May 7, 2024 • 53 mins
This is one of the best interviews we've had on the show. Robert Bartko is the lead singer of George Michael Reborn, a tribute band that travels the world putting on a fantastically fun show singing Wham and George Michael songs. He looks and sounds just like him. His story is pretty incredible and what's even cooler is that his band is performing in San Diego on Laura's birthday, May 24th at Viejas Resort and Casino. We are celebrating Producer Bryan's 2nd anniversary with the podcast and Laura's birthday the night of the show. To win tickets simply go to www.lauracainafterdark.com. First 25 people to do the three things win tickets. Easy peasy. We have 25 pairs to give away to you guys. It's going to be a blast. Follow @Georgemichaelreborn and @Robertbartko. What a kind and talented soul. And hit the SUBSCRIBE button (that's one of the three things.) Can't wait to see you on Friday, May 24th. Love your podcast!
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www.lauracainafterdark.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/laura-cain-after-dark--4162487/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Oh my gosh, Hello and welcometo Laura Kane after Dark. Oh boy,
do we have stuff to tell youtonight. I'm Laura Kane. This
is my co host Eric Rimmer.Hi. And then we have producer Brian
behind the screen. Okay, yes, there you go. Hello, Hi
(00:28):
Brian. Okay, so now thisis exciting. We have a party and
it's official and it's going to bea blast. It's at Vajas Resort and
Casino. It's on May twenty fourth, which happens to be my birthday.
However, this is a party tocelebrate Brian's two year anniversary with the show.
(00:50):
It just hot my little boys growingup. Now, just to be
clear, this isn't a party forLaura's birthday. This is for me,
but it just happens to be onher birthday. It is for both of
us. Oh wait, what it'sfor both of us? Because actually,
you guys, I'm not even kidding. This group called George Michael Reborn.
(01:11):
This guy, Robert Barko is thelead singer. He looks like George Michael,
he sounds just like George Michael.The band is great. I went
to see them about a year agoand I'm not that kind of girl that
like stands up at concerts and dancesand stuff. I just I just don't.
I'm just not. I like tosit and just kind of like chill.
(01:32):
I was up at the front ofthe stage, like dancing, and
it was so fun. They areso good and so much. You leave
halfway through to go shop for merchandise. Hell no, I stayed the whole
entire time. I stayed so long, in fact, that I waited for
him to come out. I wasthe only one left in this came out
a long time ago. No singer. So the concert is on May twenty
(01:57):
fourth, which is Friday night.We have twenty tickets for twenty five pair
of tickets to give to you guysto come party with us at Via House
Casino. Doors open at six forus. We have prizes and surprises of
our own to give away, andthen the show starts at eight o'clock.
It's outside VA House at the parkat Va House, I think it's called,
(02:19):
and it's kind of like a cocktailtype of thing. We have a
couple tables reserved for our listeners.So here's what you need to do to
get tickets. Free tickets to joinus at this big party. Okay,
First, Judy Church, Judy Church, Anti Dudo just join us? Is
that Anti Dodoo? Yes? Ohmy god, I'm so excited. Okay,
(02:40):
thought I. Here's how you gettickets. The first twenty five people
to do the following things. Followus on Instagram and TikTok easy Laura Kane
after Dark super easy, comment onone of our posts or one of our
videos, and then tag a friend, only one friend, We're not having
you tag three, just one,and finally hit the subscribe button on our
(03:04):
YouTube channel. Yes. Three things, easy, peasy, so easy.
You don't have to repost anything.I'm not making run out, making you
buy anything. This is gonna befree the first twenty five people, and
we're gonna have an absolute blast.And we have the lead singer, Robert
Barco on the show tonight. He'scalling us. We're gonna interview him.
He has an amazing story about hisconnection with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeway,
(03:29):
the guy Ridgely I forgot, Iforgot, the guy that was also with
WAM. He has a story abouthim that is incredible. So you're gonna
love this now, I would suggestto you when we call him at seven
point thirty that you pop over toYouTube because you'll be able to hear the
interview on YouTube because it's over thephone. Because he is touring right now,
(03:53):
what's Matt Sae doesn't have TikTok.Matt, just get TikTok and then
we're trying to get our tiktokber upbecause I'm trying to like be current and
be on TikTok. Laura shows herfeet on TikTok. I no, I
don't your toes nothing. That's adifferent again. It is on May twenty,
fourth, Friday night at Va HouseResort and Casino, six o'clock through
(04:16):
doors open. The band is GeorgeMichael Reborn. It's a fun, fun
show. If you're our age,you're gonna absolutely know every single song.
You're gonna love everything. George Michael, shut up. I know if you're
my age, I still have gamblingthere. I know, right for those
of us, they're going to skipout the concert come back afterwards with a
(04:39):
couple of hundred bucks extra. Youknow what, I guarantee it. No,
I don't guarantee you because you knowwhat, I don't think you.
I would love to see you dance. Actually, no, I just danced
recently, and I don't need todo it for a while. You did
at your sister's wedding. Yeah,like, full on, yeah, full
on. I'm actually not a baddancer. Surprisingly, you have rhythm.
(05:00):
Yeah, I've read. I wasa music kid. Of course I got
rhythm. Do you know what womensay about guys who can dance, they
have big wieners. No, notbig wieners that you can that you're good
in bed. Well that seems likethe same thing. No, not the
same thing. Okay, different,but Laura would not know. But all
right, wait, wait, wait, wait, way to turn the show
(05:23):
racy anyway. So this is whatwe're gonna do May twenty four. So
that's all I have to do.Go to our website if you missed any
of that, Laura King after darkdot com. It's all on the main
page. If you're if you're goingto be racy, like, I don't
think I can make it. Youknow, I'm very very I'm a Puritan,
so I know could you might beon your own. Let me just
(05:45):
say this right the hell now,if you even think about no showing on
my actual birthday, which is Maytwenty fourth, my actual birthday, day.
Then, well, I'm giving youyour present early. So now okay,
well there's some like major thing thatyou got. He Eric claims that
(06:11):
he has never spent this much ona birthday present ever for anybody. Event.
This is incredible for you for me, Okay, okay, okay.
You did buy me like one hundreddollars gift cards at Nasty Gal one time.
Oh that's nothing. Oh my god. Okay, Well, let's talk
about our sponsors first and then we'llget into let's what's going on all right,
(06:34):
our fat Wurtzler Capital Growth, Inc. I got a little love note
from Jay to day. I didtoo, you did well. He sent
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(06:57):
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Okay, so you're using it now? Yeah, okay. So first of
all, Eric calls me. Whattime was it? Five o'clock? Maybe
(08:50):
now? About four thirty? Yeah, about four three, four thirty?
Eric calls and, uh, whydon't you go ahead and tell the story.
Yeah, so I had to goback and pick up my car,
and I thought, why not whynot just make why not just rattle the
cage while she was setting up theentire podcast studio. Wait, did you
(09:15):
get your original car back? Idid? Wow. So the car that
you dropped off like nine months agois like your car you're driving now.
Yes. Nice, But you havea story about that too, huh.
I do. But it's it's beenresolved. So so nobody's gonna nobody has
to eat a bag of dicks.You already got a couple of people fired,
so oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Well I didn't get
them fired, but they didn't saywho they are, so you know whatever.
(09:39):
So I decided to call Laura andsay, hey, i was supposed
to pick up my car from thedealership today, but it's been delayed,
so I'm not going to have acar tonight, so I'm not gonna be
able to come. I'll just phonein. He goes, yeah, I'll
just do the I'm like, areyou so that the pitch that your voice
(10:05):
reached? I had to turn downthe volume in my car. Are you
that cheap? You cannot get anuber to my house? Yeah? That
makes sense, So I said,listen, I don't want to pay for
an uber. Just call Brian andask him if he could pick me up
on the way home. She wasabsolutely, you were un as I'm like
(10:30):
unatt raveling, like cords, pluggingthings in, setting up lights, putting
your this there, You're putting yournew little tray here, doing this,
doing that, thank you, andthen you pull this. You do this
to me all the time because youknow, I believe everything you say.
Everything. Now. At one time, my car actually was in the shop
on an emergency notice, and Itold Laura I was like, I'm having
(10:52):
comp She's like, you have tocome. I was like, oh,
she was, what did you gethere for good? Here? My girlfriend
took me? Oh really? Ohyeah I made you come? Oh yeah
yeah that was yeah. Well that'swell, Oh, don't make it nasty.
Okay, Oh I can't use myphone. The thing that I my
(11:13):
mind length. I was not prossingwhat Eric was saying. It caught up
to me and I was like,oh god, okay, so see what
happens when you're filthy? It justruns downhill. Now, look, the
only thing that wrungs are when weget to be like our age. A
lot of your age, well one, your our age and birthdays come around
(11:33):
a lot of times you just kindof want to, yeah, pass it
by. We don't want to acknowledgeit. Da da da da. Not
Laura. No, I've decided thisyear I'm going to live like it's nineteen
ninety nine. No, like it'slike the last birthday I'm ever going to
celebrate. Not that I think itis, because I think I'm going to
live a long time. Like,don't get me wrong, you better who
am I going to show out?I can fix that? This isn't like
(11:54):
a thing like I think I'm goingto die or anything. But I decided
why not, why not go ballsout and just like celebrate every single day
leading up to my birthday. Wehave to celebrate with you every single day.
Just no, look no, andit's not about spending money either.
So May first, I did apost saying it was my birthday month.
(12:16):
And in the post at work,uh, they always list like the monthly
birthdays, and so they listed theMay birthdays and there was my name on
the little screen. So I postedthat. So that was May. That's
how I celebrated on me first.May second, which I'll talk about on
Thursday. I may or may nothave gotten a tattoo. Mm hmmm,
(12:39):
oh kind a tramp stamp. No, I'm going to reveal it on Thursday's
podcast and tell me all about it. I tell I'm not saying a word.
I'm going to take off all yourclothes as soon as the podcast.
It's it's like one of those weirdones. It's like an inch below the
underwear line. Probably. May third, does it say like over your agil
(13:00):
and a like party time? No, it says party animal. Oh.
May third, I forgot what IMay third I did something. Oh,
I think I bought myself a shirt. May fourth, I picked up Evan
at the airport. May fifth,Sinco de Mayo. Hung out with Evan
all day, went to ob,went to the beach, touched the ocean.
(13:20):
May sixth. Today we we wentback to OB and got our nails
done, me and Evan and sheleaves tomorrow. This is a really quick
trip because she has to get herwisdom teeth outs. So we had to
get a consultations, the whole thing. So that's why she even that's why
she came to San Diego to getthis freaking consultation because one of her wisdom
teeth is like sideways. Oh Iknow, it is impacted. It's really
(13:43):
bad. Wow. So she usedto come back in the summer. So
that so tomorrow, what am Igonna do? I have to figure out
something fun to do. It doesn'thave to cost anything. Oh I know
what we're doing. Oh, yes, this is exciting. What time are
we? Seven? No? Eight? Okay? I was gonna say,
I don't know why my this onthe podcast. Okay, so I'll tell
you so tomorrow. This is thisis leading up. Oh, I forgot
(14:05):
to cars in the shop. Tomorrow. No, it's not. It's out
of the shop for good. Whatwould you forget? Oh you're mad?
Probably not real. This is areal face. This is a real face.
I have a dinner tomorrow. No, you do, not too bad?
You know what? Too bad?You know what? Eric? No,
(14:30):
well it's before we'll make I toldyou it wasn't real. It's with
Karen. Karen's remember she's coming.Karen's coming. Yes, okay, well
you guys are coming after the dinner, right, you're going to cut the
dinner short. Probably we'll be there. Take your butt. I don't like
(14:50):
half an hour ago. I loveyou so much. I just you know.
When I was with Jeff and Jared, they called me Laura g Caine
because I thought they called you interand Laura that was in your gin.
They called me Laura g kan becauseI'm gullible. My middle name is gullible.
I'm gullible. I believe everything.Oh my god, so tomorrow.
(15:11):
Well that's why I wrote gullible onthe ceiling right above your head, and
when you were upstairs where if youlook up, you'll see I wrote it
on the No, you didn't reallylike you can't. I'm renting this place.
(15:35):
Okay. So tomorrow, oh mygod, we are going out with
Michael Brown, who runs San Diegoghost Tours. We've had him on the
show before, but he has somenews stories for us, and we're going
to a place called Pioneer Park.Now, Pioneer Park used to be a
cemetery and what they did was theymoved all the headstones kind of over and
(15:58):
they put grass down, so nowit's a park, but there's bodies underneath
the grass. And he says it'svery active. So he's bringing all of
his toys, all of his littlebuzzers and things, and we're going to
go ghost hunting on tomorrow. Sothat'll be my fun May seventh thing,
and then we're going to have himon the show on next Monday. Now
I might be very, very scared. So do you promise to hold my
(16:23):
hand the entire time? No,Karen can. Laura will be wearing a
GoPro so I know I'm strapped myforehead. Listen. I will hold your
hand, would you hold mine?Hold Karen's hand? No, I want
you to hold No, I wantyou to hold Karen's hand. I'll hold
Brian's. No, you won't.Eric, who's hand you going to hold
(16:44):
when she goes to her son's weddingwithout you, I know. Oh my
god. People were so mad atme. No. Look, I don't
think you need to make excuses forthose excuses that Eric has a big trip
planned this summer and he was Ibelieve. I don't think you need to
give an explanation. He was unableto take any more time on. It's
(17:06):
not like it's here, it's inSportland. It's fine. I told you
I'm going to crash it. Iknow he's gonna crash it. He's going
to object and then puke on myshoes. I am ok. I'm going
to show up like the drunk relativeand just be hammerd and be like no,
and then I'm going to walk overto you and I'm gonna have some
epicac before I get there. Ohgod no, and then I'm going to
(17:27):
puke my mother of the groom shoes. Yep, you're gonna have to help
me with what to wear. Ohgosh, I'm not a part of the
wedding anymore. I don't think Ican. Oh yeah, how rude.
Actually that was super rude of me. That was really rude. I didn't
invite you to the wedding. I'masking you to help me. Sorry,
(17:48):
wow, Okay, now listen,okay, wait, back to what We're
going to be in a graveyard?Yes, well at a park. It
used to be a graveyard, usedto be their body stillunderneath the ground,
and I'm just asking you. Imay get scared, so I want you
to hold my hands. Okay,I will do that, thank you?
Is that all? Yes? BecauseI don't want you trying to push me
(18:08):
into an open grave. O grave? Okay, there's no open okay.
Okay, So tell us, didyou have a story about your car or
is everything good? Everything? Everythingwas fine everything. I'm not going to
kill anybody. You're not going tokill anybody. Nobody has to suck a
back of day. Okay. Okay. Before we talked to uh Robert Barco,
(18:30):
who's the lead singer of George MichaelReborn, I think we need to
talk a little dirt action. Yes, like, what is up? I'm
worried. I'm really really super worriedabout my girl Brittany. Seriously, because
this latest incident happened where all thecelebrities go to diye, that's Chateau Marmande
(18:52):
that's where John Belushi died. That'swhere, like all kinds of horrible things
happen at that hotel. So Idon't I don't initially get why they were
there because she lives not that faraway. But I guess she has a
boyfriend, a rumored boyfriend named Paul. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait
(19:18):
okay, no, no, no, okay, re please, everything's fine,
okay, okay, can I justsay what's happening? Okay, So
my roommate, I got her alldolled up for a date. You look
so cute, you looked so pretty. I did her hair, I did
her makeup. She left at sixpoint thirty and she's back, so,
(19:41):
oh my god, did he notshow up? He did show up,
and I wait, come here,this is no okay, okay, did
you not like him? You went, you literally went on a forty minute
date and he's like, bye,oh wow, this guy. Don't like
(20:07):
him. I don't like this guy. It's ridiculous. Question number two,
Is there any chance on the seconddate? No? No, no,
we're not no more. I don'tlike I don't like how he doesn't text
you right away. I like.I don't like how he oh see,
I'm getting them all confused. Laura, Laura is an expert on dating.
(20:34):
Oh no, she know, isn'tyou are? They're innocent, like fun
little dates. They are like dinnerdates. Well anyway, sorry, anyway,
walk home. That's in my roommate. That I spent like a half
hour, forty five minutes getting readyand she's back already for her date.
Well, listen, every minute thatyou put into it worked because now every
(20:55):
minute it's true, it's true.Okay, So back to Brittany. Yes,
now she has a new boyfriend apparently, yes, Paul so Lee's Apparently
she went to the Chateau Marmond.M hmm. They got into some hillacious
yes. Fight started around ten thirty, okay, and I guess there was
(21:15):
a lot of alcohol involved. Sothat's what the paramedics said, is that
there was a lot of alcohol involved. But the guests started complaining on the
floor that there was a woman theydidn't know it was her that was sounded
(21:38):
like she was in a lot ofdistress, that she was possibly having a
mental breakdown, because I guess shewas screaming at everyone staff, other hotel
patrons, and then she was outsidethe room like running up and down the
hall, just freaking out, andthen went back to the room. And
(21:59):
that's when the fight started between herand the rumored boyfriend. Because I know
the police recalled, paramedics recalled,and she heard her ankle. She wasn't
taken away right. But then thenext day she went on Twitter, this
is so weird, so she thiswas bizarre, just to let people know
the news is fake. I wouldlike to respect it this time for people
(22:21):
to understand. I'm getting stronger everyday. Truth sucks, So can someone
teach me how to lie? Goddessesout there, I'm reaching my higher power
and furthermore, I hope you guysare too. I need a new toothbrush
right now. PS. I needan espresso pss. Not sure why I
feel the need to share this.I guess I'm just a girl and I'm
on my period, so I'm bitchyshit with a little shit emoji. I
(22:41):
also twisted my ankle last night andparamedic showed up at my door illegally.
They never came in my room,but I felt completely harassed. I'm moving
to Boston. Peace. That doesn'tsound bitch is crazy. I know it
sounds. I just don't little longfor this. I hope that's not the
(23:02):
case. I hope it is notthe case either. Who does she have
in her corner? Well, youknow, everybody was so including me,
was so anxious to get her outof that. I have the Britney t
shirt, and now that she's out, I kind of think maybe she should
be back in it. Let herbe crazy. She can be crazy,
I mean, but she's not hurtingherself. Well, she did well.
(23:25):
She hurt her ankle, and everyonehurts their ankle. No, that's I'm
not a Britney proponent or anything here, Like, I don't care either way,
but like, I mean, everyonehas a right to be crazy,
Like conservative ships are pretty well,this is the thing. With all that
money and all these people, nobody'slooking out for her. Brittany, come
and live with me. Come andlive with me for like a month.
(23:47):
I will get you taken care oftotally. Yeah. By the way,
your skin looks amazing, Thank you. What are you using well besides on
my products from Laoya Cosmetics, Yes, I'm using snail musing. Oh,
I have some of those those faceh those masks. It's not a mask,
(24:07):
it's the actual So it's like thestuff that comes out of snails,
like the snail trail. They pickthem up and just squeeze them till it
comes out. Oh gon, andnot supposed to make you look like that,
like shiny, tight, taut sinpores. Wow. Yeah. And
so when I edit our pictures,I really am going to just be nose
holes. No, I know whenyou edit our pictures because they are so
(24:32):
crazy. Oh my god. SoI got a call back from one of
my auditions. Oh no, yes, so the guy goes, I really
want you to first watch the pilotepisode to see if you are interested of
what show. It's a mockumentary.Is this the one we discussed prior.
(24:52):
No, this is a whole newbattle Axe and it's called Porn Stars,
and it's about porn stars that areredoing their life as like real people.
Now, wow, you are justperfect for that. So I watched the
pilot episode. Steve my cousin,who is that? Oh god? Oh
(25:15):
see, No, this guy hasbeen harassing me, Steve, this guy's
been harassing Hey, I got oneword for you me on what Steve?
I blocked him on Facebook. I'lltell you after the show. Don't We're
not even worth the time? Don'trespond. I know, yeah, why
did you give him? No,don't you don't don't don't, don't don't.
(25:36):
I don't come from go ahead,don't give them don't don't you know
the reaction, Caroline talk about yourporn stars. Okay, So anyway,
I watched the and it's you know, it's not the kind of thing I
need to be involved with. It'sno nudity or anything. It's like porn
stars that are that are now liketrying to live normal lives. But I
(25:56):
could never think that. You mayhave one point, though, I know
all these people in this episode werelike they were young. I'm like,
just do they not know like howold I am, like, or do
they want somebody that's old. Idon't know. The stars, I'm sure
I don't know. I wouldn't wantto play a porn star right now.
A lot of them are dying ofdifferent diseases. I don't know. I
(26:21):
mean, just stuff I see inthe news. Did you guys see that
there's some like legitimate footage of analien? It was on Fox News and
they had like two guys that werelike one guy was a crime scene investigator
analysis person and he was looking tosee if the video was actually altered in
(26:45):
any way or if it was editedin any way to show these and he
says, no, this is thiswas not altered or anyway. I you
know what, I I watched iton my phone and it was really kind
of small and I was looking.I couldn't see the alien. There's like
it's dark. There are people thatare with they have flashlights and they're in
(27:07):
their backyard and I was looking forlike the alien head and I couldn't find
it. And then I had toget ready for the show. But apparently
this is like real deal. Itwas well, it was like on Fox
News. So well, look Iam all for aliens being real. I
think that'd be dope. Yeah,I guarantee it. What about the tic
(27:27):
TACs, the flying tick tacks?Yeah, I'm still you know, there's
there's some funny things when you dowith high speed cameras and you're dealing with
parallax. Maybe a high speed thatcan make things look like they're not what
things look like something else, butmaybe they're real. But do you believe
in aliens? No, not atall, not at all at all.
No, you don't believe you doyou think where you are the only living
(27:48):
form of No. Did you justhear that they found a bunch of spiders
on a planet? A planet ofspiders? That was my worst nightmare.
Wow. Yeah, there was thousandsof them on some So there's life.
I'll show you on YouTube. Ithought I was gonna vomit. See you
(28:11):
should see my my netflix. Oh, spider like features have been spotted sprouting
through crowds cracks in Mars's surface.The European Space Agencies Mars Express orbiter captured
new images of small dark features thatresemble spiders scuttling across the Martian region known
as the Inca city. That isawesome. Oh, we're trying to call
(28:34):
aize. I bring bug spray.All right, I think it's time that
we Okay, you guys, jumpon over to YouTube our YouTube live.
It's Laura King after Dark. It'sthe name of our YouTube channel. Subscribe
while you're at it, do it. And uh, we are going to
call Robert Barco. He's the leadsinger of George Michael Reborn. This is
(28:56):
the band that's going to be playingon May twenty fourth at Via Huff Resort
and Casino on my birthday and Brian'ssecond year anniversary party. Yes, you
got those mixed up. Ye.Also coincidentally, it's coincidentally on my birthday.
But but it originally, originally itwas spider stories fake. By the
(29:18):
way, if you read the fullarticle, it goes, these aren't actual
spiders. These are just dust formations. No they were, No, they
were spiders. Now I'm reading sogross. There's so much out there about
aliens and spacecraft and maybe that theygo in and out of the ocean,
and there's like there, our oceansare so miles and miles and miles deep.
(29:40):
They've got some kind of like crazyI don't well, giants square there
you go, giants. Can youimagine seeing one of those things? Yeah?
Oh, turn it out, Robert. Oh wait, hold on,
he's not your great Yeah, wegot I can't hear him in my headphones.
You can't know there he is,Robert. Hi, Hey, Hey,
(30:07):
how are you? I'm great?Oh my god, I am so
just is so crazy that you areplaying on my actual birthday. It's like
a present from above. So Ireally, oh, it is so cool
making extra special for me as well. So I was the freak that after
the show, so I was tellingthem Robert that at George Michael We'reborn,
(30:30):
the show that we saw at anothercasino about a year ago. I'm not
the kind of person that stands upand dances and like gets up front and
stuff at concerts normally, But whenyou guys were performing, when you were
singing, when you were dancing,I made I b lined to the front
(30:53):
of the stage. I was standing, I was dancing. It was the
most fun I think I've ever hadat a concert. You sound just like
George Michael. You look just likeGeorge Michael. And I want you to
tell us a little bit more abouthow all of this came to be,
Like how did you form this tributeband? And how long have you sounded
(31:15):
like him and look like him andall this kind of stuff. Oh my
gosh, Well, I guess we'llgo way back to the beginning. And
you know, when I was ayoung lad and I was in high school
and Wham was coming on the scene. Before I had actually heard of Wham,
I had so many people say tome, hey, have you you
(31:38):
ever heard of this group Wham?You look just like the singer named George
Michael. And I'm like, no, but I haven't heard, you know,
I haven't heard their music, buteverybody's been saying this to me.
And then I'm you know, Iwas kind of an odd kid because I
played football, but I was alsoin the drama club, which were like
those were like yeah to a postworlds, you know, but I hung
(32:01):
out in both of those worlds.And then I remember the first production I
sang in. Everybody's like, ohmy gosh, not only do you look
like George Michael, but you soundlike him as well. And I'm like,
gosh, I've just been hearing thisso much. And so my buddy
Frank had, you know, we'dmade plans to hang out on a Saturday.
(32:22):
So I arrived at his house andhe excitingly answered the door and he's
like, look at this, andhe shoved a Wham record right up,
you know, so shows how oldI am speaking of vinyl records. He
shoves a Vinyl record, you know, jacket up in my face. He's
like, look at this guy,you look exactly like him. I'm like,
(32:43):
oh my gosh, this is thefirst time I had laid eyes on
George Michael. I'm like, yeah, I kind of do you know,
this is kind of weird. Ifeel like I'm looking at my brother or
something. So he's like, well, you got to hear this record.
You sound just like him, andhe had put the record on and I
had. You know, I'd alwaysbeen a lover of music, you know,
being in drama club, I justloved music. And but for the
(33:05):
first time, when I heard GeorgeMichael's voice, something was different about his
voice. It was like, it'sjust everything clicked for me. I've said
before, I felt like I'd metmy long lost musical brother. His voice
just captured my heart. And then, you know, from that moment on,
all I ever listened to was SwamRecords. It was like I just
(33:28):
couldn't get enough of it. I'dlistened the same record over and over and
over and see that's how it,you know. And then from that point
on, you know, it waskind of funny as I had some of
the older teachers at the time.You know, it was the strangest thing
because I could grow scruff by theage of sixteen. I mean, which,
oh, you're one of those guys. There are a few of those
(33:50):
guys, very few. Yeah,I'd had this full on beard at sixteen,
So you know, all these olderlike teachers like, oh, you're
so hot. You look like thisGeorge Michael guy. And so I was
kind of a I was relishing,and I was kind of enjoying it,
to be honest with you, andthen you know, I would purposely organize
like school talent contests just to beable to sing Wham songs and George Michael
(34:14):
songs and then see that's you know, it's kind of where everything started.
As I always say that tributing GeorgeMichael chose me rather than me choosing it.
Well, yes, because you didn'teven know who he was and people
were coming up to you saying,hey, you look like him, you
sound like him, and then boom, and I was gonna say, wham,
there you go. Yeah, youknow, so, Sam, you
(34:37):
have like a really cool story.Did you wait, did you ever meet
George Michael? Did you ever likeEncounterham? I never did, you know.
It's kind of one of my uh, kind of big heartbreaks of life
that I never got to meet him. I've been really fortunate to have met
and even performed for and performed with, you know, people who are very
(34:59):
neat and dear to him. I'vehad that honor, but never got to
meet him. And you have areally good story about Andrew Right, well,
deon Estes, who is the originalbass player. Oh yeah, yeah,
So bring up a Wham video andyou're going to see a really handsome
(35:19):
man with one of the biggest setof dreadlocks you've ever seen. He called
it his Platypus. That was DeonEstes, and the show back in twenty
nineteen had caught his attention, andhis manager, who's such a sweetheart,
Maggie, reached out to me andsaid that he was a fan of the
show, and I was wondering,you know, he's following your schedules,
wondering if he could hop up onstage with you when you play your next
(35:42):
show in LA And so I mean, this is like, this is,
you know, one of the biggesthonors of my life, you know,
because I was just so consumed withWham and now all of a sudden one
of the original members wanted to bea part of the tribute band. It
was like, you got to bekidding me. And had the honor of,
you know, meeting playing with Dion, And if anybody who's listening to
(36:02):
has ever got to meet Dion,you know, you become fast friends with
Dion, right, There is nothingarrogant about him. I mean, his
talent is massive, his heart iseven bigger, his kindness is personality.
I mean, just to show youwhat a talent he was. If you
go onto YouTube and Keyen nineteen eightyone Marvin Gay rehearsal, you're going to
(36:25):
see a young boy in his teensand guess who's playing for bass for Marvin
Gay as Dion Estes. So yeah, So had the honor of playing with
him, became fast friends, andthen, of course, you know,
before we could get a lot ofshows under our belt together, the stupid
COVID things shut everything down. Andthen but Dion and I stayed in touch
(36:52):
throughout COVID and we'd even you know, kicked around the idea like, hey,
maybe we could reboot Wham and getus forget Andrew visually on. Yes,
But you know, sadly, comingout of COVID, Dion had gone
into the hospital and he never madeit out. Since that was that's quite
a heartbreak, you know, andit's so funny as I I you know,
(37:16):
maybe I just over spiritualize everything,which I think I tend to do
in my life. But when Igot the call that Dion had passed away.
I was just finished a casino showin Arizona, and I'm looking out
the next morning after my show andbeautiful casino hotel were staying and looking out
(37:37):
over the vastness of this desert.I'm my, gosh, this is really
beautiful. Look at this blue sky, look at the vastness. There's mountains
off in the distance. There's reallynothing developed in my sight. There's no
buildings. It was just kind ofon the edge. And the phone rings
and I pick up and it's Maggie, Dion's manager, and she said,
(37:58):
and she's just weeping, and shesays, Robert, this is not you
know, for public consumption yet,but Dion has passed away. And during
the time of what she was passing, you he had said you were one
of the first people he wanted meto call if you were to pass and
yeah, so we just broke downand were crying together, and we're we're
(38:20):
just talking, you know, aboutjust how incredible of a kind person Dion
was. And she says to me, you know, Robert, when Dion
was in the process of passing,she said to him, you know,
Dion, don't leave me. Iwant to and if you do, I
want to know what, you'd comeback, as you know, you come
back and see me. And hesaid, I'll either come back as a
dolphin or a hawk. And rightat that moment, as I'm looking out
(38:44):
over this desert, there's nothing insight. It's so bloody hot out there's
not even a bug wanting to hangout in this heat. Right then it
breaks into view around you know,the edge of the building, and you
just swoop several times. In mysight is a beautiful hawk. Right at
that moment when she said that,and then it went up and out of
(39:05):
you, and I actually scrambled andgot my phone and recorded a little bit.
I need to go back and findthat video somewhere on my phone.
That was just one of those thingsthough, you know. Circling back to
I say I over spiritualized anything.I kind of felt it was Dionne saying,
hey, Robert, you know,carry on, carry on with the
music of George, whom we bothmutually loved, because I'm here with you
(39:25):
urging you on to do that,because you know, touring and stuff can
be quite tough at times. Itcan really they can really take you to
the limit. You know. Well, first of all, I was going
to say, you know what,the same thing happened to me when my
dad passed. He always said hewanted to be an eagle and fly so
the skies when he died, andwouldn't you know, the day of his
(39:47):
memorial there was a hawk or aneagle circling our house. I truly I'm
on your same spiritual vein. Itotally feel you, and I completely want
hundred percent believe it was him.And oh my gosh, what a beautiful
story. It is just I lovestuff like this, and I and and
(40:07):
I you That show requires so muchenergy, so much dancing, so much
singing. Are there times? Imean, how do you when you're not
feeling when you're not feeling it,there's gotta be sometimes when you're just not
feeling it? How do you getyourself like going to get on stage and
do it? You know, it'sso funny you asked that you you would
(40:30):
think you and I rehearsed this question, which we did not, because what
you what you tapped into is avery It's it's an actual reality where you
know, sometimes you're you're on yourthird or fourth show in a row where
you've flown. You know, youdo a show you head straight from the
stage to you know, be atthe airport by four am. You know,
(40:51):
you catch another flight, you rollin, you sound check, you
do another show, repeat, youknow, and by the third show you're
sometimes so exhausted. I mean it'sliterally one minute till showtime and you're like,
I can barely get up. Iam so sticking exhausted. You're like,
and then all of a sudden youhear the roar of that crowd and
(41:14):
something just takes over, you know, once again. I just I've had
so many interesting spiritual things with themusic of George Michael and stuff. You
just go. I think sometimes Georgeis sitting there giving me just a little
kick in the pants, you know, a boost of energy. And I
can honestly say I've never actually walkedout onto the stage where I'm like just
(41:36):
destroyed, exhausted. There's been sixtyseconds before I'm to walk on where I
can't, you know, But somehowit always kicks in, you know.
You know, Laura and I experiencedthat same thing when we do this podcast.
Oh we once a week. Thisguy's like flying on an airplane going
(42:00):
go hotel, doing this. Yeah, I have a question for you.
Have you ever seen him live?Did you ever go to one of his
concerts or his performances? Yes,you know. So the same friend of
mine, Franks, who had introducedme to George Michael, you know,
put the jacket cover and everything.His sister at the time, way back
(42:22):
in nineteen eighty eight worked for Ibelieve it was ticket Master. It was
one of the biggest ticket sellers ofconcert tours. And she was very kind
and she got us fifth Row Centerfor his Faith tour at both the meadow
Lands Arena and the Miami Orange Bowl. So here we are these little,
(42:44):
you know, just kids in highschool, and we're hopping on jets,
you know, flying around to seeGeorge Michael. And you know, when
we hang up, or I couldI could forward you a picture of me
at age eighteen. Oh my god, please, I looked just like him,
or you know, I I wasseventeen, and so I'll never forget.
(43:07):
We went to the Miami Orange Bowland people freaked out. I literally
got picked up and surfed around onthe crowd. At some point I thought
I'm going to get it all here, you know. And I had another
friend of mine who's sadly passed awayJavier, who had gone to the concert
and he had a ticket that hewas way up in like the nosebleeders of
(43:30):
Miami Orange Bowl, and he toldme afterwards, Robert, I looked down
and I could tell exactly where youwere with the binoculars, because there's like
you were being passed around and theywere just He's like thinking to myself,
that little bastard's really enjoying himself.Now do you do you still have people
(43:51):
stop you and say when you're atthe grocery store or whatever, yeah,
you know, Oh my gosh,I've had this happen to me twice.
I mean, it happens all thetime, but this one particular type of
thing has happened to me twice,and I just find it absolutely hilarious.
Is someone two separate occasions, twoseparate shows. I'm talking to someone and
(44:14):
they're like, oh my gosh,you got to see this plumps somebody put
up. I said, haha,I'm at Walmart and see George Michael.
One time I was looking at vitamins, and one time I was looking at
hair products and there's a stinking pictureof me. Oh no, this happened
three times. I'm sorry. Twiceis in a Walmart. One time was
(44:36):
at a restaurant, but somebody,some stranger posts a picture of me looking
shopping. And then I had anotherincident when I was in a restaurant enjoying
a lunch and a guitar player thatplays in my shown mark super sweet guy.
He goes to file as taxes andhis tax Guy's like, what's this
(44:57):
extra ten ninety nine for this George. My thing goes, I'm playing in
a George Michael shoes. Oh,I got to show you this picture.
I was in this restaurant. There'sthis guy looked just like George Michael and
there's a picture of me. Youknow, it was just like that.
My god, so funny. Oh. We are talking to Robert Bartko from
George Michael Reborn. They're going tobe performing May twenty fourth, Va House
(45:20):
Resort and Casino. It's going tobe outdoors. It's going to be so
fun. It is a blast.And I want to know, like what
is your what is your personal favoritesong from George Michael And what's your favorite
song to sing? Are they thesame? Are they different? You know?
I so this is a tough question. My favorite I love them all
(45:44):
and I know it's probably not theanswer you want to hear, you know,
but I guess you know, oneof my favorite songs to perform is
Everything She Wants, and that's,you know what we generally open the show
with. You've Gotta you know,great beat, and it's a blast to
perform. But I honestly I likethem all for different reasons. You know,
(46:05):
when we play uh, wake meup before you go go there,
you know everybody knows that song.Oh yeah, you do. Do you
do something fun with the audience withone of the songs, like half to
like one thirty audience does one thingand then the middle part of the audience
is another thing and then the otherpart. Oh god, it was such
a It's such a fun show,you guys. This is gonna be such
(46:29):
a blast. Robert. Do youlike praying for Time? I love praying
for Tim, all of them.You know, I just you know,
kind of like if I'm not youknow, rehearsing or something in my own
spare time, just like listening toGeorge for my own pleasure. He did
a it was I believe nineteen eightyeight. He performed for the Nelson Mandela
(46:51):
birthday. Oh yes, and thereis several songs that he did there.
One was if You Were My Woman, It's like an old glass a night
and the Pips You Make. Hedid Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing. He did
Stevie Wonders of Village Ghetto Land.Those are probably my favorite performances of George
Michael. Yeah, he did itunplugged for MTV. Uh and yeah his
(47:17):
voice is it sounded better on theunplugged than it even does on a recorded
It was so good. Did yousee the documentary that was just came out
about Wyam? Yeah, I've seenit multiple times. I know, of
course, that was a stupid question. Now I have I have an unusual
(47:38):
question. Well, maybe it's notthat unusual. You probably get asked it
all the time. Where where wereyou born and raised? Okay? So
I was born in Youngstown, Ohio, Okay. And my dad worked for
IBM, and so I had moved, you know, he got transferred a
lot, you know IBM. I'vebeen moved and we moved Florida, and
(48:02):
then we moved back to Ohio.And then we moved back to Florida.
And I had spent much of myinformative years of growing up in book Raton,
Florida, and then I am nowunfortunately living in Utah, which I'd
like to get out of. Soif anybody's looking for a beautiful home up
in the mountains, call me.Is it just touring or is it just
(48:28):
like just not your jam? Wouldyou rather be by the my jam?
You know, I'm at seventy onehundred feet above sea level. Just we
got, you know, like threeinches of snow still last night. Yeah,
oh yeah, No, it's justyou know, I flew in from
Chicago late last night after a showand it was a nice sunny day in
Chicago, and then you wake uphere and you're just like it flips a
(48:51):
switch of like depression on you.Oh god, you seasonal season. It's
I know, why is there snow? May God? Oh my gosh.
Robert. I just thank you somuch for taking so much time with us.
We really appreciate it. It's goingto be such a blast to see
you. Four Via House Resort andCasino. The show starts at eight,
(49:14):
doors open at six for us.For our listeners, we have twenty five
pair of tickets. Go to LauraKane after dark to find out how you
can get yourself a pair of tickets, and you guys are going to party
with us. It's my birthday,it's Brian's second year anniversary. It's going
to be an absolute blast. We'regonna have so much fun. Thank you,
Robert, so thank you. Soexciting to meet you. I can't
(49:37):
wait to meet you all as well. And Laura, I'm so honored to
be celebrating your birthday with you.It's just it's going to make it that
much extra special. So in advancedHappy Birthday, I'm glad you burn,
glad you are my friend. Yes, and I can't wait to have a
great time with y'all. With themusica Georgian rahm. Oh so fun.
(49:58):
Thank you so much, A greatnight. Bye yeah, by bye.
Here let's play a little whim He'sawesome. He is identical. He sounds
identical. I'm not kidding, itis it is. It's weird, and
(50:22):
it's so weird that he didn't dothis, like try to do this.
It just happened and people were like, have you ever heard of Wham?
And he's like, no, likeyou look like just like the guy in
WAM. I can't wait to seethe picture of him. I know,
I know, well anyway, I'llshow it to you. After that that
concert that he did, I sawhis Oh you saw George Michael. Yeah,
(50:44):
I saw him at the Staples Center, the last concert he ever did.
Oh my god, it was hislike it was called like the twenty
five Tour or something like that,and it was incredible. He played for
like three hours. How did hedie again? Heart disease? Yeah,
it was heart disease. I'm shreamingabout guy, like because I am so
(51:08):
out of that generation. I know, because I believe his partner just found
him dead. He died, Ithink, yeah, yeah, he went
to a coma like a couple ofyears before from something or other. He
was the biggest thing in the eighties, mid late eighties. I mean,
(51:29):
wham George Michael. I mean,did you do you have a picture that
I sent you of him? It'snot working. It's not working. I
just wanted to show you, guyswhat he looks like. But you know,
you can go to our Instagram becauseI posted a picture of like his,
like what his tour poster looks like? He does? He looks just
like George Michael. He does.Actually, yeah, I know. It's
awesome. Anyway, you guys sogo online Laura Kane after dark dot com
(51:53):
and that's how you can win ticketsto this show party with. All you
have to do is really follow uson Instagram, follow us on TikTok,
comment on one of our posts,tag your friend, and subscribe to our
YouTube channel. Boom done. Firsttwenty five people to do that. I
will email you the tickets myself.Okay, and if you didn't get tickets,
(52:16):
come on out and party with usanyway. Please do awesome show you
guys, so thank you so muchfor watching on Instagram. Thank you so
much for watching on YouTube. Anduh, get ready for Thursday, because
I have something to show you,something that's permanent on my body. God,
(52:37):
and I have a story and Ineed to say this right now.
What I have three words, Nomore tattoos. Oh this stop, I
know. Okay, we'll get intothis whole thing. Oh we are getting
into it. I am putting myfoot down. Love your podcast. I
(52:59):
love you. I love you too, I love you so much. I
love you too, so much.I love you, she says with gritted
teeth. So beautiful, stop tryingto compliment me and just end the show
already. Oh this is not thislipstick. She love your podcast again.
(53:19):
Love you, My sweet baby's b
Oh my gosh, Hello and welcometo Laura Kane after Dark. Oh boy,
do we have stuff to tell youtonight. I'm Laura Kane. This
is my co host Eric Rimmer.Hi. And then we have producer Brian
behind the screen. Okay, yes, there you go. Hello, Hi
(00:28):
Brian. Okay, so now thisis exciting. We have a party and
it's official and it's going to bea blast. It's at Vajas Resort and
Casino. It's on May twenty fourth, which happens to be my birthday.
However, this is a party tocelebrate Brian's two year anniversary with the show.
(00:50):
It just hot my little boys growingup. Now, just to be
clear, this isn't a party forLaura's birthday. This is for me,
but it just happens to be onher birthday. It is for both of
us. Oh wait, what it'sfor both of us? Because actually,
you guys, I'm not even kidding. This group called George Michael Reborn.
(01:11):
This guy, Robert Barko is thelead singer. He looks like George Michael,
he sounds just like George Michael.The band is great. I went
to see them about a year agoand I'm not that kind of girl that
like stands up at concerts and dancesand stuff. I just I just don't.
I'm just not. I like tosit and just kind of like chill.
(01:32):
I was up at the front ofthe stage, like dancing, and
it was so fun. They areso good and so much. You leave
halfway through to go shop for merchandise. Hell no, I stayed the whole
entire time. I stayed so long, in fact, that I waited for
him to come out. I wasthe only one left in this came out
a long time ago. No singer. So the concert is on May twenty
(01:57):
fourth, which is Friday night.We have twenty tickets for twenty five pair
of tickets to give to you guysto come party with us at Via House
Casino. Doors open at six forus. We have prizes and surprises of
our own to give away, andthen the show starts at eight o'clock.
It's outside VA House at the parkat Va House, I think it's called,
(02:19):
and it's kind of like a cocktailtype of thing. We have a
couple tables reserved for our listeners.So here's what you need to do to
get tickets. Free tickets to joinus at this big party. Okay,
First, Judy Church, Judy Church, Anti Dudo just join us? Is
that Anti Dodoo? Yes? Ohmy god, I'm so excited. Okay,
(02:40):
thought I. Here's how you gettickets. The first twenty five people
to do the following things. Followus on Instagram and TikTok easy Laura Kane
after Dark super easy, comment onone of our posts or one of our
videos, and then tag a friend, only one friend, We're not having
you tag three, just one,and finally hit the subscribe button on our
(03:04):
YouTube channel. Yes. Three things, easy, peasy, so easy.
You don't have to repost anything.I'm not making run out, making you
buy anything. This is gonna befree the first twenty five people, and
we're gonna have an absolute blast.And we have the lead singer, Robert
Barco on the show tonight. He'scalling us. We're gonna interview him.
He has an amazing story about hisconnection with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeway,
(03:29):
the guy Ridgely I forgot, Iforgot, the guy that was also with
WAM. He has a story abouthim that is incredible. So you're gonna
love this now, I would suggestto you when we call him at seven
point thirty that you pop over toYouTube because you'll be able to hear the
interview on YouTube because it's over thephone. Because he is touring right now,
(03:53):
what's Matt Sae doesn't have TikTok.Matt, just get TikTok and then
we're trying to get our tiktokber upbecause I'm trying to like be current and
be on TikTok. Laura shows herfeet on TikTok. I no, I
don't your toes nothing. That's adifferent again. It is on May twenty,
fourth, Friday night at Va HouseResort and Casino, six o'clock through
(04:16):
doors open. The band is GeorgeMichael Reborn. It's a fun, fun
show. If you're our age,you're gonna absolutely know every single song.
You're gonna love everything. George Michael, shut up. I know if you're
my age, I still have gamblingthere. I know, right for those
of us, they're going to skipout the concert come back afterwards with a
(04:39):
couple of hundred bucks extra. Youknow what, I guarantee it. No,
I don't guarantee you because you knowwhat, I don't think you.
I would love to see you dance. Actually, no, I just danced
recently, and I don't need todo it for a while. You did
at your sister's wedding. Yeah,like, full on, yeah, full
on. I'm actually not a baddancer. Surprisingly, you have rhythm.
(05:00):
Yeah, I've read. I wasa music kid. Of course I got
rhythm. Do you know what womensay about guys who can dance, they
have big wieners. No, notbig wieners that you can that you're good
in bed. Well that seems likethe same thing. No, not the
same thing. Okay, different,but Laura would not know. But all
right, wait, wait, wait, wait, way to turn the show
(05:23):
racy anyway. So this is whatwe're gonna do May twenty four. So
that's all I have to do.Go to our website if you missed any
of that, Laura King after darkdot com. It's all on the main
page. If you're if you're goingto be racy, like, I don't
think I can make it. Youknow, I'm very very I'm a Puritan,
so I know could you might beon your own. Let me just
(05:45):
say this right the hell now,if you even think about no showing on
my actual birthday, which is Maytwenty fourth, my actual birthday, day.
Then, well, I'm giving youyour present early. So now okay,
well there's some like major thing thatyou got. He Eric claims that
(06:11):
he has never spent this much ona birthday present ever for anybody. Event.
This is incredible for you for me, Okay, okay, okay.
You did buy me like one hundreddollars gift cards at Nasty Gal one time.
Oh that's nothing. Oh my god. Okay, Well, let's talk
about our sponsors first and then we'llget into let's what's going on all right,
(06:34):
our fat Wurtzler Capital Growth, Inc. I got a little love note
from Jay to day. I didtoo, you did well. He sent
me something that I'm going to makeyou guys say. It's pretty funny.
And then uh, of course readLa joya cosmetic surgery center. Love them
to death, Love them. Andhere's more about our two find sponsors.
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Okay, so you're using it now? Yeah, okay. So first of
all, Eric calls me. Whattime was it? Five o'clock? Maybe
(08:50):
now? About four thirty? Yeah, about four three, four thirty?
Eric calls and, uh, whydon't you go ahead and tell the story.
Yeah, so I had to goback and pick up my car,
and I thought, why not whynot just make why not just rattle the
cage while she was setting up theentire podcast studio. Wait, did you
(09:15):
get your original car back? Idid? Wow. So the car that
you dropped off like nine months agois like your car you're driving now.
Yes. Nice, But you havea story about that too, huh.
I do. But it's it's beenresolved. So so nobody's gonna nobody has
to eat a bag of dicks.You already got a couple of people fired,
so oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Well I didn't get
them fired, but they didn't saywho they are, so you know whatever.
(09:39):
So I decided to call Laura andsay, hey, i was supposed
to pick up my car from thedealership today, but it's been delayed,
so I'm not going to have acar tonight, so I'm not gonna be
able to come. I'll just phonein. He goes, yeah, I'll
just do the I'm like, areyou so that the pitch that your voice
(10:05):
reached? I had to turn downthe volume in my car. Are you
that cheap? You cannot get anuber to my house? Yeah? That
makes sense, So I said,listen, I don't want to pay for
an uber. Just call Brian andask him if he could pick me up
on the way home. She wasabsolutely, you were un as I'm like
(10:30):
unatt raveling, like cords, pluggingthings in, setting up lights, putting
your this there, You're putting yournew little tray here, doing this,
doing that, thank you, andthen you pull this. You do this
to me all the time because youknow, I believe everything you say.
Everything. Now. At one time, my car actually was in the shop
on an emergency notice, and Itold Laura I was like, I'm having
(10:52):
comp She's like, you have tocome. I was like, oh,
she was, what did you gethere for good? Here? My girlfriend
took me? Oh really? Ohyeah I made you come? Oh yeah
yeah that was yeah. Well that'swell, Oh, don't make it nasty.
Okay, Oh I can't use myphone. The thing that I my
(11:13):
mind length. I was not prossingwhat Eric was saying. It caught up
to me and I was like,oh god, okay, so see what
happens when you're filthy? It justruns downhill. Now, look, the
only thing that wrungs are when weget to be like our age. A
lot of your age, well one, your our age and birthdays come around
(11:33):
a lot of times you just kindof want to, yeah, pass it
by. We don't want to acknowledgeit. Da da da da. Not
Laura. No, I've decided thisyear I'm going to live like it's nineteen
ninety nine. No, like it'slike the last birthday I'm ever going to
celebrate. Not that I think itis, because I think I'm going to
live a long time. Like,don't get me wrong, you better who
am I going to show out?I can fix that? This isn't like
(11:54):
a thing like I think I'm goingto die or anything. But I decided
why not, why not go ballsout and just like celebrate every single day
leading up to my birthday. Wehave to celebrate with you every single day.
Just no, look no, andit's not about spending money either.
So May first, I did apost saying it was my birthday month.
(12:16):
And in the post at work,uh, they always list like the monthly
birthdays, and so they listed theMay birthdays and there was my name on
the little screen. So I postedthat. So that was May. That's
how I celebrated on me first.May second, which I'll talk about on
Thursday. I may or may nothave gotten a tattoo. Mm hmmm,
(12:39):
oh kind a tramp stamp. No, I'm going to reveal it on Thursday's
podcast and tell me all about it. I tell I'm not saying a word.
I'm going to take off all yourclothes as soon as the podcast.
It's it's like one of those weirdones. It's like an inch below the
underwear line. Probably. May third, does it say like over your agil
(13:00):
and a like party time? No, it says party animal. Oh.
May third, I forgot what IMay third I did something. Oh,
I think I bought myself a shirt. May fourth, I picked up Evan
at the airport. May fifth,Sinco de Mayo. Hung out with Evan
all day, went to ob,went to the beach, touched the ocean.
(13:20):
May sixth. Today we we wentback to OB and got our nails
done, me and Evan and sheleaves tomorrow. This is a really quick
trip because she has to get herwisdom teeth outs. So we had to
get a consultations, the whole thing. So that's why she even that's why
she came to San Diego to getthis freaking consultation because one of her wisdom
teeth is like sideways. Oh Iknow, it is impacted. It's really
(13:43):
bad. Wow. So she usedto come back in the summer. So
that so tomorrow, what am Igonna do? I have to figure out
something fun to do. It doesn'thave to cost anything. Oh I know
what we're doing. Oh, yes, this is exciting. What time are
we? Seven? No? Eight? Okay? I was gonna say,
I don't know why my this onthe podcast. Okay, so I'll tell
you so tomorrow. This is thisis leading up. Oh, I forgot
(14:05):
to cars in the shop. Tomorrow. No, it's not. It's out
of the shop for good. Whatwould you forget? Oh you're mad?
Probably not real. This is areal face. This is a real face.
I have a dinner tomorrow. No, you do, not too bad?
You know what? Too bad?You know what? Eric? No,
(14:30):
well it's before we'll make I toldyou it wasn't real. It's with
Karen. Karen's remember she's coming.Karen's coming. Yes, okay, well
you guys are coming after the dinner, right, you're going to cut the
dinner short. Probably we'll be there. Take your butt. I don't like
(14:50):
half an hour ago. I loveyou so much. I just you know.
When I was with Jeff and Jared, they called me Laura g Caine
because I thought they called you interand Laura that was in your gin.
They called me Laura g kan becauseI'm gullible. My middle name is gullible.
I'm gullible. I believe everything.Oh my god, so tomorrow.
(15:11):
Well that's why I wrote gullible onthe ceiling right above your head, and
when you were upstairs where if youlook up, you'll see I wrote it
on the No, you didn't reallylike you can't. I'm renting this place.
(15:35):
Okay. So tomorrow, oh mygod, we are going out with
Michael Brown, who runs San Diegoghost Tours. We've had him on the
show before, but he has somenews stories for us, and we're going
to a place called Pioneer Park.Now, Pioneer Park used to be a
cemetery and what they did was theymoved all the headstones kind of over and
(15:58):
they put grass down, so nowit's a park, but there's bodies underneath
the grass. And he says it'svery active. So he's bringing all of
his toys, all of his littlebuzzers and things, and we're going to
go ghost hunting on tomorrow. Sothat'll be my fun May seventh thing,
and then we're going to have himon the show on next Monday. Now
I might be very, very scared. So do you promise to hold my
(16:23):
hand the entire time? No,Karen can. Laura will be wearing a
GoPro so I know I'm strapped myforehead. Listen. I will hold your
hand, would you hold mine?Hold Karen's hand? No, I want
you to hold No, I wantyou to hold Karen's hand. I'll hold
Brian's. No, you won't.Eric, who's hand you going to hold
(16:44):
when she goes to her son's weddingwithout you, I know. Oh my
god. People were so mad atme. No. Look, I don't
think you need to make excuses forthose excuses that Eric has a big trip
planned this summer and he was Ibelieve. I don't think you need to
give an explanation. He was unableto take any more time on. It's
(17:06):
not like it's here, it's inSportland. It's fine. I told you
I'm going to crash it. Iknow he's gonna crash it. He's going
to object and then puke on myshoes. I am ok. I'm going
to show up like the drunk relativeand just be hammerd and be like no,
and then I'm going to walk overto you and I'm gonna have some
epicac before I get there. Ohgod no, and then I'm going to
(17:27):
puke my mother of the groom shoes. Yep, you're gonna have to help
me with what to wear. Ohgosh, I'm not a part of the
wedding anymore. I don't think Ican. Oh yeah, how rude.
Actually that was super rude of me. That was really rude. I didn't
invite you to the wedding. I'masking you to help me. Sorry,
(17:48):
wow, Okay, now listen,okay, wait, back to what We're
going to be in a graveyard?Yes, well at a park. It
used to be a graveyard, usedto be their body stillunderneath the ground,
and I'm just asking you. Imay get scared, so I want you
to hold my hands. Okay,I will do that, thank you?
Is that all? Yes? BecauseI don't want you trying to push me
(18:08):
into an open grave. O grave? Okay, there's no open okay.
Okay, So tell us, didyou have a story about your car or
is everything good? Everything? Everythingwas fine everything. I'm not going to
kill anybody. You're not going tokill anybody. Nobody has to suck a
back of day. Okay. Okay. Before we talked to uh Robert Barco,
(18:30):
who's the lead singer of George MichaelReborn, I think we need to
talk a little dirt action. Yes, like, what is up? I'm
worried. I'm really really super worriedabout my girl Brittany. Seriously, because
this latest incident happened where all thecelebrities go to diye, that's Chateau Marmande
(18:52):
that's where John Belushi died. That'swhere, like all kinds of horrible things
happen at that hotel. So Idon't I don't initially get why they were
there because she lives not that faraway. But I guess she has a
boyfriend, a rumored boyfriend named Paul. Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait
(19:18):
okay, no, no, no, okay, re please, everything's fine,
okay, okay, can I justsay what's happening? Okay, So
my roommate, I got her alldolled up for a date. You look
so cute, you looked so pretty. I did her hair, I did
her makeup. She left at sixpoint thirty and she's back, so,
(19:41):
oh my god, did he notshow up? He did show up,
and I wait, come here,this is no okay, okay, did
you not like him? You went, you literally went on a forty minute
date and he's like, bye,oh wow, this guy. Don't like
(20:07):
him. I don't like this guy. It's ridiculous. Question number two,
Is there any chance on the seconddate? No? No, no,
we're not no more. I don'tlike I don't like how he doesn't text
you right away. I like.I don't like how he oh see,
I'm getting them all confused. Laura, Laura is an expert on dating.
(20:34):
Oh no, she know, isn'tyou are? They're innocent, like fun
little dates. They are like dinnerdates. Well anyway, sorry, anyway,
walk home. That's in my roommate. That I spent like a half
hour, forty five minutes getting readyand she's back already for her date.
Well, listen, every minute thatyou put into it worked because now every
(20:55):
minute it's true, it's true.Okay, So back to Brittany. Yes,
now she has a new boyfriend apparently, yes, Paul so Lee's Apparently
she went to the Chateau Marmond.M hmm. They got into some hillacious
yes. Fight started around ten thirty, okay, and I guess there was
(21:15):
a lot of alcohol involved. Sothat's what the paramedics said, is that
there was a lot of alcohol involved. But the guests started complaining on the
floor that there was a woman theydidn't know it was her that was sounded
(21:38):
like she was in a lot ofdistress, that she was possibly having a
mental breakdown, because I guess shewas screaming at everyone staff, other hotel
patrons, and then she was outsidethe room like running up and down the
hall, just freaking out, andthen went back to the room. And
(21:59):
that's when the fight started between herand the rumored boyfriend. Because I know
the police recalled, paramedics recalled,and she heard her ankle. She wasn't
taken away right. But then thenext day she went on Twitter, this
is so weird, so she thiswas bizarre, just to let people know
the news is fake. I wouldlike to respect it this time for people
(22:21):
to understand. I'm getting stronger everyday. Truth sucks, So can someone
teach me how to lie? Goddessesout there, I'm reaching my higher power
and furthermore, I hope you guysare too. I need a new toothbrush
right now. PS. I needan espresso pss. Not sure why I
feel the need to share this.I guess I'm just a girl and I'm
on my period, so I'm bitchyshit with a little shit emoji. I
(22:41):
also twisted my ankle last night andparamedic showed up at my door illegally.
They never came in my room,but I felt completely harassed. I'm moving
to Boston. Peace. That doesn'tsound bitch is crazy. I know it
sounds. I just don't little longfor this. I hope that's not the
(23:02):
case. I hope it is notthe case either. Who does she have
in her corner? Well, youknow, everybody was so including me,
was so anxious to get her outof that. I have the Britney t
shirt, and now that she's out, I kind of think maybe she should
be back in it. Let herbe crazy. She can be crazy,
I mean, but she's not hurtingherself. Well, she did well.
(23:25):
She hurt her ankle, and everyonehurts their ankle. No, that's I'm
not a Britney proponent or anything here, Like, I don't care either way,
but like, I mean, everyonehas a right to be crazy,
Like conservative ships are pretty well,this is the thing. With all that
money and all these people, nobody'slooking out for her. Brittany, come
and live with me. Come andlive with me for like a month.
(23:47):
I will get you taken care oftotally. Yeah. By the way,
your skin looks amazing, Thank you. What are you using well besides on
my products from Laoya Cosmetics, Yes, I'm using snail musing. Oh,
I have some of those those faceh those masks. It's not a mask,
(24:07):
it's the actual So it's like thestuff that comes out of snails,
like the snail trail. They pickthem up and just squeeze them till it
comes out. Oh gon, andnot supposed to make you look like that,
like shiny, tight, taut sinpores. Wow. Yeah. And
so when I edit our pictures,I really am going to just be nose
holes. No, I know whenyou edit our pictures because they are so
(24:32):
crazy. Oh my god. SoI got a call back from one of
my auditions. Oh no, yes, so the guy goes, I really
want you to first watch the pilotepisode to see if you are interested of
what show. It's a mockumentary.Is this the one we discussed prior.
(24:52):
No, this is a whole newbattle Axe and it's called Porn Stars,
and it's about porn stars that areredoing their life as like real people.
Now, wow, you are justperfect for that. So I watched the
pilot episode. Steve my cousin,who is that? Oh god? Oh
(25:15):
see, No, this guy hasbeen harassing me, Steve, this guy's
been harassing Hey, I got oneword for you me on what Steve?
I blocked him on Facebook. I'lltell you after the show. Don't We're
not even worth the time? Don'trespond. I know, yeah, why
did you give him? No,don't you don't don't don't, don't don't.
(25:36):
I don't come from go ahead,don't give them don't don't you know
the reaction, Caroline talk about yourporn stars. Okay, So anyway,
I watched the and it's you know, it's not the kind of thing I
need to be involved with. It'sno nudity or anything. It's like porn
stars that are that are now liketrying to live normal lives. But I
(25:56):
could never think that. You mayhave one point, though, I know
all these people in this episode werelike they were young. I'm like,
just do they not know like howold I am, like, or do
they want somebody that's old. Idon't know. The stars, I'm sure
I don't know. I wouldn't wantto play a porn star right now.
A lot of them are dying ofdifferent diseases. I don't know. I
(26:21):
mean, just stuff I see inthe news. Did you guys see that
there's some like legitimate footage of analien? It was on Fox News and
they had like two guys that werelike one guy was a crime scene investigator
analysis person and he was looking tosee if the video was actually altered in
(26:45):
any way or if it was editedin any way to show these and he
says, no, this is thiswas not altered or anyway. I you
know what, I I watched iton my phone and it was really kind
of small and I was looking.I couldn't see the alien. There's like
it's dark. There are people thatare with they have flashlights and they're in
(27:07):
their backyard and I was looking forlike the alien head and I couldn't find
it. And then I had toget ready for the show. But apparently
this is like real deal. Itwas well, it was like on Fox
News. So well, look Iam all for aliens being real. I
think that'd be dope. Yeah,I guarantee it. What about the tic
(27:27):
TACs, the flying tick tacks?Yeah, I'm still you know, there's
there's some funny things when you dowith high speed cameras and you're dealing with
parallax. Maybe a high speed thatcan make things look like they're not what
things look like something else, butmaybe they're real. But do you believe
in aliens? No, not atall, not at all at all.
No, you don't believe you doyou think where you are the only living
(27:48):
form of No. Did you justhear that they found a bunch of spiders
on a planet? A planet ofspiders? That was my worst nightmare.
Wow. Yeah, there was thousandsof them on some So there's life.
I'll show you on YouTube. Ithought I was gonna vomit. See you
(28:11):
should see my my netflix. Oh, spider like features have been spotted sprouting
through crowds cracks in Mars's surface.The European Space Agencies Mars Express orbiter captured
new images of small dark features thatresemble spiders scuttling across the Martian region known
as the Inca city. That isawesome. Oh, we're trying to call
(28:34):
aize. I bring bug spray.All right, I think it's time that
we Okay, you guys, jumpon over to YouTube our YouTube live.
It's Laura King after Dark. It'sthe name of our YouTube channel. Subscribe
while you're at it, do it. And uh, we are going to
call Robert Barco. He's the leadsinger of George Michael Reborn. This is
(28:56):
the band that's going to be playingon May twenty fourth at Via Huff Resort
and Casino on my birthday and Brian'ssecond year anniversary party. Yes, you
got those mixed up. Ye.Also coincidentally, it's coincidentally on my birthday.
But but it originally, originally itwas spider stories fake. By the
(29:18):
way, if you read the fullarticle, it goes, these aren't actual
spiders. These are just dust formations. No they were, No, they
were spiders. Now I'm reading sogross. There's so much out there about
aliens and spacecraft and maybe that theygo in and out of the ocean,
and there's like there, our oceansare so miles and miles and miles deep.
(29:40):
They've got some kind of like crazyI don't well, giants square there
you go, giants. Can youimagine seeing one of those things? Yeah?
Oh, turn it out, Robert. Oh wait, hold on,
he's not your great Yeah, wegot I can't hear him in my headphones.
You can't know there he is,Robert. Hi, Hey, Hey,
(30:07):
how are you? I'm great?Oh my god, I am so
just is so crazy that you areplaying on my actual birthday. It's like
a present from above. So Ireally, oh, it is so cool
making extra special for me as well. So I was the freak that after
the show, so I was tellingthem Robert that at George Michael We'reborn,
(30:30):
the show that we saw at anothercasino about a year ago. I'm not
the kind of person that stands upand dances and like gets up front and
stuff at concerts normally, But whenyou guys were performing, when you were
singing, when you were dancing,I made I b lined to the front
(30:53):
of the stage. I was standing, I was dancing. It was the
most fun I think I've ever hadat a concert. You sound just like
George Michael. You look just likeGeorge Michael. And I want you to
tell us a little bit more abouthow all of this came to be,
Like how did you form this tributeband? And how long have you sounded
(31:15):
like him and look like him andall this kind of stuff. Oh my
gosh, Well, I guess we'llgo way back to the beginning. And
you know, when I was ayoung lad and I was in high school
and Wham was coming on the scene. Before I had actually heard of Wham,
I had so many people say tome, hey, have you you
(31:38):
ever heard of this group Wham?You look just like the singer named George
Michael. And I'm like, no, but I haven't heard, you know,
I haven't heard their music, buteverybody's been saying this to me.
And then I'm you know, Iwas kind of an odd kid because I
played football, but I was alsoin the drama club, which were like
those were like yeah to a postworlds, you know, but I hung
(32:01):
out in both of those worlds.And then I remember the first production I
sang in. Everybody's like, ohmy gosh, not only do you look
like George Michael, but you soundlike him as well. And I'm like,
gosh, I've just been hearing thisso much. And so my buddy
Frank had, you know, we'dmade plans to hang out on a Saturday.
(32:22):
So I arrived at his house andhe excitingly answered the door and he's
like, look at this, andhe shoved a Wham record right up,
you know, so shows how oldI am speaking of vinyl records. He
shoves a Vinyl record, you know, jacket up in my face. He's
like, look at this guy,you look exactly like him. I'm like,
(32:43):
oh my gosh, this is thefirst time I had laid eyes on
George Michael. I'm like, yeah, I kind of do you know,
this is kind of weird. Ifeel like I'm looking at my brother or
something. So he's like, well, you got to hear this record.
You sound just like him, andhe had put the record on and I
had. You know, I'd alwaysbeen a lover of music, you know,
being in drama club, I justloved music. And but for the
(33:05):
first time, when I heard GeorgeMichael's voice, something was different about his
voice. It was like, it'sjust everything clicked for me. I've said
before, I felt like I'd metmy long lost musical brother. His voice
just captured my heart. And then, you know, from that moment on,
all I ever listened to was SwamRecords. It was like I just
(33:28):
couldn't get enough of it. I'dlistened the same record over and over and
over and see that's how it,you know. And then from that point
on, you know, it waskind of funny as I had some of
the older teachers at the time.You know, it was the strangest thing
because I could grow scruff by theage of sixteen. I mean, which,
oh, you're one of those guys. There are a few of those
(33:50):
guys, very few. Yeah,I'd had this full on beard at sixteen,
So you know, all these olderlike teachers like, oh, you're
so hot. You look like thisGeorge Michael guy. And so I was
kind of a I was relishing,and I was kind of enjoying it,
to be honest with you, andthen you know, I would purposely organize
like school talent contests just to beable to sing Wham songs and George Michael
(34:14):
songs and then see that's you know, it's kind of where everything started.
As I always say that tributing GeorgeMichael chose me rather than me choosing it.
Well, yes, because you didn'teven know who he was and people
were coming up to you saying,hey, you look like him, you
sound like him, and then boom, and I was gonna say, wham,
there you go. Yeah, youknow, so, Sam, you
(34:37):
have like a really cool story.Did you wait, did you ever meet
George Michael? Did you ever likeEncounterham? I never did, you know.
It's kind of one of my uh, kind of big heartbreaks of life
that I never got to meet him. I've been really fortunate to have met
and even performed for and performed with, you know, people who are very
(34:59):
neat and dear to him. I'vehad that honor, but never got to
meet him. And you have areally good story about Andrew Right, well,
deon Estes, who is the originalbass player. Oh yeah, yeah,
So bring up a Wham video andyou're going to see a really handsome
(35:19):
man with one of the biggest setof dreadlocks you've ever seen. He called
it his Platypus. That was DeonEstes, and the show back in twenty
nineteen had caught his attention, andhis manager, who's such a sweetheart,
Maggie, reached out to me andsaid that he was a fan of the
show, and I was wondering,you know, he's following your schedules,
wondering if he could hop up onstage with you when you play your next
(35:42):
show in LA And so I mean, this is like, this is,
you know, one of the biggesthonors of my life, you know,
because I was just so consumed withWham and now all of a sudden one
of the original members wanted to bea part of the tribute band. It
was like, you got to bekidding me. And had the honor of,
you know, meeting playing with Dion, And if anybody who's listening to
(36:02):
has ever got to meet Dion,you know, you become fast friends with
Dion, right, There is nothingarrogant about him. I mean, his
talent is massive, his heart iseven bigger, his kindness is personality.
I mean, just to show youwhat a talent he was. If you
go onto YouTube and Keyen nineteen eightyone Marvin Gay rehearsal, you're going to
(36:25):
see a young boy in his teensand guess who's playing for bass for Marvin
Gay as Dion Estes. So yeah, So had the honor of playing with
him, became fast friends, andthen, of course, you know,
before we could get a lot ofshows under our belt together, the stupid
COVID things shut everything down. Andthen but Dion and I stayed in touch
(36:52):
throughout COVID and we'd even you know, kicked around the idea like, hey,
maybe we could reboot Wham and getus forget Andrew visually on. Yes,
But you know, sadly, comingout of COVID, Dion had gone
into the hospital and he never madeit out. Since that was that's quite
a heartbreak, you know, andit's so funny as I I you know,
(37:16):
maybe I just over spiritualize everything,which I think I tend to do
in my life. But when Igot the call that Dion had passed away.
I was just finished a casino showin Arizona, and I'm looking out
the next morning after my show andbeautiful casino hotel were staying and looking out
(37:37):
over the vastness of this desert.I'm my, gosh, this is really
beautiful. Look at this blue sky, look at the vastness. There's mountains
off in the distance. There's reallynothing developed in my sight. There's no
buildings. It was just kind ofon the edge. And the phone rings
and I pick up and it's Maggie, Dion's manager, and she said,
(37:58):
and she's just weeping, and shesays, Robert, this is not you
know, for public consumption yet,but Dion has passed away. And during
the time of what she was passing, you he had said you were one
of the first people he wanted meto call if you were to pass and
yeah, so we just broke downand were crying together, and we're we're
(38:20):
just talking, you know, aboutjust how incredible of a kind person Dion
was. And she says to me, you know, Robert, when Dion
was in the process of passing,she said to him, you know,
Dion, don't leave me. Iwant to and if you do, I
want to know what, you'd comeback, as you know, you come
back and see me. And hesaid, I'll either come back as a
dolphin or a hawk. And rightat that moment, as I'm looking out
(38:44):
over this desert, there's nothing insight. It's so bloody hot out there's
not even a bug wanting to hangout in this heat. Right then it
breaks into view around you know,the edge of the building, and you
just swoop several times. In mysight is a beautiful hawk. Right at
that moment when she said that,and then it went up and out of
(39:05):
you, and I actually scrambled andgot my phone and recorded a little bit.
I need to go back and findthat video somewhere on my phone.
That was just one of those thingsthough, you know. Circling back to
I say I over spiritualized anything.I kind of felt it was Dionne saying,
hey, Robert, you know,carry on, carry on with the
music of George, whom we bothmutually loved, because I'm here with you
(39:25):
urging you on to do that,because you know, touring and stuff can
be quite tough at times. Itcan really they can really take you to
the limit. You know. Well, first of all, I was going
to say, you know what,the same thing happened to me when my
dad passed. He always said hewanted to be an eagle and fly so
the skies when he died, andwouldn't you know, the day of his
(39:47):
memorial there was a hawk or aneagle circling our house. I truly I'm
on your same spiritual vein. Itotally feel you, and I completely want
hundred percent believe it was him.And oh my gosh, what a beautiful
story. It is just I lovestuff like this, and I and and
(40:07):
I you That show requires so muchenergy, so much dancing, so much
singing. Are there times? Imean, how do you when you're not
feeling when you're not feeling it,there's gotta be sometimes when you're just not
feeling it? How do you getyourself like going to get on stage and
do it? You know, it'sso funny you asked that you you would
(40:30):
think you and I rehearsed this question, which we did not, because what
you what you tapped into is avery It's it's an actual reality where you
know, sometimes you're you're on yourthird or fourth show in a row where
you've flown. You know, youdo a show you head straight from the
stage to you know, be atthe airport by four am. You know,
(40:51):
you catch another flight, you rollin, you sound check, you
do another show, repeat, youknow, and by the third show you're
sometimes so exhausted. I mean it'sliterally one minute till showtime and you're like,
I can barely get up. Iam so sticking exhausted. You're like,
and then all of a sudden youhear the roar of that crowd and
(41:14):
something just takes over, you know, once again. I just I've had
so many interesting spiritual things with themusic of George Michael and stuff. You
just go. I think sometimes Georgeis sitting there giving me just a little
kick in the pants, you know, a boost of energy. And I
can honestly say I've never actually walkedout onto the stage where I'm like just
(41:36):
destroyed, exhausted. There's been sixtyseconds before I'm to walk on where I
can't, you know, But somehowit always kicks in, you know.
You know, Laura and I experiencedthat same thing when we do this podcast.
Oh we once a week. Thisguy's like flying on an airplane going
(42:00):
go hotel, doing this. Yeah, I have a question for you.
Have you ever seen him live?Did you ever go to one of his
concerts or his performances? Yes,you know. So the same friend of
mine, Franks, who had introducedme to George Michael, you know,
put the jacket cover and everything.His sister at the time, way back
(42:22):
in nineteen eighty eight worked for Ibelieve it was ticket Master. It was
one of the biggest ticket sellers ofconcert tours. And she was very kind
and she got us fifth Row Centerfor his Faith tour at both the meadow
Lands Arena and the Miami Orange Bowl. So here we are these little,
(42:44):
you know, just kids in highschool, and we're hopping on jets,
you know, flying around to seeGeorge Michael. And you know, when
we hang up, or I couldI could forward you a picture of me
at age eighteen. Oh my god, please, I looked just like him,
or you know, I I wasseventeen, and so I'll never forget.
(43:07):
We went to the Miami Orange Bowland people freaked out. I literally
got picked up and surfed around onthe crowd. At some point I thought
I'm going to get it all here, you know. And I had another
friend of mine who's sadly passed awayJavier, who had gone to the concert
and he had a ticket that hewas way up in like the nosebleeders of
(43:30):
Miami Orange Bowl, and he toldme afterwards, Robert, I looked down
and I could tell exactly where youwere with the binoculars, because there's like
you were being passed around and theywere just He's like thinking to myself,
that little bastard's really enjoying himself.Now do you do you still have people
(43:51):
stop you and say when you're atthe grocery store or whatever, yeah,
you know, Oh my gosh,I've had this happen to me twice.
I mean, it happens all thetime, but this one particular type of
thing has happened to me twice,and I just find it absolutely hilarious.
Is someone two separate occasions, twoseparate shows. I'm talking to someone and
(44:14):
they're like, oh my gosh,you got to see this plumps somebody put
up. I said, haha,I'm at Walmart and see George Michael.
One time I was looking at vitamins, and one time I was looking at
hair products and there's a stinking pictureof me. Oh no, this happened
three times. I'm sorry. Twiceis in a Walmart. One time was
(44:36):
at a restaurant, but somebody,some stranger posts a picture of me looking
shopping. And then I had anotherincident when I was in a restaurant enjoying
a lunch and a guitar player thatplays in my shown mark super sweet guy.
He goes to file as taxes andhis tax Guy's like, what's this
(44:57):
extra ten ninety nine for this George. My thing goes, I'm playing in
a George Michael shoes. Oh,I got to show you this picture.
I was in this restaurant. There'sthis guy looked just like George Michael and
there's a picture of me. Youknow, it was just like that.
My god, so funny. Oh. We are talking to Robert Bartko from
George Michael Reborn. They're going tobe performing May twenty fourth, Va House
(45:20):
Resort and Casino. It's going tobe outdoors. It's going to be so
fun. It is a blast.And I want to know, like what
is your what is your personal favoritesong from George Michael And what's your favorite
song to sing? Are they thesame? Are they different? You know?
I so this is a tough question. My favorite I love them all
(45:44):
and I know it's probably not theanswer you want to hear, you know,
but I guess you know, oneof my favorite songs to perform is
Everything She Wants, and that's,you know what we generally open the show
with. You've Gotta you know,great beat, and it's a blast to
perform. But I honestly I likethem all for different reasons. You know,
(46:05):
when we play uh, wake meup before you go go there,
you know everybody knows that song.Oh yeah, you do. Do you
do something fun with the audience withone of the songs, like half to
like one thirty audience does one thingand then the middle part of the audience
is another thing and then the otherpart. Oh god, it was such
a It's such a fun show,you guys. This is gonna be such
(46:29):
a blast. Robert. Do youlike praying for Time? I love praying
for Tim, all of them.You know, I just you know,
kind of like if I'm not youknow, rehearsing or something in my own
spare time, just like listening toGeorge for my own pleasure. He did
a it was I believe nineteen eightyeight. He performed for the Nelson Mandela
(46:51):
birthday. Oh yes, and thereis several songs that he did there.
One was if You Were My Woman, It's like an old glass a night
and the Pips You Make. Hedid Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing. He did
Stevie Wonders of Village Ghetto Land.Those are probably my favorite performances of George
Michael. Yeah, he did itunplugged for MTV. Uh and yeah his
(47:17):
voice is it sounded better on theunplugged than it even does on a recorded
It was so good. Did yousee the documentary that was just came out
about Wyam? Yeah, I've seenit multiple times. I know, of
course, that was a stupid question. Now I have I have an unusual
(47:38):
question. Well, maybe it's notthat unusual. You probably get asked it
all the time. Where where wereyou born and raised? Okay? So
I was born in Youngstown, Ohio, Okay. And my dad worked for
IBM, and so I had moved, you know, he got transferred a
lot, you know IBM. I'vebeen moved and we moved Florida, and
(48:02):
then we moved back to Ohio.And then we moved back to Florida.
And I had spent much of myinformative years of growing up in book Raton,
Florida, and then I am nowunfortunately living in Utah, which I'd
like to get out of. Soif anybody's looking for a beautiful home up
in the mountains, call me.Is it just touring or is it just
(48:28):
like just not your jam? Wouldyou rather be by the my jam?
You know, I'm at seventy onehundred feet above sea level. Just we
got, you know, like threeinches of snow still last night. Yeah,
oh yeah, No, it's justyou know, I flew in from
Chicago late last night after a showand it was a nice sunny day in
Chicago, and then you wake uphere and you're just like it flips a
(48:51):
switch of like depression on you.Oh god, you seasonal season. It's
I know, why is there snow? May God? Oh my gosh.
Robert. I just thank you somuch for taking so much time with us.
We really appreciate it. It's goingto be such a blast to see
you. Four Via House Resort andCasino. The show starts at eight,
(49:14):
doors open at six for us.For our listeners, we have twenty five
pair of tickets. Go to LauraKane after dark to find out how you
can get yourself a pair of tickets, and you guys are going to party
with us. It's my birthday,it's Brian's second year anniversary. It's going
to be an absolute blast. We'regonna have so much fun. Thank you,
Robert, so thank you. Soexciting to meet you. I can't
(49:37):
wait to meet you all as well. And Laura, I'm so honored to
be celebrating your birthday with you.It's just it's going to make it that
much extra special. So in advancedHappy Birthday, I'm glad you burn,
glad you are my friend. Yes, and I can't wait to have a
great time with y'all. With themusica Georgian rahm. Oh so fun.
(49:58):
Thank you so much, A greatnight. Bye yeah, by bye.
Here let's play a little whim He'sawesome. He is identical. He sounds
identical. I'm not kidding, itis it is. It's weird, and
(50:22):
it's so weird that he didn't dothis, like try to do this.
It just happened and people were like, have you ever heard of Wham?
And he's like, no, likeyou look like just like the guy in
WAM. I can't wait to seethe picture of him. I know,
I know, well anyway, I'llshow it to you. After that that
concert that he did, I sawhis Oh you saw George Michael. Yeah,
(50:44):
I saw him at the Staples Center, the last concert he ever did.
Oh my god, it was hislike it was called like the twenty
five Tour or something like that,and it was incredible. He played for
like three hours. How did hedie again? Heart disease? Yeah,
it was heart disease. I'm shreamingabout guy, like because I am so
(51:08):
out of that generation. I know, because I believe his partner just found
him dead. He died, Ithink, yeah, yeah, he went
to a coma like a couple ofyears before from something or other. He
was the biggest thing in the eighties, mid late eighties. I mean,
(51:29):
wham George Michael. I mean,did you do you have a picture that
I sent you of him? It'snot working. It's not working. I
just wanted to show you, guyswhat he looks like. But you know,
you can go to our Instagram becauseI posted a picture of like his,
like what his tour poster looks like? He does? He looks just
like George Michael. He does.Actually, yeah, I know. It's
awesome. Anyway, you guys sogo online Laura Kane after dark dot com
(51:53):
and that's how you can win ticketsto this show party with. All you
have to do is really follow uson Instagram, follow us on TikTok,
comment on one of our posts,tag your friend, and subscribe to our
YouTube channel. Boom done. Firsttwenty five people to do that. I
will email you the tickets myself.Okay, and if you didn't get tickets,
(52:16):
come on out and party with usanyway. Please do awesome show you
guys, so thank you so muchfor watching on Instagram. Thank you so
much for watching on YouTube. Anduh, get ready for Thursday, because
I have something to show you,something that's permanent on my body. God,
(52:37):
and I have a story and Ineed to say this right now.
What I have three words, Nomore tattoos. Oh this stop, I
know. Okay, we'll get intothis whole thing. Oh we are getting
into it. I am putting myfoot down. Love your podcast. I
(52:59):
love you. I love you too, I love you so much. I
love you too, so much.I love you, she says with gritted
teeth. So beautiful, stop tryingto compliment me and just end the show
already. Oh this is not thislipstick. She love your podcast again.
(53:19):
Love you, My sweet baby's b
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