Joan Steffend and Joe Brandmeier (Kindness Documentarians)

Former Kare 11 and HGTV personality, Joan Steffend and her award-winning documentarian husband, Joe Brandmeier discuss an important project they are developing (with longtime KSTP Sports Anchor, Joe Schmit). It’s the heartwarming story of a special friendship between a St. Paul High School Student and a new student at his school…Minnesota Twin and MLB Hall of Famer, Joe Mauer and his friend Mike, a new classmate at Cretin Derham Hall, who just happened to be blind.  

Transcript

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Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota. Kindness. Ooh. That it desperately needs. Ooh. Uh, we have some special guests in the studio with us tonight. Doesn't happen often in studio. Special ones that is in studio. We have people in here in studio all the time, but we're gonna get to them in just a second. But Steve Brown is here. Hello, Steve. Hello. Hello. Hi everybody. And we got, we'll get to you people in a moment. Um, we've got, uh, kg, you're out in the, uh, the big apple. How are things happening out there? It's been a great week. Started in New Jersey, went to Manhattan for a couple of days in the middle, and took the bus ride from Manhattan to Long Island today and got settled out here. We got one more game on the trip and it's been good. Not great trip so far with a couple of, uh, over time in shootout losses along the way. The team is, I think, doing everything they can with the, uh, the, they've got in place right now and, uh, to get back. It's been a long week, but it's been good. Am I hearing a dog in the background? I'm at the hotel lobby. There's no dogs here. I don't think there's people here. Oh, I thought Earth. I swear I heard a dog. I did too. I did too. Well, anyways, that nice. And you know what, Joan, we're gonna get to you in a moment. Joan heard it too. She can't help herself. Um, just real quick, Kevin, how has New York been to you? Are the people being kind. Yeah, I didn't run into your buddy Elmo, so, um, Elmo always good there. Um, that's an inside joke from the, uh, the show earlier. But no, I, it's been great. The people in New York are awesome. It's the biggest misnomer I've ever found, uh, how hardcore and tough everybody is out here. They're great people. Uh, they help you if you get lost. They point out cool spots to go, um, in the side of things. From the guys that work. The lights to the sound guys, to the camera guys are, they're fabulous. They've got the great accents, they're fun to work with. And, uh, you know, being that this is the kindest chronicles, um, you see different things along the way. But there was a kid last night who, uh, he couldn't have been more than five or six years old, and he had this flury on and wore backwards, so. He got down with a wild come off the ice. And of course, you know, as I've told you guys before, the flower, uh, being this hall of fame, goalie is even a better human being and took the time to take a picture with the kids, sign the the jersey, and make a little connection with the family. And, you know, to me that's kind of what kindness is all about. He didn't have to do it. There were people everywhere, you know. He always seems to find the kid in the crowd and make that connection, and that's pretty special. Well, maybe upon the, uh, retirement of the flower, we could, lean into him. Oh, he has a little more time and get him on the program. Ooh, I know that. Great. Again, save all of the good guests for wooden sticks, but you know, come on buddy. You do both, right? Why dip? Exactly. Um, just real quickly, for those of you that are unaware, the Elmo story that Kevin was referring to, I was accosted by an Elmo in, uh, times Square several years ago when I was about 50 pounds heavier than I am right now. He asked if we wanted to take a picture with him. Uh, me and the family I said we're okay. And he was kind of a greasy looking Elmo and he had kinda wild eyes. And as I was walking away, he called me Gordo, which is Spanish for fatty. And I turned around and I said, You called me Gordo? I said, come on man. You are in an Elmo a a real poor looking Elmo costume, and you're making fun of me. I could have gotten ugly. It didn't get, am I allowed to say something now? Yeah. So, you know what? Get physical. Let's, let's introduce our guests. Yeah. We have really special guests. We have the, you know, moderately famous people in the, uh, in the studio. One for sure. One for sure. We have Joan Steffan. Many of you'll remember Joan from her time on Care 11. She was also an HGTV star for how many years were you there? 10 years. 10 years. Oh my gosh. I know. And, uh, her sidekick is with her tonight. Uh, Joe Brandmeyer. Joe is a, uh, a documentarian. We're gonna get to Joe in a moment, but first. Let's start with Joan. I wanna talk about this Elmo situation. So, the Elmo situation did not work out very well for me. There were no fisticuffs. There were, there were not. My kids were there and you know, I, you just never know in New York City. I know it was, uh, were your boys holding you back? They thought it was funny. Oh, because they all had had Spanish and when they heard the guy refer to me as Gordo. El Godo, sassy Elmo. They thought that that was real fun. So that's, I know you wanna talk to her first, but just that, that the words. Mm-hmm. How powerful words are. Yeah. And you still talk about it. And you still remember. Yeah. Oh, I'm scarred. Yeah. There's no question about it. I think we all have a moment. Yeah. You're scarred. In fact, it may have been the impetus for me to stop eating so much. You know, I doubt, I doubt it. Trauma as a child I was called Big Red and that big red that stuck with me for a long, long time. You know, just brutal words are. So, Joan, tell us a little bit, what have you been doing since your days on, uh, care 11 and, uh, HGTV. Welcome, by the way. Welcome you. Thank you. It was fun to be here. Um, it. I have been contemplating life. Okay. Honestly, I mean, it sounds so boring. My life, according to the world looked really successful and really interesting before I left. The life has opened up for me in ways that I am so, I'm so happy about, um, having left my success. Wonderful. I'm not making money. I'm driving the same old car I am living a life that feels like my life. Now because I get to contemplate the things that I care about, one of which is kindness. Well, and I heard a great description of that and I thought of you guys. This to me, and I think it also applies to Joe Schmidt, who we're gonna talk about in a couple of minutes here. I feel like this project that we're gonna be talking about is really like a divine assignment. I think so too. This is sort of about legacy and all of those kind of things. Yeah. But let's just get into what we want to talk about here. What do we wanna talk about? There is, uh, I'm gonna give a little background as to how I, uh, came into contact with these fine folks, uh, a couple of weeks ago. Your friend Joe Schmidt? Yes. Of Channel five. Mm-hmm. Recently announced his retirement. Did, how about that? Very exciting. Hmm. We kept the secret for two months. Yeah. Yeah. I would've said, don't tell me the secret.'cause as Kevin and Steve know, I can't keep secrets. I am terrible at keeping secret. Neither could I. I'm the same way as John. Yeah. Glad I didn't tell you. At least we're honest about it. Yeah. So anyways, a couple of, uh, about a month ago, Joe Schmidt was a speaker at one of our Masonic. functions that we had up in St. Cloud and Derby, who is a, a dear friend of ours and has been on the podcast, invited him back to our office to do, the podcast, the Minnesota Masonic Histories and Mysteries Mm-hmm. And they started talking about, you know, all the things that Joe's got going on. He's a speaker, he is an author. And they started talking specifically about a project that he's working on, and he said it's a story about Joe Mauer. Yeah. And I'm gonna let you guys tell the whole story, but the, the, the, the Joe Mauer story rang a bell with Reid and Reid said, what you're talking about sounds very similar to something that we do. This Selfless Scholar program played this video that we had. Reed says, you really ought to talk to John because, uh, this project that you're working on sounds very similar to the, the mission of what we're trying to do at Minnesota Masonic Charities. Mm-hmm. So take us back to how did you connect with Joe Schmidt and how long have you known him and how did you guys get roped into this whole, uh, adventure? Well, Joe is, Joe met him when they worked in Green Bay briefly. Yeah. When we first worked in Green Bay, I was at one affiliate, he was at another, we didn't even know it, and we were just talking about that. All these years later, we're working together. It's very bizarre. So would you, did you, would you describe yourself as a photojournalist? Um, I am a producer director. Okay. I've been working in this, um, genre for quite a while. I've been in Minneapolis, we've been married for about 300 years, something like that. Very nice. You look good. Well, thanks. Um, so I produce and direct, I create. And, and collaborate with people to make documentaries like this one. I've done a lot of music stuff over the years and have been really fortunate to work with really a-list artists. Um, and I've just been doing, uh, production for a long time and we met at Carrie Levin. Um, and since then, you know, have done all kinds of stuff together. Very cool. And Steve, you happen to know people that know this guy well, yeah. I was gonna go over, is this an intervention or this is an intervention? No, I, I have a lot of friends in the music world, but then also I, I graduated a degree in TV production at St. Cloud, and then I worked in Minneapolis. I worked at Target for a while. I worked at a place called Hero Productions. Yeah. And I'm sure we have a lot of inter intermixed people in the video world. I know the name. As soon as you said I went, I know that name. Yeah. Before we forget. Yeah. Yeah. Could you tell us about your fun connection to Joan Steffen? Yes, Joan, you have a very special place in my heart. Oh, I'm glad. And, and the whole band's heart because What band is that? The band's called Johnny Clueless. Okay. We still play. Okay. We're not retired. Not retired. That's how I know John calls us. Uh, those are our, our glory days. Mm-hmm. But we still play and we have a great time. It's our biggest year in many years. We have like a bunch of gigs. Anyway, Joan, in 1994, we had our release party at the Caboose. Um, previous to that Jeff Crocker, which you guys probably both know him. Oh, absolutely. He's a video, uh, Photographer. Yeah. He put together a story for us. I don't know how it all happened, but, uh, it was a kind of a human interest story on our band. It was like one of the last stories on the news. It was the night before our release party, and my family and my friends just, it was a great thing. It, and you were the one that. Set up the story, so, oh, so your, and we have, we have, I have it on VHS somewhere. I have to find it. Oh God. Oh. But that story put us on the map in, in our world. Wow. You know, like there's moments when. You know, it makes things real. And that, that moment was like, wow, this is all happening. My band moved from St. Cloud down here. We started playing, we put out an album and that news story was just a gr a huge thing for us. Oh. And just to hear your voice is so great to sitting if you sitting with you and like, that makes me happy. My family wouldn't, different face, but you know, my mom and dad thought that was the greatest thing in the world, that Care. Levi did a news story on us on the 10:00 PM news. Yeah. Uh, it would've been on a Saturday or Sunday. Yeah. Night probably. Yes. It was a probably Saturday because it was. May, uh, 1994. Anyway. Wow. It's so great to actually, and that was, it's great to see that was KISS in Kansas. Yes. Which is one of my favorite albums. Really? Well, you know, I mean, it's the only one you remember right now, John. Well, it's the only one that I see that you and I have talked about lately. Yeah. Kevin, thank Kevin to Kevin. You, uh, great, great to meet you. Yeah. Your friends, uh, with Joe Schmidt, aren't you? You've worked with him. Yeah, I was lucky enough to work just, uh, last month at the state tournament, the boys hockey, and, uh, you know, Joe and I had known each other for years, covering a lot of the same teams, whether at the ballpark, xl, covering the wild, and then I for a weekend. And you know, I didn't know the secret, so I had no idea he was retiring. I love that he went out on top because I was so impressed with how smooth he was. Yeah, how easy he was to work with. When you're that guy and you're the host, you've gotta set everybody up and you're kind of the quarterback of the offense. And anyone that's watched Joe or knows Joe, like this guy is a pros pro first. When we weren't on the air, um, about this project, connect with au impressed. So, yeah. As I told you, John, when we first started talking about this, I could not be more impressed with, with Joe, hardest working man in sport apparently. So we have buried the lead, as they say. Yeah. But that's, that's what we do. There is a, and we're out of time, 18 minutes left, everybody, excuse me. We have, a documentary that you guys are, uh, in the process of putting together. Why don't you guys tell us a little bit about, where that started and where it's going? Okay. Well, you know, it kind of fits in with the book itself. The book is called The Right Thing to Do. It's a children's book, and it's about planting seeds of kindness that you don't know how they're going to unfold, how they're going to grow, where they're going to go, and that's, that's kind of what happened with. Us we, we had a documentary that was at the Twin Cities Film Festival. A man came up to us and talked to us. We became friends with him. He then 10 years later. Introduced us to Joe Schmidt as somebody he might wanna talk to, to do a documentary on really his book. Yeah. You didn't meet Joe Schmidt back in the day when you were a broadcaster. I met him once. Wow. That's crazy. I met him. Well, they're, you know, the complete station. I know. Different. I know, but still. Yeah, yeah. No, I met him once at the University of Minnesota, the day Shaq was there. Oh, wow. So it was a long time ago, huh? Yeah. Um, and it was just a really brief interaction, so no, I had not met him. Hmm. Um, and then. Then we sat in turtle bread in South Minneapolis and had a conversation, Fran Zuli, the man that we knew, Joe Schmidt, Joe and I, my husband, and um, and there just felt like there was some something wonderful happening. We all kind of came at this story knowing what the real meaning of the story was, which is you have the ability to offer kindness and plant seeds in every moment of every day. Of your life. Well, tell us a little bit about the story. For those that haven't, haven't seen the book or are familiar with the story, tell us about Joe Mower's connection to, uh, this story and his apparent reluctance to even have the book made. Yeah, yeah. Which is charming in itself. Um, the book is called The Right Thing to Do, and it, and it talks about three different instances in Joe Mower's life where he did the right thing. Uh, one was where he. Uh, knocked out a baseball through a neighbor's window and he wanted to run away, but his dad sat him down and said, Nope. The right thing to do is to go over and admit it to the neighbor and make good on it. Uh, second one was he was choosing teams for baseball at a, some sandlot in St. Paul, and his choice was to take the guy who was the worst. Picked last. Typically, he was usually picked last. He picked him first. I love that. Yeah. But the one that we're focusing on is, uh, something that happened when he was a senior in high school at, um, Creighton Durham. Creighton Durham Hall, and there was a new student in town. His, his name is Mike Hallie. And he was sitting by himself in this, um, I don't know what cl social studies class, I think it was. Um. Joe Mauer noticed that he was blind and sitting on his own. So when the bell rang to go to lunch, he went over there, he said, Hey, we're going to the same place, offered his arm. And Mike Hallie took it and they walked down to the cafeteria and they spent the rest of the year together at that table. Wow. And Joe invited him into his group of friends. They became, um, fast friends. They're still friends today. And it's just, it, it, it changed Mike Cali's existence in high school back then, but I think it changed his, his life in a lot. Absolutely a lot more ways. Um, so, so Joe has been, Joe Schmidt has been talking about this in his speeches for a long time and getting great reaction. And then somebody finally said, why don't you do a story? So he did this children's book, and the book is just stunning. It is well done, simple. Simple and beautiful. Yeah. So it is beautiful in its simplicity. Yeah. There's no question. And, and I, and I can't stress the simplicity enough because I think we need to make kindness simple. We can't make it something, something complex that we have to really effort at. It's something, it's about keeping other people in your heart as you walk through your, your life. But anyway, this book is now being turned into a musical at Stages Theater in Hopkins. Um. And, uh, that will be opening up in about a year, which is super exciting. Yeah. And what I understand is the, is the guy that had played a role in Turning Diary of a Wimpy Kid mm-hmm. Into a musical Oh yeah. Is involved in this project as well. Yeah. He's doing the libretto and he's doing the music for it. And we've already heard one of the songs you used the word libretto. Now we are from the east side of St. Paul. That term was at the theater was way over our head. Way over our head. Yeah's a goalie. Could you tell, does he play for, have no chance? Does he play for Quebec or something? Res beretto. Everybody knows. He pretty good slap shot, I've heard. Yeah. No teeth. All kidding aside, what is Libretto? It's, it's the story. Okay. He's writing the script. Oh yeah. The libretto. Oh yeah, sure. I don't know. I maybe made that up, but I was a theater major, so I made it You what? You said it with conviction. Thank you. And that's what we do on this show is exactly even when, the other day I was talking to a guy and I said, this Joe Brandmeyer, he, you know, he did, uh. A documentary on Prince and Bob Dylan and I said it was such conviction. And Joe called me back and he goes, I don't know which documentary you're talking about. The FR one maybe, but the Bob Dylan. It's like, can you send me a copy? It was a children's book. Yes. And now it's gonna be a A musical. A musical, yes. And, and, and you guys are building upon that story and, and finding the, the through line and creating a documentary about. All of it, or just about the story or No? Well, I think we're, the story is kind of the container for, um, a larger documentary that is focused on kindness. Cool. Yeah. Just join up our alley. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that'ss, you know, I have to say another tangent when we met you, John. Yeah. Um. It was exhausting. It, it wasn't nice. He was kind, exhausting. I he'll do that, he'll do that. No, it was, it, it, I was so nervous coming to that meeting. It's like I, because it was a meeting with John, two other men from the, the Masons who we didn't know, and we were gonna be talking about this documentary and I, kindness is so important to me and it felt like an important meaning. And I was really nervous and I sat down and you instantly showed me s. Oh, such kindness. Oh, there she goes. There I go. Well see, you see, when I, when when I tell the truth, I cry. So you showed me such kindness. That's very nice. Thank you. And I just want, that's very kind. I want people to know that this isn't just a title for a podcast. Yeah. It's who you are. Well, that's, that's very kind. The first time I met John, I've shared this story, the first time I met him, oh God, let's do this in high school. He loves this. He loves this. But it's true, it's a roast and um. He, he, I don't know what the situation was, but he said something. We were in the weight room or something. There was skirmish. No, we're in the weight room. Some kind of skirmish or some kind of like, someone was talking bad to me or something. And John goes, wait a minute, wait a minute. Who are you? I said, Steve Brown. He goes, you, Dan Brown's brother? I said, yeah. He goes, all right, come here. And he basically picked me out of a group of people and I wasn't getting really picked on. I don't know what was going on, but he, he literally pulled me out and go, no, you know, here you're, you're good. Come on over here. And I said, who's I told my asked my brother who's, who's John Schitz? He goes, oh, he's, he's a good guy. Like, that's my first time I met John Schitz. Wow. So, yeah, this is really turning on. I know he loves it. Exactly how, I hope, I don't have to say right now, but I'll think of something I, I do have. I think it's important. He makes you comfortable, right? He makes a joke and sometimes, yeah, no, absolutely. He figures it out. Well, speaking of that, so we're at this, we're at Minnesota Valley Country Club. Oh, good for you. Yeah. Nice. We were having lunch and I noticed that this Joe Brandmeyer guy was kind of like, he's like picking stuff off of Joan's shirt, and I'm like, this seems like something we might need to call HR about. Why is he pawning, you know, pawning over this person not knowing at the time that they were married for 300 years to each other. And I shed. So he was taking the hair off my, you know, but I mean, you talk about the, I mean, basically this is based on that story and everybody, you know, how do you not love Joe Mauer in one former or another? Oh, yeah. But then the book started getting a lot of attention, right? So Kelly Clarkson had them on their show, right. Because that it was so popular. Um, so it's really about the ripple effect, right? Yes. I mean, it's, I think that's kind of why we're sitting here right now. Absolutely. It's just one more element of the ripple effect because it was the act, the play, excuse me, the book. Kelly Clarkson, the play, the documentary all about. Now we're kind of aligning with what you guys are doing. You bet. I mean, it's an easy tie in to some of the stuff you're doing. Selfless, program um, and the civility project, you know, it's an easy tie in to what's going on. So it's that ripple effect that that one small act had. And it also is sort of telling of our time. It, we sort of all need to be reminded and remind each other of how it's so important right now in this world to express this because we need those ripples, right? We need the ripple effect. Yeah. Boy do we. We need a tsunami we do of kindness. And when I, when I go out and speak, I tend not to, you know, ask people to do big things with kindness. I ask them to do the le, you know, like, what's the least you can do? Because I don't want people to build up this defense against like, well, I don't have time to do, I don't have time to, yeah. You know, to go. Drill wells in Africa or you know, whatever. It's like, no, you can do it. Like right now. Think a kind thought. Why could you do that? Could you think a kind thought right, for somebody or for yourself? Could you think a kind thought for yourself and it is the smallest things mm-hmm. That really have the biggest impact. Yeah. You know, I, I'm just going back to Joe Mauer. Yeah. Joe, from what I understand Yep. Uh, was very reluctant to have this story told very, because as he says in this, this little. Teaser video. He is like, I don't want to draw attention to myself. He's never been a guy. No. So it was very different than you. Right? So much different than me. Totally different. Totally different. Steve. That was pretty good. Yeah, that's great. In fact, I think Joe Schmid to the um. Joe Mauer had been approached by 20 some authors saying, I would like to write your story. I would like to write a book on your life. And he said no to everybody. And the reason he said yes to Joe Schmidt was because it had this particular focus and the money from the book goes to two charities. Two charities, yeah. That he's really, um, in love with. Mm-hmm. So, which is just typical Joe Mauer, right? Isn't it? Yeah. And he was hesitant for the musical and. We talked him into the documentary. So I'm, I'm curious, and I, I'm sure this will kind of come up in your documentary. I'm curious about sort of where does that come from, that guy? What are, what are those, those symbols of kindness and those, those acts of kindness that he did that were, seemed, you know, in the children's book, just looking at it and hearing what you're saying. I haven't read all of it, but that's. Some kind of thing that's built in him, or it's just not just upbringing as we know, we talk about this a lot. You know, you can teach your kids a lot of stuff. Mm-hmm. But sometimes they just do things. You go, I don't know where they got that from. Right. It's just sort of amazing how I agree people are born a certain way, but yeah. I, I'm, I'll be curious to hear how that kind of gets explored in your documentary. I think he would tell you that it is his grandfather and his father and his mother, and it's how he was raised and he was raised in a, a city St. Paul where, in an area where people just. They watched out for you. Yeah. And they, you know, it took the village to raise Joe Mauer, but I agree with you. I mean, just, I have four grandchildren right now, and each one of them arrived exactly the way they were meant to. Yeah. You know, they didn't, they didn't arrive and we formed them into who they become. Yeah. We, we try to take credit sometimes, and sometimes the kids just do, they do things that it will amaze you before you even taught'em that, you know? Yeah. But it's like you just said, is like, you, you kind of get surprised every once in a while, like, wow. Mm-hmm. They were listening. Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, but if you were going to script a story, I mean, could you script something better that this guy is raised to, to be kind and he's naturally kind and then he becomes one of the biggest, you know, baseball players probably the greatest athlete in Minnesota history. Yeah. You know, quite Dave Winfield might be up there, you know, but he maintains that sense of humility. Oh. And kindness and I mean, he walked into the room when we did the interview with him and, and I would, he's much taller than I thought. He was very tall. He's really tall. Yeah. He's a giant, but there's just this, this river, river of of calm that comes with him and yeah. Ha g kg. If, if he's have, have you ever had, have you ever connected with Joe Mauer? Yeah, back when I did working. When covering twins baseball, which at the time was Fox Sports North, you know, think of how many times he would've been one of the players of the game and he was apprehensive even then. Mm-hmm. You know, if he had the game winning hit, or he went four for five and had a home run on a trip, like he hated talking about himself, and every interview I ever did with him, he would point to someone else. Mm-hmm. Whether it was a manager or a coach or a teammate. Um. Speak to his successes, which I think for a star professional athlete is, is pretty, um, impressive. Mm-hmm. And in, I just, I, I just have, um, such a good feeling about this documentary and about this, this book because it, it, it gives people the, the ability to, to, to shine. Like Joe Mauer. Nobody can be in the Hall of Fame like Joe Mauer. Probably nobody can hit a ball like Joe Mauer, but we can. We can emulate the best part of his, his humanity. Well, and, and one of the things that, uh, resonates with me. More than anything about this story, and we have talked about it multiple times. Where have I said a person's loneliness is more exposed than anywhere in the world. High school lunchroom. High school lunchroom. Yep. And you're, because it's on display there in front of, it's on display and everyone's in there front. Formative era, they don't know where they fit in. And everyone's looking to make sure they do fit in. They don't want to be left alone or Exactly, yeah. It's, it's a very vulnerable time in your life. So for him to do that, and I just think that the stories of inhumanity that take place in a high school lunchroom mm-hmm. Are so painful for me to think about. Yeah. But when you hear stories of humanity. Like the one that, that Joe Mauer, uh, participated in and the one that, uh, in our civility project, there's a story about a, wide receiver from Florida State that noticed this kid with autism that was sitting alone and they were there, you know, to, to connect with the kids. he saw that there was this kid sitting by himself, and it's like, that's the guy I wanna sit with. the story, it's uh, another one of those Steve Hartman sort of stories. Oh, I love Steve Hartman. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know if this specifically was the Steve Hartman, but it felt like a Steve Hartman story. Mm-hmm. The, the, the next day in school there's a picture of this little boy with autism and he's surrounded by like 15 girls sitting at the table with him. Wow. And it's just, I, the, there's one image and whoever the artist is that they got to do, this it's unbelievable how well done it is. I think Joe Auer did all the drawing for this. Yeah. The guy's incredibly talented. He's really good. He much more talented than we thought, but the, the image of the the, of Mike Yeah. Sitting by himself in the lunchroom. Yeah. And the fact that Joe Mauer sees that and you know, essentially embraces this young man who. I mean, can you imagine? I can't. I can't either. I cannot imagine. Yeah. Kevin Cannon did all the illustration. It is beautiful. Yeah. Good for you, Kevin. Beautifully done. Speaking of Kevin's, Kevin, you have, uh, dinner coming up? Where you going to Sbarro or, or, uh, classic New York Pizza? Uh, well, olive Garden tonight. New York City style. Little bit Beth beyond, but I'll say the big city where we just left earlier today has many more options. You know, we're in an area kind of like the suburbs are, right? Long Island. We're kind of off the beaten path. And so a place called Seasons, it's probably like, uh, Joe Sensors back in the day, kind of a sports bar type of deal. It's be on, there'll be lies. Uh, getting ready, hopefully for a little playoff run by the wild. But, um, yeah. Of the big city down in Manhattan, the concrete jungle. I could never live there, guys, but I love visiting, if that makes sense. Well, I don't wanna be the guy that stands between you and your next meal, so I'm going to Yeah. You've learned that the hard way. I have. I have. In fact, uh, you and I have gone out for many a meal and, uh. I don't want to get between you and that last, uh, cheese curd that's on the, uh, plate. But, uh, well, Joan, Joan and Joe, thank you for, for doing this with us. Oh, I look forward to it. To some great things ahead. Just hearing Joan's voice, John. And again, when you do these right, I holding, like I'm doing that voice does. Yeah. And I love it. It's, it's iconic and, uh, really appreciate you guys doing this. Oh, it's, it's, thank you our honor. For sure. Yeah. It's so relaxing. I wet my pants. Wow. Careful. See, there it goes again. I know. Edit that. There we go. I'm not editing that kg you go. We're gonna, we're gonna hammer these guys for another 10 minutes. Good luck. Thank you so much. Bye. Thanks, you guys. Take care. Bye Kevin. So tell us about the documentary. How is this coming together for you? I don't know. I've still got that image of you wedding pants over there, right? I've got that. We all do. See, I just, this is, this is, I, I, I knew I instantly was, uh, uh, drawn to Joan and to Joe and to Joe when we were. Playing some of our civility school videos. And I looked over at Joan and she was wiping tears from her eyes, and I've known her for about 10 minutes at this point. And I said, get yourself together, Joan. And as it was coming outta my mouth, I'm like, did I just say that to Joan Stephan? What the hell is wrong with with me? No, but that's the energy of meeting people who have some of the same, uh, you know, heart the same. I mean, we, we obviously have a passion for, for what we're talking about. You bet. We also have a passion for people, and you were making me feel comfortable by being humorous with me, so, well, thank you. It's, uh, yeah, no, I, there and she cries at commercials too, by the way. So I, who doesn't? It's oxytocin, man. Oxytocin. Oxytocin. We talk about it all the time. So, back to the documentary. Yes. What about it? What do you wanna know? So where, where are you going with this? What, what is the plan? Oh, uh, the plan. Joe, you're the documentarian. You know, it's, it's funny because it, it, I just keep going back to that ripple effect. I mean, it is about the story and it is about Joe Mauer, which is great, by the way, to have Joe Mower, but that ripple effect mm-hmm. Between all the things that have happened since that moment and that high school, even the two charities, which we didn't mention, the two charities that have been born from this act of kindness, um, and the handful of, um. Networks that I've talked to, MLB has already agreed to air. They, all they have seen is that five minute pitch real and they've already said, yeah, we love Joe. We'll, we'll figure out where to put it. Wonderful. Right? That's the MLB. So the other people that we're talking to in the network and the distribution world instantly say. Wow, Joe Mauer, let's figure something out. So, I mean, it's, I think the base of it is already there. So that's just one more element in the ripple effect, right? Don't tapping into some, go ahead. Tapping into some powerful human stuff. That's why, and everyone sees it and we need it, and it's, it's, it's. So exciting to think about and I've heard that over and over and over again. So I think timing is really, really crucial right now because everybody has said the same thing, man, this is great. We gotta figure out how to get this on. The tough part about it, for me anyway.'cause it kindness is a tough sell when you're, you're looking at specials and networks and series and stuff. Yeah. The guy, could you murder somebody in the middle of it? Right? We, we talked a little bit about what's it, yeah, car chase maybe a car chase, an explosion, explosion, sex scene. Maybe just, you know, we'll throw that in there somehow, but. But I think, I think the cell has become easier because of where we are right now. Have you guys seen the, show on, Netflix called Adolescence? Not yet, but it's on my list. Watch it because I think that it's another example. You've seen, seen all of it the weekend. It's unbelievable. You guys are gonna, just, the production of it alone will freak you out. It is. It's all one shot. Every show is one shot. Oh my God. Shot and Joe, they go from in a house, they follow the actors out in a car, they drive somewhere and get out. And they walk around where the, where the rig was. But you don't see the rig because they quickly remove it. Right? They lift it off. The Jimbo. Yeah. The, how they go about it is, uh, is nerdy tech stuff, but you will be freaked out about how they do it. And how about acting? It's a really powerful show. How about acting the little kids first time, first time acting? No way. The reason I bring it up is, is, uh, Becky and I, my wife and I were watching it and she's like, this is, this should be a part of the documentary. There should be some reference. To this story because it's sort of a bullying. Yeah. Uh, and just the, the, the challenges of being a 13, 14-year-old kid Yeah. And the challenges that exist in the United States exist everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. And the story is set in England and it's, it's a beautiful story and you live it.'cause it's so how they do it, you live with these actors, you know, it's, it's very. Powerful. I am of the belief that whoever tells the story defines the culture. And we are in a world that the stories that are being told are stories of divisiveness and they're all these terrible stories. The Selfless Scholar program that we have has given us an opportunity to uncover stories of kindness that I believe would otherwise go untold. And it dawned on me that, you know, there's a lot of aspiring filmmakers out there, and I thought that in, uh, not this year.'cause it's, it's too soon. We've got our May 21st event coming up. Yeah. Where we're gonna do the live podcast with some of our Selfless scholar stories. But for our scholarship night in 2026. I'm gonna announce right now that what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a, a mini film festival Whoa. In, uh, may of 2026, and we're gonna invite students from throughout the state of Minnesota high school and college students to create their own four to five minute stories, mini movies of stories of kindness that they've either witnessed within their school Oh. Or they can call us and we'll give them one that they can curate. Uh. And then I love that when, when I mentioned I love this so much, when I mentioned it to Joan, what was the word you used when I, brilliant. I think it's brilliant. Well, come on Joan. Well, I wasn't saying he's brilliant. I No, no, I, no, that is a really cool idea. It's a wonderful idea because it gets you, you know, I to, I gave you a kindness card when I met you. Uh, yep. Um, I, there are little cards that say I appreciate the kind fingerprints you leave in the world. And when you're holding those, those cards and you're out in the world, you're looking. Looking for kindness because you're looking for somebody to hand that card to. And when you ask somebody to make a film on kindness, that will change their perspective. They will start looking for kindness and that changes the world. Absolutely. You don't have a lot of filmmakers out there. But everybody that's got a, a cell phone, you know that, that that tapes a fight taking place and then uploads it to YouTube. Mm-hmm. Or maybe take it from selfie of themselves and maybe turning it on people a little bit. But why wouldn't you? Yeah. Why wouldn't you use that same device mm-hmm. To capture moments of, of humanity. Mm-hmm. Moments. Moments of kindness, positivity. Right. Right. And then you've got some people out there. So I mentioned to this, to the, some folks that I know at the University of Minnesota. Meeting with them on April 10th because they love the idea of taking this to their journalism school. Mm-hmm. This idea. And of course, you know, we would have a scholarship to the, to the top, you know, couple of, uh, programs. But what, what's good for Minnesota Masonic charities? Is we get the content of that to share with people. Yeah. Yeah. With the whole, idea of inspiring other acts of kindness. And I would imagine that this documentary, you don't look at this documentary as being a one off, you look at this as being like the start of something. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's the road trip, the. Educational road trip? Yeah. Well, I mean we, we see this going on the road in so many different directions. Um, touring high schools, you know, putting panels together to dis to discuss it, to give people the real, like this is how kindness can look, you know, when the rubber hits the road. It could be as simple as you just saying hi to that person across the room, it feels like it goes to high schools, it goes to, to elementary schools, it goes to colleges, it goes to corporations. I don't, I, I don't think there's a place in the world that this shouldn't touch, because if you look at kindness, there isn't a single thing in the world that kindness wouldn't make better. What do you call those videos? Is it a teaser video? That one's a pitch reel. Pitch reel, right in the pitre. So we're learning lots of things. That word that you used? Libretto, libretto, pitre. Oh yeah. You said something about, Gibo. Yeah. What was that word? Yeah. Gimbal. Oh yeah, Gibo. Sure. Doing this, knows that's what they look like. They're held the old gibo, smooth gimbal, not gimbal, gimbal, gimbal, gi, whatever. Gibo. Yeah. Dear friend of mine, I'll edit this out, but I'm pretty sure I'll be out the whole time too. Oh, no, Joe. See how much of Joan we can get in there. Oh. To you, Joe, you tell us about some of the documentaries that you've done in the past. I mean, you've, you've done quite a few really cool things. Not Bob Dylan, right? Not Bob Dylan. I think I, I've been really, really fortunate to work with all kinds of different artists. That's why when we talk about Joe Mauer, I. I kind of go, wow. Compared to some of the people that I've run into over the years, you know, the five months with Prince and all these other people that I've been fortunate to work with. I mean, it, it just stands out so much.'cause I know we've said it several times, but when you think about that kind of personality and the people that I've come across over the years,'cause musicians as you know, I don't want to. Insult you. But I have a lot of musicians in my family too. Uhhuh musicians are like writers. They're very sensitive. Oh, yeah. Um, so it's a, it's a, I've done a lot of stuff. I mean, I've been fortunate to work with all kinds of a-listers documentaries. We've done a documentary on marriage just because I don't understand marriage. Um, so in order 300 years, 300 years, you should, in order to understand that, I, I literally just got in the car and brought some cameras and started asking couples about. Why do we get married? How do you stay married? Why, you know, all that kind of stuff. Um, so it's, it's really comes from a base of curiosity, whatever the documentary is.'cause a good documentary starts with curiosity, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and this is, you know, I'm just curious about how this story has come to be what it is right now. So that's, that's kind of really forget all the other ones, but this one's really. Important, I think just because of the curiosity of where it can lead and what it's done so far. And tell me about the logistics. How do you put something like this together? I mean,'cause there's writers and, oh no, it's, it's, it's a, it's a huge thing, but I think, I don't know if you ever saw the movie Finding Forrester. It's with Sean Connery. Oh yeah, yeah. There's a line in there where he's teaching a, a guy to write, a novelist to write, and he basically just says, just start typing. And I, I, we use that line all the time. Just start typing. And I, I do that by literally just go, alright, we have the, the groundwork, we know the order of how things have happened. We know people like Kelly Clarkson and you know, Ken Griffey Jr. Who, um, Joe talked about is important. And I think we just start, we start with, alright, here's an interview, here's another interview. Alright. We have a script outline of where we want to go and what we're gonna do. But then you just start. But you have to leave things open to Well, that's, I was just gonna on location. Yeah. Gonna add to this my, I love documentaries. I've never made one. I love watching them. Yeah. And that's what I. I know that about them is that sometimes where they start is not where it leads them. Absolute. It's kind of a, not at all. It's kind of a sculpture of, of, uh, idea. You have to keep going. You, it, you, you find it in all the interviews. You find the message and it kind of might not go how, you can't really write a documentary. That's what's No, no, no. That's, it's brilliant about it. So it's hard to pitch a documentary sentence. Yeah. Really hard to pitch a documentary because you know what you want, you know what you want, but you're, you're just throwing a lot of stuff at it until you keep honing that it's, but the one thing you do know is if you have mentally a script outline and you know the story, and this is, you know, kind of a growing story in the ripple effect, is you kind of know that if you start to drift in an interview and you start talking about, yeah. You know. Blue onions and, you know, religion or certainly politics. John gets way off course all the time here too. Yeah. So you get way of course you know how to bring them back because this is kind of what we're talking about. Yeah. Um, so yes, but I mean, I can't tell you how many times we've been places and we come out of something and we look at each other like, oh my god's. We didn't even even think of that for the, for the marriage documentary. He was not happy with me when I was, I looked at something that he had and I said. We need more. We need more in, in one certain direction, right? He got in his car and he drove up to Frederick, Wisconsin and he happened to just notice a, a. A couple on a fishing dock in Frederick, Wisconsin. Went over there, started talking to them. They were the perfect, they were the best part of the documentary. Wow. They were the best part of the documentary. Something. Yeah. So when you least expected, not planned, didn't make any appointment with anybody, it was just these two people whose last names we still don't know to this day. But again, it is organized chaos. Right? Yeah. I mean, but again, I keep using the word curiosity.'cause if, if you're not curious about what's going on or the person's story or who this. You know what their background is, then it's just gonna be really dull. We were at a film festival once in The Bahamas and I, they pick up the directors and they take'em to the screenings. And I was talking to a guy once and I, I said something about, you know, what's your next project? And he went, you know, it's this an X, Y, Z project. It's this X, Y, Z. And I said, oh, you know, is there interest in that? You know, why are you doing it? And he goes, well, it's a hot thing right now. And I figured that's why I'm doing it. Oh boy. And I'm thinking to myself. There's no way that's gonna go anywhere.'cause you live with these things for a long, long time. So if you don't have a heart uhhuh, a heart based or curiosity, there's no way you're gonna get this thing on a screen. And kindness has been a passion. Yeah. We live it for us for, I mean, sometimes you live it well, sometimes we don't have it. Well, but it's been a passion of ours and for a. It's a long time, but I do think that that, you know, when I look at the team that's putting this together, yeah. Mm-hmm. I look at, what they're bringing to the party. Obviously you've had your success as a storyteller through the images that you, that you cobble together. You've had success as a writer and as a storyteller on the news. For how many years did you work on the news? Oh, it was 17 at care. Okay. Two and a half in Duluth, and then 10. But you know, I can tell you that when I told my mother. That Joan Stefan was gonna be in my basement. She's like, can I come over and I can you lock her in the basement for a while? Yeah. Keep her down there for a while. My mom would be excited too. My, our, our mom sat right here by the way, and did an interview with us. We did a Mother's Day's. Great story. And that was, that was one of our, our That was really cool. That was really fun. Please say hello to them. Yeah. They my people. Absolutely. They are your people. And you are their people. And then you got Joe Schmidt, you know, your, yeah. Your connection to the storytelling related to kindness and Joe Schmidt's connection to everybody. To, to everybody. Mm-hmm. I mean, it's, it's kinda like this Minnesota, a team that's being put together yeah. But we need to put it in front of people. Absolutely. It needs, it needs to be just as redundant in front of people as all of the horrible things that we hear on a regular basis. Mm-hmm. About what's wrong with you and about what's wrong with the world. And, you know, why we can't just have a one off and, and think like that, that's gonna do it. Um, and I have to say one more. I do have to say that, um, we're excited about the Mason's possibility of, of helping us out with Yeah. With me too. Yeah. But, but one of the things that we talked about before we even met you was that our great hope was that whoever we could partner with would have the same passion that we had. Right. For what we were talking about. We didn't want it to be just somebody slapping their own label on Right. Something. We wanted it to come from a different place, a place that, that was similar to ours and, and that's what we felt at that meeting with you guys. You got the guy. Yeah. Scholar and we found that out. Yeah. Podcast. Yeah. And by the way, I just wanna point out, you made a comment about me going in these wild, uh, directions. I haven't mentioned donuts. No. Today. Donuts. I haven't mentioned Hil or St. Thomas. Yeah. No. Seinfeld. We haven't talked Seinfeld. Well, that's'cause KG ISS gone already. That's true. I love Seinfeld, by the way. So every episode there has to be a Seinfeld reference. Okay. Try. We try. All right. I have one for you. Let's have it. So. We were talking about our marriage documentary. I actually tried to get the rights to the, I don't know if you remember the scene where Kramer came in telling um, Jerry Seinfeld about marriage. Marriage is a prison. You can't, you know what scene I'm talking about? Oh, absolutely. Yes. You talk about your day. You know what you do. Yeah. How was your day? I don't know. How was your day? And you can forget about watching tv. Right. And he goes on and on and on. And I tried to get that for the opening of. Of the actual documentary that we had. So that's, and they wouldn't let you have it? No. Well, for a lot of money. For a lot of money, sure. You know, those money grubbing s it was like using a Bruce Springsteen song or something like that. It's tough. All kidding aside, that's irritating to me. What the, just the fact that, that, you know, here they have something that. It wouldn't cost them a nickel to let you use it. Right? Yeah. And the impact that having something like that would have on a doc. I just find that, well, let me, let me just tell you though, John, oh, here we go. No, no. I'm saying it, there's a good chance that this message is not even getting to the source, uh, Seinfeld people. It's, it's, there's so many agents Oh yeah. People involved that it's probably a whole business move that, that they, right. So it's probably not as, it's not as clear as you think. Like Bruce Springsteen doesn't say, no, I don't wanna look. Right. It's, there's a lot of people involved. Do you guys play live anymore or we all the time? No, we, we do, we played, we've been playing maybe one or two shows a year for many years. We have, uh, almost five shows going this year. Wow. That's a lot. And have to let us know where Yeah. It's very exciting. But yeah, you, you have to let us know where. Yeah. All right. I will. He has red pants and that, that wasn't a Hollywood thing. May 10th is the first one right up from John's house here. Yeah, at the dugout. The dugout, yeah. May 10th dugout. I will be Saturday. I be at the, uh, the wine fest for the uh, Masonic Children's Hospital. We all seem to do it on the same night as Wine Fest, but that's okay. We'll have an after party here at your house. That's good. We'll be here before you get home. Did you say wine Fest and children? No, no, it's a wine. It's wine fest to benefit the children's hospital. Sorry, the Masonic Children's Hospital. Sorry to put those two together, but yeah. So I'm gonna finish with a real quick story about, uh, kindness. You mentioned having the after party here. Yeah, let's do it. Probably 15 years ago. Very close friend of ours, neighbor of ours, passed away from brain cancer, and we had a benefit concert for him at. The Myth, which is in, in Maplewood. Oh yeah. And we had Rob Thomas come and he sang, and this guy who passed away, pat Brandt was his name, just the most lovely, one of my favorite people. Pat was the best man in the marriage of Kristi Yamaguchi and Brett Heikin. Brett Heikin, who was a St. Cloud state hockey player. Mm-hmm. They met in the 1992 Olympics, got married anyways, so Kristi Yamaguchi had just won. The first season of Dancing With the Stars, so she and Mark Ballas and the rest of the cast from Dancing With the Stars came. To this, to this benefit. Wow. And raised a ton of money and it was just lovely. So now to the after party, my wife decides when the show is all over, we're gonna have an after party at my house. And you've probably heard this story. No, I never heard it. You've never heard this story? No. I'd just love the setup for it. So I am not. Great. After about 10:00 PM and that night she had probably 75 people here. The music is blaring. It's just insanity. At about two o'clock in the morning, I called the Washington County Sheriff's Department on yourself, on your own party, just on on the non-emergency line. And I said, Hey, there is a party at 4 25 Tita Avenue. Could you send somebody over here to break up the party? And the, the person says you're calling from 4 25 Mad Avenue. The calls coming from inside the house. Yeah. I said, yes. The party is at my house. Why don't you go tell'em to shut down the party? Yes, sir. I said, I have, and they're not listening to me. Oh my God. So honestly, the police show up. Oh my God. God and my wife and her friends convinced them that the party should not stop and the cops sat and hung out with them.'cause we had some celebrities here. It was unbelievable. Where'd the kindness land in this story? Story? The reason for the story story was the kindness that the police officers showed. Okay. All right. And a reminder that we're not having an after party here on May 10th. Well, I would say that the, also, the, the, some of the more or less story is don't be that guy, which is you. Oh no. Oh, grumpy Gus. It sounds like it was a good event, was a great event. They were celebrating this guy's life. You know what? Sometimes too much of a good thing. Ah, sometimes you gotta dial it back. Alright. That is the greatest story. All right, we've so even I haven't done that. Yeah. Well, uh, Joan, I'm kind proud you for some reason. I dunno what. Yes, I agree. I'm proud of me too. This program has been brought to you by the donut hut and Little Canada. No, I'm kidding. There it is. Um, you ever been the, what's your favorite donut? The donut hut in little Canada. Oh. What's your favorite donut? The donut donut hut. I like the white frosted sort of, uh, bow tie, twisty, glazed thing. It's, oh, I don't want to talk about it. How did we, how did we get this fit into this one too? Every episode. Every episode. And with that, off we go.