← Pablo Torre Finds Out
Pablo Torre Finds Out
Just Danced: How the Young Lady Gaga Dominated My High-School Cafeteria
00:38:18
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out I am Pablo Torre. And today we're gonna find out what this sound is.
- [00:06]
B
And he said, hey. Pat said, hey, John. He said, you should ask Stephanie to the semi formal. And I said, what?
- [00:19]
A
Right after this ad. You're listening to Giraffe Kings Network. Dude, I thank you for coming in. I send lots of texts these days. I'm like the booker of the show as well as the host of it, but this one in specific. I actually didn't know how you would respond when I asked you to do this.
- [00:52]
B
Really?
- [00:53]
A
Hey, do you want to relive high school together in a way that may just embarrass not just you, but like one of the biggest musicians celebrities in American history?
- [01:04]
B
Listen, I had a little bit of trouble going to sleep last night, but if we, if we go through this together, I think it could be great.
- [01:13]
A
Okay, so that is the sleepless voice of Patrick Wolfe, who is a protagonist in a pretty batshit core memory that I've had lodged in my brain and is a non exaggeration for more than 20 years now, ever since Pat and I were classmates at Regis High School, an all boys school crucially here in New York City. Now, I haven't seen Pat in person more than a couple times over the last couple decades, typically always at Regis reunions. But we here at PTFO started this week with an episode about pop stardom effectively and the journalism of Netflix's unreleased Prince documentary. And so what I figured I should do was fact check my own set of hazy recollections here with a primary source who has been a musician since we were teenagers.
- [02:11]
B
The rehearsals would take place after school in the cafeteria downstairs. And on one such rehearsal day, I was coming downstairs, you know, I had gotten rid of my books, everything in the locker rooms, and I was coming around the hallway there in the basement and I saw that, oh no, there's a band already playing in there. As I open the cafeteria doors, I can hear that. Oh, wow, there's a girl singer. And as I walk into the full view of the cafeteria, I remember this. I walked down. So I'm like walking down Broadway. The chairs are on the sides and like, it's just like a framed thing. And I see, you know, a petite girl on vocals and then three Regis guys behind her backing her up, and she is just crushing it. A 14 year old ready for primetime is really how I can describe it. You know, I would see her a few times here and there, coming and going. I think she ended up being in like, like the plays.
- [03:27]
A
One look and I'm done.
- [03:32]
B
One glance from your eyes and eye captivated. She had a certain confidence or swagger about her because, I mean, it seemed like she was aware of her talent. Maybe not to, you know, not in a bad way, but I think, like, she knew what was up. And then she was coming in here to this school, like, with just sitting ducks, like, just mowing guys down with whatever she was doing. It was ridiculous.
- [04:01]
A
So true.
- [04:02]
B
Myself included. Like, anyone in, like, a 500 foot radius.
- [04:05]
A
When I think of, like, the idea that, oh, she was like, a knockout, I mean that in, like, every possible sets. Yeah, Like a girl who is talented in ways that were honestly difficult to comprehend. And also that age, especially at that age. And someone who also just hormonally, I was like, who is.
- [04:23]
B
Who?
- [04:23]
A
What?
- [04:24]
B
Yeah, who is this.
- [04:25]
A
This creature?
- [04:27]
B
Well, her name was and is Stephanie Germanata.
- [04:30]
A
So what should I call you?
- [04:31]
B
I mean, do I call you Lady? Do I call you Gaga? Lady Gaga.
- [04:35]
A
Call me Gaga. Gaga.
- [04:37]
B
Does anyone call you Stephanie?
- [04:38]
A
Yeah, some people do.
- [04:40]
B
Especially in bed. In bed. I prefer Stephanie in bed. You don't want someone yelling out Lady Gaga. No, especially that.
- [04:46]
A
No, at the time, I was like, oh, this high school. What a prospect. I wonder what this is gonna be. All right, this is an episode about that person we all grew up with or went to school with or just kind of randomly encountered when we were younger, a lot younger, maybe in real life, who then went on to become something that made you want to claim them as if you knew all along that they were gonna be a star. Someone who might perform at the opening ceremony of this year's Olympics, for instance, or famously wear a dress made entirely of raw meat to the MTV Video Music Awards in 2010. Or win 13 Grammys and also an Oscar for A Star Is Born, appropriately enough, let alone star in a, you know, weird Joker sequel that just came out last week. But my memory of Lady Gaga began at Regis High School, the aforementioned all scholarship Roman Catholic institution on the Upper east side of Manhattan, which was real Gossip Girl adjacent, I would say, if most of the students in Gossip Girl commuted into the city and also never really had sex, as just one look through our class of 2003 yearbook would suggest. This is me looking cool, like, just putting in some earbuds. Like, badass, wearing a blazer and a tie. I wrote this entry myself, and I call myself Pablo. Quote el Jefe. End quote Torre, which means Captain of the Varsity Linking Dunks, Debate team, State champions. No big deal. I want to show Patrick Wolf's yearbook photo. Because.
- [07:01]
B
Oh, boy.
- [07:02]
A
Let me zoom in.
- [07:02]
B
You getting the spiky hair there?
- [07:04]
A
Yeah. Short hair. Academic honors, Order of the Owl one Got eight as a freshman and not two or three or four, which was just. This is when the sports. Sports ate your brain. But you were General Excellence 3. General Excellence was my favorite award.
- [07:19]
B
What does that mean exactly?
- [07:20]
A
It was just entirely subjective. It was like, who's here is generally excellent. It's like for the people who didn't get A's, but, like, had good vibes, I think you're cool. And Pat Wolf, just for the record here was actually cool, at least relatively speaking. I was president of the Hearn, our speech and debate team, aforementioned. But Pat, on top of being in a band, was captain of the varsity soccer team, which meant that teenage Pat Wolf actively was talking to girls at Regis High School dances. An institution unto itself. Which I asked Pat to describe for you in just one word.
- [07:59]
B
Can I. Can I do more than one?
- [08:01]
A
Please?
- [08:02]
B
Awkward. Yeah, I mean, that's obvious.
- [08:05]
A
I'll go with. We can do a snake draft of adjectives. Okay, I'm gonna go chased.
- [08:10]
B
Chaste is a good one, at least for me.
- [08:13]
A
In my mind, I'm like, this was like a 98% male experience.
- [08:17]
B
You were. Okay, you were going to over 90. I was going to say in the 20s, percentage of girls. But, you know, I'd have to check my sources because the setup was that there. There are several girls schools nearby.
- [08:29]
A
Yes. I mean, Dominican Academy, Sacred Heart.
- [08:32]
B
Wait, is Dalton.
- [08:33]
A
Was Dalton co ed, but had girls in it.
- [08:35]
B
Right.
- [08:36]
A
Even the way I'm describing which schools had girls reminds me of the fact that I didn't talk to any of them at this point in my life.
- [08:42]
B
I. Let me just say that I was also extremely intimidated. Like, I would. So I would commute in from New Jersey as many, many of my brethren did, as I did this morning to come here. And I would get into Port Authority, just the armpit of the universe. And I would. From sophomore year on, I would get on the C train going uptown and then I would get onto the M86 crosstown bus, which when you got onto the bus was just chock full of many of these students. Of these girl students who are going to all these schools on the east side of the park.
- [09:19]
A
Yes.
- [09:20]
B
And I was just intimidated to the point of like, I don't know how to arrange my limbs or exist for this like 5 to 30 minute trip across the park.
- [09:31]
A
Right.
- [09:32]
B
I mean, thank you for your flattery earlier, but I. I think we were probably very kindred in our relationship to this whole experience.
- [09:39]
A
Yeah. Riding the same metaphorical bus.
- [09:41]
B
Yes.
- [09:43]
A
And when the dances happened, it'd be like some of those. Some of those people might show up.
- [09:48]
B
Right.
- [09:48]
A
But largely it was me in the basement because I didn't have to dance down there.
- [09:55]
B
So why did you go to dances?
- [09:57]
A
Yeah, because I liked hanging out with my bros.
- [10:00]
B
I sort of got introduced to Stephanie by my. My friend. He wasn't my official mentor. My Jasper.
- [10:09]
A
Yes.
- [10:10]
B
But he sort of became my de facto Jasper. So this is like a junior assigned to a freshman who would, like, show you the ropes or whatever. And mine unofficial one was Arthur Sprous. I don't know if you remember this.
- [10:25]
A
I do.
- [10:25]
B
You do?
- [10:26]
A
I do.
- [10:26]
B
Great. He was friendly with Stephanie via these various people and just the situation of it all. Yeah. I sort of, like, got to know her a little bit. I would see her at the dances. I don't know. Do you remember seeing her?
- [10:40]
A
Yes.
- [10:41]
B
Yeah.
- [10:42]
A
I said yes too quickly. Yes. I mean, yeah.
- [10:47]
B
And I remember her, you know, she. She was friend friendly or friends with a lot of Regis kids.
- [10:54]
A
Yep. Like the theater kids. Yeah, Specifically, I remember. And. And certainly the people who, like, yeah, we're musical. Right, Right. Yeah. She was around. And so the thing that I was. I keep on thinking about is how I was under and overwhelmed at the same time. Overwhelmed in the sense of, like, the classic. Like, it is as if I'm in, like, a teen movie where I, like, walk down the stairs of the basement. And it's almost like in my memory, of course, like, the very fluorescent lighting has dimmed, except for where the band plays right in the middle, like, linoleum. And there's a spread of plastic chairs, and there's a stereo where we normally listen to music during, like, lunch. Over there, the seniors control the stereo. And in the middle, it's just like, spotlight Stephanie Germanotta. And she is just.
- [11:38]
B
Wailing, no question.
- [11:41]
A
As if, like, I'm walking down the stairs and I'm like, this feels like a movie. But I'm the kind of kid, at age 13, 14, I'm trying to be self aware about. Like, I know I'm not living in a movie, but why does this feel like a movie? And that's the overwhelmed part. The underwhelmed part is that in retrospect, I'm also like, I don't think I appreciated that enough.
- [12:01]
B
Yeah.
- [12:02]
A
What kind of music did they play? Do you remember what kind of, like, songs they did?
- [12:06]
B
You mean her band?
- [12:07]
A
Yeah.
- [12:07]
B
Well, I have distinct memories of them playing songs by the band Fuel. They were sort of like a third wave grunge revival band of the late 90s. If I played you a song, you'd be like, oh, yeah. Leave love bleeding in my hands in my hands again or like, had a bad day again. I think that was the song they sang. Said you would not understand. It's like fourth generation Yarling, but. But it was her singing, so it was delightful. I think they played 2025 or 624, but is. What? Who's that? Chicago.
- [12:56]
A
But you're like a musician. You actually sing. You play guitar. Your guitar. Is that. That is your guitar.
- [13:01]
B
That's my guitar. Yeah. I guess we should say that for context.
- [13:04]
A
Yes. If you didn't. If you didn't know by Pat's Fuel karaoke that he just did, actually. Accomplished musician. Goodnight Texas is your band. That is your guitar right in the corner of the studio that you brought in because you're on your way to actually, like, doing professional music at some point after this.
- [13:19]
B
Always have it on me.
- [13:20]
A
And I wanted to know your scouting report, like, the honest scouting report of your memory, hazy as it is with everything, time, hormones, literal, whatever sound speaker quality of the Regis High School cafeteria. Like, what was it like in your mind to process this? Like, how did you grade Stephanie Germanotta as a prospect?
- [13:45]
B
I don't want to end up sounding like a fool and start, you know, starting to go toe to toe on sports, but I, like, I'm trying to think of, like, who is the most touted prospect of the last, like, generation or two.
- [13:55]
A
Like, you thought she was LeBron.
- [13:58]
B
In my experience up to that point, she was the LeBron I had never seen. Like, not even close. This is. This is the talent that we've been waiting for. It's talent combined with presence, I guess. Like, as I said before, like, some sort of, like, self awareness and confidence in a way that's not. Like, I don't mean to disparage her by saying this, but she, like, had already figured out what she was able to do at that age.
- [14:26]
A
This is. So I'm gonna jump on this LeBron 30 for 30 testimony that are now gonna start to give. I do feel like she was older than everybody else, even though she wasn't.
- [14:36]
B
Yes. And shorter. No offense.
- [14:39]
A
True.
- [14:40]
B
Yeah, true.
- [14:41]
A
There was this very dissonant package of, like, small teenage girl, but bigger in, like, just every psychological impression.
- [14:51]
B
Yes.
- [14:52]
A
Like, again with LeBron, it's like, is it maturity? Well, kind of, but it Is, I think, more like a sense of what you're feeling amazing at and everybody around sort of bending around that gravitational field as if it's palpable. Like that's what you feel. Except I never raised my hand pat and was like, we're watching history, guys.
- [15:14]
B
We didn't, we didn't buy low.
- [15:16]
A
No, no. I was mostly just like. Again, not perverse to say this. Mostly just like, wow, this Sacred Heart student.
- [15:25]
B
Right.
- [15:26]
A
It's just making me. Is making me feel things in a way that, like, is the most cliched, cinematic response to, like, attractive girl spotlit in a band.
- [15:37]
B
Cinematic is the word. Yeah. The sequence for me. I'm going to jump around in the timeline a little bit. When I was in freshman year of college, I got a shiny new Facebook invite. Do you. I mean, you, you went to one of the early adopters.
- [15:52]
A
I was the 199th person to ever join Facebook.
- [15:55]
B
NBD. No big deal.
- [15:56]
A
Who's counting?
- [15:56]
B
Yeah, clearly.
- [15:58]
A
These are the two stories I tell, by the way, Lady Gaga's story, which I'm fact checking now, and the one about how I was number 199.
- [16:04]
B
This is the. This is the pinnacle of your journalistic career right here.
- [16:07]
A
Unfortunate and true.
- [16:09]
B
So I got a Facebook invite to go to a show at. I think it was the Bitter End in New York City featuring Lady Gaga and the Plastic Gaga band. You know, I looked at it the first time and I was like, what is that? This is spam. And then I was checking my email again, trying to be thorough. You know, I didn't want to miss anything. I was a freshman in college, right.
- [16:31]
A
This is like 0303.
- [16:33]
B
Yeah, I looked at it again. I clicked on it, opened it. I saw a picture in the invite and I looked a little bit closer and I saw that plainly. That is Stephanie Germanotta really having worked on her look. Not that she hadn't had a look before, but she, like, really, like. Right. Had it, had a session and was like, I'm gonna go for it with my look, got a good photo shoot and apparently named her band Lady Gaga and the Plastic Gaga Band. And I, My reaction was sort of like, that's weird. Ha ha. See, never. Or later. Like, I don't know.
- [17:15]
A
That's never going to work. Yeah, I, I wouldn't have gone with that one.
- [17:17]
B
Right.
- [17:18]
A
I have some notes on that.
- [17:19]
B
Who told you to do that? Right.
- [17:20]
A
Gaga.
- [17:21]
B
What the does that mean? Yeah, but like, not wishing ill, you know, I'm. I'm in. I'm in. Connecticut, you're in.
- [17:27]
A
You're in the throbbing heart of New York City.
- [17:29]
B
Right.
- [17:30]
A
Trying to make it as a musician. Cool.
- [17:32]
B
Yeah. I'm not going to go to that show. I'm not. I'm not going to ride a Peter Pan bus to Port Authority to go to that show.
- [17:38]
A
I'm not going to funga bus ride my way to the Bitter End to see what is this? Lady Gaga and the Plastic. What the f. Like, not for me.
- [17:46]
B
Right?
- [17:46]
A
I mean not, not, not necessarily. Not, not for me, but just like not. Whatever.
- [17:50]
B
It's not going to happen logistically.
- [17:51]
A
Yeah. Cool, comma, whatever. As you like, move it into the rest of your inbox.
- [17:55]
B
Yeah. Right. One vignette, next vignette. I guess it's Just Dance. Just dance came out 2008. Is that. Would that be the moment?
- [18:13]
A
I'm gonna Google this. April 8, 2008. Yes.
- [18:19]
B
So that's where we're out of college.
- [18:21]
A
Yeah.
- [18:22]
B
Just Dance drops along with her album, I guess soon after the Fame.
- [18:28]
A
That's right.
- [18:29]
B
Which to call your first album. The Fame is quite a thing.
- [18:33]
A
It's kind of like having chosen one tattooed on your back a little bit and.
- [18:38]
B
But again it goes back to like that's. That's a confidence, that's a swagger. Right. You could look at it from a few angles. Like what is she saying about the Fame? She. I. I don't know. Like, is it good, is it bad? It's both. It's like. It's many things but I have it and. Or. Or I'm looking at it or I don't know, it's.
- [18:55]
A
Or I'm it.
- [18:56]
B
I'm it. It's like a. It's a power wielding but all but. But potentially a commentary.
- [19:01]
A
This is where I should name what is on this album.
- [19:03]
B
Okay.
- [19:04]
A
Track number one on the Fame is Just Dance, obviously. Yeah. Number two is Love Game. Number three is Paparazzi. Number four is Poker Face, which is a ridiculous run to begin your first album. AA oh my God. A A nothing else I can say. Another song that I, I know the beats of then. Beautiful Dirty Rich the Fame Money Honey Starstruck Boys Boys, Boys Paper Gangsta Brown Eyes. I like it Rough Summer Boy Disco Heaven. That's. That's a rookie season for real.
- [19:40]
B
So in that moment for like, for me, I feel like all of us who were in this vague situation have this sort of similar trajectory where it's like we had the seed planted. Like, haha, here's this girl, she's cool. And then later like, oh Wait, that was her? And then there's sort of like, you know, I don't know what the cinematographic technique is where you're like, zooming in on your face and the background is coming closer or going further away.
- [20:11]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [20:12]
B
That moment where it's like, okay, I have to reevaluate everything. Even not related to this in my life so far. And that was that moment for me when, you know, this song and album came out and I was like, I need to go back and think about things. Now. I'm going to jump back to one of the dances, which is where we started. This isn't just a normal dance, actually. This is the Sophomore Semi Formal.
- [20:41]
A
Oh, my God.
- [20:43]
B
Did you go to that?
- [20:44]
A
No, that's how I. That hurt me to say out loud.
- [20:49]
B
It's better. It's better than school.
- [20:50]
A
I didn't go to the Sophomore Semiform. I went to the Junior Semiform Formal. I'm going to shrink into myself for a second here. And you continue to tell the story.
- [20:57]
B
Okay. What happened in the day, the weeks leading up to the Sophomore Semi Formal was that, you know, the guitar club was in full swing. All of the aforementioned rehearsal and interaction was happening. By the way, if I didn't make it clear earlier, my band was terrible. Specifically me. Those other guys did great. I was terrible. I just listened to the CD in the car because I have a 2016 Honda Fit and it still has a CD player. I'm really borderline on whether I'm going to let you see it. What happened was John Davis, the leader of the band that Stephanie was in, I don't know if he was the leader. He seemed like the leader.
- [21:39]
A
Yep.
- [21:40]
B
Came up to me. We, you know, we knew each other. And he said, hey, Pat. I said, hey, John. He said, you should ask Stephanie to the Semi Formal. And I said, what?
- [21:56]
A
I am. I don't know where this story's at, and I am tingling.
- [22:02]
B
And I didn't really know what to say because, like, this really seemed like somebody's pulling strings that I'm not aware of and how should I behave in this situation?
- [22:12]
A
This was like, punked era also. Or just like, what is. What's going on here?
- [22:15]
B
Yeah, like, is Ash and are gonna pop out?
- [22:17]
A
What the. What are you guys doing?
- [22:19]
B
Yeah. And so I was like, really? I. You think. You think I should ask, like, me. You think I should ask Stephanie to the dance?
- [22:27]
A
I should ask LeBron James, the LeBron James of high school music to the Sophomore Semi, Right?
- [22:33]
B
You should ask me. Brett Gardner Cross in a. Cross sports. Like, just. Just to highlight how, like, in different worlds we were. But I, you know, in. In a burst of, like, faux confidence. Did you ever have those at the time where you're like, I don't have this confidence, but I'm just gonna go for it?
- [22:51]
A
No.
- [22:51]
B
Okay.
- [22:52]
A
But.
- [22:52]
B
Okay.
- [22:52]
A
I can imagine it now.
- [22:53]
B
I didn't have a lot of them, but I guess this was one of them because I ended up going to the sophomore semi formal with Stephanie. We didn't arrive at the same time, but she was my date.
- [23:05]
A
If you're. If you're not watching on YouTube with the Japanese network, I'm doing that thing where that guy in that meme is like, what the. On that meme? How did you ask her?
- [23:30]
B
I feel like I've a little bit blocked. Like, it was almost like a trauma. I. A little bit have blocked it out of my memory.
- [23:43]
A
That I can relate to. I can. I can't relate to full confidence. I can relate to blackout zones in my high school memory due to drama.
- [23:50]
B
Yeah.
- [23:52]
A
Did you do it in person?
- [23:55]
B
Yeah. So. Okay, Pat, this.
- [23:58]
A
I appreciate you. I appreciate you putting yourself back in. In sophomore year.
- [24:05]
B
I appreciate you ostensibly having my best interests at heart. This is a little bit like, memento for me, too. I'm, like, trying to go back. I also spoke to her on the phone a few times. There was one time where we were discussing the. The. This. The music camps we were going to go to that summer at Berkeley College of Music in Boston. And I was going for a weekend, like a five day songwriting workshop. And she was like, going, like, for the summer. She was going to teach in some way. We got it done where we were like, okay, we're gonna go to this dance together. And like, keep in mind, you know, we're still like, I was 14. Was I 15 at that point? She's still 14. We didn't know what the hell we were doing. So, like, we show up at different times. She's got her friends there. Her friends were equally, if not more intimidating. Like, they were tall. Like, not that short. People aren't intimidating in certain way. Like, these were like more like confident Catholic high school girls. And I was just like, ha.
- [25:13]
A
I'm just glad you clarified. For all the short people listening, you, too, can be terrifying.
- [25:19]
B
You can. She just had a wide variety of intimidating friends. From my perspective.
- [25:25]
A
What are you wearing to the sophomore semi formal? Do you remember generally what you would have worn, what she was wearing? Just like, paint the picture, Pat, if.
- [25:33]
B
Well, you know, I Have the only real picture, the only real evidence.
- [25:38]
A
I will say that as you've been recalling this, I'm like, is Pat hallucinating?
- [25:44]
B
That's also possible, but I have. This is the only real evidence. Hold on.
- [25:52]
A
This is. Oh, man. So this is. I guess it's an important artifact that reminds me that digital cameras. Was this a digital camera? Is this a scan? It looks like a scan of a. Of a printed photograph.
- [26:10]
B
It does. It might have been a disposable camera that somebody took to the. Took to cvs, printed, gave to me. I kept the. The four by sixes.
- [26:19]
A
Yep.
- [26:19]
B
And my dad scanned it and emailed it to me at College in 2008 when I was like, hey, can you email me that photo? Everybody's asking.
- [26:27]
A
Everybody's asking. They've been asking, what did it look like when Pat and Lady Gaga went to the sophomore semi formal? And the smile on your face, how would you describe that.
- [26:40]
B
Apart from me? Just, like, how mortified I am right now in this moment?
- [26:44]
A
Yes.
- [26:45]
B
Aspirational, hiding, deep terror.
- [26:49]
A
Yeah. I would almost go for disoriented.
- [26:53]
B
Disoriented is probably more accurate. Yes, that's. That's correct.
- [26:57]
A
She's smiling like a normal person.
- [26:58]
B
Yes.
- [26:59]
A
Like, just innocently not thinking. There's gonna be a podcast that comes out one day where this photo will wind up.
- [27:06]
B
Right.
- [27:07]
A
At the time you're wearing a shirt and tie, and she's wearing, like, a nice, you know, formal dress style, cocktail attire thing.
- [27:15]
B
I'm probably wearing what you might have worn to do a tournament for the Hearn.
- [27:20]
A
Yes. You are dressed like a high school debater.
- [27:23]
B
Yes, yes.
- [27:24]
A
I am not seeing khakis in the photo, but it feels like there are khakis in the photo.
- [27:28]
B
They're down there.
- [27:29]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where was the sophomore semi formal?
- [27:32]
B
It was in the auditorium.
- [27:34]
A
This is even sadder.
- [27:35]
B
For me, it was really no different other than the attire. It was a home game.
- [27:39]
A
Yeah, it was a home game.
- [27:40]
B
Yeah.
- [27:41]
A
How'd it go?
- [27:42]
B
It was sort of awkward in the sense that I didn't know how to triangulate myself to her or anyone, and I. My head was in a little bit of a spin because she. She kind of had her posse as I described. I mean, I. I had my posse, but they sort of dispersed in a way. This could. This could be a whole other podcast, but boys are not very good at, like, emotions or emotional support.
- [28:10]
A
I think people listening to this have gotten that sense so far.
- [28:14]
B
If not from this episode, then maybe others.
- [28:16]
A
Yeah. Perhaps all of them. Yeah.
- [28:18]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was very, you know, not maliciously, but in real terms, unsupported. And I felt that she was very, at least outwardly, in a. In a comfort zone from just, like, being so friendly. Friendly with all the people that we talked about and, like, you know, having this. This gaggle of friends and just like, owning the space that she was in.
- [28:43]
A
It was a home game for you only, technically.
- [28:47]
B
Right. I was a New York Jet in MetLife Stadium.
- [28:54]
A
And she had. Yeah, she had the confidence of Tom Brady, you know.
- [28:59]
B
Yes. Outwardly, I don't know how she was feeling. Honestly, that's what. That's the other thing that I wanted to say was I don't know anything about her emotional life.
- [29:08]
A
I want to be very clear again, this is not a conversation about how she was actually thinking or feeling about anything.
- [29:15]
B
Right.
- [29:15]
A
This is the story of the other guys, literally the other guy in the picture.
- [29:19]
B
This is one angle of the fame. What a thing we have, you know, Fame.
- [29:24]
A
This genuinely.
- [29:26]
B
Yeah.
- [29:27]
A
It is something that is deeply meaningful to me and also embarrassing because it is meaningful to me.
- [29:33]
B
Right, exactly. Same.
- [29:36]
A
So I don't want to get lewd here, but of course, everyone left room for the Holy Ghost. Everybody knows that.
- [29:41]
B
That's right.
- [29:42]
A
Some of us did it without any sort of agency in the matter. Some of us had a choice. But you're there largely a free body floating diagram, unmoored from the setting you've arrived in. And there is the future Lady Gaga with her friends. And so. Did you guys just dance?
- [30:11]
B
Are we gonna. Are we kind of cut to commercial.
- [30:13]
A
Right there, right now in the DraftKings network, if you want to bet a super boost. Did Pat Wolf grind on Lady Gaga? We're offering those odds currently a plus 9 million.
- [30:25]
B
So I'm going to be perfectly honest and tell you that this is the pinnacle of our. Of our physical connection right here.
- [30:33]
A
She's literally above you. She's taller than you in this photograph. Somehow she's like.
- [30:36]
B
Well, she decided in that moment that she was gonna sit on my leg.
- [30:41]
A
Yep.
- [30:41]
B
That's why she looks taller than me. We're both. We're sitting.
- [30:44]
A
Yep. Against the power move.
- [30:46]
B
It's a power move. It was brief. That was the pinnacle, as I said, of our physical. Physical connection. I cannot be any more honest than that.
- [30:55]
A
We believe you.
- [30:56]
B
Yes. Yes.
- [30:58]
A
So at the end of the night, how do things resolve?
- [31:01]
B
It's sort of like the night sort of ended like a. Like a. Like a wisp of cold wind going out the door. Like, did that just happen? Like, did I totally screw that up? Like, what is happening to me now? Like, what should I have done before? I don't. I don't understand who I am.
- [31:20]
A
What is the feeling of what you were experiencing if you were to choose a musical reference to convey that scene in the movie? What is it? What's the opposite of a crescendo?
- [31:34]
B
Yeah. Oh, well, technically, it's a decrescendo.
- [31:40]
A
I'm nodding along. I can't.
- [31:42]
B
Yeah, it's almost like. It's almost like, you know, it was sort of rising to a fever pitch, and, like, the band was building or the orchestra was building, and then all of a sudden there's silence and then there's just a guy standing alone, like, strumming a guitar. Like, being emo is sort of.
- [31:57]
A
Yes.
- [31:57]
B
From my perspective.
- [31:58]
A
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Would it be too much for me to imagine also? Just, like. Almost like a whoopee cushion. Just, like, exhaling as well.
- [32:07]
B
Yeah, we could throw that in there. Yeah. So my band that I now play.
- [32:24]
A
In my adult life, that's very good. In a real band.
- [32:28]
B
That's nice of you to say.
- [32:29]
A
It is. It's all. All that's true.
- [32:30]
B
I'm still. I'm still in a band, however impractical that is. It's called Good Night Texas. Which, by the way, none of us are from Texas. I lived in North Carolina, where my wife Mary grew up and where she was going to med school.
- [32:46]
A
Shout out to Mary, by the way.
- [32:48]
B
Absolutely.
- [32:49]
A
I'm sorry that this has been embarrassing for your husband and for his classmate, but clearly he made the right choice eventually. Proceed.
- [32:57]
B
I love her so much. We were going to have a nice day together today because she's off, and I squandered it all on a podcast. So the. The first record that I did with Avi before we had Goodnight Texas, it was just the two of us as a folk duo. That record was called Coattails. The last track on that is called Coattails is the song that I wrote. And the lyrics are. I knew you once when I was young. I could sing it for you. That's why I brought my guitar.
- [33:27]
A
Are you serious?
- [33:28]
B
I mean. Yeah.
- [33:28]
A
Could you do that?
- [33:29]
B
Sure. Is that weird?
- [33:31]
A
I mean, I could read more of my yearbook. Or you could actually play the song that I feel like encapsulates the reason that I brought you here without even knowing that reason.
- [33:43]
B
I. I would maybe feel remiss if I didn't do it. Is that. Can we do that? I would.
- [33:48]
A
I. I would love that.
- [33:49]
B
Okay.
- [33:49]
A
Please, please indulge.
- [33:50]
B
Okay, tell me logistically what I need to do here.
- [33:52]
A
I think you just got to take off your headphones and unzip the. The sword in the sheath. We're going to get one more mic in here.
- [34:00]
B
Okay.
- [34:01]
A
We're going to. Tiny desk this.
- [34:04]
B
I knew you once when I was young that was a long time ago and I must admit I dreamed of you last night. You didn't even recognize me I felt like such a sh. Fool. My brain's been fried by the Internet maybe yours has, too. Now all the people can't believe their eyes and now it's sinking in O one day I'll get wine that I'm so glad I didn't grab your coattails who wants to get dragged in the mud? Who wants to get dragged in the mud? On their way to the ball on their way to the ball?
- [35:49]
A
Okay, so, ma', am, this is where I feel obligated to jump in and point out that we did, in fact, reach out to Lady Gaga, Stephanie Germanotta herself, through her representatives, but we have not yet heard back, which is, to be very clear, extremely understandable, given that, you know, I have never reached out to her before and would never presume that she would want to participate in what we just gave to you. But I also should point out that the song you're hearing right now, underneath this very voiceover, is another song from Pat Wolf. It's called Runaways. It's the sort of music that he's playing with. Goodnight Texas in the present tense. And this one features Kirk Hammett from Metallica, by the way, somebody else who knows quite a bit about rock stardom. You can find this song on Goodnight Texas most recent album titled Signals, which they released in July. And hopefully when you listen to it, you get a sense of where this all started, maybe. Which leaves me with just one more thing that I should probably tell Pat Wolf. Pat, I. I don't think we've ever had a crescendo quite like that. Thank you for. For helping me find out what actually happened in my brain and everywhere else, I guess, inside the Reedus High school cafeteria approximately 20, 25 years ago.
- [37:25]
B
It's been my pleasure. I just want to say that it's, like, a real honor to be here with you, Pablo. You know, I've been listening to your work for years now, watching your work, and it's a real pleasure to be here, despite all of the terrible, terrible emotions that got churned up earlier to.
- [37:43]
A
Come commuting to redesign school all over again. This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out a Meadowlark Media Production and I'll talk to you next time.