"The rise and fall of Giant Tube Sock" |s:03E.73

Welcome to the Wrecking Yard, I'm Jerry Wayne Longmire and y'all will 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. Excuse me my voice, they're still

recovering. I went Dundam shows in San Antonio last weekend which were a man

that Saturday night show was not good. It was not good. I mean it went far, it went

fine as far as it was last and the people you know come up and told me afterwards I

had a good time but just was not a show I enjoyed doing. I don't know what

it was about that crowd but my good friend Billy Dee Washington had this

little joke he'd make everyone fly at the end of a rough show kind of a tough

crowd let me fix my light in here things get a little cock out of. I had the

Wrecking Yard completely taken apart and put back together over the last few

days. But it'd be a shitty crowd and Billy Dee get into that show and he'd go I want

y'all to collectively get together and exchange phone numbers and decide to

never go anywhere in public together again and that was kind of the way I felt

about that crowd Saturday night at that retirement race park in San Antonio. A lot

of it not even necessary because the crowd they were small but they held the

show up really late started the show really late so people got drunk and

people were too drunk by the time I got on stage to even be coherent. So you had a

couple people that were really just whacked out of their gourd by that point

because they started the show you know 30 45 minutes late and it all boils down

to you is basically a highway 35 that runs right up I 35 runs right by this

race park it's just tore all the hell it's just I sat on that thing honest to

God I sat and looked at my hotel I sat on that freeway and stared at my hotel if

I had got out of my car grabbed my bags and started walking it had taken me five

minutes to get there I sat on that freeway 46 minutes stared at my freaking

hotel 35 35 is a piece of shit on its best day but the way they've got it all

torn up they've got 1604 and the Anderson loop all tore up you can't get to a

damn thing over there we I've never seen so many pre-sells tickets and so many

people not show like people bought the tickets paid good cash money for the

tickets and still didn't come that's crazy that never had you don't get me

wrong there's always a margin you know eight to ten tickets there's like 40

people didn't come and I guarantee it's that damn traffic you can't get to that

place who in the hell won't spend their Saturday night sitting on 35 staring at

a dagum horse track they can't get to like they don't they y'all don't need

to be booking shit there yet just wet let them finish the highway before you

start screwing around here because what a damn disaster top of that all I got

sick so somebody dosed me with whatever this respiratory crap is is going

around now me and the kids and mama and everybody it's just sort of run through

our house the way it does and I lost my voice for a couple days which when

you're a fellow what makes you live in using your voice it's always scary it's

always like this last time I'm gonna lose it you know you know it's one of

things you worry about when you make your money with your mouth maybe not all

with my mouth but I can see how that could have some negative connotations

somebody thinking about it the wrong way

and I should probably rephrase it but I'm not going to because I feel like y'all

are adults and y'all can get past probably wrong about

now you never want to lose your voice is the worst it's the worst

right spooky scary spooky scary stuff voice I did however get a lot of work

done on the book a lot of writing done we are with the first book we are less

than a hundred pages from the end which feels impossible

who I gotta tell you looking back over the periods of your life where you're a

piece of shit for a podcast is one thing but doing it so you can put it in

print whoo buddy that'll work on your own psyche

I am enjoying working with Adam I did get a lot of book work done this week

since I couldn't make all the videos I want to make I spent a whole lot of time

just hanging out with that cat some good friends of that kitty cat

she has proven herself to be the perfect condition for the Longmire family

children are both just tickled to death by her presence and I can tell she's been

real good for Rachel much I love them little kittens Rachel raised in some

fifties and when they got killed it it broke something you know as it will

yeah San Antonio was a disaster it was you know what I shouldn't call it a

disaster because I had a really good lunch meeting Saturday with the owner of

Outlaws and gents grooming company where we're gonna be working together doing

some stuff we're getting all that started it's just you know it is when you enter

into business everybody there's contracts and all kind of things you gotta

figure out before you just jump off in the bed it ain't like a one-night

stand it's gonna be a long-term business agreement also I've become a pretty

good friend I would say we're becoming friends with the guy that owns the

company I really like him and I I'm kind of

kind of stage of my life where I just don't want to work with people I don't

like I don't necessarily need to believe in your ideals and stuff like that to

work with you but I need to have a level of trust in me need to have some

camaraderie I need to have some common ground and me you know his name Shane

you know Shane just always hit it off right off the bat that always makes it

easier to do business with somebody makes it a little tougher if the business

just goes sour you know there has to be a divorce somewhere down the line but not

the work happens easy that's some shit somebody said one time so I've had some

easy stuff that was pretty good to be an honest not all them old things hold up

I don't think I'm getting ready today it's a my god I've lost what track of

days it is it's a Friday morning out here in the wrecking yard and only reason

I'm early up this early as I'm I had to do radio this morning I I don't believe

I I'm I don't know who listens radio in the morning because I never really

listened radio in the morning a lot on the way to work that wasn't a thing I did

I played my own music I wanted to hear I always had my own sort of playlist or

something going on so I don't know who listens radio in the morning those

radio DJs are hey Jerry Wayne Longmer now tell us what's going on are you over

there in Houston, Texas you know this guy out in Mississippi I'm doing radio

from Mississippi and like how do you get up every morning I I'm gonna ask John

Clay Wolf because he's been doing it as long as I know John Clay Wolf been

getting up at butthole o'clock in the morning to get on the radio and sound

chipper but John I will say this about JCW if you listen to JCW show he

don't start out full of jazz and pizzazz in the morning he sort of he works into

it a little bit he comes in there there's a little bit of grumbling and

they the cast works into it and begins the show so it feels like an evolution

over the course of the morning but some of them guys you know I'm talking about

like to just the gimmick it's probably almost that Rowdy Yates and that's the

name of a good friend of mine that's a DJ and I wouldn't make fun of Rowdy Yates

I love Rowdy Yates but it's always those guys you know Big Dean Bubba John

Boyn whatever you know in the morning it's I don't know how dudes do that you

know it's so funny because you you meet all them old radio pairs I knew

Stephenson Pruitt real well that were big here in Houston and I believe they

also went by Hudson and Harrigan at one point but I knew or maybe Dean and Raj

maybe that was the other one or I don't know it's they had another I think it's

Hudson and Harrigan they went by at one point because they lost the rights to

their own name or something but if you meet any of them old radio duos almost

every time they do not like each other they did not get along Walton and

Johnson argued and fussed and Steve's and Pruitt or they spitfire and cuss each

other you know what I mean like I don't think you can get up every morning go

hang out with somebody every morning for 10 15 years of your life and just not

end up just about ready to choke that dude you know like just do that same

thing every freaking morning I don't know that I could do it I don't think I

could I don't think you're ever gonna you never go here the morning show with

Jerry Wayne Longmar it's not gonna be it I did mornings for years you know

working construction boots on the ground 5 30 a.m. it's time to go make the

magic happen but I didn't have to be chipper hell most mornings I didn't talk

I just grunted until about 11 I don't I get mad when somebody calls me before

noon somebody text me or calls me before noon I'm like what in the hell could you

possibly need to talk to me about before lunchtime what in the grand scope of

what is happening in the world is gonna matter to me any more before noon than it

will afterwards you know I mean aside from a family member passing or

something you know like yeah I just don't I'm not I'm not a morning person

anymore I'm a night owl I use most nights I'm up to three o'clock in the

morning right and working on stuff hanging out range or night owls my job

you know you get done with these shows you can't you can't just go back to the

hotel and go to bed that doesn't work you're too wired up there's too much

you've been on stage for 45 minutes they do a meet greet and all that kind of

stuff and you're exhausted but you're you're wired to the gills right

mentally so you have to go I mean it was the time when it was drugs but these

days it's just the excitement from the show working on stuff so I go back to

hotel and I'm up one or two o'clock in the morning after them shows just my

natural state of things I take a little extra vitamin D try to get some sunshine

where I can but this is a Dracula job now so I've done that radio this morning

and the guy kept calling the podcast the reckoning yard and he couldn't say it

good and he kept me so what's the reckoning yard about like how the hell

do I tell you what the reckoning yards about how in the hell could I possibly

tell you what the reckoning yards about I invite any of you who y'all are better

than me y'all probably figure out a good way to describe it but I don't know how

to describe it you know it's not and that's the kind of questions you get on

the on a radio call you know tell us tell us a little bit about truck

astrology what what is there to tell you it's a short content series where I

make fun of pickup trucks that's it I mean it's another yeah morning radio

buddy I am headed out to the to the fine state of Mississippi today and I have

been working on this piece about the Lake Great Jerry Clower Jerry Clower where

I'm going in Mississippi is

it's about eight miles from where the the Lake Great Jerry Clower is buried

where his final resting place is I told y'all I'm gonna make that pilgrimage

out there or if I'm gonna do it this evening when I first get in town it

looks like I'm probably gonna leave here about two o'clock in the PM I reckon

that put me in Mississippi put me in McComb Mississippi about seven o'clock in

the PM we were supposed to do a car show but they had to cancel it because there

was another big car show happening like right down the street or something so

they've had to cancel that car show tomorrow but ticket sales aren't great

so I'm gonna do I'm gonna go out do a little barking Saturday try to drum up

some attention for the show go try to visit some spots in McComb and you know

find some good stuff to eat that kind of thing maybe that's when I'll run out

there old Jerry's place try to try to get some FaceTime with the ghost of a

great you know I kept thinking about that we all hear my peace some of the

more astute of you that know old country music will be able to tell that it's

heavily inspired by a song I heard when I was young I've always liked called the

ride and I think the first time I heard the song it was Hank it was a David

Al and co singing it just to the song is he stops picks up a hitchhiker in

Alabama and the hitchhiker turns out to be the ghost of Hank Williams sing gives

him some music advice and that sort of thing my god it's been a while since I

recorded out here on a weekend morning and my neighbors are throwing their usual

rave I forgot they did this I used to get out here and try to record in the

mornings while that was going on before I had these mics that don't pick it up it

might be picking it up I was pretty loud shaking the window garage

also if you get out about if you out there on the internet you look at

something I just did so my good buddy William Lee Martin I'm doing the

Christmas shows with every year we go on a tour and do Christmas shows we're

getting geared up for that now our first one's November 29th out in Fredericks

burg Texas and then we got a show in Gladewater we got a show in Shreveport

we got another show in El Reno, Oklahoma before we wrapped the whole tour up in

Great Bind, Texas and so we're getting ready to put that show together I've

been writing Christmas sketches and comedy sketches for it

William Lee Martin put together this this new brand and everything he's been

building called Red Dirt Comedy and you know guys like Jerry Clower fit right

into Red Dirt Comedy and he's trying to build something over there and he

started a new podcast it's like an interview talk show style format and the

very first episode is my episode he had me come up there from Texas and sit in

with the studio with him and did about a 45 minute interview with him but not

just the nature of the business but the nature of coming back and fighting

for something you believe in finding your way in the world that sort of thing

and you guys should go check that out you should go check the interview I put a

link in the chat and I'll also pin a link in the comments I'll pin the number one

comment it'll be a link that you can go watch that interview I did with William

Lee Martin I'm pretty proud of it one of the better interviews I've ever done

me and William Lee have known each other for a couple decades now so it come

out it was a pretty good day gum interview so that's gonna be on the Red

Dirt Comedy YouTube channel but I'll get you guys that link I'll have it like I

said in the chat and on the comments all right let's I guess get off into the meat

of this thing is that a good segue a little sharpened on the knife we also

got we got some packages to open today it's the last of the packages before we

do our day of giving for the driven dreams org they did there's an October I

wasn't able to participate as I was out there in Louisville and I still have

packages coming in so I got about four five packages here to open four

packages to open and then that'll be we'll get our final tally right now

we're at 1626 miles for babies and we'll get our final tally here of what we're

gonna be giving out here in the coming week and I'll keep you guys posted on

that we'll probably film make a little video about it that kind of thing I was

talking to a good buddy of mine funny enough named Billy Dooley I've told y'all

some stories about Billy Billy was a record driver with me when I was at VIP

towing and we worked together at Calvo towing and Houston and I lost touch with

Billy over the years when I moved off to Colorado and done all that me and Tori

split up and all that kind of stuff and I ended up all over the place and funny

enough we was in the same city most of the time but Billy found me through the

internet sent me an email he's man I just want to know if it's real you he said

we still tell stories about all all crazy shit you done and so I immediately

emailed him back so here's my phone number bubble call me I'd love to catch

up with you Billy's you know live just like funny enough being Billy's lives

kind of intersect I fell off a roof in July of 2015 nearly died Billy nearly got

killed in the car wreck 2015 pretty close to July made a little earlier in

the year may or something like that been down some similar past we both been

married but he's been married about 19 years I've been married 17 years and we've

kind of our lives have followed a similar trajectory even as we've been a

part you know we talked about I don't I don't really miss them days I don't you

know but it would be a lie to say I didn't have some good times in those

days and granted I had some substance abuse problems some other stuff I was

going on then and was not in a very good relationship but Billy reminded me of the

fun we had struck me I thought about I forgot sometimes we tell them stories

you forget about all the fun you had and Billy regal be a story I'd forgot where

I broke a Nissan UD flatbed cracked the frame right in half on that truck trying

to winch another truck out of a ditch and then I used the winch to suck the

frame back together and drove that truck back to the shop with a broken frame I

always consider myself a tape recorder like I like an observer I'm an

observer that's what I do I live in these moments I observe them and they

storm up here in the old the old rusty roller decks and recall them when I need

them I've been a storyteller all my life I've been an observer all my life but

when you're an observer sometimes you forget that people are observing you

too and it was kind of wild to think because you know I tell these stories

about my past I tell these stories about different roads I done been down and it

didn't dawn on me that there's people out there telling stories about me you

know and it made me laugh to hear him and a couple of them old drivers that he's

still friends with still out there telling crazy ass stories about okay

W kind of put me it made me think of another time it just put me back in

mode of that you know you don't know when the good times are because they're

happening all the time and there's very few times in your life that you're not

gonna look back and be able to find something that you miss about that time

frame now we all go through some real hard shit occasionally that you know

it's probably hard to look back those times or look at a time going through

now and find it but I guarantee you there's something there there's just

I was specifically got to thinking about that little house me and Rachel had on

out the and oak forest when we first got together before we were married this

is probably this is probably the year before we were married it has to be

right if we got married you know as her came we ended up moving out of that

house but when we were just together we didn't have no kids outside of our jobs

in the comedy club which was most of our job we didn't have a lot of

responsibilities Rachel was the general manager of the comedy club she was making

pretty good money a lot better than me I was a lowly comic working for scraps but

I also did all the maintenance at the comedy club so I was working on the

bathrooms and the urinals and it was an old place built 30 years prior so there

was always plenty to work on between HVAC and the bathrooms and various things

just falling apart because of age and time I said age and time like that's two

different things

it put me in mind of the world's greatest cover band that never made it out

of Houston back in them back in the early days of living together where when the

Nintendo Wii came out Rachel wanted one she she grew up with Nintendo was a

Nintendo girl and she wanted one of them Nintendo Wii's for the house she was

excited because we could play bowling on it and all these games and we're kind

of we're kind of in that part of our life where we weren't really going to the

bar that much and both of our jobs involved the nightclub and when you do

that all the time it's not what you want to do when you're not working it just

isn't you don't want to spend all your time at a bar you don't want to spend we

just want to be together hang out together my brother Joey and my best

friend Steve at the time Steve we were all friends in high school Steve they

were roommates they had him a little place over there in Spring, Texas right

off Cypresswood Drive

and most time we well wasn't working we was hanging out together

and sorry about that got the sound down on my phone

once again so may call me before noon what in the hell could you have

possibly talked to me about pretty sure as a bill collector anyway

the Rachel bought that Nintendo Wii and our house kind of became it was the

spot man it's a little old house but had a big old living room we had we felt

like it was a big TV it was a 36 inch TV but it felt like a big TV does you know

I told y'all we had a long couch down one side and a short couch that little

love seat on the other side and then we had another little old place you could

sit it was a little I don't remember if it was like a wide chair or what it was

kind of off in the middle oh no that one couch was kind of an L I couldn't

remember one couch was kind of an L and so there's place for everybody to hang

out showing Steve come over they bring a bottle of rum I wasn't really drinking

that much in them days I had kind of shot skewed off the drinking but I was

heavily that's when I really first starts like really smoking marijuana on the

regular I was really and because it was new to me I was going a little hard

cold with you know I mean I was we were getting stoned like we had never gotten

stoned in our life and we'd have gang over we'd play that we bowling till two

or three o'clock in the morning and we tennis and it starts out you know

everybody's up in the middle of the floor doing the moves getting after it

by the end of the night we're just laying on the couches moving the

controller you know and do our bowling but I started trying to think about the

fun times in that house when we when we were there and we there was all that

just all the craziness that went on there it was such a chaotic time because you

know I had I wasn't ready to settle down yet I thought I was still wild a little

crazy as that's the place we've living where I was working on motorcycles all

the time I always had some idea about something else I was about to get into

and what nothing to throw everything in the car and both of us pile in the car

and go out on a little comedy road trip only thing we had to take care of was

that little we had this little Jack Russell named Tina and Tina we throw her

in the carrier take her just about anywhere with us

some early days of relationship you know early days of kind of figuring out

who we were together when I first came friends David's when I was working in

the transmission shop during the day when I wasn't doing stuff up at the club I

would work in the transmission shop during the day as manager and help David

run the transmission shop and he'd come over and hang out time to time but him

and Molina was already together so they kind of had their own vibe going on over

at their house and we'd go to their place and come over to our place that kind of

but Steve and Joey they you know they were just roommates still both pretty

same Steve was going through a divorce he had just gotten divorced from his wife

he'd been with for like 12 years and he was a bit of a mess as you'll be once

you go through something like that

that's when I bought that bra I had a 68 Ford Bronco being David went out to

college station one night and drug back and I was out there trying to do work on

that thing didn't know what I was doing half the time that's where I really

learned how to get good at drum brakes I called David over to help me with the

drum brakes on that Bronco is what that something 50 did we it goes well let's

take it we took all the drum brakes apart on that front wheel and he just

throwed it all in a pile and he goes all right now rebuild that's like they

like how the hell I know where all that goes he said well you know you can go

look at the other side right yeah I guess instead of helping me do him he

stood there and talked to me while I figured out them springs and put them

drum brakes back together but by God by the time I got the other side I had a

little better hand on when I was doing by the time I got the back wheels I

really I felt like I might be a drum brake pro by that moment oh David taught

me just by throwing me to the wolves which sometimes is the best way to learn

anything you know just do it I was out there working on that Bronco one day

this is funny so across the street in that house we had this neighbor I don't

fence and she was a single older woman in her in probably her 60s but she was

friends with our landlord and she would spy on us and tell our landlord all

kind of shit how we were partying and all everything we were doing I was

revving my motorcycle up she just she had nothing better do than sit there and

watch us and then call my landlord every time we done something she thought we

shouldn't be doing you know and this so then we get a call from the landlord and

that woman was crazier and shit and have to deal with O'Roxanne the red-headed

clown clown lady we caught her mud fence I'm sure I've told you this before

Rachel's father was a good-looking man he was a handsome man he kept himself well

he was fit good-looking fella confident dressed well had a nice pickup truck

just hitting that stage is live I think he was pretty close to 60 at that point

and then my old mud fence was in love with Ken my fence boy she thought she

thought Ken was the bees knees and she see him outside boy she start making her

way across the street trying to chit chat with him and about first three or

four times she got a hit on him made a pass I said well you know might be good

to have something local right here in the neighborhood he said he said that

woman look like a mud fence I never heard anybody describe he says she's

uglier than a mud bit boy my god that became her name after that that was

old mud fence mud fence had a son who was in his 30s and very gay I mean I don't

know what levels of gay there are but he this fella was flamboyantly so and he

liked to put on a leotard thing and do jazzercise in her front living room with

the windows open so everybody can see him in there doing his jazzercise is

leotard every day and I don't remember his name either but he also had a

crush on my father and they both just mooned over him every time they seen

him and it tickled the piss out of me because he couldn't stand neither one of

them we didn't like them because they was always ratting us out trying to cause

problems for us I don't know how many times their son called a law on me just

apart my car in the street one day called a law on me said I was blocking his

driveway in from across the street wasn't he were near the driveway it's just

non-stop non-stop parade of them constantly calling the landlord calling

police and we were pretty pretty tame as far as party standards worst thing we

ever did we spoke too much pot over there well I don't know how much you know

about the marijuana but doesn't make for a lively party not a lot of loud music

and running around hollering and breaking shit none of that goes on at

some point it ends up where you just hell we had a I went over to Harbor Freight

and found it was an alligator clip on a telescoping tube and it telescoped out

to like seven feet healthy in the night we clip a little joint in there and me

and Rachel lay on either one of them couches across the living room from

each other hand that joint back and forth with that telescoping wild part ears

let me tell you wild part ears I was over there working on I was working on

the bumper out the bumper in the front was dented you know this is good old

steel Ford bumper from way back in the day they had a little more to them when

the back of that garage at one point that house had flooded and they had cut two

foot of the drywall out there was a little laundry room back there that was

framed out and they'd cut to I gotta tell y'all about that dryer they cut two

foot of the drywall out so it's exposed the studs was I got the bright idea that

I go back there and I'd wrap a strap ratchet strap around one of them studs

real good and then I ratchet strapped it to a chain that was hooked around the

front of that bumper Rachel was off at work I was there during the day by

myself and I was gonna I was gonna back that Bronco up and pull that bumper out

off that stud in that house some of you can tell right now this ain't a great

idea the studs ain't that strong this is before I done a lot of construction I

don't know if I strapped all up well I got the worry that that dagum strap was

gonna come back was gonna break and that chain was gonna flop up and hit the

windshield go through the windshield and final destination my ass that's the

kind of shit I worry about the irrational stuff like that all the time

so I had this old piece of three-quarter inch plywood and I leaned it on the front

of the hood of that Bronco right up on the bumper just cocked back at a little

bit of an ankle so that I could back up and pull that bumper out but if that

chain broke it just go up and slap that plywood nobody get hurt and everybody

lived to do something stupid another day

boy I was out there and I got that thing in reversing feathering that clutch

out had a little 289 in it trying to pull that thing out oh that bumpers not

giving I give it a little more for that bumpers not giving I give it a little

more I feel that strap just to stretch it I stopped feeling clutch I just let the

clutch out and see if that thing would just snatch that bumper out and when I

did that stud broke loose from the wall shot straight through that garage hit

that ramp of plywood and just exited the chat just left the chat just straight up

off that plywood broke the strap and I seen that 2x4 fly up in there and hit

mud all the way across the street and hit mud fences roof boom and shoot up off

her roof off in her backyard where I assume it landed in the mud like a

I said oh shit I looked over there her windows was closed she went outside

bow and hook that strap that chain don't it and garage to it plywood drudge run my

ass back in the house and sat in there in the living room peeking through the

windows sure enough for her door open she comes out there looking around and

here comes over jazz or size around from the side gate he's got this 2x4

dragging it was drywall still hanging on that house for 35 minutes and watch

mud fits and jazz or size try to figure out where this 2x4 from the sky came

from well we got an earful from the landlord about that one launch and

missiles and one thing I done that lady she kept you she kept calling our

landlord or she's pissing us off bad we had a birthday party for me over there

pretty chill affair but we had like 20 people but it was like a low key nobody

was really drinking it was my 30th birthday it was kind of a it was older

friends you know sitting around hanging out my mom and dad come it wasn't like a

party like we weren't doing a lot of that you know

well she called the law net I had to deal with the damn police on my birthday

that was kind of the final straw piss me off and they were cool they

understood that they were getting called out there for nuisance bullshit but

after that I just started signing her up for every free thing I could everything

I could find on the internet where they would mill some shit to your house if

you signed up I signed her address up I said 2121 out the I still remember the

address day I was signed her address up for everything I could I signed her up

for the free hair club for men every every hair hair restoration thing around

I signed her up for the weeklies from every grocery store I can find every

anything I can find on the internet where they was gonna mail shit every time

the mailman come to her house that mailbox just look like it was pregnant

stuff packed with shit and she pulled all that crap out of her mailbox I signed

that woman up for everything I could boy that was my little slick way getting

back at her around this time a video game comes out for that we system called

rock band some of you may remember it rock band come out had the instruments had

a drum set and a guitar and a bass like another guitar that you use for a base

guitar and a microphone you can have yourself a whole little band and it was

the video game the things come up on the screen told you what the strum play now

ain't got a musical bone in my body much I love music as much as music completes

me and makes every part of my day I can't I don't have no rhythm or timing I

can't sing on beat I can't I just don't have that thing whatever it is I've tried

to teach myself how to play get I got a dusty guitar in there that every time I

try to teach myself how to tune it I get frustrated give up on it I keep

hoping all these days I'm gonna have the patience to learn something like that but

I could play that game I play that video game I play a guitar real good on that

video game when you do it when you play that game you can start a band you give

you know you make your own every one of you make your own character and it start

out as just me and Rachel Rachel now Rachel's got a lot of musical talent you

know she's played a little piano and Rachel was real good at the drums right

off the bat she has an innate sense of timing and Rachel could drum her ass off

right off the bat she started doing all the tutorials and she's just beating the

hell of them drumsticks and the drums is the one thing you kind of got to know a

little bit about how to do it real life in order to play that game enjoy it so

we never really had it there was never I never played drums I couldn't keep time

to save my life I could get about ten beats into the song that I was done but

Rachel played shit out of them drums and I sit over there my little kickback

office chair and play that damn guitar we started having fun with Joey and Steve

come over one night I said man you gotta join the band Steve liked to sing Steve

wanted to be our vocalist Steve knew all that music they had a wide catalog of

music and the way the game works is you play your way up you play in this one

little small place and then you get a gig over here and it's just kind of like

how entertainment works as you you work and chip at it to build your following

and all that kind of stuff and then at some point you're doing world tours with

your band if you get good enough it's a video game there's always a way to get

good enough we named our band giant tube sock I don't remember how that name

come apart other than I think it was just named after a big-ass tube sock but

we named the band giant tube sock Steve was our vocalist Joey was our bass

player I was guitar player Rachel was beating them drums it got to be like

throughout the week we'd all be working and stuff we'd be texting each other

let's get together Friday night let's get together if I didn't have a gig

Friday or Saturday night or even Sunday night we got rehearsed giant tube socks

got shows to play they come over there we smoke up and drink up have our good

time and we the band would get after boy we start playing them shows there we

started achieving a little fame there in the game we started doing pretty good

the band was on its way we're getting all the articles written about us getting

fancier instruments going the far away we were playing Los Angeles and Seattle

was getting out there and it became a weekly thing where we got together we

played as giant tube sock on this video game and like all like all good things

some point something's got to come to an end still living our lives in that

house I spent about half my days out there in the garage working on stuff I

went bought me I decided I was gonna get in the bicycle riding again I went over

the pawn shop I bought me this what I thought I got all excited I thought I

got me a good deal on a diamond back mountain bike I started fixing that

mountain bike up and I used to joke with people because that's the old saying

right is it's like riding bike can't forget it's like riding the bike everybody

says it's like riding bike you never forget how to do it man I for a minute

there while I was trying to relearn how to ride a bike I if you say that me I'm

gonna punch you right in the nuts just try to ride a bike you will forget how

to ride a bike if you ain't careful you need to get on one everyone's wall

mind yourself how to do that I started I started getting brave I was riding that

bike around the neighborhood jumping off curves and stuff I was getting brave

back right before I went to Iraq go do comedy shows in Iraq I jumped that bike

off the curve one day and the damn neck tube on that bicycle broke and just come

loose in the air so like in the air I was holding the handlebars in the neck

tube and the rest of the bike I was sitting on when I landed that old frame

popped up and hit me in the ribs and cracked two of my ribs now when I went

to Iraq I bear that the first three or four I was still healing from them broke

ribs when we got to Iraq I was climbing in out of Army tanks and shit

well me and I would be in Christmas throwing each other around on that

Navy boat that damn I had them broke ribs still giant tube sock kept playing kept

growing there were problems Steve was getting worse getting less fun man when

your lead singer shows up drunk Steve got into the pills man and the pills were

not doing Steve no favors he got into them pills man and he get a couple of

drinks in him he was like a toddler and it seemed like about half a night's giant

tube sock got together we were here to tell you Steve or he was passed out on

the couch and it was just me and Joey and Rachel keeping the band alive with no

vocalist

Steve come over there I'll peel it out and drunk one night and I had found out

purely by accident that squirrels had gotten up into our dryer and eating some

of the wires in the dryer well in doing so they had grounded the dryer out a

little bit so if you go in there and that dryer was on you touch the frame of

that dryer is shocked to piss out of you good old vote knock knock you right on

your ass and I didn't know how to fix it yet I was still trying to figure it out

but one of those nights Steve was over there drunk I don't know how many times

I touch I talked him into touching that dryer but I know I electro shocked that

dude about seven times that night every time I could I mean really I said hey man

you go check that dryer I think we got some towels that dry I need to clean up

the mess over here

he got it

that house was piece of shit it was falling apart there was there was roof

leaks and ceiling leaks and you know mosquitoes

roof leaks and ceiling leaks everywhere there's parts of the ceiling that were

falling down and I'd have to patch it

we couldn't get the landlord to fix nothing the front door was trying to

fall off I'd have to fix that back door was trying to fall off working on that

the back deck was falling through we were having to replace boards as we could

but there's a rent house you don't spend a bunch of money on a rent house

we did decide so they it had hardwood it had hardwood floor all through the house

at the kitchen and the hallways had been carpeted with this really ugly carpet

and it was all tore up and she wasn't going to replace it so we ripped all the

carpet out and all the the the tack strips and all that

and it started out Steve was going to help me redo this floor in this hallway

well that's where Steve was in his life not showing up and so he ended up being

Rachel redoing this floor in this hallway and I I sanded that every we pulled all

the tax all the stuff I sanded that entire wood floor with a little bit of orbital

sander I bought at a garage sale sanded that whole floor just down on my hands

and knees I seen a picture the other day Rachel's going to pictures me laying on

that floor a teen on my back my sander sanding that floor

we put the I put some mini wax polyurethane on that floor that never I did something wrong

when I put that mini wax polyurethane on there and this day I can't tell you what I

done wrong with it but that shit didn't never dry I mean that floor was sticky

when we moved out of that house you walk up down that hallway and socks

we keep trying to keep trying to keep the band together because we were having fun

but Steve's fading fast on us one night Steve was supposed to come over there and

we was all going to get together we was going to play and

hell we don't hear from Steve that night he never shows up

Joey passes out on the couch me and Rachel retire off to the bedroom and uh

get a phone call about two or three in the morning

and Steve he's like hey I'm on the way to your house I'm running a little late

a little late bro like eight hours late

a little late I'm running a little late

I hear him pull up in the driveway I go out there the front half of his truck is missing

the whole front end of his truck is smashed in with yellow paint all over it and Steve's

so drunk and high he can't get out from behind the wheel and I was so frustrated before he

could have got himself killed could have got somebody else killed what we sort of suspect

happened is he got off he went to a music show without telling nobody in downtown Houston and

got into his pills and drinking and then left and they had just kind of on main street down

downtown Houston there's a train and they put these big yellow well we figured out as he hit

one of these big yellow concrete poles down there by the train he was right down in that area

there yellow paint all over he had this beautiful 2004 2005 GMT 800 red Silverado extended cab Z71

gorgeous pickup he had just totaled the front end of it

I didn't know what to do him I just took his keys out of the truck left him sleeping behind the

driver's seat the next day we tried to talk to him about it oh I don't know what happened

it was somebody else's fault and the same kind thing it always happens when somebody's going down

the tubes at the same time him and Joey having problems as roommates Steve's Steve's get behind

on his rent he's not taking care of his responsibilities because he's drugging and drinking all the time

now there's all this extra tension in the friendship right Joey sometimes doesn't want to come over

our house because he's worried Steve's gonna show up he won't be around Steve

sometimes Joey wants to go do something else just get away from the whole situation

and giant tube sock comes to an end and the way a lot of great bands have come to an end of the

wish

Steve goes off the rails the lead singer goes off the rails with substance abuse

Joey trades his bass guitar in for a keyboard and do software work and pirate rock so he can

go live the Jimmy Buffett life on sell boats

and me and the drummer got hitched and back out of the party scene

the greatest band that there ever was giant tube sock one day I'm gonna make a fake documentary

about it the rise and fall of giant tube sock

went to a lot of bad times in the house a lot of bad times for comedy club closed and

well we got screwed on that deal and

it was a lot of family disagreements stuff like that there was a lot of rough times

to have stuff with Steve watching Steve go down the drain not being able to stop it

Joey somewhere in that time Pete time period meets a little Sarah it starts

but we all we already knew Sarah but he starts a kind of dating Sarah

somewhere in that time period now I guess it's a little later now he was he dated this guy every

once while named brandy and she was the worst person in the world he would bring her over

the house every once while she's like y'all are grown-ups that play video games that's what's

wrong with y'all I think she's one of them and I was like just get get the hell on I ain't ask you

to be a part of it just get the hell on we're having a good time enjoying ourselves well I guess

we could be out the bar running up bar tabs spending a bunch of money or we could be here

having a good time for our house doing something we enjoy there's always you got to watch small

people small people are always out to be little anything you're doing small people they love to

be little small people love to tear down

and world's full of small people you gotta watch out for them they'll drain the energy

they'll get in your head

every once while years me and Rachel it's still all set up in our living room our kids

aren't really as big into it but we used to play every once while for years me and Rachel kept

playing that game they put out a Beatles version and well we went out and bought that Beatles version

right away and they also made a custom George Harrison style guitar for it for the Beatles version

boy we got that George Harrison guitar and got Rachel some new drumsticks boy we started playing

again got Joey over one night to play bass for us but we didn't have no lead singer

giant tube sock never had that reunion

not too much longer after that we get married right after our wedding hurricane

night drops two big old trees right through that one through the kitchen and one through the garage

I mean limbs coming through the ceiling

and we found out the landlord had canceled the insurance on the house and the house wouldn't

get fixed anytime soon we we moved out of that house moved off the spring and you know that's

where I started my own business and life got a lot more serious after that you know back to the

hustle of survival and you know and it feels like minutes later we had kids

but for a for a little brief period of time in that house we was we was just as free as two people

could they be having a good time with our friends

and a lot of bad happened in that house but boy you know when I really sit back and dig but we

sure had a lot of laughs and a lot of good times we had a little swimming pool out back one of

those little inflatable models we'd get out there and carry on into the night

that's the way it goes you know days getting stoned on the couch and playing video games all

Saturday are coming to a close days of Steve are coming to a close because he's decided to march full

speed towards whatever ending he's looking for Joey's getting distant Joey's looking for his own

right his own somebody Joey's ready to have a life with somebody like I'm having

wrap it up right there we'll do uh let's do some testimonials and then we'll unwrap some of these

boxes here real quick let's see what we got here testimonials if you will from last week

here we go at Matthew Black in reference to your question about bear meat here in southwest

Virginia we absolutely eat bear it's not as popular as it used to be but still very relevant

given the choice I'll take properly prepared bear over beef any day especially for roast or

shredded barbecue sandwiches rendered bear fat has a million uses as well you can't go buy bear

meat anywhere though because it's wild game boy I got man I gotta get me a show in southwest

Virginia if that's where I gotta go to get me some bear meat so I get a little scratch here

I'm happy here I just knew I knew somebody ate bear somewhere I just knew they had to

I played enough red dead redemption no people won't bear meat by God

I gotta get me some bear I think some smoked bear ribs might be where it's at

oh at Christian Metal Ward my old buddy Christian Metal Ward thanks for the shout out J.W. I hope

you're feeling better I was supposed to go to 24 hours of lemons race Sunday and I told you I was

gonna go out there and I didn't end up making out I was so sick when I got back in San Antonio I

didn't have no voice and well I just felt like a hammered pile of dog shit and I just couldn't I

couldn't talk myself into driving an hour down to Angleton and then I also didn't want to take

that shit around people it's obviously something contagious I picked up it was already going through

my family so I you know I don't want that to be the gift keeps on giving from my racing buddies go

down there hug a couple people shake hands the next thing you know they're buying the lemons races

needing lemon because their voice is gone

at Brock or 96 be like the Houston highway system never stop working on yourself no

matter how inconvenient it is forever I say about every once while what if my fans will

write something that's so funny I'm mad I didn't think of it first and that is one of those things

that tickle when I read that I nearly pissed myself I tickled me to death that's one of the

funniest things everybody's ever said to me thank you so much bro glad you guys are watching and

listening I know them shows I have to do in a hotel room aren't always most popular shows because

I have to kind of do things on the fly and I appreciate those of you that tolerate stick to it I

always enjoy hanging out with my good friend Barry and I hope you guys enjoy when he pops on from

time to time and we are going to do some more guests this season I'm working on some stuff I'd

really like to get Dr. H Dr. H is the surgeon who's this badass pet surgeon that volunteered his

services to help our little old fill you out who's just doing gangbusters that cat runs the house

right now she has she has ascended to her throne she's doing healthy she's got uh he's doing weekly

films on her to keep track of her because this leg the one that was really shattered has fused up

but the growth plate's damaged and he's worried it's going to turn her foot in so he may have to

do a little surgery where they give the bone cut a relief into the bone surgical procedure to allow

that foot to stay straight but she's using them claws and it ain't slowed her down but I got I

took a I took one of my old Shakespeare fishing rods and tied a string on it and put her little

she's got this little toy we call cheeky fish it looks like a fish and shiny flip the feathers

and I fish with her all it's the best cat fishing I've ever done in my life boy that cat

will chase that thing all over and she's got the energy of the kitten so you can sit there for

an hour and she'll chase that thing and it's she's doing fantastic I hadn't slowed her down so

he's keeping an eye on her in case he has to do that but he's a wildly interesting guy and uh I

want to have him here on the he's a military veteran uh he owns a bar and he's like one of the

top pet surgeons in the United States which that's just bad I think you know I tell you guys all the

time I think every one of us got a story worth listening to I think every one of you do I love

when y'all tell me stories in the comments about stuff going on with your life and y'all send me

letters and emails with stories about how our stories intersect and relate

so I'm gonna try to get Dr. H on here and uh I think I'm having an author on here I just read

her book and uh she wants me she's gonna send me an ARC of her new book she wants me to read that

one too and uh she's fantastic y'all hear me talk about James Lee Burke all the time this woman

is she has that gift that gift of depiction and I read she wrote a book about the narco

corridors of Texas and a little immigrant girl that escapes some coyotes and an old Texas woman

what saves her and it's just it was a fantastic book I enjoyed every I judge your book if I pick

a book up and start reading it and I might have to put it down for a little bit but if I pick it

back up and then I gotta finish it before I put it down again that's a good book and and book's

only coming two flavors for me I pick it up I start reading it I lose interest in it I don't

ever finish it or I do that I lock in on it and I gotta finish the damn thing and her book was very

much like that let's uh get this out let's see what we got here got a letter dear jw after enjoying

your short form content I was delighted to find out you had a podcast after listening to a few

of the latest episodes I took your advice and went back to the beginning while listening to an

episode in season two you're talking about seeing the small Mazda Repu rip around the track and you

made a comment about how you like to have one because it looked fun as shit well I decided

that you indeed needed one in your life although the one included might look like a toy I can assure

you it is not much smaller than the original I was also thankful to find out that you postponed

the delivery of the hot wheels for all those smiling babies and I also sent a few of those as well

keep the laughs coming I hope to see you in the Pacific Northwest soon sincerely Jason Bennett

Repu 86 Repu guy 86 PS the next time you're in the western Washington if you so desire

I'll let you drive the real thing as they are in fact funny shit hell yeah that was at the

lemons race and oh look at that sent me a little Mazda Repu pickup look at that I'm gonna hold on

that that one's gonna stay with me because that's Repu I know you sent some others for them babies

but I gotta that's gotta go on display here in the wrecking yard thank you for that Jason thank

you for the wonderful letter I really appreciate it I love when fans of my short content come over

here and find something to relate to in the wrecking yard because as I've told many of you

especially my day oneers I think maybe this in the book is the most important work I ever do

I do I don't know where this thing ends either you know it's not as car-centric as it used to be

but it's not completely not car-centric I'm always gonna love cars and once I get to both

so I can here start working on that there's probably gonna be a lot more car talk as a result of that

finally got me apart for the Cadillac hadn't had a chance to put it on yet but I'm gonna be doing that

soon let's see what we got here this is Amazon fulfillment services let's hope there's a note

on the side

what we got my goodness hey

come on tell me this and that

oh our old buddy Wayne Haven's god bless it Wayne's got one of the best hearts anybody ever met in

the comedy business our old buddy Wayne Haven's y'all heard me talk about him being him done comedy

together back in the old days sent us a advent calendar with 10 Hot Wheels cars in it's a Hot

Wheels advent calendar and some kid is gonna really enjoy the hell out of that I'm so excited

that that's going in our our donations here for them babies at the drivendreams.org

and uh let's add that that's 10 cars

10 cars a list oh I lost my pencil been doing carpentry where I finished that I didn't finish

that porch I'm lying y'all I didn't finish that porch I didn't finish that porch I did get that

porch me and Rachel got the porch all screened in with the new screen I made uh most of the new

trim but on the bottom I want to do a one by six uh to kind of lock the bottom in really good

and I got to go buy some one by sixes so I can make that last piece that goes around the bottom

then I'll trim all the rest of the screen but I made a joke about that my buddy Adam the my editor

and uh Adam goes you know how many people I know they have a screened in porch that all

they're missing is just a little bit of trim they ain't finished you asshole but he's right

it'd probably take me a month to get the rest of that trim done I'm gonna try to have it done by

Christmas but I was doing some carpentry work this showed up at the PO box a 50 pack of Hot Wheels

cars and I ain't got a clue who they're from because there ain't no note with them but this

is another 50 smiles and this come from albuquerque amazon fulfillment surfaces in albuquerque new

Mexico so if you sent us 50 cars from albuquerque new Mexico maybe these these might be the ones

uh that uh Jason Bennett sent us it's hard to say I had to hopefully he'll reach out and tell us

that these are the ones he sent us because he did say he sent some cars on through that's another

uh

that puts us at 1,686 miles from baby we're gonna be handing out and uh now we got this big old

box big old box I'm gonna have to move my coffee let's get this box and see what's in it

it sound like some Hot Wheels this heavy and shit I'll tell you that

that's a good size box right there

oh the newly sharpened freedom knife oh cut like butter cut like butter

oh it's like butter

well that's blocking the camera let me move this so we can get this thing down and see what in the

hell's all in this box oh daddy that's a heavy-decker box right there what do we got

well it looks

there's a 50 pack of Hot Wheels right there 50 pack of Hot Wheels car 50 more smiles

that gonna be another 50 pack

hell it's just all 50 packs look at that four 50 packs of Hot Wheels that's 200 more smiles

for babies that's 200 more smiles for children what I ain't got a lot to smile about sometimes

around Christmas and it just tickles me to death now you good hearted people have made this happen

that we really gonna put a dent and this is from uh Mr. Jerry my name's Sam been a big fan

before that first Father's Day podcast and well into the now from Maine Florida and even my trip

up there's some more here

even my trip to Thailand this podcast has been a relaxing light in my young life

you're an inspiration I love listening to your podcast while driving and fixing this damn Mazda

B4000 I got but love dearly another Mazda pickup guy another Mazda pickup guy thank you for all

you do keep up the good work sincerely Samuel Baum and Samuel God bless you

Samuel just gave us 200 smiles to give the babies 200 smiles to give the babies

and get them down here so y'all can see me again well I couldn't be more tickled

well add that to the tally and see where we stand I was you know in the beginning I thought boy if

we got a thousand cars we'd be doing something you know hell I thought we got 500 cars we'd be

doing something but by god that's another 200 cars let me do some figuring here shouldn't be hard

math y'all probably got it figured out in your head that puts us at uh 1800 nearly 2000 cars

that we're gonna give away next week 1886 cars god a mighty look at that

tell me there ain't no goodness in the world you were surrounded by it bro surrounded by it

there's a lot of light left in this world no it feels dark sometimes there's a lot of light left in

this world a lot of light

I hope y'all are doing out all right out there there's been a lot of upheaval in the world lately

sometimes it feels like everything's changing other days it feels like the same old bullshit we've

all been we've always been trudging through the good news is none of it lasts forever

one day whether you believe it or not you'll find yourself missing some part of the world as it is

now we were living in that junky old house off althea you could not have convinced me

that I'd ever miss that place dodgy wiring seedling leaks roof that side every time it

rained nosy neighbors who somehow made being unpleasant their full-time job

but I'll never forget asking Rachel to marry me somewhere between the living room in the kitchen

I'll never forget the games we played in that living room with my friends back when times are good

for that little circle fell apart I'll never forget working on motorbikes in that garage by

myself and my little dog the thing about good times is you don't always recognize them until

you're on the other side of it you need distance to see what mattered that distance is the filter

that often gives those memories value

I'd like to move my family to a better place someday

and as small as our little house is right now and as hot and swampy as Houston stays

as many tornadoes and direchos and hurricanes as we died I already know I'll miss this chapter

I'll miss the rebuilding the growing the surviving

one day I'll think about all of us sharing this one very old bathroom

and me fighting every kind of bug and plant infestation known to man and I'll laugh I'll miss it

and some of y'all listening right now saying hell no I ain't gonna miss any of this

some of you going through something brutal grief loss heartbreak kind of hurt that makes the future

feel like it's made out of fog and bad guesses but I promise you this one day you'll long for

something from this moment in time maybe it's it maybe it's it's simple maybe it's just a door

that creaks just right every time maybe it's the sound of your little cat's feet padding down a wood

hallway maybe it's a voice you'll never hear again there will be something there's always something

learning that has made me really try to pay attention to the things I know I miss why I'm

still living them right here right now told you I don't know where this thing ends but I know one

day I'll miss sitting out in this old garage talking to y'all every Sunday

ain't coming soon but everything has to end

I'm rooting for you I hope that you're being a little bit of an observer in your own life that

you're recording and mentally recording the things that you'll miss one day

pay attention to it pay attention to the way your room looks right now

pay attention the way your life looks right now pay attention to the people in your life right

now even if they're not permanent some people some people ain't permanent Steve wasn't a permanent

person in my life doesn't mean I don't miss the good times we have the good memories

doesn't mean I don't often think of it finally

pay attention to that stuff I'm rooting for you

if you are going through something hard I hope you're coming out on the back side of it

you uh

whatever you are right now is enough you're enough you're good enough

you're enough it's that simple I know you are

that's why I root for you I'm JW and I love you

1886 cars that is wow something that started as a fart of an idea

1886 cars that's a lot of joy that's a lot of joy we're gonna bring

gonna take two cars to haul it all up there but it's gonna be a lot of joy

come back next week I'll tell you guys how Mississippi went down I hope it goes well

nothing else I think I'm enjoying getting out there and getting into

a little different culture I don't go to Mississippi often because uh of Louisiana

I would probably go to Mississippi and Alabama more if it wasn't for Louisiana

but I got in so much trouble in Louisiana back in the day I still feel nervous trying you know

I got a clean license now and I don't ride dirty I still sort of always feel like I'm

gonna go to jail when I'm in Louisiana I'm even nervous thinking about driving through Louisiana

today I'm gonna drive through Louisiana today and I'm a little nervous but

guess if I'm in the chat today y'all know I made it Louisiana back

haha

still got a little bit of that cough

"The rise and fall of Giant Tube Sock" |s:03E.73

Buick Regal

Ford Bronco

drum brakes

289 engine

feathering the clutch

Chevrolet Silverado Z71

Mazda REPU

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