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The Daily Beans
Refried Beans | The One With Ben Folds (feat. Ben Folds) | 5/15/2023
00:48:05
Monday, May 15th, 2023 In the Hot Notes: Rep. George Santos has admitted to his fraud in Brazil to avoid prosecution in absentia; former Marine Daniel Penny has been charged with manslaughter in a choking death on the New York subway; a porn-friendly bank wants to help fund Trump’s Truth Social; a House Republican report finds no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden; Durham’s investigation has ended with nothing to show for it; Trump gets schooled again by a federal judge; questions linger over what CNN offered Trump in exchange for his town hall last week; plus AG and Ben Folds deliver your Good News.
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- [00:00]
Alison Gill
MSW Media.
- [00:06]
Ben Folds
Hey everybody, it's Ag. And welcome to Refried Beans where we play an episode of the Daily Beans podcast from the same week either one, two or three years ago so we can see how far we've come. So please enjoy this episode from days gone by and note the date in the intro.
- [00:23]
Dana
Refried beans. I like refried beans. That's why I want to try fried beans because maybe they're just as good and we're wasting time.
- [00:32]
Unknown
With swearing. Daily Beans. Daily Beans. Daily Beans. Daily Beans.
- [00:46]
Ben Folds
Hello and welcome to the Daily beans for Monday, May 15, 2023. Today, Representative George Santos has admitted to his fraud in Brazil to avoid prosecution in absentia. Former Marine Daniel Penney has been charged with manslaughter in the choking death on the New York subway. A porn friendly bank wants to help fund Trump's truth Social. A House Republican report finds no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. Durham's investigation has ended with nothing to show for it. Trump gets schooled again by a federal judge. And questions linger over what CNN offered Trump in exchange for his town hall last week. I'm your host, Alison Gill. Hey everybody, happy Monday. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Thanks to all the patrons who stopped by the happy hour cocktail. Ask me anything, you know, bi weekly thing that we do for patrons. That was Friday, every other Friday at 4 Pacific and 7 Eastern.
- [01:47]
Alison Gill
It was wonderful to see you all. Some really great questions.
- [01:49]
Ben Folds
Patrons that should be up and available now to watch for you. And if you're not a patron, you can become one@patreon.com Muellershirote Dana is out. She's traveling today and tomorrow doing her amazing work with the Human Rights Campaign. But we will have her back on Wednesday. But today I have a special guest who's gonna join me for an interview and then I'm gonna see if I can talk him into reading the good news. It's Ben Folds. So I'm very excited to speak with him also. Hmm. House Republicans, first of all, if you are a patron of cleanup on aisle 45 and you got to hear Pete Strzok's rant this weekend, congratulations, it was one of the best rants I've ever heard. But the House Republican report, what he was referring to in several of those moments has come out and comer says that he can't locate the whistleblower informant now. And that report that came out showed absolutely no wrongdoing by the Biden administration or anybody in the Biden family. And we're gonna go over that in detail on this Wednesday's cleanup on aisle 45. Also, the Durham report should be coming out soon because the investigation is apparently over. According to American Oversight, which is a watchdog group, they filed a FOIA request and all their FOIA requests for the Durham investig had previously said we can't hand you this stuff because of an open and ongoing investigation. Well, they've changed that language now. They were no longer saying open an ongoing investigation. And that is a big clue to the fact that perhaps the Durham investigation is finally over. They got zero convictions. They only had two indictments. Both of those folks were acquitted. And I know a lot of you might say, well what about that Kleinsmith guy, that lawyer, that FBI fella who changed the verbiage in an email with respect to the informant characterization, I guess of one Carter Page, and that was the inspector general that found that and he pled guilty and didn't serve any time in jail. So that wasn't anything that had to do with Durham. But a lot of money was spent and we'll find out those final details. His report, by the way, has to include any crimes he found and if he declined to prosecute any, why he declined to prosecute. And I'm pretty sure that when he was in Italy trying to track down mif sued, he found a Trump crime and that will have to be included in his report, why he didn't prosecute that crime and what the crime was. Now, he could leave it out, but that would be against special counsel regulations. Of course, I think he'll probably leave it out because the only thing that happens to you if you violate special counsel regulations is you get fired as special counsel. I think he's done anyway and I don't think Merrick Garland would fire him anyhow because of the, you know, political backlash that could, that could happen. But anyway, be interesting to see. I think it would be telling if he left it out of the report. I think that would tell us quite a bit. All right, we have a lot of news to get to, so let's hit the hot notes.
- [04:54]
Alison Gill
Hot notes.
- [04:57]
Ben Folds
First up from CBS News, Daniel Penny, the man seen on video putting Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the subway, turned himself in Friday morning and appeared before a judge. The Manhattan District Attorney's office charged Penny, a 24 year old Marine veteran, with second degree manslaughter in Neely's death. Just after 8am Penny and his attorney Thomas Kenneth arrived at the 5th Precinct in Lower Manhattan. Penney appeared somber, did not speak to reporters and after Penney surrendered. Police brought him to Manhattan Criminal Court for his afternoon arraignment, where he waived the reading of his charges and was not required to enter a plea. During the arraignment, Penny's attorney told the judge. Penny has been cooperating with police and the DA's office. He has strong ties to New York City, they said. He's attending a four year college in pursuit of a bachelor's degree in architecture. He enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was a teenager, spending four years there before being honorably discharged, attorneys added. While serving, Penny earned multiple medals and ribbons for good conduct. Now, as a veteran myself, I'm tired of service being used as an excuse for deplorable behavior. If anything, we should be held to a higher standard. Here's looking at you, General Mike Flynn and from Channel 4 New York a day after embattled New York Rep. George Santos pled not guilty to charges in the United States, he signed an agreement Thursday with public prosecutors in Brazil to avoid prosecution for two ongoing stolen checks in 2008. What would have been the start of a case was ended today. That's what Santos lawyer in Brazil Joanimar Vascolesos. That's what that attorney told the Associated Press in a text message. As such, my client is no longer the subject of any case in Brazil. Asked about the details of the non prosecution agreement, Vascolesos demurred, citing the fact that the case proceeded under seal. The public prosecutor's office, Aria de Janeiro also declined to comment when contacted by the Associated Press. Court records in Brazil, first uncovered by the New York Times, show that Santos was the subject of a criminal charge for using two stolen checks to buy items at a shop, including a pair of sneakers that he gifted to a friend. At the time, Santos would have been 19. The purchase totaled 2,144 Brazilian reyes. That equals about 1,350 bucks, according to the charges prosecutors filed in 2011. That followed an investigation opened in 2008 and Santos signed confession in which he admitted to having stolen the checkbook of his mother's former employer from her purse and making the purchases, including in the store, and recognizing the fraudulent checks as those he had signed, according to the court documents. He admitted to all of it. A judge accepted the charges against Santos in 2011, but subsequent subpoenas for him to appear personally or present a written defense went unanswered. He was on the lam and with authorities repeatedly unable to determine his whereabouts, the case was suspended in 2013. That changed after he popped up in the US congressional election by winning his seat, and the subsequent flurry of media attention focused on his dubious credentials. Oops. Rio state prosecutors then petitioned to reopen the case. Per terms of the non prosecution agreement, Santos will pay 24,000 Reyes almost five grand, with the majority going to the shopkeeper who received the bad checks and the remainder to charities. Santos attended the meeting virtually. Resolution of the case removes the possibility Santos might have been obliged to travel to another country to resolve pending charges. That could have been complicated after he was forced to surrender his passport for his U.S. charges. But of course the Brazilian government said that they would have prosecuted him in absentia, meaning he didn't have to be there. On Wednesday in New York, Santos pled not guilty to charges he stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire while collecting unemployment benefits that he didn't deserve. And from the Associated Press Donald Trump was ordered Thursday to appear by video at a May 23 hearing in his Manhattan criminal case after the judge this week set rules barring him from using evidence in this case to attack witnesses. I guess he's got a history of that. This is Judge Juan Manuel Marchan. He scheduled the hybrid hearing. The former president will be on a TV screen. His lawyers and prosecutors will be in court to go over the restrictions with Trump and make clear that he risks being held in contempt if he violates them. His case is continuing in state court even as Trump's lawyers have filed a motion to move it to federal court. U.S. district Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is considering the transfer request, issued an order this week setting paperwork deadlines for late June. There's going to be a hearing.
- [09:38]
Alison Gill
That's the hearing to whether or not.
- [09:39]
Ben Folds
He can move this to federal court. Marshawn, still in charge while that drama plays out, agreed to instruct Trump on the rules by video rather than in person after a prosecutor reminded him last week that bringing Trump to court would present mammoth security and logistical challenges. Trump's April 4th arraignment, where he pled not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, attracted a crush of media, but not too many protesters. Was pretty empty in the streets.
- [10:06]
Alison Gill
Actually.
- [10:07]
Ben Folds
It was like five reporters for every Trump supporter. Quote, we'll set up the camera for Mr. Trump to appear wherever he is at that time, and we'll do it here in the courtroom, virtually. That's what Marshan said. Marshawn issued what's known as a protective order on Monday, days after the hearing, where he urged Trump's lawyers and prosecutors from the Manhattan DA's office to reach a compromise regarding the Republicans access to and use of evidence turned over by prosecutors prior to trial. That kind of evidence sharing, called discovery, as we know, is routine in criminal cases, and it's intended to help ensure a fair trial. Prosecutors sought the order soon after Trump's arrest, citing what they say is a history of making harassing, embarrassing and threatening statements about people he's tangled with in legal disputes. Merchan added Trump's virtual hearing to the court calendar a day after Trump appeared on a CNN forum and offered up a barrage of falsehoods, excuses and insults on a variety of topics, including what he deemed the fake charges, including in New York. Marshan's protective order bars Trump and his lawyers from disseminating evidence to third parties or posting it to social media, and it requires that certain sensitive material shared by prosecutors be kept only by Trump's lawyers, not Trump himself. Trump can review that material with his lawyers, but he can't copy or photograph it, according to the order. Marshon, noting Trump's status as a former president and current candidate, is made clear at last week's hearing that the protective order should not be construed as a gag order or a way of preventing Trump from speaking publicly about his case. Quote, I'm bending over backwards and straining to make sure that he has given every opportunity possible to advance his candidacy and to be able to speak in furtherance of his candidacy, merchan said. The last thing I want to do is infringe on his or anybody else's First Amendment rights. This is a right move by Judge Merchan. It sets up an easy finding of contempt should Donald fail to follow the court's instructions. And I think running for president is. It's not so much going to impact the investigations that are going on, say at the Department of Justice, but in the court, in courtrooms. That's how it could judges bending over backwards to ensure they don't infringe on his First Amendment rights as a candidate for president. I think that's where we might see any trouble if we see any at all. All right, next up from Harwell at the Washington Post. And this is a hell of a story, y' all. An obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean island bank that bills itself as a top payment service for adult entertainment sites would gain a sizable stake in Donald Trump's media company if the merger deal proceeds. That's according to internal documents a company whistleblower has shared with federal investigators and the Washington Post. Remember, the Southern District of New York is investigating the DWAC S PAC Truth Social merger. Federal investigators are looking into this, but the role that ES Family Trust would assume in Trump Media and Technology Group has never been officially disclosed to the securities and Exchange Commission or to shareholders. In dwac, the Digital World acquisition, that's the special purpose acquisition company that has proposed the S PAC that has proposed merging with Trump's company. The companies also have not disclosed to shareholders or the SEC that Trump Media paid almost a quarter of a million dollars finder fee to help arrange the $8 million loan with ES Family Trust or that the recipient of that fee was an outside brokerage associated with Patrick Orlando, Digital World's CEO. Seems like a little bit of a conflict of interest, Patrick Where ES Family Trust obtained that money and who's behind the trust remain publicly unknown omissions that unnerved some of Trump Media's top executives when they first learned of the loan in late 2021. That's according to Will Wilkerson, a whistleblower who at the time was the company's executive vice president of operations. The financial tangle offers a possible explanation for why the SEC has yet to approve the deal. Washington Post has been unable to find any registration documents for ES Family Trust. ES Family Trust has made no public statement. A guy named Postalinikoff, whose name appeared on the referral fee document, is an owner of Pexim bank and employs Pacheo. ES Family Trust's named trustee. Postolinikov said in a 2018 federal court filing that he is the principal of Paxim bank, and a company statement in March called him its primary owner. Paxum itself also remains a mystery. The company has promoted itself online as a way for video streamers of adult content to coordinate financial transactions across international Borders. And in 2021, Paxum's then chief executive Andre Octave Moyes told BCAMS magazine that's a trade publication for the business of live webcam models, that the bank was proud and happy to be considered the number one trusted payment service for the adult industry. Before Paxum, Polinkoff worked as an entrepreneur.
- [15:24]
Alison Gill
In Russia, running a now defunct online.
- [15:27]
Ben Folds
Car rental company in St. Petersburg. In 2016, he bought Decco, a London based payments firm. That's according to his online profile in British business filings last year, Decco said he is the shareholder of Paxum and Decco's chief executive and the ultimate controlling party. Postalinikov in March 2021 gave $30,000 to the reelection campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, according to a contribution list published last year by the political committee friends of Ron DeSantis. Now, PostalInnikov is the nephew of Alexander Smirnoff, a former deputy justice minister in the Russian government. That's According to a 2016 report by Delavoy Petersburg, a Russian business newspaper. Smirnoff, this guy's uncle became general director of the state controlled maritime company Rozmoreport in 2021. The Guardian reported in March that federal prosecutors in New York have been investigating whether Trump Media Loans violated money laundering statutes, which mandate that companies and investment advisors take steps to learn basic information about their lenders and clients. After the Guardian's report, an online news outlet in Dominica called NatureIsle News published a response attributed to an unnamed firm representing Paxum and Postalinikov. That response said Postalinnikov was a U.S. citizen and had for two years been the subject of a false media smear that have originated in Russia, all to blackmail Anton into paying Bitcoin to remove the stories from the Internet. Representatives for Trump Media and Digital World did not respond to requests for comments for this story. So what a tangled web we weave. Speaking of the Guardian from Hugo Lowell, Donald Trump believes he got everything he wanted from the controversial town hall hosted by cnn, according to multiple people close to him, even as it embarrassed the network and prompted a wave of outrage, including from many of its own staff who were upset that it gave Trump a platform to lie to a large audience. The former president was interested in doing a town hall mainly because it would give the campaign material to clip for social media. He was interested in doing it on CNN because the campaign reached an understanding, which a spokesperson denied, that it would book more Trump surrogates. Trump was not particularly concerned by whether the broadcast would get high ratings, though he told CNN's chief executive Chris Licht backstage that he would boost their ratings, to which Licht nodded and said he should have a good conversation and have fun. That's according to two people. Just so you know, that got 3.3 million views, that town hall. Biden's got 3.8 million views. Cassidy Hutchins testimony 13 million views. Hugo goes on to say Trump's advisors saw the town hall ultimately as a strategic win for the former president, who reveled in playing off the live audience of Republican and Republican leaning voters in New Hampshire, which is hosting the first 2024 GOP presidential primary, and talked over the CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins as she tried to fact check him in real time. Afterwards, Trump allies joked that the event in their eyes amounted to an hour of Trump infomercials and should be recorded as an in kind campaign contribution, and that Trump's nearest rival for the nomination, Ron DeSantis, would be crushed in a similar debate. The event, which saw Trump mock the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he had just been found liable of sexually abusing and defaming, may not help him in a general election, especially among female voters. Joe Biden later tweeted, it's simple folks. Do you want four more years of that if you don't pitch into our campaign? In stark contrast to Trump's jubilation, I guess the mood inside CNN was dour amid widespread reports of internal disgust. The network's own media reporter Oliver Darcy, wrote in his newsletter on Wednesday that it was hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on cnn. But the Trump campaign appears to have got what it wanted out of cnn, in part because it negotiated the terms of the event with an unusual degree of leverage. And that's according to multiple people familiar for starters, Trump's team for months played hard to get with cnn. CNN first reached out to him to do the town hall almost as soon as he announced his candidacy. However, the campaign had always been more likely to go with CNN over NBC or Fox, the other major networks in talks to host an event. The campaign already had pro Trump commentators and surrogates appearing on Fox News shows. And while MSNBC had recently higher ratings than cnn, the liberal network was seen by advisors as being inhospitable compared with the Licht era CNN that has tried to cater more to Republicans. Trump's team also figured that CNN worked for its needs because it could have Kaitlin Collins as the moderator, a rising star, quote unquote, who co hosts the network's morning show but also has remained on the Trump beat and has taken care to preserve her access relationship with the ex president. Pairing Collins with Republicans who mostly voted for Trump in 2020, was as close to home turf as the campaign could get. The team said it would have rejected Jake Tapper after he threatened to ban Republicans who endorsed the election lies. The campaign also made sure the pre and post town hall coverage featured Trump surrogates on air. Among the bookings former Trump White House press aide Hogan Gidley, a pro Trump congressman Brian Mast, and of course Byron Donalds as well as PRO TRUMP Senator J.D. vance. A spokesperson for CNN denied the network made any formal agreement to book those surrogates Right, There's a lot more to this story, so make sure you head to the Guardian and read this Piece by Hugo Lowell, Then kick the Guardian a couple bucks for being such an excellent source for news. All right, everybody, stay tuned.
- [21:25]
Alison Gill
I'm going to be back with Ben.
- [21:26]
Ben Folds
Folds, and then we're going to read the good news. We'll be right back.
- [21:40]
Alison Gill
Hey, everybody, welcome back. I'm honored to be joined today by one of my favorite musicians. He's the artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy center, and he's about to go on tour with his new collection of songs, what Matters Most, which will be available on June 2nd. Wherever you get your music, please welcome Ben Folds. Hey, Ben.
- [21:57]
Unknown
Hey. How's it going?
- [21:58]
Ben Folds
Good. It's really, really.
- [22:00]
Alison Gill
First of all, honored to meet you. I'm so glad that you were able to come on and speak to me today about your new album and your tour.
- [22:06]
Ben Folds
This is your first new studio release.
- [22:09]
Alison Gill
In what, like eight years?
- [22:11]
Unknown
Well, first, like the politicians do, I'd like to thank you for having me on your show. I'm a big fan of the show. Okay. Yes. Your question, I think, yeah, arguably, since my last album that didn't have a massive collaboration on it, it might have been like since 2008, however many years that is. So it's been a while. Yeah.
- [22:34]
Alison Gill
Well, I'm happy that you put this together because it's awesome. And once I heard, by the way, Christine from the seventh grade, I had to reach out to you about it, and I want everybody to listen to a clip of that song from a recent live performance. Let's listen to.
- [22:49]
Unknown
I started to imagine her as someone named Christine, maybe from seventh grade, who now sends me qanon stuff in email. So here's the song. It's very tragic.
- [23:14]
Sam, are you the same Christine I knew from seventh grade? Yes, definitely. You just with a new last name. Someone who laughed a lot is what I remember the most. But the face in your profile suggests maybe not so much anymore. Cause I got the emails these last two years every day and I just replaced. Because I don't really know what to say. Christine from the Sam. The anger, the all caps.
- [25:10]
Ben Folds
And all.
- [25:10]
Unknown
The pseudo science, the misspellings. A must be on purpose. We went to a good school, Christine so what would you imagine I might take from this delusion? Memes, the cryptic dark bible quotes, guns and dead fetuses. Christine, seriously, are you okay? Cause this world can be wild wonderful too. Do you ever see it that way?
- [25:55]
Ben Folds
Christine.
- [26:02]
Unknown
From the south.
- [26:06]
Ben Folds
I. I like the. We.
- [26:08]
Alison Gill
We went to a good school, Christine. I think. I think that that's amazing. And you know I get so many emails about people with friends or acquaintances or even family members that have been kind of lost to Fox News. They'll be glad to know they're not alone here. What prompted you to write this song?
- [26:27]
Unknown
The song actually came out of an exercise I have a little Patreon group. And during the Pandejo, we were doing a series of songwriting classes. And one of the things I thought to do was to have them bring me local news clips, local headlines. So this was called headline songs. And what I wanted to show them is that because a piece is about something, a story, that the song isn't necessarily gonna follow that completely. Like, you don't just rhyme it and then tell the story of the headline. So what really is the song inside the headline? So every week I'd have a different one and I'd have a couple hours to write a song and then upload it. And this was one of those songs. I mean, I wasn't expecting to put these things on my alb, but they sounded better than the shit that I was writing. So this song came from a headline or a piece from the Wall Street Journal that said that was called something like why I won't take my shoes off in your shoeless home.
- [27:31]
Alison Gill
Okay, draw the line for us. How did it get from why I won't take my shoes off in your shoeless home to Christine from the seventh grade?
- [27:38]
Unknown
Well, I didn't really want to write about the piece. It was one of those kind of, you know, another one of those divide us up, get everyone pissed off at each other for no good reason. Oh, wait a minute, there's a good reason. It's, it's like political. Like, you know, the latte sipping commies over here that take their shoes off and everyone else. And I, I just, I just wondered about the chick who wrote this piece. Her name was Chris with a kid. And so the way I got into the song was like, I don't want to write about the shoeless home thing. I want to write about the writer and why they write this crap. And I imagined her as being someone I knew from seventh grade, like Chris, Christine. Oh, Christine from the seventh grade. And then what does she do? Well, in the last three or four years, she had these jobs, but she also sends me all this weird conspiracy shit. And so I just, you know, like, I put it together. Like she used to smile at school. I remember her being a happy kid. Now I saw her on Facebook, which I personally don't have, but I saw her on that and it's like, she doesn't look happy anymore. And now she's sending me just like, you know, it's in the song. It's like, you know, dead fetuses and her posing with guns and her family and stuff like that, and doesn't seem happy. It seems really dark. And also, we all know, some of us know family members or friends that can't speak anymore because of this crap.
- [29:09]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And like I said, I do hear a lot about that. We have a lot of cult experts and psychologists who come on the show to talk about how to talk to your. Maybe communications experts that discuss how to speak to family members and friends and acquaintances who. Who we've. I guess one way to look at it is that we've lost them to this.
- [29:31]
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
- [29:32]
Alison Gill
And it's never encouraging, which is why I think that the storytelling proponent of this. And, you know, I've always been a huge proponent of storytelling, whether it's music.
- [29:43]
Ben Folds
Or books or comedy or art or.
- [29:45]
Alison Gill
Even journalism, like citizen journalism, because storytelling helps us feel like we're not alone. And knowing you're not alone is a great defense against gaslighting.
- [29:57]
Unknown
What do you think? I mean, I know that my position in the song. Someone would listen to the song, and they would know what side I'm on. If there are two sides these days, is that in itself being divisive? I play them for audiences, and I think there's some people sitting out there in the audience who probably are offended. And now I've taken it. Not that. I mean, I can offend people, that's fine. But doing it conveniently along that same line, am I not adding to it? And I've just wondered what your thoughts were on that.
- [30:30]
Alison Gill
Well, in my view, there seems to be, at least mostly. And I know we don't like to speak in generalizations or paint with broad brushes or whatever else, you know, whatever other metaphor you want to use for that.
- [30:42]
Ben Folds
But there seems to be one side.
- [30:44]
Alison Gill
That tends to gaslight a little bit more than the other. And I feel like it's not ours. You put it bluntly. That's, yes, correct. It's not our side. But I think that we're sort of all walking around armed with facts and truth and trying to sort of beat back that interpretation or misinterpretation or people coming at us with alternative facts, as Kellyanne Conway so eloquently put it. And I think that that kind of puts us all at least over on this side of the fence in a unique position to have to defend ourselves against gaslighting because I think it's very rampant on the other side.
- [31:28]
Ben Folds
But your whole record, which, by the.
- [31:30]
Alison Gill
Way, I feel lucky I've got to hear it before it's come out, so thank you for that. But it seems like it's a lot of storytelling, a collection of stories that sort of address the current state of affairs. And I was wondering if that was, like, intentional.
- [31:47]
Unknown
Yeah, it is. I mean, I. I see almost all my way into art in general is stories. It's either. It's either you're implying a story. It could be happening in real time, or it could be a snapshot. But I. I do see life as stories. And so my. My or artist stories. And so almost my. My go to is broad to narrow. You know, start off. Start off broad and just. If you can just get people to the next line by giving them one more bit of information. And that to me is. Is. Is a story because it's the thing that leads us around the corner to something else. Right. And I know that. That there are other ways of writing, but I even think the other ways of writing that are more abstract still imply a story. In this case, my thing was, well, you know, I know this. The business now when you write, you write a song and it may not see the light of day for two years, which is the case with this record. And so the challenge is writing something that is current for me, but also has some sort of universal. It's going to hopefully last so that you don't get your record released two years from now. And it's a different world. And I think that's really hard to do, but you just have to find the real. The real thing inside it. And that's. That's tough.
- [33:07]
Alison Gill
Yeah. And, you know, a song comes to mind that's on there about the way we communicate via text a lot. And I was instantly, personally instantly thought about lockdown in 2020 when. When we were all having. When communicating by text, we didn't see each other. Then, you know, zoom came out and we, you know, we got to see.
- [33:25]
Ben Folds
Each other's faces a little bit.
- [33:27]
Alison Gill
But then also I think in 10, 20 years, because of that, I think things shifted in the way that we communicate and it will still always be relevant. Even though I personally immediately go to lockdown or, you know, the alone together situation, I think that the way that it was presented is something that's lasting.
- [33:47]
Unknown
Thank you. Well, you know, and I think on the flip side of that too, there's something really neat about dating your art as well. I Mean, I started thinking about the pandemic of the flu of 1918, and you can't find anything after that references it. It's like once they were out of that, granted, there had been a world war which might have overshadowed it, but people move out of that and they don't want to think about it anymore. And I think everyone's sort of like, I'm not making a lockdown record. I don't want to make a lockdown record and date it. And I kind of was sort of like, I think I want to make a lockdown record and date it. Because this, this is useful, I hope, you know.
- [34:26]
Ben Folds
Well, it is.
- [34:27]
Alison Gill
And so much of what we learned, good or bad, in lockdown, I think, has stuck with us. I think, like I said, I think it's really shifted things. A lot of stuff stays the way we, politically speaking, the way we campaign. You know, it used to be knocking doors. Now we have all this very amazing text banking and phone banking and things that we can do remotely, which not only helps us in general, but also gives voice to folks who couldn't door knock in the first place. And so really sort of we find these best practices and we take them forward with us. So I really appreciate the level of storytelling.
- [35:01]
Unknown
Oh, thank you. Glad you heard it.
- [35:03]
Alison Gill
Yeah, thanks for sending it, Cha Cha, everybody. I've seen Ben Faulds a few times live, and it's always a truly, truly memorable experience. You know, speaking of headlines, I remember, I think the show that I went to where you were with San Diego Symphony. We wrote a song on the spot using a recent headline and. Or, you know, things just taken from life, almost like improv, but with a symphony behind you. And then you talk about the songs and there's again, a lot of storytelling. And I really encourage everybody to go to benfolds.com tour and grab tickets to an upcoming performance. You're kicking this tour off, like, right now, I think, is about when you're going to hit the road. And be sure to get what matters most.
- [35:52]
Ben Folds
It's the new album.
- [35:52]
Alison Gill
It's out June 2nd. Say, Ben, Dana's out today. Would you care to join me for the good news?
- [35:59]
Unknown
I'll try. I'm scared. I'll do it.
- [36:03]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I know. Given some of the recent stories we've had, I could see how you might be scared.
- [36:09]
Unknown
What have you got for me?
- [36:11]
Alison Gill
We'll see what it is today. Let's just go. We'll just, you know, we take it one day at a time here at the Daily Beans. But thank you, everybody. We're going to be right back with the good news with Ben Fold.
- [36:19]
Ben Folds
Stick around after these messages.
- [36:21]
Alison Gill
We'll be right back. Hey, everybody, welcome back. It's time for the good news.
- [36:32]
Unknown
Who likes good news, everyone? Then good news, everyone.
- [36:45]
Alison Gill
And if you have any good news confessions, corrections. If you want to send a shout out to a loved one that you think needs a shout out, or if you want to give a shout out to an adoptable pet in your area or you want to play what the mutt or what the heckwine because I can oddly guess horse breeds now. Or if you have a woobie story or just anything at all, send it to us@dailybeanspod.com and click on contact.
- [37:07]
Ben Folds
Ben, welcome back. Are you ready to help read the.
- [37:09]
Alison Gill
Good news with me?
- [37:10]
Unknown
Yes. Yes. I'm good. I'm good. Let's do it.
- [37:12]
Alison Gill
Okay.
- [37:13]
Ben Folds
All right, here we go.
- [37:14]
Alison Gill
First up from Lola Gale. She her incredible artist, Lola. Hello, my gorgeous, witty, fabulous overlords of the beans. I just thought I would share my latest happy spot.
- [37:24]
Ben Folds
We have a big backyard that I.
- [37:26]
Alison Gill
Let go wild and usually do a.
- [37:28]
Ben Folds
Crop circle every year.
- [37:30]
Alison Gill
This year the circle was more like a drunken oval hiccup.
- [37:33]
Ben Folds
Oops.
- [37:34]
Alison Gill
So I decided to try my hand at something more camp estral. Now my very flat yard looks like a proper English garden. The dandelions are loving it, the bees are loving it. I'm loving it, especially because I can go out there in my bare feet. And yes, it really is a flat yard. Trust me.
- [37:51]
Ben Folds
And here are the photos. Oh.
- [37:53]
Alison Gill
Oh, I see what you've done.
- [37:55]
Ben Folds
Lola.
- [37:56]
Alison Gill
This is lovely. You know, so many times people tell me ag, go outside and touch grass.
- [38:01]
Ben Folds
This is where I would want to.
- [38:02]
Alison Gill
Go and do that. So thank you for that submission. Ben, who do we have next?
- [38:07]
Unknown
We have Scott. He. Him. He says loving the beans. Here's a picture of my grand dog Charlie, who seems to have some fashion model jeans.
- [38:20]
Alison Gill
Okay.
- [38:21]
Unknown
Look at those legs.
- [38:26]
Alison Gill
Draw me like one of your French girls.
- [38:29]
Ben Folds
What is Charlie?
- [38:30]
Alison Gill
Is Charlie like a German shepherd?
- [38:32]
Ben Folds
Looks like a shepherd mix.
- [38:33]
Alison Gill
Yeah.
- [38:34]
Ben Folds
So, so, so cute.
- [38:36]
Alison Gill
Thank you for that. I appreciate that, Scott. Next up from Landa banana in Arizona.
- [38:41]
Ben Folds
Pronouns she and her.
- [38:42]
Alison Gill
In 2020, my hubby and I took in my frail 82 year old Maga.
- [38:47]
Ben Folds
Mom to keep her safe from COVID.
- [38:49]
Alison Gill
I'm very grateful to say we survived all 381 days in complete isolation. We kept her alive, vaxxed and she lived independent again. She died naturally a year later surrounded by love.
- [39:00]
Ben Folds
You all have enhanced My world for a long time and words are not.
- [39:03]
Alison Gill
Enough to say thank you. After J6, I had a mini meltdown for a few weeks and took a.
- [39:08]
Ben Folds
Break from the news.
- [39:09]
Alison Gill
I would listen to your good news.
- [39:10]
Ben Folds
Only and it gave me hope.
- [39:12]
Alison Gill
I knew I was going to be fine when I listened to the story from the middle school teacher and the.
- [39:16]
Ben Folds
Double headed dildo field trip.
- [39:19]
Alison Gill
So update number one, I'm still sober 43 years. Congrats. Number two, I finally dealt with my rape. And number three, hubby and I are celebrating 41 years of wedded bliss. Still working on our love life because with live in Grammy it did not happen. Lol.
- [39:35]
Ben Folds
Number four, fully vaxxed.
- [39:36]
Alison Gill
Just got my sixth jab. Still and always will be an activist thanks to you all. I've included a picture of a cool plant of mine that is finally blooming. Any guesses? Ben, do you know what this is?
- [39:49]
Unknown
That looks like my right piano hand.
- [39:55]
Alison Gill
It's got a hand in the name but I can't remember. Ooh, we've got an answer.
- [39:59]
Ben Folds
We have an answer.
- [39:59]
Alison Gill
It's a citron type plant called the Hand of Buddha. Thank you again.
- [40:04]
Ben Folds
That's right. That's right. Wow.
- [40:06]
Alison Gill
Thank you so much for that submission, lad of banana. I really appreciate it.
- [40:11]
Unknown
Hand of Buddha. Vana. She her. Hello ladies. My oldest daughter got her dream dog last spring. A mini dachshund baby she named Lucky. He is such a sweet boy with the absolute best facial expressions. He is a side eye pro. So when you made the request for awkward family pet photos, I knew this was his moment of glory. And then there's a laughing with tears emoji. He has a love hate relationship with my second oldest, as clearly seen in the photo. Enjoy. Thanks for being the light in this disturbingly dark world. Oh man.
- [40:47]
Alison Gill
Okay. Okay.
- [40:49]
Unknown
Yeah. You know what they say, Big feet. Look at that guy.
- [40:58]
Alison Gill
That is a really good side eye.
- [41:00]
Ben Folds
You are correct.
- [41:02]
Alison Gill
Next up from Hilda or Gilda. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that pronouns she, her and they.
- [41:07]
Ben Folds
I was listening to your show on.
- [41:08]
Alison Gill
58 seditious conspiracy and at the end you invited experience about the things you say that make us think of pop culture references. First, I wanted to comment about the PAC masquerading as a breast cancer advocacy group because I don't want your listeners to confuse the abcc, the American Breast Cancer Coalition, with the nbcc. The nbcc, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, is a legitimate breast cancer advocacy group. NBCC has been fighting breast cancer for decades through advocacy education, policy and research. Also, simply fast tracking drugs through the FDA is not really a strong tool in fighting cancer and has the potential for putting ineffective drugs on the market.
- [41:46]
Ben Folds
They are made up of two entities.
- [41:48]
Alison Gill
One lobbying for law changes and another that's strictly charitable. They do not fundraise for specific candidates. Unlike the abcc, I am a breast cancer survivor and advocate and know their work. You can learn more@stopbreastcancer.org and choosing a name that is very similar to a legit organization is a deliberate choice. Which is why I don't donate over the phone to anyone and encourage everyone to check out whom you are sending your money to for my pop culture reference, I'm a new listener. Although I followed you on Twitter for a while, I started with Jack so I could stay up to date on the investigation. FYI, I prefer the original title, you don't know Jack. I'm also a substitute teacher who spends a lot of time with children and thus I'm exposed to their level of humor. When listening to the description of what Jack was like, you often describe him as very quiet yet effective in getting convictions. And what popped into my head was Jack silent but deadly like a fart. Okay, and now that is why I think every time I hear Jack being described as quietly working, I think of that also when I see pictures of him looking stern in those purple robes. Now that I'm hooked on Jack, I've been listening to Mueller she wrote and clean up on aisle 45 and I started listening to Mueller she wrote the original series. Thanks for helping me get through the day. Here's our cat Daisy who loves cream cheese. I I don't know any cats that don't love cream cheese, but Daisy is a beautiful torty. Look.
- [43:07]
Unknown
Oh Daisy. Cream cheese.
- [43:09]
Alison Gill
Very good. Very good Kitty. Thank you for that submission.
- [43:14]
Unknown
Raging southpaw she Her Mother's Day Dilemma what to do with a right wing parent in the 1990s our young sons were would frequently visit my in laws. My father in law would occasionally use the N word. I could not tolerate it anymore. I pulled him aside and sternly said look, we love you and we want our sons to grow up knowing you, but if you ever use the N word in front of them again, you will never see your grandsons again. My father in law looks stunned and he never used the N word in front of us again. It worked. Perhaps an in law may have more power in situations like this. I don't have the baggage with my father in law and that my husband hauls around with his father. Just a suggestion. May people may help people in similar situations with their families.
- [44:02]
Alison Gill
Yeah, we, we had a. Ben, we had a submission earlier in the week from someone who wasn't sure what to do because grandma was wearing an American flag shirt where the stripes are AK47s or AR15s in front of her children, right? And the kids were like, why? You know, kids are going through these shooter drills and all this other stuff. And the kids are like, why?
- [44:26]
Ben Folds
Why is that happening?
- [44:27]
Alison Gill
And they were like, what should we do? What should we do? And I said, well, you know, set a boundary so you can't wear that shirt over to our house anymore. Around the kids, you know, some, you know, boundaries are healthy. So, yeah, I think this is another great example of that. So thanks for that submission.
- [44:40]
Unknown
Well, it's hard to do. It takes a little bit of courage. Well done.
- [44:43]
Alison Gill
Yeah, well, I'm always so afraid too, that when I set a boundary with somebody that I love that they'll be upset or angry with me. But it's always 100% cool. You know, it's always fine. So I encourage it. Next up, from Megan pronouns she and her good morning.
- [45:00]
Ben Folds
Mais heracot femme.
- [45:01]
Alison Gill
Oh, very nice. French for the ladies of the beans. Just writing to thank you for being a lifeline these past few weeks as I've been waking up at ungodly hours to take care of the beautiful baby.
- [45:10]
Ben Folds
In the attached photos. So, kid story. Years back, I was in the car.
- [45:14]
Alison Gill
With my two Littles. They were probably 2 1/2 and 4 1/2.
- [45:17]
Ben Folds
Thunderstruck was on the radio.
- [45:19]
Alison Gill
My son had been absolutely sports crazed.
- [45:21]
Ben Folds
Since he became sentient.
- [45:23]
Alison Gill
So I said, ooh, listen up, buddy. This is one you'll hear in every locker room ever. It's a song a sports guy should know after he says, oh, I know why it's a sports guy song. They're saying football instead of thunder. That's cute and funny, right?
- [45:37]
Ben Folds
But wait.
- [45:38]
Alison Gill
Then the two year old baby girl.
- [45:39]
Ben Folds
With her sweet baby voice pipes up.
- [45:41]
Alison Gill
And says, oh, I thought they were saying tacos. And forever after, we now sing tacos instead of thunder. And I changed thunderstruck to taco truck.
- [45:53]
Ben Folds
Excellent.
- [45:55]
Alison Gill
There's a little backstory on that too. Ben. My goddaughter, when she was a baby used to ride around in her mom's backpack and we would go for walks and she would like, the baby would just make the sound while walking. So it would be like. And all of a sudden one day I'm like, thunder. And then we Just start singing thund thunderstruck over the baby, so. And now it's her favorite song. I think she's almost. God, almost 14. Holy crap.
- [46:23]
Ben Folds
Look at this puppy.
- [46:24]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [46:26]
Alison Gill
And look at the kid. Dude, that's o' Doyle rules. That kid is going to be in sports.
- [46:32]
Ben Folds
Look at that kid.
- [46:33]
Alison Gill
That is so adorable. Thank you so much.
- [46:36]
Unknown
Yeah, the boo boo between the eyes is what I get all the time with my glasses. That's. That's. I thought that was looking in the mirror there for a second.
- [46:47]
Alison Gill
Yeah, I like tacos.
- [46:48]
Ben Folds
Tacos.
- [46:50]
Alison Gill
I think that's. I think that's a better. I think that's improves it. Especially with our taco trucks on every corner. Like the Dems want, you know, the future liberals want taco trucks on every corner. Ben, thank you so much again.
- [47:02]
Unknown
Total honor.
- [47:03]
Alison Gill
For coming on and talking about the album. Talking about your tour again, Everybody go to benfolds.com tour. Thank you. Find out where he's gonna be and go see him. You will not regret it, I promise. I can speak from personal experience. Do you have any final thoughts before we sign off today?
- [47:19]
Unknown
No, I'm just. I'm starstruck and happy to be here. It went so fast. Can we do it again?
- [47:25]
Alison Gill
We can definitely do it again sometime. You let me know whenever you wanna. Come on. You are welcome. Everybody will be back tomorrow. Dana will be back Wednesday. Don't worry, she's not gone forever. She's just touring, doing her HRC thing. Raising tens of millions of dollars to support the lgbtq.
- [47:41]
Ben Folds
The amazing person she is.
- [47:43]
Alison Gill
Until we meet again, please take care.
- [47:45]
Ben Folds
Of yourselves, take care of each other.
- [47:46]
Alison Gill
Take care of the planet, take care of your mental health.
- [47:48]
Ben Folds
Vote blue over Q.
- [47:50]
Alison Gill
And bring somebody with you. I've been ag.
- [47:55]
Unknown
Oh, and I'm bf.
- [47:59]
Alison Gill
I got a cord in there too. Thank you very much. And them's the beans.
- [48:03]
Dana
Refried bean. I like refried beans.