06-17-25 FULL SHOW - Jimmy Sengenberger Fills In

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Bill and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
No, it's Mandy Connell man.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
On KOA.

Speaker 4 (00:13):
Ninety one m got Way study Canny through three, Mandy
Toronal keeping sad.

Speaker 5 (00:36):
Good afternoon, Jimmy sangin Berger here with you on a
cloudy day and a cooler day in Denver before things
get hotter again tomorrow. I thought, what, maybe I'm mistaken,
But isn't it supposed to be grant? Did you see
like one hundred and one degrees this weekend?

Speaker 6 (00:59):
One hundred degree this weekend? While we're on the road
to that. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 5 (01:03):
Jimmy's sangen Berger in for Mandy Connell again today and
once more tomorrow. And there's so I keep saying this
every day that I have been filling in. There's so
much to talk about. There's so much to talk about,
so much to talk about. But where do we begin? Well,
of course we're going to begin with the much awaited

(01:27):
verdict on a topic that I have been covering and
discussing throughout my time filling in for Mandy over the
past couple of weeks, and that we dove into a
good bit yesterday in the final segment of the show,
I mean, this really is a story that has some
fascinating twists and turns in the case, and tomorrow my

(01:53):
column is a schedule to be on this exact topic.
Started breaking down a lot of the things that I
will be discussing today as we begin the show. Because
the Trial of the Century ended in a verdict of defamation.

(02:13):
That is that Mike Lindell and one of his two
business defendants. That is to say, he's had two businesses
that were also defendants, Frank's speech, his media platform, and
my pillow. One of them, along with Mike Lindell, was
held liable for defamation, and that would be Frank's speech,

(02:34):
not my pillow. My pillow got off scott free, which
wasn't really a surprise to me. I had a feeling,
and I've made notes about this before, commented that my
pillow might not be caught up in this in the
sense of getting any sort of consequences. The most that
my pillow was really used was as a opportunity for Lindell,

(02:57):
as he would go on TV and interviews or on
his own platforms and talk about stolen election stuff for
the plaintiff in this defamation trial, which is Eric Komer,
former vice president of Dominion. He would have promo codes,
all the promo codes in fact on his own outlet

(03:19):
of Lindell TV. On the very first day of the trial,
which was two tuesdays ago, I guess two weeks ago today,
he went on Thendell TV and he ended with, of
course classic promo codes.

Speaker 6 (03:37):
Let's take a listen, play something to everybody.

Speaker 7 (03:40):
If you want to support my pillow, who needs the
resources right now to keep fighting, you can go to
my pillow dot com and use promo code. We're going
to use LTV for this. Hey, I use promo code
truth We're on Emerald Shaw use promo code truths.

Speaker 5 (03:58):
And he went on to talk about go to my
pillow trial dot com. That's my pillow trial dot com.

Speaker 6 (04:02):
It's not like a.

Speaker 5 (04:03):
Complete infomercial on his ode so called news program of
Lindel TV. But here's the bottom line with this in
terms of my pillow, that's about what it was, and
that's his revenue stream. That's his business, sure, but it's
how he makes his money. And he threw out those

(04:26):
promo codes basically so he could bring in more revenue
for the company. And then be able to fund his
legal defense and keep his company.

Speaker 6 (04:36):
Going and everything else.

Speaker 5 (04:39):
But needless to say, they did not find my pillow
liable at all on this. But here's the thing you
would expect in this trial of the century, as Lindell
called it, that he would finally unveil his alleged bombshell
evidence of quote, the biggest.

Speaker 6 (05:03):
Crime the world has ever seen. But folks not so fast.

Speaker 5 (05:07):
It was probably the greatest surprise of the last two
weeks with the trial. But America's chief financier of a
network that pushed stolen election claims and has since the
election in November twenty twenty, he is the chief financier.
He talked about spending upwards of fifty million dollars of

(05:28):
his own money, going into debt in the whole by
ten million dollars to do this. He never presented evidence
that voting machines are corrupt and should be, in his words,
melted down. There's no proof that we need paper ballots
hand counted. Keep in mind, we do have paper ballots
in Colorado. And my understanding is just about, if not

(05:51):
every state, just about every state in the Union bases
their elections around paper ballots. There's no demonstration that the
twenty election was rigged to flip votes.

Speaker 6 (06:03):
Nothing of the sort in two weeks of trial.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
Moreover, he didn't have a single expert from his claimed
roster of some thirty five that ever took the stand,
not a one.

Speaker 6 (06:16):
Yet at the same time.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
The actual case itself was narrow war Eric Komer again,
he's the plaintiff. He's a former VP of Dominion Voting Systems.
He sued over specific statements that Lindell made personally about
him that I say transformed Coomer into a villain of
the stolen election myth. The eight member jury found that

(06:41):
Lindell was liable for only two of those statements personally,
and his platform frank speech liable for three additional statements.
Of course, my pillow liable for none but the two
main statements that Lindell said that they said that the
jury concluded, Okay, yeah, this is defamation. May ninth, twenty

(07:02):
twenty one, Lindell demanded that Eric Coomer.

Speaker 6 (07:05):
Turn himself in.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
Quote, You're a traitor to the United States of America,
he declared. He also labeled Coomer disgusting in treasonous. Then,
on April sixth, twenty twenty two, just under a year later,
after being served this very lawsuit on the Capitol steps,
Lindell called Coomer a criminal and accused him of being

(07:30):
quote part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen.

Speaker 6 (07:34):
Those are two.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
Statements that contributed to turning Eric Coomer's life upside down
that jury found were defamation per se. But here's the
thing that is so fascinating about this. Unlike past cases
involving election fraud claims, including a Lyndell compatriot, of course,
former Mason County clerk and recorder Tina Peters, this trial

(07:58):
could have been the venue to finally present that evidence
in court under oath. There was a lot of talk,
Oh my gosh, Tina Peters wasn't able to put in
the evidence that she got. Well, she wasn't because it
was a criminal trial and the trial needed to focus
on the actual charges and she was not charged with

(08:20):
election tampering and she was not charged.

Speaker 6 (08:22):
With stealing election data.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
There were other things that she was charged with and
ultimately convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors for her
election security breach and how she went about it, including
I think it was conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation. I
think that was the one related to the use of

(08:47):
somebody else's identity to get in a so called computer
hacker into the facility to make copies of hard drives.

Speaker 6 (08:56):
But this isn't about Tina Peters.

Speaker 5 (08:58):
It's to say, in this instance, Michael Lindell actually had
the opportunity, but he didn't. Instead, he deployed what I
call it a circular argument. Now, this circular argument could
have saved millions of damages, but it really exposed the
apparent hollownists of his stolen election crusade. He had rambling

(09:20):
testimony over the better part of three days, and Lindell
insisted that the case was not all about the stolen election,
but about how Eric Komer somehow blocked him from sharing
the evidence about twenty twenty. We talked about this yesterday,
how thru deal that Komer allegedly cut with Newsmac's TV

(09:45):
that it's CEO denied cutting under oath. But wait, while
he said that Komer was blocking him from getting out
the evidence this case, Lindell insists that has nothing to
do with the twenty twenty election. And I say this
circular reasoning became his Achilles Heel, so rather than present

(10:09):
his bombshell evidence in court. He argued that believing a
false claim is true effectively constitutes a sufficient defense against defamation.
Yet the only election expert admitted into the trial was
the plaintiff.

Speaker 6 (10:28):
Doctor Alex J.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
Halderman, is a computer scientist whom Lindell himself praised and
credited with originally inspiring his voting machine concerns through an
HBO documentary called Kill Chain that came out in March
of twenty twenty. When Ladell's team tried to discredit Halderman
while he was on the stand, the professor just dismissed

(10:53):
Lindell's claims, calling them science fiction and crazy town, and
he testified very strongly that Lindell misrepresented his views entirely
and reiterated this point. Halderman reiterated this point. The existence
of vulnerabilities in elections is not proof that those vulnerabilities

(11:13):
were exploited. They're always working to mitigate issues and concerns
in elections. You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater,
is essentially what he was arguing as far back as
late twenty twenty and consistently to last week.

Speaker 6 (11:31):
It was fascinating.

Speaker 5 (11:32):
Watching that Q and A between Lindell's attorneys and Halderman
on the stand. Now, Lindell's team also had a classic
strategy that they deployed. It wasn't us, it was them
putting figures at others, fingers at others like the right
wing podcaster Joe Oltman, for driving narratives against Eric Komer.

(11:56):
And they argued that almost everything Lindell said about Kuomer
came after the lawsuit and in essence it put my
pillow in its employees at risk. And so that was
a driving motivator for Mike Lindell to really hit hard
against Coomer. And in fact, the jury did not find

(12:17):
Lindell liable for any statements after about the time that
Lindell was served the lawsuit, and I think it was
April of twenty twenty two, just before this other statement.

Speaker 6 (12:32):
That he made on TV.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
So they definitely got some points from that argument. Now,
Coomer's lawyers, of course, painted a different picture. They said
that Lindell recklessly attacked him without basic research. He even
ignored warnings from people within his own circle about cyberguys

(12:56):
that he trusted. For example, there was this letter from
a guy named Mike Zulo who was an advisor to
former Arizona Sheriff Joe or Pio. You might remember Sharer
for a Pio renowned conservative who of course was noted
for his anti immigration illegal immigration viewpoints the number years back,
and this letter warned Lindell that one of his key experts,

(13:20):
Dennis Montgomery, was a Charlottean who quote infiltrated his circle.
So Lindell got these various warnings, but he continued to
platform election theorists that even his own people dismissed and
personally escalated his attacks against Coomer, which meant it contributed
as Coomer argued to death threats, forcing him into hiding

(13:44):
and having his reputation and career destroyed.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
Now, I mentioned.

Speaker 5 (13:48):
Before that Lindell testified he'd spent some fifty million dollars
of his own money to prove election rigging, not just
in twenty twenty, but also that this could happen and
maybe there were riggings that took place in other instances.
And he contended that this drove him ten million dollars
into debt as a result of his own actions. Now,

(14:14):
maybe the jury had some sympathy for him.

Speaker 6 (14:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (14:18):
But one of the things that's very glaring about Kumer's
case that was a problem is that the eight days
of testimony become a fire hose of information and it
covered everything from defamatory statements to intricate mechanics of how
elections work. His lawyers got lost in the technical weeds

(14:41):
of election minutia. Never good to get lost in the weeds, right,
especially when you're trying to convince a group of lay
people everyday people to vote in favor of you on something,
and they really neglected to craft a tight narrative. You
want a store sorry that the jury can follow along

(15:02):
and be like, okay, yeah, this is really compelling. So
as I look at it, the case ultimately came down
to two factors. First, the jury instructions talked about reckless
disregard for the truth. That's a standard, a key standard
in defamation cases that gets to the idea of actual malice.

(15:23):
It's a component that generally speaking, is essential for a
successful defamation case.

Speaker 6 (15:28):
Well, Comber's team.

Speaker 5 (15:29):
Wanted specific details included that weren't essentially giving.

Speaker 6 (15:35):
Lindell a lifeline.

Speaker 5 (15:39):
Because it meant that the jury was not advised as
strongly about particular aspect of law in a way that
would have otherwise benefited Eric Komer.

Speaker 6 (15:51):
So that's important.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
Jury instructions are just about everything in a case because
they tell a jury how to look at the information,
the witness testimony, and the evidence they've been given. Second,
it came down to, and I just alluded to this,
which side told the most compelling, followable story, especially when.

Speaker 6 (16:13):
You're talking about a long trial.

Speaker 5 (16:16):
So as I look at it, in the end, the
jury really did deliver a measured but clear message that
Mike Lindell had defamed Eric Komer with baseless claims about
Coomer and elections, but they stopped short of finding reckless
disregard for the truth. So you can kind of look

(16:36):
at the numbers to tell that story. In the end,
Lindell and Frank Speech were found liable for defamation, but
Eric Komer asked for sixty two point seven million dollars.
He only got two point three million, including just three
hundred thousand dollars from Frank's speech. In damages meant to

(17:01):
deter bad behavior, but will.

Speaker 6 (17:04):
This deterrence work.

Speaker 5 (17:06):
Here's an interesting clip from nine News Next with Kyle Clark.

Speaker 6 (17:10):
I have to play this.

Speaker 5 (17:11):
Because of the inner play that he had with Mike
Lindell after the verdict yesterday.

Speaker 6 (17:16):
Do you have two point three million dollars so you.

Speaker 7 (17:18):
Know I don't have to have any money, which I
don't millions of dollars in the hall. I think I've
told you that. In the courtroom, it's about ten million networth.

Speaker 8 (17:26):
In the hole.

Speaker 9 (17:26):
What Lindell has is pillow buying Maga Faithful, supporting his business,
and donating to his defense fund on promises that he
will at last reveal his long awaited evidence of election rigging.
You said to your supporters when you ask them for
money paying your legal fees, that this trial we will
reveal to the world the truth about our corrupt election platforms.

(17:46):
Then you got inside and you said, actually, the trial's
not about that. We're not going to put on evidence
about the corrupt election platforms. This is about free speech.
Here's my question for all the folks that you've asked
for money, who have given you money, when do they
get to see your evidence in court as you've promised them.

Speaker 7 (18:01):
They've seen the evidence, we've had it posted Kyle in
what the judge didn't let come out here. We're all
in this to try and save the country. I've never
done that before. I'm not a grifter. I'd be the
worst grift. You look up, griff, you ain't gonna see me.
I'm not good at it. I just spend it all.

Speaker 6 (18:14):
Well, yes he did spend it all.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
He spent it all in all kinds of people who
you could say are drifters. I quite honestly, Mike Leddell
may have been involved in the biggest grift on both sides,
taking money from people and then giving it to.

Speaker 6 (18:29):
People who were taking the money. I mean, that's just
the way he since.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
He brought up the term grifter, that's just the way
to sort of look at that. But he was doubling down.
He said he was going to fight. He promised outside
the courthouse to keep fighting, to keep making the same claims,
to keep doubling down. He never recanted during or after
the trial anything that he said about Komer elections or dominion.

(18:52):
And in an ironic twist in the end, the pillows
salesman who blew fifty million dollars chasing election theories now
faces a multimillion dollar reality check that he just can't afford.
Whether that's two point three million dollars or sixty two
point seven million dollars. A jury of Mike Lindell's peers

(19:13):
determined that he'd lied and defamed Eric Komer in what
appears to be like being a proxy for twenty twenty
election narratives, and even think about it that way. Everything else,
some of money and damages, is really just math. But

(19:34):
it's been a fascinating wild ride. We may touch on
a couple other aspects of it later on in the show.
Five sixty six nine zero is the KOA Common Spirit
Health text line if you want to join into the
program and offer some of your thoughts.

Speaker 6 (19:48):
On this as we continue.

Speaker 5 (19:50):
Jimmy Sangenberger in for Mandy Connell, just getting started on KOA.
It's Tony Holiday is saying there's a twist of fate.
There is a rather interesting twist of fate going on
visa v. Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who
is now at loggerheads.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
With President Donald Trump.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
As there is a rift within the MAGA movement an
America First perspective.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
On Iran and Israel.

Speaker 5 (20:27):
And Hamas slash Gaza and Israel, and this is the
latest instance of that sort of divide with Tucker Carlson
now being very critical of Trump and his decision to
go and support Israel and its strike on Iran. In fact,

(20:54):
President Trump putting out in a social post, somebody please
explain to Kookie Tucker Carlson that in all caps, Iran
cannot have a nuclear weapon. America first means many great things,
including the fact that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

(21:14):
Make America great again. Very emphatic here though, is Tucker
Carlson on the Steve Bannon War Room podcast history.

Speaker 10 (21:23):
I should really love Trump. I think he's a deeply humane,
kind person. And I am saying this because I'm really
afraid that my country's going to be further weakened by this.

Speaker 6 (21:35):
I think we're going to see the end of American empire.

Speaker 10 (21:37):
Obviously, other nations would like to see that, and this
is a perfect way to scuttle the USS America on
the shoals of Iran. But it's also going to end
I believe Trump's presidency and effectively end it.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
And so that's why I'm saying this is going to
effectively end a Trump's presidency, he said, and he continued
defending himself while also it's attacking some conservative Trump supporters
who have a very different view.

Speaker 10 (22:04):
The only reason I'm saying any of this is because
I really really care, and it's been what a disaster
for me personally. I mean, it's like the last thing
I wake up in all these text nor why I
can't behave You're so evil? You hate this that I
just want to restate I don't hate anybody, and to
the extent I do hate people, I try to repent

(22:26):
of it.

Speaker 6 (22:26):
I don't want to hate anybody, I really don't.

Speaker 10 (22:28):
I just don't want my country to be further weakened
or destroyed by another one of these wars. And boy,
if you can't connect the dots after twenty five years
this year, you're either too dumb to participate in the
conversation or your work, like Mark Levin, just a liar
who doesn't care.

Speaker 5 (22:43):
Ah, there you go, attack Mark Levin as he has been.
Now Here's the thing is Tucker Carlson Gosh, the direction
that he has gone since he has left Fox is
just deeper and deeper downhill, unmoored with three reality. All
too often, I really believe that I have not liked

(23:04):
I've never been much of a Tucker Carlston fan. I'm
not a populist sort of mindset, and in the last
several years that's the direction he went. There are some
issues where I disagreed with him when he was on
Fox and some of his approaches, But since then, I
mean there has just been he's been flirting with some
perspectives that are on the fringes, if not bigotry in

(23:26):
terms of some of his discussions about topics related to particularly.

Speaker 6 (23:34):
Jewish issues and so forth.

Speaker 5 (23:35):
I just I really have seen him go downhill, and
so to be honest, I'm pleased to see President Trump
push back, including these words.

Speaker 11 (23:51):
I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him
go get a television network and say it.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
So that people listen.

Speaker 8 (23:57):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
Let him go get a tele vision network and see
if people listen.

Speaker 6 (24:04):
Oh that was that was a.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
Nice little dig at kookie Tucker Carlson. And he has
gotten cookie I Vegas. That's a good way to put it,
is that he has gotten.

Speaker 6 (24:13):
Pretty cookie and he's flat wrong on this.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
Now President Trump really being I think, pretty strong on
this and consistent in his message that look, we really
need to have more than just a ceasefire here.

Speaker 6 (24:26):
Well specifically is better than a ceasefire.

Speaker 8 (24:28):
What are you looking for here?

Speaker 6 (24:31):
And a real land not a cease fire?

Speaker 3 (24:34):
And then so something that would be permanent or or
giving up entirely that's okay too. Are you closer as
are you possible?

Speaker 8 (24:43):
Is that possible?

Speaker 12 (24:43):
NiFe three?

Speaker 6 (24:44):
Or why did I certainly impossible complete give up?

Speaker 3 (24:49):
That's possibly a real land now, a cease fire.

Speaker 5 (24:54):
A real end, not a cease fire, he underscored. And
I think that's a important to show sort of the
mindset here that he understands that you're at a point
now where it can't just sort of go back to
the status quo. There has to be more of an
effort to get a long term resolution here as far

(25:15):
as the nuclear issue that far along, and he's clearly
on board and strong with that perspective. That's where he
is coming from now, although he of course is understandably
dodging questions about the prospect of US military involvement.

Speaker 13 (25:31):
What would you say, in your opinion, what would it
take for the US to get involved in this conflict militarily.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
I don't want to talk about that.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
I don't want to talk about that now, he did emphasize, Okay,
Ron wants to talk, but you know what, they should
have done that before.

Speaker 13 (25:48):
There's seen any messages from intermediaries that Iran wishes.

Speaker 6 (25:52):
To de escalate the conflict.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
If what have you heard?

Speaker 4 (25:56):
What if you heard from the Arians would like to.

Speaker 11 (25:59):
Talk, but they should have done that before. I had
sixty days and they had sixty days, And on the
sixty first day, I said, we don't have a deal.
They have to make a deal.

Speaker 7 (26:09):
And it's painful.

Speaker 11 (26:11):
For both parties, but I'd say Iran is not winning
this war and they should talk, and they should talk
immediately before it's too.

Speaker 5 (26:20):
Late, immediately before it's too late. And then, of course
President Trump at the g seventh summon in Canada yesterday
and he puts out a tweet in which he calls
for the evacuation of Tehran, the capital of Iran, And
then after that goes out, he comes back to Washington.

(26:42):
And it's striking too in that regard. He comes back
to Washington after saying that because you had this spout
spat now that has happened in the last well since then,
where Emmanuel mccron, the President of France, has come out
saying that Trump was returning to help broker a ceasefire,

(27:05):
and Trump distancing because say, no, that is just not true.
He doesn't know what he's talking about, very publicly rebuking
the president of France. Got to wonder what's going on there.
At one last thing that's worth noting, because Tulci Gabbard
has been notably she's the head of the Director of

(27:26):
National Intelligence. She has notably been aligned with Tucker Carlson
for quite a while on foreign policy. Although remember Tucker
Carlson used to be an advocate for the Iraq war,
and he was very different and more of a neocon
back in the day when that was the perspective that
garnered more support and attention and followers. Now he's been

(27:47):
seeing a different tune over the last handful of years,
with a sort of different wind blowing.

Speaker 6 (27:53):
But Tulci Gabbard said this in March.

Speaker 13 (27:54):
The ICY continues to assess that Iron is not building
a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader come In has not
authorized the nupeer weapons program that he suspended in two
thousand and three. The IC continues to monitor closely if
Tehran decides to reauthorize it's nugeer weapons program.

Speaker 5 (28:11):
And Trump was asked from the press about this close.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
Do you personally think that they were to getting one
because Telson.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
March said that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't fling
what she said, I.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Think it would rights to happen.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
I don't care what she said.

Speaker 5 (28:29):
I think they were very close to having them.

Speaker 6 (28:32):
Where does this go from here?

Speaker 5 (28:34):
Five six sixty nine zero The KOA Common Spirit Health
text line. Who do you agree with Tucker Carlson or
President Trump? Interesting lines to be drawn in that respect
for Democrats who are not Trump fans.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
Do huh?

Speaker 5 (28:51):
Get the text going and we'll keep the conversation moving
as we continue. Jimmy Sangenberger in for Mandy Connell and KOA.

Speaker 10 (28:58):
He's a deeply humane, hind person. And I am saying
this because I'm really afraid that my country's going to
be further weakened by this.

Speaker 5 (29:09):
I think we're I mean, Trump not taking it as
a kind of I.

Speaker 8 (29:15):
Don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying.

Speaker 11 (29:17):
Let him go get a television network and say it
so the people listen.

Speaker 8 (29:20):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (29:21):
I know it is fascinating to watch this unfold.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
Listener text five sixty six nine zero KOA Common Spirit
Health text line Jimmy, I support Trump on the Iran
topic and not his stance on Ukraine. I used to
watch and listen to Tucker. I stopped after that Putin interview.

Speaker 6 (29:39):
Oh yeah, that was bad.

Speaker 5 (29:40):
His drift towards a dark fantasy realm and so many
areas has continued.

Speaker 6 (29:45):
He's a Holocaust deniron anti.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Semi in, a total isolationist, a real nutcase. Sadly, a
lot of my conservative friends follow Carlson. One good thing, though,
is that he's not on Fox. So far fewer people
are paying attention because his audience on Fox skewed older.
It's just the demographics that Fox News tend to skew older,

(30:11):
and so his audience is not as strong, and especially
as he's sort of faded more from attention, I think
that's a good thing.

Speaker 6 (30:18):
I think Trump's sort of.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Indecisive in a sense on Russian Ukraine. He wants to
have a deal, he wants to believe Russia and Putin,
but he constantly is disappointed. Yet it's hard for him
to sort of accept that disappointment. So you sometimes see
him say, oh, Putin, this is terrible, what's going on here?
How could you let's get a piece deal? And be

(30:42):
tough on Putin and his rhetoric and so forth. And
then other times he's a little tougher on Ukraine but
tends not to be too bad except for that blow
up early in his presidency when Zelenski was in Washington.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
D C.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
I would like it to be very strong. I'm with
you in terms of Ukraine. We need to have US
support and be very strong against Russia.

Speaker 6 (31:09):
But it's not quite it's not quite.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
Easy to pin down Trump on that one, like it
is on Iran. We're gonna take a break though. Danny
Seaman will join us live from Jerusalem. He has extensive
experience in the Israeli government. He's now with the Israel
Security and Defense Forum. Let's find out what is happening
now on the ground with the shellings happening, the war underway,

(31:32):
and missiles coming into Israel from Iran on the other side.
Jimmy Sing and Berger filling in for Mandy Connell on KOA.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Well, no, it's Mandy connellyn on KOA ninety four ONEm god.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
Kenny, Toronto, sa BA.

Speaker 6 (32:07):
Jimmy sangenburgers here with you and.

Speaker 5 (32:10):
For Mandy Connell, and time now for the second hour
of the program as we continue our conversation a bit
here on KOA about Iran and the war going on
in the Middle East, both against Iran with the Israeli
strikes the other day in the ongoing fight in Gaza.

(32:34):
In essence, we have I think a seven front war
between Israel and Iran, either directly as we're seeing now
with the strikes and the launch of missiles across into
Israeli territory, or into the proxies or direct controls of

(32:54):
the Iranian regime. I'm talking about, of course Hamas, Hezbollah
or who are the whoties in Yemen. There really is
a multi front fight going on, and who better to
talk about it with than somebody who both really understands
intimately these issues and just also joining us live from

(33:15):
Jerusalem where it is after ten pm there, and very
kind enough to join us is Daniel Seaman of the
Israel Security and Defense Forum. Sir, welcome to Koway. It's
good to talk with.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
You, my pleasure to be with you.

Speaker 5 (33:32):
Thank you for having me, Thank you for taking some time, Sir,
before we get into the issues. I would love for
you to just share with us a little bit about
your background so we can know where you're coming from.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
Well, I for thirty years, Well maybe i'll start before that.

Speaker 14 (33:47):
Obviously, through my American accent, you can tell that I
have an American background. My mother was born in Jerusalem.
My dad was an American. They met in Germany. He
was in the US Air Force, so I basically grew
up an Air Force brat with the United States Air Force.
After my dad retired, my mom suggested, every year we

(34:08):
moved to a different place, why not try Israel.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
So back in nineteen seventy one, we moved to Israel.

Speaker 14 (34:13):
I was smart enough to preserve my English language, which
has always been useful. After my military service here, I
was in the paratroopers and I fought in the First
Lebanon War.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
Back in nineteen eighty two, I moved.

Speaker 14 (34:28):
I went to the States to go to college in
New York City and I worked at the consulate there.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Worked for six years in New York.

Speaker 14 (34:35):
And came back to Israel and I started working with
the Prime Minister's office, working with the media, the government
press office. L A few years later, I became the
director of that organization. It's the organization that works with
the foreign press covering Israel. Then as today, we had
one of the largest, certainly per capita and per square kilometer,

(34:58):
we have one of the largest foreign per contingents in
the world covering events here, and so through the Prime
Minister's Office, we coordinated activities, worked with them, etc.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
And I was also Deputy.

Speaker 14 (35:11):
Director General of the Ministry of Public Diplomacy in the
Prime Minister's Office, so for thirty one years with the government.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Since then, I've been working in media.

Speaker 14 (35:22):
I've been working on radio, a radio show on one
of the Israeli channels, the Gala Israel Radio, and recently
started a podcast on JNS, the Jewish News Syndicate of
the United States and their offices in Jerusalem.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
Daniel Seaman, our guest, Sir, I would love for you
to paint a picture for a moment of the night
that the war began, just a few nights ago, or
at least the strikes from Israel on Iran. If we
talk about it sort of honestly, I think we could
say that there has been ongoing sort of warfare through
proxies from Iran for a very long time. But this

(35:59):
is direct Israel taking a strike on Iran to preemptively
prevent nuclear armament by that country. That is called for
the eradication of Israel, to wipe it off the map,
the world.

Speaker 6 (36:13):
Sold Jewish state.

Speaker 5 (36:14):
So what was it like sort of being in the
country at that time and how did the Israeli people
react upon learning the news of the strike.

Speaker 14 (36:26):
Wow, we've been in a war, the existential war, for
the past twenty months, and it started on October seventh.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
But this war was all the time against Iran. It
was by proxy. They used the different organizations.

Speaker 14 (36:42):
They funded and supported the Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, both
of them out of Gaza, the rizabealign Lebanon elements inside
of Syria, the Syrian government, isis elements in Iraq, and
also these in uh in Ymn. There's also fights against

(37:05):
the Hamas, who have built an infrastructure UH within the
Palestinian authority injured Anne Samaria in the Arab towns and
villages there. But it was always it was always Iran
behind it. They were the ones funding it, They're the
ones sending the munitions. They had this big plan and
they didn't never deny it. They were talking about it

(37:25):
for a long time. On my radio show today I
had we were talking about this with an Israeli former
intelligence uh, and he said that the the Iranians were
the octopus that had these different and arms reaching out
towards the tentacles reaching out towards Israel. And what we

(37:48):
ended up doing this week is turning that octopus into Klamari.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
And I like the way he described it.

Speaker 14 (37:55):
And Uh, it's basically we've we've chopped them up. But
it just it starts back in October seventh. Now we
knew this for a long time.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
They were not hiding this. They were giving us till
twenty forty. They have a clock ticking down, well, at
least it used to be.

Speaker 14 (38:10):
I don't know if it's still there. But in Tehran,
which was ticking down to where they said would be
the end of the state of Israel, after October seventh,
we understood that we can no longer deny this and
ignore this, and they're very serious and intend to do
it as bad as October seventh was. It ends up
that we were probably very fortunate, was probably miraculous that

(38:31):
for some reason, whatever the reason was, that sinoir the
head of Hamas jumped the gun because the plan was
to assault us from outside, from Gaza and from the
north with Rizbella at the same time missiles reigning in
and from us from Iran and Yemen, and also having.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
The Arabs in Judaan, Samaria and even Arab.

Speaker 14 (38:56):
Citizens of the State of Israel rising up against us.
Had we had to deal with all of that on
October seventh, there may not have been a State of Israel,
but Hamas taking that step allowed us, after a few
days to organize stop the assault that they had planned,
and then systematically gradually take them out.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Take out within months later, almost a year.

Speaker 14 (39:19):
Later, take out Isabella, which were a huge part of
the Iranian plan against the State of Israel. They were
more a militia than they were a terrorist organization because
they were trained. They fought for Iran and for the
Syrian regime against These are all Shia, and they fought
against the Suna Muslims in Syria. And then we shifted

(39:42):
our attention to the Syrian regime and were able to
knock them out, and within a few weeks the government
there was toppled.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
During that time, a.

Speaker 14 (39:51):
Little before that, we already engaged with the exchange of
missile fire with the Iran We knew they were building
tremendous armaments against Israel, these intercontinental ballistic missiles. They were
planning to use this and they had several thousand, tens
of thousands that they were going to direct against Israel.

(40:14):
We took out a lot of them last year, nine
months ago when we first fired, when they first fired
at us, and we were able to take them out
by the way at that time, also with the assistants
of NATO and the United States.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
And so finally that day came when we.

Speaker 14 (40:29):
Especially realized that the negotiations with the United States were
a farce. They were lying to the United States, the
UN Organization, the International Organization for the Nuclear Weapons that
were observing and seeing what the Iranians were doing, so
that they finally came out last week and announced that
not only were they violating, they were a step away

(40:52):
from having nuclear capability in nuclear weapons capability.

Speaker 3 (40:56):
Of their uranium.

Speaker 14 (40:58):
So we had no more chance, no more choice, and
the Prime Minister made the decision to go out and
then last Thursday evening or Friday morning, Israel time to
assault Iran and finally go face to face with them,
and here within four days we've been able to create
a situation where we have total control over the skies

(41:20):
of Iran, taking out many of their leaders and the
threats to the state of Israel, although they are keep
firing missiles at as we just said about half an
hour ago towards the north of Israel, several missiles that
were fired and intercepted.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
Yeah, Danny Seaman, our gas live from Jerusalem. One of
the things that's so remarkable to me is how effective
the Israeli military was immediately with the attack with forces
folks on the ground there. You had a drone strike,
you had strike from the air, you had a multifaceted assault,
and that was remarkable in terms of being able to

(41:55):
disable so much of the Iranian defenses, to take out
critical leaders, revolutionary guard, in terms of the nuclear program
in Iran. And I think that what that message sent
to President Trump in part, and I'm curious your thoughts
on this, is that Israel really does mean business and
is effective at launching and carrying out these strikes when necessary,

(42:22):
and that should give the United States more confidence as
to the direction that the conflict will take. What do
you think of that especially given the way that President
Trump has really been very strongly supportive of Israel in
the wake of the strike last week.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Oh love can be said about that.

Speaker 14 (42:41):
That seems to be a focus of a lot of attention,
especially people wanting to criticize the state of Israel. Look,
we're an ally of the United States, yes, and I
think we've proven the value of that allegiance. It's not
only one that benefits only from the United States. And
like another because everybody knows how much money the United
States gives Israel. Two things they don't know that out
of the three billion annual aid to Israel, we spend

(43:03):
all of three billion back in the United States and
purchases from American companies, So that's money that goes back
into the American economy.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
The second thing is that the United States gives money to.

Speaker 14 (43:13):
Dozens of country other countries around the world, but we
are a loyal ally.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
Most Israelis on Israeli.

Speaker 14 (43:20):
Independence Day will also fly in an American flag. We see
ourselves very connected more than any other country, I think,
because both countries have the basis of these societies.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
Are on what we call the joint Judaeo Christian.

Speaker 14 (43:35):
Values and the only country in the world, in the
Western world that is strongly behind those Judaeo Christian values
is the United States. So there is this connection between
the two peoples going back for many years. The other
thing is that everything that we use and everything that
we train, and every experience, and unfortunately we've had a

(43:56):
lot of experience, just like the Chinese curse. We live
in interesting times here in Israel. Throughout the years, we've
gained tremendous experience.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
We are in effect the R and D.

Speaker 14 (44:06):
Of the United States military because we do get these weapons.
But it's not only the weapons, it's the tactics, it's
the experience, and we share everything with the United States.
And just for a small example, so people understand, you know,
you can be you can have these roadside explosives, you
can have these things. Now, we're a small country. We're
about the size of New Jersey, where are thirtieth of

(44:27):
the percent of the population in the United States.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
There's only ten million people in the state.

Speaker 14 (44:31):
Of Israel, and we have this kind of experience that
anytime we do that, we share our knowledge with the
American military, and the militaries meet with Israel all the time,
and we have this thing where we say, we have
this idea, we know how to take out this kind
of threat to our forces, and we can spend one

(44:51):
hundred thousand dollars on this to improve it.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
And the Americans will laugh. Literally, this is what happens.
They'll laugh and they'll say to us, all right, we'll
take it. We'll development in the United States. We'll put
in three hundred million dollars into the development.

Speaker 14 (45:04):
This literally happened on many cases because that's how much
greater the United States is. And we benefit from this
as well because it comes back to us. One of
these is the Iron Dome system of taking out missiles.
Anybody who remembers back in the eighties when when Reagan
was first thinking about that, when they call it to
Star Wars to try to limit the attack of the

(45:26):
Russians at the time, they finally they came back and said,
this is impossible. It's like trying to find a needle
in a haystack. We were able to develop that. Not
only that, we're also doing it with lasers that should
come out. We've already used it very successfully over the
past nineteen months, and we're going to put it into
activity very soon. Every one of these developments is shared

(45:49):
with the United States. Now we use American weapons, we
improve them, we have we're the only country that has
permission from the United States to put in our own
inventions and our own requirement. It's into American F thirty
five for example. Everything and also our intelligence is shared
with the United States. I mean military intelligence that we

(46:11):
have is shared with the CIA and with the American
military intelligence.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
So it's a two way street here now.

Speaker 14 (46:17):
Over this past few weeks and going in well, the
battle against Iran has been going back since the inception
of the Islamic I don't know revolution and then the
I don't want to call it a kingdom, but they've
been in charge of Iran for nearly forty years, over

(46:40):
four years now, and we've been understanding that they're seeking
to destroy us. We've been laying down the basics, the
basis for whatever activity we may have to do.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Now.

Speaker 14 (46:55):
There is a there is an advantage for being a
small country like Israel because we have total control over
our area.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
We know what everything is happening.

Speaker 14 (47:03):
When Iran, which is twice the size of Texas and
only half of that is inhabitable, there's a whole country
the size of Texas. In Iran, a whole territory that's uninhabitable,
meaning mountain, desert, terrain, and it's empty, and apparently was
brought to the better use of our security forces, taking
advantage of that.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
For our purposes.

Speaker 14 (47:27):
But there's also I mentioned that I do a podcast today.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
I interviewed.

Speaker 14 (47:31):
It will be out tomorrow at I believe eleven o'clock
American time, and maybe ten o'clock, nine o'clock. But anyway,
on JNS and I talked to a former MOSAD agent
and who's the historian of the MOSAD, and we talk
about former operations, and he talks about the details and
what these kind of things require, and he.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Says, sometimes it is the most simplest of things.

Speaker 14 (47:51):
We were very pinpoint in taking out the leaders of
the Islamic regime in Iran.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
So we took out We knew what bedroom they were
sleeping in.

Speaker 14 (48:03):
And this comes from human intel, human intel, a lot
of it.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
People cooperating with us in many ways, people.

Speaker 14 (48:10):
Not knowing how they're doing that. And he gives a
lot of examples of things done. For example, when we
wanted to bring Ethiopian jewelry, jewelry to Israel. The Ethiopians
who are of Jewish descent, we brought them to Israel.
We had to get them out of Ethiopia.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Which were anti Israel at the time.

Speaker 14 (48:25):
We had to smuggle them out and we purchased the.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
Hotel in the Sinai. The Mossaan purchased the hotel.

Speaker 14 (48:32):
There were tourists coming into that hotel. There were people
from all over the world, and we use that in
order to make it as a base of operations.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
So these kind of things are what happened.

Speaker 14 (48:43):
We can't go into all the details right now what
was going on into Iran, but you can get an
idea from that what kind of very elaborate and systematic
things were done there to take advantage of the situation.
They eventually turned it to our benefit as the war
broke out, and we are in what you may call
biblical situation right now is the war.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
It is remarkable as you were explaining some of the
extent to which Israel was able to go in precision
in these attacks.

Speaker 6 (49:14):
I only have a few minutes left with you.

Speaker 5 (49:16):
Danny Seaman, our guest live from Jerusalem at the Israel
Security and Defense Forum on Fox News on Sunday, morning,
you are Prime Minister bb Net Yeah, who said the following,
whether it would.

Speaker 15 (49:27):
Be six months or twelve months or thirteen months as
im material. Once they go that route ste late and
we will not have a second Holocaust, a nuclear holocaust.
We already had one in the previous century. The Jewish
state is not going to have the Holocaust made it
on the Jewish people.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
It's not going to happen.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Never again is now, and we have to act now.

Speaker 6 (49:48):
Never again is now. We have to act now.

Speaker 5 (49:50):
I know, just as we were starting this conversation bb
Net Yeah, who was in fact leading a public press
briefing about this very You know, we only got a
couple of minutes here, but if you could sort of
just go down your take on what he had to
say there, and then I really want you to sum
up two key lessons of World War Two as briefly

(50:10):
as you can that really underscore the significance of this moment.

Speaker 14 (50:16):
Well, I think what we're doing right now, we're in
the process of you know, history itself doesn't go according
to the schedule that we have is it doesn't have
to be you go into the year two thousand, the
twenty first century begins no history has its own peace.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
We are now and we have now entered the twenty
first century.

Speaker 14 (50:34):
And the two lessons that the West forgot from the
World War two because of the Cold War, because after
they were able to topple the Soviet Union, they started
appeasing and forgetting that lesson. You cannot appease violence, certainly
not terrorists and certainly not jihadis. And for too long
the West appeas them. We did too, I admit that.

(50:54):
But also we always carried that lesson of never again.
So for the State of Israel and for the Jewish people,
this is never again. For us, this is what we meant.
We are no longer the helpless people dependent on the
international community. And for people to feel sorry for us, no,
we take our destiny into our own hand.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
And for the no appeasement. This is what you do.

Speaker 14 (51:14):
This is how you put these You know, if these
countries want to have whatever leadership they want to, yes,
but they have to abide and we have to make
sure that they abide by the criteria and by the
principles of the international community. And when these countries violated
in our face, don't forget they murdered over two hundred
and fifty two hundred and forty nine American Marines in Lebanon.

(51:35):
This was the Islamic regime in Iran, and they kidnapped
the Americans in the American embassy there, and for years
people turned a blind eye to their terrorist activity. The
West has to stand up to these organizations. If you
want to have peace, Peace comes to strength. I think
your president very much understands that we are able to

(51:55):
handle the Iranians and do if they want to join in.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
We'll be more than happy. We do not need it,
not looking for that, but we.

Speaker 14 (52:01):
Believe that sending a message to the international community by
joining this battle right now, because it's not only Israel's battle,
it's a battle of the West against these extreme jihadist
forces and has to be stopped now.

Speaker 6 (52:14):
Danny Seman thirty seconds.

Speaker 5 (52:15):
If you can distill it down, there are a lot
of Americans, of course, who are wary of full on
American involvement or engagement in this war. What do you
say to those who are concerned about this prospect.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
Look, sometimes good people have to stand up.

Speaker 14 (52:30):
The United States is a good people, a good nation,
and they stood up for the Western world nearly one
hundred years ago, eight years ago in World War Two.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
Now we're on the brink.

Speaker 14 (52:40):
Of something even it could turn out to be worse
than World War Two if we don't stop it. Now,
World War Two happened because the West did not stop
the Nazis beforehand. So right now Israel is able and
we're shown that we are capable of handling the enemies.
We're able to put an end to the threat to
the state of Israel. And who knows what direction the

(53:01):
Middle East will take now that they understand that Israel
can't be destroyed, they might as well find ways of benefiting.
And that's the Abrahamical Cords, the idea that President Trump
came up with. But until that happens, they have to
send a very strong message to the rest of the
world that the United States is not fooling around anymore.
You want to be part of the Western world, you

(53:21):
want to be part of the civilized world, you have
to maintain and if you don't, we'll be there to
hold you, will hold you to the criteria that we
uphold dear as our principles in the West.

Speaker 5 (53:33):
I think that's well said Danny Seaman, Israel's Security and
Defense Forum, and check out his podcast. What's your podcast
called again, Danny?

Speaker 14 (53:41):
It's straight up on JNS, a Jewish news syndicate. You
can find it on YouTube and there are already a
few shows there you may find interesting.

Speaker 5 (53:50):
Thank you, sir, and stay safe and my best thoughts
and prayers to the people of Israel are great friends.
Thank you, We appreciate it. Once again, Danny Seam joining us.
Jimmy Sangenberger in for Mandy Connell, keep it here on KOA.
Jimmy Sangenberger here with you for many Connell on koh
A today and tomorrow. My thinks as well to Danny

(54:14):
Seaman joining us from Jerusalem Live with some fascinating insights
on the war there and the situation on the ground,
and some of the unique nature of the relationship between
the United States and Israel.

Speaker 6 (54:30):
Now, as we continue, I want.

Speaker 5 (54:32):
To shift gears to something quite different Hollywood. Oh yes, Hollywood,
where there is a battle of royale and company after
company after a company, in what the Hollywood Reporter calls
Hollywood's succession Wars. Now, this article that we're going to

(54:54):
start with here is from earlier this month. It's a
really fascinating look behind the battle lines of the industries
what he calls real life game of thrones, from the
ever shifting power struggles at Disney to the secret machinations
at the top agencies. And of course we know that

(55:18):
Disney's CEO Bob Iger had left the company, Bob Chapik
took over, Bob Eiger came back because Chapik was driving
Disney into the ground. And even then, Iger, a veteran
long time at Disney ABC before that, has had a
hard time keeping Disney afloat. I mean, look at the

(55:39):
flop that was snow White in theaters. It was just
a complete crumble, particularly because of a lot of the
politics of what's going on in Hollywood. A lot of
the woke is them, but there are other causes for
problems in DC. And this is a fascinating piece by
Peter Keefer again at The Hollywood Reporter and later on

(56:02):
in the piece of something I find as a Star
Wars fan, particularly significant in terms of Lucasfilm, which of
course produces the Star Wars movies. And years ago, I
think in twenty twelve, if I recall correctly me it
was closer to twenty fifteen, Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas,

(56:26):
greater of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, both of those
franchises for four billion dollars. In this article, a guy
by the name of Barry Diller, who's the IAC chairman
and a former head of Paramount, says the following, hiring
from the outside at the CEO level is an admission

(56:47):
of failure. Ideally, you bring someone in early in their
career and they marinate in your enterprise, gain experience, and
succeed whoever is senior.

Speaker 6 (56:57):
That's by far the better process.

Speaker 5 (57:00):
Bringing in a CEO whom you don't know and I
don't care how many hours you interview someone you don't
know them is a bad dice throw and rarely works. So,
as this article goes on to say, Lucasfilm seems likely
to follow that path in replacing Kathleen Kennedy, who is
really the beleaguered CEO of Lucasfilm.

Speaker 6 (57:22):
She's had a couple successes.

Speaker 5 (57:24):
The Rogue one movie in theaters that came out and
what I Think twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, and and Or
Goss season two was amazing that just came out in
the last few months. Truly phenomenal. So some successes, but
a lot of failures. The sequel trilogy widely panned it,

(57:46):
I would say rightly so. And then there's Star Wars
the act Lite, which was not even worth producing if
you think about it. They go on to say, despite
speculation about outside candidates, including former twentieth Century had Emma Watts,
insiders say the company that is Lucasfilm seems more likely

(58:07):
to promote from within. The current thinking is a scenario
where chief creative Officer Dave Feloni, who is in essence
and shall I say acolyte of George Lucas and production
had Carrie Beck, both Lucasfilm vets take co head rolls.

(58:27):
Even as an arm of Disney, Lucasfilm remains in many
ways of family business and as George Lucas protege. Feloni
long has been considered a golden boy. But the knock
against him is that he might be too steeped in
Star Wars lore and risks steering a show into dense

(58:48):
mythology that loses a broader audience. Look, the guy is
already that chief creative officer for Lucasfeld. If you're worried
about a guy who is really interested in lore and
getting consistency right as the possible CEO of Lucasfilm that,
I think you have far greater problems than that, Disney.

Speaker 6 (59:11):
It is absolutely stupid.

Speaker 12 (59:13):
Now.

Speaker 6 (59:13):
I'd say this as a big Star Wars.

Speaker 5 (59:15):
Fan who would like some consistency, and overall I admire
Dave Filoni, although he's had a couple hits and misses,
kind of a mixed bag for him on the live
action side, while his animated shows have been fantastic. But
to use that as the basis for maybe not making
him CEO seems ludicrous to me. He's not the and

(59:37):
Orer guy, He's the Ahsoka guy, says one Disney insider, Beck.
Carrie Beck, who joined the company in twenty twelve, knows
the ins and outs, but neither she nor Felony has
much film experience, which could be mitigated by Kennedy's continued
presence as a producer on certain Star Wars projects, ensuring
quality control in the short term. I just I find

(01:00:00):
fascinating to see how Hollywood is sort of looking at
these things. Sometimes there's the political lens, but I think
Disney's a little more aware about well because someone wants
to pull back from the political stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:00:12):
That's encouraging.

Speaker 5 (01:00:14):
But I think this whole notion that Dave Filoni cares
too much about Star Wars lore destructs me as absurd
and one of the most ridiculous reasons not to put
somebody in the position as CEO of the company. In fact,
I think he'd probably be a pretty darn good CEO
and carry on the legacy of George Lucas in many respects.

(01:00:39):
Five six six nine zero is the KOA Common Spirit
health text line.

Speaker 6 (01:00:43):
If you want to join into.

Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
The festivities, We're going to take a break and pick
it up on the other side, Jimmy and for Mandy
on KOA as we rock and roll along, Jimmy Sangenberger
here with you for Mandy Connell today and tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (01:01:00):
There has been a whirlwind, I.

Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
Mean gosh, since Friday when I filled in to start
the four day stint. It has been a whirlwind of
thing after thing, issue after issue, topic after topic, particularly nationally,
but also some locally, including the protests that happened over
the weekend thirty five arrests at the No Kings protests,

(01:01:25):
particularly in Denver. But one of the things is we
talked a lot about Iran and Israel strike on Iran
is that there was an expectation that oil prices were
going to spike and spike dramatically, but that thankfully has
not happened. In fact, initially Brent crewed popped right away

(01:01:51):
from sixty six dollars a barrel to a high of
seventy eight dollars last night last week, but by Monday
it was back two seventy three dollars a barrel. As
the Wall Street Journal editorializes, the non panic owes to
ample global supply, and it's a lesson for Congress and
the Trump administration as they contemplate putting new sanctions on

(01:02:14):
Russian oil exports. Wars are unpredictable, and an Iranian attack
on Saudi oil fields or shutting down the Strait of
Hormuz is possible. Iran has made so many self damaging
mistakes leading up to this war that another can't be
ruled out, but global oil production is in reasonable shape

(01:02:35):
to cope with anything short of catastrophic disruption. Saudi Arabia
has been produced in more as ev Guyana, Brazil and Canada.
US production hit a record thirteen and a half million
barrels a day in March, and a sustained price of
seventy dollars or above would be welcomed by US frockers,

(01:02:56):
some of which have been taking rigs offline as prices
slipped toward sixty dollars. And so, in essence, what the
journal editorializes, and I completely agree, is that Trump has
a real lesson here that oil prices should not impact
American decisions anymore in a way that they had in
the past as far as dealing with particular crises, whether

(01:03:17):
that's Russian, whether to sanction them, or to support Israel
in its war against Iran, etc. In all these instances,
American production unlease shit and also get rid of energy
tariffs on Canada, on any other country from which the
United States is.

Speaker 6 (01:03:35):
Bringing in energy.

Speaker 5 (01:03:37):
At the very least, mister President, consider the moment that
we're in and reduce or eliminate those terrorifts for the
time being, even if you want to put them back
at some point, providing that the courts don't strike them down.

Speaker 6 (01:03:49):
Got a willing they will.

Speaker 5 (01:03:51):
But regardless, the point is, you raise energy prices at
a perilous time for the American people. If you have
tariffs in place while these conflicts are going on around
the globe. Unleash American production of oil and natural gas
would also.

Speaker 6 (01:04:08):
Make it easy to bring it in.

Speaker 5 (01:04:11):
And that's why we have not seen and those some
of those factors too, or why we have not seen
a massive spike since the Iran strike began. Another hour
up ahead, Kingfish at the bottom of it, Keep it here,
Jimmy Sangenberger covering for Mandy Connell right here on KOA.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Well, no, it's Mandy Connell on KA ninety one st.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
The icy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Mann sad Bing.

Speaker 5 (01:04:55):
Third and final hour of the time, flying by as
we continue. Jimmy saningen Berger kin for Mandy Connell on
this Tuesday, the seventeenth of June. Bottom of the hour, christone,
Kingfish ingram a twenty six year old blues guitar prodigy,
amazing voice to phenomenal musician Grammy Award winner already joining us,

(01:05:21):
So be sure to stick around for that.

Speaker 6 (01:05:24):
But we have some hairy weather going on.

Speaker 5 (01:05:27):
In our own Nia. Bender is on the line live
outdoors to give us a little bit of an understanding
of what all is going on and what we're experiencing
now and so on and so forth. Nia, good afternoon,
I think.

Speaker 12 (01:05:41):
I think Harry sums it up. And yes I'm on
the k Way weather deck standing out in the middle
of the lightning, because that's what all.

Speaker 5 (01:05:47):
Good reporters do, right you are intrepid indeed, Nia, thank you.

Speaker 12 (01:05:51):
Oh yeah, that's me not pretty. I mean, we do
have severe thunder severe thunderstorm warning for parts of sous Well.
They have had a ground stop in place at DIA
for a while, so you know, if you have a
flight you'll need to catch ATDIA, might be a good
idea to either call your airline or log on to

(01:06:11):
fly Denver dot com. But just looking at right now
Golden and Lakewood and Denver, some of the lightning is amazing,
incredibly dark, and like I said, Harry is a good
work for this right now, definitely ominous looking in many
areas over the city. So hopefully everybody has full coverage

(01:06:32):
on their cars and they'll be fine.

Speaker 6 (01:06:34):
Yeah, that's just the thing. You know, if you have
a place to.

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
Hide your vehicle, go ahead and do that at your gridge,
your parking garage, whatnot. But when it comes to the
dark clouds, like, how dark are we talking, I've just
been in studio and I'm looking out the window here
and it looks okay, you know, a little dim.

Speaker 6 (01:06:53):
Well we're talking dark clouds. How dark were talking?

Speaker 12 (01:06:56):
Yeah, we're talking super dark. And I know the view
that you're looking at from the studio. Yes, I can
look down towards that and I can sort of make
out like a little bit of Pike's Peak. It does
look a little lighter to the south. That do not
let that fool you. Al Paso County, Teller Counties, all
of those have been dealing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:13):
With severe weather.

Speaker 12 (01:07:15):
So yes, it does look a little lighter to the south.
But as soon as you kind of start looking just
west of Denver and up towards the north, towards Adams,
well out towards Bennett, there is just a line of
thunderstorms and it's not good looking.

Speaker 5 (01:07:33):
Plan accordingly, once you leave for the drive home. I
think that's the one of the key takeaways here from
talking with you Nia.

Speaker 12 (01:07:42):
Yeah, it'll probably make a mess out of things, is
if this progresses throughout the rush hour. So meanwhile, just
pay attention to what's going on above you right now
with the dark clouds, and watch for the warnings and
beware a hail.

Speaker 5 (01:07:55):
Yeah, the intrepid Nia Bender the KOA Weather Deck really
appreciate you checking in with us. Thank you, Nia Bad
And indeed, just as she said, stay safe and sound
out there, Harry is the great description for it.

Speaker 6 (01:08:11):
I just said that.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
She's like, yes, I'm outside, and I think that's the
right word. Sometimes I use the right word every so often.

Speaker 6 (01:08:19):
That's the case.

Speaker 5 (01:08:20):
What you'd hope would be more often than every so
often when you are on the radio.

Speaker 6 (01:08:26):
Let's look at something in politics that has sort of
shaken the.

Speaker 5 (01:08:29):
National Democrats in a way that I found rather interesting
this year from the Hill. The departure of two major
union presidents from their posts at the Democratic National Committee
is raising questions about lingering internal divisions as the party
seeks to regroup. News surface Sunday that the American Federation

(01:08:54):
of Teachers' Union president Randy Winingarten an American Federation of
State and Municipal Employees president Lee Saunders would decline to
be reappointed as at large members of the committee. Both
endorsed DNC chair Ken Martin's former opponent Ben Wickler in

(01:09:16):
the party chairs race earlier this year, and both were
later removed by Martin from the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee.
The two sided internal disagreements and their decisions to leave
the DNC, with their exits being the latest examples of
internal disagreements within the party spilling out into the open.

(01:09:36):
You know what's fascinating. For some reason, there is a
compulsion when your party is on the outs to eat
your own and not to try and develop a strategy
or a team mentality to write the ship. Now, I'm
not just talking about the national DNC and the discord
amongst union members and union leaders and others that we

(01:10:00):
are seeing, or the fight to get rid of David Hawk,
the gun control activist, young gen Z gun control activist
who was elected vice president or vice chair of the
DNC and then tossed out unceremoniously I think a couple
of weeks ago when the party leadership said where vote

(01:10:21):
you off the island? Basically I think it was in
the form of discrediting his election in the first place.
But I'm also talking about here in Colorado, where we
continue to see divisions. The vice chair of the Colorado
GOP resigned in protests last week of the new Horn administration,

(01:10:41):
Britta Horn administration of her chairmanship.

Speaker 6 (01:10:44):
I don't know what's going on there. It's hard to make.

Speaker 5 (01:10:48):
Sense sometimes of the discord within the Colorado GOP.

Speaker 6 (01:10:51):
But the Republicans are totally on the outs.

Speaker 5 (01:10:54):
In Colorado, completely on the outs in Colorado, and yet
you're constantly seeing the internal discord, the infighting eating their
own internacin warfare. Now we're seeing that among Democrats at
the national level, and interestingly, with two major teachers union

(01:11:17):
bosses saying we don't want to be a part of
this anymore. Now I'm wondering, first question, what the hell
is the leader of the teachers union doing on the
board of the DNC.

Speaker 6 (01:11:29):
Anyway. I understand that the.

Speaker 5 (01:11:34):
Democrats are always aligned with the teachers' union's ad vice versa.
Teachers' unions almost exclusively give money to Democrats.

Speaker 6 (01:11:44):
They are hyper partisan, whether.

Speaker 5 (01:11:47):
You're talking locally like in Denver or Jefferson County, or nationally.

Speaker 6 (01:11:53):
With say the DNC.

Speaker 5 (01:11:56):
But what business does the leader of a teachment the
nation's one of the nation's two largest teachers unions representing educators,
what business does she have on the committee for a
major party.

Speaker 6 (01:12:09):
I don't care Democrat Republican.

Speaker 5 (01:12:12):
Now she's getting off, but apparently they've been on for
a long time with representation on the DNC, which to
me is just so wrong.

Speaker 6 (01:12:21):
But it tells a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:12:22):
About where the teachers' unions come from and where Democrats
come from. And of course in this moment, we're seeing
that there are deep divisions among Democrats that don't know
where to go with the future of the party. And
it's fascinating to watch as it all unfolds, just as
it's been fascinating to watch as similar things have unfolded

(01:12:42):
here in Colorado with the Republican Party. It must be
a bipartisan pastime to engage in internacine warfare among your
own when you are defeated and on the outs from
governmental influence. In this case, Colorado Democrats control every of
the state federally similar situation, although the margin of Republican

(01:13:06):
leadership in the House is very thin, but is still there.
Very interesting seeing these things unfold at the DNC with
the Teachers' Union and Randy Winegarden and of course, one
of the national leaders in shutting down schools during COVID
and has tried to rehabilitate that image just a little

(01:13:26):
bit by saying, oh, let's look at the damage that
happened to kids during COVID. Really, you're days late and
many dollars short. Randy Winegarden, well, by the way, one
final thing, probably the best advocate for opening schools at
the time. I mean, she was just the prime example,

(01:13:48):
you know, provide actually a school choice. Great example for
school choice and why that's needed is just Randy Winegarden.
She just needed to say the things she said in
that encouraged people to support school choice across the country.
I'm Jimmy Sangenberger in for Andy Connell. Don't go anywhere,
It's KOA if you feel so inclined to follow my

(01:14:13):
content from filling In and links to the podcast to
my weekly twice weekly columns in the Denver Gazette, including
tomorrow's Lindell talked in Circles Jury Didn't Buy It. That's
coming out tomorrow in the Denver Gazette, which you can

(01:14:35):
access all the things at my website Jimmy Sangenburger dot com.
Keep in mind there's no AI or you in Sangenburger.
It's all ease all the time. Once you know that
sang in Burger.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
Is easy listener text.

Speaker 5 (01:14:51):
Coming in Koa common Spirit health text line. We were
talking with her own Nia Bender a little bit ago,
who was outside in the Koa weather deck. All of
the street lights are on in Linemen, it's so dark.
That's Jason texting in thank you for the heads up
on that. Any other little weather reports five six six

(01:15:11):
nine zero is the number. Also calling back to the
previous hour when we talked a little bit about Star
Wars and lucasfilm text coming in making a very important
and valuable point, and or star Wars and Or should
be the only model I would assume for Star Wars
content moving forward. It was by far the best effort

(01:15:34):
in a long time, without question, it really was. It's
just absolutely phenomenal. And Or in rogue one top knot.
And finally, the DNC wanted Hog out David Hogg, the
gun control activist. Then they changed the rules so he
couldn't spend money to primary dems he doesn't like. So

(01:15:54):
Hog dropped out of the race for d NCVP and
is now free to do whatever he wants. Yeah, so
my understanding is he did get voted and It wasn't
that he dropped out, that he was elected to that
position and then they removed him, or at least got
him to want to remove himself.

Speaker 6 (01:16:14):
Either way, he is right. I'm Jimmy Sangenberger in.

Speaker 5 (01:16:18):
For Mandy Connell when we come back, nice long segment
and we will talk with none other than Christone kingfish Ingram,
who is absolutely phenomenal Grammy Award winning blues guitarist and singer,
and he's coming to Colorado for the Blues from the
Top festival in just a couple of weeks in winter Park.

(01:16:41):
Stay tuned for that. On the other side. As we
continue on KOA, all.

Speaker 6 (01:16:47):
Of twenty six years.

Speaker 5 (01:16:48):
Old, already Grammy Award winner for his album six 's
two for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and he's got other
accolades as well for still own it, kingfish Ingram joins
me here on KOA.

Speaker 6 (01:17:04):
Good afternoon, Kingfish.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
How you doing, brother?

Speaker 5 (01:17:07):
I say, doing great, even better now that I got
you on man, and I'm excited to talk with you
because there is this belief I think, and I'd love
your thoughts on this as we get started. There is
this belief that, like the blues is passe it's just
old school and there isn't a younger generation up and

(01:17:29):
coming that really cares about it or wants to keep
it alive. And I think your prime example of it.
But others are in this music business really trying to
make their mark in blues as well. Talk to me
about that, the how you view the next generation of
blues musicians, your role in it, and why the blues

(01:17:49):
is spoken to you for your entire life.

Speaker 8 (01:17:53):
Well, if one blues is simply life, and I'll always
and it, you know, with the blues that win because
it's just out you know, you're simply out of life experiences.
And not only that, you know that's what makes it
a you know, a universal language. And more young kids

(01:18:15):
are you know, I grasping that you know these days
for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:18:20):
And so when we look at the blues, I mean
you you're born in nineteen ninety nine Clarksdale, Mississippi, and
it is a genre to me that has just so
much you you talk about blues is life, How it's
really speaks to you that there's something personal about the blues,
isn't there?

Speaker 8 (01:18:41):
Definitely? Definitely.

Speaker 6 (01:18:43):
So when you think.

Speaker 5 (01:18:44):
About that and the music that you create, what is
it you want to share with people as you're because
you write songs, you put together original music. That's so
much of what you're about. What do you want people
to take away from your tunes?

Speaker 8 (01:19:02):
Well, you know, I've always felt like my story in
general has always been about perseverance.

Speaker 16 (01:19:07):
And uh and you know, standing the courses to the
first line, and you know, I just you know, I
just want to inspire, you know, and you know, and
you know, you know, an influence you know, Uh, you
know what the story that I tell, you.

Speaker 5 (01:19:21):
Know, you know with your mind and yeah, yeah, well
and and it goes to what you were saying, Kingfish,
about the personal stories. So for example, your your name
of nicknamed Kingfish. Talk to us for a moment about
the story of how you got yeah that nickname.

Speaker 8 (01:19:41):
Well, how I learned how to play? Was I I
enrolled in the Delta Blue was in Argent education program
at Clarksdale. And one of my teachers, you know, uh
flansh mentors at the time, h Beer having mad period.
He's not deceased, but he was a he was a
local you know, blue musician, and he would give us

(01:20:06):
nicknames of the classroom. But we thought of them with
stage names, and yeah, man, that's where my name came from.
It was, it was. It was a funny. It was
a funny reason behind me, uh because he got it
from names and andy and.

Speaker 6 (01:20:18):
You gotta let something like that stick too.

Speaker 5 (01:20:20):
I mean, you think about so many blues musicians like
Leed Belly that was not his given name. He's not
our sunny boy, Williams said, or William said too, also
not their given name.

Speaker 8 (01:20:32):
Right, exactly exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:20:35):
So we were talking to I.

Speaker 5 (01:20:37):
Just named a few of the old school, the four
bearers of the blues, and we're talking with Christine kingfish Ingram.

Speaker 6 (01:20:43):
Talk to me a little bit about some of your influences.

Speaker 5 (01:20:46):
Who were some of those musicians that you listen to
growing up that really spoke to you and got you
to think, you know what, I want to go into
blues myself.

Speaker 8 (01:20:57):
Well, for one, before I really dug deep into the
general and started learning, it was the local guys in
my area that I you know, that I got influenced from.
You know a lot of a lot of local blues.
Parts of the guys you may not know them, but
you know, uh, these are across their alleges like josh
Reza Blade Stewart and with the Jim Buck Jefferson and

(01:21:20):
a doctor Michael James. But when I started learning about
the general I started dig deep. I started to dig deep,
and you know we learned about Son House and uh
Robert Nighthawk and you know, uh Robert Justin into the
into the Muddy Waters and Howland Wolfson aber Ken and

(01:21:43):
bb King and Freddy King and so and so.

Speaker 6 (01:21:45):
Yeah, it's just such a rich.

Speaker 5 (01:21:49):
Array, the rich crop of of folks who really brought
so much that as not just I think of it
this way, King Fisher, that the Blues is not just
its own music, it also burst, rock and roll, rap,
hip hop, the.

Speaker 6 (01:22:05):
Rest of it.

Speaker 8 (01:22:07):
Definitely, definitely the you know, we have a saying that
the Blues is the you know, roots and everything else.
It's the fruits. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:22:14):
I always love Muddy Waters song The Blues had a
baby and they called it rock and roll, right, I mean,
that's that's the essence it is that that core of
music that we listen to here in America comes from
the experience of the blues.

Speaker 8 (01:22:29):
Definitely, man, definitely, you know, like I said earlier, you know,
blues is life, and you know, I feel like that's
why it's so relatable and you know, such a you know,
you know universal, you know genre of music.

Speaker 5 (01:22:42):
Yeah again, King Kingfish joining us Chris Stone at Kingfish Ingram.
Hailing from Clarksdale, Mississippi, he will be headlining Sunday the
twenty eighth.

Speaker 6 (01:22:53):
At the Blues from the Top.

Speaker 5 (01:22:54):
Excuse me twenty ninth at the Blues from the Top
festival in winter Park, also featuring the fabulous Thunderbirds as
a harmonica player myself, Kim Wilson, one of those great
icons Little Feet headlining Saturday the twenty eighth, Joanne Shaw
Taylor as well JJ Gray and Mofo and Sonny Landrith

(01:23:16):
kicking it off on Friday, June twenty seventh. Just a
phenomenal lineup also including by the Way, Colorado based Vince
Converse and big Brother and Vince Converse guitarists for Rick
Lewis and in his band as well. Talk to me
a little bit about some of the names that you'll
be playing alongside at the festival.

Speaker 6 (01:23:36):
Kingfish, well, I just met not too.

Speaker 8 (01:23:39):
Long ago, but we have a bunch of Newfield friends.
But he's been a friend of mine, you know, for
the longest I know, Kim I know mister King will
Ken Wilson for a long time. Don't know any guys
on little Feet, but yeah, man, the roster stack, you know,
with a bunch of friends, and you know a bunch
of musician that I you know, dmire and enjoy.

Speaker 5 (01:24:04):
I want to talk to you in a moment, Kingfish,
about playing live and what's that like. But to set
it up, I gotta give folks a taste from your
hit album Live from London, and this is I think
it's it's always great hearing how a musician is live

(01:24:24):
because that's when you're really put to the test. And
it's not just about in studio, although that's powerful enough.
When you get on stage, how are you? Here's a
little taste this is outside of this town. That's from
the Kingfish album, right right, So talk to me for
a moment about playing live because just inn't that taste

(01:24:46):
to load You could just hear some of that fiery spirit,
the passion and energy that you're bringing. What is it
like being on stage and playing to the crowd, especially
in a plays like in London?

Speaker 8 (01:25:00):
Man, the stage is my happy place.

Speaker 3 (01:25:02):
Man.

Speaker 8 (01:25:02):
I feel like on stage I forget about all my fears.
I forget about all the trials and tribulations, and I'm like,
it's like a Kendid for an artist. For me, you know,
I can just get up ben paint. And also being
you know, you know in London at the time at
a very historic, historical venue like the Garage, you know,
you know, it's also pretty cool too. I love intimate

(01:25:24):
venues where I can you know, uh, you know, damn
near touch the audience, you know, from the stage.

Speaker 5 (01:25:31):
Yeah, that's one thing that I think is so exciting,
King Fish, when you are seeing a show and you're
able to connect in the audience. But let's also talk
about the personal connection or the energy feedback because and
I know this being a guy who plays harmonica and
I've got a little blues band in town here in Denver.
So when you have the audience and they're into the music,

(01:25:55):
you feed off of that just as much as they're
feeding off of what you're bringing on stage, right mm hm.

Speaker 8 (01:26:01):
Definitely, definitely definitely.

Speaker 3 (01:26:03):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (01:26:04):
We you know, we try to, we try to you know,
hit them hard in the beginning so you know we
can set the tone for the whole show.

Speaker 6 (01:26:11):
So when do you say, hit him hard from the beginning,
what does that mean?

Speaker 8 (01:26:15):
Just you know, just you know, come out, you know,
uh as they say, you know, uh guns blazing, you know, uh,
just you know, uh, come out and make an impact.
And then you know, we have moments in the show
where we go down. You know, you know, it's a
very you know, uh, you know, dynamic show. But you know,
in the beginning we do try to you know, come
hard for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:26:36):
Now, King Fish, you have performed in Colorado before, I've
seen you live.

Speaker 6 (01:26:41):
What has your experience been like here? What do you
think of this state?

Speaker 5 (01:26:44):
And are you excited to be up there in the
mountains playing at Blues from the Top with that gorgeous
backdrop of the rocky mountains.

Speaker 8 (01:26:52):
Man, We we always been showing a lot of love
anytime we would come to come to Colorado. Uh. You
guys have a really buttoned blue scene. You know, a
little lot of players there, even my even my keyboard
players from Denver. So you know, you know, we know
a lot about Colorado for sure. And I've always wanted
to play Blues from the Top. Festivals been a festival

(01:27:14):
of mine. I mean, it's been one of my favorite festivals.

Speaker 15 (01:27:16):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:27:17):
Uh uh, it's just out of the kid and you know,
learn about different blue fuescles you know, you know in
the US. So just getting you know, a chance to come,
you know, was really cool.

Speaker 5 (01:27:26):
What is it about a blues fast Kingfish that you
enjoy when you are because you know, it's one thing
to have a show that's come see Kingfish and he's
performing at this venue.

Speaker 6 (01:27:37):
But when you have you're in the mix with others.

Speaker 5 (01:27:40):
And they're sort of like the community comes out to
show support for a variety of blues musicians.

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
What does that mean to you?

Speaker 8 (01:27:49):
Man? It's really it's a it's a really brief thing.

Speaker 16 (01:27:53):
Mate.

Speaker 8 (01:27:53):
It shows that the blues are still alive. And well, uh,
that's pretty much the only I have.

Speaker 6 (01:28:01):
Hey, that is sweet and it fits.

Speaker 5 (01:28:03):
I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment
to ask you about playing with Buddy Guy.

Speaker 6 (01:28:09):
I mean, this is the I think the reigning king
of the blues right now.

Speaker 5 (01:28:13):
I saw him a couple of years ago during what
I think is this final stop to Denver, when he
was with the great Kenny Wayne Shepherd. And unfortunately he's
not really torn so much anymore. He's almost ninety. But man,
is is that guy a legend? A genuine living legend
or what Buddy Guy.

Speaker 8 (01:28:32):
Oh yeah, he's on the road now. Actually, yeah, were
still yeah, yeah, yeah, we played a date with him
after this weekend. Man, what can I say? He used
to he used to h he's the og and you
know he's really been, you know, you know, uh a
blessing for me, you know, as far as you know,

(01:28:54):
taking me under his wing and you know, uh, you know,
uh much blessing me on my first amine every day.

Speaker 6 (01:29:01):
Yes, so definitely, Buddy Guy is.

Speaker 5 (01:29:04):
One of the things that I love about Buddy is
he's probably the only person who can get on stage
and literally put his finger up to his mouth and gosh.

Speaker 6 (01:29:14):
With a smile and everybody gets quiet.

Speaker 8 (01:29:21):
Yes, said, yes, sir, That's one of the things I
love that. You know, he's he's always been able to
control the crowd, you know, always having the plumber in
his hands.

Speaker 5 (01:29:29):
That's a beautiful thing with him. So let's talk for
a moment, King Fish about what you have coming up.
I hear at some point, you know TBD are announced
as far as any release, But.

Speaker 6 (01:29:39):
You got a new record that you're working on.

Speaker 8 (01:29:42):
Yeah. Yeah, last October we announced that I now have
my own record label Red zero Records, uh, and this
this new release will be the uh we will be
the first release on the label for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:29:57):
So what can we sort of can he tease us
what we can expe like so much of what you have,
whether at six six to two, your most recent studio
album or your debut album, Kingfish, You've really got that
personal story that you work into your songs. We were
just hearing outside of this Town for example, or earlier

(01:30:17):
we heard the title track for sixty six to two.
What can we expect from this album? Can you give
us any teasers of.

Speaker 6 (01:30:23):
What you're going for?

Speaker 8 (01:30:26):
Definitely more life experiences for sure, And like I said,
I have the regular blues and rocky stuff on there
for sure, but we kind of went into some more
directions as far as playing music that showcases my voice
brother than my guitar playing.

Speaker 6 (01:30:41):
So we had an R and B cuts on there.

Speaker 8 (01:30:45):
It's a really versative record. I think you guys want
to like it.

Speaker 5 (01:30:48):
One of the things again, we're talking with Christine Kingfish
ingram in just a few minutes left with you. But
one of the things that I have always loved is
that not only are you and we just heard this
so phenomenal guitarist, but also that voice that you have
really is that package where you know the producer was like,

(01:31:09):
I can't believe he heard you earlier and that you're
only twenty six.

Speaker 6 (01:31:13):
And I'm sure you get that a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:31:15):
But how would you say if you have an answer
for how you got such a soulful and powerful singing voice.

Speaker 8 (01:31:24):
Well, my mom Feld was a singer, and on her
side of the family, all I have is singers and musicians.
You know, I grew up in churching that side of
the family was the first musician that I got, you know,
you know, you know that was influenced you know, you know,
you know, ininspired by so I can I can say,

(01:31:44):
you know, it's kind of you know, in my bloodline.

Speaker 5 (01:31:48):
That's the thing too about the blues for a lot
of musicians that are well known nationally touring around. I mean,
we can think about Buddy Guy or yourself, Kingfish, but
that you guys have that sort of in your blood
that there's that family tradition that's almost passed along to you.

Speaker 8 (01:32:06):
Oh, definitely, definitely, you know, uh, you know, being from
the South, there's a lot of members.

Speaker 16 (01:32:12):
Down here that have you know, uh, you know musician,
you know, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:32:16):
In they family, you know ours gam in the church,
and you know in the blues you know, you know,
it's you know, it's a big thing in the South.

Speaker 5 (01:32:23):
As we wrap up here with you, Kingfish, what can
you tell folks about when they see you live? What
can they expect from a Kingfish show.

Speaker 8 (01:32:32):
There's going to be a party, That's all I can say.
It's gonna be a big party. We're gonna bring them
into the jew Joint, uh to you guys in the mountains.
That's you know, that's that's kind of our thing.

Speaker 5 (01:32:43):
I love that bringing the Mississippi juke Joint right here
to the mountains. And that's what you will get at
the Blues from the Top festival. I've just been going
there for years. I'm so passionate about this festival. The
headliners are great, everybody up and down the of folks
who are performing Blues from the Top. Dot org is

(01:33:04):
the place to go if you want to get tickets
and our guest, Kingfish is headlining Sunday the twenty ninth,
which will also feature the band Southern Avenue, The Fabulous Thunderbirds,
Legendary Band, and Honey Island swamp band. You gotta you
got a final word for us before we cut you loose, kingfish.

Speaker 8 (01:33:27):
Man, I can't wait to play in see Gassoon once again.

Speaker 5 (01:33:31):
Christine kingfish Ingram joining us here on Koay. Brother, I
am excited to see you again in this time in
the mountains, and I hope to meet you when you're
there too.

Speaker 8 (01:33:41):
You're so likewise man. I appreciate the opportunity. Ye and
thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:33:44):
You better believe it.

Speaker 5 (01:33:45):
And again check out his most recent live album, Live
in London, which I think, well you heard a little
bit of a taste a moment ago. That really is
one of those things when you when you hear a
musician live in the power that they bring and everything,
it really.

Speaker 6 (01:34:04):
Is just something special.

Speaker 5 (01:34:06):
And he is a Grammy Award winner six' six to,
two his second album For Best Contemporary Blues. Album it'll
be fantastic seeing him At blues from The.

Speaker 6 (01:34:15):
Top and that is it for me.

Speaker 5 (01:34:16):
TODAY i will be back, tomorrow same, time same, place
with more, engaging intelligent talk AS i fill in For
Mandy connell one more time right here ON koa and
we continue the. Conversation we will have Branded pryor on
to talk about what's happening In denver public schools and.

(01:34:36):
More she'll be sure to tune in, then have a great,
One stay safe out there in this, weather and May
god Bless.

Speaker 6 (01:34:44):
America