#4344 Who Is Spiro Crow?

Summary

Podcast Summary: TBTL Episode #4344 - "Who Is Spiro Crow?"

Release Date: November 25, 2024

Introduction In Episode #4344 of "TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live," hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh delve into a variety of engaging topics, blending humor with insightful discussions. The episode weaves through personal anecdotes, local business curiosities, movie theater experiences, and listener interactions, all underscored by the hosts' trademark camaraderie.

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1. The Mysterious Spiro's Pizza Billboard The episode opens with an intriguing discussion about a minimalist billboard for Spiro's Pizza and Pasta in Seattle. The billboard's enigmatic message, "I'm in a relationship with Spiros," accompanied by subtle grayed-out text, sparks curiosity and speculation.

• Andrew Walsh expresses confusion:
  "[04:52] Andrew Walsh: ...it shows just a big white empty space. I'm a big fan of middle of minimalism... This is so weird. It's just a big white billboard..."

• Luke Burbank theorizes the billboard's intent:
  "[09:05] Luke Burbank: ...maybe they're playing the long game, maybe they're playing three dimensional ch."

The hosts explore possible reasons behind the billboard's design, including marketing strategies and the potential influence of social media relationship terminologies. They also mention their positive experiences with Spiro's Pizza, highlighting its family-run charm and delicious offerings.

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2. Movie Theater Adventures at Living Room Theaters Luke and Andrew recount their recent visit to the Living Room Theaters in Portland, emphasizing the unique dining experience alongside movie watching. However, logistical challenges arise when ordering and managing food within the theater setting.

• Luke Burbank shares his movie outing:
  "[21:00] Luke Burbank: ...would solve the anxiety around choosing seats. ...but I don't want to be dealing with a Mediterranean plate as the Opening credits..."

• Andrew Walsh critiques the modern theater conveniences:
  "[23:22] Andrew Walsh: ...I handle less cinema than I used to, which I don't like about myself..."

A mishap occurs when Luke accidentally spills hummus onto the theater floor, leading to a humorous yet frustrating cleanup experience. They discuss the complexities of integrating full meals into movie-watching without proper facilities for food management.

• Luke Burbank describes the spill:
  "[35:03] Luke Burbank: ...a tremendous rattle. ...the entire Mediterranean plate has slid down the armrest..."

The hosts emphasize the importance of thoughtful theater design to accommodate eating without disrupting the viewing experience.

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3. Childhood Memories and Humorous Anecdotes Transitioning from movie experiences, Luke and Andrew reminisce about their childhood, sharing light-hearted memories and jokes.

• Andrew Walsh reflects on his early years:
  "[39:56] Andrew Walsh: ...mountain bike around this time. ...I prided myself on my Challenger jokes."

• Luke Burbank mentions growing up with similar humor:
  "[46:50] Andrew Walsh: ...we were callous kids. It was the 80s... But as a kid, man, I was..."

They discuss the evolution of humor over the years, touching on how certain jokes from their youth would be perceived today.

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4. Listener Interaction: Closet Organization Tips The episode features a listener email from Max, offering a practical tip for decluttering closets. Andrew shares his appreciation for the method, while Luke contributes his own experiences with organizing personal spaces.

• Max's Tip:
  "[74:00] Andrew Walsh: ...turn all of the hangers around so that the hook is facing the back of the closet..."

• Andrew Walsh responds enthusiastically:
  "[75:37] Luke Burbank: ...thank you, Max."
  "[75:41] Andrew Walsh: ...I love hearing about that. I love imagining myself being that person."

The hosts discuss the effectiveness of Max's strategy, with both agreeing on the benefits of a streamlined and clutter-free wardrobe.

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5. Skid Row Etymology Correction Later in the episode, Luke addresses a previous error regarding the origin of the term "Skid Row." He clarifies the historical context and corrects the timeline based on listener feedback.

• Luke Burbank admits the mistake:
  "[67:00] Andrew Walsh: ...you were loud, wrong burbs. But like, here's a..."

• Clarification Provided:
  "[70:04] Andrew Walsh: ...the term was skid road. In the 1920s... the first skid road referred to the street probably what is now Yesler Way..."

This segment underscores the hosts' commitment to accuracy and their willingness to engage with listener input to enhance content quality.

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6. Donor Acknowledgments and Community Shout-Outs As the episode nears its conclusion, Luke and Andrew extend their gratitude to various donors and listeners from different regions, highlighting the diverse support that fuels the show.

• Luke Burbank thanks specific donors:
  "[66:17] Luke Burbank: ...thank you, Michael..."
  "[66:34] Andrew Walsh: ...we got Riva, Virginia and Vienna. Virginia..."

Their acknowledgments foster a sense of community, appreciating the listeners' contributions that make daily episodes possible.

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7. Final Remarks and Upcoming Topics In wrapping up, the hosts tease upcoming topics, including marketing and branding stories related to Tropicana and Jaguar, and hint at future guest interviews. They maintain their lighthearted banter, ensuring listeners remain engaged and anticipating future episodes.

• Luke Burbank hints at corrections in future shows:
  "[60:47] Andrew Walsh: ...convert to a pretty good parody."

• Andrew Walsh expresses enthusiasm for upcoming episodes:
  "[59:59] Andrew Walsh: ...we'll have a new show on Thursday..."

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Notable Quotes

• Andrew Walsh at [04:23]:
  "I love beans. Big, fat, hot, juicy beans."

• Luke Burbank at [05:33]:
  "This is the perfect, totally unhealthy salad that I love to eat each night now."

• Andrew Walsh at [21:00]:
  "Nobody in our audience agrees with me. I think I met one person in my life..."

• Luke Burbank at [35:58]:
  "You have not thought this through. You should not be sending people into this theater with, like, three course meals..."

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Conclusion Episode #4344 of "TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live" delivers a blend of humor, personal stories, and thoughtful discussions. From unraveling the mystery of a minimalist pizza billboard to navigating the quirks of modern movie theaters, Luke and Andrew provide an entertaining and relatable listening experience. Their interactions with listeners and acknowledgment of past mistakes demonstrate a dynamic and engaging approach to podcasting, ensuring that both longtime fans and new listeners find value and enjoyment in each episode.

Transcript

[Andrew Walsh]

It was the bottom of the fifth quarter and the baskets were loaded. It was me versus the Boston Celtics basketball team. Ready to lose again.

[Luke Burbank]

I said to LA James Braun. He was sweaty and out of breath. Please give me another chance, he said sexily. It's basketball time.

[Andrew Walsh]

I yelled in a booming voice. Then I did a layup, which is.

[Luke Burbank]

Different than slam dunking.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's where you throw the basketball in.

[Luke Burbank]

The hoop when you're really close to it. I was too quick for them.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was dribbling all over the field.

[Luke Burbank]

And the Boston Celtics said, wow, she doesn't even double drib. Something I know about.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just then, Seth Curry did a humongous.

[Luke Burbank]

Jump and tried to block me from the basketball hoop. But I threw the basketball so hard it went straight through his chest and into the hoop. But he was okay and didn't die.

[Andrew Walsh]

The basketball went in so good that.

[Luke Burbank]

I got 100 points and won the game.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can we please be your boyfriends now?

[Luke Burbank]

Said the Baltimore Celtics. Sorry, that was a deal.

[Andrew Walsh]

You can only be my boyfriends if you beat me in a game of hoop ball, I said winkingly.

[Luke Burbank]

Then they all cried.

[Andrew Walsh]

The end. TBTL I don't know what this is, but Jay says it's a big sea turtle.

[Luke Burbank]

I was just fixing to get me some grub. Beans.

[Andrew Walsh]

I love beans. Big, fat, hot, juicy beans. Now, don't get me going on beans, or I'll be jabbering away till the sun comes up.

[Luke Burbank]

Why would either one of you. You know why?

[Andrew Walsh]

Dear God, why? Actually, you know what?

[Luke Burbank]

I can email you, or, you know, you can email me at splat2. Splat. One's my father. I mean, I'll be sad to see him go, but it'll be nice to get my hands on that handle, you know? And I also think it wouldn't hurt.

[Andrew Walsh]

You to talk to a therapist about your bathroom issues, because there's clearly something going on there.

[Luke Burbank]

All right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of Teaching btl. The show just might be too beautiful to live.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why now? What are they doing? And how can you steer clear of it all?

[Luke Burbank]

My name is Luke Burbank. I'm your host. Oh, wow. Coming to you from the Madrona Hills studio perched high above the mighty Columbia, where, mercifully, things have dried out a little bit. It's not actively raining, which is nice this time of year. We've got a very nice episode of TBTL for you. Nice and dry. It's episode 4344 in a collector's series. Let the fun begin because it was horrendously stormy this weekend. For most of it, I actually went and saw a film. So who needs a movie at a movie house? It was one of those cool, cool movie houses, cool theaters where they let you. You can eat dinner while you're watching the movie. But there was one thing they hadn't really fully thought through. I've made a huge mistake. Speaking of huge mistakes, later in the show, we will be correcting the record. I said something very confidently on Friday, which is always a dead giveaway that I'm making a huge mistake, and I did. And we'll fix that. During the email segment. People think that the Jaguar motor company is making a huge mistake by rebranding itself and not featuring any cars in a new video that it released. And we also had that story on Friday we didn't get to. About Tropicana. I love juice. They're changing their bottle and people are mad. We'll talk marketing, branding and huge mistakes coming up on the program. And we're gonna talk to this guy. Longest running cobro of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. Mm, mm, mm.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm flying in hot for that hottie.

[Luke Burbank]

He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good morning, Luke. I meant to text you a photo over the weekend and I didn't. I had forgotten. So we'll. Let's take care of this here at the top of the show.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely. While you're doing that, can I just credit that audio at the top of the show with someone named Grace Fennell on TikTok?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that was hilarious.

[Luke Burbank]

I think she performs or performs, I don't know, posts. She talks, ticks and talks under Grace Fennel 10. So just wanted to give credit where credit was due.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that made me laugh. I. I do really. I hope the Baltimore Celtics are okay after all of that. They really wanted to be her boyfriend. I. I know that this topic has come up on the show before, maybe even about a year ago. I just don't remember if we got closure from this. I feel like I didn't get. I didn't get a satisfying response from you, and I don't know if I ever showed you the actual evidence, but there is a billboard that I had seen around town, like in this North Aurora part of Seattle that I live in for a Greek, like, Greek pizza shop kind of place that's up there. Shoreline. Spiros. I wasn't sure. Spyros or Spiros.

[Luke Burbank]

I've always heard it called Spiros. Okay, then again, listen, I was loud wrong on Friday, so I'm still a little. A little nervous.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, God. I was just gonna say, every time we get into this style of restaurant in Seattle, the conversation always turns to like, well, is it part of the. Because there was an Olympia and Olympic pizza that were similar and it's a.

[Luke Burbank]

Cascade up in Bellingham in the north, which is the exact same vibe.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's that style of pizza shop where you can also get a meatball sandwich. And if you're gonna get a salad to begin, it's gonna have like, you know, olives on it. You know that kind of place.

[Luke Burbank]

I've been making that salad lately, by the way.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, that's one of your favorites.

[Luke Burbank]

I've been intentionally purchasing. You know, last week I purchased two different heads of iceberg lettuce at different times.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did so you had two at one point?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, no, but like it actually, honestly, about half of a head of iceberg is what you need to make one of those salads. And I was making exactly as my memory of the kind of salad. Again, Cascade pizza up in Bellingham, but the Spiros, Any of the Santorini over by Nathan Hale, any of those places. It's like a bunch of iceberg lettuce, some shredded carrots, some black olives like you said, mozzarella cheese for some reason, and then some ranch or a blue chi and a couple of tomatoes thrown in. That is the perfect, totally unhealthy salad that I love to eat each night now.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I like often when they serve this kind of salad. When I say I like, I mean, I don't like that. They basically cut a tomato in half and throw half of a tomato in there.

[Luke Burbank]

It's not like edible or I intentionally purchased. I usually will just throw cherry tomatoes in a salad.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, me too.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I bought a full size tomato so I could cut it in an unedible way. I took a picture of this. I will send it to you. I shit you not. I wanted the tomatoes to be that weird, not helpful shape because that reminded me of the salad of Cascade Pizza.

[Andrew Walsh]

What is the. I'm blanking here. What is the show with Peter Griffin?

[Luke Burbank]

Family Guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Family Guy. Let me see if I can find this on the fly. Pizza store salad. I believe there's a. Somebody just happened to send this to me recently too. I think maybe a listener. And let me see if I can play this here. This is just two guys in a. It's just two guys in a pizza Shop. I think one of them is showing them how to make a salad. It looks like I maybe have to cut in here a little bit. And here we go.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, four pizzas and a salad. Salad. How do you make a salad? First you throw in the whole head of lettuce, even the hard to eat white part at the bott. That's what the people want. Now what else? I got a can of whole black olives. Should I slice them up? What are you crazy? No, you keep them whole. You're going to want to know you've got an olive in your mouth. What about this tomato? Cut it into thirds. It should be big enough to pretend you've got red teeth. How about this carrot? Should I cut it up? Yes, but very thin lengthwise. The whole length of the carrot. One thin slice. Okay. What else do we got? Well, we got these hot peppers, but you can't really eat them. No problem. Dump them all in. Now should we put it in a bowl? No, let's put it in a lasagna tray. Okay, great.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'll take it.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, and make sure to stick it right on top of the pizza so it stays nice and warm. Hello, every pizza place. I forgot the pepperoncini. Dang it. I let you leave the salad, leave.

[Andrew Walsh]

The stem on and the seeds in there.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Actually, you know what? I like the stem on there because it's a little handle.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it is, it is.

[Luke Burbank]

It gives me a little something to hold on to as I. But I sent you, Andrew, a picture of this salad which is, I think about 8 out of the 10 things that are mentioned there are featured in that salad.

[Andrew Walsh]

But we're losing. But we're losing focus of the picture that I sent you, which is this billboard for Spiros, which it's back. Like that's. I don't know if. Are there certain billboards always, Andrew, Always. There are certain billboards where they have like a sort of a default, like whatever the ad is behind the new ads. And then when they remove the new ads, the old ones just show up again because I find it hard to believe. So let me explain this. This again for the people who missed the first scintillating time I brought this up. It's interesting that a small pizza shop and it might be a small chain, but if so it's very small. It's a little family run restaurant.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. I'd imagine maybe three locations, tops.

[Andrew Walsh]

They have like billboards, not little signs around town. Not one of those a frame signs you put outside on the sidewalk. I mean, Billboards, full ass billboards. But they're so minimalist. They don't mention pizza, I think. Or maybe in the, in the logo it says Spiro's Pizza and pasta, but it doesn't show pizza, it doesn't show pasta. It shows just a big white empty space. I'm a big fan of middle of minimalism by the way, in negative space. That's my vibe. But this is so weird. It's just a big white billboard and I don't even have in front of me right now. You have in front of you. I believe it just says I'm in a relationship with Spiros.

[Luke Burbank]

It says in a relationship with.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just not even. I'm not even. I'm just in a relationship with Spiros. And then in slightly grayed out for some reason, slightly grayed out and non centered text, it just says always almost like a whisper underneath it. And then it says Spiros pizza and pasta. I will, I have to make this the show pick. We can use your salad photo on blog as well. But like I don't understand.

[Luke Burbank]

I promise you I'll recover from my salad photo not being above the fold.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why is this the approach to the billboard? Just totally blank in a relationship with Spiro's logo and then always in gray lettering beneath it and so much white space.

[Luke Burbank]

I have theories.

[Andrew Walsh]

Please explain it to me.

[Luke Burbank]

I think that somebody, and by the way, it is a very high likelihood that someone at Spears will hear this because I know that somebody in our audience is a regular there and or a family member because the other thing about this style of restaurant, like my friend Demetra Papadopoulos and her brother George Papadopoulos or no, Apostolou Dimitra and George Apostolou, their family ran Santorini Pizza that was across the street from Nathan Hale and they both, I think George still runs it to this day like their, their dad and mom ran it. You know, this is a tight knit family run business and I'm guessing that somebody in the Spiro family said, oh, you know what would be kind of cool for a billboard because when people on social media, when they hard launch a relationship, they say I'm in a relationship with so and so like when you change your status on Facebook or I don't know how Instagram works for this stuff, but in some of those places when you finally hard launch, when you finally are ready to tell the world I'm in a relationship with this person, it says in a relationship with and then it'll have a link to that person and their little feed. And this is saying, so what if it's like you're in a relationship with our pizza place? And then it's like, yeah, but somebody said, yeah, but always. How about always? And I think that this was something that was made by some folks who make probably amazing food, but don't have a ton of background in marketing and advertising and things like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I could imagine this though. When was the last time you signed up for any social media site that asked you for your relationship status? For me, it would have been probably Facebook version 1 in 2005 at the very latest. Like, it's just like, well, when you sign up, I don't think it's about. Or Instagram people aren't like, what is your relationship status?

[Luke Burbank]

But are you forget. Are you familiar. Familiar with the term hard launch?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, I'm familiar with the term hard.

[Luke Burbank]

Launch because I don't think it's so much about if the default. If the, if the intake of the. Of the social media site asks you, like, if you have to fill it out, I. At all. Because I bet you that they don't. And I can't remember the last time I'm saying maybe the thought was more like when you sort of make it official, when you make it Instagram official, when you, when you, when you, you're out there with the relationship being a real thing, that, that was the germ of a thought with. This is like, because in a relationship with is a sort of, that, those. That is a string of words that I kind of associate with a social media thing. Right?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it seems antiquated to me. Like, I mean, I think, you know, when you. The word like hard launch, like, then you know, that is, you just like sort of, hey, here's a, Here's a bunch of photos of me like, you know, on vacation with, with a fellow that you've never seen before. Hard launch. You know what I mean? But like, you're not writing in a relationship with handsome boy. Well, that's where I feel like the.

[Luke Burbank]

Concept of it and the execution, there's a bit of a break in the linkage there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, well, that's why I'm almost wondering, is this a design that came out more in the Facebook era? And I mean, I just, I can't figure out if they are continuing to pay more money to get this thing reposted on this billboard in my neighborhood. Is it possible or are people removing something and it's defaulting back to this thing that is actually something from the Facebook era?

[Luke Burbank]

I think Best Buds Marijuana went out of business. And when they took down the Best Buds sign, what was behind it was in a relationship with Spiros always.

[Andrew Walsh]

That might be it. And I want to say too, if somebody from the family is listening or somebody from the business. I've eaten there, I remember at least once, but maybe even twice.

[Luke Burbank]

I've eaten there so many times. It's so good.

[Andrew Walsh]

The one up on Aurora, the one by the Fred Meyer, I think so.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean, I've eaten it definitely at one of them because they've been around since I was in like high school.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And so I have nothing good, nothing but good things to say about the company, about the service, about the vibe in there, about the meatball sandwich I remember eating with that starter salad that we just described. Minus the cheese for me, please. So, yeah, I have nothing bad to say and I would encourage people to check it out if you're in the mood for that kind of food and you're just sort of cruising up the boulevard on a Saturday night, as Tom Waits might say. Said all of that. I'm still just very befuddled by this billboard, certainly. And I think it's more than. I feel like it's more than just a bad. A series of bad decisions. I feel like I. Maybe it's just a social media thing, but I guess my point is I'm not quite satisfied. I'm just not satisfied.

[Luke Burbank]

What is your alternate theory?

[Andrew Walsh]

That. My alternate theory is that I'm unsatisfied with this. I don't know. I have no. I don't have an alternate theory other than I find more of a darkness.

[Luke Burbank]

Cursor than a light. Lighter. Okay, gotcha.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just. It's just so confounding to me. And this is my neighborhood and I have pride in this neighborhood. And I want answers. That's all I want.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, think about it this way, Andrew. The Spiro's Pizza concern of North Seattle has gotten, by my count, 15 minutes and 11 seconds of free earned media on this show right here. Do you know how many, you know how many tens of dollars that would have cost them if they bought an ad on the show and they didn't even have to. So maybe they're playing the long game, maybe they're playing three dimensional ch.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're just going to keep putting stuff around my house. Just befuddle him. Make it even weirder. In this one, just a single. We're just going to put a photo of a single bay leaf and then a plus sign and then a Question mark. And then we're going to put. We're going to put speed.

[Luke Burbank]

Who is Trammel Crow? What is that? Well, I mean, unfortunately, the end of the story on Trammel Crow is it's a gigantic, you know, kind of development company that one of their big things is all those like Amazon processing, not even warehouses really that people work in, but more like logistics, kind of fulfillment places, you know what I mean, that just are going up along the freeway everywhere now. One just went up down the hill from me. They basically, they like. Trammel Crow is a company that handles a tremendous amount of very unsexy commercial real estate type of stuff.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

But when I was a kid and we used to take. We would leave our house in the sort of green lake area and we would drive all the way up Lake City way, all the way to Gospel Outreach Christian Fellowship. We would go on Lake City way past this series of billboards that used to say either what is or who is Trammel Crow? And as a kid, I would just stare out the window and I would say, what is or who is Trammel Crow? I was quite intrigued.

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe it. And then you eventually got your answer and you were not super satisfied.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I got my answer like 5 years ago when he was one of the people who was giving Clarence Thomas stuff that he shouldn't have. Literally, it took 40 years for me to get the question answered. Who is Trammel Crow? And it turns out a piece of.

[Andrew Walsh]

I didn't like the answer. Yeah, very. Who is John G. Like, from.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, you know, and by. By the way, probably the most important book in the life of the Trammel Crow air.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. I was gonna say.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't even think he's like Trammel Crow. He's like Trammel Crow Jr. Or something. You know, he's like the son of the guy that they were or the people. I don't know if Trammel Crow is a person or two people's last names, but I, I really did have this moment of, of reading into the sort of like allegations around rich people trying to like get Clarence Thomas to like them by taking him on expensive trips and buying a house, his childhood home for, so his mom could live in it rent free, etc, and one of them was just like, it was mentioned in casually, like the, you know, the CEO of Trammel Crow. And I was like, okay, well, that answers the question all these years later.

[Andrew Walsh]

Also, I gotta believe Clarence Thomas is in John Galt's pocket as well. Like, absolutely right. Like.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I mean, Clarence Thomas is a weird One, because he was not always a super hardcore conservative. He was actually in his earliest days, I think, more inclined towards civil rights. And then had some sort of, you know, sort of, you know, change of heart, I guess you will. Or change of mind, like, because you would think of Clarence Thomas as like a high schooler. And he gets a copy of the Fountainhead. Although he's old enough. Like, was the Fountainhead written when Clarence Thomas was in High School?

[Andrew Walsh]

50S. Right. I'll look.

[Luke Burbank]

When did old Ian. When did old Ayn write it?

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like this was probably mid-50s, but let me see. But like, you could.

[Luke Burbank]

I could see a world. No.

[Andrew Walsh]

43. My apologies.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay, so it would have been out, otherwise Clarence Thomas would be a thousand. Like, I could see a world in which, like, Clarence Thomas was just a lifer in the conservative movement. He was just one of those, you know, young people who, for whatever reason, again, he's a person who I do think grew up in some degree of segregation. I mean, I do think he's old enough for that, or at least very close to it. But the story on him, oddly enough, is that he wasn't always this like, super hardcore conservative. He was. I think he may have been in law school or even post law school when he started to tilt this way. So the idea of a Clarence Thomas walking around with a kind of a well worn copy of the Fountainhead in his back pocket, I don't know if that totally checks out. But I do think at this point he thinks John Galt is a totally cool ass dude.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you know what just occurred to me? And I think listeners are probably getting ready to send in an email. Oh, I don't think John Galt is Fountainhead. John Galt, because I didn't read the Fountainhead. I read Atlas Shrugged and that's why I know that reference. So everybody who is about everybody's like getting.

[Luke Burbank]

I read neither of them.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, let me be honest. I read the. So the Atlas Shrugged is divided into two books. I mean, like, it's all in one volume, of course, but it's kind of like book one and book two. And I got really into book one. And then I think with book two, it got a little bit more theoretical. And the intrigue of the John Galt thing sort of like it became less narrative. This is my. I was like 19 when I read it, so I don't know what it would be like if I were to revisit it today, but. So I didn't read the whole thing. I read about half of. Of Atlas Shrugged. And then I was like, I'm not sure if I'm more. John G. Please. Never thought I'd say that on this show.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm more of a movie guy. Andrew. As you know, I went to a movie this weekend. I don't know what it's saying about me that like the very act of like figuring out when a film was playing and then going to it and sitting down and watching it felt like some kind of achievement for me. That used to just be a, probably a weekly part of my life.

[Andrew Walsh]

You would call, you would call and like an automated number on your phone and they would list all of the different.

[Luke Burbank]

Exactly. Call. You'd call Oak Tree Cinema. Yeah. It'd be a recording of some pimply 17 year old.

[Andrew Walsh]

You have to wait for it to go all the way through if you missed yours. And like now all you have to do is open up Fandango.

[Luke Burbank]

I mean it's so incredibly easy now to know these things and even to stream these things a lot of the time. And yet I don't, I engage with so much less cinema than I used to, which I don't, I don't like about myself. But anyway, Becca and I was such a rainy Saturday. We were thinking, what should we do? We thought, well, let's go see a movie. So we went to go see that movie, A Real Pain. Which is kind of interesting to me because I was supposed to go interview Kieran Culkin about his role in that movie. And I ended up, the scheduling didn't work out. And then I basically for once in my life chose work life balance, decided to go judge a pet Halloween costume contest instead of being in New York on a Saturday. But anyway, the movie I think is really good, by the way. It's really, really good. Would recommend. It's Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are. They're cousins and their grandmother has passed away and they're cousins. But there's periods of their life where they're almost more like brothers. Like they just kind of did everything together but they've, they've grown apart because Jesse Eisenberg's character has kind of ended up in a fairly conventional life. He's married with a kid. He works in advertising, online advertising. And Kieran Culkin is kind of suffers from failure to launch. We've talked about hard launching today. He's sort of failure to launch. He's, you know, still living at home and kind of a little bit adrift. And they go to Poland to try to visit the place where their grandmother lived in Poland before she escaped the Nazis to come out to America. So that's the premise of the film. I thought it was really well executed. But we went to this place called the Living Room Theaters in Portland where they give you, you know, it's a pretty expanded dining menu. And I'd never been to this place before. I'd never been into the little theaters or whatever. So we go and we had like a half hour before the movie. It's also one of those places where like, and I love this, when you buy your tickets, they just say, what seats do you want? And they show you a little screen and you pick your seats. I mean, that's 80% of the anxiety around a movie is what seats am I going to be in? I think just, am I going to be way up against the screen or am I going to be way in the back or on the side or whatever? Like, as soon as you solve for that, then my, like, I'm like, great. Well, we've. We've got a whole half hour to do anything we want. Whereas if we didn't get to pre reserve our seats or pick our seats, I'd be in there right now because it would be so critical that I'm not getting stuck in a lousy seat.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, See, I, like, I know that I'm the heel on this one. Nobody in our audience agrees with me. I think I met one person in my life, and this was like a couple of months ago, who agrees with me that I just. These, these modern theaters with the. All of the modern sort of, we'll call them conveniences, are not for me. I find them inconvenient. I like to walk into a theater and scope, scope it out. Like, what are some good seats? Because I know I can pick a couple of seats that look great at 345, but by 4, by 355, maybe some jabronis have chosen seats on either side of me. And now like, I'm sort of. I guess that's the same deal.

[Luke Burbank]

Then do you get up and move?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I'm saying with assigned seats, you're sort of like kind of stuck where you are because I don't like the feeling of moving into another seat and then somebody else coming along and saying, hey, no, I have tickets for this seat. I really don't like ticketed seats in theaters. I love it. It's the worst, though. I mean, of all the things I dislike about these modern theaters, which we'll get into, I'm sure more now like, the reclining seats and the food and all that. I hate all of that. Like, this is not your living room. This is a public place.

[Luke Burbank]

Let's literally call it the Living Room theater. Yeah, Just. Well, I will tell you, I'll give them a credit on this one thing. When the guy who was very nice was selling me the tickets, he said, okay, well, here's all the available tickets. You know, these are available seats, and it's a very small theater, too. And I picked the seats. And he said, and if you don't like those seats, you can absolutely come back and we'll give you different seats. Like, he just threw that out there. Which I was like, wow, that was really thoughtful of you. So then Becca's using the bathroom, and I'm just kind of sitting at the bar trying to decide because it's also a weird time. It's like, 4:30. It's not quite dinner time. But also, I'm super hungry. We had gone on this run. We had run, like, 10 miles because I'm training for the Seattle Half Marathon. So it was kind of like I was famished. And so I asked the guy, hey, I'm looking on the thing, and it's like, they got a wide range of food there. They got burgers, and they got. And I was like, how about this Mediterranean plate? I was like, how long does that take to send out? He goes, oh, it's like. Because it takes, like, a minute. I was like, perfect. And, you know. And that's like, sliced up veggies and hummus and a couple of pita chips or whatever. So, like, cool. So I'm sitting there, and then Becca finishes up and comes out, and then she's sitting at the bar, and then we're, like, kind of waiting, and it's taking a while. And then she's like, what are we gonna do for popcorn? And I was like. And this is where probably, Andrew, you and Becca might bond. They give you the popcorn. We're watching the popcorn come out in, like, a sort of. I think they're actually plastic, but they look like they're white ceramic kind of angular bowls. So not round, but sort of like for like, a square bowl, if that makes sense.

[Andrew Walsh]

Popcorns in a bowl? Seriously? Is that what you're saying?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm just reporting what I saw on Saturday night.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, you're not on trial here. But I hate this place.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, listen, they. I thought.

[Andrew Walsh]

I am not in a relationship with.

[Luke Burbank]

They're gonna Hear him Always.

[Andrew Walsh]

Never.

[Luke Burbank]

Always or never. And you're never, like, hitting 16 at blackjack. So we. So Becca's like, well, what do we. What about popcorn and stuff? And I'm like, I think we order it here. And she goes, well, it's coming out in those bowls. I go, I think that's what they serve it in. She's like, all right. So. And then we get. So we order some candy. And again, everybody. I really like the people at this place a lot. A lot. Because, for instance, we ordered M and Ms. And I didn't realize that this had happened to me, Andrew. But I am a person who has not eaten a non peanut mm in 10 years. When I say M and M, I mean peanut M and M. Now, that's what my brain. My brain cannot conceive of. A time where MM's didn't have a peanut in them.

[Andrew Walsh]

We had a lot of. We don't have a lot of candy in the house usually, and probably because I don't have any willpower when we do. And we had a whole bunch of, like, just so much candy after Halloween, like most people do, because Genevieve bought all these bags for trick or treaters, and it just rained all night here, so I think one kid showed up or something. And so I found the stash of. Of leftover candy, like, kind of in this cupboard under the sink. Worst thing I could. Genevieve needs to hide this shit better. Anyway, I started eating so much candy over the past couple of weeks that for a while, I was referring to peanut MMs as dinner and regular M M's as dessert. Because, like, I thought peanut.

[Luke Burbank]

I actually think. You know what? I think there's a logic to that. I actually think that. That I could. I could argue that point. Because, yeah, there's a peanut in the peanut mm. Like a regular M and M. Like a what? What I grew up with eating as M and Ms. Now feels like just this tiny little chocolate pellet to me. This sad little chocolate pellet. Whereas a Peanut M and M, That's. That's really what I'm talking about. So we ordered M and Ms. And Red Vines and a bowl of popcorn, and then they brought out regular M&M's, and I went, oh, you know what? I'm so sorry. I was totally thinking peanut M and M. C goes. It happens all the time. Which made me think, oh, and by the way, that wasn't the guy who sold me the tickets either. So everyone we dealt with who worked there were exceedingly kind and polite. But so the Mediterranean Plate is like. So here is the complication, though. I mean, there's a couple. One of them is. There's clearly this thing where they keep saying, oh, we'll bring the food to you. But it's also clear that they'd rather say they didn't have to bring the food to us because it's a pain in their butt. You know, they've got to, like, figure out where you are. You got to tell them your seats, and they've got to basically run. It would be much easier if you could just take the food with you, because we're waiting now. The movie starts, or at least the preview start, in, like, three minutes. We still don't have the Mediterranean plate, which was supposed to take a minute. It's been 15 minutes now. No Mediterranean plate. And I'm. And I'm like, could we. Could you just bring it down to us then? Because I, you know, I love watching the trailers. It's my favorite. One of my favorite parts about the movie going experience. And the guy's like, yeah, yeah. He goes. And then he checks, you know, I. He goes, actually, you know, it just. It's ready. It's going to be one minute. And I'm like, oh, okay. This guy is like. And meanwhile, we have popcorn, Red Vines, now peanut M and ms, Diet Coke. Oh, and they don't carry the drinks down to you, by the way. He's like, yeah, we don't carry drinks. I was like, that makes sense. You probably don't want to be carrying drinks into a dark theater. Although, like, we're more qualified, by the way, because granted, it's plastic, it's not in glass, but it's in, like, tumblers. Like, this is not, you know, it's. It's. The thing is, because this is. The idea is that you can eat in this movie theater. The food is not being served to you in the theater. Safe containment that it would be if you were at a standard movie theater. In other words, the. The soda is just like a pint glass. Like a plastic pint glass that's got ice and soda in it. The popcorn is in a. Is in a bowl. Ida was not nearly as bothered by the bowl thing as you and Becca were, but maybe you guys should start seeing movies together at Uncle Al's antiquated theaters and more. You're very happy to get.

[Andrew Walsh]

All I want is to ride that goddamn roller coaster where there's popcorn popping around me and there's giant cups of Coca Cola with ice being poured into it, and we go, ideally There will.

[Luke Burbank]

Be a spring in the seat that's going mildly up your butt.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. And you know what? And I want to hear when somebody is walking on the floor, I want to hear that sound.

[Luke Burbank]

You want a child. You want a child losing a shoe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, because it's so.

[Luke Burbank]

To the dried soda pop.

[Andrew Walsh]

That floor is so sticky. People are walking in with two shoes and leaving with one.

[Luke Burbank]

How God intended it.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, okay, so now we have a lot of stuff we're carrying a lot of. Because the guy doesn't want to bring the Mediterranean plate down and they don't carry the drinks. So we've got like all this stuff and we've got our regular stuff. Like Becca's got her purse with whatever, you know. So we make our way into the theater and we get down to our seats. And I was very happy with our seats. We're in the second row. But it's a small theater, so this is actually the right size. There was no one sitting in front of us. And this actually maybe gets to your point a little bit, Andrew, about the saving of seats is great. Unless there's something non ideal about your seats. And when we come in, I look around in the very back row of the theater has tables in front of the chair. So little low tables that you put your food on. And then the very front row of the theater, so the row in front of us has almost like on the airplane, some kind of a little table device that's attached to the chair that you can put your stuff on. Would you believe the row that we're in? And I think maybe even the row behind us, just regular chairs with. Now granted, with luxurious cup holders. Like if you had, if you were just. If you brought a soda and like a bag of popcorn in, you could maybe make this work. You'd put your soda in the cupboard. It's like a. It is like a. You. These chairs do not recline, by the way. Nobody was in like full. Nobody was doing a teeter hang up at this theater. You'd be. You'd be happy to know, Andrew. They were just like. They were sort of a little nicer than a theater seat. But they didn't like lean way the hell back. They were just like a comfy. I say recliner, but I don't know if they had a reclining feature or not.

[Andrew Walsh]

What did you say about a teeter? I'm not familiar with that.

[Luke Burbank]

Familiar with the teeter hang ups.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is that when you're hanging or is that when you're tipping back in your chair in grade school. That was.

[Luke Burbank]

No, that was. That was this inversion board that was big in the infomercial world. In fact, one of our friends ex husband worked on the Teeter Hang Ups commercials. They were these infomercials a guy named Teeter had invented. Actually, I don't know if his name was Teeter because it is kind of Teeter Tottery. They were called Teeter Hang Ups. And he was this old guy and he would strap his feet into this inversion board and then he would invert himself completely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I believe his name is Teeter because I think that I'm looking this up now and. Or I'm thinking of a very similar situation where Veeves and I were unfamiliar with this. But we talked about it on after these messages. This is years ago. And when we found out that the dude's name was Teeter, we were like, oh, this was. This was in the stars.

[Luke Burbank]

This is.

[Andrew Walsh]

This. He had no choice.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes. So I wanted to establish that, like. Because I know one of the things you don't like is people sprawled out, like fully. Like, that wasn't happening in this theater. But the problem was, Andrew, there was no. I kept looking at our seats. So my seat was like. Again, it was like a very comfy. A beautiful seat for me to sit in to watch a movie. If I didn't also have a Mediterranean plate, a thing of popcorn. Again, the soda was handled because it was in the cup holder that I'm not going to complain about. We have the candy, so we're. I'm just like holding the Mediterranean plate and I'm sure Becca's having some of it. I'm having some of it. I'm having some of the hummus. We're not a big hummus family. Just generally. I'm just not that into hummus.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. When you said you got this place. I like this Mediterranean plate because I like most of the stuff that's on there minus like kind of if there's feta or something. But I was thinking like, is he going to eat the hummus? I've been secretly wondering is housing.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I wish this is how hungry I was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

But I said to Becca, I was like, can you eat some of this hummus? So this is mutually assured destruction. On our breath, please. But yeah, I mean, the basic. The basic thing is that because we don't eat a ton of meat, we're always. I'm always ordering something unless I go to a place that's specifically vegetarian. I'm always Ordering something that's one click to the side of whatever the specialty is. Because it's like, that's always the thing that doesn't have any meat in it. But so I'm sitting there, we're eating some of the vegetables. It's fine. I'm eating the hummus again. I'm just so hungry. I've got the pita chip. I'm just. I'm just ladling the hummus into my mouth. Like, are there calories on this plate? I'm eating them. So. Because I literally had. It's 4:30 at night. It's the first food that I've eaten today.

[Andrew Walsh]

Just big chunks of cucumber. By the way, I love the cucumber on a Mediterranean plate. Yes, yes.

[Luke Burbank]

And I was loving the cucumber. So then it's like, I don't know, half of the plate has been consumed. But now I'm like, getting excited about the popcorn and the candy. And I go to Becca, I go, do you want more of this? And she's like, no. She also, by the way, has not consumed any of the hummus, which is really, really, I don't think, being a good partner.

[Andrew Walsh]

That was against the agreed upon protocol.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, she never agreed to it. That's the thing. It was against the proposed.

[Andrew Walsh]

The proposed protocol.

[Luke Burbank]

I said, I said, are you in a relationship with hummus always? And she said, never. She's also not a hummus gal. So anyway, so I. I mean, you know where this story is going. The movie is now starting. I want to be eating popcorn when the mood. I don't want to be eating. I don't want to be eating hummus when the movie's going on. I don't know why. Just, like, spiritually, it feels like I need to be eating pieces of popcorn as the opening credits are rolling out.

[Andrew Walsh]

Of a shallow, angular bowl the way God intended.

[Luke Burbank]

But you know what I mean? Like, and I want to say, for the record, I'm not a big, you know, I don't go to these kinds of theaters where you can eat a full meal, like, all the time. Like, I don't actually think it's my dream to be like, tucking into a lasagna as the beginning of, you know, a movie is starting in a theater. Like, I do. I am into the tradition of, like, you're eating popcorn or you're eating candy. As the movie starts, something in my mind switched where I was like, I'm not going to be. I don't want to be dealing with a Mediterranean plate as the Opening credits of A Real Pain are starting. So I put the plate down because there's nobody sitting next to me. There's nobody sitting next to Becca. And the armrests are very large. And I put the plate down and I'm eating the popcorn, and I'm very excited. I'm at a movie and it's starting, and I'm totally intrigued. And literally right as the movie starts, there is a tremendous rattle. And I look over and the entire Mediterranean plate has slid down the armrest and flipped face down, hummus side down, into. Onto the floor next to us in the movie theater. And I just thought, if you are going to send people into this movie theater with. Because again, there were things on the menu. Can you imagine a giant burger, like, trying to eat, like, a giant, like, kind of messy cheeseburger or whatever with, like, you know, pickles and things falling out of it, just holding it on your lap, like, you have not. You have not thought this through. You should not be sending people into this theater with, like, three course meals when there's nowhere for them to put the food. Or some of the aisles have a place you can put the food and some don't. Like, now it's possible I was missing something. Although I really. Particularly when the movie was over, I really gave these chairs the once over because I knew I was going to talk about this with you, and I wanted to, like, make sure I wasn't just misunderstanding something. Like, there was actually, like, a table thing that I. And I couldn't find one in row B of Theater 6 at Living Room theaters in Portland. So unless there was something I'm missing, it was kind of like, either you're in a row that has a table, which would be great, or you're in one that doesn't, which we saw the outcome, and luckily there was no one else in the theater. No one was trying to get past us, so I just left it where it was. But the whole movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. You're thinking about it, of course, about.

[Luke Burbank]

How I was gonna have to clean this hummus up because I'm not gonna, like, leave this like this. I'm not gonna leave it for the staff. It's not their fault, really. I mean, sort of is, but not really. So the whole movie, I'm just. I'm enjoying the movie, but I'm. The back of my mind is like, do I have enough napkins? Like, how much hummus is on the floor right now? Do I have enough napkins to. To clean that up properly? Like, I'm. I'm 5% of my brain is thinking about this hummus the whole movie.

[Andrew Walsh]

When I was a kid. This is related. Just go with me on this. When I was a kid, it was my dream to live in like kind of a city or even more of a suburban area where I could ride my bike to see a movie. That was not possible in Valley City, Ohio. It was just country roads as far as the eye could see. No sidewalks, nowhere to go. When I was maybe 13 years old, my family moved to Medina, which was still by most standards kind of, kind of sparse as far as like kind of, if not population certainly sort of commerce is concerned. Like there was sort of a center of town you could go to. And I also got my first mountain bike around this time. And I don't remember the brand name but I can picture it. It was like day glow colors. I'll bet you my parents might be maybe even got it at like Sam's Club or something. But I loved this thing so much. This was the bike that a goose menaced me on one time. But we'll save that for another time. I know we're trying to string that along in case we ever run out of things to talk about. We always have the time of goose menaced Andrew on his mountain bike.

[Luke Burbank]

We got that in our back pocket.

[Andrew Walsh]

In our back pocket. And is bowling a sport? But anyway, I remember being so excited to live in a place that was just like kind of quasi like suburban sort of. And there was an old school little movie theater in the tiny town of Medina. So Medina, at this point, if you're really going to a store or something, you're going to the outskirts of Medina where there's going to be more of a shopping center or something. But there was still this sort of old school, you know, literally a gazebo in the middle of the old part of town sort of town. You know, there's I believe a various little niche stores and then an old movie theater. And I believe I know for I think I rode my bike to watch two different movies. I rode it into town. It was probably like a four mile bike ride or five or something. But I parked my beloved bike and I know one of the movies I saw was Hook and I went so we could figure out what year that was. And I remember locking my bike up outside and going in to watch Hook. And I also think I might have seen Father of the Bride. I don't know if my timing works out on that because I only lived in this house for probably like two years. Maybe if Those two came out around the same time. But I know that I had my dream of just being a kid who rode my bike to the movies by myself and I could watch a movie by myself. Maybe that's where my love of seeing movies by myself came. But my point is, what I remember most about seeing those movies was just being obsessed with how my bike was doing outside. I couldn't concentrate on the movie because my beloved bike and I had it locked up. But I was just. I'm just a nervous guy. The shiny guy is always nervous. Right? The shiny guy. And so I just remember like, trying to enjoy Hook, but the whole time being like, will my bike be out there when I leave?

[Luke Burbank]

And by the mean streets of Medina.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ohio, I'm just thinking, now I can't even think of a safer place to put your bike. You could put your bike out there.

[Luke Burbank]

Kid with a slingshot in his back pocket who's saluting a flag at a barbershop, is he going to take my bike?

[Andrew Walsh]

I could literally have put it outside the theater, not locked it up, put a sign that said free bike or I'm an easy mark and nobody would have touched it. But anyway. Yeah, so. But I don't. I can't imagine being able to knowing that there was like a splattered mess face down on the floor next to me, like knowing that I'm gonna have to deal with it or if somebody's going to come through the aisle or just like just having it down by. If I. If I dropped a Thin Mint or a Junior Mint down the crack of a seat, it still probably bother me for act one.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we made it through. Thankfully, I had the other update.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, did. You did clean it up though?

[Luke Burbank]

I did clean it up, yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

With tiny little napkins. How was that?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, what happened? I mean, the. The full and elongated and even more boring story is I did start by cleaning up with these little. It's another thing is that they gave. Becca asked, where are the napkins? I guess maybe for the popcorn or something. And the guy said, a different guy actually said they're right there. And what they were were those black plastic, like cocktail napkins, which are not plastic, but you know.

[Andrew Walsh]

I know you mean black. Yep. Yeah. Not super absorbent.

[Luke Burbank]

Not super absorbent. Not super. Yeah, like, you know, there's not. There's not much to them. Like that is a napkin that I think works exclusively to sit underneath a drink. I don't think it does any other purpose or effectively. Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Maybe you balance a stuffed mushroom on there during the grazing period before your friends get married.

[Luke Burbank]

There you go. Okay, those are the two uses for it. But cleaning up a biohazard. Exxon Valdez esque hummus spilling. I remember have I retold you this joke a million times that I didn't even understand it as a kid. But it was when I heard some grown up say which was, you know the guy who crashed the Exxon Valdez, which was this big oil tanker and it was in. Actually I don't know if it was called the Valdez, but was it in Valdez, Alaska?

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh that's funny. I always thought it was. I thought that was the name of.

[Luke Burbank]

I think it was the Valdez. Maybe it was named for one of the places that it went to a lot. But I think his name was like Joseph of Hazelwood or something. The captain. And it was a big environmental disaster and it was of course later it was found that he had been drinking and although you know, looking. I guess it's just the deal is if you're the captain one of those ships you should just never be drinking. I was going to say, I don't know, he might have had a glass of wine at dinner or something. Who knows when the crash happened. But the joke was how many captains does it take to drive the Exxon Valdez? One in a fifth.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, that is the, that is the joke. That is where I learned what a fifth fifth was.

[Luke Burbank]

I never learned what a fifth was. I didn't even know what. I just kept repeating that joke with literally no idea even what it meant. I just heard a grownup tell I.

[Andrew Walsh]

Love that we used to have and probably a lot of them were inappropriate and I'm not even going to bring them up here but like growing up in the 80s which was a much more coarse time, we told jokes as kids about major events, some of were tragic disasters. And looking back, what was it like to see Andy Walsh in third grade telling a joke? Now the XML I think was a little bit later than that. Yeah, that was 89, so maybe that's sixth grade for me. But still like just telling Exxon Valdez jokes that have to do with a bottle a fifth of whiskey, you know what I mean? That's literally where I learned what a fifth was. And when somebody explained it to me, I thought it was the funniest joke in the world. And I went around and told anybody with two ears and some patience but.

[Luke Burbank]

Like also this is where I don't want to slip into, you know, yelling at too many clouds but like, like I Have a hard time imagining that the average. Or like a fifth grader in 2024 is telling a similar joke about like the. What was that called? The Evermore. What was the boat that got stuck in like the Suez Canal or something?

[Andrew Walsh]

Don't know the name of it. Right. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Like, I don't feel like there are as many supply chain related jokes being repeated by fifth graders. Like, I don't, I don't see that for them. Like, I don't know. I don't hang out with a lot of fifth graders. I will tell you this. Becca is nephew Alexander is literally one of the smartest human beings I've ever met in my life. And he's. I don't know how old he is. He's maybe a freshman now, so he might have. Maybe he would have been telling those jokes as a kid. I don't want to assume that, that all kids these days are checked out. But I do think there was this weird thing because there was just less. There was less entertainment. We had to spend more time. And I'm not saying this was better, by the way. We spent more time listening to what the grownups were talking about because we just didn't have a Nintendo Switch. Like, I felt like my main form of entertainment as a kid was listening to the grownups talk. If you would have given me a Nintendo Switch or whatever, I would have been playing that. I promised you. That's more fun than listening to the grownups talk. But absent that, I was, you know, a sponge for the stuff they were saying. And you're right, much of it probably inappropriate.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And I don't even see. I feel like these jokes that I heard were from the playground as well. So I don't even think, like that's the funny thing. Like somebody else is listening to their parents. I guess because, I mean, we did have. Have Nintendo's, we had Ataris. Like that was out there. I mean, I'm trying to figure out like, how much of that it was just like you, because you're a precocious kid. I'm picturing you like under the table listening to the adults talk. And I was really that way. Yeah. So I could sort of see that. But. Yeah. I don't know if I'll go with you on that comparison of kids these days. And like, what, what the, you know, what the discourse is regarding, like, you know, like world events.

[Luke Burbank]

I'm just wondering if. And again, I think I was a, a bit of an oddball kid. I was probably much, much more. And you know, what's funny is like, Becca was actually this way as well. And so we can relate on a lot of things about like, you know, you know, like, just weird. I was watching Chris Hayes show the other night, and he was going through like a cabinet would be cabinet appointees over the years who were found basically who had to drop out. Because this was in the wake of Matt Gaetz dropping out, thank God. And it was. And it was just. It was laughable. The other things that in the previous versions of our politics had forced someone to drop out. And it was like, you know, Zoe. Zoe Baird. Wait, Zoe is Zoe Baird, the this American Life reporter?

[Andrew Walsh]

I know that name, but I'm having trouble.

[Luke Burbank]

I was about to go off on how I remember all these things from my childhood. But of course, now I'm com. I'm. I may be conflating names, but, like, they were going through these lists of these, like, political sort of quote unquote scandals, mostly about like, undocumented household workers, domestic workers. There's this period of time where every person who got nominated for something for a cabinet position, it turned out they had basically like a nanny who was undocumented, who they weren't paying the taxes on any.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Or. Or they had paid the taxes, but too late. Only when it was called to their attention. And they were just like, listing these like, like truly deep cuts from like, American politics in the 80s and 90s. And I knew every single one of them. At least I. I recognize the names of every single one of them, you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Know, and it is Zoe Baird who had that undocumented nanny specifically, by the way. I just wanted to confuse is because.

[Luke Burbank]

This morning I was on the knife's edge about if I'm going to fully. If I'm going to go in and become a TBT or this American Life partner, if I'm actually going to subscribe. Because what they were promoting was Zoe Chase.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Who's the Tal person interviewing Ira Glass about, like, his intros he's done over the years, like the beginning of that show, the first five minutes, where he's usually talking about something maybe in his life or someone else's life, kind of in a less produced way, you might say. And I saw that this. I was looking for something to listen to this morning for the Treadmill. And I was like, ooh, because I think Zoe Chase is one of the best radio reporters out there in the world. And so Zoe talking to Ira about this, and then I looked at it and it was like, you got to be a Tal. Life partner.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I was like, ah, they're gonna get me. But all that is to say, I was, I think, a very. I was a sort of a strange kid who was way too plugged in and obsessed with the kind of goings on in the world. So that doesn't mean that the kids these days. I bet you if I would have asked Brian Gator or Mike Klobur, Dan's or Kenny Higgins if I would have asked any of the kids on the schoolyard, they may have been equally. They may have also been pretty unfamiliar with the. With the deal with the Exxon Valdez at the time.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, maybe. And again, I don't want to get into it because they were very callous jokes, but we were kids, so I don't know how much we were responsible for it. But like there were major disasters, like the Challenger disaster. And I don't know about you, but.

[Luke Burbank]

I remember we had a lot of jokes.

[Andrew Walsh]

There were a lot of jokes lying around.

[Luke Burbank]

Those were real schoolyard jokes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

I think the grownups, I. Well, well, a grownup must have invented those because they were too. They were sort of too high concept for like a second grader. But I also have a feeling like the grownups, probably, I would hope, anyway, the grownups understood the gravity of that situation, so to speak. But as a kid, man, I was. I prided myself on my Challenger jokes. I had like 10 of them in my life.

[Andrew Walsh]

I don't like to admit it, but yeah, yeah, no, I had a tight five.

[Luke Burbank]

Like the more of those that you could have, like, that was like currency on the school yard.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly.

[Luke Burbank]

I got a new one, guys.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I guess I bring that up.

[Luke Burbank]

Just to say, is that plan B? If we run out of goose story, do I break out my Challenger jokes?

[Andrew Walsh]

Nope, not. Not on this one. You can do that on Luke and Andrew's Lifeboat podcast, which apparently still has an RSS stream. The. You and I had created an RSS stream, a backup because we weren't sure if how the transition would go, if.

[Luke Burbank]

APM was not going to allow us to public media.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Or if everything reaching the listeners, if.

[Andrew Walsh]

The files would transfer over. Okay. And the other day I was logged in, but for some reason it defaulted to the old Luke and Andrews Lifeboat, which just, I believe, still does not have anything populated in there. But yeah, I mean, that was such a huge event that you didn't have to be like. Like reading the newspapers. You didn't have to be precocious to know that. I mean, most of us watch that happen live in school. You know, like, it was just like it rocked the. And because there was a teacher on board, it hit very close to home. But. Yeah, and also. But we were callous kids. It was the 80s. We were like third graders smoking cigarettes, telling inappropriate jokes behind the 7 11.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, we. I mean, we had a lot of jokes about. There was a lot of Ethiopia jokes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

That we would. That we. Because it was like. Like, again, I didn't even know. I didn't know, like, particularly. I mean, I knew Ethiopia was, like, in Africa. I knew there was generally a famine somewhere. I mean, the thing is, if you think about it, there's probably, you know, on a human. On a sort of a catastrophe scale. There are probably, you know, famines going on right now and people who are, you know, who have food insecure. Doesn't even begin to describe it. Like, there's people starving all over the world right now. I don't know if it was just because Live Aid or something. They actually made a point to talk about it in the 80s in a way that then drove a whole bunch of just like. Yeah, horrendously evil and racist and mean jokes. Just like, you know. But. Yeah. On the schoolyard as a kid, it was like, if you could just have. If you could get your hands or get your brain on the new, you know, inappropriate joke. Like, it was like, you. You were sort of cool for the afternoon or something.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now I feel like. How did we get here? We were talking about the Exxon Val. Oh, we were talking about cleaning it up. You were cleaning it up with the little black napkins, I guess.

[Luke Burbank]

And. And I did. And then my hands were kind of covered in hummus, but I got it all back. The vegetables, luckily, were pretty dry, so they just.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Had to put them back up there with the leftover vegetables. Took like 30 of those napkins, got all the hummus up. Got it so that there was. There was no hummus on the ground, which was my standard for this. And then looked around and noticed that everyone else had left their plates on their tables. So I was like, well, I guess that's a thing we're allowed to do. Although we didn't have tables. So I kind of consolidated everything, cleaned it all up, and then placed our leftover dishes on one of the tables of the other row and then got the hell out of there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. I know that I heard you say you want to thank the donors. Before that, though, we have to wrap up a couple of quick things here. We don't have to. But we're going to. All right. I want to verify Roger Teeter was the founder of the Teeter Hang Ups. The Teeter hangups, the thing that can hang you upside down. It helped his back. So it was Roger Teeter. Secondly, this. I just want. I just want you to know about something. Do you know about the app Fandango that helps you, like, you know, like you can see.

[Luke Burbank]

Heard of it? I don't know if I've. I've never used the app version of it, but what I can tell you is that when I've interneted, like, is this movie playing near me? I often end up at the Fandango website.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And we don't. We don't see as many like, kind of. Of like kind of spur the moment movies as much as we used to, Genevieve and I. But we both have Fandango on our phone. And sometimes we'll just be having lunch on a Saturday and say, oh, you know what? We don't have anything to do. Let's go see a movie. Let's see what's on Fandango. And we can only say it in that way. It's impossible to say it any other way, especially when we're around each other. And do you have. I'm assuming you do not know why we say Fandango?

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think so. That's not a Clem. Fandango reference, right? That's not.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I don't know what that is either.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a. Well, you. You tell your Fandango story and then I'll tell mine.

[Andrew Walsh]

We all have our Fandango stories, don't we? It is a scene from Strangers with Candy and the, you know, Strangers with Candy. I don't know how much they stuck with it, but the idea was they were sort of like after school special formatted shows. And there was one where she's trying out. Out for the cheerleading squad. And so you think that that's the main thing, but really it turns out she doesn't know how to read. And we learn. So it's about illiteracy, but we learn it during tryouts for the cheer. So it's this weird combination of Jerry Blank being sort of like nervous and being judged by all these cheerleaders and of course by Noblet and. Or, I'm sorry, who's the art teacher? Jelen Jelinek. Yeah, everybody, like, judging her. And here, I'll just pick it up here. Give me a V I C T O R Y V I C T O R Y. What's it spelled? Win. Jerry, what does V I C T O R Y spell?

[Luke Burbank]

Fandango.

[Andrew Walsh]

She's literally. She reaches behind and picks a wedgie while saying fandango. And that, my friends, is why I can only say a fandango in that voice.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I don't even know what show this is from, but it's. It's some British show that has Matt Barry in it. You know, of course, Matt Barry, who we talk about a lot on the show these days from what we do in the shadows in New York City, et cetera. And I don't. Some of our listeners 100% know this bit better than I do. But there appeared to be some. This repeated bit where. So Matt Berry's character in whatever show this is is like a voiceover actor, does a lot of voiceover. And this part I really identify with, having done some voiceover stuff in my time. There's always, like, you're in a studio, you got headphones on, there's a microphone, and then there's like a room full of people, and they're talking to each other. Speaking of food, in my days of doing advertising, they always were just getting so much food catered in for some reason. It's like just eating, and then you're in this room and then you'll do something, and then they'll kind of talk amongst themselves, and then one of them will push down a button and say, like, oh, okay, Luke, try it this way. And then you go, okay. And then you do it again. And then there's like a long silence. They're all kind of putting their heads together. And then. Okay, we like the beginning, but try to. Let's swap, you know, so that's the line of communication. The bit on this show is that there is some guy named Clem Fandango. He is constantly reintroducing himself to Matt Berry's character.

[Andrew Walsh]

Every time he gets on the producer.

[Luke Burbank]

Every time he's like, it's Clem Fandango. And Matt Barry is incensed because he freaking knows who the guy is at this point. So let me just play you. This is a super cut, though. So this is across, I think, multiple episodes and scenes. We'll see if. I don't know if this will work or not, but here we go.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, this is Clem Fandango. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Clem Fandango.

[Luke Burbank]

Hi, Stephen. This is Clem Fandango. What the work experience, boy.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

Can you hear me, Stephen?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I can hear you. Clem Fandango. Where's that other prick?

[Luke Burbank]

Hi, Steven. This is Clem Fandango.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you hear me?

[Luke Burbank]

Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hi, Stephen.

[Luke Burbank]

This is Clem Fandango.

[Andrew Walsh]

Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango.

[Luke Burbank]

Hi, Stephen. This is Clem Fandango. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Clem Fandango just goes on and on like that.

[Andrew Walsh]

I can listen to that all day.

[Luke Burbank]

I love why he is so. I love how much that pleases you.

[Andrew Walsh]

There is just something about Matthew Perry that is just so inexplicably hilarious.

[Luke Burbank]

I'll send you the link. I would highly recommend. I mean, what we should do is figure out what the show is, because whoever came up with that, everybody. The wider realm of that show must be amazing.

[Andrew Walsh]

Whenever we talk about him, everybody's like, you got to watch the show. And of course, I can't remember it right now either, but everybody's like, if you like him, why are you not spending your evenings watching this old BBC?

[Luke Burbank]

I'm spending all my time cleaning up hummus spills at the living room Theater People.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you for being a tam.

[Luke Burbank]

All right, let's thank those donors who are making TBTL possible here it is, the holiday A week. It's Thanksgiving week, and we've got brand new shows for you each and every day, including a really fun one on Friday. Yeah, it's going to be one of our beloved crossover shows with our friends over at Text Me Back.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's right. I'm already nervous about. There's a moment where we're all supposed to bring something to the table. And I believe last time I brought a topic to the table, it was kind of a disaster. So I was a little nervous this weekend. Yes, it was tidings, and I think mine was I thought we'd all be on board with some old game show from the 70s or 80s, and you guys all just stared tidings blankly at me. Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't think that's what happened, but we will be doing that on Friday. We'll have a new show on Thursday. So the way we're able to do this.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, we're doing the sexiest meals that slay. You said for the Thanksgiving show.

[Luke Burbank]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did I give that away? I'm sorry. Were we.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I was going to try to kind of like, sort of tease that over the course of the week. Anyway. The reason that we are able to do five new shows a week is because this is our job, and this is our job. Because of people like Michael Seaton, who's in. Wait for it, Andrew. Westlake, Ohio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, I saw that. Westlake. Let's talk about theater, shall we? You have your Regal Cinema there, right in Crocker Park. You got your. And by the way, you probably do have to reserve your seats there. I don't know if they recline or not, but you're not going to be getting any. You're not going to be served popcorn and bowls at Crocker Park, I'll tell you that much right now. And you got your big giant eagle there. It's just at that giant eagle last time I was home. I know. Westlake, Ohio. Welcome.

[Luke Burbank]

You sure do.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Luke Burbank]

Thanks, Michael. What do you know about Riva, Virginia? That's where Stephen McConkey is. Riva, Virginia.

[Andrew Walsh]

I. I like to think there's an AMC there, but I honestly don't know for sure. I don't know for sure.

[Luke Burbank]

Riva, Virginia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wow. I wonder if anybody's ever done that before because that's actually a pretty good parody.

[Luke Burbank]

It's a town in Culpeper County, Virginia. Andrew, that sounds bucolic.

[Andrew Walsh]

It really does.

[Luke Burbank]

That sounds like I'm looking at the post office in Riva, Virginia. That is a, like, I mean, just a little bend in the road where you've got, I'm sure a couple of maybe an older gal running the post office in Riva, Culpepper County.

[Andrew Walsh]

I gotta get to the post office today. Okay.

[Luke Burbank]

Okay. Thanks, Stephen. Good reminder for you to do that, I need to go to my actual mailbox. This is my, my mail retrieval policy. Because everything important, mail wise, in my life is now just an email or a push notification from my bank or whatever that I tend to forget. And my mailbox, it's not like it's super far away, but it is the kind of thing where I need to put on the right kind of shoes and walk up the hill to my mailbox. And then eventually my mail person, who she's the absolute best, she'll just start bringing things down and putting them on my porch because the mailbox is too full to fit them. That's when I know I gotta go clear that thing up.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yep.

[Luke Burbank]

That's a much easier thing than you're doing driving all the way to the P.O. box. So if you can do it, I can do it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. The reason I paused there and. Well, because I wasn't sure if we were in a hurry or not. But also, I mean, I can literally do this in 30 seconds. I told you a couple of weeks ago that I had some debt collectors trying to get me to pay some medical bill that I had already paid. And so I'd taken a real tone with the company that sent me to the debt collection and a little bit with the debt collectors, although they were just doing their job. But I want to make it very clear this was something that I had paid. And there was a paperwork screw up on the side of the medical equipment provider. I had something similar happen to me. I got another notification from a different debt collection agency telling me I didn't pay a different bill that was related to some radiology work that I had done. And it gets very, very complicated because I had paid for the radiology, but I hadn't paid for the doctor's time. They split it up into a million different things.

[Luke Burbank]

My God.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. And they're like. And so I'm like, so I call the debt collect agency. I'm like, I got your thing here, but I need you guys to send me an actual invoice, because I never. And I took a real tone. Genevieve later on said, I heard you taking a tone. I was like, I was taking a tone. I was like, I never got an original invoice. Like, I don't know exactly what this is for. I would like it itemized. And I don't like the fact that this is going to collections right away. And I definitely took a tone with the person on the phone at the desk. Debt collection agency, because I was very. She's like, we sent an invoice. I'm like, no, you didn't. Or they didn't or whatever. And I sort of like. And I was kind of, like, very snark with her. Literally, later that day, as I'm eating my lunch, Genevieve's like, I'm so sorry. I just found three pieces of mail for you that I had taken, and it was in my sewing room, and it was, like, from a month or two ago, and it was from the radiology place. It was the bill that when the woman said they had sent it, I had laughed in a scoffy way. I was like, sure, you did.

[Luke Burbank]

But wait a minute. They're sending you to collections after a month?

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, I don't know. I still don't understand why I didn't see more of this bill, But I think it did sort of remind me that we're not super good. We're trying to be better about it, but we're not super good with mail anyway, because kind of like, you, like, most of the important stuff is done Digitally these days. So sometimes we'll really let it build up and then you pull it out and it's just like all these flyers and then just like every, you know, 90% of the mail in your mailbox, 90, 95% of it is just shit you don't need, you know, and so maybe I missed a few of these. But then definitely the final notice was in Genevieve sewing room. It was literally like maybe two hours after she said, I really heard you taking a tone. I was like, yeah, but I would.

[Luke Burbank]

Still be like, I would still be mad at the radiology folks, whoever sent it to the collection, because that just feels. Listen, I know a thing or two about being sent to collections. People have been sending me to collections for a long time, babe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

And I feel like it's supposed to take way long, maybe way longer than that. And like, you know, because it's supposed to be like, after a long, long time of them not being able to get the money from you, then what they do is they sell the debt. I mean, that's the thing that's so. Also annoying about the whole thing is the collection people. You don't know, you don't really owe them any money. You owed someone else money. The someone else decided we're not going to get this money, so they sold the debt for pennies on the dollar to these mercenaries, and now these mercenaries are trying to come for the entire amount. But, like, you never had any business with the mercenaries, you know?

[Andrew Walsh]

You know, that's really frustrating. That's funny, because I'm trying to. Did I pay the mercenary or did I go back and end up paying the radiology people? I don't know. I didn't realize that that was sort of the deal. I thought they just hire them as sort of like, you know, dogs they can sic on me, but then I actually pay the original.

[Luke Burbank]

That might also be. That might be a version of it, too. I've mostly been sent to the ones where the people, the initial person I owed has given up on it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, you went to debtors jail for a while, didn't you?

[Luke Burbank]

Spell. Honestly, I'll be. I'll be honest with you. Those tomatoes hurt when the townspeople would throw them when I was in the town square.

[Andrew Walsh]

Seem right.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank God we've got folks like Mike Pietelli in Gig Harbor, Washington, who are keeping us out of debtors prison because of supporting tbtl because of this being a job. Thanks, Mike.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thank you.

[Luke Burbank]

Appreciate you. Thanks also to Joshua Corey, who's in Vienna, Virginia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, Vienna, Virginia. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

We got two. We got Riva, Virginia and Vienna. Virginia. Big. It's a big show for the folks from the Volunteer State. No, that's Tennessee. What's Virginia?

[Andrew Walsh]

Show me State.

[Luke Burbank]

That's Missouri.

[Andrew Walsh]

I thought. Oh, the show me State is Missouri.

[Luke Burbank]

Well, I thought Tennessee is the Volunteer State because the Tennessee University of Tennessee are the volunteers. What does that make Virginia?

[Andrew Walsh]

What is it? What is it a slogan? I'm looking at here. Virginia.

[Luke Burbank]

Lovers for Lovers.

[Andrew Walsh]

But. But that's different, isn't it? Because that's like a branding thing, tourism thing. Yeah. So I don't know what the. Like, Washington Post. Why is Virginia for Lovers? That was just in.

[Luke Burbank]

I think we actually might have even read that article.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, this looks familiar.

[Luke Burbank]

Kind of a crazy old story. Anyway, thanks, Joshua. Appreciate you. Elise Pew is in Brooksville, Florida. What a distribution. We got Ohio, we got Virginia, we got Washington, we got Florida, we got a lease. We got Samantha Hartman of Missoula, Montana.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, nice. Missoula. Classic American city.

[Luke Burbank]

Absolutely love it. Home of Hellgate High, where Walt Burbank went to school for two years. Thank you to all of our donors for making TBTL possible today. We really and truly could not be here doing it without you.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here I go once again with the email. Every week, I hope that it's from a female. Oh, man. It's not from a female.

[Luke Burbank]

I know, I know. I know many of you. Some of you, maybe one of you were like, isn't this where he plays the top story sound effect? Why am I hearing the emails? Well, we're going to do the Tropicana and Jaguar story tomorrow because we're running a little short on time. But I did not want to let any more time go by before I basically owned up to my mistake. On Friday, I was excited to talk about the origins of something that I call skid row. It's really your fault for bringing up the band Skid Row Andrew, which you thought for a moment was playing in Peewee's big adventure when he's running through the sound stage.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, and I was totally wrong about that.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, you weren't that wrong. It was the same general vibe.

[Andrew Walsh]

Twisted Sister, so. But my mistake led to you getting pilloried by the.

[Luke Burbank]

And that's what I want to really say here is this is essentially your fault.

[Andrew Walsh]

Exactly. Because take responsibility.

[Luke Burbank]

You led me. You led me down a primrose path, my friend, where I was talking about the origins of the term skid row and how my telling of things was that in Seattle, during an economically depressed time or During. Actually, you know what? Maybe it wasn't even economically depressed. I don't know. It was just a time when people were looking for work and there was a lot of timber, a lot of lumber still in Seattle. In the places on the hills, in the places that seem so incredibly urban now, they used to just be forests. And they would cut the trees down and they would skid them down like Yesler. And there would be folks down at the base of the hill kind of looking for work and. And so that became called skid row. And I said they were in a Hooverville down there because, you know, Herbert Hoover was, I think, president during a time of real economic downturn. I don't know if it was the Great Depression or not, but anyway, Hooverville's were a thing. Well, this is what Ernie said. Hey, Luke, you got the etymology of the term skid row almost right. Originally the term was skid road. In the 1920s, the term became a metaphor for any place where people who were down on their luck hung out. It was universalized or misheard as row. So the origins apparently were skid row. So take that Sebastian Bach, that the lead singer of skid row.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think so.

[Luke Burbank]

Also, the logs weren't rolled down the hills, they were skidded lengthwise. I believe the original skid road is what was what is now Yesler Way in Pioneer Square. Okay, so I did have that part right. The problem though was that this was happening apparently, according to our good friend Larry Asher over at the School of Visual Concepts. He said, this is. By the way, I love Larry so much. He said the subject line is next time you will be even writer. Way to emphasize the positive. Not you were loud, wrong burbs. But like, here's a. Let me, let me call you into an opportunity to be even more correct next time, sir.

[Andrew Walsh]

Setting you up for success in the future.

[Luke Burbank]

He says. Yes, it's true that the first skid road referred to the street probably what is now Yesler Way, where the logs were skidded down to the mill on the Seattle waterfront. This was the 1850s though, while Hooverville's didn't pop up until after the stock market crash in 1929. So your chronology is a little off. But here's the truly amazing part. The first unofficial mayor of Hooverville. Yep, it was Jake from State Farm.

[Andrew Walsh]

I remember that now because he was trying to parallel park.

[Luke Burbank]

I remember like it was yesterday. Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right. He was trying to parallel park on Yesler before. It was.

[Luke Burbank]

I was trying to parallel park a Model T in front of Hoover, Ooga. You know. You know where else I think this. I blended these concepts together of it being like Hoover related. Hoovervilles is because there was that bar. I don't know if it's still there. Hooverville in Sodo. That I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, yeah, down by the. Yeah, down by the stadium.

[Luke Burbank]

Down by the stadium. And we used, we used to go there. I feel like that was a hot zip for us for a while. Like before Mariners games and things like that. And maybe even just some socializing. The mummy even like worked there for a hot second. Like I said.

[Andrew Walsh]

Holy.

[Luke Burbank]

I forgot about being like a weird, like, considering. Well, you know, if you think about Mount Baker, where I did live, it is just. I mean, north, Southwise, it's pretty much equal to where I was. So for some reason I felt like we were spending a lot of time at that Hooverville bar for a while. And so in my mind I was like, well, of course the bar is called Hooverville because it's skid row and that's where the Hooverville was. So I was wrong. But Jake from State Farm was there.

[Andrew Walsh]

Certainly, certainly. Yeah. I only went. For whatever it's worth, I only went to Hooverville around Mariners games. And usually I do believe with you or the gang or something. And I gotta say, like, I just remember it just always being so crowded. Like my whole thing of going to a bar around a baseball game or a sporting event like that is trying to find a place that nobody knows about, but that is also in walking distance, which those places don't exist.

[Luke Burbank]

Right. There is not a bar that nobody.

[Andrew Walsh]

Knows about that isn't walking distance of the game. And it's funny, like now I have, I have like fond memories of it, but I also remember, like feeling anxious walking in that bar, just being like, are we gonna find a seat? You know, like, are we just gonna be jostled the whole time? I don't like being jostled, but I actually have very fond memories of that place, I think. Wasn't that a peanut shell on the floor place too? Or am I misremembering that? Am I being too romantic in my.

[Luke Burbank]

I don't know. Again, I'm, I'm. I'm really. Right now I'm questioning everything, Andrew. Sure. It seems, you know, what I would say this cultural, spiritually. It was a peanuts on the floor kind of.

[Andrew Walsh]

It really was. Yeah.

[Luke Burbank]

You know, kind of board, like lots of board games and like, you know, just on a shelf and like, things to do and areas to lounge and Stuff like that was a cool spot. I really did like it, actually.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I really liked it as well. And by the way, me saying that, and I mean, not that it. It matters, but, like, I'm not. I'm not dissing the place. I'm just scared of crowds in a bar like that that is so close to the. The stadium. We get crowded. And I was just, like, worried about that. But actually, I. If I recall, they did a pretty good job. I think my anxiety was always for naught. You'd go in there, and the service was good, and it was a cozy little place.

[Luke Burbank]

You had an email that you wanted to.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, sure, yeah. One quick. Here. I have a voice email here. Yeah, I think it was. This is a fun way to do it, too. It's a voice memo emailed in by our friend Max. We're talking about closet organization and specifically the fact that probably I have. I'm gonna say, like, probably 50% of my closet, maybe 40% of my closet. The things on the hangers, the clothes on the hangers are things I don't even wear or I wear so rarely. It's like if I'm going to a wedding in three years, I might wear one or something. But I also have a bunch of shirts and stuff that are either, you know, aspirational. I'll fit into them again, or maybe my arms will grow an extra 3. Or nostalgic or something. Or nostalgia.

[Luke Burbank]

That's kind of a thing you have fond memories of. Maybe something a time when you used to wear it a lot or something you wore it to, certainly.

[Andrew Walsh]

So anyway, Max wanted to weigh in. Hey, fellas, it's Max and Brooklyn, a.

[Luke Burbank]

Friend of mine recommended for decluttering a closet. If you turn all of the hangers.

[Andrew Walsh]

Around so that the. The hook is facing the back of the closet. In other words, make it hard to.

[Luke Burbank]

Get the hanger out of the closet.

[Andrew Walsh]

And then you set a time period.

[Luke Burbank]

Six months, a year, three months, whatever.

[Andrew Walsh]

And every time you wear an item, you get to turn that hanger around to the easy way, the normal way of hanging it. And at the end of that period of time, you look and see what clothes are still hanging with the hangers backwards. And then you go, okay, I haven't worn these. Maybe it's time to donate those.

[Luke Burbank]

So I thought I'd share. What you do is so important.

[Andrew Walsh]

Power adding.

[Luke Burbank]

Thank you, Max.

[Andrew Walsh]

I just sound sarcastic when he says it.

[Luke Burbank]

Max is an actor. He's one of the finest actors of our time. And I assume he is pretending to Be a person who makes fun of him.

[Andrew Walsh]

Bravo. I will say I love a technique like that. I love hearing about that. I love imagining myself being that person. But the thing for me is not having trouble identifying which are the clothes that I should donate. I know what they are. I can do that right now without. Without doing that trick. I love that trick. And if you're somebody who is trying to sort of figure that out, that would be a great way to do it. But for me, it's like. No, I know. I mean, I can picture my, like, kind. I don't know if goldenrod is the right way, but, like, kind of a yellowish, golden colored shirt.

[Luke Burbank]

Golden.

[Andrew Walsh]

Really sounds like I'm like, golden. Like I'm going to the disco donut.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andrew Walsh]

But anyway, I just know these shirts that I have that I'm never going to wear again, but I just kind of can't quite get rid of. I've identified them.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, I have been. Because I moved down to this newer bedroom set. Set up and have been obsessing. In fact, literally, like Sunday morning, Becca was like, how's it going? I was like, well, I've. I've basically reorganized the closet four times. Like, I'm obsessed with getting it completely dialed in since it's like, it's a fresh start. And one of the things I've been doing is just getting rid of a ton. And, you know, I mean, I. You know, I did. I got rid of a bunch of stuff when I moved down here. Like, I, you know, moved from Bellingham down here. Like, I.

[Andrew Walsh]

There's.

[Luke Burbank]

There's a lot of stuff. Stuff that. That I left behind, but somehow I still managed to hang on to too much stuff that's like, I don't wear it. It's not particularly flattering on me or even a style that I'm into. And like, the relief that I have felt from donating lots and lots of pairs of shoes and. And I don't donate underwear. I don't think anybody needs that. I'll throw that out. But, like, starting over with. So I have, like. I don't know how many pairs. 20 pairs of, like, new boxer brief underwear that I like. That's all, like, in good shape because I just got it. And then, you know, I have a drawer of socks. I don't have a million pairs. I just have, like, 20 pairs, which is. Should be enough. You know what I mean? Like, something about gaining. Gaining a sense of, well, being through the losing of actual, like, old clothes has been kind of profound. Like, I literally Took a picture of my closet yesterday when it was all done and sent it to Becca. I was like, this makes me feel happy. And it's come from parting with a bunch of stuff that I just don't wear anymore.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yep, I did that. I did sort of an underwear and sock purge. Boy, that's. There's one day a year that we set aside where we can purge all of our underwear and socks, because these things will sort of hang on for a while, and you'll sort of know, yeah, these socks aren't really the good ones anymore, but you kind of drag them along for too long, and then eventually, like, it might be, like, you say, like, a closet redo or something in your life where you're moving. But, yeah, I don't know. Six months ago or something. I think I was just like, all right, all of my boxers, I am wearing them one last time, but when I'm done with them, I'm throwing them all in the garbage can. I'm just buying, like, two big, you know, like, bags of the styles that I like or whatever. And then. And it was such a good feeling. Now, though, I'm sort of like, well, how often do I do this? Because I'm starting to see, like, some of them are kind of like, you know, there's, like, not. Not no grossness. I mean, generally speaking, it's just like, you know, they just. The elastic on these things aren't as good. The material starts to, you know, just like. But it. Like, it's so hard to tell yourself, like, well, this thing isn't. I can still wear this. I could still wear this for a long time, but at what point is it not wasteful just to, like, call it a day on these. On these things?

[Luke Burbank]

Well, and I, like, one of my problems is, like, gym socks and running T shirts, because no matter how beat up a running T shirt gets, you can always. I mean, you're just wearing it for jogging, so it's so hard to throw those out. Because I'm like, yeah, but what if. If I want to go for a jog and I have no shirts? It's like, has that ever happened, Luke? No, because you have a hundred of them, and they're falling apart. Same thing with socks. Like, I have so many pairs of gym socks because the gym sock technology. And I say gym sock. I don't mean, like, they have, like, stripes on them, and I pull them up to my calves. I'm just talking about socks you would wear maybe for working out or something. They. The technology is that they last a long time, actually. Like, so I have these Nike Dry Fit socks. Socks. So many of them. And then just other weird ones from various. However I got them, I cannot throw socks out for some reason because I have this feeling like, well, these are still good. And what if I need them? What if I. One day I have no socks left, all the socks are dirty, and these are the only ones. I'll be so screwed. It's like, has that ever happened? No. Like, I have drawers that are brimming that are bursting with old pairs of socks that I just can't, for some reason, seem to part with.

[Andrew Walsh]

When Bubbles lived with you, your cat, did you feed her wet food?

[Luke Burbank]

Let me try to think. No, I did not. I fed her this, like, some kind of super, like, literally, like a healthy but for wild cats kind of dry food that the vet had recommended.

[Andrew Walsh]

We feed our cats wet food. One can for each of them in the morning and one can in the evening. And sometimes when I'm opening up a can, I think to myself, boy, I hope I'm never in an apocalyptic situation where I have to be. Be eating this. And, like, I was sort of thinking about your Sasha. Like, well, what if someday, like, it's hard for me and I'm not a hoarder. I. In fact, I like to. I try to be the opposite of that. I don't like to just, like, kind of. I like having objects that bring me joy, but if it doesn't bring me joy, then I really don't want it around. But there's sometimes a part of me when I'm throwing something away that I think, is there going to. Is something going to happen in the future where I'm going to look back, back at these days of largess, and I'm gonna be so mad at myself for even, like, using too many paper towels or throwing away a pair of socks too early.

[Luke Burbank]

That's such a dangerous mindset.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, God.

[Luke Burbank]

Not to be confused with the movie Dangerous Mindset, right? Where Coolio keeps rapping about, like, sparking joy and minimalism.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Dangerous Mindsets.

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah. Been spending most our lives hanging on to these socks. We don't need Michelle Pfeiffer.

[Andrew Walsh]

Right? I was trying to. I was like, who's the main?

[Luke Burbank]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, anyway, I think we're going with the show title, who is Spiro Crow, though. I think that has to be what we're going with today.

[Luke Burbank]

Love it. I mean, I thought Dangerous Mindsets was a maybe. Maybe got in. Maybe Indiana Jones in Under the Door.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean you like? I mean, I don't know. We'll make these decisions and. But we'll have a four hour meeting to discuss that later, as we always do.

[Luke Burbank]

I think Brian is putting up the Christmas lights. Andrew.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, your neighbor, he's got a.

[Luke Burbank]

He's got a ladder out. Usually means. Usually means it's Christmas light time up here. High above the mighty Columbia.

[Andrew Walsh]

Is he passive aggressively decorating your ragweed or whatever it is you have out there?

[Luke Burbank]

Tansy tmz. Which is a rag. I think it's a rag wart or something. So you're not far off.

[Andrew Walsh]

There you go.

[Luke Burbank]

No, I think he's just focusing on casa de Brian, but.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, we got to remember this tomorrow. I got to tell you, ask me about the extension cord tomorrow. I have a real. We have a real neighbor conundrum going on.

[Luke Burbank]

Oh, I love it. Okay, I'm putting it in. I'm adding this. Ask Andrew about extension. Good. Tomorrow's show is pretty much handled because we so much we didn't get to today. All right, thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for you. In the meantime, have a great Monday. Be safe putting up those Christmas lights. And please remember, no mountain too tall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And good luck to all.

[Luke Burbank]

Fandango power out.