Garage Logic's "The Rookie"

An energetic show with Garage Logic's The Rookie. We discuss Second Stork, a wonderful non-profit organization near and dear to Rookie. Lots of guys talking over each other on this one. 🙄

Transcript

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welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. We are here in the studio with Steve Brown. Hey everybody. Hi Steve. Hi, our intern, Mario eb. Hello. How's it going? I'm sure KG is, uh, which drive through are you at today? KG Arby's? Well, I'm driving through Edina on, uh, highway 62, heading to a dinner. Uh, Engagement tonight. And I gotta tell you, this is the best traffic I've seen in a long time on this god forsaken stretch of highway. Well, that is big fun. And, uh, our, our big guest today is the, uh, the one, the only, the rookie, Matt McCalsky what do you call yourself? The, uh, the sidekick. The, uh, yeah. Side. I'm a professional sidekick, professional sidekick on the Garage Logic Podcast, uh, 30 years, and they still call me the rookie. Still follow the rookie. We're gonna, First start. Where does the name the Rookie come from? Yeah. What's, how did that happen? Uh, the king of all nicknames. Now, maybe Kevin, you might have picked up on this, but the King of All nicknames, Can be found in the press box at whatever event. He's always holding court. He's slightly overweight and hasn't had a cocktail since 1981. Kevin, play the game. Who do you think the king of nicknames is? Well, when you first started saying, I was gonna say dark star, God rest his soul, because when we worked together at Canterbury, every single human being that walked into our press box didn't get called by their name, got called a nickname. So Now think about it slightly overweight might be the most generous way of describing this person. You know, I know who it's sure hasn't had a drink since 1981 when he went away on a secret government mission. And, uh, again, works the, uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make you work for this court. There you go. You're gonna get that. I knew you'd get that. Yeah. He was Patrick of all, yeah. Oh, okay. Nicknames. And when I, um, the first day that I started, I started as a news dispatcher in 1990, moved over to AM Radio Weekend overnights and Monday Night Sports Talk in April of 91. Now, my dad had listened to Sports Talk for years, so I knew what those guys did with their producers. I knew how they treated them. And when I went in that, I went into the studio and said, introduce myself. And I went, nativity, Imre, kid, St. Paul, blah, blah, blah. Um, I want you to know that I know what you guys do and I'm, I'm new at this, so please go easy on me. I'm, I'm brand new. It's my first night. So Roy started going, oh, hey, it's the rookie. Hey, rookie. Go get the weather. Hey, rookie, go get the, you know, whatever. And it just kept going week after week. They never called me and it just kept going. Rookie, rookie. Now it's really, it's, it's so bizarre because I do, if somebody says, Hey, rookie, I look right away if I'm, you know, out on the beach or at the airport or whatever the case may be. It's, it's, it's, you know, I do run the board like it's my first job. That's what's appropriate. It does sound like that from time to time. Um, thank you for piling on. Yeah. I, uh, am a huge fan of the podcast that you're on. I literally listen to every single. Episode and one of the things that I've mentioned it to, uh, to Paul Suray, Joe's brother, that. The Garage Logic Program was one of the most meaningful connectors for me and my dad. Yeah. Um, he told me a long time ago, you gotta start listening to this thing. It'll get you, it'll get your head in the right space. And we literally would talk every day about, uh, what you guys were talking about. that's a great compliment cause um, Uh, you know, we hear that a lot. My grandpa, you listening to your show? My dad listened to your show and you know, it's supposed to be like, oh, I'm old, but okay, now you're a third generation listener. That's fine. You know, it's, it as, oh my gosh, complete positive. Cause it's absolutely an honor to be in people's cars and living rooms and. You know, I mean, think about that. I mean, Kevin, you think about your gig. Uh, everybody sees you when they're watching the wild and whatever the case may be, they. People sit there at a sports event. I mean, even at home, the best place to watch a sports event is watching Kevin while you're sitting on your couch with a beer in your, uh, hand. And you, you got a great seat. Beer's a lot cheaper at home. But I mean, think about that for all the, the wins. There's some losses up here this year, but it's, it's fun to be able to have those memories that you celebrate, uh, great times. And Kevin gets to be associated with that. You know, if, uh, if they beat Ovechkin and then our Russian scores six goals and he's interviewed, it's, it's fun and everybody remembers that. So it's, it's kinda a stretch rookie to include Kevin in that, but no. Well, you know, but, uh, what's really fun is, is, you know, I, I get to spend a lot of time with kg. And, uh, you talk about the King of nicknames. So before we go out, I say, I, I, I, I say, what's it gonna be tonight? When, because people always come up and they want to take pictures with them. Yeah. And then I'll say, well, why, why not me? Why don't, why, why are we so enamored with this guy? I've got a better head of hair. He's on TV every, every weekend. And, but, but it's always, so is tonight gonna be Champ or Scout? Oh, or sports or Boss. There's the deal. They, that's a, they really, they aren't there to get that picture of me. I'm the connector to Rookie's point, I'm the connector to their favorite hockey team or their favorite hockey player. And for 17 years when they're watching their favorite hockey team. I've got, I've got in the shot with their favorite team. So the connector is there. And I think they relate that. And, and again, I, I don't take it for granted being in someone's living room. Um, and that connection we have to anybody who's listening to us or watching us, I, I, I am thrilled. And it's, it's an honor. And I think, you know, I wanna circle back real quickly to Patrick Roy, because it's funny, you know, him and Dark Star were such good friends. Oh my God. And now that I, now that I've pieced this together, Dark Star probably stole a bit from Royce and used it at Canterbury because that's the brilliant mine that Dark Star had and, and how he worked. But I gotta tell you a quick Patrick story, and I'll do my best impersonation, but you'll get the point. Johnny, I think you've heard this story. So back in Canterbury did this giant day in the middle of summer called the claiming crown. It was always in the dog days of summer. Usually in early August when it was, you know, 85% dew point and a temperature close to a hundred. Right. And the one day a year we all threw on suits. And I'm a heavyset guy. I'm happy Heavy John Candy, you have noticed I have a slight Yeah. You know, a lot of pieces too. So I'm work in claiming crown and, and literally I'm sweating like a complete dog. Right. I am. Head to toe drenched. There's a 13 race, uh, program and I'm up and down to the, to the paddock and back to the press box and everything in between. Finally get done. We're on the final race and I upstairs to get back in that air condition press box, and I just look a mess and one of the guys in the press box says, rough day. Hi. I said, yeah. I said, look at this. I opened up my my for coat and I've got this drenched dresser. I said, you wouldn't wanna be my boxer short today? And Roy wasn't even like looking. He was like piping away. Head around, Jesus Christ. What day would be your goddamn boxer? Short to his work multitasker. Oh good. Keep going and not miss a And um, well, I don know if I can't really tell this story. Don't can. This is the Perfect Venue podcast. Nobody listens to us. Governor Ventura me. Jesse, I'm sorry, UHY. Me, Jesse, and I don't know if it was dark star or not. I, I don't remember. I don't even remember, was out, um, west, whatever, doesn't matter. Um, comes up to the, and he looks at the, and he's taking a couple practice swings and over in the corner there's about, um, Five males chasing a hand at duck Wise males chasing one hand and he just, he's taking his swings and he goes right before he takes his hit. He goes, didn't go to his back yet, but before he goes back, says that hand over there is about to get. Bleep bleeped, and then he swings and he just hits his natural slice that goes about 95 degrees to the left. It was just, it was, he didn't, he didn't miss a beat. He was just that, he made a, a very, it was vulgar, but it was, um, it was very, um, Patrick esque. He's just a, he's a great guy and I've, I've loved working with him for 30 years and, uh, I'm going on a trip to Croatia in 24. That's right. You can sign up on, uh, what's the name of that, uh, your Sister's Escape with us vacations.com. Sisters on a travel agency. I can tell you escape with US Vacations arranged for my, uh, daughter's senior trip to, uh, NuWave Valarta this, this past year, and your sister was the one who helped us, and it was absolutely a flawless experience. So was it the good one or the bad one? I, I, well, it was, uh, give me their name. Maria or Teresa. I think it was Maria. Is that the good one? That's the one. I was in the studio today and he says, you know, I should really, I got some friends in Croatia. I should really go on that trip with you. I said, the price would just double. If Roy was leading a trip with me to Croatia, oh, I would be. So I wouldn't even go anymore. Cause nobody would wanna talk to sit around and listen, tell stories. I mean, there's no question at storyteller. Yeah. All kidding aside, how do we get on that? I don't know. But how do we get you talk about a marketing opportunity. There you go. I, I was just gonna say, I was gonna say something, uh, rookie. So, um, back to you and Joe and I listened, uh, when it was on the radio quite a few years ago, I started listening and I think what the cool thing about it was, it was a bridge. It kind of bridged. I was like 30 or whatever it bridged. Uh, it made you realize how clever and funny older guys were. It made you want to just get to know older guys and guys like your dad. My dad wasn't, didn't listen that much, but, um, but it, it, it was a bridge. It was like such an entertaining format. And now I'm a middle-aged guy. Now it's like, that's exactly where, you know. Yeah. Like we were, it's, it's so great to hear and it, it really was charming and funny and relatable and, uh, you know, sushi family, I knew that name. So I started listening. I loved it. I listened all the time. I gotta get the podcast on. Well, that's really, that's cool. That's a big, uh, thank you for the compliment. I, you really never know who you're reaching. And funny thing was, is, you know, we were nobody then. We were number one, he beat Rush in the, in the ratings. Oh yeah. Wow. Yep. And then, you know, it, then it kind of, it, it tailed off and, and AM radio wasn't, wasn't a big draw anymore, but, uh, it's whenever the ratings came out and he said, If we're number nine, we're gonna do tomorrow's show. Like we're number one. And he said, and then when we were number one, he said, don't let it go to your head. They're climbing on our backs to try to get over. So yeah, just do the show like we wanna be number one. He's, he's Suji boy is such a humble guy and what you see is what you get. And you know, I've, I'll say this on this podcast cause it always seems like sour grapes, but he never, ever. Got press coverage for, you know, if somebody, if some of these other celebs, local celebs now, uh, fart, they're in the news, it's, oh my God, they did this. But, you know, and he never requested that or wanted that and he didn't, he didn't play that game. But it just, it's so bizarre that they never, it's a 30 year radio program that just Dave Ryan just celebrated 30 years. I, you know, I had, I just sent him a message off to him. He. Yeah, that's super hard in this same age. Very rare. A new program manager, you get a new general manager, he wants to take it again. It's, you know, and Hubbards have been, they've been, they've been very good. It's a, a hands off show. There's no, nobody's ever come down to say, we want you to talk about this. This is my, our direction. You know, and the chairman sitting upstairs, you know, having lunch in his office and approachable. Uh, Jenny Hubbard, who was his daughter, who we work for, she's the president of radio, has turned, you know, a, a job where she started. 30 years ago into a complete empire. And it's, it's, it's, it's amazing. I've had a really, you know, in 20, they took us off AM radio, uh, and said, we're gonna turn you into a podcast. At that point, they said, you're gonna be an independent contractor. I'm talking about myself too much. Please talk away. Question. Can I just, we wanna hear that. Interrupt for a second. Kg Do you have the phone up to your stomach or something? There is an echoy. No. Like it sounds like your stomach is empty. No, no. He's gonna eat pretty soon. Be involved. That's me. Oh, is it your stomach? Okay, well then keep, try and talk over your stomach. That would be great. I'm gonna do that for sure. Whatever. It wasn't stopped, I think. Yeah. Uh, but it's gone. What? So they, they took us off of, um, they said we're taking off am radio. And if you want, uh, we'll con you can continue to do the podcast and, you know, we're all looking around going, okay. They gave us a really nice, very generous severance package and, you know, not two weeks or four weeks. It was, it was good. And they said, if you wanna continue to do the podcast, you can. So we're all looking at each other and thinking, I'd rather keep getting a check as an independent co as an contractor. And we all said, we're all in. Then they're gonna build us these new studios at Hubbard. And we thought, okay, we're, I thought this was gonna be a negative thing. Well, little did we know Hubbard being on the cutting edge and the cusp of new technology, they basically said, no, you're our Guinea pig. You already have good podcast numbers. Your AM numbers aren't great. But no, the 25 year old kid's not listening to the radio anymore. Yeah. Uh, they've got their phone out, they've got their music selection. That's how they get their news. Mm-hmm. Newspapers went the way of, we're pretty arrogant. We people need to have the ink in their hands. And the younger kids showed that that's not the case. And that's why the newspapers, websites, they could never catch up. Cause I mean, the star reviewing the Pioneer press, bless, they just, they didn't have the wherewithal to say, uh, This really might hurt us, right? Because what's down the road? But you know. I mean, that's old school stuff with, um, newspapers and I'm sad to see how wafer thin the Pioneer Press is and Star Strong and they got a good owner. I don't think the Pioneer Press has good owners out east. They're a, they're a group, but you know, Glen Taylor, I'm sure probably still reads a newspaper every day or somebody reads it to him cause he's so rich. That's right. That's how I would do it. Yes. In fact that's, and so then we just, I was just gonna say, I'm gonna have, uh, Mario read me the, uh, the newspaper later today, our intern. Yeah. I mean, the podcast has obviously been hugely successful. Um, when I listen to it and half of the podcast are ads, you guys are clearly doing something right, but you guys, the, the ads are entertaining. It's not, they're not ads, they're like testimonials and they're fun and it, but, but man, it seems like you guys have got a lot of customers, uh, wanting to, to advertise on your show. Johnny what I, let's, let's go full. This closure. Uh, John thinks there's too many ads and he only wants Minnesota Masonic charities. Ah, there you go. The only well played rookie, well played. I, I, I am gonna say this, and this will be a perfect transition into Second Historic when, yes. So, uh, Paul Su uh, Joe's brother connected me with Rob O'Brien, who is a, a. A sales guy, he's been there for many years at, uh, senior sales guy. Yeah, great guy at Harvard. Great, great guy. And, um, you know, initially he had called just to, for some leads. Do you have any ideas? And I started thinking to myself, you know, I listen to this all the time, every day. Um, our organization is an organization that has been blessed with a lot of, uh, success over the years. But we're an organization that is slowly sort of, uh, disappearing because people just aren't joiners anymore. And I thought to myself, you know, this is an opportunity for us to, to tell our story in a different place. But a place where I think people that have common values to Masonic values, um, you know, would be listening. And I said, the one caveat was, I want Rookie to be the guy that reads our ads because I believe rookie to be the guy who is the most charitable. Now, I'm not sure that Joe Sushi would be a great guest for the Kindness Chronicles. He, he's probably as kind as can be, but he does come across a little, um, Krabby Carmo, that's kinda his character, right? Yeah. 100% Chromogen. That would be, that would be a self, uh, that would be a self-diagnosis. Yeah. And he leans into it. Yeah, he does. He's a character kind of. Right. But you know, his brother Paul says, that's Joe. That's not a character. That is, that's him. And you know, you can him better confirm or deny it, but him better. That's he's just doing himself, talking to himself. I'm hundred percent confirm it. It's all about him. And if he has a two o'clock tea time show at noon, that is really funny. He's going much past one. That's no joke. So yeah, it's um, you often talk about, uh, second stor and I'm sure that Joe raises his eyebrows and says, you know, are they an advertiser? But, uh, tell us about how you, cuz you're like one of the founding board members, aren't you? Of second historic. Yes. Yeah, I, uh, okay. The whole quick story, cause I don't tell him was longed. So lemme know when I need Shut up. No, keep talking. Don't get a to talk in the air. Yes, yes. A chance. Yeah. Um, I was recruited to be on a, a board for a place called Cradle of Hope. My friend Dan Flanagan, that owns Max Fish and Chips, um, has been a good family friend of mine for years. Uh, great guy, great restaurant. Is that the one on LAR Target? Yes. Oh yeah. The old McCarthys or Max Fish and Chips. That's, and I think they sell him a target field too during the twins games. He's a hard worker, uh, great guy. And he said, you know, I want you to be on this board. I went on this board and they, um, They helped women in need in crisis. Uh, if someone was getting smacked around horribly, they, you know, they would give them the rent money to, to get out somewhere. However, there was an application process, and I'm not ripping cradle Hope they did a great job. Uh, but they were, um, political and religious very right to life. And it was tough to go to Target to say, will you guys give us 10 grand? What's your background? Well, And they, you know, it's, it's not ripping anybody that didn't give us money, but it was a little more difficult. Sure, yeah. Yeah. To get money and the, the people were wonderful. But, uh, devil Hall, uh, Dan Flanagan and myself, we decided to break off in 2008 to start a different charity. That's when we started second. And the Pomeranian, don't worry, I'm in the. So, but what our concept was with second Historic is we don't wanna, we wanna help people. We don't wanna fill out a form, we don't wanna be political, we don't wanna be religious. You can be religious in your own time and be political, that's fine. But if you're asking for money, if you say, Hey, can I get uh, uh,$10,000? What's your deal? So here's what our deal is. We decided that. We would try to, uh, to go into these hospitals, talk to the social workers, and the social workers would determine who would get our, um, the products that we have and the products that we have are all donated or we have to buy them. But Target was a very good, um, sponsor. They would give us diapers, basically what Second Store does now, and we, we kinda came up from this, from our grassroots campaign is. If you go to the hospital and you have a baby and your baby's in the N ICU or the baby, you don't have anything, it's a surprise. Maybe you're, uh, 40 years old, you have the accidental pre pregnancy, you away all your stuff because your kids are grown, whatever the case may be. Um, and what they do is they have, um, they have a problem they don't have, um, Sleepers. They don't have, you know, um, uh, playpens or, thank you. Thank you. I've drawn diapers, wipes the whole thing. Yes. So what, what to do at our warehouse? I'll, uh, my starving children. You can come down there and you can, uh, build bags, put the bags together. It's diapers, it's onesies, it's little caps. Um, it's, you know, cleanings. It's, it's a, it's a newborn baby kit. And then, you know, a lot of these, uh, young kids are sleeping in the bed with their parents, which is a nono as a newborn, you're not supposed to do that. Or they're sleeping in the little Rubbermaid, um, uh, plastic cup. Yeah. And that's, you know, that, oh God, yes, it's safe. But the people that we're getting these items to are not having showers. They don't have baby showers. Yeah. You know, they're the poorest of the poor. And, uh, a a couple of examples. So anyway, so here's what we do. The social work, we put the, the bags in the closet at, we're at all every hospital in the state of Minnesota and summer, Wisconsin. Is that right? Yes. Wow. And it, it's a, it's a great program and the social worker decides, uh oh, the Nelsons are not ready. And they say, we have this outfit that will give you this. And the people are, I, if I start to talk about it, I'll, I won't be able to talk. Mm-hmm. One guy, uh, was from Africa and his wife, they lost their baby in Africa. Uh, due to whatever, whatever reason they were here. They had a baby. The baby was in the N icu. Um, the, the, the social worker went to the man and said to the husband, do you have everything you need? Yes, yes, I do. I do it. No problem. And so for the week they were there, the baby was getting better. It's time to release the baby. She went to him again. You had, and you told me you have everything right? And he said no. And the nurse, uh, the, the social worker went, oh, no. She said, why didn't you tell me this? And he said, I thought you would take my baby away if I did. Oh, wow. God. Oh man. You know, he, he didn't really, you know, he didn't know what the situation was and he said, I, if I said I didn't have everything, I thought you would take my baby away. Oh God. She said, no, no. She said, I, but he said, I trust you now because I've seen what you've done all week with people. You have helped people, and I understand it. I don't have anything. So she ran to the closet, grabbed the play pen, grabbed the mobile Wow. Thing, grabbed the whole, and you know, then he just starts. He's bawling and that, you know, it just all the crap he's been through and mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We're not keeping him around for two years. We're giving him the starter kit and you know, if I could, I would, but we can't afford, we don't have budget that supply for two years, so. Mm-hmm. It's enough to get started and they have the things they need. Once you have that play yard or once you have that play pen or whatever, that the sleep end, that's. That's major. And you know, one lady started picking stuff outta the bag and the social worker said, no, this is all for you. Wow. And she looks up and the tears starting. It just, it's, it's the greatest feeling in the world. And you know what, nobody fills out a form. Nobody says, you need to, uh, praise for this. You need to for this. It's, it's here you go. And it's, it's the greatest charity. That doesn't get any publicity. Well, hey, I'll say the Schultz Foundation. The Schultz Foundation has given us, we went and, and pitched them and Devil Hell does a great job. She's a grant writer and she does a great job. I'm, I'm the guy that just gets them in touch with, uh, Renee Doyle, with the Twins Wives Organization. They were with us for a while. They did a great job too. I mean, it just, uh, the Schultz has been fantastic though. They've, every year they're, they're giving us a grant and it's. Hats off to Richard Schultz and his whole foundation. He's a huge philanthropist. And, uh, is Mark Dean Hart still there? Mark Dhar is in charge, yes. Okay. And that's another though, mark, uh, wink, wink nudge. I've never paid him a dime, but, uh, he's a, he's a great, I love Mark Dean to death. He's a great, his, his wife tried Naivity for a long time. Really? He, he's, he's gentle soul and. Uh, side Sports Note didn't deserve the crap he got while he was at the U. Absolutely not. The Clem crap was just, I'm, I'm sorry He had to fall on the sword. I'm political. It's political, it's reality to trifecta for, for, uh, yeah, but it's, he, he, he was, he had to fall on the sword, but. You know what? He's got a heart of gold. And uh, I remember one time I did an nativity men's club. He was there and I don't remember who was speaking. They always get good speakers and they always mc that works for free. I dunno, why do, but uh, anyway, he was there and I said, ladies and gentlemen, mark Dhar, one of our, you know, wonderful nativity and he's got a standing ovation. Wow. People love the guy. They love the guy. He's great. Oh, he, um, so that he should have been the, uh, the president of the university, much less the athletic director. I mean, can Yeah, he, he should have been living at East Cliff. Absolutely. Now we got this guy living there. Well, well, okay, well hold back, pull back. Careful, back careful. Delete, delete, delete. I'm pulling back. Um, you know, that's our story. It's, it's a great to, to, if you want book a party, you can go down to second store, bring pizza and beer, and why my family's done. Other families have done it and you can just. They teach you how to put the bags together. Everybody's giving each other crap. It's, it's a lot of fun. Um, and it's, it's, it has grown in popularity. So we, we've worked hard since eight. Hasn't been easy. We used to do Sams Club diaper drops and stuff like that, know? How did you come with the name? We had, the first name we had was aka we brought in a consultant. Oh boy. No. Nobody knows what that is. No, nobody knows. So the, the board got together many years ago and said, we need a better, easy name to remember. Is it. No. And then we said, what's, what are we doing? We're helping babies. And you know, the first stor brings the baby, second stor brings the goods love. I think it's stor sounded good. It's a brilliant name. It's catchy. That's why I asked. Yeah. And I knew there'd be a story. That's phenomenal. Can I ask, um, go ahead, Rick. How b what is your annual budget? Dude, that means, you know what, I, when we have meetings, oh, you have to pay attention. He's gotta listen. And they go and all, all the paperwork attachment at the. Looking at numbers and stuff like that. Uh, devil hell would probably push me in the face for not knowing all this, but, well, we don't have any paid, we just, we just hired an executive director. Oh, congratulations. Because it came overwhelming. Yeah. I suppose. Again, I'm not pushing papers, but Anne Hilger, uh, her husband's, uh, running, uh, secur and Financial, she's a, she has been wonderful. Chris Hilger's wife. What's that? That's Chris Hilger's wife, isn't it? Yes. Yeah. Yep. Wow. And she has been fantastic. She'll, she can squeeze a, a, a dime out of a nickel, what's that word? Blood out of a turnip. I'm not sure that's how it goes, but let's go with it. I like it. I like it. We'll lean into that. Um, yes, you should. Okay. I think it sounds like they've got a, uh, oxytocin city going on over there. It is. Oxytocin City. That sounds the happiness hormone is, and, and, you know, the, the Feed My Starving Children has done an exceptional job of getting. Students from all over. Yeah. To come and, and, and to, to, to kind of equate what you guys are doing, to what, um, feed My Starving Children is doing is, you know, you know there ain't gonna be any starving children if they don't have second store. For many families. Yeah. Which is very cool. Right. Um, well, my, my, all four of my kids went through feed starving children, so I wasn't using Yeah, it's great. Yes. That's it's wonderful market. A lot of corporations also do that. They'll have a volunteer things where you get to package stuff. Everybody likes to do that. They get to be a part of it. And you know, they create a big line and you feel like you're helping. And it, it's, it's very, it's, it's a great, uh, way to go about it. Maybe we'll have our social media intern arrange for a, uh, little field trip Kindness Chronicles field trip for some of our listeners too. I'd love to do that. It would be fun. It would be very fun. Um, copy that. I have a, a i, I would like to direct my, uh, little energy at KG for just a second. So a couple, a couple of years ago, this is gonna be nice just to let you know. The influence kg, isn't it funny how, how quick you take mental inventory though, says, oh no, what did I do it? What? No, this is, this is actually, this happened earlier today. Um, KG a couple of years ago when he learned about the work that we do at Masonic Charities, he signed a petition to become a member of the fraternity. The fraternity is, uh, in, in many respects, like second historic, uh, non-religious. Um, the, one of the only rules in the Masonic Lodge is you can't talk about politics. Politics, yep. And religion are forbidden. We do ask that you believe in a higher being, whatever that might mean to you. Um, you know, that's, do you believe in, in God, whatever that might mean to you. But, um, right. For the last two years, they've had a, a, an event called One Day To Masonry, where you, the, the, you go through the degrees, you know, you've heard of the first, second, and third degree. You know, you've given somebody the third degree that hap that comes from Masonry, right. Mm-hmm. And like we saw at the museum. Yeah. Like, like you learned at the museum. Well, um, KG has been on the road in January for both of those dates, so he hasn't been able to attend that. Oh. So I mentioned that today and uh, I'm like, why don't we have more than one of these one day to masonry things? Because I know a guy who would like to join the fraternity, but he ain't gonna go through the, the traditional degrees because they're too much time. He's a busy guy. And the Grand Master happened to be at this meeting, so the Grand Master's, like the Grand Puba. Wow. And one of the guys says, well, if we could get Kevin Gorg to join the fraternity, maybe we should, uh, the Grand Master could make him a Mason on site. Now, just so you understand, what a boy, what a big deal that is. Geez. The last person that was made of Freemason on site. Was Senator Norm Coleman. Oh, come on. I am not kidding you. No, it was very good for Paul. Very good for, oh, that's brilliant. That's the same pool. How did I know it was gonna go there? How did I know? Um, you know, who wasn't Norm Coleman, you know, who wasn't invited to be a Mason? The Governor, Jesse, the body. Who? Jesse, are you there? Oh, no. I'm gonna tell you why I no brick head. I thought I had to build a wall. No. Are you? I just said no one turned them down. Are you on the grid? Off the grid? At this point I'm off. I'm down in Baja. I'm off the grid. Said I have a. Uh, a silo full of tortillas. Now you stole that from Will Sasso. Yeah. Sasso. Sasso doing Jesse Venturas. He, he kicked my ass in Morgan Freeman. He did, hello, this is Morgan Freeman and I'm here in prison. And then Kelly just went, uh, ate on me and just killed me. But he said, I'll give you this. You're Jesse Ventura. I haven't found anybody that can do that. Yeah, there go. But now I've heard Will Sasso and. He does this, uh, quiet Jesse. Cause you don't always have to yell. And I for, I got a cold right now, so I can't do it. But he, he will saso. I don't remember what podcast it was, but it is so perfect. And when you know when somebody can trump you like that, they'll, pun intended the, the master. And he is, he has got him down and I feel like. Kellyann's gonna call me sometime and say, yeah, you suck. Now it's asso. Well, can't top your norm Coleman, though. No way. The Norm Coleman opportunity. Make, say Paul a uh, a bright future on lip if, if Melvin stays we're, we're, we're screwed. How is Norm? Do we know how, what Norm is up to these days? I have no idea. Uh, norm I, the last time we texted, probably maybe six months ago, it was a, it was a political text saying, uh, we were talking, oh. Okay. Disclosure. You want full disclosure? Yeah. Bring it. Yeah. Uh, we were talking about who we gonna for office down the road here in the future, and uh, I've got a year old, 26 year old son now, uh, that runs a software company and lives in Austin, Texas. And he just got married in October and a young kid and he was with the, um, uh, whatever the youthful, um, political. Thing was that the young kids or whatever at the capitol. And he did that and so did his older sister and they loved it. And they were also on a couple commissions here in Dakota County. And then, um, you know, he went off to college and then he lived in Boston and now, um, he, he would consider seriously running for office. And, and this is Matthew? This is Matthew Junior? Yeah. Okay. Uh, he runs a place called Ario, A R Y E O. Ario. It's a software company. It's, they must have had the same consultants that named Second Stork initially. Yeah, they already talked about that. And they just said, well, we're, now they're, they're, they're money, so they're not gonna No. So is different. Well, we, we could use people like that running for office. Well, he doesn't have any skeletons in his closet either. And that, and so, What do you think? And he said, you know, so we just be asked one night. Uh, it was, I don't, it was years ago. Norm, Senator Coleman invited us. It was father, um, who was the assumption guy? Father Malone. Father Malone. That just retired. It was Father Malone. Uh, my wife Michelle and I, su and his wife and Norm and his wife. And then Dave Cset and his wife, oh my God. Oh wow. Outta the blue. We were invited over. You got a great place down in, uh, hill, and we didn't know why we were being duck in there. Dave at me, his eyebrows. I'm like, there was, there was nothing. It was just a get together, but it, it was, it was the most, one of the most bizarre nights of my life. This. And what we had no idea why we're there, and there was, to this day, I should probably ask Norm, Hey, why did you over? No Father Malone's holding court, he was doing a ho for Grant. Oh, he's so damn funny. Oh, he's a great guy. He's a great guy. So I, lemme tell you now, get off on the tangent. I got a quick Father Malone story for you. So Father Malone was, uh, my business law professor at St. Thomas. Really, uh, friend of my dad's, um, he officiated our wedding. And when I was deciding to, uh, to become a consultant for Minnesota Masonic Charities, so about 20 years ago, I ran into Father Malone at a United Hospital Gala and. I'm a Catholic and I wasn't sure if a Roman Catholic could be a Mason, a free mason. And I asked Father Malone, I said, Hey father, you know, I got a question for you. And you know, he's so sarcastic, you never know, kind of a response you're gonna get from, and I just said, right. I said, father, I, you know, I'm a Catholic, as you know, and I've got this opportunity to work with this organization called the Freemasons. Are you familiar with them? Oh, absolutely. Is it okay for me as a Catholic to become a freema and deadpan serious? He said, well, you know, back in 1965, there was a a list of organizations that you couldn't belong to, and the Freemasons were on that list because once upon a time the Masons tried to overthrow the papacy. Ooh. But he goes, that list still exists, and the Freemasons are now no longer on the list. I. Um, you know, I think that it's fine. He said, you know what, I know of the Freemasons, you know, they're all about charity and they're all about doing nice things in the community, so I think it's fine. And I thought, oh my God, that's the first, like civil cancer, clear. Fantastic. Yeah. From, from Father Malone that I've ever gotten. And then he says, oh, but, but one more thing. They're gonna circumcise you again. What? And, and the rest of the night. That's the father alone. I know. At the rest of the night, every time I'd walk by him, he'd side eye me with the little scissors thing. With his fingers scissor. The scissor snip. Wow. Yes. And to this day, when he sees me, he'll give, I I it was absolutely. You still with the uh, well, it's like, I was like so shocked. I'm like, That's the most serious answer I've ever gotten from him. And I was like really grateful. And then he pulls out the circumcision story. Yep. I stop you right when I said, bro, I'm bro coming that it's gonna be coming. You just gonna. Slice you. I, I didn't. That's a poor. Yeah. Literally. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my. Well now you know, this my aunt today I talked about Outlander. You heard Outlander? Yeah. I heard you today. Yep. And today it was, so last night they were, dude was in prison and then he sees the one guy do the secret handshake with the governor, and then he is like, okay, let's become Freemasons. And as I'm watching the show with my wife and my daughter, I said, Uh, yep. They got the secret handshake, but they only have to, uh, you know, you gotta, you gotta have aan and then they said that and then was, Because of what you taught me at the museum that day and talking about stuff. I was like mouthed the words as they come. She's like, only maybe she, wow. Just, uh, you know, maybe we could do, maybe we could do a two for one of the Grand Master. Turn the rookie and KG into Freemasons. We'll get'em one of those crazy hats. You learn the handshake, the world will be a better place. Get father, uh, Maloney there. Get Father Malone. I don't work well with bricks. Well, um, I, I, I might hit a brick wall. I know you guys have like, uh, fancy rulers and, uh, funny saying, but, uh, I'm not, I'm ready. I'm a, I'm a, if I can a Oh goodness. Well, you have been, uh, more than generous with your time. We are, uh, very appreciative. I do have one last question for you. Um, we are coming up on the, uh, the 10 year anniversary, um, of Vince Flynn's passing. Isn't that coming up? Yeah. And 10 years already? Yeah. Isn't it 10 years? I think he, it was 13 I believe. Yes. 13 years ago. No, 2013. No, 2013. 2013. Oh yeah. Yeah. So a couple of, uh, a couple of years ago we did a tribute show to Dark Star and really got a great response. Yeah. People love the fact that we reminisced about him and we've been talking about, you know, getting, seeing if we could get, uh, Tim Flynn. Uh, you know, maybe the rookie and some people that are tight or that were tight with Vince and just, uh, maybe Dan Burro would be good. Dan Burro. I mean, we all have our, our Vince Flynn stories and I mean, there wasn't a better guy, as you've mentioned, you know, there's never been a better name dropper in the history of, uh, of the world. I mean, but when this guy, hundred percent, when he name dropped. It was legit. Like you didn't go, oh, what a name dropper. It's like, oh my God, this guy knows the king of Jordan. You know, he met Bill Clinton. He wasn't, he wasn't doing a holo No, he was just saying, this was my day, the day he called me from, he was in, uh, Russia's basement. He was at Rush's House Rush Limbs house? Yep. Oh, wow. And, and he said, oh, my dude. Oh my God, I'm at Russia's house right now. He was, no, he was excited, but he was, he was calm and cool and he wasn't calling me to say, I am. Oh my God, I won up. You. He's just calling to say, I can't, like, I can't believe my life when Hepped, it was more like, I can't believe my life is like this. I'm a dyslexic moron that from Apple Valley, went to the trade school in Mendota Heights. Um, The Academy. Little Trade School. Drill. Trade school. Yeah. I gotta use that. I got great buddies that went there. That's awesome. Yeah. McAfee, he, you know, he's done well. You know, some of these guys, yeah, it just, it absolutely. Uh, you know, I love the guy and he was, when he wrote his first, that Cloak and Dagger press, self published and. He put my name in there. Yep. Because I got the script of the transcript. Su I was like, holy crap. By the way, if you ever find a cloak, press, I got it limits the green, the green cover. Yes. If you, if you find it at Goodwill, it's worth about three to 500 bucks. Um, no kidding. If you find cloak and dagger press and my wife, I have one, the, the original that Vince gave me that he signed it. But then for Christmas, one year she happened to, cause I've trained my kids, if you go to Goodwill, you look for term limits, coconut De, and you buy it right now and you keep your mouth shut. Don't say I'm, so, I got that a gift one year for Christmas. I was like, I just crying. Wish it was a thousand dollars. Guys sell it tomorrow though. But it just, you know, he self-published and. The fact, the heck of a story, you know? Okay. Truth be told, I'm gonna eat some humble pie here. And I'm not fishing for compliments in this Twin Cities media. Uh, nobody knows who I am. Okay? The people at Twin Cities Live, they know who I am. I the same building, but, uh, Alex Kindle would walk by me and go like, I dunno who that guy is. I'd walk by her and say something inappropriate. But that's a whole nother story. Right, exactly. Let's keep that off the podcast. Yes. But it just, um, it's for him, for him to, he, that's the kinda stuff he did. And I've got, if we ever do that podcast, I've got a, a story about an email that, uh, a guy sent me that I will read in full. Frank Ero tried to make me shorten it up when we were with, um, uh, That when Rush came by for the Vince Flynn trip at St as Cat years later. But, uh, it, I have an email that I say that shows me what kind guy Vince Flynn is behind this. He was, he kg You see this stuff step in, in, in your career. Yep. You see people that are good to the help and, but no one's watching. When no one's watching and when, when, when someone says, Hey, I need help. And you know, uh, you, you always hear the, the, the Kirby Rookie deal when, uh, uh, who was it? I don't remember who it was. Somebody gave him, uh, money to go buy suits when he was called up money. That's that kinda stuff where, uh, taking care of your own athletes, but also taking care of the equipment manager that that's, he doesn't have. You know, it's that, or, or, or when you go to a restaurant, they, you nice people. Um, we, I've seen with people and bad people over the years in radio, uh, and in tv, but mostly on radio cause that's what I do. But to see sports people that are good to the help is fantastic. And celebrities that are good to help. Cause you know, we're all working toward the same goal and I always, uh, one guy, a guy plows snow. This guy in St. Paul. Okay. 30 seconds. This guy in St. Paul, Paul Snow, he's the hardest working family in ever. He was got a new client and he was a, a surgeon at one of the hospitals downtown St. Paul. And he said, make sure that you plow my driveway first and foremost right away. Cause I've gotta get down there. I've gotta the, I gotta get the. And this guy's total blue collar. And he said, okay, I'll, I'll do that. But lemme ask you a question. Do you know the name of the guy that turns the boiler on every morning when you're at the hospital? And the guy just kinda, the doctor just kinda shut up. It was an arrogant thing to say, but absolutely you wanna know that you don't wanna know the ceo. You wanna know the guy with the keys? Mm-hmm. Yep. If you, if you left your, uh, backpack in there, the guy with the keys, and if you got a great relationship, you can go anywhere building. Mm-hmm. That's you. John is not. So John is questionable. So one of the things that I love about you edit Totally. I've got edit shit right out. No, but one of the things that I love about the, the, the Freemasons is that's the way. You know, we have this, this term that we meet on the level, and whether you're the CEO or the guy that cleans out his garbage cans, we are, we are equal in the eyes of our Lord, whoever our Lord might be. Yeah. And um, so j just real quick, our, uh, our intern pulled up the fact that, uh, Vince passed away on June 19th, 2013. So we are coming up Wow. On the 10 year anniversary. So we would love to have you. Back. Um, on just to, to, to reminisce about Vince, I actually have a, uh, a copy of the original manuscript. In my safe downstairs. Vince asked me to read the book because of the guys from Hi. That Little Circle of Friends. I was probably the only one that had ever read a book that wasn't assigned to them in school. And uh, my only feedback to him was, is that the title of the book was Stupid and it was called The Right to Rise Up, the Right to Rise Up. And it was just such a stupid title. And then when they came, when he, when he said that he changed it to term limits, I was like, that is, might be one of the best titles for a book. I mean, it was perfect and, uh, but yeah. Lovely guy. You know what I, I agree, but I think you might have my, uh, Manuscript of that. So I need that back. Yeah, I'm gonna get that right Tom. eBay up was limit. You're right Johnny, you're right up. Like I, I don know clever. I didn't, didn't consult him on changes cause I was too stupid. Uh, I just always thought he stole my idea. That, uh, Mitch Rapp was a short ordered cook that worked at Plumbs. Yes. And that just hated, you know, anybody in the Middle East and he ran with that. Yeah, I, I would assume that you're getting some sort of royalties. Hundred percent. Now, you know what, when I appeared once in his book, Dog, weren't you when I appeared? Yes. Old crazy. Frenchman Sus was walking his dog, rookie down. The block was kissing you made, you made the book. That's uh, That's always fun when you're reading it's, and you see a name and it's like, oh, I see what he did there. Where the hell is my name? Uh, one last thing. Right. So we, when we got married, we had our guests sign the border of a, of a picture banner, yeah. Of Becky and I. And the funny part about the picture that everybody gets a kick out of is, you know, I'm probably. Eight, nine inches taller than Becky. But our belts were at the exact same level in this picture. So either I have the longest torso in the shortest legs, but the reason I bring that up is everybody signed this thing and over the last 27 years, the ink has faded on just about every signature. Yeah. Except for Vince Flynns. Wow. I mean, wow. You know, I think Vince brought his own pen, you know, cuz he is kind of a maybe. But this was, well, he was not, he wasn't good at the help. That's what my point was. I get aqui here, get a new quill here and some more. Oh. Expect to touch the same pen as those other people do you? Yeah. Cotton wash there. It's, I have so many questions. I, I can't, I we gotta do that show because I, I don't, we're doing, yeah, we gotta save a lot of this for the show. It's gonna be a question. Great tribute. All right, well, we, uh, try keep these podcasts to, uh, to 30 minutes and we're now at 56 minutes. So, uh, Rookie. Wow. It's like a Minnesota Masonic ad on Garage Live. Hey. Yeah, I know. Yep. I appreciate, uh, you've been, uh, you've been doing a great job of just kind of riffing. I would send him these scripts and they would go along and I could just hear Joe going, oh my God, are you ever gonna finish this? But Rookie can talk about Moon Motor Sports for four minutes. It's not fair. Right. He's like, that's fine. Yeah. And it's all good. I'm happy. Uh, Minnesota Masonic, Johnny, and you and your guys to, uh, lemme be part of it. It's, well, it's a pretty easy sale. We're gonna, we're gonna book the, uh, the Vince Flynn tribute. I'm sure that everybody's now gonna steal the idea, but yeah, we're coming up on 10 years and he was, uh, absolutely a guy that, uh, You know, he's fun to talk about. He's fun to remember. I, I routinely will watch YouTube videos of him. You know, I love when you guys run the, the Vince Flynn interviews on your best of shows because, you know, the guy is still with us. I mean, he, he is, uh, Moved on to his great reward, but you know, his spirit is still here. And the influence and the impact that he had. I mean, there's a perfect example of when you're a guy who helped you know, who, who cares about the help. Um, you know, it's one thing to be a bestselling author, but the best stories about Vince are just the guy he was. Yeah. Do you remember that way? It's probably more rewarding in some ways. Oh, yeah. Goes on longer. My theory is, my theory is, You're dead when they no longer say your name. No one's talking about you. Yeah. Right. And you know if still that's, that's good enough for me. I. Yeah. Save it for the 19th. Yeah, and I, I just, you know, um, Vince once upon a time asked my wife out and she chose me. So take that, Vince. Wow. I'll edit that out. That wasn't cool all. No, you, we could, could probably line up a whole bunch of gals that Vince was, uh, special friends with over the years too, you know. The problem is your wife's disappointment. Yeah. Yes. Does I got the wrong. Yes, she really. Hey, Kim, we're both authors. Mines, you know? Well, it's different, but it's the same. All right. You're number, you're number one on different lists. Yes. Yeah. Thanks, rookie. All right. You guys did a great job. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much guys. And eat spaghetti. We go. Enjoy. Go bye guys.