Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee and donuts, because it's
time for the Morning Spiel, brought to you by Royal Water.
The Athenians and topics discussed on the show do not
reflect that of WVRC Media or our advertisers. Now we
head straight to the one o three to three WKMZ
newsroom with your host Alex Widerspiel.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment
on one of three three WKMC. Good morning, folks, what's up?
Welcome in glad to have you with us for another
edition of the show, and we're going to take a
nice deep breath. I know we've talked politics a couple
of days, and of course always talk in sports. Highly
(00:43):
recommend yesterday's episode, by the way, just for the conversation
with Chris Johnson alone as we took a look at
the recap of everything going on in high school football
week one. But all that being said, you know, we
taken this little little refresher away from sports and away
from politics into the world of entertainment today and that
(01:04):
is because it is of course a local arts Thursday,
and we're glad to have another edition here on the show.
Jason Young of the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center is
going to join us today, tell us a little bit
about what's going on at the Grand. I know he's
got I think he's got a pretty interesting announcement. We're
gonna talk about a bunch of stuff. But I know
that he's sitting on He's sitting on some something pretty
(01:27):
cool and going to reveal it early on in the
interview coming up in the main segment of the show.
So you're gonna want to stick around for that. If
you're listening on the radio, if you're listening in podcast form,
well you're already here, so you may as well hang around.
That's that's that's gonna be our show today is talking
with Jason primarily. That's that's gonna be most of the
(01:48):
show for today. And on that note, gonna get us
to break quickly because we've got a lot to talk about,
a lot to discuss, a lot to break down, and
we're gonna do that coming up in just a little bit.
So let's get to our first break. This is the
Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment. I want O
three three wkmz.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Now back to the Morning Spiel, brought to you by
Royal Water on govern kmz.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want O three three wkmz. Good morning everybody. Alex
Wheederspiel here on a local arts Thursday, and we're able
to bring back after a couple of weeks away. Jason Young,
the program manager of the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center.
The Italian Heritage Festival threw a little hiccup in our
normal schedule. So Aristotle got delayed a week, and then
(02:38):
I'm sorry, Aristotle got delayed a week by the Mountain Stage,
then the Italian Heritage Festival. We were all over the place.
But the point is Jason's back and better than ever.
What's up man?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Also, you know, I listened to your show on the
regular and Aristotle got like the whole episode last week.
You know, so I am I am jealous of his
screen time.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I guess I'm gonna be I'm gonna so here. Here's
the thing, though, is that I'm really bad at keeping
track of how long I've got a guest on. So
it's it's it's there's a real solid chance you're gonna
get one of those thirty minute episodes at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Right, who knows. As long as I'm interesting and we're
having a good time.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I think today is gonna be pretty fun. I think
we're gonna have we gotta eat our fruits and vegetables first,
but I think we're gonna have some I think we're
gonna have some fun at the fun at the end. However, However,
we're gonna have some fun at the beginning too, because
we're gonna talk about one of the true gems of Clarksburg,
West Virginia, as always, the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center,
where Jason is the program manager, and they've got some
killer shows coming up, so we are gonna talk about
(03:43):
those first, and then we're gonna get into We're gonna
get into some really goofy stuff today. And I don't
know what else to tell you, folks, but it's gonna
get goofy on the show today.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Uh yeah, it is. And and we were we were
giggling inappropriately throughout our whole I guess pre production conversation
or whatever whatever you want to call that. A little
bit of it just worth mentioning, you know, since this
is my job and the reason that I come on
the show. If you haven't been to our website in
a while or checked out you know what we're announcing
(04:13):
on social media.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Go.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The website is the Robinson Grand dot com tg Robinson
Grand Noe dot com and we we announced and put
on sale five shows last week leading into the Italian
Harriage Festival because we have we take that weekend off.
We have this weekend off the Black Carriage Festivals happening
at downtown Clarksburg, so it's sort of a non compete
(04:36):
weekend for us, and then that way our staff gets
to enjoy the festivals as well. But in the meantime,
we we announced and put on sale five shows, and
that is in addition to all the incredible stuff that
we already had on the calendar for the rest of
twenty twenty five. So folks need to go to the website.
One of the shows the Magic of Motown, which is
(04:58):
it's like a Motown tribute show. Crack because there are
are steroids or any other illegal substance you want to
mention because it's one show, but there's tributes to the Temptations,
Jackson Five, Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Four Tops, Aretha Franklin,
Smokey Robinson. It is just all Star Motown Music, and
that's coming soon in early October. We also announced an
(05:22):
Eagles tribute, a Pink Floyd tribute, a Fleetwood Mac tribute.
So we had four tributes go up on sale last
week and then clean comedian Mark Lowry got announced last
week and put on sale for late late November. And
we've talked about this a little bit before, Alex, but
the Robinson Grand when you stack it up against the
(05:42):
other venues in West Virginia, truly, this is sort of
the comedy capital of West Virginia with the amount of
comedy that we are bringing in to the Robinson Grant
on a consistent basis, Like Vicky Lawrence sold out Vicky
Lawrence next week. We've had all the great stuff before.
We've got Mark Hour on the way, and I have one,
you know, surprise comedic announcement for for you and your
(06:06):
listeners whenever, whenever you think the time is right in
our time together this.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Morning, Okay, okay, we're gonna we're gonna get to that.
That's an exciting lineup though overall, I uh, it occurs
to me. I've also just added something you are You're
gonna be on the show for a while. Today, I've
just added something to our to to our to our
to our list of items to discuss that. Uh, because
you said something that that that has me intrigued. I
have to make a mental note of it, though, or
at least a written note of it somewhere, to ask
(06:31):
you about it before we get to the real goofy
stuff today. But so, I actually think now it might
be a great time to go ahead and and and
give us, give us the comedic announcement.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So so, I mean, it's not a funny announcement. It's
an announcement about a comedy show.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
See, I thought it was a comedic announcement. I think
go ahead. You don't have to make the announcement anymore than.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
That's okay, you're right, Sorry, Uh, next week, I'm not
We're not supposed to talk about this until September the ninth,
So I'm you know, I'm a solid five days early
at this point. But but next week we will be announcing,
and you'll be able to get all the information about
how to get early tickets and when to get when
(07:09):
they go on sale to the general public and all that.
But one of the stars of the long running hit
TV show Jackass Steve O is coming to the Robinson
Grand this fall and all of that information will come
out next week, and it will be a comedy show.
It's one of the only shows that we are doing,
(07:29):
or have done since I've been here that is eighteen
and older. Like, you have to be eighteen to come
to the show. So it's not gonna be clean comedy,
but Big Stars should be a hilarious, ridiculous, ridiculous show.
And so again, Clarksburg and the Robinson Grand where the
comedy capital of West Virginia. And I will stand by that.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
You know, there's a certain there's a certain group age
wise who for them, like maybe just like a touch
older than me, but honestly my generation in general, Like
that's a huge announcement, like like Steve O Jackass. It
was like a like a cultural phenomenon for And the
thing is, like I was never a big jackass guy,
but I do understand and appreciate the sheer power it
(08:13):
once held.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, yeah, it really was. It was. It was a moment.
You know, it was a moment in time that that
marked an entire, like you said, generation of of of
people who are like, oh yeah, I definitely watched jacket.
You know there it was. It was powerful and hugely popular,
and Steve O is pretty awesome and he's going to
(08:35):
be in Clarksburg before you know it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So Okay, on that note, I've got a couple of
goofy things. That's the perfect segue to the goofiness. So
I got a couple of I got a couple of
goofy things, and I wanted to start with the thing
I noted because you mentioned about listening to Aristotle and
one of the reasons why Aristotle and Iro. I feel
like we're always going off on a tangent about artificial intelligence,
like like in one form or another, we're always talking
(09:00):
about AI and its placement in the art world. And
I actually haven't had a chance to talk to you
about this. So are you familiar with this this showrunner
app that they're trying to launch, or maybe he has
already launched at this point, create your own TV shows
using artificial intelligence? Like I am so distinctly bothered by this,
(09:20):
and I swear I won't bring down the rest of
the goofiness of this show, but I feel like I
almost feel like you're not allowed to be on the
Morning Spiel unless you have a take on showrunner.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I have not researched this. I did listen to you
and Aristotle talk about the Sounds Good to Me episode
where he was gonna talk to the guy who had
AI help him write a song recently. I'm not ashamed
to say that I use AI. I'm not ashamed to
(09:50):
say that it's a time saver for me. It's a
collaborator for me that I can say, like, hey, what
do you think about this? Or Hey, Ray, let's bounce
some ideas around. But I think think using it for
something that replaces human creativity is I don't know. I
(10:11):
just I think there's a limit to what to what
a non human can do, not being able to feel
and not being able to to think, and having everything
based upon like zeros and ones. I think if you
tried to have AI create a whole bunch of TV
shows somehow, I would predict that those TV shows would
be very, very very similar and very formulaic.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I yeah, I think that's a good way of putting it.
So I'm I and look at that. Now, every guest
who's been on Local Arts Thursday, I think, or at
least all the regular guests, they have a they've been
asked about about showrunner, I'm really bothered by this this
Like I don't have an issue with so like using
AI to speed up your own work is one thing,
(10:56):
and we can debate sort of the ethics and efficacy
of that, but like using it to just create this
sort of needless like like no one needs to create
their own team, Like it's such an odd thing, and
there's all these environmental impacts and I won't get into
all that again at them. I've ranted on this subject
so many times on this show, but like to me
(11:17):
that I have real concerns about. And again, like the
idea of replacing human creativity is is just I just
I find it very very stomach curdling, stomach churning, Like
it's just like what are we thinking? Like who thinks
this is a good idea? Again, I go back to
the the the AI guy whose name is escaping at
(11:40):
the moment, but John Oliver played a clip of him
doing like a podcast interview and he's like, well, no
one really likes making music anymore because you have to
like master an instrument instrument. And I'm like, buddy, if
you don't like making music, you don't have to make
it like, that's okay. That's just like, that's okay if
you don't like doing something and you need AI to
do it, like, there are plenty of creative people who
will go ahead and and and do that. There are
(12:02):
there are plenty of creative people who will go do uh, Jason,
you're an accomplished actor. There are plenty of people who
will go and happily act. We don't need uh. We
don't need an AI actor in the in the future,
or or recreation of people's likenesses through AI anyway. I
know I really brought the mood down with this, but
I I I couldn't help it. I needed to get
us to that thirty minute mark.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Oh I see this is just filler, like really really
passionate AI conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, because you know what I when when my regulars
when like I'm I'm all about feedback, When my regulars
give me feedback, you know, you gotta you gotta trust
that the the regulars deserve to be treated equally, right,
So I I I if Aristotle, I don't want Aristotle
getting unequal treatment to you. That's that's that's the most
important thing. That's the most important. That's the most important
(12:50):
thing to take away here, I like you got. It's
like a quarterback taking care of his offensive line. What
would this show be without my regulars?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
There? There you go. I'm okay with that. Okay, I
would also take the Rolls Royce and all the other stuff.
But I'm okay with a little a few extra minutes
on the radio.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, I can't see the problem is I can't deliver
on the Rolls Royce. But I could deliver on a
few extra minutes on the radio. No problem. I got listened,
I got nothing, nothing but time to give out all
the radio.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
I don't have any this is my currency.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I don't have any Rolls Royces. Rolls Royce is to
give out. Uh, I was so okay. So, so you know,
Jason and I I love having you on the show
for so many reasons. But obviously you're you're, you know, uh,
very into the the local arts world, not just in
West Virginia. But you're, as I said, an accomplished actor.
You work with folks who are very accomplished in their
(13:41):
own right and a number of other different artistic fields
and crafts. And so I was, I got a new
debate with my with my significant other. We were walking
our dog yesterday and it wasn't really a debate. I
was kind of I was kind of poking fun at her.
I you know, it was playful, but it was but
I was poking a little fun. And basically what I
said was, I was like, you know, now that Taylor Swift,
you know she's a big Tailor Swift fan. I said,
(14:01):
now that Taylor Swift is getting is getting engaged, and
she's she's gonna be happy and content and she's entering
the part of her She's a billionaire. She's had this
megator where she she proved all the doubters wrong and
just like absolutely dominant performances for for like fourteen fifteen
months where she was just putting on these these incredible
(14:22):
shows and just like amazing stamina. Became a billionaire in
the process, won back the rights, you know, made enough
money to win back her origin, her original cuts of
her music. To put a close on that, and it
just feels like, you know, this is really a culmination
of Taylor Swift. Like she's accomplished so much, and when
you accomplished so much in such a short span of time,
(14:43):
you know, then the question and this happens in athletics,
This happens in every field with high performing people, where
you start wondering, Okay, where's the where's the where's the
fire gonna come from next? In order to keep this
level of performance going. She did not like this, and
aal on my part, But the one comparison that I
had for her was that, you know, Bob Dylan was
(15:04):
at the top of his game, right, was at the
top of his game. And there's a period in the
late seventies where after this guy basically, you know, he's
the voice of a generation, and every album he came
out with was somewhere on someone's top list somewhere, and
he was the bell of the ball with Rolling Stone
Magazine and and just he's the every musician's favorite musician. Okay, Well,
(15:25):
around nineteen seventy eight, seventy nine, Bob Dylan hits a
certain point, super rich, He's into his thirties, His life
is going pretty well for himself outside of maybe you know,
the divorce or whatever, but overall things are pretty good.
And as the creative juices or as as you know,
life becomes more contented, the creative juices they start to
(15:46):
they start to go away. And so the debate we
got into was whether or not this would happen to
Taylor Swift. And so I posed to you a two parter.
The first is where would you come down on this?
Do you think that there's any any juice to my
theory here that as as folks get older and more content,
it becomes harder to create at the same level they
did when they were younger, angrier, hungrier, and processing whatever
(16:08):
pain and trauma may have helped spur their creativity.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Uh. Yes, So you you give me the two parter
that was the first part. Let me let me give
you sort of a brain dump of all the stuff
that you've made me think about. Number one is my
answer to that first question here is is yes, absolutely,
I think that I think that our creative engines, or
the fuel that we put in our creative engines, evolves
(16:35):
and changes over time as our life changes over time
and things happen to us or or you know, and
all of that. And I think that Taylor Swift's music
to this point reflects that she very much has usually
been writing about what is fueling her in a lot
of ways. And one of the things I love about
her is she just puts out music like she just
(16:56):
writes it, records it, and puts it out. Here's what
I hope happens. I hope that she finds a way
to leverage all of the power, money, popularity, the world
dominating influence that she has. I hope she finds a
(17:16):
way to lift other people up. And one of the
coolest things that I've seen in the entertainment industry recently
was this will all make sense in a second. There's
a guy when we run the Westernian Comedy Festival. I've
been involved with the Western Comedy Festival since the beginning.
There's a guy that's performed at the Western Comedy Festival
more than one occasion. His name is Joe Zimmerman, and
Joe is from Morgantown. He is climbing the ranks in
(17:38):
the on the comedy scene. He's been on all the
late night stuff he's done. You know, he's he's he's
moving up, he's getting there. And he was recently out
on the road with Nate Bargatzi. And one of the
things that I heard Nate Bargatzy talk about on an
interview was, you know it is now he feels like
it is now his responsibility to bring other people up
(17:58):
with him. You know, he's selling out arenas and he
needs opening talent, and so he feels like he can
be kingmaker is the wrong word, but he can be
an influencer on people who come to see him get
a chance to see these people that he brings up
with him. I'm hoping that Taylor Swift can use some
of her influence in that way. The other thing that
(18:22):
could happen is she could disappear for a little while
and then come back. You know, I mean that that
that happens sometimes, I guess. I mean, you're a you're
more of a Springsteen fan than I am. But wasn't
there something that happened in Springsteen's career, Like Born in
the USA was like a massive hit, but then coming
off of Born in the USA, he took kind of
(18:43):
the big dip. Like you're like you were talking about Dylan.
I don't know if that's true or not. I just
remember hearing I think somebody talk about that.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's a it's a little it's a little different. Actually,
it's funny you mentioned that. I'm gonna get into I'm
gonna answer your question in just a moment because Uh,
there's a there's a whole bunch of interesting elements you
up with Springsteen, and I'll get to that. The one
thing I wanted to note about Taylor real quick is
that so she already has a blueprint for this because
Phoebe Bridgers, who was definitely on the rise already but
was more of a you know, the college radio world,
(19:13):
I would say, well, Phoebe Bridges became borderline a household
name after she opened for Taylor Swift a couple of
times and released a song. So so there's already a
blueprint for this. Taylor can do this. It's you know,
it's right there. She did it with Phoebe, and I
think I think Taylor Swift going on the record and
saying this person is my favorite current musician that probably
helps the career of that. So there's a blueprint for this,
(19:35):
for for Taylor to do this. We just haven't really
seen it beyond this most recent tour. But so okay,
So here's the interesting thing about Springsteen. His what you're
talking about, I believe it was it was actually born
to Run, and he had come out with a couple
of albums that were so immensely popular that he actually
did sort of the opposite of what Dylan did. He
stripped it all down, right, And so where Dylan came
(19:57):
out with these immensely popular folk albums and then scale
up and went crazy into rock and roll and ultimately
hit his apex and then sort of hit this lull
in his career, Springsteen kind of did the opposite. And
so that's when he came out with Nebraska, which is
this really stripped down one of the best albums I
think ever recorded, really stripped down album that he he
basically recorded like in a room, uh and and it's
(20:20):
just him and a producer and he's playing, and that's
pretty much it. It's it's it's a brilliant, brilliant album.
And I think even after that, like he still did
some of the bigger stuff, but that lull was almost
the way you were describing it, like almost like a
self imposed lull. He was kind of looking for that
that next thing, whereas you know with I think Neil
Young's another good example of this, and there are a
(20:41):
ton of examples of this in the rock and roll world,
where like when you start getting into into bands and
and and more of the ones who didn't also suffer
like a tragic death, like I don't want to talk
about like ac DC who lost you know, Bond Scott.
But you know, there are all these these great, great
examples of rock musicians who like just go through this
like decade of wilderness right where they just they just
(21:03):
don't seem to be able to produce music the same
way they previously did. So Springsteen's interesting and that he's
sort of the subversion of that, whereas I think Dylan
is like Dylan is like the example of this because
he literally has like a fifteen year period where guys
only got like one good album. Everything else was just
kind of whatever. It's it's more Bob Dylan, and then
(21:23):
his career kind of rebounds as he hits into his
like mid fifties, late fifties and and for whatever reason,
the creative juices start flowing again. So I'll go I'll
throw a couple of because this was the multi part
I'm gonna throw a couple of scenarios out there. Which
of the following of these scenarios seems most realistic to
you for Taylor Swift? Okay, So either Taylor Swift takes
(21:45):
like a lengthy Springsteen style kind of break and comes
back with something new and different in a couple of years.
I know this one's a little bit more far fetched
because she does have a new album coming out already,
I think in twenty twenty six or something like that.
But that's option Option B is she goes the she
goes kind of the dylan' Neil Young route where she
has a long stretch of not producing very good music.
(22:08):
And that was sort of the the initial onus behind
this this let's say ribbing I did of my girlfriend,
this little joke I made that she was not so
fond of that. You know, she might have a sparse
period of creativity, however long that may be. And then
I'm gonna give you the last option, which is what
(22:28):
brought Dylan back to relevance. Is he credits joining the
supergroup the Traveling Willberry's is reinvigorating his career. And of
course that was George Harrison, and that was oh Man
of Electric Light Orchestra, Jeff Lynn, and it was Tom Petty.
And I'm forgetting Roy Orbison, of course. And I wonder
(22:52):
is there a third option where Taylor Swift goes through
a little bit of column A and Column B and
then comes back to life fifteen years from now as
part of this mega supergroup. And if so, we have
to figure out who is going to be in this supergroup.
So which of those options do you Which of those
options do you like the best? Is the second part
of this question.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Do I like the best? Or do I think is
most likely?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Let's go with think the most likely.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I think A is the most likely. The Springsteen route this, yeah,
because there is a certain amount I don't want to
use the word privilege, but there is a certain amount
of in order to do what Springsteen did, as you
described it, in order to do what I what you describe,
I almost said Britney Taylor Swift could do, you got
(23:38):
to be successful. You got to be so good that
people want your stuff, you know, like you, you have
to have that level of success. I feel like between
A and B, A seems more likely to me. B
wouldn't surprise me, but A seems more likely. The C
one is the supergroup idea is an incredible uh thought exercise.
(24:02):
My first question for you, though, is what's the what's
the last supergroup? Like, like, is there a recent supergroup
that's a good I mean, that's a really good I
can't think of one, so, I.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Mean, because that's always the one that I go to,
is the Traveling Willberry's. But I guess so I'm gonna
I'm gonna check double check this real quick. Technically. Yeah,
the Highwayman is an excellent example. Another one that is
a good example. I I have never heard them described
this way, but now I can't. I can't really unsee.
It would be audio Slave, okay, Chris Cornell.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
And Tom relevant Revolver or Velvet Underground or Velvet something.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, yeah, Velvet Revolver was oh, hold on a second,
Velvet Revolver was this is gonna really bug me? This
was Slash and uh Duff McKagan, Matt Soum, Dave Kushner's
Yeah yeah, Scott Scott Well, and yeah, there's there's some
there's there's some juice there. Enlisting them, I think as
(25:05):
a as as a supergroup. So but they they're not
super common, and I feel like in a way, also,
like to be honest with you, I actually think of
all of those supergroups that we mentioned, the Willberry's and
the Highwaymen are still to me the ones who make
the most sense even labeling them that way, because It's
it's such an it's such an unlikely thing for those
(25:28):
musicians to team up, to the point that I can't
even think of who Taylor Swift could team up with
as part of us. She has teamed up with musicians before,
but usually they're musicians who are nowhere near her level
of fame. So I can't even imagine, Like I'm trying
to think in my head, who, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Who is close? What you're describing is God, this is
gonna date me so much, Alex. What you're describing is
basically from what was this the early two thousands, maybe
the Mulan Route song, but a full band. Wow, Like
(26:05):
that's what you're describing, Like that song with you know,
with Missy Elliott and and and all of those. I
think Little Kim's in there somewhere with basically that song,
but a whole band. That's what you're describing. In my mind,
So is it? Is? It? Is it? Oh God? I
don't even know who Taylor and Kesha.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And I don't even know Beyonce.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Maybe maybe Beyonce Legend John John Legend on piano.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Oh wow, oh wow, Okay, I mean the right now
somewhere somewhere in the bowels of some studio. There's there's
there's there's some studio exec who's taking notes right now,
like as if they would listen to their show. But
there's some studio exact taking notes, being like this is
a good idea of fifteen years from now.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
No, what is more likely is somewhere in the bowels
of somebody's basement there's some guy going, hey, chat GPT
a song that has Taylor Swift shot on the piano,
Beyonce joining for the bridge.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Maybe they get Justin Bieber out of retirement in this
scenario too.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
That's the point. Yeah, Bieber, that's a good one. That's
he would he would be part of it. I guess
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
See the problem is I don't know enough like like
so like to Taylor's credit, you know, she's a musician
who can play multiple instruments, right, Like she can play
the guitar while John Legend's on piano. You gotta call
a cop. I don't think Justin Bieber plays any instruments,
does he? I think he just sings?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Okay, what about the let me give you an option
number d Okay, what if Taylor after she takes her break?
What if she comes back and she goes the Beyonce
world and she she comes back into the country land.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
But oh I like it? Well, okay, what if she
but or or since she already since but since she's
already so but since she's already done country. Wait, I'm
gonna want up you on this one. So it's dead
because because Beyonce going to country, that was really her
her that was her roots, right, She's she's from the South,
you know, that's that's that's part of who she is.
So so Taylor obviously already did country. But remember Taylor's roots.
(28:19):
She's no, no, no, that's good. I would I would
actually listen to some Taylor k pop. Uh No. So,
Taylor Swift is from Philadelphia, and Philadelphia is well known
for its underground punk scene. So how about Taylor Swift
releases a punk album in fifteen.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Years or Taylor Swift tours with Boys to Men? Those
are yours?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Okay again again? Great, that's a great cell. Taylor Swift
and Boys to Men. That sounds fun. It's almost like
you do this, It's almost like you do this professionally.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, I plan that tour.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, we're uh, we're low on time. So I'm gonna
save this as a What what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna save this as a as as I guess,
a tease for next time. I want to know who
the West Virginia Supergroup would be.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Oh man, what a great what a great question. We
have to remember to have this discussion, and I appreciate
the time to think about it.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, because you know, I'm liable to forget that I
teased this right, So I'm counting on you, Jason. I'm
counting on you that two weeks from now, when we
get back together on September eighteenth or whatever it is
that we're gonna talk about and maybe, you know what,
maybe this might be the time to actually to do this.
We might actually have to form a supergroup ourselves. Maybe instead, Yeah,
(29:40):
we do this next week with you and Aristotle together,
and we come up with the West Virginia Supergroup.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yeah, I mean I'm game for that. That's such a
great that's such a great question.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Okay, all right, I see. I like when we get
our pre production calls for future shows out of the
way on air, that's that's really you want to talk about.
You want to talk about a fish and see This
is the most efficient you know, twenty five minutes of
radio that there's gonna be on the air in West
Virginia today. I guarantee you of that efficient. There aren't
gonna be a lot of twenty five minute segments, I imagine.
But but if there are any others, they won't be
(30:12):
as efficient as ours. Where we went through all these
different scenarios and we pre planned a future call, so
nailed it. Hey why don't I why don't we do this?
We started with We started with the Robinson Grand. Let's
bookend it, Let's sandwich it together, finish up, give one
last last shout out to the Grand. And what's coming
up here in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, the Robinson Grand dot com. That's the website, the
Robinson Grand dot Com. In September alone, Vicky Lawrence, Mark
Bow from Barnwick Builders, Celtic Thunder, the Piano Man. Then
the Mountaincraft Film Festival shows up to being in October.
David Sedaris is going to be here, Mark Chestnut, Mark Lowry,
Canadian Brass, the New York Theater Ballet. I mean, and
(30:56):
like I said, Steve O, you know, check out STEVEO
tickets to get announced next week, Like there is no
stopping the amount of stuff we have coming and the
wide variety of stuff we have coming. And you got
to do a little work on your part, audience and
go to the website and buy tickets.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I like that. The cherry on top of that of
that incredible Sunday of events with Steve O. That's a
that's a hilarious cherry on top. On that note, we
almost hit we almost hit thirty. This is the Morning
Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment. I want to three
three WKMZ. We'll be back to wrap the show right
after this.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Never miss an episode. Recorded versions of the Morning Spiel
are online at wkmznews dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Boy, have we got the good stuff for you tomorrow?
I mean, listen, you got the good stuff today as well.
Jason and I just goofing off talking about nonsense all day.
You know, we didn't even get to one of the
main things we plan today. Well, we'll get don't. I
don't want to tease it too much. Let me just
involves musical characters we'll probably talk about another time.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
All right.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
On that note, tomorrow's show going to be mountaineer focused.
We might sneak some high school football talk in as well,
but three hour block of sports talk Tomorrow Friday, free
for all for two hours from seven to nine. That's
going to be all high school sports, and then from
nine to ten we'll have of course, this program, The
Morning Spiel, and will be primarily just kind of depends
(32:22):
how the timing works out for the show, but primarily
we're going to be talking about WVU Ohio with Mike
Osti of wv Sports Now previewing the game, pretty big one.
As the week has gone on, I will tell you
that I have felt better about the overall outcome of
where this one is going. I feel okay about where
this is aded. The Morningspiel at gmail dot com. You
(32:43):
want to email the show The Morningspiel at gmail dot com.
I'd love to hear from you. What your predictions are
for WVU and Ohio. Let me know. We'll talk about
it Friday. Best comments go to Mike and we're back then.
See folks excusing the exa
Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee and donuts, because it's
time for the Morning Spiel, brought to you by Royal Water.
The Athenians and topics discussed on the show do not
reflect that of WVRC Media or our advertisers. Now we
head straight to the one o three to three WKMZ
newsroom with your host Alex Widerspiel.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment
on one of three three WKMC. Good morning, folks, what's up?
Welcome in glad to have you with us for another
edition of the show, and we're going to take a
nice deep breath. I know we've talked politics a couple
of days, and of course always talk in sports. Highly
(00:43):
recommend yesterday's episode, by the way, just for the conversation
with Chris Johnson alone as we took a look at
the recap of everything going on in high school football
week one. But all that being said, you know, we
taken this little little refresher away from sports and away
from politics into the world of entertainment today and that
(01:04):
is because it is of course a local arts Thursday,
and we're glad to have another edition here on the show.
Jason Young of the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center is
going to join us today, tell us a little bit
about what's going on at the Grand. I know he's
got I think he's got a pretty interesting announcement. We're
gonna talk about a bunch of stuff. But I know
that he's sitting on He's sitting on some something pretty
(01:27):
cool and going to reveal it early on in the
interview coming up in the main segment of the show.
So you're gonna want to stick around for that. If
you're listening on the radio, if you're listening in podcast form,
well you're already here, so you may as well hang around.
That's that's that's gonna be our show today is talking
with Jason primarily. That's that's gonna be most of the
(01:48):
show for today. And on that note, gonna get us
to break quickly because we've got a lot to talk about,
a lot to discuss, a lot to break down, and
we're gonna do that coming up in just a little bit.
So let's get to our first break. This is the
Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment. I want O
three three wkmz.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Now back to the Morning Spiel, brought to you by
Royal Water on govern kmz.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
This is the Morning Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment.
I want O three three wkmz. Good morning everybody. Alex
Wheederspiel here on a local arts Thursday, and we're able
to bring back after a couple of weeks away. Jason Young,
the program manager of the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center.
The Italian Heritage Festival threw a little hiccup in our
normal schedule. So Aristotle got delayed a week, and then
(02:38):
I'm sorry, Aristotle got delayed a week by the Mountain Stage,
then the Italian Heritage Festival. We were all over the place.
But the point is Jason's back and better than ever.
What's up man?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Also, you know, I listened to your show on the
regular and Aristotle got like the whole episode last week.
You know, so I am I am jealous of his
screen time.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
I guess I'm gonna be I'm gonna so here. Here's
the thing, though, is that I'm really bad at keeping
track of how long I've got a guest on. So
it's it's it's there's a real solid chance you're gonna
get one of those thirty minute episodes at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Right, who knows. As long as I'm interesting and we're
having a good time.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I think today is gonna be pretty fun. I think
we're gonna have we gotta eat our fruits and vegetables first,
but I think we're gonna have some I think we're
gonna have some fun at the fun at the end. However, However,
we're gonna have some fun at the beginning too, because
we're gonna talk about one of the true gems of Clarksburg,
West Virginia, as always, the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center,
where Jason is the program manager, and they've got some
killer shows coming up, so we are gonna talk about
(03:43):
those first, and then we're gonna get into We're gonna
get into some really goofy stuff today. And I don't
know what else to tell you, folks, but it's gonna
get goofy on the show today.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Uh yeah, it is. And and we were we were
giggling inappropriately throughout our whole I guess pre production conversation
or whatever whatever you want to call that. A little
bit of it just worth mentioning, you know, since this
is my job and the reason that I come on
the show. If you haven't been to our website in
a while or checked out you know what we're announcing
(04:13):
on social media.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Go.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
The website is the Robinson Grand dot com tg Robinson
Grand Noe dot com and we we announced and put
on sale five shows last week leading into the Italian
Harriage Festival because we have we take that weekend off.
We have this weekend off the Black Carriage Festivals happening
at downtown Clarksburg, so it's sort of a non compete
(04:36):
weekend for us, and then that way our staff gets
to enjoy the festivals as well. But in the meantime,
we we announced and put on sale five shows, and
that is in addition to all the incredible stuff that
we already had on the calendar for the rest of
twenty twenty five. So folks need to go to the website.
One of the shows the Magic of Motown, which is
(04:58):
it's like a Motown tribute show. Crack because there are
are steroids or any other illegal substance you want to
mention because it's one show, but there's tributes to the Temptations,
Jackson Five, Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Four Tops, Aretha Franklin,
Smokey Robinson. It is just all Star Motown Music, and
that's coming soon in early October. We also announced an
(05:22):
Eagles tribute, a Pink Floyd tribute, a Fleetwood Mac tribute.
So we had four tributes go up on sale last
week and then clean comedian Mark Lowry got announced last
week and put on sale for late late November. And
we've talked about this a little bit before, Alex, but
the Robinson Grand when you stack it up against the
(05:42):
other venues in West Virginia, truly, this is sort of
the comedy capital of West Virginia with the amount of
comedy that we are bringing in to the Robinson Grant
on a consistent basis, Like Vicky Lawrence sold out Vicky
Lawrence next week. We've had all the great stuff before.
We've got Mark Hour on the way, and I have one,
you know, surprise comedic announcement for for you and your
(06:06):
listeners whenever, whenever you think the time is right in
our time together this.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Morning, Okay, okay, we're gonna we're gonna get to that.
That's an exciting lineup though overall, I uh, it occurs
to me. I've also just added something you are You're
gonna be on the show for a while. Today, I've
just added something to our to to our to our
to our list of items to discuss that. Uh, because
you said something that that that has me intrigued. I
have to make a mental note of it, though, or
at least a written note of it somewhere, to ask
(06:31):
you about it before we get to the real goofy
stuff today. But so, I actually think now it might
be a great time to go ahead and and and
give us, give us the comedic announcement.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So so, I mean, it's not a funny announcement. It's
an announcement about a comedy show.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
See, I thought it was a comedic announcement. I think
go ahead. You don't have to make the announcement anymore than.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
That's okay, you're right, Sorry, Uh, next week, I'm not
We're not supposed to talk about this until September the ninth,
So I'm you know, I'm a solid five days early
at this point. But but next week we will be announcing,
and you'll be able to get all the information about
how to get early tickets and when to get when
(07:09):
they go on sale to the general public and all that.
But one of the stars of the long running hit
TV show Jackass Steve O is coming to the Robinson
Grand this fall and all of that information will come
out next week, and it will be a comedy show.
It's one of the only shows that we are doing,
(07:29):
or have done since I've been here that is eighteen
and older. Like, you have to be eighteen to come
to the show. So it's not gonna be clean comedy,
but Big Stars should be a hilarious, ridiculous, ridiculous show.
And so again, Clarksburg and the Robinson Grand where the
comedy capital of West Virginia. And I will stand by that.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
You know, there's a certain there's a certain group age
wise who for them, like maybe just like a touch
older than me, but honestly my generation in general, Like
that's a huge announcement, like like Steve O Jackass. It
was like a like a cultural phenomenon for And the
thing is, like I was never a big jackass guy,
but I do understand and appreciate the sheer power it
(08:13):
once held.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, yeah, it really was. It was. It was a moment.
You know, it was a moment in time that that
marked an entire, like you said, generation of of of
people who are like, oh yeah, I definitely watched jacket.
You know there it was. It was powerful and hugely popular,
and Steve O is pretty awesome and he's going to
(08:35):
be in Clarksburg before you know it.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So Okay, on that note, I've got a couple of
goofy things. That's the perfect segue to the goofiness. So
I got a couple of I got a couple of
goofy things, and I wanted to start with the thing
I noted because you mentioned about listening to Aristotle and
one of the reasons why Aristotle and Iro. I feel
like we're always going off on a tangent about artificial intelligence,
like like in one form or another, we're always talking
(09:00):
about AI and its placement in the art world. And
I actually haven't had a chance to talk to you
about this. So are you familiar with this this showrunner
app that they're trying to launch, or maybe he has
already launched at this point, create your own TV shows
using artificial intelligence? Like I am so distinctly bothered by this,
(09:20):
and I swear I won't bring down the rest of
the goofiness of this show, but I feel like I
almost feel like you're not allowed to be on the
Morning Spiel unless you have a take on showrunner.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I have not researched this. I did listen to you
and Aristotle talk about the Sounds Good to Me episode
where he was gonna talk to the guy who had
AI help him write a song recently. I'm not ashamed
to say that I use AI. I'm not ashamed to
(09:50):
say that it's a time saver for me. It's a
collaborator for me that I can say, like, hey, what
do you think about this? Or Hey, Ray, let's bounce
some ideas around. But I think think using it for
something that replaces human creativity is I don't know. I
(10:11):
just I think there's a limit to what to what
a non human can do, not being able to feel
and not being able to to think, and having everything
based upon like zeros and ones. I think if you
tried to have AI create a whole bunch of TV
shows somehow, I would predict that those TV shows would
be very, very very similar and very formulaic.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I yeah, I think that's a good way of putting it.
So I'm I and look at that. Now, every guest
who's been on Local Arts Thursday, I think, or at
least all the regular guests, they have a they've been
asked about about showrunner, I'm really bothered by this this
Like I don't have an issue with so like using
AI to speed up your own work is one thing,
(10:56):
and we can debate sort of the ethics and efficacy
of that, but like using it to just create this
sort of needless like like no one needs to create
their own team, Like it's such an odd thing, and
there's all these environmental impacts and I won't get into
all that again at them. I've ranted on this subject
so many times on this show, but like to me
(11:17):
that I have real concerns about. And again, like the
idea of replacing human creativity is is just I just
I find it very very stomach curdling, stomach churning, Like
it's just like what are we thinking? Like who thinks
this is a good idea? Again, I go back to
the the the AI guy whose name is escaping at
(11:40):
the moment, but John Oliver played a clip of him
doing like a podcast interview and he's like, well, no
one really likes making music anymore because you have to
like master an instrument instrument. And I'm like, buddy, if
you don't like making music, you don't have to make
it like, that's okay. That's just like, that's okay if
you don't like doing something and you need AI to
do it, like, there are plenty of creative people who
will go ahead and and and do that. There are
(12:02):
there are plenty of creative people who will go do uh, Jason,
you're an accomplished actor. There are plenty of people who
will go and happily act. We don't need uh. We
don't need an AI actor in the in the future,
or or recreation of people's likenesses through AI anyway. I
know I really brought the mood down with this, but
I I I couldn't help it. I needed to get
us to that thirty minute mark.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Oh I see this is just filler, like really really
passionate AI conversation.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, because you know what I when when my regulars
when like I'm I'm all about feedback, When my regulars
give me feedback, you know, you gotta you gotta trust
that the the regulars deserve to be treated equally, right,
So I I I if Aristotle, I don't want Aristotle
getting unequal treatment to you. That's that's that's the most
important thing. That's the most important. That's the most important
(12:50):
thing to take away here, I like you got. It's
like a quarterback taking care of his offensive line. What
would this show be without my regulars?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
There? There you go. I'm okay with that. Okay, I
would also take the Rolls Royce and all the other stuff.
But I'm okay with a little a few extra minutes
on the radio.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, I can't see the problem is I can't deliver
on the Rolls Royce. But I could deliver on a
few extra minutes on the radio. No problem. I got listened,
I got nothing, nothing but time to give out all
the radio.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
I don't have any this is my currency.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I don't have any Rolls Royces. Rolls Royce is to
give out. Uh, I was so okay. So, so you know,
Jason and I I love having you on the show
for so many reasons. But obviously you're you're, you know, uh,
very into the the local arts world, not just in
West Virginia. But you're, as I said, an accomplished actor.
You work with folks who are very accomplished in their
(13:41):
own right and a number of other different artistic fields
and crafts. And so I was, I got a new
debate with my with my significant other. We were walking
our dog yesterday and it wasn't really a debate. I
was kind of I was kind of poking fun at her.
I you know, it was playful, but it was but
I was poking a little fun. And basically what I
said was, I was like, you know, now that Taylor Swift,
you know she's a big Tailor Swift fan. I said,
(14:01):
now that Taylor Swift is getting is getting engaged, and
she's she's gonna be happy and content and she's entering
the part of her She's a billionaire. She's had this
megator where she she proved all the doubters wrong and
just like absolutely dominant performances for for like fourteen fifteen
months where she was just putting on these these incredible
(14:22):
shows and just like amazing stamina. Became a billionaire in
the process, won back the rights, you know, made enough
money to win back her origin, her original cuts of
her music. To put a close on that, and it
just feels like, you know, this is really a culmination
of Taylor Swift. Like she's accomplished so much, and when
you accomplished so much in such a short span of time,
(14:43):
you know, then the question and this happens in athletics,
This happens in every field with high performing people, where
you start wondering, Okay, where's the where's the where's the
fire gonna come from next? In order to keep this
level of performance going. She did not like this, and
aal on my part, But the one comparison that I
had for her was that, you know, Bob Dylan was
(15:04):
at the top of his game, right, was at the
top of his game. And there's a period in the
late seventies where after this guy basically, you know, he's
the voice of a generation, and every album he came
out with was somewhere on someone's top list somewhere, and
he was the bell of the ball with Rolling Stone
Magazine and and just he's the every musician's favorite musician. Okay, Well,
(15:25):
around nineteen seventy eight, seventy nine, Bob Dylan hits a
certain point, super rich, He's into his thirties, His life
is going pretty well for himself outside of maybe you know,
the divorce or whatever, but overall things are pretty good.
And as the creative juices or as as you know,
life becomes more contented, the creative juices they start to
(15:46):
they start to go away. And so the debate we
got into was whether or not this would happen to
Taylor Swift. And so I posed to you a two parter.
The first is where would you come down on this?
Do you think that there's any any juice to my
theory here that as as folks get older and more content,
it becomes harder to create at the same level they
did when they were younger, angrier, hungrier, and processing whatever
(16:08):
pain and trauma may have helped spur their creativity.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Uh. Yes, So you you give me the two parter
that was the first part. Let me let me give
you sort of a brain dump of all the stuff
that you've made me think about. Number one is my
answer to that first question here is is yes, absolutely,
I think that I think that our creative engines, or
the fuel that we put in our creative engines, evolves
(16:35):
and changes over time as our life changes over time
and things happen to us or or you know, and
all of that. And I think that Taylor Swift's music
to this point reflects that she very much has usually
been writing about what is fueling her in a lot
of ways. And one of the things I love about
her is she just puts out music like she just
(16:56):
writes it, records it, and puts it out. Here's what
I hope happens. I hope that she finds a way
to leverage all of the power, money, popularity, the world
dominating influence that she has. I hope she finds a
(17:16):
way to lift other people up. And one of the
coolest things that I've seen in the entertainment industry recently
was this will all make sense in a second. There's
a guy when we run the Westernian Comedy Festival. I've
been involved with the Western Comedy Festival since the beginning.
There's a guy that's performed at the Western Comedy Festival
more than one occasion. His name is Joe Zimmerman, and
Joe is from Morgantown. He is climbing the ranks in
(17:38):
the on the comedy scene. He's been on all the
late night stuff he's done. You know, he's he's he's
moving up, he's getting there. And he was recently out
on the road with Nate Bargatzi. And one of the
things that I heard Nate Bargatzy talk about on an
interview was, you know it is now he feels like
it is now his responsibility to bring other people up
(17:58):
with him. You know, he's selling out arenas and he
needs opening talent, and so he feels like he can
be kingmaker is the wrong word, but he can be
an influencer on people who come to see him get
a chance to see these people that he brings up
with him. I'm hoping that Taylor Swift can use some
of her influence in that way. The other thing that
(18:22):
could happen is she could disappear for a little while
and then come back. You know, I mean that that
that happens sometimes, I guess. I mean, you're a you're
more of a Springsteen fan than I am. But wasn't
there something that happened in Springsteen's career, Like Born in
the USA was like a massive hit, but then coming
off of Born in the USA, he took kind of
(18:43):
the big dip. Like you're like you were talking about Dylan.
I don't know if that's true or not. I just
remember hearing I think somebody talk about that.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
It's a it's a little it's a little different. Actually,
it's funny you mentioned that. I'm gonna get into I'm
gonna answer your question in just a moment because Uh,
there's a there's a whole bunch of interesting elements you
up with Springsteen, and I'll get to that. The one
thing I wanted to note about Taylor real quick is
that so she already has a blueprint for this because
Phoebe Bridgers, who was definitely on the rise already but
was more of a you know, the college radio world,
(19:13):
I would say, well, Phoebe Bridges became borderline a household
name after she opened for Taylor Swift a couple of
times and released a song. So so there's already a
blueprint for this. Taylor can do this. It's you know,
it's right there. She did it with Phoebe, and I
think I think Taylor Swift going on the record and
saying this person is my favorite current musician that probably
helps the career of that. So there's a blueprint for this,
(19:35):
for for Taylor to do this. We just haven't really
seen it beyond this most recent tour. But so okay,
So here's the interesting thing about Springsteen. His what you're
talking about, I believe it was it was actually born
to Run, and he had come out with a couple
of albums that were so immensely popular that he actually
did sort of the opposite of what Dylan did. He
stripped it all down, right, And so where Dylan came
(19:57):
out with these immensely popular folk albums and then scale
up and went crazy into rock and roll and ultimately
hit his apex and then sort of hit this lull
in his career, Springsteen kind of did the opposite. And
so that's when he came out with Nebraska, which is
this really stripped down one of the best albums I
think ever recorded, really stripped down album that he he
basically recorded like in a room, uh and and it's
(20:20):
just him and a producer and he's playing, and that's
pretty much it. It's it's it's a brilliant, brilliant album.
And I think even after that, like he still did
some of the bigger stuff, but that lull was almost
the way you were describing it, like almost like a
self imposed lull. He was kind of looking for that
that next thing, whereas you know with I think Neil
Young's another good example of this, and there are a
(20:41):
ton of examples of this in the rock and roll world,
where like when you start getting into into bands and
and and more of the ones who didn't also suffer
like a tragic death, like I don't want to talk
about like ac DC who lost you know, Bond Scott.
But you know, there are all these these great, great
examples of rock musicians who like just go through this
like decade of wilderness right where they just they just
(21:03):
don't seem to be able to produce music the same
way they previously did. So Springsteen's interesting and that he's
sort of the subversion of that, whereas I think Dylan
is like Dylan is like the example of this because
he literally has like a fifteen year period where guys
only got like one good album. Everything else was just
kind of whatever. It's it's more Bob Dylan, and then
(21:23):
his career kind of rebounds as he hits into his
like mid fifties, late fifties and and for whatever reason,
the creative juices start flowing again. So I'll go I'll
throw a couple of because this was the multi part
I'm gonna throw a couple of scenarios out there. Which
of the following of these scenarios seems most realistic to
you for Taylor Swift? Okay, So either Taylor Swift takes
(21:45):
like a lengthy Springsteen style kind of break and comes
back with something new and different in a couple of years.
I know this one's a little bit more far fetched
because she does have a new album coming out already,
I think in twenty twenty six or something like that.
But that's option Option B is she goes the she
goes kind of the dylan' Neil Young route where she
has a long stretch of not producing very good music.
(22:08):
And that was sort of the the initial onus behind
this this let's say ribbing I did of my girlfriend,
this little joke I made that she was not so
fond of that. You know, she might have a sparse
period of creativity, however long that may be. And then
I'm gonna give you the last option, which is what
(22:28):
brought Dylan back to relevance. Is he credits joining the
supergroup the Traveling Willberry's is reinvigorating his career. And of
course that was George Harrison, and that was oh Man
of Electric Light Orchestra, Jeff Lynn, and it was Tom Petty.
And I'm forgetting Roy Orbison, of course. And I wonder
(22:52):
is there a third option where Taylor Swift goes through
a little bit of column A and Column B and
then comes back to life fifteen years from now as
part of this mega supergroup. And if so, we have
to figure out who is going to be in this supergroup.
So which of those options do you Which of those
options do you like the best? Is the second part
of this question.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Do I like the best? Or do I think is
most likely?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Let's go with think the most likely.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I think A is the most likely. The Springsteen route this, yeah,
because there is a certain amount I don't want to
use the word privilege, but there is a certain amount
of in order to do what Springsteen did, as you
described it, in order to do what I what you describe,
I almost said Britney Taylor Swift could do, you got
(23:38):
to be successful. You got to be so good that
people want your stuff, you know, like you, you have
to have that level of success. I feel like between
A and B, A seems more likely to me. B
wouldn't surprise me, but A seems more likely. The C
one is the supergroup idea is an incredible uh thought exercise.
(24:02):
My first question for you, though, is what's the what's
the last supergroup? Like, like, is there a recent supergroup
that's a good I mean, that's a really good I
can't think of one, so, I.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Mean, because that's always the one that I go to,
is the Traveling Willberry's. But I guess so I'm gonna
I'm gonna check double check this real quick. Technically. Yeah,
the Highwayman is an excellent example. Another one that is
a good example. I I have never heard them described
this way, but now I can't. I can't really unsee.
It would be audio Slave, okay, Chris Cornell.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
And Tom relevant Revolver or Velvet Underground or Velvet something.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Yeah, yeah, Velvet Revolver was oh, hold on a second,
Velvet Revolver was this is gonna really bug me? This
was Slash and uh Duff McKagan, Matt Soum, Dave Kushner's
Yeah yeah, Scott Scott Well, and yeah, there's there's some
there's there's some juice there. Enlisting them, I think as
(25:05):
a as as a supergroup. So but they they're not
super common, and I feel like in a way, also,
like to be honest with you, I actually think of
all of those supergroups that we mentioned, the Willberry's and
the Highwaymen are still to me the ones who make
the most sense even labeling them that way, because It's
it's such an it's such an unlikely thing for those
(25:28):
musicians to team up, to the point that I can't
even think of who Taylor Swift could team up with
as part of us. She has teamed up with musicians before,
but usually they're musicians who are nowhere near her level
of fame. So I can't even imagine, Like I'm trying
to think in my head, who, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Who is close? What you're describing is God, this is
gonna date me so much, Alex. What you're describing is
basically from what was this the early two thousands, maybe
the Mulan Route song, but a full band. Wow, Like
(26:05):
that's what you're describing, Like that song with you know,
with Missy Elliott and and and all of those. I
think Little Kim's in there somewhere with basically that song,
but a whole band. That's what you're describing. In my mind,
So is it? Is? It? Is it? Oh God? I
don't even know who Taylor and Kesha.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
And I don't even know Beyonce.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Maybe maybe Beyonce Legend John John Legend on piano.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Oh wow, oh wow, Okay, I mean the right now
somewhere somewhere in the bowels of some studio. There's there's
there's there's some studio exec who's taking notes right now,
like as if they would listen to their show. But
there's some studio exact taking notes, being like this is
a good idea of fifteen years from now.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
No, what is more likely is somewhere in the bowels
of somebody's basement there's some guy going, hey, chat GPT
a song that has Taylor Swift shot on the piano,
Beyonce joining for the bridge.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Maybe they get Justin Bieber out of retirement in this
scenario too.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
That's the point. Yeah, Bieber, that's a good one. That's
he would he would be part of it. I guess
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
See the problem is I don't know enough like like
so like to Taylor's credit, you know, she's a musician
who can play multiple instruments, right, Like she can play
the guitar while John Legend's on piano. You gotta call
a cop. I don't think Justin Bieber plays any instruments,
does he? I think he just sings?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Okay, what about the let me give you an option
number d Okay, what if Taylor after she takes her break?
What if she comes back and she goes the Beyonce
world and she she comes back into the country land.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
But oh I like it? Well, okay, what if she
but or or since she already since but since she's
already so but since she's already done country. Wait, I'm
gonna want up you on this one. So it's dead
because because Beyonce going to country, that was really her
her that was her roots, right, She's she's from the South,
you know, that's that's that's part of who she is.
So so Taylor obviously already did country. But remember Taylor's roots.
(28:19):
She's no, no, no, that's good. I would I would
actually listen to some Taylor k pop. Uh No. So,
Taylor Swift is from Philadelphia, and Philadelphia is well known
for its underground punk scene. So how about Taylor Swift
releases a punk album in fifteen.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Years or Taylor Swift tours with Boys to Men? Those
are yours?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Okay again again? Great, that's a great cell. Taylor Swift
and Boys to Men. That sounds fun. It's almost like
you do this, It's almost like you do this professionally.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, I plan that tour.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, we're uh, we're low on time. So I'm gonna
save this as a What what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna save this as a as as I guess,
a tease for next time. I want to know who
the West Virginia Supergroup would be.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Oh man, what a great what a great question. We
have to remember to have this discussion, and I appreciate
the time to think about it.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, because you know, I'm liable to forget that I
teased this right, So I'm counting on you, Jason. I'm
counting on you that two weeks from now, when we
get back together on September eighteenth or whatever it is
that we're gonna talk about and maybe, you know what,
maybe this might be the time to actually to do this.
We might actually have to form a supergroup ourselves. Maybe instead, Yeah,
(29:40):
we do this next week with you and Aristotle together,
and we come up with the West Virginia Supergroup.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yeah, I mean I'm game for that. That's such a
great that's such a great question.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Okay, all right, I see. I like when we get
our pre production calls for future shows out of the
way on air, that's that's really you want to talk about.
You want to talk about a fish and see This
is the most efficient you know, twenty five minutes of
radio that there's gonna be on the air in West
Virginia today. I guarantee you of that efficient. There aren't
gonna be a lot of twenty five minute segments, I imagine.
But but if there are any others, they won't be
(30:12):
as efficient as ours. Where we went through all these
different scenarios and we pre planned a future call, so
nailed it. Hey why don't I why don't we do this?
We started with We started with the Robinson Grand. Let's
bookend it, Let's sandwich it together, finish up, give one
last last shout out to the Grand. And what's coming
up here in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yeah, the Robinson Grand dot com. That's the website, the
Robinson Grand dot Com. In September alone, Vicky Lawrence, Mark
Bow from Barnwick Builders, Celtic Thunder, the Piano Man. Then
the Mountaincraft Film Festival shows up to being in October.
David Sedaris is going to be here, Mark Chestnut, Mark Lowry,
Canadian Brass, the New York Theater Ballet. I mean, and
(30:56):
like I said, Steve O, you know, check out STEVEO
tickets to get announced next week, Like there is no
stopping the amount of stuff we have coming and the
wide variety of stuff we have coming. And you got
to do a little work on your part, audience and
go to the website and buy tickets.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I like that. The cherry on top of that of
that incredible Sunday of events with Steve O. That's a
that's a hilarious cherry on top. On that note, we
almost hit we almost hit thirty. This is the Morning
Spiel presented by Royal Water Treatment. I want to three
three WKMZ. We'll be back to wrap the show right
after this.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Never miss an episode. Recorded versions of the Morning Spiel
are online at wkmznews dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Boy, have we got the good stuff for you tomorrow?
I mean, listen, you got the good stuff today as well.
Jason and I just goofing off talking about nonsense all day.
You know, we didn't even get to one of the
main things we plan today. Well, we'll get don't. I
don't want to tease it too much. Let me just
involves musical characters we'll probably talk about another time.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
All right.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
On that note, tomorrow's show going to be mountaineer focused.
We might sneak some high school football talk in as well,
but three hour block of sports talk Tomorrow Friday, free
for all for two hours from seven to nine. That's
going to be all high school sports, and then from
nine to ten we'll have of course, this program, The
Morning Spiel, and will be primarily just kind of depends
(32:22):
how the timing works out for the show, but primarily
we're going to be talking about WVU Ohio with Mike
Osti of wv Sports Now previewing the game, pretty big one.
As the week has gone on, I will tell you
that I have felt better about the overall outcome of
where this one is going. I feel okay about where
this is aded. The Morningspiel at gmail dot com. You
(32:43):
want to email the show The Morningspiel at gmail dot com.
I'd love to hear from you. What your predictions are
for WVU and Ohio. Let me know. We'll talk about
it Friday. Best comments go to Mike and we're back then.
See folks excusing the exa
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