The Reckon Yard Podcast May 31, 2026

Monsters

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76:41

Part

resistor on the blower motor

That resistor helps control how fast the AC fan blows air into the cabin. If it’s failing, the fan can start out working but then slow down or stop pushing air out of the vents.

Term

GMT-800s

GMT-800 is a GM “generation” of truck/SUV designs. The speaker is saying that this air-conditioning fan resistor problem is a known/common issue on that kind of GM vehicle.

Term

The blend door actuator is a small motor that moves a flap inside the heating/AC system. That flap decides how much hot vs. cold air you get and where it comes out—so if it’s broken, the vents can act weird even if the fan works.

Term

freon

Freon is the chemical inside the AC system that makes the air conditioning cool. If the refrigerant level is good, the AC can cool, but you can still have problems with airflow or the controls.

Term

head unit

A head unit is the main dashboard control for the car’s electronics—like the radio/screen. Here, they replaced it because they think the controls/electronics might be part of the problem.

Brand

AC Delco

AC Delco is a well-known auto-parts brand. In this context, they’re saying they replaced the unit with a brand-name part instead of a cheaper aftermarket one.

Term

front end

“Front end” means the parts at the front of the truck that control steering and ride quality. Here, they’re planning to repair the suspension/steering area.

Term

hubs

“Hubs” are parts near the wheel that help the wheel spin smoothly. If they’re worn, the front end can feel loose or noisy.

Term

hydro boost system

A hydro-boost system helps your brakes using pressurized fluid. If it’s leaking, fluid can get onto nearby parts and cause damage over time.

Term

bushings

Bushings are rubber parts that help the suspension move smoothly and quietly. If fluids leak onto them, the rubber can get ruined, and the ride can feel rough over bumps.

Term

power steering fluid

Power steering fluid is the fluid that makes steering easier. If it leaks, it can damage rubber parts and also make the steering feel worse.

Term

bypass that amp

“Bypassing the amp” means skipping the amplifier that’s not working. The goal is to get sound working without relying on the broken part.

Term

harness

A harness is the wiring adapter that makes it easier to connect a new stereo. It helps you plug things in the right way instead of guessing or splicing wires.

Term

shorted out

“Shorted out” means electricity is accidentally taking a shortcut in the wiring. That can make the amp fail and sometimes blow a fuse, so it needs fixing rather than just ignoring it.

Brand

Tesla

Tesla is a company that makes electric cars. The host is saying they don’t dislike electric cars, but they don’t associate them with the kind of “fury” sound or vibe they like.

Car

Plymouth Fury

A Plymouth Fury is an older American car model. The host is basically saying they only want to hear that loud, aggressive “muscle car” energy if it’s an old Plymouth Fury.

Car

AMC Eagle

The AMC Eagle is a car made by AMC that was known for having all-wheel drive. That means it could send power to more than just the front wheels, helping it handle rough or slippery roads better.

Person

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was the person behind Ford, one of the biggest early car companies. Here, the host credits him with an idea for making a tractor that was cheaper and easier for farmers to repair.

Concept

cheap old tractor made from car and truck parts

The host is describing a tractor design that uses common parts from cars and trucks. That makes it cheaper to build and easier to fix when something breaks.

Car

Ford Ranger of tractors

The host says Ford followed up with a tractor line called the “Ranger.” It’s presented as the next step after the earlier cheap, repairable tractor concept.

Car

Ford Model T

The Ford Model T was one of the first cars made in large numbers so more regular people could afford one. Henry Ford helped improve how cars were built, which made it easier to get cars on the road. That’s why it’s remembered as an important early step in car history.

LIVE

Rusted old memories buried in dust

Through the wreckage of dreams

I'm trying to trust each faded sign

Whisked stories of old, of laughter

And heartache of love that grew cold

Are you really digging for peace

Or is that just a lie

Tell to help you sleep

Sure that you really want

Truth behind all the stories they told

Welcome to the Wrecking Yard

I'm Jerry Wayne Longmire

And y'all, presumably still y'all

All are welcome here in the Church of Internal Combustion

We just asked that you show up with an open heart

This is a haven for those dirty hands

Complicated hearts

Morning, everybody

It's morning, I don't even know what time it is

Whew, that has been a good day so far

Get out of here

Look, look here, bug

Get on with your life

Gonna make some better decisions

Here is not it

Is that gumming?

All right

Make sure all that

Look at there, we do got us to do all the bottoms today

Feeling a little better

Big shout out to our sponsors first off

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Also, our sponsors with the World of Outlaws

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That's the late model series

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And I'm getting ready to go back out on the road with them

I got a race with them at the end of June

I'm going to I-94 in Minnesota

For a late model race

I'm pretty excited about that

I don't know if you've been keeping up with it

But oh, Texas boy, Tyler Turbo

Won $100,000 purse the other night

Not only that

If you're watching, boy, he got rowdy

It was fun to watch

I'm just a big fan of Mr. Tyler Turbo

And he came out there and whooped that ass the other night

It was good to see

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Alright, now we're done with the sponsors

Got anything else to tell you?

Woo, it's 85...

85 degrees out here

I'm getting about that time of year

I might have to bring my air conditioner back out here

Hadn't had to do that in a while

Oh, I feel just capital

Chewed up some mushrooms about an hour ago

Not a lie, I'm not trying to trip

I just put a little spark on my day

I like it

My social battery is a little drained

Because it did more social stuff this week than it normally did

Normally tried to avoid that kind of stuff

I don't know when I got like that either

I don't know if it's just because being on the road

Being around a bunch of people

Makes me feel some kind of way

But I've just...

Over the past two years

I've gotten to where, especially since I don't go do

The Whiskey Brothers podcast anymore

Which required me driving over my buddy Slade's house

And hanging out with them on Monday nights

I usually go catch a mic

But now I've just gotten into this habit

When I'm home I don't leave this house for nothing

And it's not anything against it

I'm not always people like, oh the outside world is terrible

And everybody's idiots

And I don't feel that way

I genuinely don't have a lot of those kind of feelings

But I just...

This is my sacred sanctuary

And I get here and I just get holed up

And I don't really need to go anywhere

Maybe every once in a while I gotta go to a meat store

Get me some dip

That's it

Rare occasion

Might run somewhere and get us some food or something

If we decide to get us a big burger

But other than that I just stay home

And I'm okay with that

I just putts around here and deck around the garage

Deck around the yard, cut some plants

And mow the grass

Make videos and write

I like sitting on that porch and writing

And...

But I'm like, you got...

I'm not saying you got to

But I need to

I need to make sure that I'm getting out of the house more

That I'm getting out here in the sunshine

And that I'm going places

And, you know, I spend all this time

Money getting us avalanche ready

And I don't even hardly drive it when I'm home

And now I'm not using it to tour

Because I'm traveling by plane and rental car

So I got out and drove my truck some this week

Talk about that

Well, man, I'm having a problem

And I know a lot of you guys are very knowledgeable

And I'm not very knowledgeable about air conditioning stuff

But the air conditioner blows cold on the avalanche

And I thought I had a bad resistor on the blower motor

It's real common with the GMT-800s

Real common with general motor stuff

So I changed the blower motor resistor out

And the air conditioner worked great for about two weeks

And then it's just gotten where it does this thing

Like if you're on the road more than about 30 or 40 minutes

All of a sudden you can't feel it blowing out of the vents anymore

But that blower motor is still over there giving it hell

I got the whole dash apart right now

And that blower motor over there just whoo, giving it hell

But nothing's coming out of the vents

And I try changing the selector and I don't hear you thinking

So I'm thinking it's that blend door actuator in the middle

The one that controls mode

I think something's going screwy with it

But they say you'll hear it like the cam in it

Slipping because it's got like a plastic cam mechanism

On the actual servo that goes bad

But I don't hear anything clicking or anything down there

And like I said it only does that if you're on the road about 30, 45 minutes

But I'm about to take the whole family to Colorado

And I'm trying to get all the little ends and outs straightened out on it

Before we get on that 2,000 mile road trip

So, any advice you guys have, I would be glad to hear it

Please don't hesitate to jump in the comments and tell me

Anything you think might be causing this problem

Because it's got good freon, like I said it blows cold and something

Right, but it just, something's going on

And I've already changed, it's got a brand new head unit in it

Brand new AC Delco head, not some aftermarket bull crap

High dollar AC Delco head unit in it

And it worked great for like a month after I put that in

And it started to grow

And David told me he was having this problem, he never figured out what it was

So I've got it all part right now, I'm trying to straighten that out

Got to do the front end work

I'm going to tackle that this week, I've got all my parts and my hubs

I'm going to go through the front end on that pickup

And that's not necessary, but it just, what happened is

The hydro boost system on it and the power steering on it

Was leaking for a long time

And it leaked all down on them bushings on the left side

On the driver's side of the front end

And that, you know, that brake fluid and power steering fluid

Just eat anything up, just eat it to death

And just ruining them bushings on the left side

I hate that, every time you hit a bump, you know

So I'm going to go through that

Other than that, I've got to put a stereo in it

And I've got a stereo, ready to go

I just need to tackle it

I've got to order one more harness because I'm going to bypass that amp under the console

Because I'm pretty sure that amp is shorted out

And, yeah man

I'm enjoying the avalanche, enjoying the piss out of it actually

I drove it, I went Friday

Now Thursday

Thursday

I went and y'all know my buddy David

One of my best friends

I went and hung out with my buddy David

I've been meaning to call him for two weeks since I've been back in Minnesota

And that's how long it takes me to call somebody

So I finally called David up

We went and had lunch, we had a good time

We went over to a burger joint in Shepherd

Overpriced, mediocre burger

But it was National Burger Day

So they gave me a discount so I didn't feel so cheated

Had a great lunch, sat there with my buddy

We just bullshitted for like two and a half hours

Met a fan at the burger joint

Got a name David Milton come up

And spoke to me, he said hi to me

And you know that never gets old

I always loved that

And it was funny because David

David hasn't experienced it a lot with me

He was like man is that happening a lot these days

I was like well it's more and more

You know, not so much in the heights

In Houston, that's not where it happens

Like I said but

You catch me at a pilot truck stop by God

And I run that something 50

Get my mountain due for free

So it was interesting for that to happen in the heights

Good time man

Went ran some errands, little piddly stuff

And just did a little putzing around

A little screwing around

Just bumping around town in my pickup truck

You know, and that was a nice

Like man I didn't realize I needed this

I need to do this every once in a while

Inspires me, makes me right

It's that good

What do they call it, exterior stimulus

External stimulus, there we go

Exterior, I'm thinking cars

Yeah, good external stimulus

You need that every once in a while

I saw a Tesla with a license plate

That I kept reading as into fury

But I think it stood for night fury

Which was, you know

From how to train a dragon

It's a little black Tesla

But it just made me giggle because

I don't have a problem with electric cars

I think electric cars are cool

To an extent I just don't

Associate them with fury anything

In fact, if it's a car

Period

I don't really want to hear fury

Unless it's an old Plymouth or old

Yeah, unless it's an old Plymouth

If it ain't an old Plymouth fury

I'm not interested

I like them, I like them old cop cars

My buddy Fred Fritz

He's got one, it's pretty slick

So that tickled me

And then Friday night

We kicked off the Diamond Jim tour

We're going to talk about Diamond Jim Brady today

Title of this episode

It's called Monsters

It has to do with a video I just put out

And some of the feedback I got

But we're going to

We kicked off the Diamond Jim tour

In Conroe, Texas

At the Riot Comedy Club

Friday night and I was a little

Concerned because ticket sales did not

Look that great

Oh, thank you so much baby

Sorry, a printer was screwing up earlier

And I didn't come out

And that beautiful woman

I'm married to fix the printer

Because she is a wizard with it

And I hate printers, you want to see me getting a fight

With something

You let me screw with a printer

For about two minutes

I have waged some wars with printers

That's much more, let me see

Oh yeah, we can read shit out of that

I'm excited about this episode

Sorry, I'm a little scattered this morning

Been a good day already

Friday night was amazing, I was a little worried

Because ticket sales didn't look great leading up to that show

And then we ended up with a packed house

The opener is a kid

I know from the open mic scene

And I've seen him working

And I know he's been putting time in

But I hadn't seen him perform in a while

Louis de Jesus

I think is his name

Bro, he got up there for ten minutes

And beat the piss out of that crowd

I was like hell yeah

And then my buddy Nathaniel Amador

Some of y'all have seen me live, seen him

He works with me every once in a while

He got up there

And whooped the shit out of him for twenty minutes

And boy I was getting

To the point I was getting a little hot back there

In the back of the room

Like got him out of young blood, leave me some

You know

Damn, Nathaniel that gave me twenty minutes

You going to do every one of your age jokes in twenty minutes

I mean he was beating the piss out of their people

I was like you son of fifty

Pump the brakes

It's Conroe on a Friday night Nathaniel

What are you doing to me

But it's also really cool

To watch your friends get harder and harder to follow

To watch people that you already know are talented

That you have faith in

Get better and better

And he whooped their ass and I was proud of him

About it

And I got up there and whooped the shit out of him

55 minutes

It was a fantastic show

And I did something cool

You know the thing I've been struggling

With

This special

I had this special written and I was liking what it was doing

First of all

It was crazy kicking off the tour for this special

In the town

Where all the shit because in the special

Some of you have seen me live know but those of you that have it

The special

I talk a little bit

About stuff I'm doing to improve my health

And things like that

But in the special I talk a lot about my trip to Africa

But I tell the whole story

Of how I fell off the roof

And broke my brain

And come back from that

And all that sort of thing

And kind of how I got through the pandemic

By beginning truck astrology

And then

The special takes you a lot of emotional places

And

I just didn't have a good closer

I didn't have a good place to go

And I'm so mad it took me so long

To figure out that

The only place I could close that special

Is the story

About Harry and the McDonald's

About me hallucinating

This

Being that helped me through something

When I was trying to when the doctor

Put me on some bad medication that

Triggered me

I was having suicidal thoughts

And that's not me

Okay

You ever hear about that happening

Me you make sure y'all investigate

The piss out of it

Y'all and Rachel

Get every detective and sheriff around

Because I'm terrified of death

I don't want to leave this son of a bitch until

My knees sound like an old screen door

Okay

Y'all leave me plugged in

Leave me plugged in, someone might freeze my head

Whatever you got to do

Somebody might find a cure for what's happening

My God

You got to sew my body back together

Whatever you got to do

It's not me

Some of you guys have listened to

Podcasts a long time have heard that story

About Harry and

It dawned on me

That that's the way to close the special

It's a good emotional moment

I can talk about something serious

And then it has a big old laugh at the end

Right and I'm telling you

When I told them people

Like I'm glad Lord was looking out for me

But I wish you wouldn't make me look like an asshole

In the McDonald's

And I was like

It was one of those moments

Like the very first time I ever really did it

Like really sold it

And did the story

And I'm so excited to be headed to Colorado

To work this story some more

And get the beats even tighter

Because the way it hits, it hits

And it's

I was explaining this to my buddy Trey

Yesterday

Good buddy Trey Touch

You know sometimes you start writing a special

And you're like it's going to be this

And you're writing and you're putting this thing together

And then as you perform it

And get it on the road it transforms

And then all of a sudden it's this

And that's why it didn't dawn on me to use that

To end it because

It wasn't that when I started writing it

But now that it's that, Harry fits at the end

And what a great story

I feel so finished in this special

That I've already started working on the next special

And it's going to be called extra dads

And

The next comedy special extra dads

Is going to be nothing but stories

About Mr. Bob

And Jack Harland

And all these men that helped raise me

Uncle Bobby, Papaw

All the men that

Stepped in and gave me the things I was missing

As I was going through life

You know, not the basics and stuff my dad gave me

But all

All those stories, if you're lucky

You get a handful of those guys, I've had a bunch of them

You know, men I've worked for

And also helpful

Most of them were hilarious

Joey's dad

Big Mike Vargas

Just

I have a plethora

It's going to be a cool special

I start kind of shaping the transitions

And how it's going to work

And how I'm going to get into these stories and stuff

And I'm really excited about that

So I'm excited to get this one filmed

You know, but this tour

I'm going to work the beats out and get it tight

Filming

Then we're going to go into extra dads

So it was a hell of a way to kick off the tour

Also

Telling those stories in Conroe where they happened

Was crazy

It was crazy work because the minute I brought it to that hospital

That whole room erupted

You know, like I've been telling that story all around the country

And they love it and they get it

Because they all got a hospital like that

But telling the story where that hospital actually is

And people worked there

Was hilarious

So Friday night

Resounding success

We made money, got to work with some great comics

It's a cool room in Conroe

If you're in the Conroe area, you should be going

And supporting that little room

Because they are doing some good things there

And then Saturday

This is how I booked up my social counter

I said, man, I'm going to go

To my good friend Slade Ham's

50th birthday party

And

Man, I haven't got to see Slade

As much as I want to

You know, we lived six miles apart

And I haven't seen him in over a year

And that's just

It's too long and it's 100% my fault

Because I hermit

I get here and hermit and I don't go nowhere

And I don't do nothing

I was like, man, I got to get out of this habit

Because I need to go nurture some of my friendships

Your friendships require nurturing

And you can't just sit there and go

I got these friends and then just

Just wait for you to need them

That's not a good way

To nurture friendships

You got to go out there and look for your friends

And especially the older you get, the more complicated

Your life gets

Slade's birthday party is fun

He has

An eclectic group of friends

So it's an interesting bunch of everybody there

Is doing something

There were artists and authors

And stand-up comedians

And people have not seen

In a long time

My good buddy Adam Taylor

Who's a director, Outlaw Dave

Who was my first radio job ever

I worked for Outlaw Dave 20 years ago

And we've been friends

All this time

He was one of my early supporters

In my comedy career

Early friend and mentor to me

In the business

So I got to see Outlaw Dave

Trey Tudson, my little buddy

Being Trey Tudson was on

The Whiskey Brothers podcast

I personally think Trey Tudson is one of the funniest

Human beings on the planet

And I just love the guy

He's like family to me

And so it was good to see him

My buddy Paul Odo

Who's an amazing artist

That's out in Austin now

But he was also a stand-up comic

He won the Boston Comedy Festival

Which you know you think about comedy

That's a bad dude right there

It was amazing

It was a

It's a good party

It was down in Chima

So it was like an hour drive

Come back, I was a little whipped

So I slept in this morning

It's like noon

So I got to get this thing recorded

Get it out

But I'm glad I pushed myself past my boundaries

To get out and do some stuff this week

I'm getting ready to go on tour

I'm going to be going

I'm 68 cities till the end of the year

So you do the math on that

That's a lot of moving and grooving baby

But I'm feeling better about it

Every time I talk to you guys

Honestly about something

I feel better about it

That's just a true thing that is

And I felt better

I'm feeling better, I might kick that

Sign of shit

And I got my voice back

Feeling good about that

I've written so many poems

And like that thing

So I sent the manuscript over to the publisher

And he wants to publish

So my book is dropping in fall

The wrecking yard is dropping in fall

He wants to drop the poetry book in spring

And I just found out I'm going to AWP

Which is like the writer Superbowl

And I'm going to be on a panel

About rural and southern voices

And storytelling and literature

Your boy

Your boy is going to talk to the snooties

And tell them how a good old boy writes

Ha ha ha

Ain't that a life of trip sometimes

Boy you just wake up one day

And find yourself in the wildest lane

I love it

I love it, I love it

You always read that thing

Sorry I keep thinking my gate's open

I keep looking and it ain't

It's one of them optical eye illusions

My buddy Mark would call it

It's one of those things

I used to always get inspired

By the fact that

The Kentucky Fried Chicken guy

Colonel Sanders, he didn't make all his money

Not even money, but he didn't have his success

Till he was in his 60s

Dave Thomas, the Wendy's guy

Also didn't have his success till later on in life

When people finally figured out he was good

At what he was doing, and I ain't making burgers

Or chicken, but I'm making people feel good

And I'm glad I'm having some success

In a lane I can be proud of

I get letters every week

People tell me I help them

I get emails every week

People tell me I help them

That's the legacy I want to make

A lot of people laugh

But by God

If I leave a legacy

Of making people feel better

About this journey we're on

Then that's something I can be proud of

That's something I can go on to the next life

For whatever's happening and be okay with

I promise you that

That's one of those things

If you can find a way

The poetry book

My mama loved

The poetry would have made my mama proud

My mama loved the fact that I can make people laugh

She thought I was funny

She loved it when I was being too much

She loved the fact that I can make people laugh

She loved the fact that

I've done comedy in a way I

You know

She would have been mad at me

About the memoir, the wrecking yard

In this podcast because it shared too many

Secrets

But the minute that publisher

Started trying to screw up my book

She would have been the first one on a plane

To Baltimore to burn his damn house down

You know what I mean

Like she would have had my back on that

But the poetry

Would have made her proud

She would have had this book of poetry

On her coffee table

And everybody she knows coffee table

She would have bought a case of them

Had me sign them and she would be giving them out

When she went to the swinging door

Barbecue and putting them at the doctor

My baby wrote that, putting them at the doctor's office

So it makes me really happy

And there's a few poems about her in it

And

Man, I might read you all one of my new poems

At the end of the episode if you're into it

Don't you can tell me you're not

So I'm probably going to do it anyway

I decided I wrote this new poem called

Crowns I really love

It was my favorite one and then I wrote this poem

About

Rachel called Daisy

That it's my new favorite

I think it's the closure of the book

So I have just been

On a creative

Go time

I also keep making my lots of legends

About to do another one about the

AMC Eagle

But last week or week 4

I decided to do one about the Ford 9-In tractor

And

When I did

The one about the Ford 9-In tractor

It wasn't a video about Henry Ford

But you have to talk about Henry Ford

When you talk about

The 9-In tractor because this was his idea

Is he wanted this cheap old tractor

Made from car and truck parts

That every farmer could work on

And that was

Just the right size for what people

Needed at that time

And he went out and he built the Ford Ranger

Of tractors

And boy the comments come

Flooding especially on YouTube

He was a monster

He was anti-Semite

He hated the Jewish people

Yes

Yes he was a monstrous human being

But

That's not the whole truth

And I'm tired of living

And I'm probably going to say some things

You're going to piss some people off today

And I'm going to be honest with you

I don't get political but I am going to say

Some stuff about partisan people

Because there's shit that I'm just

I'm just sick to death of

I'm sick to death

Of the right side of the eye

Always trying to conceal the darkness

And the truth about history

And I'm sick to death of the left side of the eye

Trying to cancel out

Any contribution anybody they didn't like

Or was a bad person made

And the real truth of the matter is

Is you got to look at the whole man

And we should examine every bit of that

We should examine every bit

There are monsters

That contributed to our society

And we should talk about it

We should not sweep it under the rug

But we also shouldn't cancel out

Their contribution to society

That doesn't necessarily excuse their actions

Both sides of the political aisle

Are in the erasure business

This side wants to pretend

They were just men of their time

Nothing to see here

And this side over here wants to pull down statues

And burn the contributions along

With the name

And neither one of them sides is telling the truth

Because the truth is harder

And far more interesting

Than either of them want to deal with

Some of the people

Who built the world we live in

The roads

The highways

The machines

The music, the art

Were brilliant

Monsters

In the same lifetime

Two things can be true

You don't have to choose

You just have to look at the whole picture

It's not forgiveness

It's just honesty

Look at Thomas Edison

What's the myth?

Thomas Edison is this lone genius inventor

The light bulb

The phonograph

Over a thousand patents

The greatest inventor in American history

That's the story we was taught in school

And it's bullshit

He was not primarily an inventor

He was a machine

For monetizing other people's inventions

What he built was an invention factory

He staffed it with

The same thing Elon Musk has done

He staffed it with brilliant engineers and scientists

Whose name nobody knows

And then he held the patents

He had the money

They did the enormous amounts of work

Many of his patents were

Just improvements or refinements on existing technology

He was an absolute genius

At industrialization

Commercialization

Self promotion

Which is a real skill

But it's not the same as this guy

Tinkering away in his lab

Making all these great inventions

Like it was presented to us

The electricity we all got in our house

Alternating current, AC current

It ain't from Edison, it's from Tesla

Tesla worked for Edison earlier in his career

AC current

Even at that time

Was clearly superior

To DC current

Which was Edison's system he was pushing

When it come to large scale power distribution

Edison knew it

He didn't care, he had invested

All his money in direct current

So, what does he do?

Does he go to Tesla and go, hey man

Can we use your invention or can we work together

And try to make this whole thing better

No, he doesn't do that

Because that's going to get in the way of his money

Because the dude doesn't really give a shit

About anything other than his money

So he launches a public campaign

To destroy Tesla

And the AC current ideas

Not a business campaign

Just an outright

Scare tactic campaign

Built on fear

They went around

I said, you can look this up

This is crazy shit, I didn't know this part

Until I was doing research for this episode

But Edison

And his associates

Began going around the country

And publicly

Publicly electrocuting animals

To prove that alternating current was dangerous

Dogs, calves, horses

Killed in demonstrations

In the early 1900's they

Now there's a lot of people claim Edison

Didn't have anything to do with this

But the marketing company that did it

Was directly tied to him

So whether he gave the order or not

Who knows, but

They electrocuted Topsy a circus elephant

At Coney Island on film

The footage still exists

It's called electrocuting elephant

You can watch it if you want to

I chose not to because I love elephants

And that would just broke my heart

Edison's team also helped develop

And lobbied for the electric chair

Using alternating current

Specifically

So that Tesla's invention would become

Associated in the public mind

With death and execution

And in all boils down to

Tesla was the better scientist

Edison couldn't stand it

Tesla held the patents on alternating current power

And the Niagara Falls generator

And he had to sign away

His Niagara Falls royalties

To bell out Westinghouse

Who backed him

When they got in financial trouble

Tesla gave up a fortune

To honor a loyalty

Because he was a little bit better man

Meanwhile Edison got rich

Got credit for all this

Shit he didn't do

And Tesla died broken alone

The New York

Hotel in like the early 40s

Feeding pigeons out the window

Yeah

The unit of magnetic flux density

Is named Tesla, he got a measurement

Edison got this myth

And this bullshit celebration

That is a vicious

Insecure

Person willing to destroy a better man

To protect his investment

The myth

Is mostly PR

He built himself

The man underneath it

Is far more complicated

And considerably less heroic

Not a good person

Not a good human

Did not live his life as a good man

By any stretch of the imagination

Now if you're electrocuting animals

To screw somebody

Like that's just

Henry Ford

You can talk all day about Henry Ford's

Accomplishments that were good

They were good accomplishments for this country

Model T put America on wheels

For Henry Ford

Cars were rich men's toys

The moving assembly line

Didn't just build cars

It changed how all

Manufacturing worked worldwide

For the better

In early 1900s

He doubled his workers wages to $5 a day

That don't sound like much to us

But it was a bunch to them

It was more than double the industry standard

That men was getting paid to work in a factory

That wage decision he made

Is one of the most significant moments

In the creation of the American middle class

And his whole stated reason was

Workers should be able to afford the cars they build

I talked about the nine end tractor in my video

One of the most important machines in American agricultural history

Whether you like it or not it is

It put on every tenth farm

Lifted the burden of farming

From flesh and blood

Because it was a tractor that farmers could afford

Real working people's lives

Got easier because of that machine

But he also bought

A small newspaper

And turned into an anti-Semitic

Propaganda machine

With something like 900,000 readers

And they distributed it through Ford dealership

Every Ford dealership in America

Used his car empire

As a delivery system for his hate

He had this long series

Called The International Jew

The World's Problem

And it was something like 90 articles

About how bad Jewish people were over 7 years

And a lot of it was just built on

A bunch of these forged papers

And bull crap that wasn't real

The forged paper republished this fact

Blamed Jewish people

For everything wrong in the world

The World War I bootleg liquor

Everything

Just

To him they were the destruction

Of the Anglo-Saxon way of life

His book was translating German

And had direct influence on the growing Nazi movement

Adolf Hitler personally idolized Ford

There's a famous interview

Before becoming chancellor

Where there's a portrait of

Henry Ford hung on the wall

Behind Hitler's desk

He told the Detroit News

I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration

Ford is the only American

Mentioned in Mein Kampf

And he's mentioned favorably

After, and this isn't like

Oh, we didn't know how bad Hitler was going to be

Then when he started killing people, we backed

It wasn't that, because in

The late 30s, well

After the persecution

Of Jewish people was well underway

Ford accepted

The grand cross of the German eagle

The highest honor Nazi Germany gave

To a foreigner. He accepted on 75th

Birthday. He was not shying away

From this stuff

He got sued for a live bell

And had to

Pump out some old bullshit apology

That he had somebody else write

For him

But in private, Henry Ford continued to

Hold and express his anti-Semitic beliefs

Right up to his death

That apology was damage control

Not a change of heart

If you know the way he treated

Edsel Ford, it's one of the most

Horrific stories in

Automotive history

He made him believe

That he was president of Ford Motors

But then, so Henry

Ford had a group

Of thugs

X soldiers and X cops

That he called the Ford

Service Department and he used them to

Bust up unions and terrorize people

Maybe I had a gang of thugs

He was used to terrorize people

Then he turned them on his own son

To bully him and intimidate

Him and spy on him

To the point the dude ended up with

Stomach ulcers and then died of stomach

Cancer

Henry the second

Hated his grandad

Because he blamed him for his father's death

And then turned into

Kind of a weird version of him

Which was kind of crazy

Not a good man

Might stretch his imagination

Not a good man, he done some wonderful things

For America, done some wonderful things

For automotive manufacturing

You can't, you can't just

Dump all the, the nine in tractors

Real, the five dollar day was

Real, the assembly line is real

But also, so is all the bad

Shit, it's all real too

Portrait over Hitler's desk, the grand

Cross

You don't get to keep the tractor and throw away

The anti-Semitism

And you don't get to just talk about the

Antisemitism and throw away the tractor

You have to take the whole man

Or your line about history

We've had Picasso sometimes

Just a, just a predator

Of the human being, the way he treated women

He was a terrible, terrible person

Brilliant artist

But that doesn't excuse the fact

That this is true too

My counter-arguing

And I don't, I'm not one of these people

Believes everybody becomes successful

As a monster, I'm not one of these dudes

It's just because somebody gets money

Turns them into a monster

I've met people with money that were good human beings

I've met successful people that were good

Human beings, I've also met

Poor people who are monsters

And I've met unsuccessful people who are monsters

And good human beings

My counter-argument to them too

Is that you, you can have

Greatness without the monster

And that's where Diamond Jim Brady

Comes into play

Y'all have heard me say

Diamond Jim, that was a joke

My papa used to say, my papa, oh look at that

Every time you had something fancy, oh look at

Old Diamond Jim, look at Old Diamond Jim

Coming through there, you get a new pair of sunglasses

Look at Old Diamond Jim with new sunglasses

By your new car

Look at Old Diamond Jim with that new car

But Diamond Jim Brady, Jim Buchanan

Was a real dude

He was born

In like the 1850s

In New York City

He was an Irish immigrant family

Which if you know

The time period and the history there

The Irish were not treated well

They were treated as

As a servant class

His father

Ran a saloon

He got his first job, I think what he was like

14 as a bellboy at a hotel

And worked his way up

To railroad supply

Cells and became

The greatest salesman

In American history

Sold railroad equipment

Across the country

And built a fortune doing it

He's the real dude

The real self-starter, the real guy

That built everything

By the time he was done

He was one of the wealthiest men in America

The reason they had it, they called him Diamond Jim

Was because he was fascinated with

Emeralds and diamonds

He had 31

So for every day of the month

He had a complete set of jewelry

To wear as his accoutrements

With his suits

Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires

Each set was matched

Cuff links, shirt studs

Belt buckle, watch chain

Rings, tie pin

When he

When he died

Even way back then

His diamond collection was valued

Over like 2 million dollars

Which would just be tens of millions today

And he wore them everywhere

Every day, restaurants, racetracks, theaters

People came out to see

Diamond Jim just to see the jewelry

He was a walking spectacle

And loved every minute of it

He was also legendary for his eating

Diamond Jim Brady 8 at a scale

That is almost incomprehensible

You go and read these reports

I don't know why nobody's made a movie about this dude

Like it's a brilliant story

He called oysters good companions

And he would eat

A couple dozen oysters

To start his meal

Several crabs, full turtle soup

Two whole ducks, six or seven lobsters

Steak, vegetables

A full platter of pastries and sweets

Wash down with gallons of orange juice

And lemon so he didn't drink at all

He didn't drink alcohol at all

He ate enough at one sitting

To feed a table of ten all the time

It's eventually what killed him

When they did the autopsy

After he died, doctors estimated

His stomach was five to six times

The normal size

I mean, ate himself into

Severe health problems but never stopped

That was just

You know

You can be great and have flaws

And men

Had a flaw with his eating

And that's one I can understand

He had this companion

And it's hard to find out

If they were ever romantic or not

But it's hard to tell but she was an actress

And a singer

And her name was Lily and Russell

And she was already very famous

She was the most famous entertainer in America at the time

She's a large woman

Healthy woman

And

I suppose they were not romantically involved

But she had

Her own complicated love life

But they were inseparable friends for decades

But then there's rumors that they were

At times romantically involved

But they would go eat together

And she could nearly

Keep pace with him at the table

I found what I was doing

Research this episode

That Diamond Jim Brady gave her

A gold-plated bicycle

With her initials

And diamonds and rubies on the handlebar

Because

Of course he did

Diamond Jim

I don't

I wanted to dig into it

I couldn't find it if anybody still has that bicycle

I would love to just go see that

Like at a museum or something

Like hear badge what that thing even looks like

I couldn't even find a picture of it

Diamond Jim Brady was famous

For a third thing though

This is where it gets interesting

At least to me

Third thing he was famous for

Was his incredible generosity

And kindness

He gave enormous amounts

Of his money away

Quietly and without any fanfare

People knew about it

Diamond Jim didn't talk about it

He had your life

He funded the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute

At Johns Hopkins

It's still one of the

Premier Urology Centers in the world

Still has his name on it

He was known for

Giving freely to his friends

Strangers, waiters

Anyone who needed help

He gave money

Hosted lavish dinners

Picked up every check always

I can imagine what the check was for his meal

Never married

No children

When he died the rest of his money

Went to people and institutions

He gave money to several hospitals

Around New York

Orphanages

Which is kind of crazy

It's kind of crazy that he lived this life

Of like legendary excess

With the diamonds and the food

And then he was like a teetoler about alcohol

Never drank it

But would drink gallons of orange juice

And lemon soda

This is a man of enormous appetite

Enormous wealth

Enormous ambition

And no victims

No rivals destroyed

No propaganda, no hate

No cruelty

Just a big loud generous

Ridiculous, magnificent American

Who loved his life

And shared it with everyone around him

He proves the point from the other direction

You don't got to be a monster to be great

Sometimes greatness

Is just a fat man and diamonds

Who always picked up the check and funded a hospital

On the way out

You got people over here who want

When it comes to history

You got people over here who want to protect the statue

They don't want

You got people over here who want to tear it down

But neither one of them wants to have all the truth

On the plaque

Truth is a whole man

Always

Tractor in the newspaper, the light bulb in the dead elephant

Diamonds in the hospital

Me and my flaws

Yes, I help people

I'm doing some good stuff, I'm trying to be a better person

But that does not excuse

The 20 years I spent on this

Planet causing chaos and destruction

And being a dickbag

We can't keep

History don't owe us heroes

It owes us the truth

And we owe it the same thing back

Let's wrap that up right there

I'm ready to get into Wally Bottom

Y'all ready to get into Wally Bottom?

Let's get into Wally Bottom

Episode A

Let me put my old man's spectacles on

Cause they still got my eyes screwed up

See I went to the eye doctors

Told me I needed some bifocals

And then she gave me

She put one prescription in this eye

And another prescription in this eye of my contacts

And this eye is supposed to be able to see close up stuff

And this eye is supposed to be able to see far away stuff

And all it really feels like

Is most of the time both my eyes are screwed up

I'm not very happy with my eye doctor right now

We're about to have a conversation

And apparently the bifocal contacts

Take months to make

And so I gotta wait on them

So I'm like can you just put me back in my old prescription

Where I felt like I could half ass see

Cause you got me jacked up lady

Let's return

To the Wally Bottom's text

It's past midday when the jailer opens

The door to the cell

Dusty and Tony have been sitting

Quietly staring off into space

Since all the commotion was Carl Sr. earlier

That morning

The jailer is a ruddy faced

Heavy set young man with a warm smile

Older than Tony

But they were in school together

Hey guys

Y'all are being released

Hanged your memos here of Mr. Tilton

Tony's good I got a little bigger

What about my papa

The jailer grand

He ain't with them boy

Boy I didn't know Mr. Carl

Had that in him

The sheriff himself had to go out there

And calm him down before he left

Tony and Dusty stood

Stiffly and followed the jailer

Down to the evidence clerk to pick up

The personal effects and sign them out

Tony signed quickly

And shook the yellow envelope

Out on the desk

Of course that asshole didn't pick up my knife

Piece of shit

Dusty was already putting his turquoise ring

Back on sliding his wallet

In his back pocket

Sorry my man

I took shit too far

After you warned me

I go help you look for it

Tony stuffed his wallet

Keys in his pocket

It's fine Dusty

I'm just bent about it

But his tone indicated it was anything other than fine

Dusty had never seen him

Without that pocket knife on him

And he knew it meant something to his friend

He just didn't know what

He made a mental note to get out to that road

As quickly as possible and hunt for it

The jailer led them to the lobby

Where Elena stood

Quietly chatting with one of the dispatchers

Hey there Mrs. Haynes, my mama said to say hi

Elena fixated her bright green eyes

On the young jailer

Well ain't she a doll

Tell her I'll see her in church come Sunday

Honestly she cursed a little

In the back of her head

Because that boy's mama was the biggest gossip

At first Baptist

She'd probably been burning the phone lines

Up with the other women of the Bible study group

All morning talking about her grandson

She smiled her million dollar smile anyways

Though before the young red faced fella

Turned to go back to his duties

She looked at her grandson

Swollen face and closed eyes

She hadn't seen him in the better part of a year

In her own eyes well of a bit

Come here baby

Tony didn't hesitate

He crossed the distance and one step

And threw himself into her arms

They were the same ones that held him

As he cried for his mama for nights on end

The same ones that would rub his shoulders

Lightly as she looked down on his latest

Drawing beaming with pride

He didn't care that Dusty was present

Just buried his face in her shoulder

And pulled her tight while her hands

Smoothed his hair

She straightened him up and held his jaw

Lightly rubbing a well manicured hand

Over the swelling

That son of a bitch

She muttered through pursed lips

And gritted teeth

Tony was a bit shocked

He'd only heard her curse one other time

When a local stray killed her favorite laying hen

Her eyes caught Dusty

Standing awkwardly

You must be Richard

Dusty's eyes opened big

No one had called him by his given name

In some time

He started to speak but Tony cut him off

He goes by Dusty memo

Elana

To her credit and the consummate lady

Immediately smiled and said

Dusty it is

Sorry baby I was just going off the paperwork

But you'll be Dusty from now on

She could disarm anyone

And Dusty was no exception

His marble eyes got brighter

And his grim betrayed that he was already

Wanting to be adopted by her

Thank you Miss Ains

She turned and hugged him

And said you call me Miss Elana

Sugar you're one of mine while you're here

Elana

Had always secretly wanted a whole

Mess of kids and grandkids

And it just hadn't been in the cards

Her own daughter had died young

With a bad heart from the get go

And Carl and her had been too devastated

To try again

Tony was an only child

After Cherise had complications

During his birth that prevented her from having

Anymore

Let's get you boys over to the hospital

Mr. Tilton says

We got to get you checked out and documented

And then I'll take you all to my house

And get you fed

And neither one of you got enough meat

On you to stop a strong wind

She said a quick goodbye

To the dispatcher with a promise

To email her a recipe before the boys

Followed the queen of Diwali bottoms

Out to the parking lot in the hot afternoon sun

The air conditioner

In the sheriff's office

Made a low hum

He kept the thermostat a little warm

Because he preferred the heat

Having worked countless Texas summers

Outside in his youth bailing hay

With his fathers and uncles

He was a tall man

And wiry in his build

A small punch in his midsection

From the comforts of a successful middle part

Of his life

He leaned back in his stuffed chair

And fiddled with the straw western had

On his desk

The masonic ring on the third finger

Of his right hand catching the fluorescent

Overhead lights and glittery

He hadn't had the job long

He'd been a business owner

Since he got back from Panama in the 80s

After a stint in the Marine Corps

He had built up a chain

Of farm supply stores

Before heading the chamber of commerce

In Henderson, the county seat

The previous sheriff

And his lieutenant had been hastily removed

From office after an incident

That led to the death of an inmate

And federal charges

The locals had thrown a special election

To get a man they trusted to clean up the department

And more importantly

Send the feds to back

Wherever they come from

He looked at his

Wedding ranger on the left hand

He'd been enjoying coffee on the porch

With his wife this morning

Optimistic about the day until he got

The call that a local beloved Vietnam vet

Was threatening

To burn his whole department down

If he didn't get the blood of a problematic deputy

He'd finally got Carl

Calm down and sensible

And the dispatcher settled

Only to find the most stubborn lawyer

In all of East Texas waiting in his office

With a file with the folder

Thick as barbed wire

He spoke

Now Dave, we're

Dropping the charges against them boys

No one's filing charges

On Carl Sr

As far as Swindon goes

I'm not accustomed to being told

What to do with my men

I plan on handling that

What else can I do for you

Dave Tilton was in his mid 60s

Now in sharper fort

His hair had whitened and his smile

Was still warm and genuine

But so was his love for the Haynes

In particular Carl Sr

He grinned back

At the sheriff completely unenvious

Of the man's position in any way

He thumped the folder lightly

With his hand before relaxing back

Into the upholstered guest chair

He couldn't help but notice the sheriff's chair

Was a little taller

Old Marines never change he thought

Now sheriff it never even crossed my mind

You might charge Carl Sr

Hell he didn't do nothing

But make a little noise

You gonna lock a decorated

Veteran away on a noise violation

No I just

I didn't even think in that direction

On my part

I apologize for any miscommunication

I did not come to your office to push

The belief that little of me

In any way could tell you what to do

No sir that ain't my way

I just come down here

To explain to you what I'm about to do

And you could handle that accordingly

My friend

That folder

Has eight civil complaints against

Officer Swindon not to mention

A domestic arrest and charges

From his own ex-wife

As we both know that

It's not a good look for Russ County

Right now with one of their

Former administrators sitting in a federal

Unit

The charges against them boys

Was manufactured and you know it

We don't even know what kind of damaged

Them unleashed animals of yours did

To that boys pickup yet

And I got them over getting x-rays

Documenting the damage your deputy's

Done to them

I trust you as does

The rest of the county

To fulfill your oath to the best of your abilities

But when I'm done

That Swindon ain't gonna be able

To get a job at the TSA

They've thumped the folder

Likely once more and stood when

The outstretched hand

The sheriff stood and shook his hand

His cool dark eyes and plastered

Dren hiding the bristle underneath

But damn if that stubborn old bastard

Wasn't right

Dave

I sure hope I don't see you anytime soon

And I mean that you stubborn old

Shit

They both laughed but as Dave walked to the door

The sheriff said

I'll call the impound lot and have them release the pickup

Get an estimate for the damage

Send to build my office

Well we'll take care of it

Thank you sheriff

Dave closed the door

And walked away

The glass pane read David Lee Garza

Russ County Sheriff

Sheriff Garza put

His straw hat on and picked up the phone

Before pressing an extension

Sheriff called Tim over at impound

Tell him release that Haynes boys dodge

And find Swindon

I want his ass in my office

Before day end

He hung up the phone

And stared out in the parking lot from his window

At the row of squad cars

Dusty felt sick looking at

The interior of Tony's pickup

Their guitars had been thrown in the bed

But at least still in their cases

The assortment of picks scattered in the bed

Gave proof that they'd been

Gone through though

The bench seat had been slid open

With a pocket knife and the glove box

Hung out of the dash

He felt responsibility because he didn't

Understand the nature of men like Swindon

Yet this was going to happen regardless

Of how he'd behaved but he didn't know

That

Cordell my man

I hope you find

A new seat for it

Tony didn't speak

Just took in the destruction

They had finished up at the hospital

And Atlanta had stuffed them to the gills

With fried catfish Carl Sr

Had caught a couple of days ago

Carl Sr was over at Dave's office

Finishing up but told Atlanta

To make sure them boys get some rest

Because they was going fishing later

It was going to be a full moon

And the catfish would be out there eating all night

Tony slid

Into the mangled driver's seat

Put on a half smile

He knew his friend was feeling some way

And he didn't want him carrying the grief

Of the assholes responsible

There's plenty of junk yards

Around here brother

Another seat ain't going to be hard to find

But I'd like to go look for my knife

But you're welcome to hang out here and rest up

Dusty cut him off

Cordell if you don't know me better than that

I'm offended

You ain't going to look for that knife without me

Besides I tossed my stash behind a tree

When old two tall Jones was trying to body slam me

Dusty grinned that shit ass grin

Only he could get away with

Tony laughed out loud

Of course you did brother

He turned the key

And the old Dodge fired up

Dusty slid in

And they eased out of his grandparents driveway

Back to the two lane where they'd been stopped

It wasn't hard to find because the deputies

Had left a mess of seat foam

And latex gloves on the side of the road

Tony pulled a little ways ahead in the ditch

And stepped out to the back of the pickup

And started scanning the grass

Dusty followed suit

Amber was flying

Down 259

The AMG growling

While the Gallagher brothers wailed about a girl

They were comparing to a wall

She had called ahead

And had the caretaker go turn the AC on

At her grandparents house

And prime the electric well

She thought a couple weeks away from the noise

That Houston might be a good thing

And it was feeling better and better

The deeper within the pine curtain she got

She turned on to the two lane

To Diwali and mashed the gas

On the AMG enjoying the way

The German machine clung

To the curvy oil road like it was made

For straightening curbs

And flattening hills

I found it Cordell

Dusty held the yellow case pocket knife

Up like he'd won a boxing match

He'd been feeling useless all day

And he needed this small win

Tony smiled

His first real smile and took it from Dusty's

Outstretched hand

He was holding it up in the sunlight

Feeling like maybe something had clicked his life

Back into place for just a minute

Dusty had went to

Rooting behind a small stand of pines

In a short minute hollered

I found the green too

Before coming around the pines

With a small taped up plastic bag

Do Wally Green

He exclaimed gleefully

Tony was laughing at him

When the AMG came around the curve

And slowed down to make the turn

He looked at the driver in shock

She stared right back at him

Equally surprised to see one another

In this foreign environment

Her look of shock quickly

Shifted gears into disdain

As Amber quickly regained her composure

And accelerated past the red-headed

On the side of the road

Before her brain could even process

What the young man with the velvet voice

Was doing in her hometown

It reminded her that the prick hadn't even called her

And her tolerance for men

With low communication skills

Wasn't high

Dusty looked at Tony

There's no way that was her

Tony turned his good eye wide and bright

That was her

Dusty laughed

I'm guessing you didn't call

She looked pissed

Tony shoved the pocket knife

In his pocket and looked down the road

I didn't call her

Dusty tucked his own treasure away

Walked towards the pickup

Well shit Romeo

It's hard to find Juliet

If you don't pick up the phone

Tony walked towards the truck

Behind him and tossed a clump of grass

At his back

No shit Dusty

No shit

Tune in next week

For more from The Wildly Bottoms Text

Well that was a fun one to write

Sometimes I see all this stuff

This is kind of how it works when I write

Is I see all this stuff in my head

Like I don't know how to explain that to people

But I've already seen what happens

I knew Sheriff

I knew Sheriff Garza before I started writing

I know this man

I don't know how I know him, but I know this man

I knew Dave Tilton before I started writing

Dave Tilton's a living, breathing person to me

I don't know who he is

It's not writing, it's just pulling this

Like I heard Murrell Haggard say it one time

He would write songs, he just pulled them

Out of somewhere

And that's the way I like all these stories

Happened already

These stories all happened

I'm just pulling them from somewhere

So we can enjoy them

It's cool

Let's rap this

Let's do some testimonials

And get the hell out of dodge, guys

What's up

Jabbered on to one o'clock in the PM

Nearly

Let me see, I got them pulled up here

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do

Well, I said I had

Oh, here we go, here we go

I put my damn spectacles back on

At Tommy Davis 537

Famous cat surgeon

Sounds like the occupation that my 9 year old

Makes up for one of her Barbie dolls

Right? This shit tripped me out

When I found out this bar owner

He's like Dr. H is the goofiest

Most likable dude in the world

I only knew him as a bar owner

And when I found out he was like the Derek Shepherd

Grey's Anatomy of cat surgery

I was like, is that a thing?

But that's what this dude is a

He's actually a bone specialist

I guess he's more like the Cali

Of the bunch

He's an orthopedic specialist

When it comes to kittens in particular

What a crazy

What a crazy lane to find you

You see what I mean? Life's just funny

I agree buddy

Famous cat surgeon is hilarious

Be a great band name

Hello, hello everybody

We're Famous Cat Surgeon

Sounds like a punk band I think

Maybe a little ska influence

At Jacob Altrade's

Master of Fun, our old buddy

Brother that fallen on your face is fear

I was talking about being scared about the tour

I think some people misunderstood me

When I went from working to becoming a trainer

I was so overwhelmed because

I could do the job in my sleep

But now I have to show hundreds of people

How to do what I do and how it's done

To teach people's heart

Going on four years and I'm finally feeling comfortable

I've seen you live, I don't think you have

A single thing to worry about

You got this big dog

When I talked about going out there and falling on my face

I didn't mean so much the performance

That's not the part where I'll do a show for three people

And have a good time, we'll have a good time

The falling on my face is about selling the tickets

About you know

This is a for-profit business

As much as I enjoy doing it

It is a for-profit business

And if I'm going away from my family

That much then there needs to be

There needs to be a bag on the other side of that

And in order to get that bag

I got to sell about 12,000 tickets

For the end of the year and

That's the part that's daunting and got me a little scared

I'm worried about going out there

And showing up five and six people

At every show and you know

Losing money and because

Not just not making money but losing money

On the air travel and you know

All that shit's real expensive right now

Because America's great

Everything's expensive right now

And it's getting more expensive by the minute

And I don't know where it's going to stop

And I'm just trying to roll with the punches

Like most of us

At Chuck Packwood

I'm no comic

But I know in my life as I got more successful

I had less people that could

Relate to my situation

Sometimes you want to bounce things off

Someone other than your wife

To get an outside perspective

You're not alone feeling alone JW

That's why I saved

That comment

Because when I read you're not alone

Feeling alone JW

Chuck thank you for that

It eased my mind

In a lot of ways

That is a beautiful sentence

It carries a lot of weight and a lot of power

You're not alone feeling alone

I want to tell the whole world

That you're not alone feeling alone

That's a beautiful thing

Thank you for telling me that

I guess the point I was trying to make

With this episode

Is we ought not hide from our history

And I'll piss some people off

When I say this

Especially them that ain't truthful with themselves

But when it comes to partisan politics

There's always been a pull from the right side of the aisle

To conceal the monstrous side of some of these men

And a pull from the left

To conceal their contributions

No matter how great or small

Two things can be true and are true

There are monstrous human beings

Amongst us

That have contributed positively to the world

Enough to offset their behavior

That's not for me to decide

But we shouldn't conceal any of it

The contribution

Or their insidious actions

The world has been

And will remain full of Henry

Ford's and Thomas Edison's

Men that changed the shape of our lives

But weren't by any measure good people

When you look at their humanity

We should bring that into the daylight

Every chance we get

And examine it so the same mistakes aren't made again

We should try to hide none of it

But be wholly transparent about all of it

Especially when we teach our children

So that the world does change

With the shape of technology

But also the acknowledgement

That just because someone contributes

In a great and powerful way

They ain't necessarily behavior

To be modeled at all

If you get the chance

To build something great

Or a mass of wealth

Find a way to be a Diamond Jim Brady

Albeit with a better nutritional plan

I'm rooting for you

I make jokes about Diamond Jim all the time

But I'm rooting for you to find success

And be the Diamond Jim your community

Your people needs

Generous and kind

I'm trying to get there too

Find my inner Diamond Jim

Move into this part of my life

You keep trying

And I'll keep trying

And let's just see where we get

I'm JW

And I love you

I gave myself some applause

In preparation for all the people

Going to show up and be mad at me

And tell me what a son of a bitch I am

What a liberal, what a Republican

What a dickhead I am

I'm such a sick and political people

Sick to death of them

All of them

I'm sick of hearing it

Sick sick to death of them

We got other problems we got straight now

We got other shit we got to figure out

You know what I mean

Homeless and hungry people

We got right here in our own damn country

It's freaking embarrassing

It's not who we are

It's not supposed to be

There's plenty of people I know

Full time jobs barely afford

To pay the bills right now

That's embarrassing

Man are not work his ass off all day

At a blue collar job

And break his body and have trouble

Making bills meet

Absolutely embarrassing

And people want to argue about stupid shit

Instead of let's talk about this

And how to fix this

You want to talk to me about some real stuff

Or whatever let's talk about that

Let's talk about that

I ain't got the answers but by God

I'll talk with you until we find some

But that's where our focus should be

With people dying left and right

They can't get health care and saving life

But that's where our focus should be

It's a damn embarrassment

It really is

It just ought not be that way

I love you guys

I appreciate y'all letting me be honest with you

If you did get mad at me

Honestly I'm sorry

It wasn't my intention

But sometimes

I gotta say things that's on my heart

And if that's too much for you

And you don't want to listen anymore

Or you don't want to support what I'm doing

Even more than I'm okay with that

I know I was honest

About the way I feel about things

And if that's too much for you

Or it just goes against

Some of your core beliefs too much

Then I understand

I ain't mad at you

Unless you say a bunch of stupid shit to me

And you say a bunch of stupid shit to me

I'm probably gonna say some stupid shit back to you

Cause boy I just you know

Just cause I'm kinda nice

Don't mean I'm gonna let you walk all over me

And call me a son of fifty

I mean call me a son of fifty

Cause I kinda am

But

Oh I promise to read y'all a poem

Against your will

Can't forget that

Which one am I gonna pick

That's the key question

I'm

I'm gonna read my new one cause it's my favorite one

A daisy

This is called daisy

But I didn't tell you that

A daisy tattooed in her twenties

Ink blue with time on her hip

Above the thigh

When my lips find it

Her body arches up into mine

Yearning for oneness

I ain't sure we don't get there

Parts of me are definitely her

This close together

She's not my children's mother

My peace

Or any other such notions

That exist outside our bed

Here it's a need

To be a part of who she is

Desire for her skin

And to see her lovely body

While her beauty keeps me undone

Voluntarism has left the room

And I can't refuse

She is the cocaine my soul has to have

I've no choice in the matter

Not that I'd want free will at this moment

What fool would

Symbiosis is just a word

Until you're in it

Then it's a life

Of intimate touch you could recognize

In the dark

Skin you know that calls

To something inside of you

No one else can see your touch

A burning that's welcomed

After a thousand fires before

A release that only feels sacred

Because you only worship at one temple

One glorious temple

That you seek in the hours of the morning

Or not

I'll lose her either way

We're at the age

Where bad news travels

And phone calls from doctors on a normal Friday

But I'll be god damned

If that ever comes without a fight

Without seeking the fire

Anyways, that's my new poem Daisy

If you didn't pick up on it

It's about Rachel

Oh, I love you guys

Thank you for sharing your Sunday with me

Thank you for wishing me well

It's good to be feeling better

Let's go start this damn tour

0:00

76:41

Monsters

resistor on the blower motor

GMT-800s

blend door actuator

freon

head unit

AC Delco

front end

hubs

hydro boost system

bushings

power steering fluid

bypass that amp

harness

shorted out

Tesla

Plymouth Fury

AMC Eagle

Henry Ford

cheap old tractor made from car and truck parts

Ford Ranger of tractors

Ford Model T

About this episode

Original notes