#4474 Bright, Almost Neon Orange Hosiery

Summary

TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live
Episode #4474: Bright, Almost Neon Orange Hosiery
Release Date: May 26, 2025

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Introduction

In episode #4474 of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live, hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh welcome special guest Camaro Kev from the Stack of Dimes podcast. Recorded on Memorial Day from the Madrona Hill studio amidst a rain squall, the trio dives into a blend of personal anecdotes, sports updates, and humorous exchanges.

Whirly Ball Adventures

The conversation kicks off with Luke's invitation to a Whirly Ball event, setting the stage for a nostalgic and energetic discussion about the game. Camaro Kev shares his excitement and memories, saying, "I'm running around forking and you're getting flipping. You're getting so excited" [09:28]. Andrew elaborates on the inclusive fun of Whirly Ball, noting, "It's a game that is defined by if you can run faster than someone else or jump higher, you get all the fun of flying around a court. But it's obviously like everyone can have the same amount of fun" [05:33].

Camaro reminisces about being part of a private wedding ceremony held at Whirly Ball in Edmonds, highlighting how the activity fosters effortless small talk and camaraderie: "Everybody was so just like, just an easy, breezy small talk conversation" [06:20]. The hosts express a keen interest in potentially organizing a TBTL Whirly Ball crossover event, with Andrew musing, "I have a feeling that the turnout would be fairly high on that" [10:15].

Dazzling Donor Shout-Outs

Midway through the episode, Luke and Andrew take a moment to thank their donors. They highlight Danielle Greenawalt from Philadelphia, connecting her generosity to Andrew's personal anecdotes about his parents' quirky food habits: "My mother exists mostly on potato sticks, which is a wild thing for like a 71-year-old woman" [16:00]. The hosts also give a heartfelt shout-out to their kids, Chloe and Dashiell, who have been loyal listeners, and humorously address a forged autograph: "That's not really my signature" [18:12].

TBTL Junior Sluggers Update

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to updating listeners on the TBTL Junior Sluggers, their little league baseball team. Andrew provides a play-by-play of recent games, emphasizing the team's spirit despite a challenging season. He recounts a pivotal moment where a young pitcher, Ali, overcomes his nerves with the team's encouragement: "Ali fought through his apprehensions and gave it his all. I'm so proud of the dude for battling through and hanging in there" [27:37].

Camaro adds his thoughts on the importance of maintaining team morale, comparing the Junior Sluggers' dedication to the podcast’s own journey: "They're playing the game the right way, even if we aren't necessarily playing it well. That's like this podcast, Andrew." [37:00]. The hosts reflect on the upcoming postseason, maintaining optimism about the team's potential in the double-elimination tournament despite previous losses.

Listener Interaction and Musical Contributions

The episode features a segment where listeners like Jeremy Merrill share their experiences and contributions. Jeremy expresses heartfelt gratitude, stating, "What you do is so important. Never stop." [22:17]. Additionally, Jeremy provides a musical closing with piano music from his son, enhancing the episode's warm and community-driven feel.

Camaro Kev’s Bar Rescue Tale

In a humorous and relatable segment, Camaro Kev narrates his solo venture to rescue a struggling bar in Vancouver, Washington. He describes the chaotic scene: "Someone behind me just puked on the floor and they took a towel and just put it over the pile" [43:55]. The story highlights the challenges of maintaining hospitality standards, with Ben empathizing over similar past experiences. Camaro reflects on his changing tastes in bars as they age, pondering whether their preferences have evolved or if it's simply the aging process changing their perceptions: "I love dive bars, but this is on another level." [51:09].

Final Thoughts and Closing

As the episode winds down, Andrew and Camaro discuss their future plans, including Andrew's upcoming interview with Metallica and Camaro's journey back from the bar rescue. They share light-hearted banter and express appreciation for their listeners, concluding with a reminder to enjoy the day and a playful sign-off: "Have a great Memorial Day. Please remember, no Mountain Too Tall." [56:10].

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Notable Quotes:

• Camaro Kev: "I'm running around forking and you're getting flipping. You're getting so excited." [09:28]
• Andrew Walsh: "It's a game that is defined by if you can run faster than someone else or jump higher, you get all the fun of flying around a court. But it's obviously like everyone can have the same amount of fun." [05:33]
• Andrew Walsh: "Ali fought through his apprehensions and gave it his all. I'm so proud of the dude for battling through and hanging in there." [27:37]
• Camaro Kev: "I love dive bars, but this is on another level." [51:09]
• Andrew Walsh: "Have a great Memorial Day. Please remember, no Mountain Too Tall." [56:10]

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This episode of TBTL: Too Beautiful To Live blends humor, heartfelt moments, and community updates, offering listeners an engaging glimpse into the hosts' lives and passions. Whether discussing little league triumphs, bar adventures, or expressing gratitude to their supporters, Luke, Andrew, and Camaro create a warm and entertaining narrative that resonates with both regular and new listeners.

Transcript

[Luke Burbank]

Listen, wife's going out tonight. I'm gonna have the guys over. We're gonna watch the fish on the big screen. I'm gonna grill up some brats. I got a micro brew chilling in my wet bar and I was gonna warm up some ziti. Why don't you come by if you got some triple fried pizza dough or some kind of frozen meatballs or whatever it is, you can warm it up in my microwave or you can warm it up back at home, bring it over, pipe and hop. And if you want to bring over a vegetable medley, a crudite, figure out how much lunch meat you can spare. Maybe bring over a pound and a half, two pounds of black forest ham, maybe a Dijon mustard spread. Any kind of dessert, maybe a German chocolate cake or something like that. I tell you what would make you a big hit with the dudes is get some key lime pie a la mode. I'm talking about ice cream on the side, right? And you have got to have a bite of my homemade ziti.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm just gonna warm her up.

[Luke Burbank]

She's been in the freeze.

[Camaro Kev]

Thanks for the invite, but you know I love her.

[Luke Burbank]

Those hot mozzarella sticks, cube them up, put them in some marinara sauce. You have them on standby, of course. You can't go wrong with some sour cream and onion. So long as you bring ridged chips.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah.

[Camaro Kev]

Tbtl.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, T bone, time for some serious crunching. I've only ever said I love you to two men my entire life. Stone cold Steve Austin and a guy in a dark club who I mistook for stone cold Steve Austin.

[Ben]

It's ten o'clock in the morning.

[Camaro Kev]

I'm in the Charleston Town Center Mall.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I think I'm the first one in this bathroom this morning.

[Ben]

It's perfectly clean.

[Andrew Walsh]

So look, why don't you download my. It's free. Of course.

[Camaro Kev]

We do appreciate donations.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anybody know what this is?

[Ben]

Huh?

[Andrew Walsh]

All of this is the digestive system. And now we're gonna have a couple of guys who's gonna give us a presentation about what happens when the digestive system isn't working properly. Well, all right. Hello, good morning, and welcome, everyone, to a Monday edition of tbtl, the show that just might be too beautiful to live. I can't believe you're still on the air. My name is Luke Burbank. I am your host. It is. I'm not even supposed to be here today. Memorial Day, my friends, as I join you from the Madrona Hill studio where we're experiencing a rain squall didn't know.

[Camaro Kev]

You like to get wet, though.

[Andrew Walsh]

How rude here on this Memorial Day for it to rain. This is lousy. Of course, we are here working because we like to produce and provide you with piping hot, fresh podcast content five days a week. It's not 365 days a year because we do take weekends off, but however many days of the week there are, that's how many TBTLs there are for you each year. Brand new to listen to. And here we find ourselves at episode 4473 in a collector series. Let the fun begin. And of course we have to record a new show today because we've got an update on the TBTL Junior Sluggers. Your Junior Sluggers, kids and fantasy who have been tearing it up there in the Parkside Little League of East Portland. Also, we have a special friend who is apparently going to stop by the program today. This is special.

[Ben]

This is special.

[Andrew Walsh]

Our buddy Camaro Kev from the Stack of Dimes podcast. And you blew it. Is passing through. Is passing through the region. And I said, hey, it's a holiday. We're gonna have kind of a freeform jazzy show. Why don't you pop in? And he said, sure. And he ensured it being free form and jazzy by getting here roughly 1/2 hour late. So he's gonna just show up when he shows up and we're gonna hand him some headphones and we're gonna see how this all goes. We will be sharing a microphone which has to do with my limited technical abilities here in the Madrona Hill studio. We'll hopefully that will all work. And then of course, we're going to talk to this guy. He is the longest running cobra of the show, maybe best known for his depictions of the tall ships. He's coming off of an absolute scorching performance at Whirly Ball yesterday. You play to win the game. I tried to get some much needed professional consultation from him and he said I can't. And he sent me a picture of a Whirly Ball court. He's Andrew Walsh and he's joining me right now. Good morning, my friend.

[Camaro Kev]

I'll ask you what I asked you via text from the scene of the excitement yesterday. Luke, how is whirlyball so fun? We've talked about it on the show before. We went down a little memory lane on Friday. You know, you and I had you introduced me to whirlyball. I believe I played twice in my life, maybe three times. I think you were there for all, if not most of Them.

[Andrew Walsh]

And those would also be the only times I've played. I knew of it just from the sign up Aurora Avenue.

[Camaro Kev]

But what a sign. I mean, from the sign. Even the sign is beautiful.

[Andrew Walsh]

It starts with the sign.

[Camaro Kev]

It really is.

[Andrew Walsh]

If only we had a song about signs that I could play.

[Camaro Kev]

Huh. Interesting. Maybe we could produce something and punch it in and post. But honestly. So I knew it was fun. I have very fond memories of playing. But this is a true story. Be weird if it wasn't. I mentioned to you the reason we played whirlyball yesterday is a friend of ours, or a couple of friends of ours, I should say, got married. Very low key, private ceremony that they did, I believe on kayaks, in fact. And then they were just gathering all of their friends at this whirly ball place in Edmonds. And again, we described this like, kind of like a come. It's like you're on a court, you're playing kind of like basketball and badminton at the same time, only you're in bumper cars. Yeah. And you're bumping around and so much fun.

[Andrew Walsh]

That's why it's so fun. Because this is not a game that is defined by if you can run faster than someone else or jump higher, you get all the fun of flying around a court. But it's obviously like everyone can have the same amount of fun.

[Camaro Kev]

Exactly. And also, yet, as I said several times, somehow it was still more exercise than I've gotten in a long time.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm like, I can see that you're shifting around in that.

[Camaro Kev]

I'm running around forking and you're getting flipping. You're getting so excited. You get so into it. But the truth is, when we showed up, these friends of ours are dear friends, but we don't really know the rest of their crew. Right. Like, we knew them as neighbors back in Wallingford. And this was a gathering of a bunch of people that they knew throughout their life and their various jobs and travels or whatever. And we knew nobody but the bride and groom. And that's why this was the guy.

[Andrew Walsh]

That yelled at you about the parking. Right. You guys eventually became good friends.

[Camaro Kev]

Exactly. Funny that he asked me to be his best man. No, no, no, no. This is my buddy Mike who lived above us and we became kind of fast friends there in Wallingford. And it was kind of. I don't. I want to reflect on something, but it's not interesting to the audience. But it's kind of sweet that I knew Mike before he met Nina and now they got married like maybe eight years later. And I feel like as I get older, I don't know if this maths out, but as I get older, I feel like there's fewer situations like that sort of where you know, somebody as a single person and then they get together. I don't know. It's just very, very sweet.

[Andrew Walsh]

Makes sense.

[Camaro Kev]

And you know what? I don't. Honestly, I don't. They don't listen to this show, so I'm not saying this for them, but I also just had a thought as I was leaving. I do want to come back to Whirly Ball in a second. But getting to know their friends even before the activity start. Before the activity started. And I do think that there's something about having an activity that does bond people. But even before that, it was so easy to make small talk with everybody there as more and more people are sort of crowding into the. Into the waiting area and we're waiting for the fun to begin. I can be awkward. I know you say I'm not, but I can be awkward. I find conversations awkward. And if I meet somebody who isn't giving me a lot conversationally, it. I feel like it can get really awkward really quickly. And everybody was so just like, just an easy, breezy small talk conversation. And I think. I think small talk is more difficult than maybe it's cracked up to be sometimes. And I just think it's a real reflection of the people who are at the heart of a friend group like that, when all of their. And I was just thinking about that on the way home, and it sounds corny, like I'm giving them a toast now, but I promise you they will not. They shall not hear this. I'll cut this out of the show if I. If I must.

[Andrew Walsh]

We actually broadcast at a frequency that Mike and Nina are unable to hear due to ear injury years ago.

[Camaro Kev]

So I was just, like, kind of appreciative of the. Of the group of friends that they had there. But here's my broader point. It was a really big group. We Knew there's like 40 or 50 people were packing in there to play Whirly Ball. So I said to Viv several times, like, I'm just happy to be there. Like, if I don't even get into one of the bumper cars and like, everybody else just gets a turn, that's fine. I can hang out. And like, they have a. Until you win candy crane machine. Like, I mean, there's things to keep me occupied in this place, sure, but. But then we. We go in There they give a little like, kind of instructional talk about how to, you know, play whirly ball or whatever. Because if you haven't played and were.

[Andrew Walsh]

You basically like me? When they try to explain the food at Din Tai, I was like, it's.

[Camaro Kev]

Not my first save it, sucker. But no, they. They do a pretty good. I feel like I'm my dad. Those kids do a pretty good job of making it entertaining as they kind of explain the ins and outs of how these little carts work and everything. But point is, at the very, you know, they're like, okay, now we have two courts reserved. Basically the whole place reserved for this place. So, you know, anybody who wants to play, go ahead and play. And so I kind of stand back, I make sure that there's, you know, everybody's getting a turn, but it looked like there's one extra car for the first game. So I'm like, okay, I'll play. So I get in there and then the second that first game is over, I'm like, how do I play? Every. Every single game? I.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was all of your chill.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, God, if I ever even had chill. But I truly was like, I'm happ just to hang out in this sort of fun place, lobby. But the second I started playing whirly ball, it's just like, you have to drag me out of that whirly ball car. I was so. I was just so in my element. Like, I. During the 10 minute matches, you forget everything, Luke. I mean, Obama could still be in office. Who knows?

[Andrew Walsh]

This is why you needed this.

[Camaro Kev]

It's true. Like, I think this is the first time I've truly not had any intrusive thoughts about the state of the world or the state of my hairline in a long time. Like 10 minutes of pure joy where the rest of the world just disappears. I cannot say enough great things about whirlyball.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, I was. You know, I don't want to. I don't want to promise anything. And also, you didn't respond to this specifically, but I could see a world in which some sort of a TBTL whirly ball crossover event would be a pretty fun thing.

[Camaro Kev]

That's not me saying thumbs up. I gave it a. Oh, you did? Okay. Yeah. Even scheming in the. In the way home, like, is there a way to do that? It's a pretty small space, but yeah, we were scheming and dreaming though.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's a hot zip for us too. So I have a feeling that the turnout would be fairly. Be fairly high on that but yeah, Whirly Ball is a. It is a true joy that I need to get back to.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, definitely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Again, I've only done it a couple of times in my life. Maybe next time I'm in the Chicagoland area. Oh, by the way, to clarify that, I think I misstated, I said there's only two places and it's Seattle and Chicago. And that's totally untrue. It's in various places. Some places it had been there and then it sort of moved. But it might be in your town. Don't lose heart. If you're not in Chicago or Seattle, you may have Whirlyball near you.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, I was learning that too, because I remember there was one in like, is it Roslyn, Georgia, or somewhere kind of nearish Atlanta? And that one closed. But as I was looking around, I'm like, oh, A friend of mine said that her mom got married at a Whirly Ball in the Cleveland area. And I'm like, I had no idea there was one even in the Cleveland area. So, yeah, these people who knew that.

[Andrew Walsh]

There was so much matrimonial bliss going on related to the Whirly Ball process. Hey, Andrew.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

I have big news here.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, Big news.

[Andrew Walsh]

Joining us here in the Madrona Hill studio on this shared microphone experience is our dear friend. Look who's back from the Stack of Dimes podcast. Did you blew it. It's our buddy Camaro. Kev. Hey, dude.

[Ben]

Hey, guys. How's it going? What'd I miss? What I miss?

[Andrew Walsh]

Just Andrew absolutely dominating at Whirly Ball over the weekend.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, I didn't. First of all, I love. I love this Soggy Bottom Boys bit that you guys are doing with the shared microphone. It's really.

[Andrew Walsh]

I'm thinking more like an 80s hair band where we've got to sing back to back.

[Camaro Kev]

Yes. I love that. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Here's just the quick story on this is yesterday afternoon Camaro Kevin. I were texting and he was going to be passing through as he should come on the show. And that was before I asked myself the question, can I hook up two microphones in this room? Now, I should be able to, except, as you'll notice, Kevin, I don't have a mixing board anymore. I mean, I do have one, but it is so frequently the case that it's just me here or if we have a guest, they're on this system that we use now. Or if we'd done. We did the thon from here, but Andrew set it all up with his fancy Gear. So I realized yesterday that I have now become incapable of resetting up my mixing board in any capacity. And the only thing that was going to be doable was for us to just get real up close and personal on this. Mike. I hope you're okay with that.

[Ben]

So I get to be Michael Anthony and you're Sammy Hagar?

[Andrew Walsh]

I guess I don't get to be dlr.

[Ben]

Oh.

[Camaro Kev]

Ow.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay. You know, you can just keep moving up by five.

[Camaro Kev]

Dude, what was the deal?

[Andrew Walsh]

What was the David Lee Roth performance that Roden sent around the other day? Texted us what was going on with that? Is he where. You know that performance that he was doing? Somebody said it was like a cover band covering Van Halen.

[Ben]

That was like he had a moment where he was a. There was a bluegrass Van Halen album. So I think it was a bunch of bluegrass artists doing Van Halen hits, and he joined them just to do jump Live bluegrass picking.

[Camaro Kev]

Was it called Picking on Van Halen? There's a whole picking on series. I don't know. I have know about this.

[Ben]

Maybe. I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Am I able to ask you, Camaro, after the break? Because we'll thank some donors. We're going to give an update on our baseball team, the Junior Sluggers. I know you were at your nephew's baseball tournament this weekend, but I also know that you were out and about somewhat in Vancouver, Washington, and I want to hear about this bar rescue situation. Are you authorized to speak on this? Sure. Okay, sure. Okay. Let's take some toners, and then we'll get into that. We was hoping for some razzle dazzle. Razzle dazzle. That's right, man. Razzle dazzle. On your mark. On your mark.

[Ben]

Get set, get set now.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ready? Ready, go. Everybody rattle dazzle. All right, let's thank some dazzling donors. The podcasting never stops around here, even on Memorial Day. And it's because, of course, the donations, thankfully, have also not stopped. They keep coming in and makes it so we can do this for our job. Thanks to a dazzling donor, Danielle Greenawalt today out there in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[Camaro Kev]

Hey, you have some connections to Philly?

[Andrew Walsh]

I do.

[Camaro Kev]

I don't know about.

[Andrew Walsh]

I do. And one of my direct connections, my mother Susie, was here the last couple of days, and it was a great time. I love my mother. I love hanging out with mother. I feel like our relationship has actually deepened over the years and into adulthood, which is a really nice feeling. It brings me no closer to understanding her food decisions and the food that she brings to my house. When she's going to be here for a couple of days, my dad does as well. But my dad just brings is like some kind of off brand Cheetos, some Vienna fingers and some, some unsweetened applesauce, just whatever he can grab from the house. But then my mom shows up and it's like a second wave. It's like Omaha beach and you had the people getting out of the, you know, going to establish the beachhead. That's what my dad does. He's jumping out of that like amphibious vehicle hoping he survives. And then my mom comes through later with the big guns. Like I was just taking pictures of it last night to try to remember exactly what was going on. Let's see. Well, this is just some Winco foods, salsa con queso, cheese dip. That's fairly normal. But let's see, there's a bunch of pictures of my parents. Do it here. Then you've got, you've got your unsweetened, your Indian summer unsweetened applesauce. You've got potato sticks. Have you ever seen potato sticks, Kev?

[Ben]

Those are like those picnic shoestring potatoes.

[Andrew Walsh]

My mother essentially, who is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this is why this is relevant to Danielle's donation. My mother exists mostly on potato sticks, which is a wild thing for like a 71 year old woman. But like when you go to their house, there are potato sticks everywhere. It's one of her. My mother also brought a like I'd say a half of a, of a bowl of salad. This is a thing that my parents do if they're somewhere like their house or my house and they eat some salad but they don't finish it, they will put Saran Wrap over the bowl and save this. I'll show this to you, Andrew. This wilted salad situation. Also they're the kind of people who will put a half consumed glass of milk back in the fridge.

[Ben]

Oh sure.

[Andrew Walsh]

Around your house with Anita. Do you guys ever do that? No, that would not be, that wouldn't be normal. My mom also got this Aura Bora lime cardamom, zero sugar sparkling water. And I said, mom, where did you get that? And she said the food bank. And I said, why are you going to the food bank? She goes, they have too much stuff. And they let seniors go there. And sometimes I'll pick up a soda or something. I was like, okay, well live your life. A half of a peach pie from Safeway.

[Ben]

Oh yeah, like I thought that was like an empanada.

[Andrew Walsh]

Anyway, it just keeps going. But that's all that I say I'm deeply connected to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by way of Susie Kelly.

[Camaro Kev]

Can I ask you one question, though? Your whole description there in the sort of the waves of battle, was that purposely said today on Memorial Day or were you just a freeform jazz sort of.

[Andrew Walsh]

I was. I have to be honest. I was freestyling. But it's so often the case that brought us to a place of reverence.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, okay.

[Andrew Walsh]

A place of relevance here on this Memorial Day. Some gave all. Some potted. All. All potted some. Happy Memorial Day. To Danielle, who says excited for our annual TBTL dazzling donor message. Shout out to our kids, Chloe and Dashiell, who've spent their entire 15 and 11 years listening to TBTL with us. What up? Chloe and Dashiell.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

They're amazing kids and we're so lucky to be their parents. Thanks to the. For the Philly live show and after party, Dashiell has his autograph poster hanging up in his room.

[Camaro Kev]

That's the one that was. That. That's not legit. That's not legit on ebay. Don't try to sell it. That's not really my signature.

[Andrew Walsh]

Because you weren't there.

[Camaro Kev]

Well, no, it was. Somebody forged my signature, remember?

[Andrew Walsh]

Was that Sklaroff?

[Camaro Kev]

I think Sklaroff forged my. It's a. It's literally a forgery. It's literally a forgery.

[Andrew Walsh]

I believe that my mother also. Everything goes back to Susie. I think my mom signed some posters too that night. Maybe even Dashiell.

[Camaro Kev]

As long as she didn't sign my name, that's okay. Anyway, enjoy.

[Andrew Walsh]

She signed your name to some loan docs.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, good.

[Andrew Walsh]

And you're going to need to get on that quickly because the interest is building. Luke, it was fun chatting with your mom and your aunt and your cousins. I can attest that they were impressed by the community that you have built. Annual plug for my husband Chris's interior architecture firm, Bunker Workshop. Check out the website and the insta page. It's a bunker workshop. B U N K E R Workshop.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, that's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Checking on this. Look at that. Are you kidding me right now? That's. I mean, I'm have to tear out my entire kitchen down in the house because this is. Oh, my gosh. Incredible. Incredible. I want to say high end, but I don't want to scare anyone off of the price point, but boy, does it ever look like this is high design. Bunker Workshop.

[Camaro Kev]

So beautiful.

[Andrew Walsh]

Good stuff. Chris and Danielle, thanks. And shout out to Chloe and Dashiell, maestro on your Mark. On your mark.

[Ben]

Get set.

[Andrew Walsh]

Get set now. Ready? Ready. Go. Everybody rattle.

[Ben]

Settle.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's Jeremy Merrill in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm gonna be at a truck stop in. Not in Des Moines, but in Iowa in a couple of weeks.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

The world's largest truck stop. Just because I've been trying to see more truck stops.

[Camaro Kev]

No, you've been trying to meet people. Get out there.

[Andrew Walsh]

I've been trying to. Yeah. Get out of my comfort zone.

[Camaro Kev]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Spend more time in the showers at the Loves Truck Stop. I love you.

[Ben]

It was a Loves.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah. You're just like, I'm going to be in a truck stop in Iowa. I'm going to be at a truck stop in Iowa next week. If anybody's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Hey. If anybody's Swinging through. No, it has its own name. It's like a city. It has like a dentist on site. That's the whole bit.

[Ben]

It's not one of the ones advertising on Red Eye Radio.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like Greg Gutfeld?

[Ben]

No, no. There's actual. Well, let's not get into it. Overnight radio show called Red Eye Radio that replaced kind of Art Bell.

[Andrew Walsh]

No.

[Ben]

Yeah. And it's live and it's.

[Andrew Walsh]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Are you telling me coast to coast is done?

[Ben]

No, it's just another option that you can have if you're a station that needs something live and overnights, and it's called Red Eye Radio, but they exclusively, like, the advertising is specifically for truckers. So you get a lot of loves, a lot of, like, places to fix your brakes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Flying J, Sure. Yeah. I'm intrigued just by hearing there's a new overnight AM radio show on the landscape.

[Ben]

When I say new, I mean like.

[Andrew Walsh]

In the last 20 years, I've never. What's the Greg Gutfeld Show? Red. I believe it is Red Eye or something. I would give that, as you like to say, a day in court. By the way, that's one of your most oft cited quotes on this show. Kev is giving something a day in.

[Camaro Kev]

Court and swangling into a place.

[Andrew Walsh]

Swangling in comes up a lot. Jeremy says, hello, my beautiful business boys. A lot has happened since I wrote my dazzling donor message. Last year. I quit my job. I took up recreational marijuana. Congratulations, Jeremy.

[Camaro Kev]

Check it out.

[Andrew Walsh]

And I've aged, aged multiple years in the one year that has passed. I'm assuming that's more like politics than the recreational marijuana.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, good question. But I'm assuming otherwise.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's kind of a strong argument against recreational ganja. My message last year inquired about the status of future TBTL Road Trips I encourage you to plan a future TBTL road trip adventure. Those have been some of my favorite moments of the show. Jeremy, that's really heartening to hear because, you know, we certainly have fun, have had fun on these adventures, but it's never quite clear to us if that's actually good podcasting or not or if it's just fun for us. Andrew to be in an RV lot in New Mexico listening to Mike Zannino hit a home run, as we call the Miracle under we had fun that night. We went to the casino. We took a shuttle bus to the casino. That was a night. But is it good for the listeners? It sounds like Jeremy's enjoying it.

[Camaro Kev]

Yes. And I was trying to do a little bit of by the way, we are almost exactly two weeks away from the anniversary of the Miracle on Dirt. By the way, that was June 7th. It falls on a Saturday this year. I don't know how you plan on celebrating. If you want to do a special podcast on Saturday, do Quick Dial Up. I don't know.

[Andrew Walsh]

Absolutely.

[Camaro Kev]

Saturday, June 7th. Put on your calendar. But yeah, I guess we have been staying a little bit closer to home recently since we went independent because we didn't have travel funds or anything. But I think we're trying to cook something up this year that'll get us a little bit further away from home.

[Andrew Walsh]

We're cooking something up and it's not just the books.

[Camaro Kev]

That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

It's. It's this year's tbt, which I'm very excited for everybody to find out about when we get closer to that. In the meantime, Jeremy says those have been some of my favorite moments of the show. I renew my request from last year and hold out hope that the upcoming as of this message tbtlethon will involve the business boys adventuring off to some remote location. Most importantly, I want to thank you both from the bottom of my heart for the hours of escapism that you provide, especially in these trying times. Truly, what you do is so important. Never stop. I've attached a sound file of me playing piano while my son explains some Pokemon related things to my wife in the background. I love this music. Playing while there is a quiet conversation in the background was a topic of the show for a while when Luke was really into a recent Youth Lagoon album. That is true. And by the way, Jeremy, I listened to that Youth Lagoon album while mowing the lawn yesterday, so some things never change around here. The song that I'm playing is Him a la Amor. The same song that Celine Dion sang at the opening of the last Olympic Games. And so, Andrew, you've got this audio. I guess we're gonna go out with this today on this special Memorial Day program.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, let's do that. Let's play this. So again, it's about a minute of Jeremy playing piano and it's got a lot of ambient noise and he mentions his kiddo kind of chatting in the background. I think you're going to like it, Luke, but let's play it at the end of the show and we'll. We'll go out with that today.

[Andrew Walsh]

Okay, we'll do. Jeremy, thank you so much for supporting tbt. We truly could not do this without you.

[Ben]

Hello and welcome to Top Story.

[Andrew Walsh]

We have a fairly epic Update on the TBTL Junior Slugger. If you could watch the YouTube of this, Kevin, it's still shots of like, Andre Dawson and like Gorman Thomas and like various luminaries from the world of Major league baseball circa 1987. And it just gives me life. This is from this week in Baseball. Don't sue us, Mel Allen. Of course, the TBT Junior Sluggers are starting to kind of. They're in the home stretch. They're wrapping up the season. They are playing on Saturday and I'm going to that game. Andrew.

[Camaro Kev]

Nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

Finally getting eyes on them was going to go like a couple Saturdays ago when they were rained out, which raised the question, how committed are we to this Junior Sluggers? And I mean, we're out here, we're out here buying uniforms, buying banners, giving a huge amount of attention to the team, and then we're not playing because it's a little rainy.

[Ben]

Can't they work something out with the city to build a dome or something?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah. Retractable roof, maybe threatening. Maybe threaten East Portland that if they don't build them a stadium, they'll go to West Portland.

[Camaro Kev]

I mean, I was gonna say, if they can't build a stadium with a retractable roof with our donations, like, what are they doing with our money, with our sponsorship?

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, honestly, we'll have to ask some questions. Those are off season questions. In the meantime, Coach Ben had said, on Monday, May 12, your TBTL junior sluggers took the field against the Hollywood Rose City Pit Vipers. Kevin, this is what they're naming Little league teams. Pit Viper. Were any of the teams at your nephew's tournament called the Pit Vipers?

[Ben]

No. There was Oswego something or other.

[Andrew Walsh]

Lake Oswego Laces.

[Ben]

That's my nephew's laces.

[Andrew Walsh]

I like that. That's actually really smart. You lace the ball, you lace up your shoes. Well this is, these are, let's just say some younger players in the, in the little league and I believe that the players are allowed as a team to name the team and you get some real doozies.

[Ben]

Dangerous.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, it's a dangerous game all right. We played the Arrow City Pit Viper. Still feeling the high from our second win of the season. Don't ask how many games we've had total, Kevin. No more than two. Many more than two. Two of them have been wins. We came to the game with hope in our hearts and wings on our heels. So Saul, AKA Big Red, stepped up on the hill for the sluggers and did a valiant job against the formidable Pit Vipers lineup. Saul's been one of our aces all season, but sometimes even the greats struggle. The Vipers locked in early on Saul's fastball and put up six runs over the first two innings. To Saul's credit, he hung in there, riding the highs and the lows and always focusing on the next pitch. The sluggers offense put up a single run over the first two innings. Atlas, also known as Slappy, got a seeing eye hit into left field and proceeded to cause chaos on the bases, stealing three bases over the next five pitches. Outside of this dazzling display of speed, the sluggers lineup was quiet, stymied by quality Pit viper pitching. In the third inning we had one of those beautiful moments that epitomize what little league baseball is all about. Ali AKA the Dude. I like how everyone got a nickname on the like last two games of the season. These are all new nicknames to me.

[Camaro Kev]

I love it.

[Andrew Walsh]

Ali's been asked to pitch for several has been asking to pitch for several weeks and had been training for the opportunity both with the team and in daily extra sessions with his dad. We finally had the chance to get him on the mound and he was super excited to get a chance. However, as he was warming up all he got a case of the nerves and by the time the first batter stepped up to the plate he was pulling to be removed from the game. Pleading rather as you can tell Kevin, my printer is running out of toner so there's a streak of non printed letters in the paragraphs. I could just read this off the computer but I'm old fashioned this way. He was pleading to be removed from the game. The sluggers immediately huddled around Ollie encouraging him to hang in there and give it a try. Even heard one of our players repeat a Coach Ben mantra. We're Here with you, we win and lose as a team. With this reinforcement, Ali fought through his apprehensions and gave it his all results aside, I'm so proud of the dude for battling through and hanging in there and doing something difficult even though he was scared to do it. Good job, Ollie.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, I love that.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was like Andrew playing whirly ball yesterday.

[Camaro Kev]

He was scared. That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

He didn't want to do it. But then he locked in.

[Camaro Kev]

That's right.

[Andrew Walsh]

Shout out here to the Pit Vipers coach. All right, I'll allow it. Although I feel like strike one, you let your team name themselves the Pit Vipers. When she saw we had a young struggling pitcher, she encouraged her players to swing at anything close to the plate. That is actually pretty sweet. That's what Dan Wilson has been doing recently with the Mariners, Houston, and it's rough. It's rough out there. Although we did, we did get a heaping help in a garb sauce yesterday, Andrew, which is.

[Camaro Kev]

I missed it, but I saw.

[Andrew Walsh]

I rarely get to say that unironically. Yeah. Mitch Garver. Since I, I give the guy grief when he's, when he's down. I got to give him credit when he does. Hit a two out double in the first inning. The pitch Pit Viper coach encouraged her team to swing at anything near the plate. This is huge. There's nothing more dispiriting to a pitcher or a defense than a non stop parade of walks. Swinging at marginal pitches to get the ball in play. It gives the defense a chance to make outs. The sluggers offense came alive in the second half of the game, scoring four runs in the third inning and five runs in the fourth. The highlight was a three RBI double notched by Yarrow, AKA Hit it to Tomorrow. I guess that's Yarrow's new. I call Euro, I call Yarrow. What's a coffee related nickname? We could call this because I think that's the kid that gets a coffee when he hits a home.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, sure, yeah. How about Flat White? Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

What's a coffee, Dave?

[Camaro Kev]

I don't know. I was gonna say. I was gonna say Americano, Triple Brew, Yarrow, but I don't know what a triple Brew.

[Andrew Walsh]

How about Cold Brew?

[Camaro Kev]

Cold Brew. Ooh, he's like ice. He's got cold brew in his veins.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yarrow, consider your new nickname being Cold Brew. Cold Brew. Alas, it was too little, too late. Final score. You know what? I can't even read this because of the printing. And I think it's also kind of good because we didn't win. We lost to the Pit Vipers.

[Camaro Kev]

As you. As one usually does when one is facing something called the Pit Vipers, one usually does not walk away from that with a victory unscathed.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now then, Coach Ben says that they were scheduled to play May 17. The game was rained out. We've already covered that. Instead of an exciting game of baseball, I spent the day repainting woodwork in my home. Lord save me from what my life will become in the off season.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh man, this man needs baseball more than us.

[Andrew Walsh]

He sure does. Instead, we had to wait until Wednesday to play again. It's our third matchup with the Parkside Dominators again.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, come on.

[Andrew Walsh]

I feel like you just know. You kind of know going in against the team. We're called the like. Well, we call them the Junior Sluggers, but I think we're the Gators, right?

[Camaro Kev]

Oh yeah. I think we're the Subs, right? Wait, no, I. I can't remember.

[Andrew Walsh]

Nope. There's a lot of jokes I want to make there that I won't during a child related segment on the program. But yes, good reminder this, that wasn't me trying to low key tell you anything. We played the Dominators, one of the few teams we've beaten in the past. There's not much positive to say about this game. Weird Wednesday evening vibes, invisibly tired players resulted in a low key, error prone game. The one highlight in the final inning, Armani, AKA Light speed. I feel like coach Ben used part of that Saturday rain out to come up with a nickname for everybody. He literally jumped in the air to tomahawk a pitch that was at least 3ft above the strike zone. He ripped it into right field and the moment he made contact it was clear that Armani was not going to stop running. He made the turn at first and like an unstoppable object, he disrupted the relay throw to the second baseman without stopping. He pivoted towards third, making the wide approach of a player who knows he's heading home. He crossed the plate before the infielders could even throw it to the catcher. Armani is widely acknowledged as the fastest player in the league. He's recently figured out how to use that speed to turn even weak contact into multi base hits. Bright side, bright spot aside, final score. Also having trouble seeing this one. Andrew Kevin can confirm. We also cannot. This is also not legible, this score. We'll just say not a W for our beloved.

[Camaro Kev]

For some reason it's tear streaked and you can't quite make out what the final score was.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes, exactly. They're my tears in there. So here we are with the final regular season game. So I guess the game that we're going to go see on Saturday is technically the postseason. This is the rematch of the rain out game with our favorite color mismatch team, the Orange Socks. Astute TBT listeners will remember that in our first meeting the Orange Socks were bizarrely wearing green socks. I'm pleased to report that they have since righted the ship and are now wearing bright, almost neon orange hosiery. Side note, that's your show title there. Bright almost neon orange hosiery.

[Camaro Kev]

All right, fine.

[Andrew Walsh]

Thanks. You know, that's one less thing to do on this holiday. Thanks. Coach Ben Bryson, AKA Bulldog, took the hill for the sluggers. Bryson's been one of our most solid pitchers all season. He doesn't overwhelm with speed, but he is a strikeout throwing machine. Kept it up this game, keeping the ball over the plate, challenging hitters to put the ball in play and trusting his defense to get outs. Began the game recording two quicks out. Quick outs. The Orange Socks strung together a series of hits and they gave up three runs in the inning. We pulled even in the bottom of the frame with singles from Bryson, Armani and a fielder's choice by Nico, AKA K. Rico. Nico, K. Rico and walks by Yarrow and Atlas AKA Cold Brew. In the second, Bryson again notched two easy outs before a series of errors, including three consecutive missed catches by our first baseman. Net of the Orange Socks. Five runs. I, I like that. Coach Ben is. Is not naming the first base person on this because that's, you know, that would be tough. That's a tough. Sounds like a tough inning for that person. That sounds like they pulled a real Dylan Moore. Was it Dylan Moore? Possibly. Did you see the end of the game yesterday, Andrew?

[Camaro Kev]

No, I did not. I heard, I think it was on in the car maybe. And I just heard some real disappointment. That's right. We, we lost with some sort of a walk off situation I'm assuming.

[Andrew Walsh]

And we nearly gave it away in the top of the. Or, excuse me, the bottom of the eighth inning because we, we like to do this thing where we replace everybody in the infield at the same time so no one's in a groove.

[Camaro Kev]

Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

And it's really smart baseball. It's. It's real. Galaxy brain from Cafe Lagos. Favorite favorite customer, Dan Wilson. And he. So you have JP Crawford who is. Has taken no reps at shortstop in the game, throwing to Dylan Moore. Who's taken no reps at first base in the game. And guess what happens? The first ball that's hit to him, he under throws Dylan Moore, who does not make the scoop, and the guy gets to second base. No outs. It's like, well, how. How could we have foreseen this happening? I don't know. Five minutes around a baseball team, Dan. Anyway, back to the sluggers in the second. Bryson again notched two easy outs before. We're talking about the errors. We've talked about that. We don't need to dwell on it. The sluggers got those runs back in the bottom of the inning, though. Hard earned walks by Tommy T. Bone Wilder, the wild man, and Armani, along with a double by Saul and a single. But yes, my cold hey. There was a single by Cold Brew which tied the game at eight. The see sawing continued in the third with the Orange Sox scoring another five runs. Unfortunately, the Saugers couldn't keep up with the scoring. Our bats went silent in the final inning and we ended up losing. We lost by six runs. It was. You wouldn't call this a pitcher's duel.

[Camaro Kev]

No, as I say, very high scoring game, though. I mean, 16 to 10. We did.

[Andrew Walsh]

The good news is we got 10 runs. The bet is that they got 16.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, sure, absolutely.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now we're into coach Ben's final thought. As a Little league coach with an overwhelmingly losing record, I have to find silver linings where I can. Here's the big positive from this loss, and I 100% promise that this actually happened. After the game, the opposing team's coach's wife told me that we were, quote, the classiest team they've played all year. Her words paraphrased. Your kids are out there having fun. The coaches are cheering everyone on, including players on the other team. Well, Ben, that might be part of the problem. I wouldn't go too hard on that. You're not arguing balls with the umpire. I wish we could play you guys each and every week. I'll take some solace that the sluggers are playing the game the right way, even if we aren't necessarily playing it well. That's like this podcast, Andrew. We're doing it right, even though we don't have very many listeners.

[Camaro Kev]

Although you do call, you do challenge a lot of balls and strikes as I'm chatting.

[Andrew Walsh]

I do, Absolutely. I'm getting that. That's another. That was a first timer last night. Dan Wilson getting tossed.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, did. He did get tossed.

[Andrew Walsh]

First time in his career.

[Camaro Kev]

Balls and strikes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like what Was balls and strikes and he was. He was wrong. It was absolutely a strike. He was mad about a third strike call.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But in his entire playing career and managing career, he's never been.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, even as a player, he's never gotten. That's. Yes.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yes.

[Ben]

Well, yeah, because he hasn't been a coach.

[Andrew Walsh]

No, he's. He was from all of his playing years. Wow. Dude was never thrown out of a game until last night. To wrap things up, thus ends the regular season for the sluggers. We now enter the tournament of champions, a double elimination tournament among all the little leagues in the area. For all intents and purposes, our season record no longer matters at this point. The slate has been wiped clean. This is the playoffs and anything can happen. Though shadows fall, hope's ember still glows A flame that never truly goes. Coach Ben signing off to say it's. You know, I like that the regular season record gets thrown out. And you never know what these junior sluggers could do. Maybe with the inspiration of one of the team sponsors. I was about to say owners. That feels weird. Maybe the inspiration of one of the team sponsors and his girlfriend showing up to the game on Saturday will put some. Put some light a fire under these kids.

[Camaro Kev]

Isn't this the problem with the NBA though? And I don't watch the NBA, so this is a real question. This is commentary.

[Andrew Walsh]

You're saying the Parkside Little League is too woke.

[Camaro Kev]

First of all, I do. That is exactly what I'm saying and I appreciate you putting that fine point on it for me. But also there seems to be a lot of like kind of old school basketball people complaining about the basketball season now. Like that the players don't really get engaged until it's playoff time or near playoff time. That a lot of the, A lot of the regular season doesn't really add up to much. Is that, is there any truth to this? Because I could be totally misinterpreting talk radio.

[Andrew Walsh]

I bet you you're interpreting it correctly. I'm so out of the loop on the NBA. I just don't know. I just don't know that discourse. But it sounds. That sounds possible. I mean, I know that the whole question of like in this playoffs, a lot of big name players have gotten hurt. You know, like Steph Curry hasn't been playing and. Or wasn't playing. And like Jason Tatum, a Boston Celtic, went down with a really gruesome injury and a game where he had like 42 points. And the theory there was there's too many games. This is too Much on the body. And so a lot of players then, you know, rest a lot or they don't play. Like the second that the game is. Is looks like it's not in question. They're not, you know, I mean, there's a lot of like trying to manage the amount of wear and tear on the bodies of these players.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

But what I can say about the junior sluggers is that, is that they have been resting this season sometimes during games, and they are going to be so ready for the playoffs.

[Camaro Kev]

Right.

[Andrew Walsh]

I think I'm. I'm holding out high hopes. Speaking of little league events, Camaro, you spent all. How many games did you watch this weekend?

[Ben]

I only watched three games.

[Andrew Walsh]

What?

[Ben]

Yeah, because I. My nephew's team was. They're actually pretty good. And they won their first two and then it was. Apparently it was only a two day tournament. And so the next day, since their. I guess their record was so good out of all the other teams that they only had one more game and they lost it.

[Andrew Walsh]

These kids are. Are they pitching off of like a pitcher's mound and everything's like. It's like. It looks like the kind of baseball we think of as like Mariners baseball. What was the scene like there? Were there any parents getting. I'm not asking to throw any of the parents from your nephew's team under the bus, but did you have some. Were there some pretty amped parents there?

[Ben]

Not on my nephew's team. Like, like all the parents there are pretty cool. The only one that was a little questionable was the coach on the last team we played. And I think they're from like British Columbia and they were really good and their coach non stop yelled the entire time. And the ump had to come up and basically go like, you're coming way too close to the batters. Stay back there and like, calm down.

[Camaro Kev]

Who's he yelling at? Do you mind me asking? Is he yelling at the stuff like this?

[Ben]

Yeah, he. All right, what would it be? It would be like, hey, Xander, Xander, choke it up and execute. He. He loved to execute. So he's like. So then if, you know, he'd get in a situation where like, okay, pivot on this. Execute to be.

[Camaro Kev]

Pivot to B.

[Ben]

And they had all. And then he's just yelling execute all the time and very loud and very annoying. And yeah, all the parents were not happy with him.

[Andrew Walsh]

I mean, this is the whole thing with like umpires for youth sports now is that they're having a hard time finding umps because. And this is. I Think across all of the sports. The parents, Parents can get so kind of intense that it's like, it's really stressful to be an ump because. Or an official of some kind because you're going to get yelled at a lot. It's just like this is not worth $20 an hour or whatever.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah.

[Ben]

And this is like 12 year old select team. So they're actually pretty good. It's like, it's like watching an actual game. Like I went to some of his games when he was younger and it was, it sounded like, no offense, some slugger stuff. A lot of sitting in the field looking for a four leaf clover kind of thing. You. So his earlier games were not great, but now they're really fun to watch.

[Andrew Walsh]

Now let's get down to the heart of the matter. My friend Kamiro Kev was more or less turned loose in the city of Vancouver a couple of nights. I was not able to come down and join you because of various scheduling conflicts. But you said night one. Was it an actual bar that was on the TV show Bar Rescue or did you mean that like it's a bar that needs to be rescued?

[Ben]

It's a bar that needs to be rescued. So I, I was down here by myself. Anita was going to come along. We have a sick kitty at home and we didn't want to leave. So Anita's mom staying with us and we didn't want to leave her alone with the cat. So I ended up coming down solo. And of course, you know, the first night down here when everyone else is, you know, getting ready for their game tomorrow, what do I do? I got to find some nightlife activities and I found. I don't want to, I don't want to name the place that I found. But there was two. There was a sports bar and just more of a. I guess it's a live music sort of venue. They had a little stage there and everything. So I get in there and it's, you know, pretty late in the night and it's, it's shocking how run down this place is. And just, you know, when you look around and you see like, hey, why not close those curtains where you're showing like where you're kind of like stacking food and whatnot, you know, that I don't like to see behind the curtains of things like that. Way too much of that stuff going on. And then a gentleman behind me just, just puked on the floor and they took a towel and just put it over the pile. And then one of the bartenders said, like, I'm not cleaning that up again. Michael, it's your turn, and it's your cousin.

[Camaro Kev]

Wait, so Michael is a customer?

[Ben]

Michael was someone who works there, but it was his cousin who apparently is a customer, who ended up throwing up on the.

[Camaro Kev]

What. What time is this? Ish.

[Ben]

I mean, it was late. This had to be like, probably like midnight.

[Andrew Walsh]

It was the yakin hour. So, sure.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah. Oh, God.

[Ben]

And it was carpet.

[Camaro Kev]

Oh, my God.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why was it at least allowed to print carpet? Sort of like the carpet they used to have in the Excalibur, where I once, when we were in Vegas, once, unfortunately threw up in the hallway. And I. I do feel like, for me, this. Something inside me shifted ever so slightly towards a more of an empathetic model of life. And by that, I mean, we were there. It was like, you, me, Kelly, the veteran, you know, the whole probably Donnie Baseball, just a whole rogues gallery. And it was that. It was that hotel room that had two, like, twin beds maybe. So there was not enough beds for everyone to sleep in. So it'd be like a couple guys would be sleeping, a couple guys would be out carousing. Then you'd come in and I feel like Kelly or somebody was, like, whipping my body like a blanket at one point, but I threw up in that hallway. And then the next day. And if I had been more mature or more with it, I would have, like, first of all, tried to deal with it myself, at the very least called, you know, reportedly, but throw a.

[Camaro Kev]

Towel over it very well, you know, like.

[Andrew Walsh]

Like Michael's cousin should have done. And. But then I remember coming out the next morning, because also, by the way, this is called being, like 23. I felt like a million bucks the next morning. I was fine. I would be down for probably six months at a minimum these days if I did that. But I just remember coming out of the hallway and realizing it was totally gone. And instead of feeling kind of like, good, like cool, you know, like someone took care of it, I thought, oh, man, someone took care of that. Like, that's. Somebody had to. And my bad decision making led to someone else having to have that experience of that. And I mean, you know, I'm not saying that I've lived a completely exemplary life since then, but I do remember that as being kind of formative, like, try to not do things that are going to make someone else's life, particularly in a service position like that, just like, way, way worse, you know, or if you do try to mitigate, you know, the. The Problem. So. So that was night one. Did you do anything fun last night?

[Ben]

No. Last night? No.

[Andrew Walsh]

Chilled out.

[Ben]

Just shut it down and. Sorry, I was a little late here. I got a late start at the checking out and then also I needed to. So terrible. I needed to get cash out to tip. Speaking of the servers of the housekeeping, I didn't have any cash. They don't have a cash machine there. You can't just charge it to your room. So I had to run to a bank really quickly get some money out and then I got on the road.

[Andrew Walsh]

So sorry. I feel bad that I roasted you in the intro for being late because that's a very reasonable reason to be late and I salute that. John Hodgman said something once that's really screwed me over, which was basically always tip the, you know, hotel housekeeping, which I was already doing. But what he said was, and if all you have is a 10 or all you have is a 20, just use that. Because I was, I gotta be honest with you, I was going more like loose bills for a while, you know, like I got, I got four singles, that's almost five. Or I mean a five would be no problem. But what I would never think to put down is a 20 because it's just like that's. That still feels like real dough to me. But he said basically, like you can afford it to be $20. It's. That would be a real day changer for that person. So now every time I'm checking out, if I look in my wallet and all there is is a 20 now I hear it's like a ghost haunting me of this. It was probably a tweet or something that now makes me do that. So I'm glad to hear though that you were looking out for the, for the person there at the old Best Western. That was nice.

[Camaro Kev]

Can I, can I ask a follow up question or two about these bars? So you mentioned, you mentioned it sounded like two bars, but then you described a SC inside one bar. Or was it a mixture of a sports bar slash live music venue?

[Ben]

There was two bars that were the closest bars to the hotel. One was I, I didn't go to this one. It was Kirkpatrick Sports Bar.

[Camaro Kev]

Okay. That's when you didn't go to. So then you. I did not just went to the other one. I see. I wasn't sure if you're kind of hopping between the two, if you were seeing some familiar faces or whatever. And then what. So it's midnight now.

[Ben]

I will say that they had Opinions on Kirkpatrick's there too. Do not go there. And then I turn around, someone's puking on the floor here. And I'm thinking, I don't know. Kirkpatrick sounds pretty. Pretty, Pretty dope right now.

[Camaro Kev]

Okay, so if I know anything about Camaro, Kev, you're just getting started around midnight. Like, I've invited you to hang out, and you've been like, yeah, I'll be there right around midnight. So you're probably not looking to end the night, but now you're in a bar where there's, let's just say, a live pile of. Of something that is very unsavory and it's not exactly being cleaned up in the best way. Do you stick. Do you turn your back on that and just try to power through, or do you say, you know what? I'm going to go watch Dazn in my hotel room?

[Andrew Walsh]

I.

[Ben]

Well, it was late in the night when it happened, so I got there late anyways, right? So then I saw a gentleman who was battling some inner demons sitting at, like, one of the tables.

[Andrew Walsh]

Oh, you did see me there.

[Ben]

And so it was behind me. I was sitting up at the bar. I met a nice older lady there. She was telling me about all the pl. Some good food trucks, apparently, over by where the ball field was. Harmony Sports Complex, I believe is what it was called that we went to. And so I didn't. I didn't really pay attention. He was behind us. And then she turned around at some point, she goes, oh, no. You know. You know, Mike, I don't know what this gentleman's name was, but she knew he was cousin. Yeah, Mike's cousin. She was like, oh, you know, And I turn around and I look, and that's when I see that there's a blanket. Not a blanket, a towel. And chunks underneath the towel.

[Camaro Kev]

And that's the solution.

[Ben]

And I was like, well, I was gonna get ready to leave anyway, so kind of signed out.

[Andrew Walsh]

I. I was just doing some quick googling, because I don't know a lot about the scene in Vancouver, Washington, but there was. There used to be a place called the Elbow Room that was phenomenal. It would have been right up the three of ours alley. It was a little. It was a diner, but then they had a bar, you know, in the back, kind of like a darkened bar. And it was amazing. But it is, as. As is the case with so many things like this permanently closed according to the Internet. Like, if it's. If it was a good kind of a Dive bar that we would like. There's a good chance that it's gone now because I just don't know. Maybe. I don't know if the. If the younger generation really goes towards that stuff as much. I was also wondering, Kevin, like you were talking about how you were kind of struck by how the place that you ended up at the non Kirkpatrick's that it was so you were like struck by how kind of run down it was or whatever. Do you think our taste has changed as we've gotten older or do you think like, would that have always struck you as. As rundown or is it. Because I'm just wondering myself, like on the occasion if I'm in a dive bar which is not super frequent anymore. I think my. My tolerance for a certain kind of really divey bar has gone down. Like that used to be I would like the Divier the better, you know, give it to me. And now it's like I kind of want to be somewhere where I'm not going to stick to the barstool and stuff. I don't know. It's. Is that the aging process? Yeah.

[Ben]

I was thinking the exact same thing as I sat in there and I was like, I love dive bars, but this is on another level. And. And they. When I was talking to. I think it was someone at the hotel. I said they were like, where'd you go? And I told them they're like, oh yeah, that place has been there forever. Like forever. And Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I guess maybe the dive bars that we go to, like in Seattle, I think they're still probably pretty well maintained just because they're in Seattle even. Like, does that make sense? I'll tell you, Vancouver, I've never been down here. I mean, I've driven through. It's massive. Yeah. Like old towns at like one end. I was nowhere near that. I was out in like suburbia.

[Andrew Walsh]

You might have been in like Hazel Dell or some kind of a thing. You know, you.

[Ben]

It was Vancouver proper. But. But you're. You're probably right. It was. It's just one of those things where it was like, you know, There's a. Carl's Jr. Was one of the closest things at Carl's Jr. They just opened a shake shack that was on the corner right next to Fred Meyer. It was very much like, you know, kind of just like 99 in. In Seattle, basically.

[Andrew Walsh]

Did you peep that in and out that's going in by the Costco?

[Camaro Kev]

I did, yeah.

[Ben]

I did see that yeah, they. They kind of COVID the sign, but you like, you know exactly what that is. Yeah, boy, every talk of the town down here too. Yeah.

[Andrew Walsh]

Yeah, there's gonna be a line for days when that thing opens up. So. Anyway. Well, Kevin, thank you for stopping by. We're kind of on a short timeline. Andrew's got a busy Memorial Day, he's got a march in, two parades. Then he has to stand at attention as an American flag is held up. But while he has a slingshot in his back pocket, we call it rockwelling. And he's gonna be doing it all day today. So we've got. And I actually have to go get on an airplane. I'm flying to watch. Would a non patriotic person be flying to our nation's capital today, Andrew? That's what I ask you.

[Camaro Kev]

I don't know. What do you got planned? What are you doing at the Capitol?

[Andrew Walsh]

Protesting? No, I'm getting out there because on Wednesday I'm going to be. Oh, man, check this out. Well, I'm doing this TV story about Metallica. So I'm interviewing Metallica, who I've already been interviewing a bunch of. They're playing a show in Landover, Maryland. Check out who the bill is. Can you think of three bands that I might be less aligned with musically and spiritually?

[Camaro Kev]

Hoobastank.

[Ben]

Is there a Pantera involved?

[Andrew Walsh]

There is a Pantera.

[Camaro Kev]

Okay, nice.

[Andrew Walsh]

And there is a. This. I don't know if there's no way you would get this, but the bass, now I know this. The bass player, Mike Trujillo for. For Metallica, he used to be in this other band which is a big like metal kind of hardcore band that is also playing. So it's Pantera, Metallica and Sepultura. Oh, what a solid guess. Suicidal Tendencies. What a build.

[Camaro Kev]

Suicidal Tendencies is in that genre. I didn't know them that well. For some reason I always had them being more like punky. I didn't know that they were kind of in that metal genre.

[Andrew Walsh]

Well, maybe, maybe it's an, you know, maybe it's a big tent.

[Camaro Kev]

I could be totally wrong. I'm just saying I don't know about this world.

[Andrew Walsh]

Some people will probably clarify. But anyway, so yes, we're all going to ski D. What do you have going the rest of the day? You going to go home and. And just try to enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day?

[Ben]

I. Yeah, I'll be on the road, so that'll be fun. Yeah. I've been stopping at various vintage video game places along my way. Down and on my way back up. So that's man in Chehalis, a really cool, used electronic place that I stopped into, like, one of those places where, you know, this guy's like, I'm a hoarder with electronics. I might as well open a business. And it's just piles of.

[Camaro Kev]

By the way, my grand. My grandkids are gonna take this all away unless I turn this into a store.

[Andrew Walsh]

Why is that? One doctor from Hoarders here, forget her name. Lady with the blonde hair, she has, like, a French name, like Jeannie Faure. There was a guy next to my dad's shop on Aurora who had that exact thing. It was called Radio Steve's old technology shop. And it was all just like. Like vacuum tubes, you know what I mean? And he was a clearly, like. Kind of. I would say he had a loose grip on mental health, but also could, like, probably build you, like. He would get out his oscilloscope and build you a radio on the spot from parts. So he had this talent, but it was also just like this ramshackle place. It was awesome. All right, well, enjoy your trip back. Drive safe. Andrew, thank you for your help today.

[Camaro Kev]

Yeah, thanks. This was fun. And I just want to remind everybody, we're going to listen to Jeremy Merrill today's Dazz playing a little piano music. Of course, everybody knows this is the song that Celine Dion sang at the opening of the Olympics last year, or at the last Games, I should say. So we're gonna go out listening to that, all right?

[Andrew Walsh]

And we'll be back here tomorrow with more imaginary radio for you. I'll be in D.C. i hope you can all join us. In the meantime, have a great Monday. Have a great Memorial Day. Please remember, no Mountain Too Tall.

[Camaro Kev]

And good luck to.

[Ben]

Sam.

[Andrew Walsh]

It.

[Camaro Kev]

Power out.