05-16-25 - *FULL SHOW* Aurora's 'Liberty' Statue; Cop & Comic Vinnie Montez

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is from National Review.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
FBI Director Cash Pattel announced plans to move the bureau
out of its headquarters in Washington, DC. As part of
the plan to vacated his headquarters in the J. Edgar
Hoover Building, the bureau will transfer fifteen hundred employees to
varying locations nationwide. The building, which is located on Pennsylvania

(00:23):
Avenue Northwest, has served as the FBI's headquarters since nineteen
seventy five. Patel said on Fox News, I guess just
now this FBI is leaving the Hoover Building because this
building is unsafe for our workforce.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
That's interesting, he said.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
We want the American men and women to know, if
you're going to come to work at the premier law
enforcement agency in the world, we're gonna give you a
building that's commensurate with that, and that is not this place.
He did not go into detail about the safety concerns.
He did not say when the FBI will leave the
bill holding. He said that the agency has eleven thousand

(01:03):
FBI employees in the fifty mile radius around Washington, DC,
and he said that's something like a third of the
entire FBI workforce and a third of the crime doesn't
happen here. So we are taking fifteen hundred of those
folks and moving them out. Every state is getting a
plus up. I wonder how many of those FBI agents
will want to move. I bet a fair number of

(01:24):
them will. And I think when we do things like that,
we inspire folks in America to become intel analysts and
agents and say we want to work at the FBI
because we want to fight violent crime and we want
to be out in the country doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
One more a little bit here.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Where the FBI should build a new headquarters has been
a question for years. In twenty sixteen, the General Services
Administration submitted a prospectives to Congress for construction of a
new facility. That prospectives came just one year after The
Washington Post reported that the headquarters was quote unquote crumbling wow.
The GSA identified three potential locations for a new facility,

(02:05):
too in Maryland, one in Virginia, and they canceled the
project a year later after finding the process would cost
roughly one point four billion dollars and Congress had only
appropriated about a third that much. So I'm going to
stop there. There's more in the article, but I'm gonna
I'm gonna stop there, and I just you know, I
hadn't I hadn't read that until I just read it

(02:27):
to you.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
So that's kind of an interesting story.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Anyway. I'm Ross as a KOA. Thanks for spending a
little time with me this morning. I would like to
just talk about one thing that seems to be all
over the news and especially all over conservative news and
conservative social media right now. And let me just first
set a bit of a framework during sort of COVID

(02:50):
time and when the George Floyd thing happened. But it
wasn't just George Floyd. Then we also had the Harvey
Weinstein and the Bill Cosby and the whole me Too
move movement, and we got into this whole cancel culture thing,
and it was a period of time that was, on
the one hand, it was fairly brief. On the other hand,
it was much too long, and it was really, I think,

(03:13):
kind of a stain on this country. It was an
absolute attack on free speech, and these lunatics on the
far left, AOC types would try to cause people who
they disagree with a little bit to not be able
to earn a living anymore or to get fired on,
you know, and it's and this has been going on
for some time, but it really just exploded, you know,

(03:35):
maybe five years ago, and the left overreacted to absolutely everything,
and the media kind of it supported a minute because
it was very I don't know, it was entertaining in
a way, in a way like anger is entertaining and
hurting people is entertaining.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I hated it. I hated it.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
And so now what's going on is as a reaction
to the left's previous overreaction to everything, the right is
now overreacting to everything. And we have just a perfect
example of how unbelievably stupid this country is right now
with the reaction to former FBI director Jim Comey's stupid

(04:20):
posting of seashells arranged into two two two digit numbers eighty.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Six forty seven.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
And he posted that and said he assumed it was
a political message forty seven of course, representing President Trump,
this being the forty seventh presidency or the forty seventh president,
assuming you count him as two different two different presidents,
because he lost one in between. So we post this

(04:51):
thing eighty six forty seven, and now you've got all
these morons like Josh Hawley in the Senate, and just
so many, so many people on Fox News and conservative
Twitter and on saying, oh, James Comy is threatening to
assassinate Trump or calling to assassinate Trump, and it's just
one of the look and let me just say one
other thing. I despise James Comy. James Comy is a narcissistic,

(05:16):
condescending fool who absolutely butchered the investigation and prosecution or
non prosecution of Hillary Clinton, who should have been prosecuted.
And James Comy is no good. I cannot stand the guy.
And I am not here defending James Comy. I wish
you would go away and never be heard from again.

(05:38):
And that is part of the problem with what the
MAGA right is doing right now. By getting all their
panties in a bunch about James Comy, They're giving him
another fifteen minutes of fame. They're gonna help him sell
more books, They're gonna make him relevant again when he
was at long last, almost all the way out the
door and barely relevant anymore. And the reason I find

(05:59):
it so annoying is that nobody with more than two
brain cells to rub together would think that eighty six
means to kill somebody.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
It just doesn't.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
It never has, I mean maybe one percent of the usage.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
I've heard that term on and on and on and on.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Through my whole life. It's not the most common thing,
but I've heard it, and it's not used a lot
in the last several years. But when I was a
kid and young adult, you heard it all the time,
and it and it always meant a version of the
of two things.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
One of two things.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
It meant disposing of something like throwing it away. Like
you you've got a restaurant and you've got vegetables that
are just a little too too old, and you can't
serve them, you can't sell them, so you see eighty
six them. The other restaurant usage in Shannon would know
this because family is in the restaurant business is there's
something on the menu and you're out of it, so
you tell them like eighty six that tell the tell

(06:53):
the customers if they try to order it, sorry, we're
out of that.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
So that means you know eighty six that or in
the in the.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Military, right, maybe you got a you know, a vehicle
it's beyond repair and you just it's not worth it's
not worth trying to fix it anymore. It's just time
to time to scrap it. Eighty six to that vehicle, right,
or or get rid of a bad idea. Hey, let's
expand our widget factory into North Korea. Ah, that's bad.
That's eighty six that plan. None of that has anything

(07:21):
to do with violence. I have never heard the term
eighty six used in a way that relates to violence,
at least not that I recall, and I've heard it
use a thousand times in ways that don't relate to violence.
And this is just MAGA becoming the thing they hate.
This is becoming cancel culture. So not only is it

(07:42):
becoming the thing you hate, but it's doing it the
dumbest possible way by adding relevance to a guy who
should never be relevant again. And I am very frustrated
by it. I've been tweeting about it a bit this morning,
and I think if you're upset about James, the only
thing you need to be upset about is that somebody

(08:03):
who was that political ever had that job.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Okay, but this thing that he just posted.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Was harmless, just like any other Democrat comment about not
liking Donald Trump and wishing he weren't president. That's all
it was, and any other claim to the contrary is
either being made by an idiot or a liar.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's that simple.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Coming up in the next few minutes, this hour's chance
to win a thousand bucks in our keyword for cash
thanks to Maverick.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Keep it here on Kowa.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
A couple people they saying, you know, eighty six means
eight miles out and six feet under, like you know,
the Las Vegas mob remedy for problems. No, I mean
you might have heard that, but that's just not how
it's normally used in language of Several people have said
that kicking someone out of a bar eighty six of
them and that's a good one.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's a good one. Did you send me that textion
in or you were just thinking that. No, that's just
happened to me many times. Did they ever?

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Did you ever hear anyone say, hey, eighty six that
guy just as they were kicking you out of the bar.
You're a big dude. You wouldn't be the easiest person
to kick out of a bar. You take a couple
of people, Yeah, it would. All right, let's do some
other things. Let's lighten it up. A little bit, so
Bob who's now Leo Pope Leo original named Bob.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
I love calling him Bob.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Please don't take it as a sign of disrespect, by
the way, to my Catholic listeners and friends, it's a.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
Sign of affection.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I'm so happy we have an American pope, and I'm
so happy. Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic. I'm so happy
it's a guy who used to be known to his
friends as Bob, because it gives me a sense that
maybe maybe this pope has some.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Kind of.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Way to relate to normal people, even though the Pope
is never going to be normal again. Right, it's elevated
to a new level now. I really do seriously like
the fact that he used to be a guy named Bob.
So here's a story from the website TheGamer dot com
ahead of leo the fourteenth inauguration at the Vatican City.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Let's see. This was published just a few days ago.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Later this month, the New York City based leading baseball
trading card company Tops with two P's released a non
sports card dedicated to the first US born pope, and
already it's breaking records.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
As reported by the New York times. It's sold over
one hundred and thirty thousand.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Copies, making it the best selling non sports tops now,
and that those are both capitalized TOPS and then the
word now, so that must be a series that they're
doing of, like Current People or something or Carnivent Car
or something. I don't know, making it the best selling
non sports tops now card.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
But even in the realm.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Of sports, it has dethroned Lebron James's forty thousandth career
point commemorative card, as well as Lionel Messi and Steph
Curry's twenty twenty four card, and John Cena's solo WWE card.
It even beat out the collaboration card between The Rock

(11:15):
and Travis Scott if you know who those people are,
believe it or not, I do. With its enormous print run,
the Pope Leo the fourteenth card is now eligible for
future Chrome parallel variations, including a singular one to one
super fractor whatever that means. But TOPS isn't the only
one selling cards commemorating the Chicago and Pope. Leaf also

(11:39):
has a new nine dollars and ninety nine cent card,
which super imposes Leo over a deep dish pizza, as
well as ones that place him in front of the
Chicago skyline, it's snowy streets, and of course a few
hot dogs. As with any popular trading card, the Pope
is being scalped. While there are some more reasonably priced
options on eBay right now and the four dollars to

(12:01):
ten dollars range, there are some trying to sell their
pre sales for upwards of three hundred and fifty dollars. Thankfully,
nobody has spent that much on a card, but people
are definitely paying extortionate prices. Looking through eBay's sold tab,
you'll see several pre sale Pope Leo the fourteenth cards
have sold for as much as one hundred bucks, not

(12:22):
including shipping. Someone spent one hundred and fifty on a
collection of Tops and Leaf metal cards complete with acrylic displays,
and someone else even spent one hundred and ninety five
bucks on the Alt White Smoke variant, whatever that means, again,
not including shipping.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
Some of the Tops cards occasionally include game worn bits
of jersey and in game bats and ball material.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yes, what's that You need to hit a button here? Momentarily,
I got my finger over the button.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Oh, you're ready, are you all? Have you been a
collector of cards?

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, I have a few, you know.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
I actually I think I have a box somewhere with
several hundred baseball cards, the newest of which would probably
be nineteen seventy nine or something like that, and they're
probably not worth very much, but I should just dig
through them just for a little nostalgia from when.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
I was a kid.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
When's the last time you collected a card? Ten years ago? Maybe?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Oh, but very much as an adult.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
Was it a sports card or was it a non
sports thing like this? Do you know baseball specifically baseball? Wow?
And you went out and you wanted a card and
you went out and got it, or you bought a
pack of whatever that has unknown cards in it and
just got what you got.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
Or what was it?

Speaker 3 (13:45):
I did a remoted event and I ended up with
a lot of extra cards. Okay, I'm wondering since they
have done game warn jerseys, Yeah, you possibly get a
mass worn bit of robe.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Producer Shannon, Oh, I haven't had that version, heard that
version before. Hit me with that again, can you prod,
sir Shannon?

Speaker 5 (14:07):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (14:07):
Nice?

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Folks text us at five six six nine zero and
tell me when is the last time you collected will
loosely call a baseball card, but any kind of card
like that, even if it was not a sports person,
when's the last time you collected one?

Speaker 1 (14:24):
And who was it?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Text me at five sixty six nine zero. We'll be
right back. Let me ask you this one question, and
then I'm gonna go and go through some of your answers.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
To the previous question.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
So the previous question, the previous question was when's the
last time you collected a baseball card or any kind
of collectible card? And what kind of card was it?
So I want you to tell me that at five
six six nine zero. But I want to do one
other thing as well. I haven't done this in probably
a month, maybe more than a month, and I and
I really enjoy it, and I should probably have given

(14:56):
you more advance warning, but I'm just going to do
this now anyway, kind of ask me anything. Why don't
you text me at five sixty six nine zero and
ask me any question you want. I don't promise to
answer every question, all right, I don't promise, but you
could ask me anything you want. I probably don't want
to do a lot of politics but if there's a
very interesting political question, I might. But if you want

(15:16):
to ask me anything about my thoughts about anything else
going on in the world, or my life, or or
radio or anything, just text me at five sixty six
nine zero and ask me anything you want and I'll
try to work some of that. I'll try to work
some of that in. So let me just go to
a few of these. One listener, this is funny. There's

(15:37):
there's a dude who's texting me on my phone and
he has been for a few days now, and I
don't know who it is. And I keep asking who's
this and he keeps not telling me who it is.
But I haven't blocked him on my phone yet because
he's sending reasonable stuff. But I just I I don't

(16:00):
know who it is, but it's somebody who has my
cell phone number, which is a strange thing.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
Anyway, This person.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Says, probably six weeks ago, a nineteen fifty five Ernie
Banks card for a little over one hundred bucks. All right,
all right, let's see cool Star Wars cards I found
at an estate sale for two bucks last So again
I'm asking you, when was the last time you got
a card? So if you put a year in here.

(16:27):
I'm guessing that that's the year the year you collected
the thing, and not the year of the card itself.
So this listener says nineteen fifty nine Mickey Mantle.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
My husband has a huge baseball card collection, including Mickey Mantle.
That's from Reagan Ross. I have a large tote in
my basement full of nothing but.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Hockey player cards.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
I haven't actually purchased one in probably fifteen years. My
son went to the Gretzki camp and Wayne two of
his cards for him. That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Ross.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
As a musician, I've recently gotten into collecting vintage used
Oh you'll appreciate this, Shannon.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Check this out.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
As a as a musician, I've recently gotten into collecting
vintage used all access passes from bands that I loved
and currently listen to.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
They're always unique with great artwork.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
The most recent one I got was from a Pink
Floyd tour in nineteen seventy three. Shannon, you've been around
a lot of that stuff. Have you ever kept those
passes and collected them or do you just eighty six
them when you're done with the concert?

Speaker 3 (17:40):
No, I do not. Jim Comey them. Mm, so you
have them most of the shows I've been to. I
have a stack of them somewhere that are pretty cool.
Nice Ross. I collected cards my whole life. I'm fifty five.
I bought a bunch of Otani cards a few years ago.
I buy packs periodically. Last time, one month ago, Ross.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
I bought six issues of Madman magazine from the mid seventies.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
But that's not a sports card. No, it's definitely.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
It's definitely not seven or eight years ago collecting Rockies cards.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
With my son. Let's see what else. Oh my gosh, listen.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
The people are telling me other sort of unrelated stories,
but this one's kind of kind of interesting. Ross.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
I'm a fifty three year old guy.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
I never collected any sorts of sports cards, but I've
collected other things, most notably, listen to this sand from
all over the world. I have sand from five out
of seven continents. I wonder if there is sand accessible
on continent number seven. I don't know what your sixth

(18:39):
continent would be, but whatever your sixth continent would be,
there will definitely be sand there somewhere. But is there
sand on continent number seven? I don't know. I don't know,
all right, let me let me hit this little button
here again if you'd like to.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
For Christmas, I got a Cale mccarr signed Rookie card.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
That was cool, But I haven't collected cards since elementary
school in the early nineteen eighties. Ross, I've been wondering,
when you do the text line requests, how do you
then estimate the number of listeners at that time?

Speaker 1 (19:15):
That's from Matt ps.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
The best bumper music is by the tubes, especially when
you are talking about vacuum tubes. So Matt, I do
not try to estimate the number of listeners at that time.
The only the only time I really try to estimate
the number of listeners.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I don't and I don't do this very often.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
But every once in a while I'll ask a question
and I'll just say, hey, buy a show of hands.
How many of you think you know whatever? Right? How
many of you think the sky is blue? By a
show of hands? And so when I do the thing
by a show of hands, then I can look out
and I can and I can estimate that way just
by look, you know, how many hands are up? I
can estimate that way how many people are listening to

(19:57):
the show. But other than other than that, I I
really don't Ross, why didn't you play the Friday open
this morning? Did we didn't we? I don't know. It's producer, Shannon. Look,
it's what blaming the other guy. I think we just
eighty six the Friday opening this morning. I'm going to

(20:22):
look for opportunities to do that all show long, and
you should too, Shannon. I know I've only got you
for another fifteen minutes, but if you've got any any
opportunity to drop that in, you just let me you
just let me know. Ross, you mentioned you sold out
of the market. I did not sell out of the market.
I just sold a little bit. I still own a
lot of stock. I didn't sell. I probably only sold

(20:44):
a quarter or something of my stock. But Ross, how
many how much of your investments are currently in cash
or liquid investments? Is there any specific market indication that
will trigger you to reinvest in stocks. It's a very
interesting question. It's kind of a personal question. I feel
like I have so much exposure to the economy already.

(21:04):
So first of all, I still own a lot of stock.
I never said, and certainly didn't mean to imply, and
in fact, that I sold all my stock. And in fact,
when we were talking about this, I said repeatedly, I
still own a lot. I just own less than I
used to. But you know, as somebody who owns a
house or how let me be utterly transparent about this.

(21:28):
I mean, what do you think my job is? Okay,
my job can we're friends here, all right, So let's
imagine we're like, imagine that it's nine forty two pm
instead of nine forty two am, and we're sitting around
having a bourbon and just talking about the real poop,
how life really is.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
What's my job? My job is to do a show
for you.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
That you find to have some combination of entertainment and
information and maybe inspiration once in a while, that you
value enough that you keep listening to KOA and that
you uh and that you benefit the folks who allow

(22:20):
the show to be on the air, would like my
show sponsors, my show partners, other people who advertise during
the show that you go you know, you go to
Max to buy your bed, right, you go to Kirk
Cambier when you need financial planning. The only reason I
have a job is because those guys want to meet you.
And so tying this back to your question if there

(22:45):
were a recession. I think not just I think that's
just how the world works.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
If there's a.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Recession, lots of businesses cut back on their advertising.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
It's not just radio, it's everything.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
It it'd be TV, it'd be magazines, it'd be online.
Everybody cuts back everything. And if that were to happen,
my income would go down, and if that were to happen,
the stock market would go down. So I just feel
like in my job, I have such a I'm so
positively geared toward the economy in the stock market already

(23:19):
that I don't need to have that much more by
having an enormous percentage of my net worth in stocks.
I own a house that's kind of tied to so
you get the idea. But I just want to be
very clear. I still own a lot of stock. Okay,
I still own a lot, and my last sale in
particular is definitely a loser.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
My first sale.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
The market has come back up so much that and
I'm not sure exactly what stuff we sold, but my
very first sale is probably around break even or maybe
even still a small profit, even though we had this
big rally because I sold the top. My second sale,
I sold almost the top, and so it's probably somewhere
around break even or a very tiny loser, but like insignificant.

(24:02):
My last sale is definitely a loser, but it wasn't
a very big sale. So anyway, so let me just
keep going. Actually, so what have I done recently?

Speaker 1 (24:14):
What have I done? What have I done.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
With with some of the cash I got from selling stocks?
And this person is saying that I said I got
rid of my stocks.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
I didn't. You can go back and listen to it.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
I know you're trying to correct me, but I know
exactly what I said because I was very careful about it.
I was very very careful to say that I was
not selling all of my stocks. I was just getting
a little bit less exposure to stock, all right, very
careful about that. And and to sort of answer your
other question, I bought something recently called a structured note,

(24:50):
and you can go look it up. But it's a
it's a thing that pays quite a high interest rate.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
But if and this is a little weird.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Because you're not going to think of tying these things together,
but it's a thing that pays quite a high interest rate.
I want to say it was in the nines nine
plus percent, but it stops paying interest if the market
is down more than twenty percent and until it goes
back up above being down twenty percent, So it has
an odd kind of tie to the stock market. They

(25:21):
do this using options, and I'm not going to go
explain all this, but they create these products using options
that allow you to buy something that feels more like
a bond but has some tie to the to the
stock market. So I did that, and then I'm doing
this other thing that's called a private credit fund. So

(25:41):
it's a group that loans money to companies that want
money but don't want to go to a bank for this,
that or the other reason. And so I'm investing some
money in that as well. Ross, are you asking for
audience participation because you didn't prepare for today's show?

Speaker 1 (26:01):
Sort of? That is very astute.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
And since we're all friends here, well, first of all,
let me say I am always over prepared for every show,
so I could absolutely positively get through this whole show
without having to ask you to ask me questions. I
have so many topics every day that I won't get to.
I really do like ask me anything. I really do

(26:27):
like answering whatever questions, almost whatever questions you have of me,
But since you were incredibly astute, I will give you
an honest answer. And most of my answers are honest anyway,
but I will give you an honest answer. I was
supposed to have a guest in this segment, and my
guest does well only do video interviews, needs internet, and

(26:51):
my guest's internet was knocked out by a big storm
and so had to cancel at the last minute. And
there you go. So I don't have a guest, so
we're doing that. Ross, Why do men have nipples? That
is a great question to which I do not have
an answer, but I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Ross.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Why didn't you It's because we all start as women.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, Channon said, it's because we all start as women,
kind of like some animals start with with gills, not humans,
but start with gills and then don't have gills when
they come out. Let's see, Steve says, why didn't you
read my text about collecting baseball cards? I thought it
was brilliant. All right, let me see if I can
find it.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Ross.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
The last baseball card I collected was in nineteen ten, uh,
when I was seven, Not for the card, but for
the but for the tobacco.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
All right, all right, Steve, all right, Steve.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
I'm not answering any questions about how much money I made.
I've been eighty six out of a bingo car hall
ha ha. How do you track a show's ratings? There
is a company that does that, and I can't. It's
not that I can't, I just don't really want to
talk about all that very much. I will just say
one thing about ratings the way I.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Think about them. I think.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
That what I should do is come in and do
the best show I can every day and hope that
the ratings will take care of themselves more or.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Less, because that's all I can do.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
So I actually I actually never ask what my ratings are.
My program director. From time to time we will sit
down and we will talk about what the ratings are,
and here they're really good, or they're down a little,
or whatever it's going to be, and I don't get
too emotional about it. And one of the things about
working with a really good program director, which is exactly

(28:58):
what I have right now with with Dave Tepper, who
is bar none the best program director I've ever had.
One of the things about working with a guy like
that is It's like I think it's like a professional
athlete who gets a huge upgrade at coach at there

(29:21):
at who are you know, Maybe you're a good hitter
and you've been a pretty good hitter for a long time. Like,
if I'm going to do a baseball analogy, I'm a
pretty good hitter.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
I'm not Babe Ruth, I'm not Ted Williams, but I'm
pretty good.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
I'm I'm good enough to be, you know, in in
major leagues. I might even be good enough to be
on the All Star team.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
I don't know. It's kind of borderline, but.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Anybody can improve with some better coaching. And that's what
I'm that's what I get from my program director. So
the so the going back to the question about ratings.
The only way I sort of try to think about
ratings that I really don't care about day to day.
I really don't care about we I barely care about

(30:01):
month to month. Frankly, that's Dave's job, not mine. But
I like to look at the long term trend and
I like to listen to the stuff that Dave says, Hey, Ross,
maybe try doing this this way and try and doing
that that way, and maybe your ratings will go up.
And just to also make one thing clear, Dave has never,

(30:22):
in fact, no program director has ever ever told me,
at least at iHeart, what I can or can't talk about,
or what position I may or may not take or
must take or whatever on an issue. It's never ever happened.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's never ever happened.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
The scary thing about eighty six forty seven is that
it was the last four digits of my childhood phone number.
You're a killer, you are secretly a killer, You're a psychopath.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Ross.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Did you give the Admiral a Mother's Day card this year? No?

Speaker 1 (30:53):
But I did call her. I did call her.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
All mammals have nips because we all start as a female.
Only mammals have them. So that's basically what Shannon said. Ross.
Why would you reads Why would you read Steve's second text?
Because Steve is very polite. He texts in a lot. Ross.
What was the last album you? Eighty six, not counting
Neil Young?

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Last album my eighty six, not counting Neil Young. I
tend not to throw away albums, even if I'm not
listening to them, just to keep them in the collection.
I like having a large collection of vinyl albums. I
don't know how many I have. It's probably somewhere between
eight hundred and one thousand, I think.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
And a bunch of them were my brothers.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
You know, my brother passed away some years ago, but
a bunch of them were my brothers. A bunch of
them were my mother's So in my mom's stuff, there's.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
A lot of classical music.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
Ross Is this semi professional radio or Major League All
Star radio?

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yes? All right, let me switch gears just for a
minute and a half.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Now, I've answered a bunch of questions, and I may
answer more later, And thank you for helping me engage
in semi professional radio.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
I hope you found at least some of that slightly interesting.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Yesterday here on the show No Yesterday here on koa's
news broadcast, I heard some stuff about supermarket pricing, and
that reminded me that I wanted to get to this
story about Kroger aka King Soupers. Here in Colorado there
otherwise known in different parts of the state as city market.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Right, if you're out in the mountain towns.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Places some places in western Colorado, you'll see city market.
That's basically King Soupers and this is from our news
partners at KDVR Fox thirty one undercover shoppers found multiple
cases of grocery items that led to higher prices paid
by shoppers in some Kroger and Kroger owned stores. In March,
April and May, undercover shoppers went to twenty six Kroger

(32:46):
and Kroger owned stores across fourteen states and the District
of Columbia to investigate claims that the grocery giant put
incorrect price tags on items. The investigation was conducted by
Consumer Reports, The Guardian, and the Food and Environment Reporting Network.
Consumer Reports wrote and I quote the shoppers found expired

(33:07):
sales labels that led to overcharges on more than one
hundred and.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Fifty grocery items, including cheerios.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Musinex, nest Cafe coffee, boneless beef, salmon, and dog food.
A third of the expired sales tags were out of
date by at least ten days, and the prices of
five of the products were expired by at least ninety days.
The average overcharge was a dollar seventy per item, or
eighteen point four percent. Our findings suggest the typical Kroger

(33:35):
shopper ends up paying far more for what they think
are discounted items, all during a time of inflation and
economic uncertainty. They also note, I'm just gonna do this quickly.
They also note that the employees there, if you know
you're at you're at the register and it rings up
wrong and you notice it, the employees are very happy

(33:57):
to change it right. So I the explanation that they
say from consumer reports. And so this has happened to
me lots of times, lots of times because it is
a sport for me to go to the supermarket and
get out of there without buying anything that wasn't on sale,
except if I need milk, because milk isn't on sale.

(34:18):
All that isn't on sale every time it's on sale. Sometimes,
so I endeavor to get out of the supermarket buying
zero things or maybe one thing that is not on sale.
It's a hobby of mine. Now I'll see the tag
sometimes and I'll go and I'll ring it up, and
I know what's on sale. I know what these prices are.
I'm paying attention to those numbers. And then it rings

(34:38):
up at a different price, and then I call the
person over and I say, this was supposed to be
that other price, and they change it, and they say,
I'm sorry, we're just so low on staff that we're
not getting around to taking down all those old sale tags.
And that's what Consumer Reports says too, that Kroger is
low on staff and they're not taking these things down,
and they are supposed to honor the sales tag, even

(34:59):
if at that point the sales tech probably has a
date of expiry on it. But I have always found
them willing to honor the price, So you know, I
don't think this is something they're doing on purpose, but
I do think it's something they need to fix. Text
me at five six six nine zero and tell me
if this has happened to you. I just want to
get a sense from the number of people listening right now.
How many times have you gone, just recently, let's say,

(35:21):
in the past six months, to a supermarket and there's
a sale price on something and then it rings up
at another price. Text me at five sixty six nine
zero will be back. I do my very best when
I am either sharing news or on my analysis anything
like that, to make sure that I am telling you
the truth, to make sure that I am telling you

(35:42):
what I really know what I really believe, and if
I make a mistake, I come back on the air
and I say I got that wrong. Okay, accept you
should assume that almost anything that I say to or
about Dragon is a lie. Right, And I just want

(36:05):
everybody understand that. And it goes both ways, right Dragon,
pretty much? Yeah, So I just want everybody to understand that.
Oh wait, now, put all that out of your head
and I'm gonna just move on to the next thing.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Dragon. Thank you so much for.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Telling me not to put my trash out because of
the holiday, because my trash would have been sitting there
an extra day, and so I put it out when
you said, they took the trash and everything was good, perfect, perfect,
And I would never have known to put my trash
out a day later because of the holiday if you
hadn't told me.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Well, we were confused because we thought Mother's Day was
the holiday, but we were told by the textures that
Mother's Day is not one of the six Yeah, thanks
to Andy chocolate Chip Cookie, it was what chocolate chip
chocolate chip Day yesterday, So thankfully for that, we ooped
and errored on the side of caution.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
Still won. Yeah, as a it's a commonly used trass.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
We got it. We got it right for the wrong reasons.
It wasn't It wasn't Mother's Day that delayed it. It
was chocolate Chipday that delayed it. But but thank you
for that, because I don't like it when the trash
stays out at the curb for an extra amount of time.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
I think you said you even put out next week's
trash it hadn't been created yet.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Yeah, I did. I did.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
I put out next week's trash just to make sure,
just to be absolutely sure. I'm just gonna mention this
story in passing because we're gonna it'll be more interesting
if if we see more of this overtime. This was
in the news yesterday and it's it's it's worth a mention,
but I'm not gonna dwell on it.

Speaker 5 (37:32):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Walmart announced yesterday that they're going to raise prices on
a bunch of stuff beginning later this.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Month because of tariffs.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Now, Walmart obviously they import stuff from all over the world,
but they obviously also import a lot of stuff from China.
There are a lot of inexpensive physical consumer goods, bits
of plastic, bits of metal, bits of you know, what
whatever you might find a saucepan or a dish towel
or some tupperware or a piece of furniture. I mean,

(38:03):
there's just an immense amount of stuff that's made in China,
and lots and lots and lots of stuff is actually
being made in other places now. Lets some of these
supply chains have moved out to Vietnam and Thailand and
Bangladesh and Mexico and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
So but there's still an immense amount made in China.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
And even with this quote unquote deal, which isn't really
a deal, it's a short term. It's a short term
agreement to lower tariffs down to only thirty percent, which
would be like some of the highest tarraffs ever would
I think it would be the highest tariffs ever on
every product coming in from one country into the United States.

(38:45):
Walmart can't eat all that. Walmart is a very narrow
margin business like supermarkets, and Walmart is part supermarket. These
are businesses that if you just look at how much
money they make and just absolute dollars, they make more
than you do. They make more than they even make
more than Dragon does. Okay, these businesses make a lot

(39:06):
of money. But the way they make a lot of
money is by making a very small profit on an
incredibly large number of items.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
They make it up on volume.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
These guys really do make it up on volume, and
with a margin that might be and I don't know
the number, and Dragon, can you look up walmart gross
margin and we'll see what that number. So the gross
margin would be before interest and taxes and stuff like that,
just gross margin on essentially how much they pay for

(39:40):
stuff and then how much more do they sell it for.
And I don't know if that number is easily available,
but it should be out there somewhere. Walmart's CEO said,
We'll do our best to keep our prices as low
as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even
at the reduced levels announced this week, we weren't able
to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow
rets tail margins.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Are you finding anything.

Speaker 4 (40:02):
Walmart's gross profit this from an aioverview, is around twenty
four point five eight percent.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Okay, so that and again keep in mind, folks, that's
gross margin, so that is before their expenses for rent
and electricity and salary and all these things. Don't think
that they're making twenty four percent. Right, there are all
these incredible expenses, and their net margin is almost you know,
certainly some like mid high single digit number, I assume,

(40:30):
and supermarkets tend to be more like three percent. I'm
guessing Walmart's five or six or seven percent or eight,
I don't know, something like that. So if you're running,
if you're running an eight percent net margin, or even
a twenty four percent gross margin, what are you going
to do when there's a thirty percent tax, a thirty
percent sales tax. Of course you're gonna pass it along

(40:50):
to your customers. You, you and I when we're buying
stuff at Walmart, and soon enough in other places are
going to be paying Donald Trump's sales tax.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
And I'm lad Walmart is doing this.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Right, There was this there was this rumor that Amazon
might do it, and Donald Trump went crazy and called
Jeff Bezos and it turned out not to be true.
There's like some small division of Walmart that's only importing
cheap Chinese stuff to compete with the cheap Chinese websites,
and they were thinking about maybe doing it, but actually
just had decided not to the story was basically a lie.

(41:24):
But Trump freaked out, and Walmart said, we don't.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
We don't.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Look, this is business. We're not We're not playing politics.
We're not trying to appease Trump. We're also not trying
to offend Trump. We're just telling you that these tariffs
are so high that we can't absorb them, and we're
going to be raising prices, and it'll be very interesting
to see what the public does with that. All right, movie,

(41:50):
I said I wouldn't talk about that for a long time.
That was probably too long. Let me move on to
one other thing quickly, And I just want to you know,
before I before I share the rest of the story
with you, I just want to say I don't know
the rest of the story, and I'm going to try
to see if I can get information from anybody about
what really happens here about why this played out the
way it did, because it sure does sound bad. There

(42:13):
was a fifteen year old who took a car, put
some of his friends in the car, drove ninety miles
an hour through some neighborhood, and killed a twenty four
year old was charged with vehicular homicide. By the way,
the kid is an illegal alien in the United States,
or maybe came in originally with a tourist visa. I
don't know, but it's definitely in the country illegally now.

(42:37):
And the DA's office this is the eighteenth judicial district,
which used to have George Brockler and then John Killner,
two conservatives, but now because Douglas County got taken out
because it's only a Rappo county now, it's a liberal
district now. And the DA's office had said they were
going to pursue the maximum sentence of two years in
youth corrections, and instead this teenager is offered two years probation,

(43:01):
one hundred hours of community service, and a requirement to
attend school and not break any laws. And all I
got to say is I need to know why for
a topic that I'm not doing seriously, seriously, seriously.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
I put all this work into finding the perfect song. Yeah,
what you put on our show sheet.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
No, but just hear me out rest of the day. No, No, here,
hear you out rest of the day.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Hear me out.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Hear me out of this is I would have, But
I've got some actual, like breaking news that I want
to talk about.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
Does that help? No, not at all. Neil Young rest
of the show. No, Yes, a.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
Matter of fact, I'm gonna change my name that tune.
It's gonna be a Neil Young song.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
I bet you will, all right. Over the last several days,
I have just briefly touched on this so called big
beautiful bill, Donald Trump's win for a federal budget, and
I wrote a very long, not very long, a medium
long piece for my substack, and I sure hope you
will do me the favor of going to Rosskominski dot

(44:10):
substack dot com and subscribe for free to my substack,
and I write kind of medium length notes there several
times a week about and that I'm probably going to
keep a little more about politics and economics. A higher
percentage of my stuff there will be about politics and economics.
I try to bring a little less of that to

(44:32):
the show and do a wider range of stuff here
on the show, like we're going to have in the
next in the next segment. Anyway, So this so called
big beautiful bill includes some Donald Trump priorities.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
And I will say this is an odd thing.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
I don't think in all the years of my watching
Congress and the congressional budget process, I don't think I've
ever seen a Congress care about or take seriously what
a president said he wanted in a budget. But there
has never been in my lifetime a president with as
much dominance over his party as Donald Trump has over
the Republican Party right now. So when Donald Trump says,

(45:09):
you want stupid stuff like no tax on tips and
no tax on over time, and make interest on car
loans deductible if you're buying cars made in America, so
all of that is somewhere between stupid and really freaking stupid.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
It's all bad.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Now, not everything in the bill is bad, but that
stuff is really bad. And there's other bad stuff in it.
And there's a bunch of stuff in the bill that
is really only things you would expect Democrats to support,
and yet Republicans put him in the bill because.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Trump said he wanted them.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
And I said yesterday on the show, I said, keep
an eye on this thing because this is a really
bad bill that shouldn't pass. Donald Trump has a lot
of influence on the party. He's good at arm twisting.
He may or may not be able to get this
thing through, but there are definitely fiscal conservatives who do
not like it. This is a this is a Republican

(46:05):
budget that intentionally keeps growing the deficit.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
It's nuts. It is absolutely nuts.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
If Republicans are going to pass budgets like this, we
might as well just keep electing Democrats because they're doing
the same stuff.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
It's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
So I have some good news for you. Just in
the last half hour or so in the House Budget Committee,
five Republicans voted against the bill and killed it in committee.
The Republicans are Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Breaching from Oklahoma,

(46:43):
Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and
Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania. Chip Roy is probably the best
known name there. The Hill, says. Fiscal hawks on the
House Budget Committee on Friday sunk a key vote on
advance the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act that encompasses President
Trump's legislative agenda. I will also note this bill does

(47:06):
include a lot of good things.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
It includes extending the current tax rates so that the
vast majority of Americans don't face.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
A tax hike.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
It also includes some stuff about the border and some
other things that don't have to do with the budget.
And a lot of folks have been saying, you know what,
it's just too much stuff in one bill. Senator Ron Johnson,
who was supposed to be on the show yesterday but
I had to go to a committee hearing. We'll get
him on next week, has been one of the leaders
in the Senate opposing this bill, and I am so

(47:36):
happy that there are still some Republicans with it, enough
spine and enough fiscal conservatism to stand up against the
Donald Trump fiscal recklessness.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Not everything Trump does is fiscally reckless.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Again, as always with Trump, it's just such a mixed bag.
You're always going to get some good and some bad.
But the problem with this bill is that the bad
is so bad that this bill should not pass. And
I want these people to start over. I want them
to take out no tax on tips. I want them

(48:15):
to take out no tax on overtime. I want them
to take out making car loans tax deductible. It's all nonsense,
and I'm very grateful to the members of the House
of Representatives who had the cajones to stand up against
the nonsense. Why could you look at the show sheet
and see that we're gonna talk about liberty, We're gonna

(48:36):
talk about sculpture, we're gonna talk about art, We're gonna
talk about anything, and are you could have found a
Belgian rock band.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
You could have done anything.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
And you have to salt our ear drums with Neil
freaking Young?

Speaker 1 (48:48):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (48:49):
It's your own fault, Moving on, moving on. Many of
you may be aware of a spectacular new piece of
art in Aurora, a fifty eight foot gleaming sculpture called
Liberty by the artist Michael Benisty, and it's at Hogan

(49:11):
Park at Highlands Creek, and I just I have not
been over there.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
To see it yet, but I am gonna.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
I might even go this weekend because I really really
want to see this in person. I didn't see it
at Burning Man because I haven't been to Burning Man,
but I'd like to go and joining us to talk
about it the man himself, the artist, Michael Benistee.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Juya morcha jonga, who how are you?

Speaker 6 (49:36):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Spreak your hood nat Lands.

Speaker 5 (49:39):
I'm bit nizo vele anymore.

Speaker 6 (49:42):
I've been here for too long, say, I got up
so absorbed by by the beautiful American culture and dream.
So let's not go to Holland dish on this one, Okay,
So before we start, I would suggest you take your car,
you listen to Neil Young, and you go see Liberty
because she is waiting for you to shine her light
up on your soul and up on Colorado soul as well.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
So you're saying that Neil Young is a good thing?

Speaker 6 (50:08):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (50:09):
Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 6 (50:10):
Well, I'm from that generation, so so am I good?

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Oh man? I bet you and I are probably the
same age.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Okay, before we talk about Liberty for a second, I
am kind of interested in your in your story. Right,
So you were born in Belgium. Tell me a little
about that. Tell me how you got here, tell me
why you got here.

Speaker 6 (50:29):
Wow, I'm gonna make this real short because I don't
think your your listener will want to listen to my
life story. So yeah, originally from Belgium. I grew up
with a whole you know, as all Europeans did, with
the Hollywood, with the movies, with the dream of you know,
coming one day to America.

Speaker 5 (50:48):
Ended up in New York because born in Belgium.

Speaker 6 (50:51):
It's gray, it's rainy, so nothing fun out there except
great chocolate and great beer if you're into that. True,
ended up in New York and ended up actually living
across the Statue of Liberty, so kind of saw her
on a daily basis, And yeah, been in awe and
inspired by her since then.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
And I've always told myself that.

Speaker 6 (51:14):
At some point, I took a long time before I
got to creating sculptures.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
I used to do hair. I had a hair salon
in New York.

Speaker 6 (51:22):
Then I went into photography, and I worked into fashion,
kind of found myself into this shallow world of the
fashion industry. I didn't like it, and then I started
doing jewelry, upon doing small sculptures, and then they just
enlarged themselves and large themselves, and then I ended up
at Burning Men, and that's where I really really realized
that I could go really big.

Speaker 5 (51:42):
And everything big out there is still small because it's
such a vast desert.

Speaker 6 (51:47):
So yeah, long story shorts, coming back to Liberty. Kind of, yeah,
realized what I've always told myself that I wanted to do,
which was kind of not a replica because she's unreplicable
because she's a beauty on her own, but kind of
always wanted to tap into that light and you know, freedom,
because America accepted me and I came here and I

(52:09):
kind of realized most of my dreams, as hard as
some days you know are, so I'm.

Speaker 5 (52:15):
Very happy to see her, you know, Shiner.

Speaker 6 (52:17):
Light in Colorado now at the Aurora Islands.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
Yeah, and I have I have.

Speaker 6 (52:21):
Two other sculptures there there as well. So I would
suggest for everybody to, yeah, drive their car, listen to
some Neil Young and and.

Speaker 5 (52:30):
Show the art works out there because it's a really
beautiful place.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
So there's two other of your sculptures in that same
display in the Aurora Highlands, or two others just somewhere
in Colorado.

Speaker 6 (52:41):
No, actually it's all part of the Aurora, the Aurora
Highlands Holgan Park.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (52:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (52:48):
I started working with Carla which is the CEO of
the Aurora Islands.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
Yeah, and she's an.

Speaker 6 (52:53):
Avid burner, and then she started acquiring the first one,
which is broken but together, which it's kind of a
piece and original piece that I brought to Bernie Mann
in twenty nineteen. And it's a story about love and
relationships and kind of showing the whole spectrum of love
and relationships as we know.

Speaker 5 (53:11):
It all starts with beauty and magic and the butterflies.

Speaker 6 (53:15):
And then we go through the whole spectrum of the
love story which brings us through all of the emotions
and emotions of what a love story contains. And those
are kind of two figures holding each other, looking at
each other in the eyes, but they're completely shattered and broken,
so they're still standing strong, you know, into themselves. But

(53:40):
it all has this, it also has the shattered pieces
into them which kind of you know that like I
said before, like like showing the whole spectrum of a
love story and how it goes in real life, not
in the Disney movies.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Folks, if you go to my website at Rosscominsky dot
com and just look in the guest section, I've I've
got Michael Benisty's name, I've got his website, I've got
his website is linked there, sould be easy for you
to find. I've also got articles about liberty and of
course his website is Michael Benisty so b E ni
s t y dot com. You can obviously go there

(54:15):
directly and see some this incredible art. Let me let
me ask you, Michael about the the non artsy part
of art for a second.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
So when you're gonna.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Do something like this, and by the way, folks, Liberty
is Liberty is fifty eight feet tall. Right, So Liberty
is much bigger than than Blucifer, much bigger than the
blue Bear. Right, Liberty is enormous. So my question for you, Michael,
is it's got to cost some money to make one

(54:45):
of these things and a bunch of your time. Of course,
when when you are gonna embark on a project like
Liberty or Broken but together, do you have to fund
all that yourself and then hope someone buys it later
or are they commissions or how does that work? No?

Speaker 5 (55:05):
You you pretty much said it. I usually go all in.

Speaker 6 (55:09):
I used to have investors on my first pieces because
I wasn't really making that money to build those pieces,
because yes, those pieces are quite the budget to begin with.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
But I've always believed in what I put out there.

Speaker 6 (55:23):
And it's never about, uh, you know, building something that
blinks blinks and that looks shiny and beautiful. It's always
been about how people and it's not even always been
it's really the reward lies in the story and the
experience that it creates for others.

Speaker 5 (55:40):
Of course, it's a business.

Speaker 6 (55:41):
I have to make money with it because that's the
only way that I can keep on building and keep
on showing new pieces. At this moment in time, I'm
pretty much self invested, and I'm always taking a big risk,
putting a lot of money into it and hopefully somebody
buys it.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
So far, so good. I tap on woods.

Speaker 6 (55:59):
Because I've been kind of really lucky that I've always
end up finding a buyer for all of the pieces
that I present.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
So what was what was the what was the first
piece that you did where you put yourself in that
position of taking a really significant financial risk with your
with your own money, to to give it a try
and hope that you could sell it later.

Speaker 5 (56:26):
It all really started at Burning Men. I kind of
went all in.

Speaker 6 (56:30):
Because those that that was the time that I was
starting to build, you know, really large scale pieces. Uh,
these these shiny polished mirror steel pieces, And it's not
just about yeah, I like to come back to what
I said before, I used mirror polish steeless steelcause it
reflects first of all, all of its surroundings. I'm sure

(56:51):
some of you listeners may have been to that desert
during Burning Men or not, but it's like you're on
Mars and it reflects, you know, the polish still reflects
all of its light and colors and you know, the sunrisers,
the sunsets, and also when people the viewer comes closer,
the closer they get to it, they also see themselves

(57:13):
in it. So it's not just a reflection of what
they see, it's a reflection of themselves. And because I've
tapped mainly and mostly into you know, love and togetherness
and spirituality, it kind of touches them in different ways.
You know, I try to pierce. It's kind of my motto.
I try to really touch hearts and minds with the
art that I create.

Speaker 5 (57:34):
But also once they're there, and I.

Speaker 6 (57:36):
Have a lot of weddings, actually most of the most
of the years that I bring the couples that I've
I've built and shared out there, we end up having
a lot of weddings and a lot of you know,
spiritual spiritual yoga sessions with sunrisers and sunsets. So it's
really creating an experience for all to you know, tune
into and to enjoy.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (57:57):
So really where where I've alway has been with that
and trying to keep in that in that direction.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Turemendous, we're talking with Michael Benisty he's the artist who
made the fifty eight foot sculpture called Liberty that's now
in Aurora at Hogan Park at Highlands Creek, not not
too far off of I seventy near the airport over there.
How many how many pieces is Liberty made out of?

Speaker 6 (58:26):
She comes in two pieces, the base and then the
top parts.

Speaker 5 (58:31):
And we try to really build her with as.

Speaker 6 (58:33):
A seamless as you know, where where they're, where they connect,
to try to make it as seamless as possible. And
even when I brought her to Bernie Men as a
first I went through a couple of headaches with the
Burning Man Org because she was so tall and so
big that they made me build another additional structure underneath it,

(58:54):
underneath her to make sure that she would be stable
enough to not tip.

Speaker 5 (58:58):
Even though I was trying to.

Speaker 6 (59:00):
Playing to them that you know, this thing where he's
thirty seven zero pounds, we can have a tornado or
you know, an earthquake here, the only thing that is
going to remain is her, but nor move. And that
you know applies as well to where she is now
at the Aurora in Colorado.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
So wow, only I thought I thought you were going
to say fifteen pieces or twenty pieces, but it's two pieces.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
That's unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (59:26):
Yeah, and that's the thing. I kept kept her as
slim as possible because I read.

Speaker 6 (59:30):
Some comments and people were like, oh my god, you know,
she's so she's so slim, she's so like you.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
Know, she's not like the original. I mean, there's always going.

Speaker 6 (59:37):
To be critics. I take the takes as they are,
as they come. Most people love her. But the only
thing that people have to keep in mind is that
those pieces have to be put on trucks and they
have to be still created and moved around, you know,
to be able to get to one point point a,
two point B.

Speaker 5 (59:55):
So sometimes people.

Speaker 6 (59:56):
Don't understand why I'm kind of structuring it all and
it's engineer in a way where we're.

Speaker 5 (01:00:02):
Not only thinking about the visual.

Speaker 6 (01:00:04):
We all also have to think about, you know, how
to move those pieces, how to put them in create
Sometimes they're being shipped around the world, so it has
to go on on cargo and containers and shipping boats.

Speaker 5 (01:00:14):
So it's kind of a whole you know, a whole thing.

Speaker 6 (01:00:17):
And also the more pieces you have and create, the
more seams you're going to have. And I was trying
to keep her as seamless as possible, to look as
a whole and as one without seeing many you know,
like a lego like lego or cubes on top of
each other.

Speaker 5 (01:00:32):
It's just giving you engineering specifications.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Yeah, yeah, no, but I'm a nerd. I'm a nerd,
so I like it. A couple of listener questions for you,
what do you think of Bluecifer?

Speaker 6 (01:00:45):
I read many things about Bluecifer, and there's a whole
you know, conspiracies as well out there, and people have
a lot of you know, that's the beauty of art,
I think is really you can drop something and then
people are going to create their own stories and you know,
with their own beliefs and backgrounds.

Speaker 5 (01:01:02):
I think it's beautiful. Yeah, I think it's beautiful. Does
it compete with Liberty? And I don't think so.

Speaker 6 (01:01:10):
But they're both different, you know, They're both different and
beautiful in their own in their own entities and ways,
So there's no you know, there's no comparing the boat
of them. And I hope Liberty will be as well
recepted and become kind.

Speaker 5 (01:01:23):
Of how do you call that?

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
That?

Speaker 5 (01:01:27):
In time she will become a staple of.

Speaker 6 (01:01:31):
You know the.

Speaker 5 (01:01:36):
I believe she will because she you know, she carries.

Speaker 6 (01:01:38):
The message of light and and hope and freedom. And
I try to keep her as the original because I
saw the original and we all grew up with the
original one, because she's an eate wonder of the world
as well, the one in New York.

Speaker 5 (01:01:52):
So I didn't want to change her too much.

Speaker 6 (01:01:54):
But yes, coming back to what I said, I had
to slimmer down from the bottom just to be able to,
you know, move it around and not have twenty scenes
and pieces coming being stacked on top.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
Of each other.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
All right, one more listener question for you. If I
want to get into making sculptures, do you have any advice?
I think he's this listener is thinking about bronze, but
small sculptures, not the big stuff you're doing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
But what advice would you give to someone who's interested
in that?

Speaker 6 (01:02:21):
Honestly, I came from a completely other world and when
I was even I told my mom at first, listen, Mom,
I'm gonna I'm gonna change job. I'm going to create
large scale stulptures.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
And she started laughing. She's like, Okay, yes, good luck,
and don't ask me. Don't come ask me for money
every week to pay a record. I was like, okay,
you know, this is.

Speaker 6 (01:02:40):
Just what i want to do. I'm not happy with
what I've been doing for years now. I'm just going
to go for it.

Speaker 5 (01:02:46):
There's no right, you know, there's no textbook. And then
to me, I think we all are artists.

Speaker 6 (01:02:51):
At hard So I would suggest and I would kind
of tell that that listener that asks this question and
anybody else that listens, I just follow you know, your
path and your dreams. Start start doing it on the
side or as a hobby or as in your garage
as I did, and that flow. So and start to starting.

(01:03:11):
There's no starting points. You just have to start at
some point if that's really what you want to do,
whether it's branze, metal, other materials.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
I like that answer.

Speaker 5 (01:03:21):
We only hear for a blimp of time. So do
what you like doing and if you can make.

Speaker 6 (01:03:25):
Money along the way. And usually, you know, if you
start something with passion, money.

Speaker 5 (01:03:30):
Usually flows after that.

Speaker 6 (01:03:31):
Not always, of course, but I like you do you
know what one loves to do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
So yeah, I like it. I think for it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
You know, you say we're all artists in our own way.
I don't think I am.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
I think I have almost no artistic ability at all,
but I love art, so I'm glad I can see it,
even though even though I can't make it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
Even the nerds are.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
Even the nerds.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
And also I'm it's far from clear to me that
Neil Young is an artist. But all right now, my
last question for you, Michael, is going going back to, uh,
the biggest topic on the show yesterday. How how cooked
do you like your chocolate chip cookies? So from from
zero to eleven? If zero is raw cookie, though, and

(01:04:17):
eleven is a chocolate chip cookie, that's that's burnt. How
how much do you like your chocolate chip cookies cooked?

Speaker 5 (01:04:25):
Wow?

Speaker 6 (01:04:26):
I would get close to a ten, like not foolly burned,
very christy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
And then would you would you dunk it in milk
or tea or something or just eat it just like that?

Speaker 5 (01:04:39):
I think I would just eat it like that.

Speaker 6 (01:04:41):
This is too dry and I can't swallow it. I
definitely need to take a little bit in that milk
next to me.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
It's funny, you know, because my my producer Dragon, he
just you were zero you yeah hero, his answer is zero,
but he just thought that you were the greatest person.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Ever, because of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Your love of Nealy Young until your cookie, until you
are until your cookie answer, and now he's rethinking the
whole thing.

Speaker 5 (01:05:05):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
Michael Benisty is just a remarkable artist. Uh. His website
Michael Vensty dot com. And if you forget any of that,
you can go to Rosskiminsky dot com and I've got
it all linked. Go over to UH to Aurora, to
the Aurora Highlands and and check out this incredible sculpture.
Maybe I'll see you there. It's Hogan Hogan Park at

(01:05:26):
Highlands Creek. Michael, thank you for your time and congratulations
on turning your your passion into such a big success.

Speaker 6 (01:05:36):
Thank you, thank you for having me and you guys
keep on playing it as the dragons.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
You are very good.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
Thank you, Michael Dewey As they say, all right, that
was cool.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
I was on talking to him for that long. But
he was an interesting guy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
He's got this unbelievably funny sculpture.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
So let's see.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
There are these two artists, Keith Herring and I forget
one other guy, and they each have these dogs that
they make in their art. And one is kind of
rectangular and one is more like a sort of a
balloon animal dog. I'm blanking on the name of the
other artists, and he has this sculpture where one of

(01:06:17):
these artists' dogs is like mounting the other artist dog
from behind. And it's hilarious and it's a large, shiny
metal sculpture. It looks to me like it's probably six
or eight feet long and six or eight feet tall,
and it's really really funny. Anyway, we haven't had an
artist on the show for a while. I thought that

(01:06:38):
was pretty cool. We'll be right back on KOA. I
just sent the artist who was on with us in
the last segment, and he sent a text.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
But I made it sound.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
I made it sound to the artist, Michael Benisty, like
it was more than one. I exaggerated a little bit,
but I said, now, listeners want you to make a
fifty eight foot tall sculpture of Neil Young with embedded
speakers that only play Neil Young songs. That's what Andy
said by text. Thanks Andy, Now I know my friends
are have a eighty six Andy out of his place.

(01:07:08):
Let's do two stories about fire, which goes to show
that Dragon should have played Burning Down the House by
Talking Heads instead of Psycho Killer by talking heads, which
you did for the previous thing, which I would do
now if you wanted me to, because I know it's
not listed. Now should I move it on the show

(01:07:31):
sheet so it's listed in the next segment and then.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
You can don't worry. There'll be more Neil Young to come.
They're better not be might even be a name that tune.

Speaker 6 (01:07:44):
No way, you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Wouldn't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
You already did a name that tune that wasn't Neil Young, So.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
Oh my gosh, it's correct.

Speaker 4 (01:07:53):
I did make a name that tune for today, and
I thought it would be relatively easy.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
Yeah, yeah, because all the Neil Young talk.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
I might just okay, I want to share two fire
stories with you, and the first that the headline I
think changed a little bit. The original headline was.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
Something like.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Fire fire chief warns residents after spontaneous combustion, and I'm thinking,
did the fire chief spontaneously combust because that seems like
a bad idea, But I gotta say, I think spontaneous.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
Combustion is an awesome idea.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
Now, I don't really mean necessarily of a person spontaneously combusting,
like wasn't it the drummers and spinal tap who kept
just like spontaneously combusting.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Right? Does that sound familiar? I haven't seen it in
quite a while, but yeah, that's I.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
Think the spinal trap tap drummers kept spontaneously combusting anyway.
This is an actual story from our from our news
partners at katv R Fox thirty one. Pewter Fire Authority
WARN's resident after spontaneous combustion. Fire Couter. Fire Authority fought
two fires within a twelve hour period on Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
At first they thought both fires were.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
Caused by spontaneous combustion, but it turns out only one was.
The chief there, Jane mccarini said, these occurrences are rare,
but they can happen, and actually, as a nerd, this
next part is actually kind of interesting. He says, this
can happen when materials don't have breathing room to oxidize.
During the oxidation process, the material is getting broken down

(01:09:31):
and consumed. The process generates heat, and when it's in
an environment where the heat can't dissipate, that's where we
can get spontaneous combustion. The fire that was caused by
spontaneous combustion earlier this week was a vegetation fire that
started in a compost pile next to a fence with
the heat having nowhere to go. It can also happen

(01:09:51):
while a deck is being stained. Actually, I have heard
of this, and often you will see warnings about this
on stain products and quoting again from the chief. Most
of the time when we see this occurrence, meaning spontaneous combustion,
people are staining their decks with oil based products and
whatever they're using to protect their house from that stain

(01:10:15):
getting onto their house. Right, So you'll, let's say, put
masking tape where you'll you'll tape paper along something, and
then you'll be staining, and the paper or the tape
or whatever will we'll catch the stain that goes where
the house would be where you don't want the stain
to go, you know what I mean. And then you'll
take that and you'll just ball it up and you

(01:10:35):
throw it into the trash. But what he says is
when you throw it in the trash and seal it up,
all that hydrocarbon product is in there is where we
see spontaneous combustion because that stuff starts to do whatever
it's going to do through its chemistry, and that process
is exothermic. I mean it creates heat, and at some
point it creates enough heat that it catches. And especially

(01:10:57):
it's gonna be on paper in that case, on tape
paper something like that. You get these, you get these fires.
So there you go, there you go. So that's one
fire story and the other the other story comes in
is from the files of wait there was a fire where?

Speaker 1 (01:11:15):
And here's the headline.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
Again dragging from our news partners at kadiv R Fox
thirty one off duty firefighter jumps into action helps save
Centennial home.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
From you ready for it?

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Neil Young?

Speaker 4 (01:11:29):
Hot tub fire? This is like my wife setting the
dishwasher on fire. Did that happen? That actually happened? Can
you elaborate? I'm not even sure how it just happened?

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
Fire, Yes, actual fire, flames and everything.

Speaker 4 (01:11:50):
It didn't catch anything else on fire. It's just you
and the house. Did you see it?

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
I did see. I did see the flame. Did you
put it out?

Speaker 6 (01:11:57):
How did it?

Speaker 1 (01:11:58):
Luckily? It just did the one big flame and then
put itself out.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
What I mean I understand like you're you got a
big flame around a pot that's a little too small,
or a pan that's a little too small in the
stove and you're cooking with oil and it catches on
fire a little bit, or you get a spark of
fire when the when the oil is you know, spritzing
up into the air. I get, but a dishwasher. That's impressive.

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
She's she's never has touched the dishwasher prior to that,
and never has touched it since.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
I gotta tell you the picture of this hot tub
on fire is it looks like a computer generated image.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
You know what it looks like.

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
Okay, here's what it looks like, Neil Young. It looks
like the hot tub version of the album cover of
Pink Floyd Wish you were here, you know, the dude
on fire. Yeah, it looks like that. It's like not
on that album cover. You can see the guys not
on fire. It's like art, you know, it's superimposedment and

(01:12:58):
this kind of looks like that, but it's but it's real.
South Metro Fire Rescue says smoke began pouring from a
backyard hot tub at a home in Centennial while many
neighbors hadn't noticed. Garrett Golesh gol e Sh, a firefighter
with South Metro, saw a haze in the air and

(01:13:18):
followed his instincts. He said, I actually saw a little
bit of haze in the air at first, and then
I could smell it. At that point I knew and
I thought the whole house was on fire, just based
on the smoke. Still wearing shorts and a T shirt,
he called nine to one one, ran to evacuate his family,
and then began spraying the flames with a garden hose.
He also helped direct first responders as they arrived, opening

(01:13:39):
gates and pointing out the best access routes.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
Quote.

Speaker 2 (01:13:42):
When I got to the front of the house, she
was sort of like, what's going on? Is something wrong?

Speaker 1 (01:13:46):
Is that my house?

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
So I tried to explain real quick, Hey, it's something
in the backyard. I think it's the hot tub. Let's
just go out the front door. He helped the homeowner
grab her child and dogs, and the group safely exited
the home.

Speaker 1 (01:13:58):
Crews quickly extinguished.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
The fire, which never spread to the main structure, and
nobody was injured. Mister Golish said, I just tried to
act like I was on duty. I didn't think this
would happen on my off day.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
That's kind of funny.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
The cause of The fire remains under investigation, but it
is suspected that Neil Young may have caused the fire.
So there we go, and yeah, you had a fire.
Where are my ears bleeding just a little? Can you
tell dragon from there? Any blood coming out of my ears?
It's brain matter. I can't hear you. I took my

(01:14:33):
headphones off. I have no idea what you're saying. I made. Okay,
I made an enormous mistake, one of the biggest mistakes
I've ever made on radio, and I need to correct
myself right now. In fact, I need to correct a mistake,
and I need to apologize for something else that you
don't even know about.

Speaker 1 (01:14:54):
I said in the last segment that it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
Was kind of an artistic some thing to make it
look like the guy on the album cover of Wish
You Were Here was on fire, and a listener texted
and said, no, he was really on fire. So I
just went and looked it up. And this is from
sort of the Google AI answer. Yes, the man on
fire in the iconic cover photo photo for Pink Floyd's

(01:15:18):
Wish You Were Here album was actually on fire. For
the photo shoot, stuntman Ronnie Rondell was doused with gasoline
and set on fire with safety measures like a flame
retardant suit and a hood under a wig. The wind
caused flames to blow against his face, burning his actual mustache,

(01:15:42):
but the photograph was still successfully taken.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
Wow, Okay, I stand corrected.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
I apologize for getting that wrong, and I think that's
a fabulous story.

Speaker 1 (01:15:56):
Now let me do one other thing.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
Just quickly, because the thing the last thing I want
to say in this segment, and then the next segment
we're we're gonna really lighten it up with a very
funny comedian and name that tune and some other stuff.
But the last thing I'm going to say in this
segment is going to be so personally painful for me
that I just need to delay it for another minute.
There was a new story yesterday, a business news story
yesterday that I wanted to mention but didn't because I

(01:16:23):
think it's a little bit interesting. Dick's Sporting Goods is
buying foot Locker. And it was interesting because Dick's Sporting
Goods offered something like eighty percent more than the closing
price of foot Locker the previous day. And so, first
of all, I'll say, it seems like they really kept
this thing very secret. It didn't seem like Footlocker stock

(01:16:43):
was creeping up or anything like used to happen in
the old days.

Speaker 1 (01:16:46):
I think a lot of folks.

Speaker 2 (01:16:47):
Are really afraid of going to jail now, and they
keep these secrets pretty well. In any case, they offered
two point four billion dollars or twenty four dollars a
share for foot Locker, which the day before had been
trading just under thirteen and had been Yeah, I'd been
trading just under thirteen and a. And they offered twenty

(01:17:08):
four and Dick's Sporting Goods stock went down quite a lot, right,
Dick Sporting Goods. Let me let me just see how
much how much it went down yesterday. It's actually it's
bouncing pretty good today. But let's see, before the announcement,
Dick Sporting Goods was two hundred and ten dollars a share,
and then it fell to one hundred and seventy nine

(01:17:33):
dollars a share. Uh, And it's up a little bit today,
but it's it's gotten pretty crushed. And when when that happens,
it typically means that the market thinks that the company
that's doing the buying is paying too much anyway, you know,
dick Sporting Goods is one of the companies, is one

(01:17:54):
of the companies that's doing very very well in that space,
whereas for example, Sports Authority you know, went out of business,
do you know, trying to compete in this space, and
foot Locker has seemed like they were a company that
was not doing that great. And the stock is down
foot Locker stock here. Let me let me see, five
years ago or four and a half years ago, foot

(01:18:16):
Locker stock was almost sixty dollars a share, and a
few days ago it was thirteen right, just down, down down.
One of the interesting things about this is foot Locker
and Dick's Sporting Goods have particularly strong relationships with Nike,
and by putting these two companies together, you don't quite
corner the market for Nike, but you get sort of close.

(01:18:38):
And I think that's what foot Locker is betting on.
I don't know how great a bet it is, in
the sense that they're quite a few new foot brand
footwear brands out there running shoes sports shoes that like
I started boycotting Nike many years ago after they decided
to do, you know, after somebody with thirteen Twitter followers

(01:18:58):
decided to complain about the Betsy Ross flag on the
back of Nike shoes, as if that were some kind
of sign of slavery, a flag from the American Revolution,
and Nike said they pulled those shoes. And I have
not bought any more Nike shoes since then, and it
was a bit of a sacrifice because I really liked
Nike shoes. But now you've got Hoka and you've got

(01:19:18):
on Running sometimes called on Cloud, and there are these
other brands out there that are really good, So for me,
it's not a sacrifice not buying Nike anymore. But Nike
does have a lot of shoes that people like to collect,
the Air Jordan and the other stuff named for these
particular basketball players.

Speaker 1 (01:19:34):
So it's a very interesting bet.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
It's a very interesting bet by Dick's Sporting Goods, And
I just wanted to mention it in part because the
market's initial reaction to it was pretty negative. And again
I think that's not so much a reaction to the concept,
but a reaction to the price. All right, now, this
other thing that I want to say, and I'm not
proud of this. I feel deeply ashamed, and I've been
sitting with this guilt for the better part of a

(01:19:58):
week now, and I I've wanted to tell you about it,
and I and I I haven't been able to get there.
And I just it's Friday, and I'm not going to
wait any longer. I accidentally did sock shoe the other day.
I accidentally did sock shoe socks.

Speaker 1 (01:20:15):
Shoe the other day. And I mentioned this on Twitter.
What you've already thought.

Speaker 4 (01:20:20):
You can't hear me because you're still here, headphones are
still off.

Speaker 1 (01:20:22):
But you told us the other day that I did.

Speaker 2 (01:20:24):
Yes, I feel so bad about it's been I did.

Speaker 4 (01:20:27):
I mention it that much? You didn't have to mention
it twice on air. I didn't even realize I mentioned
it the first time. I think I blocked it out
because it was so painful.

Speaker 1 (01:20:35):
This is similar way. I didn't even realize.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
I said it before. Oh my god, I'm so happy
I don't have to say it again. I can. I
can just eighty six that whole thing he's torturing me with.

Speaker 6 (01:20:43):
Neil young Man.

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
I like that beard.

Speaker 7 (01:20:46):
You remind me of a lot of our fire guys,
you know, at the Sheriff's office, they all have those.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
I'm so pleased to be joined in studio again. Second
time in studio uh by Vinny Montes. And the first
time I heard he speak was at comedy Works and
he was opening for I don't remember who, but maybe
Vinnie was more memorable than the headliner, because I don't
remember who it was. And and so we had Vinnie

(01:21:12):
inn because he's such an interesting dude. At the time,
he was a commander in the Boulder County Sheriff's Department
and still at Boulder County doing another thing that we'll
talk about in in a second. And the reason Vinnie's
back is a very strange thing. I emailed the Boulder
County Sheriff's Department to ask a question.

Speaker 1 (01:21:30):
It doesn't matter what the question was. I emailed to
ask a question.

Speaker 2 (01:21:34):
And then the email I get back from the public
Information officer assigned Vinnie Montes PIO.

Speaker 7 (01:21:39):
I'm like, dude, I know we over lept.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
We come and we find each other in the most
remote places. You know, how did you We'll get to
comedy in a second, but tell me about going from
commander to p io and and how are you digging that?

Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:22:00):
I have a background on social media, doing all my
own social media. But also I love talking to people
and that is a big part of being a PIO
is to communicate with people. And you know, with comedy growing,
I had an opportunity to apply for the supervisor role
for the public Information. I got that and I had
a lot of responsibility as commander and it was quite

(01:22:22):
a bit so it kind of works more of a balance,
and it's just it's the right place for me in
the career and I'm just very happy that the Sheriff's
given me the opportunity, so pretty excited about it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
And hey, I got to talk to you again directly, right.

Speaker 2 (01:22:33):
I just felt like, oh my gosh, what's the small world.
I can't get rid of us. I can't get rid
of you.

Speaker 7 (01:22:40):
Wherefore I go, You're just trying to find me and again,
think you're trying to stock me.

Speaker 2 (01:22:44):
He's honestly, what's going on? Also, but one other thing
before we get to comedy. You were telling me before
we went on the air, just you've been interested in
law enforcement since you.

Speaker 1 (01:22:53):
Were a little kid.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:22:54):
I started as law enforcement explorer at the age of fourteen.
I joined the Sheriff's office when I was sick sixteen.
I started, I was with another agency for a few
years because I couldn't get on the Sheriff's office. Yeah,
they're condet program until you turn sixteen, and so I've
been there for like a long time. I started, I
was alwas a dispatcher while I was in college at
CU with the Sheriff's office.

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
Wow, Yeah, I've got a lot.

Speaker 7 (01:23:14):
I've worked almost everywhere in the entire agency, I think,
except for civil. I've worked in the jail, patrol, detectives,
and you name it, I've done it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
So yeah, So if if there's somebody listening, I doubt
there's a lot of kids listening right now, But if
there's parents who have kids listening right now or like
kind of and the kids are kind of interested in
law enforcement, can you tell them a little bit about
the Explorer program or And it might be a little
different from county to county, but what they can do
to kind of connect their kids.

Speaker 7 (01:23:43):
So it's not just for law enforcement, it's a it's
a growth program. And what I mean by that gives
people experience. Young people, so young people between the ages
of fourteen to twenty one. For our agency specifically, they
meet on the first and third tuesdays of the month.
They go to Chandler for competitions every year. They have
great mentors and advisors. They get to ride as volunteers
with officers, not only in the jail, but in patrol.

(01:24:03):
They're not cops by any means. This is a great
mentorship program. It builds life skills like the ability to communicate,
you know, how to conduct yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
And it's just a.

Speaker 7 (01:24:12):
Great opportunity to be around people who are of good
nature and to have good mentors. And I got to
tell you, I wouldn't be where I'm at today if
I didn't have those people in my life. When I
was that young, what.

Speaker 2 (01:24:22):
Did you have? A childhood was a little challenging or
my parents, you.

Speaker 7 (01:24:26):
Know, they did the very best they could have come
from a traditional Mexican family, but they didn't really know
about whining to be a police officer or any like that.

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
So this provided me an inn.

Speaker 7 (01:24:35):
And then my parents didn't even have a college education,
and let alone high school educations. And that's not trying
to be very negative about that, because I love my
parents very much. So I had people who I could
lean on and ask those questions. I mean, my mentor
filled the time when I was pretty young. He would
rewrite pretty much. I turned it in an essay for
college and I'd get it back and it would just
be nothing but red. So I'm just saying that, not

(01:24:57):
that that would be the experience for a young kid today,
but maybe it would. Uh they probably just use chat GDP.
But Uh, the thing about it is is it's a
great opportunity to grow and you don't have to want
to go into law enforcement, but if you are interested.
I used to watch Chips as a kid. Yeah, sure
that was my inspiration. Yeah, you know Eric Castrada and.

Speaker 2 (01:25:14):
Yeah, you had you had the Mexican role model there anyway. Yeah,
in addition to whatever. The other dude's name is John John,
we're talking with Vinnie Montes Vinniemontes dot com, v I
N N I E M O n t e z
dot com. Uh, tell me a little about the new
documentary about you and why is there a documentary about

(01:25:36):
vinieisms and so on.

Speaker 7 (01:25:37):
So I got approached by Lightning Entertainment Film Company and
they wanted to see if it would be possible to
film me and follow me around.

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
So we started this project like in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 7 (01:25:47):
Uh, It starts with me at the Sheriff's office and
goes all the way back to my young childhood explorers
all the way to current day. And uh, they just
thought it was really a unique role. Jason Harney, the
film maker, It's weird to find a cop doing stand
up comedy, right, And so why is that cop doing
stand up comedy? Taking the funny and the things that
I see in my world as a police officer and

(01:26:08):
translating that to the general public and making it funny,
but also the dark humor that goes along with it.
And where I was in my career, seeing the experiences
that were over time traumatic to me, and what I
did and found in comedy, especially stand up comedy to
get to where I'm at today, and just to you
know self, heal myself.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
So you know, I.

Speaker 7 (01:26:26):
Stay mentally sound now so I don't struggle still.

Speaker 2 (01:26:30):
So what's the name of the of the film and
where can people see it? Great question?

Speaker 7 (01:26:34):
So it's a Vinyisms The Story of the Cop Comedian
and you can watch it now on Amazon Prime.

Speaker 1 (01:26:39):
Hey, thanks for the plug.

Speaker 2 (01:26:40):
Yeah, no, happy to and Dragon, I just want to
share a listener text with you.

Speaker 1 (01:26:45):
Ross.

Speaker 2 (01:26:45):
What is that a Dying Stork and another listener text,
Neil Young is a crime against humanity? And another listener text,
what's going on at the koa blowtorch? All this Neil
Young music? And socks you socks you business. I'm trying
to have a nice, relaxing Friday, but you're making it
hard for me. Wow, lame Ross just got an eighty
six this producer.

Speaker 1 (01:27:07):
Oh my gosh, that's some hate right there. I love you, bro,
don't worry.

Speaker 2 (01:27:11):
I got you. I love your bald head too, only
because I can relate.

Speaker 1 (01:27:14):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:27:16):
All Right, So let's let's do a little bit of
the intersection of cop life and comedy. That sort of
took a little bit what's in the documentary, But it's
also your your daily life, right yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:27):
I mean, like more so when I was in patrol.

Speaker 6 (01:27:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:27:29):
Yeah, But there's always that intersection because those experiences, you know,
wherever I perform around the country, like I just did
an all Women's Law Enforcement summit and Fargo, North Dakota, and.

Speaker 2 (01:27:38):
That I had a special tale that I wrote.

Speaker 1 (01:27:41):
My gosh, I learned a lot.

Speaker 7 (01:27:42):
I thought it was gonna be rough, like were they
gonna handle like I was a little worried, so I
wrote some special stuff and they were like it was
they enjoyed the dirty, which kind.

Speaker 2 (01:27:49):
Of surprised me.

Speaker 7 (01:27:50):
I was like, I was a little worried because I'd
never been in that situation before. But it was an
awesome show and I'm looking forward to comp like do
in another But tell us.

Speaker 2 (01:27:58):
I don't usually like to, you know, say make me laugh,
but like, tell me, it's like a story from your
cop life that, as you think about it was so
ridiculous that like you could have written it as a comedy.

Speaker 6 (01:28:11):
Bit.

Speaker 7 (01:28:11):
Well, I did you know the story I talked about
the bear. My buddy Sam Hard, he is a sergeant
for the Sheriff's Office to this day. Yeah, him and
I get dispatched up to this bear, like literally this
bear in this house and like, we have no experience
dealing with bears. What training do they give you in
the academy to deal with bears?

Speaker 1 (01:28:26):
Right?

Speaker 7 (01:28:27):
So you got this big swat guy and me that
are going inside the house and you know, thank God.
Literally the funny part about it is in real life
he's like here, bear, here, bear, bear, bear, like literally
calling out to this bear like a child and I'm
I'm wondering, like, are we gonna get ate up and
like destroyed?

Speaker 2 (01:28:42):
Here?

Speaker 1 (01:28:42):
Thankfully the bear had left.

Speaker 7 (01:28:44):
And then I take the comedy part of it and
I talk about, you know, the bear leaving and leaving
an after trail after eating kale chips and stuff and
and and so I've been able to take that world.

Speaker 1 (01:28:54):
Of comedy or another one.

Speaker 7 (01:28:55):
It's actually a story that was based on him, but
I've told this so many times.

Speaker 2 (01:28:58):
I believe that actually happened to me.

Speaker 7 (01:29:00):
And it talks about a loof on Halloween being on
the side of the roadway and this interaction between her.

Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
She's like, are you a dirty officer? And I'm like,
oh my god. Maybe.

Speaker 7 (01:29:09):
And so you just find those connection points, right and
taking the things that we experienced in real life and
just translating that to stand up comedy, and for me,
that has been such a healing piece.

Speaker 1 (01:29:20):
It's so powerful because there's.

Speaker 7 (01:29:22):
Nothing that will bridge people together quicker that somebody who
was able to relate to them, especially when they're funny.
It's hard to be mad at somebody when you're funny.
You're like, here's your ticket, but you're like, how do
I be funny? You know you do that when you
were on patrol.

Speaker 2 (01:29:34):
Would you make a joke when you're giving someone a ticket?

Speaker 1 (01:29:36):
Just keep it light? I would always keep it light.

Speaker 7 (01:29:38):
I think the most interesting thing about that is I
was at the Boulder Dairy Center and I can't remember
what function we were there, Yeah, and I saw this lady.
She's like, oh, I remember you.

Speaker 1 (01:29:45):
You pulled me over.

Speaker 7 (01:29:45):
And I was like, oh, I did I give you
a ticket? And she's like no, But you told her.
Boyfriend's like, I love you because you told her that
if she didn't get rid of all her old registration
and insurance cards, that you would write her a ticket.

Speaker 1 (01:29:56):
And so where can you find the funny?

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
Right?

Speaker 7 (01:29:59):
People don't find cops very funny oftentimes because they're having
that connection with them at the most crisis point in
their life. Yeah, and so being able to keep it
light and cops are very funny.

Speaker 1 (01:30:08):
If you ever get to sit in on a briefing
for patrol, all they.

Speaker 7 (01:30:11):
Do is give each other a hard time because that's
just the world we grow up in. You know, we're
just funny. We'd like to have a good time. People
don't always see that side of a cop.

Speaker 1 (01:30:18):
Sure, but that's what exists.

Speaker 7 (01:30:19):
And I'm telling you I am not the funniest cop
that's out there. There are more funny people, but they
just this is not where they find themselves who we
stand up comedy.

Speaker 2 (01:30:26):
But there's funnier people that I work with than me.
We're talking with Vinnie Montes and he's at the Bowler
County Sheriff's Department, been there for more than two decades,
and you know very much up and coming comedian.

Speaker 1 (01:30:40):
In fact, you're gonna be headlining soon at Comedy.

Speaker 7 (01:30:42):
Why twenty fourth at Comedy Works here down here at
the DC one.

Speaker 2 (01:30:45):
Yeah, this okay, Comedy Works South July twenty fourth.

Speaker 1 (01:30:48):
Yeah, I'm sure we'll.

Speaker 2 (01:30:49):
We'll get back to that, like a few days before
you're on. Maybe you'll come back with mel or whatever
and we'll we'll just make sure to promote that a
little bit love mel by the way.

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
Yeah, So let me ask you this thing.

Speaker 2 (01:31:03):
So, I just before you got here, I had to
apologize to the audience, and I had forgotten I had
already apologized for this because I felt so bad about it.
And I think the first time I apologized, I was
feeling so bad that I even blacked out blocked out
that I had apologized, and I did it again just now, uh,
just before you got here, and I should I should

(01:31:23):
note so Vinnie's not in uniform. I don't see cuffs.
I don't think. I don't think I put my day off. Yeah,
so I don't. I don't think this is going to
end up with, uh, you know, mean being taken away.
But the other day I accidentally accidentally There's got to
be something there, right, it's not intentional.

Speaker 7 (01:31:43):
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:31:43):
I'm a mandatory reporter.

Speaker 2 (01:31:44):
I know, I know.

Speaker 7 (01:31:45):
This is what I'm worried about.

Speaker 2 (01:31:50):
I accidentally did sock shoe, sock shoe?

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
You did sock shoe?

Speaker 2 (01:31:56):
Socks shoe?

Speaker 1 (01:31:56):
You mean like putting them on? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:31:58):
Wow, that's a violation into the code of conduct. There's
somewhere up there. You put your socks on first, see,
then you put on your shoes. That's the way I
do it. I'm just telling you the way I do it.

Speaker 2 (01:32:07):
I know, well, this is the way any decent human does.

Speaker 1 (01:32:10):
Controversy out there in the.

Speaker 2 (01:32:11):
World run a little bit, a little bit, and it's
a thing that I ask a lot of my guests. Now,
I do find from time to time there are folks
who were either in the military or folks who were
in the gym. A lot they do sock shoe because
they didn't want to put a sock down on a
wet floor in the gym, or they didn't want to
put a sock down in the sand and then get

(01:32:32):
sand in the boot in the military.

Speaker 7 (01:32:34):
Oh yeah, I had a little Well it also for
like when I wear a uniform every day. Yeah, I
were attachments that would hold my shirt. I can't remember
the fasteners or whatever you call them. So I put
on my socks and then I clip these things onto
the bottom of my uniform shirt and then they go
around my foot before I ever put my shoe on.
So I had I had a little thing that I
did before I put my shoe on.

Speaker 2 (01:32:55):
Yeah, so it.

Speaker 1 (01:32:55):
Would be really nice and tight. It would have really
messed you up if you did sock shoe. Yeah, you
can't do it.

Speaker 2 (01:33:02):
You can't have to take a moment to put on
the fast You can't do a thing. Uh hi Ross,
Please tell Vinnie it's so cool he is able to
embrace role models and not idols.

Speaker 1 (01:33:11):
It's an interesting Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:33:13):
Yeah, yeah, let's see what was the other one?

Speaker 1 (01:33:16):
Ask him?

Speaker 2 (01:33:16):
About the topless trespassing pool bit.

Speaker 1 (01:33:22):
Do you know what this is about?

Speaker 7 (01:33:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's a bit that I wrote. It
talks about hot tubs and people after hours and what
it would look like if well when we show up. Uh,
that's as far as to go. Is a dirty bit,
it's a dirty bit. Yeah, it's a little bit. It's
a little bit blue.

Speaker 2 (01:33:43):
Are you Are you likely to do that bit when
you headline in July or is that come.

Speaker 1 (01:33:47):
See it comedy works.

Speaker 2 (01:33:48):
I will do that bit. Yeah. Well I called the
I call it the hot tub bit. Hot tub.

Speaker 1 (01:33:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:33:53):
Did you see this story from a couple of days
ago where a hot tub and Centennial caught on fire? No?
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:33:58):
I didn't. And then there's a.

Speaker 2 (01:33:59):
Picture of the of a hot tub on fire, which
I really didn't didn't think could be. And then I
made a comment about the album cover of Pink Floyd
wish you were here, and I figured that was just
you know, the album cover of Pink Floyd, which you
were here with the guy on fire?

Speaker 1 (01:34:11):
Have you seen this thing?

Speaker 2 (01:34:12):
I've seen it, but I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:34:13):
Like I can't just picture it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:14):
And he turned out the guy really was on fire.
For the picture, and I just thought it was you know,
like some they didn't have CGI then, but something and
the guy really was on fire.

Speaker 1 (01:34:23):
What's your listener and what's your.

Speaker 7 (01:34:25):
Favorite police movie? Oh's Mandy Hi? Lethal Weapon, the Original
Lethal Weapons. I just like, you know, the relationship between
Merktop and Riggs was just me and sam My buddy, Sam,
you know that is the relationship for you. Uh, he's
like he's bully to like wrist more. Uh huh. I'm
always like, you know, more like we're cautious, like what

(01:34:48):
happens if this happens, and I'm always worried about everything.
So uh yeah, Sam and I are that wonderful pair
of like Paunch and John.

Speaker 2 (01:34:54):
We just we feed off each other with a.

Speaker 7 (01:34:55):
Very different personality, very loud and present, but we think
a lot differ.

Speaker 1 (01:35:00):
So do you two know each other?

Speaker 8 (01:35:02):
We've been before before before, Yeah, my quality radio show
that comes on right after yours.

Speaker 1 (01:35:07):
He was on mine first. I just will throw that
out there. That is true. That is true. Really How
long ago was that was that? Like? I think it
was what last year?

Speaker 7 (01:35:15):
No, because we were was on with you last year
maybe more than a year, though at times more I
think it's been like before COVID, wasn't.

Speaker 8 (01:35:23):
It I it could have been. I'm not I'm honestly
not good at time.

Speaker 2 (01:35:27):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
Yeah, I'm finding out right now.

Speaker 8 (01:35:29):
It's don't happy for linear thinking. It's it's not how
the old brain works.

Speaker 2 (01:35:34):
So if you in your PIO job and your public
information officer job for Boulder Sheriff, you might from time
to time, if there's a big enough story, have to
like go in front of a rouma media or something,
answer questions and say stuff.

Speaker 7 (01:35:47):
Some of the fires we've had have been out, you know,
like a press conference kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (01:35:50):
Yeah. So do you ever get nervous at that? Do
you ever get nervous when you're doing stand up? Do
they feel about the same to you or is that
a very different feeling.

Speaker 1 (01:35:57):
So I always have a ritual.

Speaker 7 (01:35:59):
I always say before I go do anything, I'm gonna
punch this crowd right in the I can't say it online, but.

Speaker 1 (01:36:05):
But I get nervous for like maybe thirty seconds.

Speaker 7 (01:36:07):
But once I'm in the moment, it all goes away
and I just get right into it because it's what
I've been doing, you know, It's.

Speaker 2 (01:36:12):
What I do.

Speaker 8 (01:36:12):
Get a little excel spreadsheet of cliches to use in
cop press conferences.

Speaker 1 (01:36:17):
No, no, no, curious. Although my partner carries she loves
a good pun, she loves.

Speaker 2 (01:36:22):
A good no.

Speaker 8 (01:36:22):
That's I've been to my share of cop press conferences
and there's generally speaking, you get a lot of the
same sort of lines about stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:36:31):
Yeah, you do, because it's it's what you investigation. It's
an active investigation.

Speaker 2 (01:36:37):
It's like how you know Bill Belichick or any of
those guys are gonna say the same thing no matter what.

Speaker 1 (01:36:41):
The question is always about the teamwork, and we're gonna
leave it all out on the field.

Speaker 8 (01:36:46):
Throw one of those in in.

Speaker 1 (01:36:46):
Your next press.

Speaker 7 (01:36:48):
I do want to like I have my mind works
comedically all the time, and I always want to just
come out there and instead of just starting in English,
I want to be like.

Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
I was gonna have an eat press conferences on my
keep and be like, what's going on?

Speaker 1 (01:37:07):
You doesn't know? My mother's listening right now.

Speaker 6 (01:37:15):
Mother.

Speaker 1 (01:37:16):
I love that, because.

Speaker 2 (01:37:22):
Hey, folks, if you're listening on the podcast right now,
that's the end of today's show, thank you so much
for listening. Don't forget you can catch us every day
on the podcast as you are right now on your
smart speaker, on your iHeartRadio app, even on the computer
at Koa, Colorado, and the good old fashioned way on
your radio. Thanks so much for listening to the show.