November 16, 2021 • 30 mins
On Episode Two of "Takin A Walk" Buzz Knight and Boston radio legend Wally Brine take a walk around Walden Pond.
Wally is retired after an amazing career as co-host of The Loren and Wally morning show on 105.7 WROR but he ALWAYS has a lot on his mind!
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Wally is retired after an amazing career as co-host of The Loren and Wally morning show on 105.7 WROR but he ALWAYS has a lot on his mind!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Podcast play down on this week's episode of Taking a
Walk with Buzz Night. Hey, Wally Brian here and I
am having the most delightful day taking a walk on
the paths around Walden Pond. Out and conquered, and I'm
with Buzz Night. It doesn't get any better than this.
(00:24):
Here's Buzz. One of the many joys of taking a
walk is doing so with a friend, someone who you
truly enjoy, hanging with someone special. It's even better when
it's at a location that is special. Today, I'm taking
a walk. I'm here at Walden Pond with the one
the only, Wally Brian radio icon, Salt of the Earth
(00:51):
storyteller and friend. Wally. I am so excited to be
here taking a walk with you at Walden Pond. God,
isn't this wonderful? Oh my god? Look at this. You
know I could sprain both ankles on this path. I
don't want that to happen. This is a treacherous studio
(01:12):
you got here. It's such a beautiful place. But I
did pick one of the more rugged paths here. It
takes a lot. I'm sorry, It's okay, Yeah, jeez, Wally,
how are you my friend? Oh? I'm great. I am great,
And you know, I've really enjoyed the pandemic. What was
(01:33):
the most fun about it? Well, I never get sick,
you know, because I wear a mask most of the time.
And I probably many many people have experienced this. We
don't get colds anymore, right, because we're wearing masks when
we go into any place. You know, I have one
out here. I don't wear one, but you know, go
(01:56):
to a if you go to a restaurant, which my
wife is very new of us about doing, so we
don't do that very often unless it's outdoor seating, right,
but even going into a Walmart or you know whatever,
you got a mask on. And I think it's really
made us a healthier community. Well, it's good for people
(02:17):
who you know, are shut ins because they don't have
to do anything different. Very good point. That's a good point. Yeah,
but yeah, it's and fun. By the way, remember fun,
I remember fun? Yeah? But what was your original question?
I kind of got you. How I am? Yeah, Well,
(02:37):
I'm good, I'm good. Yeah, I'm retired. For those of
you listening in Czechoslovakia, I used to be on the
radio and you know that was a five day a week.
You know, early morning job, and it was a grind.
It was a grind, but not that bad. I mean,
(03:00):
I don't want people really sorry for me. It wasn't
that bad, but the hours were not particularly good. But yeah,
so it's nice to be able to sleep in a bit.
What's an average day look like for you? Well, I,
you know, I used to wake up or get up
(03:22):
at two thirty in the morning. Oh boy, so now
I don't get up till six, and people think sex, jeez,
that's still really early. Well not when you've been getting
up at two thirty six, is really sleeping in? Yeah,
so I get up at six. I'm a huge sports fan. Okay,
so I have we have a network in Boston, New
(03:47):
England Sports Network Nessen. You know, they do the Bruins
games and Celts games and Red Sox games. So they
have this thirty minute recap of the previous day's sports
every morning. They just keep repeating it starting at six o'clock.
So I always watch that and I'm able to stay
(04:07):
up to speed on what's going on with my favorite teams.
And then so what happens after that, Well, usually I'll
have some breakfast, you know, I have My wife is
a fabulous shopper. She goes to the grocery store every
(04:28):
week and stocks up on all kinds of stuff. Healthy
stuff too, A lot of it is, yes, which is
not my thing really, but you know, she's got the
yogurt and the flaxyed you know, all kinds of things
that I never used to eat, right, but I'm trying
(04:50):
to be good. Now. You look fabulous, by the way.
Oh well, thank you to think so. Really he's felt.
Oh that's not true boyish, I might say. Boyish. Well,
I don't know about that. But and you got a
nice haircut for me too, I did. I wanted to
look good on the microphone. There you go. So yeah,
I got cleaned up quite a bit, all right, So
(05:11):
back to your day. Yeah, well the rest of the day. Well,
you know, I try to do one thing a day.
And I think I've told you this before. Yes, I
love this. I try to do this. Was my wife
came up with this, You should try to do one
thing a day, so you know, so you know, some
days I'll empty the dishwasher and I'll check off one
(05:34):
thing a day and then the you know, or you know,
clean out some stuff in the garage or take the
car and get it washed. So you know, one of
my favorite depictions of that that you captured in photo
(05:57):
that I love if I just want to put a
smile on my face, you know, I look at the
picture and it's you with a toilet seat with your
head through the center of it. And you said that
was your one thing for the day. Yes, well, I
think we should mention that my wife is in the
(06:19):
real estate business and occasionally she has me help her
move things around in a property that she's listed or whatever.
So sometimes very rarely, but sometimes there's a little heavy
lifting too bad. Which path here? Do you think we
should go down here? At the Walden Pond? We're going
(06:40):
this is woods path? Does that sound like? Yeah? That
was fun? Oh yeah yeah. Well do you think Henry
David Threaux would have gone, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's
fine as he was walking here. Yes, Henry David Threaux.
I don't know if your listeners know about it, Henry
David Threaux, but he actually had a cabin here yep,
and a little tiny they've recreated it to whatever his
(07:01):
specs were, and it had room for a bed, like
a little woodstove, and and he would. He would stay
there for weeks and write and play his guitar, and
Don Henley would come over and they would compose things.
It was. Yeah, he was an interesting guy, very interesting,
(07:23):
very thoughtful, and you know, walking and thoughtfulness and mindfulness
all go hand in hand. I know, as the as
the name Wally Bryan and the mere mention of Wally
Brian goes with mindfulness. Yeah, thoughtfulness and all those things. Yeah,
so let me let me give you a little bit
more about my day though. Okay, this is just the
(07:46):
podcast has a you know, no end date, so we're oh,
I can hear the whole. I can hear literally like
a travelogue your day. A lot of times I will
get up, have my breakfast, and then in this counts
as my one thing to day, I put the cushions
out on the paddy, I roll up the umbrella, put
(08:08):
the cushions out, and I have a motorcycle, and that's
one of my favorite things to do. I have several
rules about the motorcycle. Number one, it's not the greatest
thing in the hot summer because it's just too uncomfortable.
So the best time to ride actually with your shirt off. Yes,
(08:31):
the best time I think is spring and fall. I mean,
like in the fall when the leaves are starting to
change and you go for a motorcycle ride. Oh my god,
it's fantastic. And usually there's a frap at the end
of the road that you know, bed farms frap. Yes, right, yes,
(08:54):
so you know there's that. And then I have a
boat down in Rhode Island that my dad had purchased
and I inherited, and we go boating quite a bit. Yep,
not a lot, I guess, but you know weekends when
we can get down there. See, my wife's still working,
(09:16):
so that curtails a lot of trips through Rhode Island.
Well you find the way. I find a way. I mean,
I hate to go down there and have fun without her,
but guy's got to do what he has to do.
Occasionally it happens. Yeah, So you know there's that. Let's
see what else do I do? You know, we joke
(09:39):
about the pandemic, which isn't funny, but that's really curtailed
a lot of the things that you can do, so
I don't probably once this thing is over, if ever
I supposedly it'll end at some point. There's other things
that I have on my wish list. You'll travel, Yes,
you love to travel, to travel, but I do feel
(10:02):
one of the hidden benefits, I hate to put it
that way of the pandemic has been, uh, you know,
we live in such a beautiful area, you know, whether
it be you're a state that you have in Massachusetts
or your Rhode Island estate state. I don't think that's
a little high brow, but yes, okay, but we do
(10:25):
seriously live in this amazing, amazing part of the country.
And I know, me personally, I rediscovered or discovered new
places to go to to walk now having two dogs,
you know, it's it's it's been a joy really and
then the other joy has just been I don't know,
(10:48):
it feels like there's been more of an influx of nature.
I don't know why, I agree because there was less
traffic or something like that, but the more influx of
nature has been truly delightful as well. So I think
there's things, you know, finding or rediscovering beautiful places such
(11:09):
as Walden Pond. And I know they've experienced the Walden
Woods Project. People a boom and you know, attendance good,
all this. I did not know that. Yeah, So even
though they've had a shut down the facility itself. They
still offer a lot online and all of that, so
(11:30):
I think, you know, I think it's it's a byproduct.
It happened for sure. Well you know. The other The
other thing that I do quite often now is bicycle riding.
And as is the case here, I've been over here
on my bicycle. I'm not I don't live that far
from here. But again, like on a motorcycle, when you're
(11:53):
out on a bicycle and the smells that you go
through on a bike ride, it's which it's awakening, it is,
it is, and it's really a cool thing. In the leaves.
Of course, it'll be really starting to kick up their
aroma in the fall, and that'll be great. One of
the things I love about Wally is how he tells
(12:13):
a story and literally you you light up when you
tell a story, really you do. It's you don't even
realize it. So what's the earliest you remember somebody telling
you a story? Wow? Well, clearly it would have been
(12:35):
my mother. Oh I know what it was. I can
actually answer this. My dad grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts,
which is just outside of Boston, maybe ten miles. I
don't think it'd be more than that. And he lived
in Arlington Heights and he's his brother, his older brother.
(12:57):
I used to go out into the woods because back
then development had we're talking nineteen thirties, nineteen twenties probably
the Arlington was still a pretty small community. And his
brother would go out looking for firewood for the family
woodstove in the kitchen, and they would his brother would
(13:21):
go out first, and my father was maybe still in
school a little later because he was younger, and then
he would go out and at the edge of the woods.
This it's a perfect place to do. Oh it was
the traffic reporter. It's going to see much here. He
would go and he would stand at the edge of
(13:43):
the woods and his brother would be up in a
tree with a saw and he'd be sawing away. And
they had this call that they used to do, like woo,
you know, that kind of thing. And my father used
to tell me this story when I was a little kid.
You know. It was a bedtime store. Yeah, And I
could visualize my uncle, his brother up in a tree
(14:06):
with the saw and my father wandering through trying to
find him. And I've never forgotten that story. That was
that had a big impact on me. I know it's
pretty simple, but you know I knew both characters in
the story, and it's it's visual too, Yes, if you
could see it happening in real time, HuLos, which is
(14:31):
the beauty of it. I'd like to make a motion here.
One of the greatest stories that you've told. You can
tell a version of it if you like, or it's
something to you. I know I don embarrass you, but
this Tiffany story is a legendary story. And my motion
(14:52):
that I'm going to make here is that twas the
Night before Christmas gets replaced by the Tiffany story. What
do you what do you think of that? Sure? Sure,
I'm okay with that. Yes, So you want me to
tell it right now? Okay? Why not? All right? I
was I was working in Buston at the Prudential Tower.
(15:15):
We were getting close to Christmas. I wanted to get
my wife Christmas present, something nice, you know, I didn't
want to cheap out. So I went to the mall
in the city right across from where we worked at
the Prudential Tower, and there was a Tiffany's in there,
and I thought, you know, I'll just go and I
(15:36):
have no idea what I'm looking for, but I'll see
what I can come up with. So I'm walking around Tiffany's.
I'm looking at all the you know, jewelry cases and stuff,
and of course it's pretty pricey in there, as you
may know. So you looked at me as if you
didn't think I've ever been in there. So up on
the back wall were shelves and there was a silver
(16:00):
teapot up there, and I was like, that would be
perfect because Jody loves tea, and you know, probably several
times a week she will brew a pot of tea,
so that I want to get that, so I said.
So Eventually the woman came over that was working there,
(16:21):
and can I help you? Yes, how much is the
teapot up? That that one right there? It's beautiful. It
had a you know, nice little fancy handle on it.
It wasn't big, but it was nice. She said, that's
sixty two fifty. I'm thinking to myself, geez, sixty two
to fifty, I can afford that. So I said, okay,
(16:42):
I think I want to get that, and thinking in
my mind, I'm going sixty two to fifty that's not
really spending that much on my wife. I said, what
about like a cream thing, a creamer and maybe a
sugar bowl. Oh, yes, we can, Yes, we have something
that matches that teapot. I go, great, I want to
take that too. So she goes and she gets everything,
(17:05):
puts it on the counter. I'm looking it all over,
and so I'm figuring in my mind, Okay, if the
teapot is sixty two fifty, the creamer can't be much
more than twenty five thirty bucks. The sugar things probably
the same. So I'm barely over one hundred dollars now.
So I said, okay, I want to take those. And
(17:29):
that's not you know, that's not really enough. So I said,
what else? What else can you show me? So she
takes me over to this jewelry case and there was
a beautiful necklace in there, and I asked her how
much it was. The price escapes me now, but it was,
you know, it was probably four hundred dollars maybe. So
(17:52):
I'm like, okay, this is going to be good. I'm
going to be a hero at Christmas with all this.
So I said, okay, oh what am I going to
owe you now? And of course the sixty two fifty
was six two hundred and fifty dollars, and the creamer
and the coffee pot were probably two grand each. The
(18:13):
necklace is four or five hundred dollars. She named some
ridiculous price. I'm in thousands of dollars, right, And I'm
like no, And I had to try not to look stupid. Eve.
I was really stupid, so I said to her, and
(18:34):
I knew I couldn't get all this. I said, I'm
gonna have to make up a couple of changes here.
Why don't we keep the necklace? I really I don't
think I can afford to keep the teapot and the
creamer and the sugar thing. And anyway, it was pretty embarrassing,
to say the least two of it. I could see
(18:56):
it as you were telling that story. I could see
it as if I was there. Yeah, well you should
have been there, and I would have been pointing at you,
just laughing my ass off. Yeah, I mean, oh, oh
my god. You know one of your favorite things? Yes,
I know, it's food. Oh yeah, I think it's probably
(19:17):
top three favorite things. Oh, absolutely right. Yeah, we don't
have to. We don't have to get an order of
what your top three favorite things. We don't need to
embarrass you. Well, I was a fan of what was
the guy's name on Popeye that they used to eat
all the hamburgers, Wimpy. Wimpy is that it is? That's
(19:41):
the right name. Yeah. So I used to watch Popeye
cartoons because my dad was in the business and he
had a kids show and he used to show Popeye actors.
And I loved Wimpy because he loved hamburgers and I
loved hamburgers. And so I think the line was gladly,
pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today, and so that
(20:06):
was that. That is today still today, a hamburger is
maybe my top favorite thing. Oh yeah, and you know,
being like being in New England, love fried clans, Oh yeah,
could go to you know, I could name two or
three of the best places around for fried clams and uh.
(20:28):
And then you know, of course I'm a steak guy,
so you know, any good steakhouse, I'm there, I'm I'm
willing to go. Well, how about three places that are
sort of buried treasure sort of spots that maybe people
have heard of maybe they haven't that you like, of
(20:50):
any type for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything. Okay, Well,
let's do Helen's Helens in Conquered. Yes they have great
breakfast there. Yes, they do very good, and the wait
staff is great and delightful. It's a busy place. Yes,
(21:11):
it's tough to get into, but it's very good. I
know people there, so you do okay. And you know,
as far as like steak places, of course, Capitol Grill
when they burst on the scene, been quite a few
years now. They have excellent steaks. And a buddy of
(21:33):
mine who used to work there has his own place
now called the Federal in Waltham, mass and that's got
great steaks too. And what are they leaving now, Well,
those are some good ones. Yeah, those are good ones.
Those are good ones. And then for seafood, which I'm
(21:54):
not a gigantic fan of seafood, but I do like
clans and my there's a couple of places up in
Essex that are very good. The clam Box, which is
actually in Ipswich, I believe, And then there's a place
(22:15):
called Varnums which is in Essex, I think. And what's
the big one right on the men Drag in Essex.
Everybody goes there, and of course I can't remember right now,
but if I had my phone, I could look it up,
we could call them, but I don't have that with me.
(22:35):
But I know many of you out there are screaming
at the speaker right now, what the name of the pass?
And it's escaped me. But anyway, that's that town Essex,
Ipswich for fried clams. Excellent, excellent. So did you ever
think in your lifetime you would see two things become legalized?
(23:00):
Betting and marijuana. I never would have believed that. Well, betting,
I mean, first of all, I don't gamble, so it
didn't really matter to me. The marijuana thing, I never
thought that would be legalized. I you know, I thought
(23:22):
that for the rest of my life I would be
calling up Joe and seeing what was available. But but no,
and it, you know, and it's amazing. I hate to
be a proponent of a drug like that, but you know,
(23:44):
in all honesty, I would rather see my kids, who
are all adults now, all twenty of them. I would
rather see them doing a little smoking of weed than
and getting all messed up on booze, because I think
(24:04):
it's more dangerous. Alcohol is more dangerous. It's just my opinion,
and maybe I'm wrong. Who knows if I'm right about that.
I don't know what you're right or wrong about, So
who cares. We're just taking a walk of So what
does it matter? Beautiful day? The air is just right,
(24:25):
It's just awesome. What's the most fun that Wally Bryant
has with his pants on? Wow? As I mentioned, I
love boting, Yes, but that's only like a pair of
short pants for boating, right, But with my pants on? Now?
(24:47):
You know? I, you know what, buzz I pretty much
like everything? Yes, I just enjoy life. And I learned
that from my dad, who just embraced living, yeah, you know, working, playing,
whatever it was he was. He just appreciated every second
(25:07):
he had and I kind of follow along those lines
as long as I've known you, and I would see
you almost every day, you know, Yes, and Wally I
used to have a Wally would come in to my
office and he would say, what is it you do? Right?
And I would, you know, come up with some feeble
(25:29):
attempt to rationalize my existence, and Wally would look at
me and he would just call bs on it. Oh,
but I never in my time of seeing you on
a regular basis. And then subsequently, you know, I would
see you less if I was traveling, but I would
still see it. I don't recall you having a bad day.
(25:51):
Now you may have, but I don't recall you ever
like exhibiting that behavior and wearying that And we all
haven't look at the life I led. I mean, first
of all, as a kid, I had like I had
to leave it to beaver life. You know, I was
living in a pretty nice neighborhood and I went to
(26:12):
a nice school. My friends were awesome. And then when
I got into the radio business, which is something I
wanted to do because my dad did it and I
you know, went to work with him when I was
little and thought, wow, this is cool. Play all your
favorite songs and you know, be a DJ. That was fun,
and I worked with marvelous people in the radio business.
(26:35):
I was, I've just been really lucky. I've really been lucky.
I've I've you know, my business partner in Boston, Lauren Owens,
is a phenomenal talent, and he covered up all of
my flaws. And you know, I would be, you know,
(26:57):
talking about something that I didn't know what I was
doing talking about, and he would be able to jump
in and pull me back out of the hole and
and then you know our subsequent teammates, newspeople, sports people,
voice talent. You know, I just worked with just marvelous people.
I was just so lucky and it really certainly in
(27:21):
the time that we worked in it. It's really a
tremendous business, right, Yeah, a tremendous business to be part of.
I have a buddy whose son is in it now.
Now you know, we're getting a little older, you and I,
but his son is like forty maybe forty five, and
(27:44):
the business has changed a lot, you know, technically, it's
changed a lot. And plus he doesn't even like this kid,
Like I loved going into the studio and doing the show,
you know, queuing up records and playing them, and you know,
loading up the machines with the commercials that are coming
(28:05):
up next to you. Don't do that anymore, right, It's
all computerized. You just hit the start button and it
goes by itself. And I think that's kind of sad
in a way. I do too. It's not hands on.
It's not hands on, because, yeah, right, the mechanics of
it were part of the magic of it. Yes, yes, yeah,
I would, I would agree completely. But taking it full circle,
(28:31):
I think, you know, talking to people who are around
the business today, there is less joy and I think
that you know, we're walking here, there's tremendous joy walking
here with a friend. That's part of the beauty of
taking a walk. The business that we just discussed, you know,
(28:53):
there was joy. You know, you woke up and you
were like, let's take the day on. You know, there
were tough moments, certainly to get through, right like you know,
nine to eleven sure as an example, but it was
also that responsibility that you took seriously, and it was
(29:14):
joyful moments, celebratory moments, sad moments, but it really, uh,
you know, the joy part disappearing definitely makes me sad,
but you know that's that's the way I evolve. But
and we're not the only business has this issue exactly.
(29:37):
It's tough tough out there. But I take great joy
and taking a walk. I take great joy and taking
a walk with a friend such as you. And this
has just been spectacular. Oh yeah, this is wonderful. I
you know, I don't get to Walden Pond as much
as I should. I live what fifteen minutes from here,
(29:58):
but this is a great spot right here, This little
trail you've found. I think we got to Oh, look
the Thorrow house. The arrow goes that way. We got
to go see if he's in. You want to see
if he's over there. Yeah, let's go check him out.
All right, Well, thank you for taking a walk. Oh
it was my pleasure. Thank you for inviting me, and
I hope everybody has a fabulous end to this year
(30:20):
and a great start to next year. Taking a Walk
with buzz Night is available on Spotify, iTunes, and wherever.
Podcasts are available.
Podcast play down on this week's episode of Taking a
Walk with Buzz Night. Hey, Wally Brian here and I
am having the most delightful day taking a walk on
the paths around Walden Pond. Out and conquered, and I'm
with Buzz Night. It doesn't get any better than this.
(00:24):
Here's Buzz. One of the many joys of taking a
walk is doing so with a friend, someone who you
truly enjoy, hanging with someone special. It's even better when
it's at a location that is special. Today, I'm taking
a walk. I'm here at Walden Pond with the one
the only, Wally Brian radio icon, Salt of the Earth
(00:51):
storyteller and friend. Wally. I am so excited to be
here taking a walk with you at Walden Pond. God,
isn't this wonderful? Oh my god? Look at this. You
know I could sprain both ankles on this path. I
don't want that to happen. This is a treacherous studio
(01:12):
you got here. It's such a beautiful place. But I
did pick one of the more rugged paths here. It
takes a lot. I'm sorry, It's okay, Yeah, jeez, Wally,
how are you my friend? Oh? I'm great. I am great,
And you know, I've really enjoyed the pandemic. What was
(01:33):
the most fun about it? Well, I never get sick,
you know, because I wear a mask most of the time.
And I probably many many people have experienced this. We
don't get colds anymore, right, because we're wearing masks when
we go into any place. You know, I have one
out here. I don't wear one, but you know, go
(01:56):
to a if you go to a restaurant, which my
wife is very new of us about doing, so we
don't do that very often unless it's outdoor seating, right,
but even going into a Walmart or you know whatever,
you got a mask on. And I think it's really
made us a healthier community. Well, it's good for people
(02:17):
who you know, are shut ins because they don't have
to do anything different. Very good point. That's a good point. Yeah,
but yeah, it's and fun. By the way, remember fun,
I remember fun? Yeah? But what was your original question?
I kind of got you. How I am? Yeah, Well,
(02:37):
I'm good, I'm good. Yeah, I'm retired. For those of
you listening in Czechoslovakia, I used to be on the
radio and you know that was a five day a week.
You know, early morning job, and it was a grind.
It was a grind, but not that bad. I mean,
(03:00):
I don't want people really sorry for me. It wasn't
that bad, but the hours were not particularly good. But yeah,
so it's nice to be able to sleep in a bit.
What's an average day look like for you? Well, I,
you know, I used to wake up or get up
(03:22):
at two thirty in the morning. Oh boy, so now
I don't get up till six, and people think sex, jeez,
that's still really early. Well not when you've been getting
up at two thirty six, is really sleeping in? Yeah,
so I get up at six. I'm a huge sports fan. Okay,
so I have we have a network in Boston, New
(03:47):
England Sports Network Nessen. You know, they do the Bruins
games and Celts games and Red Sox games. So they
have this thirty minute recap of the previous day's sports
every morning. They just keep repeating it starting at six o'clock.
So I always watch that and I'm able to stay
(04:07):
up to speed on what's going on with my favorite teams.
And then so what happens after that, Well, usually I'll
have some breakfast, you know, I have My wife is
a fabulous shopper. She goes to the grocery store every
(04:28):
week and stocks up on all kinds of stuff. Healthy
stuff too, A lot of it is, yes, which is
not my thing really, but you know, she's got the
yogurt and the flaxyed you know, all kinds of things
that I never used to eat, right, but I'm trying
(04:50):
to be good. Now. You look fabulous, by the way.
Oh well, thank you to think so. Really he's felt.
Oh that's not true boyish, I might say. Boyish. Well,
I don't know about that. But and you got a
nice haircut for me too, I did. I wanted to
look good on the microphone. There you go. So yeah,
I got cleaned up quite a bit, all right, So
(05:11):
back to your day. Yeah, well the rest of the day. Well,
you know, I try to do one thing a day.
And I think I've told you this before. Yes, I
love this. I try to do this. Was my wife
came up with this, You should try to do one
thing a day, so you know, so you know, some
days I'll empty the dishwasher and I'll check off one
(05:34):
thing a day and then the you know, or you know,
clean out some stuff in the garage or take the
car and get it washed. So you know, one of
my favorite depictions of that that you captured in photo
(05:57):
that I love if I just want to put a
smile on my face, you know, I look at the
picture and it's you with a toilet seat with your
head through the center of it. And you said that
was your one thing for the day. Yes, well, I
think we should mention that my wife is in the
(06:19):
real estate business and occasionally she has me help her
move things around in a property that she's listed or whatever.
So sometimes very rarely, but sometimes there's a little heavy
lifting too bad. Which path here? Do you think we
should go down here? At the Walden Pond? We're going
(06:40):
this is woods path? Does that sound like? Yeah? That
was fun? Oh yeah yeah. Well do you think Henry
David Threaux would have gone, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's
fine as he was walking here. Yes, Henry David Threaux.
I don't know if your listeners know about it, Henry
David Threaux, but he actually had a cabin here yep,
and a little tiny they've recreated it to whatever his
(07:01):
specs were, and it had room for a bed, like
a little woodstove, and and he would. He would stay
there for weeks and write and play his guitar, and
Don Henley would come over and they would compose things.
It was. Yeah, he was an interesting guy, very interesting,
(07:23):
very thoughtful, and you know, walking and thoughtfulness and mindfulness
all go hand in hand. I know, as the as
the name Wally Bryan and the mere mention of Wally
Brian goes with mindfulness. Yeah, thoughtfulness and all those things. Yeah,
so let me let me give you a little bit
more about my day though. Okay, this is just the
(07:46):
podcast has a you know, no end date, so we're oh,
I can hear the whole. I can hear literally like
a travelogue your day. A lot of times I will
get up, have my breakfast, and then in this counts
as my one thing to day, I put the cushions
out on the paddy, I roll up the umbrella, put
(08:08):
the cushions out, and I have a motorcycle, and that's
one of my favorite things to do. I have several
rules about the motorcycle. Number one, it's not the greatest
thing in the hot summer because it's just too uncomfortable.
So the best time to ride actually with your shirt off. Yes,
(08:31):
the best time I think is spring and fall. I mean,
like in the fall when the leaves are starting to
change and you go for a motorcycle ride. Oh my god,
it's fantastic. And usually there's a frap at the end
of the road that you know, bed farms frap. Yes, right, yes,
(08:54):
so you know there's that. And then I have a
boat down in Rhode Island that my dad had purchased
and I inherited, and we go boating quite a bit. Yep,
not a lot, I guess, but you know weekends when
we can get down there. See, my wife's still working,
(09:16):
so that curtails a lot of trips through Rhode Island.
Well you find the way. I find a way. I mean,
I hate to go down there and have fun without her,
but guy's got to do what he has to do.
Occasionally it happens. Yeah, So you know there's that. Let's
see what else do I do? You know, we joke
(09:39):
about the pandemic, which isn't funny, but that's really curtailed
a lot of the things that you can do, so
I don't probably once this thing is over, if ever
I supposedly it'll end at some point. There's other things
that I have on my wish list. You'll travel, Yes,
you love to travel, to travel, but I do feel
(10:02):
one of the hidden benefits, I hate to put it
that way of the pandemic has been, uh, you know,
we live in such a beautiful area, you know, whether
it be you're a state that you have in Massachusetts
or your Rhode Island estate state. I don't think that's
a little high brow, but yes, okay, but we do
(10:25):
seriously live in this amazing, amazing part of the country.
And I know, me personally, I rediscovered or discovered new
places to go to to walk now having two dogs,
you know, it's it's it's been a joy really and
then the other joy has just been I don't know,
(10:48):
it feels like there's been more of an influx of nature.
I don't know why, I agree because there was less
traffic or something like that, but the more influx of
nature has been truly delightful as well. So I think
there's things, you know, finding or rediscovering beautiful places such
(11:09):
as Walden Pond. And I know they've experienced the Walden
Woods Project. People a boom and you know, attendance good,
all this. I did not know that. Yeah, So even
though they've had a shut down the facility itself. They
still offer a lot online and all of that, so
(11:30):
I think, you know, I think it's it's a byproduct.
It happened for sure. Well you know. The other The
other thing that I do quite often now is bicycle riding.
And as is the case here, I've been over here
on my bicycle. I'm not I don't live that far
from here. But again, like on a motorcycle, when you're
(11:53):
out on a bicycle and the smells that you go
through on a bike ride, it's which it's awakening, it is,
it is, and it's really a cool thing. In the leaves.
Of course, it'll be really starting to kick up their
aroma in the fall, and that'll be great. One of
the things I love about Wally is how he tells
(12:13):
a story and literally you you light up when you
tell a story, really you do. It's you don't even
realize it. So what's the earliest you remember somebody telling
you a story? Wow? Well, clearly it would have been
(12:35):
my mother. Oh I know what it was. I can
actually answer this. My dad grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts,
which is just outside of Boston, maybe ten miles. I
don't think it'd be more than that. And he lived
in Arlington Heights and he's his brother, his older brother.
(12:57):
I used to go out into the woods because back
then development had we're talking nineteen thirties, nineteen twenties probably
the Arlington was still a pretty small community. And his
brother would go out looking for firewood for the family
woodstove in the kitchen, and they would his brother would
(13:21):
go out first, and my father was maybe still in
school a little later because he was younger, and then
he would go out and at the edge of the woods.
This it's a perfect place to do. Oh it was
the traffic reporter. It's going to see much here. He
would go and he would stand at the edge of
(13:43):
the woods and his brother would be up in a
tree with a saw and he'd be sawing away. And
they had this call that they used to do, like woo,
you know, that kind of thing. And my father used
to tell me this story when I was a little kid.
You know. It was a bedtime store. Yeah, And I
could visualize my uncle, his brother up in a tree
(14:06):
with the saw and my father wandering through trying to
find him. And I've never forgotten that story. That was
that had a big impact on me. I know it's
pretty simple, but you know I knew both characters in
the story, and it's it's visual too, Yes, if you
could see it happening in real time, HuLos, which is
(14:31):
the beauty of it. I'd like to make a motion here.
One of the greatest stories that you've told. You can
tell a version of it if you like, or it's
something to you. I know I don embarrass you, but
this Tiffany story is a legendary story. And my motion
(14:52):
that I'm going to make here is that twas the
Night before Christmas gets replaced by the Tiffany story. What
do you what do you think of that? Sure? Sure,
I'm okay with that. Yes, So you want me to
tell it right now? Okay? Why not? All right? I
was I was working in Buston at the Prudential Tower.
(15:15):
We were getting close to Christmas. I wanted to get
my wife Christmas present, something nice, you know, I didn't
want to cheap out. So I went to the mall
in the city right across from where we worked at
the Prudential Tower, and there was a Tiffany's in there,
and I thought, you know, I'll just go and I
(15:36):
have no idea what I'm looking for, but I'll see
what I can come up with. So I'm walking around Tiffany's.
I'm looking at all the you know, jewelry cases and stuff,
and of course it's pretty pricey in there, as you
may know. So you looked at me as if you
didn't think I've ever been in there. So up on
the back wall were shelves and there was a silver
(16:00):
teapot up there, and I was like, that would be
perfect because Jody loves tea, and you know, probably several
times a week she will brew a pot of tea,
so that I want to get that, so I said.
So Eventually the woman came over that was working there,
(16:21):
and can I help you? Yes, how much is the
teapot up? That that one right there? It's beautiful. It
had a you know, nice little fancy handle on it.
It wasn't big, but it was nice. She said, that's
sixty two fifty. I'm thinking to myself, geez, sixty two
to fifty, I can afford that. So I said, okay,
(16:42):
I think I want to get that, and thinking in
my mind, I'm going sixty two to fifty that's not
really spending that much on my wife. I said, what
about like a cream thing, a creamer and maybe a
sugar bowl. Oh, yes, we can, Yes, we have something
that matches that teapot. I go, great, I want to
take that too. So she goes and she gets everything,
(17:05):
puts it on the counter. I'm looking it all over,
and so I'm figuring in my mind, Okay, if the
teapot is sixty two fifty, the creamer can't be much
more than twenty five thirty bucks. The sugar things probably
the same. So I'm barely over one hundred dollars now.
So I said, okay, I want to take those. And
(17:29):
that's not you know, that's not really enough. So I said,
what else? What else can you show me? So she
takes me over to this jewelry case and there was
a beautiful necklace in there, and I asked her how
much it was. The price escapes me now, but it was,
you know, it was probably four hundred dollars maybe. So
(17:52):
I'm like, okay, this is going to be good. I'm
going to be a hero at Christmas with all this.
So I said, okay, oh what am I going to
owe you now? And of course the sixty two fifty
was six two hundred and fifty dollars, and the creamer
and the coffee pot were probably two grand each. The
(18:13):
necklace is four or five hundred dollars. She named some
ridiculous price. I'm in thousands of dollars, right, And I'm
like no, And I had to try not to look stupid. Eve.
I was really stupid, so I said to her, and
(18:34):
I knew I couldn't get all this. I said, I'm
gonna have to make up a couple of changes here.
Why don't we keep the necklace? I really I don't
think I can afford to keep the teapot and the
creamer and the sugar thing. And anyway, it was pretty embarrassing,
to say the least two of it. I could see
(18:56):
it as you were telling that story. I could see
it as if I was there. Yeah, well you should
have been there, and I would have been pointing at you,
just laughing my ass off. Yeah, I mean, oh, oh
my god. You know one of your favorite things? Yes,
I know, it's food. Oh yeah, I think it's probably
(19:17):
top three favorite things. Oh, absolutely right. Yeah, we don't
have to. We don't have to get an order of
what your top three favorite things. We don't need to
embarrass you. Well, I was a fan of what was
the guy's name on Popeye that they used to eat
all the hamburgers, Wimpy. Wimpy is that it is? That's
(19:41):
the right name. Yeah. So I used to watch Popeye
cartoons because my dad was in the business and he
had a kids show and he used to show Popeye actors.
And I loved Wimpy because he loved hamburgers and I
loved hamburgers. And so I think the line was gladly,
pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today, and so that
(20:06):
was that. That is today still today, a hamburger is
maybe my top favorite thing. Oh yeah, and you know,
being like being in New England, love fried clans, Oh yeah,
could go to you know, I could name two or
three of the best places around for fried clams and uh.
(20:28):
And then you know, of course I'm a steak guy,
so you know, any good steakhouse, I'm there, I'm I'm
willing to go. Well, how about three places that are
sort of buried treasure sort of spots that maybe people
have heard of maybe they haven't that you like, of
(20:50):
any type for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything. Okay, Well,
let's do Helen's Helens in Conquered. Yes they have great
breakfast there. Yes, they do very good, and the wait
staff is great and delightful. It's a busy place. Yes,
(21:11):
it's tough to get into, but it's very good. I
know people there, so you do okay. And you know,
as far as like steak places, of course, Capitol Grill
when they burst on the scene, been quite a few
years now. They have excellent steaks. And a buddy of
(21:33):
mine who used to work there has his own place
now called the Federal in Waltham, mass and that's got
great steaks too. And what are they leaving now, Well,
those are some good ones. Yeah, those are good ones.
Those are good ones. And then for seafood, which I'm
(21:54):
not a gigantic fan of seafood, but I do like
clans and my there's a couple of places up in
Essex that are very good. The clam Box, which is
actually in Ipswich, I believe, And then there's a place
(22:15):
called Varnums which is in Essex, I think. And what's
the big one right on the men Drag in Essex.
Everybody goes there, and of course I can't remember right now,
but if I had my phone, I could look it up,
we could call them, but I don't have that with me.
(22:35):
But I know many of you out there are screaming
at the speaker right now, what the name of the pass?
And it's escaped me. But anyway, that's that town Essex,
Ipswich for fried clams. Excellent, excellent. So did you ever
think in your lifetime you would see two things become legalized?
(23:00):
Betting and marijuana. I never would have believed that. Well, betting,
I mean, first of all, I don't gamble, so it
didn't really matter to me. The marijuana thing, I never
thought that would be legalized. I you know, I thought
(23:22):
that for the rest of my life I would be
calling up Joe and seeing what was available. But but no,
and it, you know, and it's amazing. I hate to
be a proponent of a drug like that, but you know,
(23:44):
in all honesty, I would rather see my kids, who
are all adults now, all twenty of them. I would
rather see them doing a little smoking of weed than
and getting all messed up on booze, because I think
(24:04):
it's more dangerous. Alcohol is more dangerous. It's just my opinion,
and maybe I'm wrong. Who knows if I'm right about that.
I don't know what you're right or wrong about, So
who cares. We're just taking a walk of So what
does it matter? Beautiful day? The air is just right,
(24:25):
It's just awesome. What's the most fun that Wally Bryant
has with his pants on? Wow? As I mentioned, I
love boting, Yes, but that's only like a pair of
short pants for boating, right, But with my pants on? Now?
(24:47):
You know? I, you know what, buzz I pretty much
like everything? Yes, I just enjoy life. And I learned
that from my dad, who just embraced living, yeah, you know, working, playing,
whatever it was he was. He just appreciated every second
(25:07):
he had and I kind of follow along those lines
as long as I've known you, and I would see
you almost every day, you know, Yes, and Wally I
used to have a Wally would come in to my
office and he would say, what is it you do? Right?
And I would, you know, come up with some feeble
(25:29):
attempt to rationalize my existence, and Wally would look at
me and he would just call bs on it. Oh,
but I never in my time of seeing you on
a regular basis. And then subsequently, you know, I would
see you less if I was traveling, but I would
still see it. I don't recall you having a bad day.
(25:51):
Now you may have, but I don't recall you ever
like exhibiting that behavior and wearying that And we all
haven't look at the life I led. I mean, first
of all, as a kid, I had like I had
to leave it to beaver life. You know, I was
living in a pretty nice neighborhood and I went to
(26:12):
a nice school. My friends were awesome. And then when
I got into the radio business, which is something I
wanted to do because my dad did it and I
you know, went to work with him when I was
little and thought, wow, this is cool. Play all your
favorite songs and you know, be a DJ. That was fun,
and I worked with marvelous people in the radio business.
(26:35):
I was, I've just been really lucky. I've really been lucky.
I've I've you know, my business partner in Boston, Lauren Owens,
is a phenomenal talent, and he covered up all of
my flaws. And you know, I would be, you know,
(26:57):
talking about something that I didn't know what I was
doing talking about, and he would be able to jump
in and pull me back out of the hole and
and then you know our subsequent teammates, newspeople, sports people,
voice talent. You know, I just worked with just marvelous people.
I was just so lucky and it really certainly in
(27:21):
the time that we worked in it. It's really a
tremendous business, right, Yeah, a tremendous business to be part of.
I have a buddy whose son is in it now.
Now you know, we're getting a little older, you and I,
but his son is like forty maybe forty five, and
(27:44):
the business has changed a lot, you know, technically, it's
changed a lot. And plus he doesn't even like this kid,
Like I loved going into the studio and doing the show,
you know, queuing up records and playing them, and you know,
loading up the machines with the commercials that are coming
(28:05):
up next to you. Don't do that anymore, right, It's
all computerized. You just hit the start button and it
goes by itself. And I think that's kind of sad
in a way. I do too. It's not hands on.
It's not hands on, because, yeah, right, the mechanics of
it were part of the magic of it. Yes, yes, yeah,
I would, I would agree completely. But taking it full circle,
(28:31):
I think, you know, talking to people who are around
the business today, there is less joy and I think
that you know, we're walking here, there's tremendous joy walking
here with a friend. That's part of the beauty of
taking a walk. The business that we just discussed, you know,
(28:53):
there was joy. You know, you woke up and you
were like, let's take the day on. You know, there
were tough moments, certainly to get through, right like you know,
nine to eleven sure as an example, but it was
also that responsibility that you took seriously, and it was
(29:14):
joyful moments, celebratory moments, sad moments, but it really, uh,
you know, the joy part disappearing definitely makes me sad,
but you know that's that's the way I evolve. But
and we're not the only business has this issue exactly.
(29:37):
It's tough tough out there. But I take great joy
and taking a walk. I take great joy and taking
a walk with a friend such as you. And this
has just been spectacular. Oh yeah, this is wonderful. I
you know, I don't get to Walden Pond as much
as I should. I live what fifteen minutes from here,
(29:58):
but this is a great spot right here, This little
trail you've found. I think we got to Oh, look
the Thorrow house. The arrow goes that way. We got
to go see if he's in. You want to see
if he's over there. Yeah, let's go check him out.
All right, Well, thank you for taking a walk. Oh
it was my pleasure. Thank you for inviting me, and
I hope everybody has a fabulous end to this year
(30:20):
and a great start to next year. Taking a Walk
with buzz Night is available on Spotify, iTunes, and wherever.
Podcasts are available.
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