.
So we got that all figured out.
So I feel like I mean, it's perfect.
You know,I don't have to rewrite anything.
And what's your official mission?
Just to benefit,
to benefit the homeless and the housesand the people displaced,
with a series of hip hop concertsand also change the,

(06:52):
the view of the homeless folks,as well as the view of, hip hop.
It's great. Yeah.
What about your board of directors?
Who do you got? Who we shout out?Yeah, these are the good. These are.
These are my bros. These are awesome guys.
A lot of them are dudes
that have been been riding with mefor that ten years, 11 years now.
So, a lot of the boardmembers are guys who were integral in

(07:16):
helping me plan thingsbecause we got so many shows, right.
So shout out to sketch.
He's the guy who always helps him with theNew Haven shows or the Bridgeport shows.
He's down there in the 203.
We got my guy, Mugsy,
a New Britain native who always helps mewith the New Britain shows.
We got strife. He's on the board.
He helps him with the Norwichand the new London shows.

(07:37):
Greg Rivers is on the board.
That's my guy Rudy.
He helps me with, like,the Hartford shows.
And he's been performing for ten years.
We have Dave Greco,who's, who's a local guy,
not a performer,but just someone who's been around
since the jump who has, like,every single shirt.
Every single one. He's been great.
Mark Irvine's part of the board,and Frank Rivera part of the board.

(08:00):
And those are both guysthat I've known for a really long time
that are just, like,really solid and help me out.
Yeah, it's very importantthat you have a good teams.
Yeah. Yeah.Sounds like a good team there. Yeah.
They're good dudes for sure.For sure sure.
I had a podcast guestwho was experiencing homelessness. Oh,
let me see.
Chris.
Chris, Chris.
Episode 77.

(08:22):
Okay.
Experiencing homelessnessad on the podcast.
You know, lives in a tent.
Panhandles.
I guess that's.
Yeah.
Is that inappropriate? No.
So it was very good episode, and it got
kind of learned.
Why the how's the who's it was?

(08:44):
It was a very educational podcast.
So, Chris, episode 77and our guy Matt Conway.
Yeah. So 71. Good friend. Rise ups.
I saw Rise Up Arts,I saw he's, Yeah, he's a sponsor.
He's been a sponsorfor the last seven years.
Absolutely. Yep.
So in addition to that, you're a teacher?
Yeah. Long you been a teacher?Where? You've been a teacher.

(09:05):
What subject?
Yeah,I've been a teacher for 17 years, bro. 17.
Kind of 21.
So. Yeah, you get it, you get it.
I did my first 12in the Hartford public school system
with, Opportunity Highand with Hartford High.
Then I spent the last, threeand a half years at Manchester High.

(09:26):
And recently this year,
I came back to Hartford,and now I'm at Breakthrough Magnet South.
Is that, middle school. Middle school?
Yeah. Kate. Kate. Two eight.
So I got I got middle schoolers.
Oh, you're. It's K-8. Yeah, yeah.
You teach history or English?
I teach English, sorry.
Yeah, I teach English language arts. Ela.
I've been doing that.That's the only thing I got.

(09:46):
My, got my undergrad in secondaryed and creative writing.
I got my master's in philosophyand literature, and I got my own nine two
recently. So. Really?
Yeah. Maybe I'll get into Ed leadership.
I'm not sure yet.
I still have a lot of fun in the classroomand I still really like it.
You know, that's awesome.I have my own nine too.
Yeah, same with you.

(10:07):
I like the classroom.
And still looking.
It's nice to have the option. Right?We got options.
I got options now. That's pretty cool.
Very cool, very cool.
I love the shirt.
I'm rocking the number nine edition.
Yeah.
Hip hop for the homeless.
I loved that I was one of I look at.
That font, that printthat's like a. Little volt yellow.
Really, really popular in the yellow.

(10:28):
That looked really goodwith the black lights.
And then we had our classic yearten shirt, which was a white anniversary.
And this is this year's.
We got a safety orangewith the tiger camo for 11 local.
Good shout out to my guy Jose.
We can finally print patterns.
So you're going to startseeing a lot of crazy patterns coming out.

(10:50):
Oh what do we call thata camel Tiger camel.
Oh I like that for Memorial Day.
Maybe I'll have to hit up the guy.
Oh good. Do it man. He's he's awesome.
And he and he's, you know, he'sI've been with him a long way.
He used to go, with the DNA shop,but now he rebranded and it's called local
goods and,
real solid dude out of Hartford.

(11:11):
Who did it?
Who designed the,the print hip hop for the homeless?
Yeah, man.
That's, that's all Jose right there, baby.
That's local goods right there.
Okay,
that's not what you said earlier, but.
Okay, we'll leave that there.
We got some dates here.
Yeah. So what we do.
For the for the for the listeners

(11:32):
and for the watchers every year we,we create a new shirt.
This is primarilywhere the funds that we collect come from.
So what we do iswe always ask sponsors to come out,
help us offset the costand the production of the t shirts.
So we're able to print 4 or 5, 600 shirts,and then we sell those at each show.

(11:53):
And that's how we make money that we cangive and donate to those nonprofits.
So every different shirthas all of our sponsors for that year,
as well as all the showsand all the dates that we do
now. First show New Haven.
Yeah, yeah, the first. Week. Is the.
Fifth is New Haven, Hartford and Norwich.

(12:14):
Those are all three venues
that we've played before,all three cities that we've played for.
The New Haven Show benefits the downtownsoup kitchen in New Haven.
The Hartford showbenefits hands on Hartford.
They've been awesome with us.
They've been with us this whole journey.
And the Norwich show goesto the TVA shelter,
down there in, like,Norwich, New London, Seward City.

(12:36):
You have. Yeah. Town. Hartford.Yeah. Yeah.
You can pay what you want.
Absolutely.That's that's their restaurant.
55 get yeah. Other 55.
So hands on Hartfordalso even has a food pantry
behind there, like a little grocery storethat you could go shopping.
They've, they've they've doneso many things, but their recent, most,
popular thing is gather 55,exactly where you pay what you want.

(12:57):
They always bring in some guest chefs.
Yeah. Very cool.But they're great. They're great.
And we're in Middletown.
We haven't played Middletown in a while,so I love that we're back there.
This is our first yearplaying a show in Northampton.
Our second yeardoing something outside of CT.
So who knows man, in the futurewe might be all over the place, right?
And might not longer.
Might no. Longer be a Connecticut thing.

(13:19):
And then. Like,this is the first time going to mass.
Our second second, we had one last year,but it was in Holyoke.
Nice. So I'm pumped to be in Northampton.
Amazing venue,the Iron Horse classic, classic venue.
I've seen a bunch of bandsthere, bunch of rappers there.
So I'm really happy to be there.
And then year, weektwo ends with New Britain
and New London and those are both,amazing, amazing shows.

(13:41):
And great, great venues.
So I'm really excited.
And then we've been doing three weeksfor the last three years.
It gets kind of crazy, bro.
I'm gonna be honest.It gets it gets a little bit crazy.
Especially with teaching and,you know, keeping the hours that I keep.
But we're playing a second showin Hartford at Parkville Market, which is

(14:01):
part of my third Thursday throw downsthat I've been doing over there.
And then we're in Simsbury, andthen it closes in Manchester on the 21st.
Hoops and hops.
I've been there.
Yeah, I will market. I'mgoing to try to make that one. Yeah, man.
You should come in. Black eye sallies.
Which one are you performing.
Oh okay. Good form.
Good question.
I'll probably end up exclusive. Exclusive?

(14:23):
This is exclusive, folks.
You've heard it here first.
I'll probably end upgetting on a mic on Manchester.
I'll probably get on a mic in Hartford,
probably get on the mic in New London,probably get on the mic in Norwich.
They'll probably make me get on the micand new and I don't get to chill on these.
Unfortunately. People are just like.
Yo, I came out,I'm here for you, you better rap bro.

(14:45):
King some bars.
Yeah, yeah, for real.
For real lyrics for days. Yeah.
You want to hear memy flow. Let's hear it bro.
Let's hear.
My name is Mr.
Feeney I teach grade three and walkit elementary.
Can't see me. Well.
In the place to be, That's it.
Oh my God, bro. Oh my God, let's go.

(15:06):
Do do do do do do do
doo doo doo doo doo.
You're a big hip hop hip hop guy, right?
Yeah, I know you're live.
So that very excited to talk with you.
Yeah.
What? Yeah.
Who? Let's let's talkrapped. And who? What?
Who? Some rappers that inspired you.
Oh, man. All right.
So I've been I've been rappingfor a really, really long time.

(15:29):
Like really really long time.
Grew up in New York, strong island.
So that was right around the time where,
where those guys were like,we're talking like 92, 93.
So I was really big on, like,not even like early Wu-Tang.
First it was Grave Diggers.
I was really big on, like, grave diggers.
And then obviously like when, like,Cash Rules came out

(15:52):
and like, protecting that came out,it was all woo!
That was really major for me.
Like, Method Man.
I remember like coming up with a rapusing the Method Man flow.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, I thought it was the best.
Like bust of Busta Rhymes,Busta, Busta Rhymes.
So, like, leaders at a new school,you know what I mean?

(16:13):
That that was major. That was major.
And then a little bit, a little bit downthe line, like pun dropped in like 95.
So like that was really cool
to see someone rapping likehe was a lot of lyrical dudes.
And then a little bit later, when itwhen I started really getting out there
and honing my craft, it was a lotmore underground, like MF doom, ASAP Rock.

(16:34):
A lot of those guys.
Are you, LP.
Can you do write it downor do you go freestyle or prefer.
Both?
Or how any song that I've ever droppedhas been like a written down thing
that I've sat with and like,
written down bars and written downa chorus and written down lyrics.
But if anybody, everybody who knowshas seen me live like I incorporate many,

(16:58):
many freestyles because I grew up justdoing like, ciphers, you know what I mean?
So I can definitely do both.
I definitely like freestyle in more,
but I do.
I definitely do both.
Yeah.
But I've never I've never been likethey say, like,
Jay-Z doesn't write it down,little Wayne doesn't write it down.
I've never been able to do.How many songs do you have?

(17:18):
Do you have albums and stuff?
Yeah, of course I got albums, man.
I of course I got Spotify. Yeah.
Which is Spotify name? Tell everyone.
Joey. Bats. That's it.
Instagram is rap me.
Rap Joey Bats,but iTunes, Joey Hibberd, BTS.
That's on Spotify. That's on iTunes.
I did the seven Deadly Sins manifesto,so I dropped the album for each

(17:40):
one of the seven Deadly SinsI've done, the Elements Manifesto.
So I've dropped like Earth and Air,and I'm working on Water and Fire.
I have the Joey Bats in them albums,I got albums.
Are you zoo?
Yeah, man,my discography is very, very long.
I love it. Yeah.
If you were to do

(18:01):
I'm going to play this game a lot,but this is a good game.
So your songs that you droppedyour first one, your last one.
Your best one in your worst one?
First last best worst.
My first was Joey Best.
My first was best friend.
At first is best friend.
That's where the sticker comes from.

(18:22):
And we can be the best of friends.
And if you know me, then you love me.I'm your bestest friends.
Rich ones, poor ones and all the ends.
Put your money on you.
I'm your bestest friend.
So that's. That was best friend.
That was probably my first one.
Under like that, Joey bats Monica.
My most recent one was a song
that I did called, God Box.

(18:44):
Reggie Blue.
I was like,technically, it's a Reggie Blue song,
but I really like my verseon it. That's a lot of fun.
My best.
Song.
Oh my gosh. Man,
It's like picking your favorite kid.
I it's. Tough, it's tough, it's tough.
I did, I did an.
Album with Greg Rivers, who I mentioned.
Before,

(19:05):
Called Roy G.
Biv, where we, where we would like,we talked a lot about,
like, synesthesia and, like,being able to, like, see colors.
And we got, like,really hyper focused on that.
And he did an amazing productionand he and he like
he's all over the track,you know, singing,
doing production, rapping,doing some weird things with sounds and,
and a lot of those versesI really, really liked.

(19:28):
So those are, those aresome of my favorites like favorites,
favorites, favorites.
That was my,
my least favorite, my least favorite.
I wrote a sellout song, bro.
Sellout sellout calls called bestie.
You missed you was the dumbest.

(19:48):
It was the.
Dumbest song, but I made the most moneyoff of it like it was on ESPN.
They played it at the SBS.
It was just like I made a.
Bag off of that song, and it was just likewe would play it live and.
I would take my phone out.
And just run around the audienceand taking selfies with people,

(20:09):
oh man.
How's it go?
I was like,hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, yo, my bestie.
So let's, let's, let's,let's take a selfie.
Yo. So commercial bro.
And so against.
Like the rap and rapping that I really be.
Doing.You know what I'm saying? Like it's not.
Grimy at all, but like, it was accessibleand like people loved it.

(20:33):
You know times you. Got to do that.And like it was.
Very tongue in cheekwhen you saw. It live.
But like, if you didn't know me andyou just discovered me, you'd be like, yo.
Who's this cornball with this song?
Like, what the hell?
So I would say thatthat's one of the ones.
That I don't regret it.
But it's definitely one of thoseone of my.
Best with myself. Yeah.
Let's do a selfie. Actually,now that you. Brought that up.

(20:55):
Boom.
Selfie.
Let's take a selfie. Yeah.
No. Great.
Wait, so you did best worst first.
Less. Yeah. No. You played the game,right? Yeah. Right. Perfect.
All right.I got to check out the Spotify list now.
I didn't do my research there. Yeah,we saw drop the ball.
No you didn't.Bro. Could have you didn't. Should have.
You did up some bars from.

(21:16):
Your like I got some tracks thatmake their way in your running playlist.
I got some tracks. Absolutely, bro.
I know you'd be out here. Right?
What'd you go,you little. You little marathon. Bitch?
You know.
I was we were going to ask how we did overthe what we did over the Thanksgiving.
I ran the gobble wobble.
Is this the one that this isn'tthe one in Manchester, right?
No, this was actually GlennFalls. Oh, okay.

(21:36):
Ten inches of snow.
Yo, you're lying for real. Still ran a 27.
Come on. Bro, my nephew beat me. Touch me.
This is good stuff.
13 year old nephew Nick ran like a 26,but this is our third year in a row.
That's a full or a half.
It's just three miles.
Okay, five K, three.
Miles, 5.2. I'm proud of you, bro.

(21:57):
Just stay active. That's dope.
I love it, I love it.
How was your how was your Thanksgiving?
Yeah, my Thanksgiving was cool, man.
We we played it.
We played a really low, really low key.
I don't have any family in CT.
So my mom came up
and my girl's mom came through,and it was just the four of us.
Man, I'm really happy just watching.
Football. And relaxing.

(22:19):
And like, my year has been, like,a little bit tumultuous.
Just like change in schools and mid year
instead of,like at the beginning of a year.
So like I've just wanted to like,just really chill and relax
and like the tour itselfis just like a storm
of energy and like,sometimes you just need to reset.
So like, I was like, yo, I'm really okayjust doing this.

(22:41):
I usually cookChristmas Eve and Christmas.
So my girl was like,I got Thanksgiving, I'm cool with it.
And she just let me chill and vibe.
And it was peaceful. Man, I loved it.
Sometimes you need that reset.
Oh man, it was the best reset. My girl.
My girl's all about the Thanksgivingsandwiches with the leftovers.
She's a big fan of that.
Okay, brand bread.
We do like the the sesame seeds for Melina

(23:05):
okay.
Really really nice key berry.
So keep it. Classy.
She does a turkey.
I do the mac and cheese.
Oh, then I do the turkeywith some hot sauce.
Then I do this stuffing.
What kind of hot sauce?
I'm a Frank's red hot guy.
But I'll do Tallulah.
I'm okay with that.
You know?
So ratchetdoesn't really fit the flavor profile.

(23:26):
But yeah, I have scratch right nowin my class.
Yeah,I just went through a Frank's already.
Okay. In your classroom. Whoa. For lunch.
Okay. Gets it, I love it.
I love it down a bottle.
Franks. Dill pickle.You ever try that? No.
For real? Really good. Okay.
Dill pickle hint of. I love,I love pickle.
I'm all about. It. And hot sauce,too. My favorite.
I was going to say, sign me up.

(23:47):
It's like they've been reading my.
Diary of that.
That's amazing.
Yeah I love Pickles and Brett.
Dear diary, one day please invent.
A hot saucethat incorporates dill pickles.
It sounds like a wrap. You should draft.
Pickles.
So I'm going to shout outmy sponsors of the podcast.
But before we do that,would you like to shout out some

(24:08):
and thank some sponsors of yours?
Yeah man. Absolutely.
So this is. A fire. Shirt.
Thank you bro. Thank you I love it man.
It's the coolest thingabout being like the president
and being the guy who gets to run itlike I sometimes.
Fini. I'll be real with you.
I'm already thinking about next year.
Yeah, and it stinks that I gotta make ita whole calendar year.

(24:28):
But, like,
I've been wanting to do somethingwith the camo and the orange
and the hunting season vibe,so I'm really excited about it.
That's the best thingabout having a nonprofit. Yeah, yeah.
Create a t shirt.
Yeah. So I mean we got we it's I don't I.
Can't just run through all of these.
I apologize ahead of timefor the people that I'm going to slate.
But like Hartford HealthCare came through in a major way.

(24:49):
They're a major sponsor this year.
I've been I've been talkingto the Yard Goats for a while.
I did we had a really good year with themand they, they
we establisheda really lovely relationship.
So shout out to them Lou.
It audio has been great.
They're they make microphoneslike the microphone company.
Hearts of Hartford pizza garden is great.
El Pollo Guapobeen down since the jump Adams

(25:11):
World blog has been down tosince the jump through Penny tattoo.
That's where I get all of my work done.
Philly cheesesteak is great in New Havenand Norwich location.
Hartford, Police Athletic League,Hartford Fire Department.
They're great.
Gold burgers has been down since the jump.
Bears has been around for the longest.
You mentioned rise upa couple of big sponsors

(25:34):
this year, the Kent O'Hara Agencyand Edge City Public Radio came through.
So going back to the whole nonprofitthing, the more legitimate we've become,
the more people sponsors specificallyare willing to attach their name to. It.
Because you get it.
It's not just a business thing
some people are worried about,like the stigma of hip hop.

(25:56):
So like but us being official,
they understand that,like we're not playing around and
they're allowed to take this chance on usbecause the shows are going to be safe.
We're going to get great press.
We're going to have peopletalking about us,
and it's just going to be an all aroundgood idea
for them to kind of attach themselvesto, to our vehicle.

(26:18):
It's great to, you can write the donationreceipt.
Yeah. Tax deductible. Absolutely.
Yeah. Taxes.
Oh, I want to
where is it? Where is it.
Oh yeah. Noyard. Goats are great game day. Connor.
Yeah, he's been a guest.
Yeah. Connor's awesome.
Their announcer. Okay. Nice.
And then.
Yeah. Tim and Mike are amazing.

(26:39):
Yeah.
Yeah, I tried out for that gig.
I tried out for the announcer gig. Really?
I was ready to quit at all.I was ready to quit it all, bro.
I did it again. I did it a daily.
I missed the,
ten years. These guys are amazing.
Yeah, yeah.
My wife's, my daughter's favorite.
Yeah.
Zephyrs.
Zephyrs is a new one of our sponsors.
Shout out to Chef Dante. He's amazing.

(27:01):
They're right down the street in WestHartford, in the center.
Be a podcast guest soon. Oh, I love that.
I love that.
Philly.
I think Stephen King Jr is in on that.
Okay, King was running for somethingin South Windsor.
He was a guest. Yeah. Jamie,I want him to be a guest.
Jamie's dope.
Yeah, they're dealing with a lot of stuffhappening in Asheville,
so they've been kind of,like, above their heads.
Yeah, they got a Bears in Asheville.

(27:22):
So they've been abovetheir head with some stuff.
Very cool shirt.
Thank you for your sponsorship.
Yeah, for being good friends. Yeah.
Everybody. Seriously,thank you so much, man.
My best friend. Yeah.
Of course.
That's got to be gotta.
Be, gotta be I love it.
Yeah.
And dead center, Coliseum media,they're doing,

(27:42):
they actually were awarded a grant,so we're going to have a documentary
crew following usduring our all of our shows.
So hopefully we'll have, like, a sizzlereel documentary
coming in January 2025 that hopefully.
Yeah,that hopefully gets us more sponsorship.
That's a new sponsor.
Rochester coach and a consultant.
Shout out to Drake. My guy.

(28:04):
Gardens that. Pizza garden.
That's where you met me.Yeah that's that's.
Troy style with this spicy honey.That was. Really good.
Yeah, yeah.No one else making a Detroit around here.
So shout out to Pep Man. Shout out to pep.
Let's see.
Yeah. Good dudes.
Kent O'Hara agency in Manchester.
Don't ship recordings.
That's my guy, Nick Rose.
He'll be performing in Hartford.

(28:25):
He'll be performing in Northampton.
He's great. Blue earth compost.
They do a bunch of recycling stuffin Hartford County.
Oh. Public access.
How'd you get that one?
That was a good. Yeah, yeah.
They.
Were sponsors backin, year four, year four and.
Five.
And then we kind of like,

(28:46):
just lost.
Lost contact
and I just reached out on a whim
and just was like,I still was very cordial and real friendly
and connected with social mediawith one of the people there.
And I reached out and I was like, hey,I love to talk to you a little bit more.
Same thing now that we're legitimate.
And now that you could actually havea receipt for all you're doing
instead of just like, because in the past,all of my sponsors

(29:07):
like, seriously shout out to thembecause they just believed in me.
Like the man like Joey Bats.
Like they were writingchecks to me and hopes that I wasn't like
buying a plane ticket.
Getting some more sneakers.You know what I mean?
Like they really believed in me,before any of this stuff was legit.
So shout out to them.
And and that's being being ableto do the tax write off

(29:31):
and being able to send receiptsthat like firmed up my backbone
a little bit more where I was just like,I could really just cold call some people
and go after some big dogs who I knowwould support something like this,
but who didn't want to write mea personal check.
Nice.
Yeah, yeah, that means a lotthat they trusted you that much.
Yeah.
Yeah, I started off the same way.

(29:52):
I remember getting checks.
Yeah, my guy Jason Ryan would just writewhatever you need.
Feeney. Yeah, you. Know what I mean?
And that's one of those things where like.
And I'm thankful for that as a musician,as a rapper, as a businessman.
Like, people believed in me as a personand they knew that I didn't do
bad business, you know?
And I'm sure you and all the peopleon that long list of podcasters
all the 120 people beforeme, like they believed in you.

(30:16):
And that says so much about us.
Like that'sthat is the code that I know you
teach your kids both your own kidsand your and your class kids.
And same with me.Like every student I've ever had.
That's numero uno, you know what I mean?
Like,I don't care if you can't write an essay.
I don't care if you strugglereading and writing, you know what I mean?
Like,we got to develop good humans, right?

(30:38):
We got to create a society, and we needto be pillars of our community first.
Yeah.
And I think people recognize that in me.
And I think that has helped me,
where I am now.
And that's why I'm ablenot only to sit here with you,
but to do everything that I'm doing so farwith no bumps in the road.
That's great. Yeah. Well said, I like it.
Honored to be speaking with you.

(30:58):
You're my best friend.
Yeah, man. Hell yeah, bro,let me know, man.
You go, you get a flat tire.You know what I'm saying?
You need a wingman.Like I'm here, bro. I'm here.
Hit the sticker up.
With the sticker with that.
Oh, we got this one, two.
There are some I used to.
So what I would do
the way that it started isI got these stickers made,

(31:18):
and people would come to a live show,and they would either buy a shirt
and I give them a sticker or they wouldjust, you know, throw me a buck.
I'd be like,here's a sticker, here's one for you.
And the other one I need youto put up somewhere in the public.
I don't care where you put it.Put it out in the public.
Yeah, right.
Because I was always scared
that I would be putting a stickerwith my own face on it.
And I catch me and I. Go to jail, right?

(31:39):
I would. Lose everything.
I think there's on the corner of SouthMain in New Brighton Ave, Doro,
Dunkin Donuts.
I walk every day with my dogacross the street to Main Road and I wait,
hit the button, I waitand there's a sticker right there.
I swear every. Day I've. Never put one up.
And that's before.
This was years. Ago.
I've never killed one guy.
I've never put one up.

(32:01):
That is.
That has been my campaign for the longest.
Come to a show.
Here's a sticker you put on your laptop.
The other oneput it on the street sign to put.
Them up to. You know what I mean?
Maybe you'll start seeing these up.
Do itbecause you see these magnets on cars.
I've seen him, I love them.
Good friends. Rule. Yeah.
Why did you go with the Kelly Green?

(32:21):
Talk to me a little bit about that.
Just being Irish.
I think that had something to do with it.
Yeah, a good question.
I don't know why I went Kelly Green. It'sclean, man. I like it a lot.
It's real. Nice.
It stands out.
Stickers.Stickers need to have an identity.
So so you can see. It.
From 50ft away even if it's not.
Legible.

(32:42):
And you still know what it is.
Okay. You know what I mean? I'mnot teaching you.
You already know.
Like this. This stands alone.
You see this on a car.
You know it's not going to besomething different when you walk closer
or when you drive closer to it.
That's the cool thing about this logo.
I like that. I like that.
We got some sponsors again,this is Feeney talks with friends.

(33:04):
This is all possiblebecause a direct line media.
Stefania and Dave what's up Stefania
she's here.
We got Luna pizza 9.99 Farmington Ave.
Come check it out.We're going to get in some wings.
This is my favorite.This is my favorite. This is my favorite.
Go on my favorite oneI live in Wethersfield now.
So sometimes I go to Luna'sin Glastonbury. Yep.

(33:26):
End of sentence.
Read between the lines.
End of sentence.
But I love coming to this.
Luna's right here, man.I came here the other day.
I get a white pie.
That's my favorite.
I get a white pie. They make the best.
They make the best white pie.
I'm sorry, Frank.
Sorry, Mr.
Pepe, they make the best white pie. Man.

(33:46):
I love it here.
You got to give me their information, man.
I want them to be a sponsor.
I've been eating Luna's up to my.
Up to my eyes.
Alex is tatted up.
Yeah, he's got to sleep.
Yeah. But.
But these are my people, man, I love it.
All the pizza shops who pop up.
Man, I still amfaithful as heck to Luna's man.
And then we got float 41.

(34:06):
You ever float in a a dark?
No, but I've heard of this.
Of 10,000 pounds of salt.
Heard of this perfect boy. Yeah.
It's supposed to be, like, help centeryou spiritually and mentally, right?
Yeah.
Dan Hurley does it once a monthif you can't tell he needs it.
So, yeah, you should try Sierra over therein Bishop's Corner.
Okay. Newest sponsor.She's a great friend.

(34:27):
Podcast guest.
You've done it. Float.
Oh, I love it. Yeah, you can do.
Do you lose track of time?Do you fall. Asleep?
So here's the thing.
You could do
60 minutes or 90 minutes and you're like,oh, 90 minutes is way too long.
By the time you finally,because your mind's racing,
got a million things going throughoutthe day, you finally find your relaxation.

(34:47):
The lights go on. It's crazy how.
Well, toss and turn. Yeah.
And you finally find itand the lights go on, so I.
I tried 90 minutes.
I've tried it with my wife.
You can go in the couples.Okay. Really cool too.
You kind of like do you like,hold hands like otters.
Float around you? Yup. Yeah. Yep.

(35:08):
We, interlock arms like otters.
I love that, definitely.
Then they do a salt cave, and then nowthey have something in Cromwell.
Contrast therapy, cold plunge.
Well, sauna. Okay. Cold plunge. Sauna.
Yeah. You times.
They like ripping open your cells andand healing them back.
Right. I'm nervous.
Like your bones feel young.

(35:29):
You want to run a marathon?
You're young, you're rejuvenated.
Like you said,you just want to sit and reset.
Yeah.
Maybe after this tour,you should go hook up with the firewood.
Man, I definitely want to float. That's.
That's amazing. Bro. I'll connect you.That sounds great.
And then the fix ivy across the street.Okay.
You get an IV or a B12 shot or the rocket.
They'll fix you right up with an Ivy.

(35:51):
Can anybody get that?
Or do they recommend it for everybody?
Or do you have to have, like, a vitamindeficiency?
Anyone? Any time? Yep.
So B12 is, a lot of people lack B12.
I take B12 love B12.
You can just get the shot.They go right into you.
Yeah, bang.
And then you just dunk.That's pretty dope.
And you're just running.

(36:12):
I was going to.
Say I was going to say,then you're ready for the NBA.
That should be their logo.
Don't get B12 and try out for the Lakers.
Yes. That is in theory.
Yeah. Popeye's spinach right.
My name and my.
Golf lore group. Brook Golf is a sponsor.
Great sponsor.
You know I've seen their commercials.

(36:32):
Are they really related to Jared Goff.No relation.
What a dope dope commercial that is.
That was pretty dope to them.
It was brilliant.Brilliant marketing her name.
I love to see brilliant. Mark her new one.
She's got the whole castof the Christmas vacation Chevy
Chase, Randy Quaid and the wife.
She's got flavor. Flavor.
I saw him on a billboard.
Yeah, Jared Goff

(36:54):
she's she knows what she's doing.
That's great sponsor. Great friend.
Christmas party is coming up.
Can't wait. Dope.Did you know them before?
They were a law firm.
No TV agency. Insurance is a sponsor.
Great people.
Let's see.
Keating agency.
Think I hit them all.
Kidding. Agency.
We got.

(37:16):
We're hitting themup, talking to each one.
So we got to make sure.
What do they do?
Kidding.
Agency insurance to fix. I v
they do.
Our directors in officer insurance.
You probably need that as a nonprofitto hook you up.
People's bank is great.People's bank. Okay.
And Parkville management.
Carlos Carlos Carlos Mota.

(37:38):
Yes, Muto was a great podcast guest.
Got a lot of views to his popular guy.
He's a real popular guy, man.
I go way back with Carlos, man. He'sawesome.
Golf with 62 year interested.
Alex from Luna was 70.
Yeah, this.
Let's see when Carlos was your 121.

(37:59):
How do you feel about that?
I like that man.
It was a good numbers.I traditionally hate.
Numbers.
I'm not.
I'm not a whole. I'm not a big fan.
But I don't think it's a prime number.
I don't I don't think it is.
73 was,
Carlos Muto got you?
That's prime, isn't it? 70.
Yeah, 73 is prime.

(38:20):
How about Doctor Miguel Cardona?
You know who that is?
Yeah. Podcast guess. Yeah.I was like great.
It was a zoom.
Yeah.
He's our he's our boss's boss's.
Boss's boss. Okay.
I believe that the secretary of education.
Yeah. He'sthe man right there. One man, one away.
I knew you would know who that was.
Yeah. So.
Oh, and West Hartford, Locke, WestHartford.

(38:42):
Locke is a sponsor. Okay.
Can you agree?
With that being said, what are three keysthat make you great at being
the president of the nonprofit Hiphop for homeless slash being a teacher?
Yeah. Three keys that are keys. Yeah.
I thinkI touched upon one of them already.
I do good business,and I hold relationships

(39:05):
very firm and very seriously.
Loyal to a fault.
So people know thatthey could count on me.
People know that I'm reliable.
People know that, like,my word is my bond.
And that's how I was raised.
Old school Italian.
That that'show I've always lived my whole life.
So that has benefited methe most in any business that I ever do,

(39:27):
both with peers, both with supervisors,both with people
above me,below me on the same level as me.
I think, recently
I've been called unflappable.
That's a good one.
Which I thought that was a really goodadjective.
Yeah.
One of the district coaches of Hartfordmet me for the first time,
and they were talking about,like, the challenges of middle school

(39:50):
and the challenges of, of of,you know, being in this realm
after teaching high school for so longand they were just like, you know.
I get the vibe.
That you're like pretty unflappable.
And I was just like, yeah, I mean,I guess I am, you know, I, I learned to,
I studied a lot of eastern philosophyand a lot of, eastern medicine.
And, like, I've learned to just let goof this stuff that we can't control.

(40:14):
And a lot of times we get so angryand we get so anxious and we get so tense,
and we get so overwhelmed
and we get so stressed over thingsthat we cannot control.
But as soon as you realizethat you have no control, it's just Husar
and you send it and you part itand you move it and it's just, it's
it's clarity, you know,it's air and it's energy and it's clear.

(40:38):
Right.
But in reality it's not that clear.
Right?
It's opaque and it's translucentand it fogs your mind
and it fogs your eyesight.
So you move that to the left and you movethat to the right, and you part it.
And I just,I just sometimes I just sit in class
and I'll just yeah, I'll fold my armsand I'll just stare at people.
For minutes on end and Mr..

(40:59):
What are you looking at?
And I'll just be like nothing, man.
I'm vibing, I'm chillin, you know.
Yeah.
And I think the third one is,
I believe in people.
I believe in what people can do.
And as much as I've been doing everything,and as egotistical

(41:19):
as it is to put my ugly mug on a sticker,I believe in the people that
that I believein, and everybody that meets me
has a chance with me, and everybodythat meets me has an opportunity with me.
And I think that
we lose sight with the technology, withthe social media, with the digital world.
We lose sight of how important this isand the capital that people possess

(41:42):
in, in community and in communicationand in language and in conversation.
But I, I hold that to the utmost.
And I think that people feel thatand I think that on a very subconscious,
even lower than that,on a very animalistic Ed level,
I think people become empowered by that.

(42:05):
And it's almost like,you know, when you're activating someone's
psyche for them and alongside them.
And a lot of times I, I'm able toto tap into some talent or some skill
or some abilities that they weren'teven confident with and comfortable with.
Yeah.
And and same goes for.
Students quality of a good.

(42:25):
Teacher, you know.
Have a good night.
All right on my watch.
Take care folks.
So that's that's one of those things,you know?
Great answer.
Three keys. Yeah, it was really good.
Lock it up.
But the key in it, lock it up.
All right, so next question fit.

(42:46):
Well, speaking of which.
So you're Italian. Yes.
What's your is batsshort for your last name but Talia.
But Talia. Yeah the g silent.
So b b a a g.
La. La.
Yeah it's Italianfor battalion and battle.
That's where we get like the termfor battalions in the army.

(43:07):
We get that from battalion,
Yeah.
Interesting. Yep.
And Joseph.
Joseph. JosephWilliam Valentine battalion.
Forget them.
Yes. Forget about. It.
I got five fingers and Alex tree.
Yeah, I know you treat him.
Yeah it's.
Cool man. It's cool.
My my father. Rest in peace Salvatore.

(43:29):
Salvatore battalion.
That was his that when he was in RikersIsland everybody called him Sally Beth.
So I knew when I went up when I, you know
in middle schoolI had coaches they'll call me Joey Bats.
And I was like, oh, this is a no brainer.
I don't need a rap name. Yeah.
You know, I don't need a right.
Hey, man, I want you to call me this.
Now, man. You just go bywhat's you're called.

(43:51):
So it made sense.
It's like,oh, betray us. Real name, no gimmicks.
Oh, we tried.
Love.
And then you mentioned something else.
Italian. Oh, bear season.
How's my bear look? It's almost.
Yeah. Was looking good.Be like you. It's looking. Good.
When I grow up, I want to be like you.
That's a that's a nice beard.How long? The beard.

(44:13):
How long have I had the beard?
Like, forever.
I mean, stickers beard.
Not as long.
Stickers. Beard.
I can't shave it, bro, I look crazy.
I look, I look crazy.
I look like a chubby John Stamos.
I can't do it.
I can't do. It, uncle Jesse.
Uncle Jesse, I can't do it.
So yeah, the beard has been something that

(44:34):
that that I've just kept for a long time.
I don't like being clean shaven.
I don't really like shaving that much.
I don't I don't that the razorkind of irritates me.
So I just, you know, shaved down here,you know what I mean?
So I could put the button up on, But,yeah, I just kind of rock the beard.
Sometimes it gets a littlebit long and out of control,

(44:54):
but I don't.
Want to do first and nextfirst, last, best.
But how about some tats to show offa favorite tat or these buttons?
What's with the buttons?
Little show and tell.
Oh my buttons. Are you verified? Check.
This is when you sit backand you're chillin.
Everything's fine.I just just. When I sit back.
This is my little dog.
When the dumpster. Fire.

(45:15):
This is fun.
Yeah,it's a joke between me and my sister.
She's also a school teacher.
Okay.
And we'll be like, man,some days you're just like, yeah.
This is fine.
This is fun.
I like whether it's the kids.
Whether it's the admin,you're just like, okay.
Here I am, I'm alive.
Let me sit this coffee and figure it out.
Black lives matter.
That's obvious.

(45:35):
I have different pins on all of my vests.
It was 20 degrees when I left for schooltoday, so I got the heavy vest on.
But I like it, man.
It's a it's a nice way of being able to,to celebrate the things that I care about.
And, I like that flash,
tattoos.
My first.
My first tattoo, I.
Waited, I didn't get any in high school.

(45:57):
I waited till my 21st.
But this is a wild story.There's a wild story.
We had time for. A wild story. One.
Yeah, yeah, we got time for a while.
Right?
We love wild stories.
I had just turned
21 in May, and it was, it was.
It was the next week I had left.
I was coming home from collegea sophomore year.
College? Yes.

(46:18):
Senior year of college.
At 21. Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Because graduation was my 21st birthday.
That can't be true.
I don't know, I'm 21.
It's kind of early. Did you start at 17?Yeah.
November. December birthday. You're young.
You're 22.
So this was my junior year.

(46:40):
Gotcha. My junior year. Right.
I hadmy I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled.
But I had been readingthis is my first time reading.
Like the hot Vegeta.
It was my first time really gettinginto like, Hinduism and Buddhism, and.
I was like, all about it.
And like Siddartha teaches us
like, emotions are not real, right?

(47:01):
Like pain is the only realitythat that you can really feel right.
Because your happiness is your happiness.
Your happiness is my happiness, right?
Emotions are subjective, right?But pain is not.
Pain is pain.
And I was like, yo,get in my wisdom teeth pull with no drugs.
Okay, that's wild.
Wild? You're not kidding.

(47:21):
I had to sign a waiver
the whole night that I wouldn'tlike punch the dentist right?
I got three wisdom teeth
extracted, sewn up nothing.
And I and I left there and walked
to a tattoo shop
and got and got pain tattooed on me,

(47:44):
bro. And I looked so crazybecause I got the guy's.
I gotta go.
I got tacos in my mouthuntil contract night.
And I got the blood like dripping.
It's on my shirt. And they were like,what the hell?
Whatever, bro.
Sign a waiverbecause I had two waivers that day.
And that was cool.
So, like,
these are the four nobleTruths of Buddhism,

(48:05):
but they teach you that you can't youdon't.
You get them over time.
No one has true wisdom.
No one really, you know, manifest truth.
And until you have gottento that point in life.
So I waited and at the timewhen I felt like I hit all of those.
So for a while, I just had pain on me.
Yeah.

(48:25):
Until I mastered karma.
Yeah.
So what is. It? Pain. Karma?
What's the other one?Truth and wisdom. Truth and wisdom.
All right.
And then.
And. Yeah.
And then that's like
the four Noble Truths,which eventually leads you turn nirvana.
And that's no longerwhen you need to be reincarnated
because you've mastered your life.
Okay?

(48:46):
So you don'tyour soul can finally be at rest.
Pain.
Karma. Truth. Wisdom.
Nirvana.
Then you don't need. To be reincarnated.
Then you're done.
What teachings is this?
That's Buddhism. Buddhism? Yeah, right.
Because they teach that,you know God is in us.
But God is a light.

(49:06):
So it's up to us to keep that lightreally bright.
Sometimes it's very dim, but you keepcoming back if you keep getting it wrong.
Oh, man, I was really meanto this kind of person, man.
I was really mean to animals.
Let me come back and really figure it out.Let me get it right.
Let me get it right.
And then when you get it right, you know,
and then I just, I went,

(49:28):
I went Saturday, I got some,I got some little Keith
Haring guys wear on my legs.
And I went, yeah, on my leg.I'll show you.
Give Shin. I'm pretty flexible.
With shin tatsbecause shin tats look like they hurt.
Oh, you got Papa Smurf?
Yeah.
Oh, we just got some new KeithHaring little blinkers in there.
Got the boombox, got the little robot.
Oh, keep that up. Let's see.We got Brutus.

(49:50):
Luigi, Bluto, Luigi or Coco from here.
Let's go. Is that. Zelda? Yeah, yeah.
Link, Barney,Wade, Barney and the Flintstones.
Yeah.
Going from the Flintstones publishedFranken berries on the other side.
Is that the Lorax, Scrooge McDuck,the Lorax?
Yeah, yeah.
That was my. That was my my right legs.

(50:10):
My old to the 80s.
My my left legs are old to the 90s.
That's pretty.
Cool. Yeah. So that's my recent one man.
My buddy doc.
Two penny tattoo. Shout out to them.
They did them all. Yeah.
No no no no they did not.
They did the last 4 or 5 years.
This guy do you likeI want to shout him out.
Podcast. Guess most views.
He's he's in a band. Okay.

(50:33):
What band.
It's called Higgins in a general.
Okay.
So we got Higginsand the general tatted up dope,
and he says, you know, most peopletreat their body like a church.
Me, I treat my body like an amusementpark.
He's tatted up, so. I like that.
You got any?
You don't go.
Whoa, I know I want.
That's more rare, right.Shout out to. You.

(50:56):
But that's more rare I. Do you want any.
Yeah,I want the Notre Dame. Fine Irish guy.
Casper the friendly ghost.
Okay. Map of Ireland.
My girls nicknames somewhere.
You know, why would you do the FightingIrish?
Just maybe that one right there.
Joey Best, my best friend. Ha!
I love that. On a heart.

(51:18):
Fighting Irish always like Notre Dame.
Did you go there? No. Have you been?
Yes. Okay.
I want my girls.
One of my kidsgot to go. Oh, man, that's so dope.
So dope. Did you go into the church?Did you worship there?
Did you pray there? Oh, no.
No, I touched down Jesus, the grotto,the Joy center.
Nice. And a game.
I saw him play back.
I saw him play Stanford.

(51:41):
And I saw him
play Navy,a giant stadium army at Yankee Stadium.
Okay, I remember that. The Pinstripe Bowl.
Yeah, I remember that. Yeah,that was a good one.
And then that's it.
That's dope man. Where did you go? You.
Southern. Southern.
Southern Connecticut.
New Haven or New Haven show
cafe nine.
Yeah. Where is that cafe nine?
It's right there on Crown Street.

(52:02):
Crown. Right.
I think it's Crown State Street.
Line.
Oh, State Street.
Yeah, that's right
next to Christopher Martin's in ModernPizza's on State Street.
Yeah.
Yeah, a little bit down the further downthe road from like barcade.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
We got a follow up question, butthe first question is favorite restaurant.
Which favorite restaurant?
Oh, bro, you're killing me, man.

(52:24):
I told you like I got my sponsors.Everyone says that.
Why does it have to be in West Hartford?
Doesn't have to be in Hartford.
You can name a few
favorite restaurants.
My girl, my girl's big on sushi.
My girl's big on sushi.
So? So we do Ginza. Okay.

(52:45):
We do Ginza.
They have a couple different restaurants.
We do the Ginza bar houseon the southwest.
Dean. Amazing food class one.
In Hartford, okay.
Street? No, no, no.
Parallel to Pabst, Pratt street.
Yeah.I don't know what you're talking about.
Fang. Yeah. You said. Yeah,I used to go there to.
Yeah. No, it's the same.I think it's the same business world.
Oh, okay.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

(53:07):
So that that's that's major for me.
I'm also a big fan of Indian,
and I've been going to BombayOlive for, like, maybe 25 years now.
Yeah, yeah.They're bringing back the buffet.
That's my guy bro. Yeah. Shout out to him.
Got to go around the corner.
My guy Rinku brings me over there. Okay.
My students dad is the chef,so I got the Bombay out.

(53:28):
Yeah. Let's go make. That's fire.
That's my next interview. Mimosas.
Oh, no.
Some of Moses.
My bad.
Some. No, it's all good. Yeah.So Moses with the.
Oh my God, with the mango.
Oh, and the rice with, the spinach.
Yeah. Okay. So you do the spinach.
Was that the korma?
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.
You do the. Korma.

(53:49):
Lamb.
Yeah, I like this, I like.
This, he the Saheed paneer.
We'll do shahi paneer like a spicy.
Yeah.
Got to get the sweatsgoing, man. Uncomfortable.
I live right there too.
Yeah I could oh, yeah.
You told me that's where you walkyour dog. Yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah. Right there. That's.
Yeah. Dora was great,man. Dora reached out to me.
Dora is actually a sponsor.
They're just not like they just sponsoredour raffle, which is awesome.

(54:10):
I think they're waiting to see, like,how well this year goes, and
and maybe we'll be able
to continue that conversationand they'll be, like, a shirt sponsor, so.
Oh, yeah, I'm happy for them.They do great stuff.
Dora is phenomenal.
Yeah.
Scott Miller, owner okay.
Podcast guess word.
Yeah. They sponsor our golf tournament.
They price150 egg sandwiches in the coffee.
Oh that's. So they go like this.The egg sandwiches, they're gone.

(54:32):
They're right hereI believe it. Brioche bread.
Oh. Mint buttery. Just. Yeah.
I might have to come out for that, man.
I'm a. Scratch.I'm a scratch golfer. Okay,
well, wait, wait.
Hold on. What a timeout.What a scratch golfer for me.
I mean, it's like you're good.
You're really okay. I'm not.
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.
But I'm also not.
Putting up sevens and eights. Every hole.Okay.

(54:52):
We can use you.
Maybe you want to wrap out a hole.
I'll. Hey. Wrap all theirtheir golf. I'll do it.
Yeah. And I could just, like,make fun of them.
I got heckle them.
I got I'll do that.
We had Connor game day. Connor. Yeah.
Does the heckle hole. Oh.
Maybe you could split the day.
I mean, we can't do it. You do it,I love it.
Yeah. Just tap. Yeah.
So we can go. In shortsand look at this guy. Sponsor. Oh.

(55:13):
Rosita's. Nike.
You know. Oh. Roast him.Okay. Yeah. You're right.
And then they pay you to be quiet,
or they pay you extra to get on theirboard to get on that. Most
game day, Connery is like 400 bucks.
That's cool.
That's awesome. Oh. You're in. We got you.
Perfect for that. I would love that.
That's so much fun.
Yeah. So you're again. So.
Yeah.
Ginza Bombay

(55:33):
I love I think I like top like when I talkabout, like, sushi and Indian, but.
Like, I'm on the out of. Great.
Yeah, actually, I did a podcast,I did, I did it taste of India,
but I, I did a podcast in therebit laugh love.
He is a Nepali
world famous judo international champion.

(55:55):
That's fine. I'm on the podcast.That's great.
You got a proclamation?
Proclamation from the mayorthat day. Okay.
And he came on the podcast.Oh, I love this.
Really cool. I should check that one out.
Have you gotten one yet?
As a man, what's hard for giving youanything they gotta give you, you know?
Come on.
What's up with that?What's up with I got a day.
They gave me a day. Star. Yeah, we're.
Yeah. Little ronin,

(56:16):
the brony.
Give me. That today. Absolutely.
No, that's what I'm saying.
You got it.You got to put in a put in a call.
We got to give me a dayand what's. I was on the podcast.
All right?
I got a, honoree of the.
Yeah, West Hartford committees,Saint Patrick's Day parade.
So I got the honoree.I got something for that. That's cool.
But I want to come. Hop on the float.

(56:37):
They put you on a float? Yeah.
Nice wave.
I got to get to be a good friend.
Dude. What?
That's that's that's it right there.
All right, so you're at Bombay Olive?
Yeah. For guests that are alive.
Who you and what.
Do these are? Great.
These are great.
And we'll do recommendations.

(56:57):
Closing remarks.
For. Guests. For guests that are live.
Oh, my. Even with.
What time are we?
Stefania. Yeah.
How are we doing?
I'm going to hate my I'm going to I'm.
No I'm going to hate my answer.
This is going to be I'm going to.

(57:18):
90. Yeah.
Between 90. 690.
Wow. Hour and a half.
We talking that much 56.
Oh okay. I was like an hour and a half.
All right.
No, I like this guy.My phone is getting cold.
Let's go.
Socrates.
Okay.
Because you're a philosophy guy.

(57:38):
Let's go, Malcolm X.
Let's go.
Reza.
Bobby. Digital. Bobby.
Do do do do do do do do do.
What was his grave digger? Same.
The resurrected.
That's where it came from.
No, no. Grave diggers was first. Yeah.

(57:59):
You sure? Positive.
I don't know about that 100%, bro.
What are you talking about? You don't knowabout that? I'll flip this table.
Yeah, I love the game.
Yeah, yeah, yeah,that was me. Yeah. The resurrected.
Absolutely.
Six feet deep came outmaybe like 11 months
before into the 36 chambers.

(58:20):
I'm my fourth,
right?
Oh, man.
Maybe like Mother Teresa.
Okay. I would love to.
I would love.
To just give her an audienceand lay her at the table.
You know, she's very soft spoken.
And sometimes she could get steamrolledby the other people that she was alive
with in the time of her, really herheaviest left in, like, her peaceful life.

(58:42):
But I want to make sure there's somegood women representation at that table.
Risa,
Mother Teresa.
Malcolm X, Malcolm X Socrates.
Interesting. Yeah, I like it. Yeah.
We need a translator. Yes.
What language is Italianfor Mother Teresa?
Yeah. Greek?

(59:03):
Yeah. Greek are a dead language. Yeah.
No reason.
Whatever. He speaks not to,
you gotta diversify your bomb.
Yo. Facts.
Do you want to kick some bar?
Speaking of bars, get a little something.
Say something about the Friendsof Fini podcast.
Being a good friend.

(59:24):
I got nothing.
Nothing. Okay, fine. I had a gift for you.
If I rap.
If you rap.
Okay,
I got I got to keep it clean. No,
we'll put a parental advisory stickerright here.
Doom.
Joey Bass with hip hop for the homeless.
You know, I'm on this channelwith my boy Feeney.

(59:45):
You know we hopeless.
Just a couple of guys. Podcast.
And in the pizza shopabout to make the pizzas drop.
We got the stickers.
We got the blister, the names.
Everybody. No, we're not playing games.
Joey Bats talking about the tourthat's coming up.
Three weeks in Connecticut, man.
That's what's up.
I'll be your best friend.
You could be a good friend.We could drink some water.

(01:00:07):
We could have some seltzer to the endis ginger ale wings and some meatballs.
Homie on the stage rocking with Vinny.
That's why we only. Only a.
Couple of cats looking for sponsors,trying to do what we can. Man.
You can go to Barney's
with the bricks, with the shows,with the raps, with the beats.
Everybody knows that we do good feet.

(01:00:28):
Be a good friend,be a good human to the human being.
Connecticut. We looking at you?
Let's go. Yeah.
Be good friend, be a friend.
Told you I got something for you.
You just came in today.
Yo, come on.
Be a good friend. Beanies.
These are cleaned up.

(01:00:51):
These are real clean.
You did.
You did the the the wordsand you did the embroidery.
Yeah. See how it looks on you
fancy.
Yeah,
I'm a look. Good. Looking good.
You never look better,actually. Looking proper.

(01:01:13):
Looking proper.
I love this, brother. Thank you so much.
Thank you for being a good friend.
Thank you for coming on the podcast.
Episode 121 Joey Bats Big Tour coming up.
Please go out and support.
We have all these different dates.
We'll share the link.
I got to be your number oneinterview on here. What?
What kind of. Numbers I gotta break.
Number one.

(01:01:34):
No speed it 1200. Okay. 600.
Number two.
All right, so 1200 was at Dylan Lock.
Okay. Higgins in the General Herd.
He had a concert after the rally.
Fox played at Connor. He's at Yale now.
All right?
He's number two.
Dope.
Got to either top them or right around.
What's it going to be on YouTube.
YouTube, Spotify, Apple?
Anywhereyou could get your podcast. Oh, God.

(01:01:55):
Please subscribe. Download.We're going to beat that.
Beat it. Yeah.
Got any recommendations before we go out?
Podcasts, books,
shows, hip hop concerts.
Any personal. Recommended?
I mean, I'm going to recommend myself,man. I'm going to be honest with you, man.
I mean, the only recommendations I canare try your hardest to come to a show.

(01:02:17):
We try to hit every market in Connecticut.
We're all over this whole little state.
But please do what you can.
I know it's toughif you got to find a babysitter,
if you gotta find some time,if you gotta find a pet sitter, a dogs
that are catsand do what you can't come out.
You don't even have to staythe whole night.
Come with an open mind.
Come with an open heart.
Buy a shirt, donate to a good cause.

(01:02:38):
It sounds so clicheand it sounds like I'm trying to sell
you guys on this so much,but you will feel so much better.
It's so funny how it works.
I'm telling you, at first I didn'teven believe it, but you just feel.
So different.
Now. Is it like a typical show?You have a couple acts.
Guys go upthere, does three songs. The next person.

(01:03:00):
Goes,yeah, a little bit longer. I'm trying to.
I'm also trying to changethe stigma of hip hop as well.
So everybody, every performerwill have 20 to 25 minutes.
They get a full chance toto really develop their brand
and to really let people know
what kind of artist they areand what kind of performer they are.
So every show has about 7 or 8 performers.

(01:03:22):
And then, you know, we got a DJkeep the vibe going.
But it's just it's amazing, man.
Every show is just so positive.
And people love it, man.So that's my recommendation.
I like to do a friggin show.
I'll be there.
Can't wait. I'm looking forward to it.
Got my shirt, got my sticker.
Don't be stylin. I'm a recommend.
Did you have you read this?Who? Move my cheese.

(01:03:45):
Yeah. You read this? Yeah.
We talked a lot about thatin my own little program.
You see.
So are you.
What are you, a ham or.
Ha, a sniff or a scurry?
I'm a scary. Scurry.
What makes you a scary?
When when people.
When when people feel unsettled.
Man, I find the best thing to dois just kind of, like, frantically

(01:04:07):
move around and try to shake it.
Shake something, make it happen.
So yeah, you got to
understand that change cheese is likesomething you're trying to achieve.
You know, change happens.
Anticipate change, monitor change, adaptquickly to change, enjoy the change
and be ready to change quicklyand enjoy it again and again.

(01:04:27):
Oh yeah, it's on page 71.They always leave notes.
This guy scary.
Oh he's leavingpositive messages on the wall. Yep.
I was going to give this to you.
You want to read it?
You want to share with a. Friend I was.
I would love to share it with a friend.
I mean, like I said, I got a copybecause we had to buy it at Wksu
in my own not two program,but I would love to share the wealth.

(01:04:49):
Quick read.
There's someone.
There's someone at my schoolwho's in and on on two program,
so I would definitely give that to them.
That'll beyou just did my Secret Santa for me.
Oh good idea.
I want to share this with Joey Batswho move my cheese.
Jonah Francisrecommended it on the podcast.
Okay. Took me ten episodes.
I finally read it. So thank you. Jonah.

(01:05:11):
But I highly suggestedthey have a who move like cheese for kids.
Who who move my cheese for teens.
There's another book item, the maze.
Unfortunately, this doctor's doctor,Spencer Johnson, passed away.
Just found that out.
All right, that's for you.
There's a dope one. I got a book for you.
The book of the samurai.
By. Haggar. Kiri.
Check it out.All right, book of the samurai.

(01:05:33):
I'm gonna write that downnow. Blowing your mind.
Hagar. Q Ari.
Book of the samurai.
Right down the Hagar.
Carry the Hagar Q Ari.
Hagar.
Carry. Yeah.
Blow your mind, bro.

(01:05:55):
Well.
It's crazy because it's just a bunch ofexcerpts about how to be like a samurai.
It's outdated. AF, but.
Just reading. It.
It puts you in a wild perspective.
It'll just it'll just say same thing,really short, really easy to read
because it doesn't. It'snot a cover to cover book.
It's like the daodejingjust little excerpts.

(01:06:15):
Okay. Right.
But it's like a
don't run in a rainstorm.
But it means move.
Move slowlyand you will get equally as wet.
You just think about it.
You just like, throw what?
But it's so profound, man.
It's so profound.Check it out. You'll dig it even if.

(01:06:36):
You don't read the whole thing.Yuri! Papa! Papa!
Papa!
Book of the samurai.
Yeah. Rules for a nightwas pretty good too.
But I like this.
I had to carry. Yeah. Books.
Book. Take it out.Put it on your Christmas list, man.
Maybe a lady will get it for you.
Well, thanks for being a good.
Friend, dude. I got a hat.
I got a book. It's a good day.We get to break bread.
This is amazing.

(01:06:56):
Joey.
Thank you so much, brother.
Closing remarks Joey bats.
No, man.
Thank you so much, I appreciate it.I love what you do.
I think it's really important for us to,
to help out the people who sometimes knowthey need help.
But a lot of timesthe people who need help
don't even recognize that they need help.
And sometimes we just do it quietlyand we do silently,
and we do a lot behind the scenes.

(01:07:17):
And because I do so much behindthe scenes, I know you do as well.
So it's nice to be seenfrom someone who operates just like me.
I appreciate that.
I think we both vibrateon similar wavelength,
and it's just really coolto just chop it up with you.
Yeah. No,it was a great, great conversation.
Like, you could have been 90 minutes.Could have been two hours.
I had a great time talking with you,Joey Bats.

(01:07:38):
Ladies and gentlemen, hiphop for the homeless teacher, rapper
extraordinaire, MC.
Great person, good friend.He's your best friend.
Oh yeah.
On three will say be a good friend.
The only 1 to 3. Be a good friend.

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