Global Impact: U.S. Elections, LA's Artistic Spirit, and Fighting Urban Expansion

Ever wondered how the U.S. presidential election resonates across the globe? Join us as Aja Nakia recounts her enlightening travels through Kenya and Malawi, where she unearthed local communities’ thoughts on American politics and their shared hopes for diverse leadership. With widespread sentiments against Trump, we delve into the international repercussions of U.S. political dynamics and the immense responsibility Americans bear in setting a positive global example. Tune in to understand the urgency of voting and the weight of the U.S.'s role on the world stage.

Chapters

• 0:00 Global Perspectives on the Presidential Election
• 11:39 LA Cultural Heritage and Film Fund
• 21:27 Saving the Last Orange Grove
• 30:51 Reviving the Trolley System and Oceans
• 39:20 Media, Truth, and Filmmaking

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

For those that don't know, there's a heavy slate of amazing, amazing projects that are on gratefulfundorg. When we kind of were thinking of the conceit of not only of our show but of just Slap Studios in general, it was that it felt like some of the problems that are out there, like you said, some of them can be so big that it's paralyzing. Some of them can be so big that it's paralyzing, whether it takes a combination of government or science and innovation, or just a bunch of badass people who get together and say we're going to get this done. Yeah, a combination of all three. We wanted to be sort of at a place where we could help in any way, kind of connect dots. All right, the world may not need another podcast, but it can definitely use a slap.

Speaker 2: 0:57

I'm Rick Barry O'Dell. I'm Asia Nakia.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Yeah, and welcome to Slap the Power On the show today. The future of the free world is in full effect and it happens to be 10 feet away from us A little later for the interview, and in studio we have the one and only Rob Holman. He is a fascinating figure in Los Angeles and philanthropic royalty here in Los Angeles, so can't wait to get into it with him. And a little later, asia's going to test my knowledge of how bad has this batshit crazy world gotten, with two scams and a slap. But first, as we mentioned last week on the show all season, it's something you guys want to. You want to know about this because it's incredible work, and so we've named this the Adventures of Asia, or also Aventuras de Aja.

Speaker 1: 1:46

Porque esta bien? Adventures of Asia, or also Aventuras de Aja ¿Por qué? ¿está bien? There's so many from her adventures and all the stuff that she's done, from Malawi to Kenya, this last trip to Greece, and then now how. That's relative to where we are here. So we pass the ball to the one and only Asia Nakia, who's here, to further in episode two of Aventuras de Aja. Welcome Asia, so happy to have you back.

Speaker 2: 2:11

Thank you. Yes, yes, it's so good to be back. So good to be back. Yes.

Speaker 1: 2:15

So we talked a little bit about it last week, and it's going to be just stories after stories, because we could be talking for hours on end. But what do you have for us this week? Part two of Asia's Adventures Aventuras de Aja.

Speaker 2: 2:29

It was really hard to pick one thing. There's just so many stories, but something that has been hitting me lately, with elections coming up and just everything we have going on in the office, and you know there's one thing that really stuck out to me. And you know there's one thing that really stuck out to me, and it was the global perspective of this election and what it means to people across the globe.

Speaker 2: 2:52

I mean, I was asking people in Kenya and Malawi, people in the most remote rural villages, maasai tribe, women and men, what they really thought of this election and what it means to them.

Speaker 2: 3:05

So you know, some people, of course, don't even know who the presidential elects are, which is fascinating, too, sure.

Speaker 2: 3:14

But I think, you know, one of the taxi drivers that I had in Kenya was talking about this and what he said to me was how important this election is for the rest of the world, and I think it's like it's easy for us to sort of like get into our own you know feels about what this is for the United States, which obviously we should. It's the president of our country but I think it's really interesting to think about how this election has so much to do with the rest of the world. I mean, not only does every you know African president have to come through the United States Congress to be elected, so that has a big, you know a big deal for anybody living in Africa or the Caribbean or anywhere. But really what they thought was that this election brought them some hope of having a mixed female president. They really had a lot of negative things to say about Trump. Not one person that I met had anything positive to say about Trump.

Speaker 1: 4:19

So like when you're in Puerto Rico and he was flipping paper towels to people that didn't garner any favor across the good land of.

Speaker 3: 4:27

Puerto Rico.

Speaker 1: 4:30

No, don't worry about it, that's our assistant producer. It's Charlie he's over there.

Speaker 2: 4:34

He's over there hard at work with Cammie Telling us what I need to do.

Speaker 1: 4:36

With Cammie? No, but I think this segues well into it. Is the focus is on our country or is this going to be something where we live up to the multicultural, multiracial idea? So it's going to be. It's an interesting time and I guess from your travels now and being gone out of the country for a while and now you're coming back is there and obviously you're next door, we're next door to the Harris volunteer office and Harris campaign and such, Do you find that from coming back, it's almost like the duty. We are now at a place where we have to kind of get this right. Or, you know, because it feels like to hear you say that, it's like I never kind of thought about it. The rest of the world is sort of depending on us, not just, hey, we need you to get off the couch and go vote, you know. Or send your mail-in ballot in, you know.

Speaker 2: 5:31

No, absolutely. It feels like very weighted.

Speaker 1: 5:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:36

It's like wow, everyone is depending on this Because the US, no matter how we want to think about it is sets the stage for the rest of the globe. I mean it really does from from every different aspect, but I think this one is just so particularly important. And just to to feel their, their confusion and their distress with how we could possibly put a convicted felon Sure as a presidential candidate. It's very confusing to them. They don't understand how that would work, because they see this, this candidate is supposed to be, you know, the most magnificent intellectual person that's running the country, and so it's just it's interesting to see it at this raw, innocent level of like how does this even happen, like legally? I don't understand how you can have someone that is a convicted felon running for president.

Speaker 1: 6:33

And I don't have an answer for them. We said this two years ago the motherfucker can run from jail. So you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2: 6:41

How do?

Speaker 1: 6:41

you explain that to someone in Kenya, though? Yeah, no, exactly Exactly. Yeah. And how do you explain that to someone in Kenya, though? Yeah, no, exactly Exactly. And it's an interesting thing because I feel like we're at this point in time where where disinformation, misinformation when you see Elon Musk buy Twitter for 44 billion, now it's barely worth 10. And you run a company in the ground like that to get on it and then propagate falsehood this is the same guy that said you know, media needs to be bipartisan and stuff, and he's speaking at Trump rallies, spouting lies, getting people scared to death, and it's turned into this sort of cult kind of thing that I'm concerned about in a way. That is, it's all you know, and I understand why the rest of the world might be looking at us and like how, how, I mean, how can we do it?

Speaker 2: 7:27

I mean literally, I was standing in. Masamara with a tribe in a village hut.

Speaker 1: 7:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:36

And the man said to me Trump is a very, very bad man. And I said yes, my friend. Yes, he is I mean it's like everyone else gets it and you feel like you're going crazy. You're like this man in the middle of the Masimara, you know, in a complete desolate small village, is like he knows. He can smell it from a mile away, you know, and when you're traveling as somebody that's going into these other countries, they're looking at you as, you know, a role model.

Speaker 1: 8:09

Yeah, sure. And so it's quite embarrassing, yeah, the role you play in the places you find, the situations you find yourself in.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Yeah, that's kind of amazing, high up on the conversations, from the remote villages to the slums to, you know, even the you know higher-ups that I was dealing with in the government while I was traveling, the resounding board. Is that what the heck is going on and how could you let this happen? Yeah, and we're all kind of scared for you. Yeah, it's like sad to me when.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Third, world— I'm scared for me.

Speaker 2: 8:44

It's sad to me when third world countries feel sorry for us. Yeah, that's sad.

Speaker 1: 8:49

It is, and it's also, I think, the stakes are so much higher and to see Elon Musk, like getting on a podium a couple weeks ago where it's just like he's saying the same thing, you know that the stake of all free and fair democracy and all that is he's getting, he's striking a chord in a cult of personality way that that Elon stands to benefit from a deregulation standpoint whereas Trump stands to benefit from staying out of jail, and it kind of segues into you know you were going to be talking to Rob a little bit later and looking, you know, looking forward to sort of integrating on as we talked about kind of last week too, on our first episode back. This season is dedicated towards. We have so many artists that we've now built up, that are, that are around us, that are using their power for good in social progress and social change yourself. You know it's why I'm so honored to have you here with us now as well, and I think drawing a light to that is very important, because it is now, I feel like, more important than ever to cash in our chips.

Speaker 1: 9:56

Use this opportunity to make sure people understand Putting Trump in addition to him just needing to stay out of jail, right? Just that simple thing. We have the climate to think of, we have the oceans to think of, we have the arts. We have you know what we want to say about education. We have so many things that we need to talk about, and I like being in a building place, not in a tearing down place, and it feels like, at the same time, now's the time to kind of make sure that we don't fall prey to this sort of ah how bad can it be? It's like no, it could change the way all of us life as we know it, in a way that is you know.

Speaker 2: 10:32

That's why I'm glad we have this, this show, and have it here and and have people like rob and artists that we're talking to that are making social progress in yeah you know, despite all of the chaos that's going on. So it's a really great place to be and just the energy we have, you know, in the room with these game changers.

Speaker 1: 10:54

So, yeah, I'm happy to be here, hey, all right. Well, when we come up after the break, our interview with the one and only Rob Holman from the Grateful Film Fund and, yeah, we'll see you after the break, all right, joining us for the interview today in studio. He's the executive director and board chair of the Grateful Film Fund and they're a nonprofit organization dedicated to engaging public awareness for critical environmental and social issues through the power of visual media, which means for slap to power. This could not be more perfect. Mr Rob Holman, thank you so much for coming in and being on the show. Thank you very much for having me. Yes, it is an honor for us because we loosely met through our partner in 360Pod, john Scheinberg. And what is fascinating to me is you are a third generationgeneration, angeleno, so you're a rare breed, very rare In so many ways. So please, for those people that do not know about you as a third-generation Angeleno, please tell everybody a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 3: 11:59

Sure, well, I'm a third-generation.

Speaker 2: 12:02

Angeleno. What more do you need to know?

Speaker 3: 12:04

I have a couple fourth-gener generations at home, which is nice, and it is wild to think about how, being only a third generation Angeleno is such a rarity in this town. But I guess it is. It's a new city, right, it's a new community. It really didn't blow up until post-World War II, I mean, I'd say even like the 30s, where it's still kind of a new community. It really didn't blow up until post-World War II, I'd say even the 30s. It's still kind of a pioneer town, which is when my mom's parents came to town, had a little greeting card company, a Midwest story, and then my dad's parents came here in the 40s.

Speaker 3: 12:45

They actually lived at Park La Brea, you know, when it was a little, you know, housing community, government, housing community. Granddad was in the FBI, which is interesting. But you know, when this town was starting, everything was new. The arts were new. The music center wasn't around until the 60s. Los Angeles County Museum of Art wasn't around. It was part of the Science Museum, science and History Museum. So they had, you know, young boosters to support the arts and my grandparents were a couple of them and they, you know, gave a little bit of money back in the day but they, you know, went to the performances and went to the museum and they instilled that philosophy into me to be a supporter of the arts, and it stuck with me for a long time. I went to a liberal arts college, not here but in Vermont, so that was interesting.

Speaker 3: 13:43

Brought out of LA for a little while Lived in New York for a little while and then came back here, and my wife is actually a third generation as well, which is you know.

Speaker 2: 13:54

Even more.

Speaker 1: 13:56

Even more right.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Well you're, I mean, for a lot of people that don't know. I'm so excited about this interview on for so many levels, um, but bringing, and your lineage being a part of bringing this sort of I. I love los angeles because, being a musician getting to travel all over the world, you have a kind of a unique sense of of culture. La has a sense of culture in that it is earth culture to me. It's like it feels like earth to me and you have a, you have a line on it with just what your parents, you know I mean your grandparents with the los angeles music center, which that in and of itself, is just such a being part of that. Bringing that to this city is something that, as a musician, uh, so thankful and so appreciative that we have that here. Or lakma, which is, you know, it's like don't, don't sleep, it's you know, three blocks that way and people, people sleep on LACMA.

Speaker 1: 14:43

It's a great, great, great cultural part of Los Angeles that represents this earth thing, and so we were talking offline before we started recording, but I can't wait to get into it about the, there is a. They're living through a time in Los Angeles when culture was leading it, a time in Los Angeles when culture was leading it and it felt like it was very. There was a lot of fight for virtuous type of art and things like that. Is that what being around that? Is that what sort of drove you to be? You know Grateful Film Fund and the work it does is amazing on these types of social progress forward type films, but is that what pulled you in was just being around that kind of inspiration. Yeah, I that what pulled you in was just being around that kind of inspiration.

Speaker 3: 15:26

Yeah, I'd say, you know my peers, you know my friends, we're all frustrated artists or artists you know in our own right, but we've, you know it's an industry town right, so you're very close to it. I mean I drove through Laurel Canyon getting over here and I mean you could just feel the vibes, you know as it was, and actually I got a haircut yesterday and apparently—.

Speaker 1: 15:51

Looks good, by the way. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Youtubecom backslash Slap the Power you. Youtubecom backslash Slap the Power.

Speaker 3: 15:56

You can see it if you're listening to us right now. It's got the drip as a kid.

Speaker 1: 16:00

Yes, yes, rob's in here, fresh drip.

Speaker 3: 16:16

The person who gave me the haircut. We were talking about going to New York actually tomorrow morning and Grateful Film Fund and some other artists, some other projects, art-related projects, which are nice, but she said, oh yeah, my dad was in a band. I was like, oh okay, I was like what band? She said, well, it's the Beach Boys. And I'm like, oh yeah, I think I've heard of those guys. You've never, heard of them and we just started talking about it and I had no idea.

Speaker 3: 16:33

And we were talking about Laurel Canyon and everything.

Speaker 3: 16:35

So it's hard not to be effective, you know, affected in a positive sense by the art world here and whatever it is visual media, performing arts or what have you and it's nice. So we grew up around that, and I'd say doubly so, with going to a liberal arts college and a friend of mine who's been a film producer for you know, 30 plus years We've been talking about, you know, working together forever, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that they were working on this film who Are the Marcuses? And he asked, interviewed me as a, you know, nonprofit professional, which I said, sure, and we did it, and apparently I am in the beginning, at the end of this film, which is a great film. And he said, you know, this is the first time and we're working on these documentaries and I feel really good doing this. And he's done Killer Inside Me and American Psycho, and so you, you know, art films, if you will, but not necessarily feel good films, or can I call them feel bad, you know yeah, you say, yeah, I'm feeling good.

Speaker 3: 17:45

I'm like, yeah, you're doing feel good films, these documentaries and a couple other projects were coming around the corner. He said can we create a non-profit film fund? And I said yeah, absolutely, which we did at the end of 22. And you know we've completed three and you know about 12 in different stages of pre-production and what have you. But the other interesting thing that came about was they were working on a film. They've been working on this film on the fentanyl crisis and how it's been affecting kids and they got a nice grant in for this. But the grant maker on a film They've been working on this film on the fentanyl crisis and how it's been affecting kids and they got a nice grant in for this.

Speaker 3: 18:20

But the grant maker as a foundation couldn't just give it to the producers. They had to process it through a nonprofit. And I said could we be a fiscal sponsor? And they said yes, of course, and what we did was which is kind of part of our ethos in a way, you know grateful. Yeah, did was, which is kind of part of our ethos, in a way, you know grateful. When you're a fiscal sponsor, you charge anywhere 5% to 12%, you know, depending on what you could provide legal services, all kinds of stuff which we don't do. And I said look, why don't we do 3%? You know it's 2% less, but that's 2% more for the filmmakers.

Speaker 1: 18:52

Get it done.

Speaker 3: 18:53

And what's happened with that is a lot of people have come to us looking for help and this is how we got connected with John and Susie and the autism docs, scott and Seindorf, and it's been really nice. So we're helping out and we're looking at just like what our mission is. You know, it could be the most complicated issue, the most difficult subject matter, but as long as we're providing some sort of, the filmmakers are providing some sort of solutions or ideas of solutions. You know, and I have to say too, that these first two films, marcus's and Fioretta, which is Randy Schoenberg, he's the one who rescued the Klimt painting, you know from the Austrian government. He's a part-time genealogist and he's gone back to the 1400s, his family's Jewish history and he found a tombstone in.

Speaker 3: 19:57

I mean kind of a spoiler alert, but a tombstone in the Jewish ghetto in Venice, Italy, and those two films are really.

Speaker 3: 20:07

I mean you know today's October 7th, so we got to look at that, which is just amazing. But you watch those now and they have a different feel to them and I'd say you know the different feel is, you know, looking at humanity basically and you know what does it mean. And everybody has rights and history and you know, and they should all be, you know, reflected and cared for and protected. But when you see something like this pre-October 7 lens and then post, you know it hits differently as they say.

Speaker 3: 20:40

But I'd say, importantly, you know, and much more profoundly so you know, here we are, and another project that we're working on is this Oceans documentary.

Speaker 1: 20:52

Well, yeah, that's what I was going to say. For those that don't know, there's a heavy slate of amazing, amazing projects that are on GratefulFundorg which you can go and check out. Like GratefulFundorg, we'll have the link in our show notes as well, but there's everything from the last Orange Grove right that you told me about. That's an amazing story on there too. What you just told about that you know we don't want to spoil the spoiler alert again, but there are a lot. When we kind of were thinking of the conceit of not only of our show but of just Slap Studios in general, it was that it felt like some of the problems that are out there, like you said, some of them can be so big that it's paralyzing, or we can just be at a place where it just feels like we have no agency or power in them. But whether it takes a combination of government or science and innovation or just a bunch of badass people who get together and say we're going to get this done, or a combination of all three, we wanted to be sort of at a place where we could help in any way, kind of connect dots, because I learned, nothing works in a band until you get a bus that works, right, right, nothing, nothing, not at all, on tour until you have a complete bus that works and that includes the bus driver. So it's, you know it takes a village and I think of things like this. What's great if you go to the Grateful Film slate? And I think of things like this. What's great if you go to the Grateful Film slate?

Speaker 1: 22:19

One of the reasons that we also got together was Slap the Power last season and the season before, for those listeners, no, we've done several episodes with the great Keith Wolfe and Keith had. We had discussed a project because Keith is an award-winning documentarian filmmaker, make sure to check it out Slap the Power. You can see any of that stuff where we're going with Dr Keith Wolf. But there was a project called Oceans that we had looked at and we were like this is amazing.

Speaker 1: 22:53

And this is how I love where we are energetically and even in this room, because sometimes I think, when you put the right people out and then you're like I don't know how this is going to happen if you, just if the people show up and in some ways, like, I feel like you kind of showed up into our orbit in a way that we showed up into yours. Yeah, you know, amplifying agency, things like that, that's stuff that we're good at and and you know, and there's a whole world of things that a documentarian filmmaker trying to attack climate change but through a seven part, you know docuseries on the oceans, who's got who's done all this homework's got all the receipts of everywhere around the world you can try and sort of put into a capsule of this problem that seems so big, but it you can take it in bite parts and yeah yeah I mean the nice thing about this is that it's all happened and continues to happen organically.

Speaker 3: 23:40

Yeah, just from the interview, the work and now probably I mean that's, you know going back to the grandparents for a minute. I mean just instilling those values and then me moving forward in life and wanting to be of help.

Speaker 1: 23:52

Keep running with that. Yeah, why wouldn't you? Nonprofits and the kids are touched by that too, Like this last orange grove.

Speaker 3: 23:59

I'm trying to save this last orange grove and you know, hey Dad, have you saved the last orange grove?

Speaker 1: 24:04

Tell people about this real quick. Yeah, we got to save the last orange grove without ruining it, but you can.

Speaker 3: 24:08

No, no, no. So there's this guy, Lindley Bothwell. He had this ranch in the you know the valley. San Fernando Valley was one of the top producers of agriculture in the nation, which is hard to believe. I mean, you drive again, you know, over the hill and you look up, go to Mulholland and you stare out now and it's. You know, it's the urban sprawl, right, yes, circus liquor. Yeah, I know, circus liquor. I mean, just, you know it's the urban sprawl, right, yes, circus liquor.

Speaker 2: 24:38

Yeah, I know, circus liquor, I mean just you know, box after box.

Speaker 3: 24:41

Yeah, and you know it's interesting because Chinatown. You know Robert Towne, when he wrote the original script he wanted Jake and Evelyn to get away at the end and apparently the last scene was supposed to be Jake and Evelyn skipping town, you know, and driving through Mulholland and they follow the car. Then the camera pans back to the valley and it's all orange groves, it's all you know. And then the he wanted to do a time lapse, you know, until what it is today.

Speaker 1: 25:10

It's like the.

Speaker 3: 25:12

But of course Polanski said you know, this is a noir film, so somebody has to die, and that that's what happened, and that's what it is. And this is really kind of the last chapter of that saga, because you know it was based in reality. You know they saw the valley as a great place to sell homes and buy out the farmers. So Bothwell had a 126-acre ranch and he sold off pieces over time. He had an incredible car collection too. It's an apocryphal tale, but apparently Walt Disney showed up there one day because he heard about it. It was a small town and so they all kind of knew each other and he had a train like an actual train, lindley Bothwell, on his ranch, on tracks, seam engine, everything Did it. And Walt said I want a train too, you know, and put one in his house over in Holmey Hills. Now we know where Michael.

Speaker 1: 26:09

Jackson got it from. Yeah, there we go. Well, and if it wasn't for Lindley.

Speaker 3: 26:14

One, two, three.

Speaker 2: 26:15

One two, three we see the train of events.

Speaker 1: 26:17

Oh See what she did there. That's why she's got the corner office.

Speaker 3: 26:22

Anyway, it got whittled down to 14 acres. It was a working citrus orchard. Sunkist would go there once annually harvest the oranges and he passed away in the 80s. But his widow lived there and she wanted to keep it forever.

Speaker 3: 26:40

But it was one of those shirt sleeves the shirt sleeves where, when she passed away, the descendants sold the car collection for $17 million and half of it went to taxes. And they said the ranch was next. And it was interesting because we were looking and maybe moving around that area Tarzana, woodland Hills and we were given addresses. I had no idea and I saw this rectangular piece of land you could see it on Google Maps. I said what is that? And I found out it was this ranch and I thought, oh okay. And then all of a sudden it came up for sale and I thought of Foundation to save it but they said no. But we were very close to we created a nonprofit and we had this plan with Henry Stern, who's Daniel Stern's son, who's a state senator, and it was going to happen. But at the last minute they pulled out of the deal. We were left in the lurch.

Speaker 3: 27:35

So now they sold it to these developers and they want to turn it into 21 luxury homes and cut down 1,400 trees. And I'm kind of pretty much out of it because you know I was like threatened and all this kind of stuff and I didn't need that aggravation, but the fund. The filmmakers came to us and said, hey, we've heard about this ranch. I said, okay, great, go ahead. And you know, if you want to make it, you know, and raise funds for it, you know, be our guest. And there is a trailer that's on the website. We actually have a YouTube channel now and this is it's an interesting thing because it's live right. So we don't know what the end is going to be, and the end could be. All the trees are cut down and they're you know, and it's the last orange grove, essentially.

Speaker 3: 28:25

I mean, there are other orange groves around and it's a little bit of a misnomer to say it's the last.

Speaker 1: 28:30

But it's the last of that, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 28:32

Last in our history and we wanted to have Before Bob.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Hope bought up all the valley and then yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 28:38

We wanted to have kids go there and see what it was like and you know they could juice the oranges and you know we were talking about, you know, kids from neighborhoods, you know disadvantaged neighborhoods, and there's a guy, ron Finley, who you know he's big on having community farms and this was something where they could experience that and actually bring a tree home with them and all that. But it's just weird, you know, it's one of those things like what's the solution there? And of course the solution is green space, and we were talking about COVID before we went live here and what have you. But you know we're losing a lot of green space and you know Governor Newsom wants to save an additional million acres and we thought, well, here's 14.

Speaker 3: 29:21

And Woodland Hills is one of the hottest places in the world and we're losing these trees and the canopy and the shade and the cooling. One tree equals one ton of carbon capture a year. It's another fascinating one. There's a lot of these on on our slate that are, that are really cool and that's a good segue, though, because, like we have, we generally we love hitting on stories with climate.

Speaker 1: 29:46

That's what led us to dr keith wolf and everything and um, the what's fascinating to me is if you also have oceans. But then, um, we were talking about covid and how, at that point in time, when everything shut down and the tankers weren't there and the ocean got to clear out, that you could smell the ocean from Hollywood, you know.

Speaker 1: 30:12

Yeah from the valley which the earth responds so fast, and that's it's inspiring in a way, because you realize okay that it we, we can do things to help sort of mitigate. You know some of this. But I I'm curious because I want to get to oceans before we run out of time and kind of kind of dive into that a little bit. But I, what's your take on who killed the automotive industry? If it's, if it's cause, I'm thinking about that, that breath of ocean coming across, you know, and you were talking to your daughter about it and how they're like what's, what's that smell? And I said, oh, that's the ocean and the smell in the Valley. But there was a time, as a guy who was Floridian by birth but California now is the Los Angeles my favorite city.

Speaker 3: 31:13

There was a time when I realized I was born in the city of California and I was born in the world. It had the largest trolley system electric trolley system in the world.

Speaker 3: 31:21

And it's interesting, a few years ago I was surprised. I was having dinner with my dad, who grew up here as a kid and he remembers it first-hand experience, and he said, yeah, it was the car companies and the tire companies. Oh, because they saw part of the urban sprawl experiment, what Dorothy Parker called, you know, 32 suburbs in the search of a city or something like that. That's a great way to sell tires and cars and oil. And you know there's. You know, the truth is never simple or pure, as Oscar Wilde said, whatever, but I'd say that it was kind of. The Charlie system was fading, but still it was. And now we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, rebuilding it now in some ways, but the after effect of shutting it down and then selling these cars.

Speaker 3: 32:21

They call it ethylene or something like that which is leaded gas basically, and you saw, I mean for the first time, these, the smog alerts, like people were just getting hit hard, you know, by by this and and it was just a dirty experiment which we're still paying for, trying to figure out, paying for and figure out today. So you know what's I mean. Just going back to the ranch for for a second, what was fascinating is I heard stories about you know how they used to pollinate. The trees was with bees and um, they would, they would, you know, have the you know the beehives there and they would save water by planting mustard seed. You know, around the base.

Speaker 3: 32:56

So I mean all of this organic farming, all of this stuff as a way to cure and bring back you know what's going on is possible. I'm worried about the PFAS. You know stuff that we're hearing about. You know now and all the you know the DDT that they were dumping into the ocean. But we could talk about, we could bemo, bemoan. You know all the terrible things that have happened, but I'd say, with something like the oceans, uh, docuseries, we're looking at what the solutions are right, how we could, how we could fix you know what, what's already happened, and yeah and full disclosure.

Speaker 1: 33:33

Oceans is a documentary where, uh, in combination with Keith Wolf and SLAP and SFO and Grateful Film Fund, trying to bring this very, very important docu-series together, which is kind of how the oceans is really and, yeah, you would even know more, but just so people that don't know, it's full disclaimer.

Speaker 3: 33:54

We're partnering on this in a way that is again inspiring, because we're learning by just being part of it, yeah, and it's seven episodes to cover the seven seas, if you will, and the different regions, the ocean and sea regions, going to these different locations and seeing what people are doing within these regions in particular, and then globally, to heal the oceans, basically, and to set them on the right track and I think it's great that it's very solutionary, because a lot of the conversations around climate are very doom and gloom, which they are in a lot of ways very doom and gloom, which they are in a lot of ways, but if we can break it down into these like understandable, you know, little snippets where we're like, wow, we can see some hope.

Speaker 2: 34:46

Like you said with COVID, you know, we did see the ocean come back, we saw biodiversity, we saw mangroves coming back.

Speaker 1: 34:54

We saw reefs coming back and Venice.

Speaker 3: 34:57

We were talking about Venice, italy, a little bit before, but you know the fish coming back into the canal like the water getting clear and stuff. I don't know if it was In Venice. You know you have this like visual Fake news but the dolphins, you know, swimming around, it was like this visual of like dolphins jumping.

Speaker 2: 35:14

But it was true, it was happening.

Speaker 1: 35:16

Yeah, the earth and speaking and oceans is, yeah, and what's great, what I also love about you know, when you look at everything, what we learned and we can do little things combination we were talking about this offline too, but combination between it's going to be all things kitchen sink, it's innovations, which is towards the end of the docuseries, which leads into what I think is a is a great sort of bridge or venn diagram where the people that we've kind of moved past, like climate deniers if we can just more have a conversation that yes, this is a difficult problem and there is there and where science gets weaponized and things like that, you know that is that is problematic for ultimately, what is what is of gain that we're trying to get as a planet together?

Speaker 1: 36:04

So it, you know, the innovations and I think human innovations are, are going to be. I've already that was we were. We talked about it on the last time. We had Keith on the show and we were actually interviewing his kids from. He's got another podcast with the kids. It's, it's amazing that they're learning about, they're basically spreading the word as the youngest, gen Alpha, climate generation and everything these Gen Alpha kids.

Speaker 3: 36:26

I've got to tell you, watch out, yeah they give me hope.

Speaker 1: 36:30

They are pissed and they're mad, they're driven.

Speaker 3: 36:32

Oh, we were watching something about the seas rising and all that kind of stuff. And this is when my son, eugene, who's 17, but I think he was like eight or nine and we were watching this before his sister showed up yeah, with a, you know, furious anger, but we were watching this thing.

Speaker 2: 36:51

And he looks at us and says it's because of you two that this and we're like whoa, whoa, we were not. You know, we didn't start this situation, but he was, you know, and they're ratcheting it up. We need that fire, hey it's time.

Speaker 1: 37:04

It's time and I think that's where the innovations part, the Venn diagram I was sort of referring to as a conversation where we can have, sure, there's private market solutions, you know that are there. And I think ingenuity, these kids in, oh, that are there. And I think ingenuity, these kids in, oh, that's what these kids in? I think they're out of Denmark or something, but they've been basically deplastifying the giant plastic patch, yeah, and they've been killing it for like the last three years and turning that plastic into everything from like roads to like you know.

Speaker 3: 37:32

Whatever can be done, whatever can be done with it. Yeah, I mean this is why new media is fantastic. I mean this is why new media is fantastic, and I'd say traditional media. You know they're suffering and what have you.

Speaker 3: 37:43

I'm like great Because, as you were saying, so much doom and gloom and they just have gotten stuck in this for too long of a time. Traditional media about. You know this sells. People want to watch the doom and gloom, yeah, and you know it's even. You know, now with, with the um, uh, with the, the, the streamers that you know they're, they're actually getting some, some blowback on their, their content.

Speaker 3: 38:08

You know, the murderer next door. They can. You know all this kind of stuff that sure it's kind of, you know, hate watching or something like that, but people want to be fulfilled and again it's like being part of the solution and this new media is coming out and saying you know, forget about traditional media also because they want to sell, you know, fan space and what have you the new?

Speaker 3: 38:27

media is coming out and they have a microphone and a camera or what have you and they're getting out there in the world and they're speaking truth to power in some ways or another, just trying to find what the truth is and also investigate what the answers may be, and this is definitely part of that and I'd say, well, I know that oceans. We're going to revisit it again in a year's time and then two years' time and just keep it sort of evergreen and see what's happening.

Speaker 1: 38:53

That's what I feel like, what's nice about the innovations when the project ends off on innovations, where that's really just the start of what is a continual conversation. And again, this is another reason why we have a show. It's a constant communication that we're having with, whether it be our fan base or people that want to have a conversation that they don't necessarily hear in a lot of places, with people that they may not be able to to be listening to, like this conversation and things. But I, I'm I'm fascinated by not only new media but I also feel like just this, the sort of transparency on where it feels like we're entering into this time where you just kind of can't bullshit your way through anything and so you can't. It's impossible.

Speaker 3: 39:38

It's impossible, so stop trying to do it.

Speaker 1: 39:40

Now don't get me wrong, it's still getting weaponized in old media. Any party is using it, but we're next door to the Kamala Harris campaign for president and the thing is, when I ask people to show receipts on anything and stuff like that, oftentimes people on the right can't produce correct, accurate receipts and whereas on the left we're generally people that are usually too concerned with the truth. But what I do find is both, at the core, actually do want a level of truth.

Speaker 1: 40:11

I think it's just being we're being sold slightly different. You know mistruths, if you can, or whatever, and this is where I think that conversations like this are are really important, because it's like you're just doing the work. Asia just got back from africa building wells for for girls. You know she's doing the work. Excuse me, doing the work and that's what we're trying to do here too is figure out. Okay, how can we do much more power by by? Who do we need to get involved? Who can we bring light to certain subjects and bring the awareness of things? And whether it's an orange grove or an atrocity against a generation, or whether it's, I think, climate change and using oceans and solutions to solve it, it's like there's all these conversations that need to be had.

Speaker 3: 40:58

And just the stories that are being told as well. I mean, we're working on some narrative projects too. We have a young filmmaker, charlie Shapiro, and she heard a story from her grandmother, you know, about a small town in Poland and the Holocaust and all that, and you know she has a modest budget and she came to us and we're being of help with her and telling the story in a narrative way. But it's funny because one of my all-time favorite films is being there Peter.

Speaker 1: 41:27

Sellers. My mother-in-law would kill me if I haven't. She's a Peter.

Speaker 3: 41:31

Sellers freak, you're going to watch this tonight.

Speaker 1: 41:34

All right, what's it called?

Speaker 3: 41:35

Oh my God, rick, wow I love it.

Speaker 1: 41:39

Later on, we what's it called? Oh my God, rick, wow, I love it. I love it All right, later on Later okay, we'll have to compare like top threes, because, yeah, let's see, Make sure we see our top three.

Speaker 3: 41:45

Peter Seller is in it and I think it was his last role, you know, tragically, but arguably one of his best. And it's called what again? Being there? Oh, okay, hal Ashby, the director, you know, harold and Maude, 1978, 79. And it's based on the novel Jersey Kaczynski. He did the screenplay, but it's basically I don't want to spoil it too much for you. Okay, give me something to look at. But Peter Sellers plays Chance the Gardener and he lives his whole life in this house which looks like a beautiful, you know, turn of the century, and there are TVs all over. Loves to watch TV, loves TV, tv.

Speaker 3: 42:29

Like my dad Seems like a simpleton, okay, and what happens is the old man dies and Peter Sellers is forced out of the house. And it's Washington DC and just by chance he gets sort of adopted. He's in his 50s, but just by chance he gets adopted, basically by this power broker dude whose house they use the Vanderbilt estate in Tennessee. No no in North Carolina, asheville which got hit.

Speaker 3: 43:03

So we're talking about climate change, but all of these themes that we're talking about, like the zombification of the media and what have you and then also projection onto it. I just watched it again recently and I always picked up something different when you watch it.

Speaker 3: 43:18

I mean, first of all, when I was a kid, I was like, well, this is interesting. And so when it came out, you're thinking, oh so, reagan's the Chauncey, you know. But now it keeps changing. But if you keep the dialogue going and you revisit the subject matter and you see what's changed, what's not and I bring it up too, because my 26-year-old nephew, we were having dinner together and I said, you know he wasn't feeling well, I said, well, go home and watch being there, and he came back and he just like he came back with like, oh my God, this is just like so current, you know, and so relevant, and you know it's a 40-year-old movie now. And I said, great. Well, first of all I was like, wow, you get it. Okay, cool yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:03

Just get smart. I'm like that with American President or anything Aaron Sorkin's written. I'm pretty much there for it.

Speaker 3: 44:09

Yeah, well, and the president comes about, like you know, in the winter we lose, you know, but in the spring the gardens come back and they all think. You know people, you know. He goes on a Johnny Carson style show and, like God, his metaphors are just brilliant. This guy's just like talking about gardening. Basically, yeah, it's a good one.

Speaker 1: 44:34

Now, before we let you go, are you looking? Are you also keeping your radars open?

Speaker 3: 44:41

Because you guys have a lot on your plate right now.

Speaker 1: 44:42

Always yeah, yeah, yeah. So how can people get a hold of you? Granted to the extent that you want to be gotten a hold of no right, gratefulfundorg.

Speaker 3: 44:49

There's a contact us there and again, you know, we're basically the providers. It's an interactive relationship and we just help raise funds through a nonprofit arena. And the nice thing too about these filmmakers is that they could go to their for-profit, you know, investors or what have you, but the nonprofit is just an add-on. Yeah, but the really nice thing is that somebody could just make a donation to the project and the filmmaker doesn't have to worry about. You know, this is an investment. I have to give them their principal value plus points, you know, and if they give enough funding for the project a donor, they could be listed as an executive producer, co-executive. That title is up to the filmmaker.

Speaker 3: 45:39

But it's a real feel-good for the donor as well, because they can help support a project. They don't have to feel like, oh okay, I'm making an investment and when am I going to get my money back? Sure, sure, the payback, if you will I mean several One is you get a letter from us saying thank you very much for your tax-deductible donation. They give it to their accountant, you know, and it goes, you know, with your tax liabilities. The other is that you are being part of a salute, you know thing, and that's hopefully, you know, helping the society at large. You know the community, the environment, yeah, the. You know the civil, you know discourse that's happening. You know Bipartisanship, which you know it's like. Can we do this again? I mean not just locally, but internationally too? I mean, that's what is it?

Speaker 3: 46:33

Thomas Friedman wrote that book. You know the Earth is Flat, yeah, and basically like everything's leveled out, you know. So you know nobody's really like. You know somebody gets, some country gets sick and the other, you know, and many other countries, you know, feel it as well. But we're all in the same playing field in a sense. So why can't we all help each other?

Speaker 1: 46:55

I try to use this as a like. I feel like we saw this uniquely in the music industry. That is now, I think, endemic and emblematic of sort of tech and so many industries were at large, like now, where AI is flattening out everything from paralegals to accounting. And what I felt about music was when it wasn't just that Nap napster, it was that it was so easy to send copyrighted information, digital copyrighted information through an email, right, because the size of it got so small, yeah, and that then it's just because we've gotten better at moving larger blocks of data. It's just slowly coming for the streaming and movie industry and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 47:33

And and that's why I feel like, again, agency people, agency people, creators, you know, that's what we try to augment here, that's what we try to water here, because there is an element of that that I feel like is part of being the solution, like you said, part of the solution and, man, a big thanks. I speak for all Angelenos, I mean coming from your family and everything being, you know, helpful and part of being responsible for the Los Angeles music center, lacma, and now all the work you do with the grateful film fund and helping artists, you know, move stories like we've been talking about today. It is a privilege and an honor to be working with you and I look forward to kind of talking more and more and more and judge us by our receipts, right? We just keep putting up the work, just judge us by what we do, right?

Speaker 3: 48:21

Well, thanks for having me on. I mean, it's just really awesome and I'm humbled and honored, as always in making these connections. And yeah, let's, what did John Lewis say? Make good trouble, you know.

Speaker 2: 48:32

That's it.

Speaker 3: 48:33

Let's continue to do that, I'd say it's it's making good trouble is great for everyone.

Speaker 1: 48:38

Yeah, yeah, cool. Well, thanks for being on the show. Appreciate it. We'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker 2: 48:41

Thank you, yeah, thanks.

Speaker 1: 48:42

Yep, all right, welcome back that. I mean Rob. What a guy Rob is, right, what he is. The guy. Royalty like that. It's just an honor to have him in.

Speaker 2: 48:57

And like Los Angeles, like third generation and just so like his family, has built up so much of the arts in LA.

Speaker 1: 49:05

Los Angeles Music Center come on LACMA like, yeah, love it. Yeah, it's cool, you know, and one of the things I love the culture of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is my favorite city in the world, it's our favorite city, and it's nice to have somebody who's been fighting the fight with it. So, yeah, what a great interview. If you missed that, make sure to go check out on our show notes. There's all kinds of information on Rob there, as well as links to the Grateful Film Fund. And before we get out of here, we promised you the goods. We're bringing you the goods. Two scams and a slap when goods we're bringing you the goods. Two scams and a slap when. We're in such a batshit crazy world here. Asia's going to test me today on which of these batshit crazy things is actually true, and so I give the floor Asia Nakia.

Speaker 2: 49:51

Alright, alright, so. So here we go, here we go. First of all, a new study finds eating chocolate cake for breakfast improves brain function.

Speaker 3: 50:04

okay, okay, that's one marinating the chocolate cake brain function got it okay.

Speaker 1: 50:08

The second one that's not even magic crazy. That's, uh, that's, that's.

Speaker 2: 50:12

That sounds like yummy yeah, I was gonna say, like that just sounds good.

Speaker 1: 50:16

Like that just sounds good, but I want to know if it's actually if it's good, if yeah, if it a, if it's a good slap, yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:21

Now I'm distracted by the thoughts of chocolate cake.

Speaker 1: 50:22

Okay, I know Okay.

Speaker 2: 50:23

Anyways, all right. Second Yep man gets a prosthetic limb and decides to live his life as a goat.

Speaker 1: 50:31

Ooh.

Speaker 2: 50:45

Ooh.

Speaker 1: 50:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And three. And three is that scientists discover that dolphins are now using seashells for currency. Okay, so two of these things are a lie, one of these things are true. Uh-huh, I say one of these things and the truth would be a slap, because we slap good shit around here. Um, yeah, I think the truth is that the man wants to live as a goat that's actually really good is that? Did I get it?

Speaker 2: 51:11

it's true, oh shit, okay, yeah, yes, we have a gentleman, um by the name of Thomas that has decided to live his life out with goats, which you know as a goat. I honestly understand Respect Sure, because I'm probably going to end up living on an island with animals at some point.

Speaker 3: 51:31

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 51:32

So it's not that far off for me, but I guess for you know, general public, maybe living your life with goats might be weird.

Speaker 1: 51:38

The prosthetic part right, yeah, the prosthetic part is a little. Yeah, yeah, the prosthetic part.

Speaker 2: 51:43

Yeah, yeah, that definitely throws a wrench in it.

Speaker 1: 51:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, all right, slap to you, you know.

Speaker 2: 51:50

But good guess.

Speaker 1: 51:50

Good guess, hey, I got it. I got it. That was good, all right, well, that know, have have some compassion, as as the great compassion kind leader here says, and make sure, if you have any questions about the election, how you can get involved, how you can help VoteSaveAmericacom, our good friends over at Crooked Media, as well, as make sure to check out our page anywhere you get your podcasts and your socials, yeah, and any links for you know.

Speaker 2: 52:23

We've got upcoming caravans over to Arizona. We've got information on polling. If you'd like to volunteer, make phone banks.

Speaker 3: 52:32

So much going on here. Phone banks, that's right.

Speaker 2: 52:34

So many ways to volunteer. So yeah, check our links for you know some updates and how to get to all of those places to volunteer.

Speaker 1: 52:42

Yeah, yeah, check our show notes and we'll see you next week. Bye, slap the Power is a Slap Network production. It's written and produced by Rick Barriodil and Asia Nakia. Our senior producer is Bree Corey, audio and video editing by Asher Freidberg and Bree Corey, and studio facilities provided by Slap Freidberg and Bree Corey and studio facilities provided by Slap Studios LA and 360 Pod Studios. If you're into online power scrolling, like we are, don't forget to follow Slap the Power on Instagram, twitter, tiktok, youtube and probably Pinterest soon for access to full episodes, bonus content and more. And if you're as full of hot takes and crazy ideas as we are, please think about dropping us a review to help boost this episode. And you can help blow up the group chat by sharing with friends, family or random shit posters on the internet you want in on the conversation. And if you're interested in being a guest on the show, please email info at slapthepowercom.