AM Show Hr 1 | Socialist Surges, Election Season & Houston’s Restaurant Reality

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time time time, time lucking load. So Michael
very Show is on the air, working into Mica. We
gotta feed a beard. I don't plan to shave, and

(00:25):
it's you the thing, but I just gotta see it.
I'm doing all right, will I'm mix bs, I'm eating verdict.
That's the true. It's neither drink nor drug and noo,
I'm just done. All right. It's a dad. I know.

(00:50):
The sun's still shining on the close eyes. It's hard
times in the leg. Do you get up a little
like to peep light three block? Did you know? That's
why those are called the wei hours of the morning.
What do you call a store that only sells bagels

(01:13):
and doughnuts whole foods because they got a whole Yeah, yeah, holness.
A friend of mine's dad kept telling him that when
he died, he wanted him to convert his ashes into
a diamond, but he decided that's a lot of pressure.

(01:43):
Well this is a bit crazy. But tomorrow there will
be a very important primary in the state of Wisconsin.
Got a number of primaries yet to be held state
of Wisconsin where they will choose Democrats will choose their
gubernatorial candidate and a woman has come out of nowhere

(02:07):
to lead the field. She's a Democrat Socialist of America.
She's wacky crazy. Her name is Francesca Hong, and her
platform includes the following a quote, public option for healthcare
for health coverage. That's again Obamacare. State run banks, so

(02:31):
you're gonna have the state running the bank. Now, state
run grocery stores, repealing the right to work law. The
right to work law which we have in Texas, which
has been a big source of our success and growth.
Says that you don't have to join a union. A
twenty dollars minimum wage, what a great idea. If you're

(02:55):
gonna make it twenty, make it two hundred. Why skimp
on people? I mean, if you're going to decide how
much people can make them rich, why wouldn't everybody make
a bunch of money. Why wouldn't we just say, yeah, yeah,
you're just in fact, make it two thousand an hour.
It doesn't matter, does it. Why wouldn't we what's the limitation?

(03:20):
Why hold people back? I mean, we just want people
to make a bunch of money, right, so we declare
they'll make a bunch of money. Well that's odd, because
we're not the ones paying it. The business is, and
to the extent that the business has an employee, they

(03:43):
will have to comply, except if they don't have enough money,
in which case the business will adapt. They always do.
That adaptation might be laying down and dying, which is
what bankruptcy are. Closing amounts to the business itself dies,

(04:04):
it ceases to exist to survive. So you'd see a
number of businesses closed. We've seen this. We saw it
in Seattle where they tried this as a city. They
increase the minimum wage. It costs jobs, didn't add jobs,
didn't improve quality of life for those with jobs that
made minimum wage. So businesses closed because they simply don't

(04:29):
make enough money to pay the employees and the other
expenses from the revenues they currently receive. Some of them
will adapt by raising prices because the revenues have to
match the expenses, and of course you'd like them to
be more than that so you can make a profit.

(04:50):
Isn't that crazy? We don't like a business to make
a profit, seemingly because businesses are all making so much money.
But they're not because even with that these high minimum wages,
businesses closed. Almost every business you watch open closes, just
a question of how long. So much harder to operate

(05:11):
a business than consumers can ever imagine. What's interesting is
Francesca Hong has only ever done one thing. She ran
a restaurant and it closed, and her parents had to
pay off the debt of thirty thousand dollars because she didn't.
But if you increase the minimum wage, this is the

(05:35):
biggest industry that this is going to effect, would be hospitality.
And then the restaurants have to raise their prices, just
as when the cost of goods increased under Biden inflation,
they have to raise their prices, which to the consumer
results in inflation. That's where that comes from. So the

(05:59):
business owners any happier they increase their prices. But demand
for product is elastic. Economists will tell you it's very
rare that you find an inelastic demand for product or services.
It is elastic. It moves the way the elastic in
your new pants that they put now so that you

(06:20):
can put on a few extra pounds and still wear them,
or in the case of we're gonna lose a few
pounds and still wear them, though he can't wear the
old the old ones. He's like that Jenny Craig commercial
where you know he holds up like what looks like
it's a sheet to a California king. He holds up
the jeans and he's like, I used to I used

(06:42):
to wear these. I can't see you or you behind there.
He's completely hidden behind the breeches. That's how much he's lost.
I to say that I ever saw office, So he'll
feel good. New tax bracket for millionaires in corporations, Well,
of course, the state's now going to tax them more too.
And during a debate, which will play the audio of

(07:03):
a bit during a gubernatorial debate, she said she was
quote confused why people were saying they were going to
move out of the state. Why don't people just want
to give more money to the government. I don't understand.
And of course state IDs for illegal aliens. Yes, yes, yes,
she wants more illegal aliens. And I haven't seen the

(07:25):
last round of polling, but it looks like she's going
to win, and that's just crazy. We held our primary,
I believe it was March third in Texas, March April, May,
June July August. That was five months ago. Then of
course we had a runoff. They are now holding their

(07:47):
primaries August eleventh in Alabama, some house districts, Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin,
South Carolina, and a week from now will be Alaska, Florida, Wyoming,
California Congression Congressional District fourteen special election. August twenty fifth

(08:09):
will be Oklahoma's primary. South Carolina will have their special primary.
But that's occasioned by Lindsay Gramnesty Die. You've got and
then in September you still got Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware.
They still don't know who they're Democrat and Republican nominees.
Aren't that crazy? Area shows. President Trump at a brief

(08:34):
phone call with Axios and described his administration's approach to
Iran as we are low keying it. He said, We're
only semi negotiating with them. We're just watching Iran with
its huge inflation and the fact that they have no money.

(08:59):
Last week, it was expected to be an agreement regarding
the Strait of Horrmus that had been negotiated with the
help of Oman, and that has not yet materialized. On Saturday,
Iran issued a statement with demands for reopening the strait,
which basically goes back to the same terms as the

(09:22):
June memo of understanding some experts who have a better
sense of the internal leadership of Iran, and the best
I can tell from everyone I've talked to and everything
I've read is it's very hard to get a read
on who's actually pulling the strings in Iran. Some of

(09:42):
their top leadership has been killed off, there are internal pressures,
there is concern within the country. But I think it's
a mistake to underestimate Iran. I know we like to
you know, we're America, and we dictate terms and we
tell everybody what to do. But this is a very

(10:03):
complicated issue, and it is further complicated by a midterm
election that will begin in around seventy days and a
Senate that could very possibly flip to the Democrats, and
a House that could very possibly flip to the Democrats

(10:25):
and leave the president with two years of simply battling
against the imminent impeachment. That is certain, the leadership of
the Democrat Party that would now be called by observers
moderate that we consider to be whack jobs, are far
more moderate than the Democrat Socialists of America leadership that

(10:50):
is on the rise and on the March and the
Chuck Schumers and Nancy Pelosis and Hakim Jeffries. They're very
well aware of it. They are very well aware that
that's where the muscle is now. Polling shows that they
have increased their overall percentage of the population in terms
of having an affinity for their agenda, but that a

(11:12):
number of Democrats who are longtime Democrats are very uncomfortable
with where with the direction of the party. The good
news is because if all they did was talk about
socialism and packing the Supreme Court and doing away with
the presidency and opening the prisons and opening the border

(11:37):
and defunding, which is eliminating the police departments, if they
just did that, then they wouldn't lose very many Democrats
because Democrats can't admit I was wrong, so they go
along with the Democrats under the big Tent philosophy. But
fortunately the Democrats can't stop there. If they did, this

(11:59):
would be a winning strategy. Crazy, but a winning strategy
not because everyone in their coalition would agree with them,
but because everyone is afraid to speak out against it
because they don't want to be banished, perished from the party.
So if they stuck to that agenda. They'd be fine,
but they don't. They do one thing that causes If

(12:22):
you look at the number of Democrats who are actually
speaking out against all of this, you'll find out it's
on one issue, the Jew Hayden. If the Democrat Socialists
of America we're just crazy communists and stopped there, they'd
be golden. But they don't. It's a strategic error on

(12:43):
their part. They love to throw the Jew Hayn in there.
And you might say, well, that picks up a number
of Muslims. Look at how well it worked for abdul
El said in Michigan. Yes, but dearborn Michigan is a
Middle Eastern city for all intents and purposes, and in

(13:06):
that sense, Michigan looks a lot less like the rest
of the country. You know, Mogadishue, Minnesota is a different
place altogether. It's you don't go to Minneapolis any longer.
I mean, there was a reason that George Floyd had
fled to Mogadishu because he could blend in with the

(13:27):
criminal element there and in fact was committing a crime
when he was arrested. I saw Liz Wheeler posted over
the weekend. I think she seemed to suggest it was
the first time she knew it. I've been saying this
since day one. George Floyd said I can't breathe eight
times before he ever engaged with an officer on the ground.

(13:50):
He was sitting in the back of the squad car
saying I can't breathe. He couldn't breathe because he had
downed a bunch of fentanyl that he had on his
person when they rove to when they arrived to arrest him.
I do say I rove unronically sometimes, but there anyway,
when they arrived to arrest him, he downed the fentanyl,

(14:13):
something that he'd done about thirty days before, about sixty
days before, and been hospitalized over. They had that on film,
and in fact you see him talking to the officer
trying to keep the pill on his tongue without swallowing it,
which was kind of a kin to when somebody has
a tongue ring. You ever have a waitress that has

(14:34):
a tongue ring, or waiter earth for that matter, and
you think, oh, that's that's unfortunate. They have a speech impediment,
and then you realize, no, they have hardware in their mouth.
Excuse me, it's just not going to borrow that unscrew
this thing. And they've got this big hunk of metal
in the middle of their tongue. I mean, I've heard

(14:57):
that it has some I guess sexual purposes in the
performance of services. I don't know, and I guess it's
a desperate attempt to appear more interesting. I don't know,
start a business, I mean, do something. But is that
really the Is that really the approach? And I'm not
sure that my life is on course for what I

(15:19):
want it to be. I don't know what I'll do,
and I don't have another inch of my body to tattoo.
What shall I do? I own their mind, their mind.
I just get a big hunkle medal in the middle
of my tongue, so I can't talk. Lucky you. The
Michael Very Show continues Your Lucky Day. We're going to

(15:41):
open the phone lines. There is not a directed topic
of specificity for the program, but if there's something on
your mind that you want to call about, we'll weave
some calls into the show. I have more to get
to than I will have any chance to get to.
It's a very busy weekend for news stories of importance,

(16:03):
and we are of course approaching the election day, the
general election, which will actually begin in October, and in
of course election day in November. But it's always nice
to work some folks in. This next story is not
the most important thing in the news, but it is
typical of a news story. So let's use it as

(16:26):
our frog to dissect and learn about the basic systems,
shall we so. Houston Chronicle headline Camp Capital K capital
A capital M capital p all caps from Camp Houston
closes after six years amid neighbors complaints. Subheading residents didn't

(16:51):
appreciate music going on until the early morning hours. Who
would really? Who really? When you think about it, I've
never met anybody who said, to you like living I'll
ask you like living in this and every you like
this house?

Speaker 2 (17:11):
I do.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
I'm not saying I don't. I do. It has everything
we want, but I'm we might move. I'm really looking
for a place where the music continues to shake the
windows until say, three o'clock in the morning, and it's
getting harder and harder to find that. So we're we've

(17:33):
asked our realtor if they could find us something that'll
keep the real steady bassline, you know, maybe an EDM
style till about three o'clock. Because what happens is when
that stops, I tend to wake up, you know, during
the wee hours. I tend to wake up when the

(17:54):
music stops. Nobody wants music playing like that. That's why
the RCEC was located in a warehouse district. That's why
the next one will be in the warehouse district. Because
I sat on City Council and I watched Forget the frustration,
the pain, the anguish of people who come down to

(18:17):
city Hall because they're angry over a bar in their neighborhood.
Forget that. That's one thing what you need to do
is look in their eyes, because those are people who
are not going to give up until you're gone. And
can you blame them? Now? I am a lot less sympathetic.

(18:41):
If you, as we say in the law, come to
the nuisance. If you move in directly behind a bar
that's on you, do your due diligence. I've never bought
a property that I'm going to live in as a
homestead that I did not go all hours of the
night and day and just sit out from see what's

(19:01):
going on? Are there four dudes sitting on the corner
slinging forties, pants down around their knees, look like at
any moment they're probably going to carjack somebody. It's probably
not what you want, right because bullets are cheap, and
at some point there's probably their conflict resolution skills as

(19:22):
a subculture tend to be less than ideal. And I'll
tell you. You talk about music keeping you up, it
turns out gunfire will have that effect on you, you know.
So that's something to think about. If you notice men women,
or some hybrid of the two strolling along after hours,

(19:46):
mini skirt, high heels men pulling over, they lean into
the window to chat for them, with them for a while.
Some of them get in the car. Some of them
didn't measure up. Whatever that will be. You'll tend to
find that's not ideal for a place to live either
when you're looking for now. Maybe there's a person that

(20:07):
lives till three o'clock and that and the forty boys maybe,
but most people really don't want that. Confirming rumors and murmurs, Oh, murmurs,
We've worked murmurs in murmurs, in rumors. Longtime restaurant and
club space Camp Houston announced on Sunday that it had

(20:31):
closed its doors permanently. Camp Houston is now a person.
The restaurant shuddered after six years in operation. Thank you Houston.
Read Camp Houston's announcement posted in an Instagram reel and
set up to Frank Ocean's godspeed. Thank you for our

(20:53):
amazing team, Camp counselor every team member who helped bring
this vision to life, and visitors from all over the
world came here. It was wonderful. Okay, so you're hearing
that the neighborhood was unhappy, but that's not why the
business closed. Actually, and buried several paragraphs down, is why

(21:17):
the business closed. The restaurant closed because it's operator a
life hospitality group. By the way, the group that owns
this is the group that took over the RCC when
I sold it. They took over the lease. I sold
it to Bobby Orr as a building, but they were

(21:38):
the leaseholder that ended up occupying the property and any
of you who ever went back to see what they
had done, because they did about a year of renovations,
actually really nice renovations. They made it into what I
described as a black Hooters, and as a concept, it
was really cool. They build built out, they custom built

(22:03):
boots and they covered them. They didn't buy any of
this off shehelf. They covered them in some sort of
Nauga hide that they used as their boots, and they
did them at multiple staggered levels. They took advantage of
the levels that we had built. And it was really

(22:24):
really I thought it was really well done. It ended
up being cavernous because it was too big. But what
it reminded me of was Jack Rabbit Slims in the
movie Pulp Fiction. I thought they did a real nice job.
They did some dumb stuff, they put plaster on the wall,
but all in all, I would say they probably spent

(22:47):
all in all, I bet they spent half million dollars
on the renovation. Anyway. So the real reason they closed,
and there's a racial element to this, which is why
I bring this up, the real reason they.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Product and you don't get to that until paragraph six
from Michael's Brain to your Ears. This is the Michael
Very Show. So back to this article. I should tell
you regarding this.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Particular business, these operators are very very good. Now, you
don't want them operate next to you because the kind
of business they run, but they understand their concept. There
is a lucrative market. Now it's not massive because there

(23:49):
aren't enough people to go around, but there is a
lucrative market that appeals to a black audience that has
cash to spend, that goes out, that will go out
at night, and that loves brunch. I bet you the

(24:11):
per person spend for Black women at Sunday brunch in Houston,
the per person spend is higher than any other single demographic.
I bet it's higher than white men. Asians don't do
Sunday brunch. They don't. Have you ever seen an Asian
at Sunday brunch? They don't. Mexicans, Hispanics, they don't do it.

(24:35):
You don't go into Federal American Grill, which has a
booming brunch business, and see a Puerto Rican family sitting
over there drinking or chata spike with vodka. You don't
see it. You just don't high end through through brunch

(24:56):
was the domain of a segment of white people. Working
class white people don't do that. Working class white people
go to church and they they either go home where
my mom makes a big lunch and they, you know,
if it's their week, the pastor comes over and that's
a big deal because the pastor's come over. But everything
has to be cleaned up pastors coming over, or they'll

(25:20):
go to We would go to Bonanza. Boy, there was
a treat man. We would go to Bonanza. You would
get what, for their purposes, was called a steak. Yes
it was. Sorry, it was a little bitty thin thing.

(25:44):
I don't know what cut of meat that is. I
would like to know, but it had little clear rubbery
demarcations on it, right, so that if this was a sidewalk,
those would those would be the expansion joints. And you
have those little rubbery things, and that's a cut of meat.

(26:06):
Let's just say that is not the rabbi, shall we say? Anyway,
So we would do that. So you would go there.
You would get that. You get a baked potato, and
you get some Texas toast because America, right, and then
an iced tea and you sit down. But the highlight

(26:28):
of Bonanza, for any of you old enough to remember,
the highlight of Bonanza was that after you ate your food,
you could go get an ice cream or ten because
it was free, and you would you would put the
chocolate stuff on there. I can remember standing in the
line area. It was like when you stay at one
of those little corporate hotels of Homewood or one of those,

(26:53):
and in the morning you go down and they have
the waffles you can make, and you're sitting there waiting
in the line. You don't make any contact because you
are about to engage in gluttony and it is sinful
the level to which you are going.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
To do this.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
But anyway, there is this huge market for singularly black
bars and brunches and on an elevated scale. And it
gets back to the fact that some people, particularly blacks,

(27:26):
like to have parts, if not all, of their lives
where they associate with only blacks. Now, most white people
would respond to that as if it were in a
judgmental fashion. The fact is white people like to do
it also, but they've been told by black people you're
not allowed to like to do that. But black people
do do it and no one questions it. There are
bars that you'll see the random white guy in there

(27:49):
and he'll be going out of his way to you know,
to try to fit in, but by and large it
is entirely black, and there's a comfort level. There's there's
almost an excitement because for most people, if you're black
and you work in a corporate job, the chances are

(28:11):
you're in the distinct minority. You might not be thirteen
percent of the workforce, depending on what it is, but
you're you're not over fifty percent. And so there's always
kind of a guard is up. Well, this camp and
they these guys, they have a place called saw your
part on? Is that a feltain of your chimney rock?

(28:35):
Maybe it's chimney rock. And I describe it as a
black Hooters. I'll tell you who else did this very well?
Wash what's his name? He was a singer, He won
a Grammy, Scott h He had the skybar. He understoods
to this content. Scott Gertner. Yeah, good memory. Yeah, nice guy.

(28:55):
I always liked him. He's singing his ass off mine. Goodness. Anyway,
So Camp Houston had Corner disc Market. They were so
popular that people would park across the street, much to
dominate Lorenzo and the ltmpo's chagrin. They would park over
there in his parking and you look at the cars,

(29:18):
they're all range rovers, they're all it looks like you're
in the player parking underground at Toyota Center. When the
rockets come out. You see my box, You'll see you'll
see fancy, showy cars. None of them. None of them
are you know, there's not a Toyota or a Honda

(29:42):
in it's fancy cars. People are dropping a lot of
money on mixed drinks, sweet mixed drinks. But the real
reason they close is the concept run its course. Concept
had run its core. The owners said ongoing sound and
parking change. But actually what you find out is that

(30:07):
they couldn't agree on a lease extension. So as you
might imagine, there is a rumor, this is the murmurs
that the white people drove the black people out of
their shop. But that's not true. When the business was booming,
they didn't care that the neighbors were complaining, and it

(30:30):
was booming. Those guys are great operators at this concept.
But the business isn't booming anymore, and the landlord may
want to use it for something else, and it might
have been more hassled, it might have had lost I
don't know, but it's not because of the neighbors.