AM Show Hr 2 | The Model Train Talk You Needed To Hear And Didn't Know

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
It's that time time, time,time, luck and load. The Michael
Varry Show is on the air.Well, I asked a question about what

(00:45):
boba. By the way I understandthis is confusing. The President Trump's case
before the Supreme Court is not thiscase that they're calling the hush money case.
The case that they call the hushmoney case. It's not a hush
money case. But the question thereis did President Trump pay what we refer

(01:08):
to as hush money money to bequiet? That is when someone usually in
response to someone extorting you, dothey want money to not tell what you've
done? And the question is wasa payment made? Did Donald Trump know

(01:33):
about it? I think that's goingto be the part that they're going to
struggle with. I think they canshow the payment, we'll see did Donald
Trump know about it? That's thepart where I think they're going to struggle
and was a payment made? DidDonald Trump know about it? There's no
crime committed yet, And if youcan prove those two things, my understanding

(01:53):
of the elements of this case wouldbe that then were records falsify in order
to hide the payment. It's notillegal to make a payment to somebody.
It's you can do that could bea donation. Donald Trump himself would have
to know about it. And that'swhere I think they're going to falter because

(02:16):
Michael Cohen was doing things like that, and by the way, candidates do
things like that. The rumors I'veheard some of them verified of the things.
The cleanup effort for Bill Clinton beforehe ran for office, for instance,
there was a task force that Hillaryherself put together and it was headed

(02:40):
by his Press secretary de D.Myersho was very loyal to Bill Clinton,
and Hillary Clinton famously said in thosemeetings which she presided over, like the
tyrant she is to destroy these women. She referred to them as bimbo eruptions.
She didn't want any bimbo eruptions,but when there was, there needed

(03:02):
to be a strike force that attackedthat woman immediately. So missus pro woman,
was not very pro woman when thosewomen were women who'd had a tryst
or been sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton. Just more of the hypocrisy that is

(03:23):
Hillary Clinton. Anyway, that case, Dan Cogdale will be back with us
in the coming weeks to talk aboutthat case and how it's developing. Is
separate and aside from the presidential immunitycase that is before the Supreme Court right
now. And well we'll be talkingabout that. I'll get to that in

(03:47):
a moment. I got an emailfrom a fellow named Dale Frick ramon subject
where to eat in Texas City Zar. I'm going to read it as he
wrote it. I'm a member ofthe Houston Template t E M P l
A t E. I'm a memberof the Houston Template Operator Society, and

(04:08):
we always eat at REGOs whenever we'rein town for a train show at the
Texas City Museum. They have comfortfood and excellent service, and they are
great people. Good people on SixthStreet. Enjoy your show every day.
So I looked up template t EM P l A t E using my

(04:30):
Encyclopedia brown Sherlock Holmes powers of deduction. The train show. This has something
to do with trains. So Iput in Template Operator Society train show,
and it's the ten plate t IN Do you know about this t I
N plate? He might have dictatedthis so that the word tin plate wouldn't

(04:56):
pop up. I bet you that'swhat happened. Anyway. That is these
people, that is the Houston TenplateSociety lists as their address Memorials across from
the Target at Memorial City Mall.So I don't know if they have an
office there or what. But youknow, these people that build these elaborate

(05:19):
toy train deals, they probably don'tlike that language, but that's what it
is. It says the Houston TenplateTenplate Operator Society HTOS is an organization of
O gauge train modelers whose pri Let'ssee if I can get to this whose

(05:40):
it cuts off? Oh my goodness, I need to be able to know
what they do. Trainweb dot OrgHTOS. That's if we can get it
off of their website. Welcome tothe Houston Tenplate Operator Society website. There's
a free train Web e newsletter ramonyou can sign up for. There's ad

(06:00):
space available if you'd like to buythat. Who we are here, We
are an old gauge model train club. So this ain't the other gauge train
club. This is just an oldgauge whatever that means. That's who they
are. But more importantly, allyou other people that don't come, don't
call, don't show up, don'task questions, don't try to make a

(06:23):
donation, don't try to join themembership because we don't want you. We
are an old gauge model train clubwhose goal is here's the goal to present
to the public a family friendly atmosphere. Because what was happening is you'd have
these It was like Caligula was puttingon a train show and just crazy.

(06:47):
I don't even want to go intosome of the just sins of the flesh.
I mean drugs and nonsense and debauchery, the likes of what you've ever
seen. So who we are isan old gauge model train club and you
know what you want to do allthat? Take that to the other gauge
train clubs. Go do that overthere where they'll tolerate that nonsense. But

(07:12):
not here. This is not thisnot that kind of operation. Yeah,
on the other side of the track. Yeah, y'all go over there.
Okay, you go down to Galveston. You know that they'll tolerate that nonsense
with the Marty Graw year round.This is not this is not that kind
of place. We are an oldgauge model train club whose goal is to

(07:32):
present to the public a family friendlyatmosphere that promotes our hobby and provides enjoyment
and education to all who visit.Now, that last part at the constitutional
Convention of the HTOS was they hadsome people. They weren't providing enjoyment and

(07:54):
or education to all who It wassort of somewhere and some were. Now
I'm not really having a good note. We're doing it for everybody. Our
location is Memorial City Mall, Sweetsix seventeen, inside the mall, adjacent
to Target. I will bet youI have a sneaking suspicion that Jim Jarred
has some interest. It seems likethe kind of thing he'd be into,

(08:16):
and he probably cut him a gooddeal on some office space. Weekly operating
hours are Tuesday from six point thirtyto eight thirty pm and Saturday from one
to five, except some holidays andwhen attending local train shows. So if
you show up and they're not thereand you want to start bitching about it,
you know what, go read thewebsite. It's very clear sometimes they

(08:37):
will not. Let's still let's seefor a list of upcoming train shows and
exhibits in the Houston area and aroundTexas click here or the Meets but at
lower rise here where the Meets is. Chris Wrights had to get my iPhone

(09:11):
fixed at the Apple Store and MemorialCity Mall. Stumbled upon the train shop.
It's actually pretty cool. A bunchof old guys sitting around and playing
with model trains. Well, ofcourse it would be cool. You would
love to hang out with those dudes. I mean, if you were to

(09:33):
select a group of guys that you'dwant to hang out with and just chew
the fact, just chat, Iwould put at the top of the list
old guys that leave their house driveto the toy train store, shop organization

(09:58):
membership Committe, and sit around theten plate Operators Society O gauge only family.
I would think that would be aboutas good. You know the you
know, there's freak coffee and theyprobably have free sodas they may nah,
they probably don't have They can't sellbeer. A lot of people don't understand

(10:20):
this. If you're a shop andyou've got guys coming in, you know,
you're a nuts and bolts house ora whatever, you're any sort of
supply shop or whatever else, andyou got working men coming in, you
are allowed to give them a beer. Who don't. You don't need a

(10:41):
liquor license to dispense a beer,have beer on premises. What you can't
do is be paid for it.You cannot sell beer. It's a whole
different deal. In just the sameway, you could play poker. I've
done poker events at my house,haven't while we're overdue. You can play
poker. The house just can't keepanything. You can't have a big As

(11:05):
long as what goes into the tablecomes out of the table and nothing remains
for the host, promoter or anyoneelse, you can do that. I
don't know why I got into thatremonent. I'll be completely honest with you.
Stewart says, I am a member. If you want to talk,

(11:26):
email me a number that I cancall. That's the HTOS Train Club.
So we may be getting a callfrom Stuart, member of the HTOS Train
Club. We're about to find outsome things about this particular organization. Kathy
writes places to eat in Texas Citythe fish Spot on Moses Lake. Do

(11:50):
you know about that? Well,then, why didn't you say it?
Oh you don't like seafood? Thatis so you're like a child four nine
eating north The seafood is great aswell as other food on the menu.
It is worth trying, you knowwhat I'd like to do? I like
to go down there, go tothat gringoes knock back a dream circle,

(12:11):
Margarita. Yeah, I had afriend of mine gringoes had posted about the
new dream cycle, Margarita, becauseI'd been talking about it and the Dreamsicle
came out I think probably during mygeneration, and somebody had posted about They
had said, come down and getyour or come to Gringos and get your

(12:31):
dreamsicle, Margarita. And some womanhad said, I tried the dreamsicle,
Margarita, and it wasn't orange enough. You should consider putting more orange coloring
and more orange flavoring. The dreamsickleshould have plenty of orange. That's part
of the dreamsicle. I did notfeel there was enough orange in the Dreamsicle,

(12:54):
Margarita. And then I don't knowif it was Heather the director of
marketing or have been because she's patientenough. Whoever was said, thank you
so much. You know it's feedbacklike this. It helps us get better.
But I'm not sure you can getbetter right. Waterburger sells a lot
of Hamburgers, but there are guysevery day, I'm sure that go in
there and go, this ain't nogood. What y'all ought to do is

(13:16):
put sasami seed buds like Burger King. Well, you can listen to somebody
say that, but that doesn't meanyou should do it. Dell right,
oh, Adele, we already diddeal. Scott writes, Grand Prize Barbecue
used to be a really good placeto you know this one ramon in Texas
City. Grand Prize Barbecue used tobe a really good place to eat.

(13:37):
Haven't been there in years, soI can't vouch for them now. And
there was another one from a seafoodhouse. What was the name of that?
And I can't find it. Oh, well, that's okay. The
Supreme Court, sorry, no,not. The FTC has issued a ruling

(14:03):
on non competes. Now. Idon't know how many of you have non
competes. I am under a noncompete. Many executives are under non competes.
People who are classified. Do youhave a noncompete so you could leave
tomorrow? Chad can leave tomorrow.Gym's on our personal payroll. So a

(14:28):
ban on noncomplete clauses creates a newrift between employees and bosses. That's what
it says. This is coming fromthe Wall Street Journal, and I think
they're wrong on this. By theway. Workers largely cheered a new rule
banning nearly all non compete agreements,already thinking about ways it could help them
change jobs and earn more. Manymajor employers, on the other hand,

(14:50):
are fighting the decision with a challengein federal court. Wall Street Journal's Chip
Cutter examines the latest shift in thebalance of power between workers and their bosses
and the new techniques some companies areconsidering to retain employees or protect trade secrets.

(15:11):
You know, everybody gets this wrong. Small world. Funny story.
When I came out of law school, I worked for an FDA firm in
Washington, d C. It hadtwo former FDA commissioners. Firm was called
Heyman, Phelps and McNamara, andit was the most prestigious FDA firm in

(15:33):
the country, twenty lawyers. Iwas the first person that they had brought
in west of the Mississippi. Theyonly hired the law review editor of Yale
or Harvard, and here I was. But there's a long story behind that.
I had been recommended by somebody theyrespected. They came to anyway.

(15:54):
But when I started in Houston,I started with a firm called Jenkins at
Gilchrist and the very first case Iwas handed to work on very first issue
matter. It's called a matter Iwas not a courtroom lawyer. Should have
been, but they didn't use mefor that was on non competes in the
state of Texas, and I advisedthe client that non competes are basically unenforceable

(16:22):
in the state of Texas. Andthe reason goes back to case law,
where the idea that if you arenot allowed to leave and go to work
somewhere else, that that is maybenot slavery, but it is in the

(16:42):
involuntary servitude. It's closer to thatthan the free agency, free market of
fluid flow of labor. The problemfor employees really, and this is why
employees are cheering non competes. IfI wanted to leave, and I've told
the company this for years, ifI wanted to leave, I'd leave tomorrow

(17:03):
and they may or may not sueme. And if they sued me,
I would issue a press release thatwe've been sued, and that would be
how you would know where I amtomorrow, because I'm being sued by big
powerful iHeart and I've said that,and I tell people that that's the best
advertising you can possibly get. Youremember the story about Dominic Lorenzo and how

(17:27):
LTMPO started. If those people hadn'tsued them, you know, they would
have gone under. That gave themmarketing. But the real problem is that
employees sign every document when they whenthey want to close their deal, and
they don't get separate compensation for theability to stay there. If you signed
a non compete, you're an idiot. You're an absolute idiot. Well I

(17:51):
had to No, you didn't.You could leave. Unless you're willing to
leave, you will never get thedeal that you are actually working. That's
the only way to Knowle the Rivervalley, see the kid chen and cry

(18:32):
run things to save indeed suppriving.Wonder if everywhere the river gone round.
He was friend to me and thisold wings brown thing for da. I

(19:00):
love the choice because I'm talking abouttoy traines. I'm curious why you went
with Jerry Jeff's version instead of gotClark. Thought would be cooler. It's
more hipster to go with got Cark. Are They're both good? I received
an email and I'm not sure whatto do with this, so I let
you know. It's a picture ofa beer bottle and it says and it

(19:25):
looks like it's on a table,so he must have taken it. The
best tasting beer ever. When Ipour a chilled Pilsner glass of this beer,
I am too embarrassed to admit it'snot a German beer. And it
is a Samuel Smith Old Brewery Tadcaster, the celebrated oatmeal stout from the old

(19:48):
Brewery Samuel Smith Tadcaster, product ofEngland. Well, I don't know that
you have to be embarrassed to admitit's not a German beer. I know
that it's just like barbecue. Youcan have five different people who all make
great barbecue. For some reason,people feel the need to say this thing

(20:11):
that I like, it's the best. Nothing else is as good. Okay,
Well what do you do when youcan't get that? Or you just
sit around being miserable? Because Ienjoy a lot of things, and I
will tell you Germans make great beer. I will also tell you the English
make great beer. I will alsotell you the Dutch make great beer,
as do the Belgians, as dothe French, as do There's actually a

(20:38):
beer called Kingfisher which I only eatwhen when I only drink when I'm in
India because it puts you to sleep, which Indian food. And I don't
usually have a lot going on inIndia. I unplug, so I eat
a big wood wood with my fatherin law. I would eat a big
meal at lunch, drink two Kingfishers, and come back and nap all afternoon,
which is and I will tell youthat's delight. That's a delightful way

(21:03):
to pass a day. M AndI feel like an old British officer when
when I do that. Stuart iswith the htos. Stuart, how you
doing, Michael? I'm good.So how did you get involved with the
ten plate operators? It's real cool? And let me let me take the
mystery out of O gauge. Withmodel railroads, there are generally six common

(21:23):
scales. And when you grew up, and when I grew up, we
probably had a Lionel train. Well, how old for you? I'm sixty
six, okay, a little olderthan you. And and Lionel trains,
if you're not familiar with them,they're big, they're heavy, they smell
weird, they burn a lot ofelectricity, and they are O gauge and

(21:45):
O gauge, like your previous callersaid, is is the width of the
track and O gauge is one anda quarter inch y and that is what
the primary train sets HTOS uses.The other gauge that you might be familiar
with is ho its track is onlyfive eighths of an inch and in is

(22:06):
even smaller than that, is threeeighths of an inch. So it's not
that the club is discriminatory against certaingauges, that's just what they work with.
And the way I got involved reallybeing inclusive though, Stuart, it
feels like some of those out therein the smaller gauge might like to join
in. Well, let me tellyou what. There are numerous train clubs
in Houston. It's it's amazing howmany train clubs there are, and they

(22:29):
concentrate on different scales. And what'sthe way I got involved. I became
a grandpa and I said, youknow what I remember lynel trains. And
I was walking through the mall byTarget Memorrial City Mall, and this place
is incredible, and like you said, it's a bunch of old guys eating
donuts and drinking coffee. The doughnuts, Oh yeah, you just different level,
Oh yeah, And you know,and I'm trying to introduce beer but

(22:52):
they kind of frown upon me,so I put it in. Do you
think they're there right now? Isit no? Thursday? Oh, somebody's
there tinkering. But here's the maindeal. It is not a store.
They don't sell anything. And Iknow George involvement, but I can tell
you this. There are physicists,electrical engineers. They are the smartest human

(23:14):
beings in the world. In thistrain set that they've carried across the nation
to different shows is one of themost phenomenal feats of electrical engineering you'll ever
see. They can turn this thingon, run seven trains at the same
time on the same track, andnot touch a thing. But it's not
a store that it does not competewith the others. I love that.

(23:36):
I love that even more. Yeah, but what's cool When certain train shows
happen in Houston, and they areseveral, this group takes their mobile train
exhibit to those groups to promote trainsand if you want to learn trains,
this is the place to go.It's free that we host birthday parties for

(23:59):
kids and it's all volunteer and it'sjust literally a bunch of old guys.
I'm a young guy compared to themost of them in there, and it's
just phenomenal and I appreciate you highlightingthem well, I will, oh,
and I love I love Cogdale.I've known him since high school. I
went to Texas with him and I'mfrom Beaumont, So I love your Orange
connection. What do you do fora living, Stuart, I'm in the

(24:23):
bond business, not bail bonds.Don't call me tonight. So like tax
free bonds, we have a lotof mutual friends. Are you with Are
you with one of the big shops? I am? Do I know them?
Probably know a lot of people there. You bet. I probably know

(24:44):
you if you're in the if you'rein that side of the bond business.
Yeah, every time you talk aboutOrange, I hear I remember the Zito
family, the Romano family, andthe Daniels family. We all went to
University of Texas together. And Orangeis a cool place. How about that?
So do you bring your grandchild withyou to the train shop? Oh?

(25:06):
Yeah, actually have six of themnow. It's amazing. And what's
amazing about it, it's eye levelwith most kids. And if some kids
are smaller, we have stools.We even have pop ups. And I'm
talking about mountains and gas stations andrailroad crossings, and it's unbelievable. Somebody
told me that the reason it saysfamily friendly is because some places don't have

(25:29):
things for the kids to touch.And that's their code for saying, this
is very interactive. The kids aregoing to be able to touch the stuff.
I'm in the happy and I don'tlike that. Do have winn and

(25:51):
I've never I take let us morea lot of wine. I get Hollo,
friends of mine, young thing,granddad and stopped for a moment and

(26:21):
listened to this arrangement. He bringsbrass into a country saw. I mean,
he's got a trombone and it's probablytrombone Shorty or some famous trombone player.

(26:41):
You know, that's just Han Junior. I've only ever gotten to see
him live once, and it wasat the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles and
it was their outdoor venue and itwas swell dreen. I like to ride

(27:03):
my horses and shoot my guns.You know, a cowboy's work just ain't
ever done. I mean, that'sjust nobody's writing songs for Hank. He
just says that, you know whatI like to do. I like to
shoot stuff, ride my horses,and I like I like women. I
like a new one. You know, it's something fresh about a new one.
I can't deny it. I'm Hank, That's what I do. Don't

(27:26):
call me an icon, even thoughmy ball cap says icon. Don't call
me an icon. I also havetwo, not one, but two different
nicknames. Yeah, one of themyou know. One of them you probably
don't know. But I went througha little phase. You know. I'm
like David allen Cole without dropping theN word or being on death row.
He literally just sits around and writesongs about what he's doing, you know,

(27:55):
like like bring all my rowity friendsover to the house and get drunk,
piss all the neighbors off. Buta lot of them you're getting old
now. Some of them's got thegout, and some of them's livers are
turned to stone. A couple ofthem still around, you know. But
that's what that's the kind of thingI like to I'm real sad you left
me. I remember when I hadto quit smoking. I used life savers

(28:18):
to help me get off the cigarettesbecause it was hard, so i'd you
know, oral fixation and everything.But I wear them life Savers out,
I really didn't care for the yellowone, but I got some pies down.
It's like that, you know,that's like the heel of the loaf,
you know, the last one,the bottom of the barrel. I'd
eat that yellow one if I hadto, if I had a craven for

(28:41):
for a smoke. But I don'tknow what I'm gonna do with you gone,
because I don't know if there's alife, Savers. I mean,
that's songwriting, man, Gosh,that is songwriting, you know this song
about That's quality? Is this stutteringKevin Man? Yes, listen, Kevin,

(29:06):
we could forget this train society.We could We could start a stuttering
society with you as a leader,and we'll do it. We'll do it
kind of real low key to start, but in time you grow your hair
out like Jason Sedakis in that Portlandiaepisode, and you could be like a
cult leader. There were so manypeople who emailed in, uh, you
know, would love offerings, andjust how much how impressed they were with

(29:32):
you. Hold on, Kevin,I want to read. I want to
read something real quick. Sandy Peterson, our research director, says, this
is a model train museum in Gulfport, Mississippi. It's called the train Tastic
Steam Park and Model Railroad Museum.It's absolutely incredible. Rooms and rooms of
train setups, an actual train,you can ride around the grounds, parties,

(29:52):
workshops, the dioramas are all reallyintricate, completely mind blowing. Eric
and I spent three hours there lastThanksgiving. Our friend Tom, who does
all our graphics and memes and stuff, says, my father in law has
collected Stuart called it Lionel trains.I thought it was Lionel, but I
guess it's Lionel trains since he wasa kid and has quite a collection.

(30:15):
When he built his house, headded a train room for his layout while
collecting over the years, he didsomething most kids didn't. He kept the
boxes the trains came in. Lotsof collectors have trains, but from what
I understand, it's somewhat rare tohave the decades old original boxes. It's
pretty cool to see multiple trains runningon a complicated track layout all at once.

(30:38):
Great hobby fun for all ages.Let me tell you something. If
you are a prosecutor and some guysays he's got a train set at home
in a special room, he's dedicatedto his train set and he has the
original boxes. You as the prosecutor, you want that guy because that guy
is law and order. He wantsthings structured, he wants things. Michael

(31:00):
Robinson writes Zoobie Park in Hockley,they have model trains out there that these
big, beer gutted, overgrown kidsride on. It's very cool and very
weird. You know, we gotto send Jim Mudd to the to the
train shop. This is this isjust gonna have to happen. We're gonna
have to send Jim Mud to thetrain shop. Kevin. Okay, Kevin,

(31:22):
I'm gonna be honest with you,hold on saying hold on, I
don't want to interrupt you, butbut I have to. I'm trying out
some theories. I think if Ikeep interrupting you, that might get you
over your stuttering. I mean,I've got a couple theories. But of
the top of the things we havetalked about just on the fly, which
include snake bites, model trains,stuttering from what else just in the lasta

(31:47):
boys, I think the stuttering topic. I mean, it's just incredible how
many people have emailed me with storiesof stuttering, and they were so happy
you called him, Uh, you'vegot to You've got to think in part
uh to to two really crazy peoplein New York in the in the New

(32:12):
York City area by the name ofChris Soccus and uh and uh and uh
ameericith Oaks for that uh on theywere on a serious XM on the truck
on the Trucking Channel and and Ijust ba began with them, began bantering,
uh began bantering. Uh all talkedabout on all of my hobbies,

(32:37):
all of my fandoms and and andsuch. And I had a I had
a blast with it. And uh, what's it called? Uh? Uh
our serious XM uh the Trucking Channeland the show and the show was called
free Wheeling. That show went witha restructuring of the show went away a

(33:04):
couple of years back, and JeriousX lost a lot of subscribers subscribers.
Well, Kevin, do you getaggravated if people ask you to repeat yourself?
Yes, of course, Well,because I just did it and I
felt bad. But what ends uphappening is I get very distracted, like
a dog. You know when scirlsweary and I try to study, I

(33:25):
try to study. You're because I'mtold it's a vocal. They're actually not
chords, they're folds. I'm toldthat it's a spasmen, And I was
trying to listen carefully, and thenI wasn't paying attention to what you said,
and then I felt bad about it,