Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
You Got All That?
A melody stuck in our heads took us somewhere we didn’t expect: back to 1973, when Mocedades lifted Eres Tú from a Eurovision stage to the Billboard Hot 100. We unpack why this fully Spanish-language song hit so hard, how it drifted through decades on radio and in memory, and what its weather-soaked lyrics reveal about love that feels bigger than words. It’s one of those rare tracks that makes nostalgia feel brand new.
From there, we swerve into pure slapstick with the new Naked Gun. Liam Neeson commits to the bit, and that commitment is half the joke. We talk about why straight-faced absurdity works, where callbacks add rhythm, and how a star known for gravitas can unlock real laughter by playing it earnest. Not all comedy swings land, though. We break down how Elsbeth’s season opener loses tension by turning wit into homework, why an improv lesson inside a murder plot fizzles, and how even great cameos can’t rescue a script when tone goes off key.
The stakes climb with the Louvre heist of Napoleonic jewels. We walk through the practical realities: why these pieces are nearly impossible to fence, why private collectors—not quick cash—are the more plausible motive, and how arrests, DNA, and rushed exit plans suggest planning without sophistication. Expect a long trail of insurance fights, security upgrades, and international coordination before any resolution.
Then we head to the place where American myth and bulk buying meet: Costco. We trade stories about cheese-counter proposals gone wrong, legendary return-policy victories, and the strange comfort of the $1.50 hot dog. It’s part marketplace, part folklore, and endlessly human in the best ways. We close with a salute to Ace Frehley, the Spaceman whose guitar, makeup, and pyrotechnics helped rocket KISS from clubs to arenas. The riffs were loud, the spectacle louder, and the imprint unforgettable.
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Hello. Welcome to the Anne Levine Show. Starring Michael over there. Hello.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. That was good, wasn't it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:We're coming to you from W O M R 92.1 FM in Provincetown.
SPEAKER_02:And WFMR 91.3 FM Orleans and streaming worldwide at W O M Rotor G. And thanks for tuning in. Here we are.
SPEAKER_01:It's October 28th, 2025.
SPEAKER_02:That almost seems nutty to me.
SPEAKER_01:Almost.
SPEAKER_02:Except there's no I mean, it's so dark early now.
SPEAKER_01:Happy Halloween on Friday. Ugh. I know. I know.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Um can can we talk about what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01:I want to talk about the song. It is two by a band called Mosedades.
SPEAKER_02:I'm sorry, a Spanish.
SPEAKER_01:And I said to Michael, I had the like a vague, like a distant earworm of this.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I said, Michael, do you remember this song? I wasn't sure about the lyrics about anything. And he goes, Oh my god, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. And I looked it up and boom, here it is. I used to know all the words, you know, phonetically, because I don't really know what they're saying. But I I listened to the song so much, yeah, when it was when it came out. Right. I had no idea what its origins were.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was stunned actually to find out that this became famous because it was number two in the 1973 Eurovision song concert.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I mean, and in 1973, I'd never heard of Eurovision, so you know, I didn't know. I wouldn't have known what that was anyway.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:I would have thought, what, some kind of TV thing?
SPEAKER_01:Which is correct. Um but yeah, I mean, people don't know what Eurovision is for the most part. Right. It's a it's a European song contest. Annual.
SPEAKER_02:A lot of very, very talented people and groups and uh songs. Right, ABBA is a Eurovision. Which I didn't realize that either.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um and many others, but this went on to become like the most famous Spanish language song to ever be on the uh bellboard hot one hundred. Oh, really? Yeah, it peaked at number nine.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, because it's entirely Spanish, right? Because I would think Feliz Navidad would be probably have more plays, but it's not all in Spanish.
SPEAKER_01:No. No, this is every word of the Spanish. I get it, yeah. And uh that is unusual. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I distinctly remembered, you know, once I heard it, and then I went to investigate it a little bit, found out about Eurovision, which made perfect sense. Yep. And then looked at all of the various people who have recorded this song. Now it was also done in English. Ah. Um called Um Twisting in the Wind, I think.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Which is not it is too means um it's you. Okay, yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02:That makes sense.
SPEAKER_01:And the song is basically the word two.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right. So it's basically um you are the you are the sunshine when it falls, you know, to warm the you are the wind.
SPEAKER_02:You're all these weather-related things, yes.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. And it's about Jim Cantore, actually. It's a love song.
SPEAKER_02:I see, yes. Danger Jim. Danger Jim.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but anyway, yes, it's a weather-related love ballad. Um so anyway, but what I found out that blew my mind, and there may be one of you out there will even know who this is. Edie Gourmet recorded this song.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow. Oh, you know what? When we we were talking, we did talk about this before. Uh, did you find anything by uh Mrs. Miller? Did she do this? I didn't look for that. Oh, because man, oh man, that would be awesome.
SPEAKER_01:It would be. I'm gonna look it up right now. Well, you do that. So anyway, Michael and I spent some time on memory lane with Ares2, and that reminds me that I have to look up more things. More things from the vault. Yeah. Well, I watched something hilarious, absolutely hilarious, and that was is Naked Gun, the Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. And it is one hilarious slapstick joke after another. And they are so funny. There's this whole thing in it with coffee, there's stuff that runs through the entire film.
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah. Um callback, callback, callback, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But then other stuff that's one and done. Right. And there's a really stupid sick scene with Liam, Pamela, and a snowman in a hot tub. Oh no. Um, yeah. And then there's this fantastic um well, check it out. I mean, I did not think I would enjoy this as much as I did. And it totally, totally cracked me up. What did you think?
SPEAKER_02:What I saw of it, I didn't watch the whole thing. But uh, yeah, what I saw of it was was very, very and I will watch it. I was just, you know, doing something else at the time, but yeah. I think it's hilarious. Yep. And the fact that Liam Neeson is so fearless in this. Oh my I mean the I I kind of knew a little bit in, you know, what was gonna happen in the opening scene, right? I mean, as soon as it started to unfold, right, I I immediately recognized what was happening. Right. But when we got to the end of that scene and uh and he's and our hero is standing there b uh heroically, right, that is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01:It it it's so amazing. I mean, in no small part, because it's Liam Neeson doing it. Right. And the guy needs to do more comedies.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um not naked gun comedies, because you can't well, let me put that a different way. You can do too many of those. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02:Well, this is the fourth one, I believe.
SPEAKER_01:No, I mean with Liam Neeson. Oh, okay, yeah. Um, and I think it was six, actually. Okay. I thought there was only four, but well, I could absolutely be wrong, because I don't know anything about the naked gun except the one, the first one and the one I saw um this weekend. But anyway, uh it is just delish.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's it's it's very, very and it harkens back to the to the old ones, which I've got. Well, there are I fell down laughing.
SPEAKER_01:There are some points references to to the original.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and well, of course, uh because Liam Neeson is actually playing the son of Frank Drebin. Right. Uh the you know, the guy from the original movie.
SPEAKER_01:And that was Peter Graves, right? No, no, no. No, it was um Leslie Nielsen.
SPEAKER_02:Leslie Nielsen, yes.
SPEAKER_01:Um which is strangely similar to the name Liam Neeson.
SPEAKER_02:That's very interesting. Oh my goodness, I never even considered that.
SPEAKER_01:We have to make one of those clever thinking. We have we have to make one of those um things where it's like the coincidences between Lincoln and JFK. Right. It'll be the coincidences between Leslie Nielsen and Liam Neeson.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you know what? Right.
SPEAKER_01:I think you're on. Am I right?
SPEAKER_02:I think you are right.
SPEAKER_01:I think I am too.
SPEAKER_02:I think the internet's gonna get a hold of this and do something about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Thank God for the internet. There's so much I don't have to do anymore.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that is true. That is true.
SPEAKER_01:Um I watched The Low Down. I watched a couple of episodes of The Low Down.
SPEAKER_02:With uh, you know, do you do you know um the uh there's sort of a uh um an aura around the star of this of the movie?
SPEAKER_01:It's Ethan Hawk.
SPEAKER_02:That is correct. And do you know what he is w how people refer to him?
SPEAKER_01:Is it something to do with the lowdown?
SPEAKER_02:Because No, no, it has nothing to do with it. It just has to do with him and his acting career. Uh he is the representative white guy around the the planet. Ethan Hawk is the guy.
SPEAKER_01:Around the planet?
SPEAKER_02:Around the planet. When yes, he's the guy. Everybody's gonna confuse him for somebody else. He's the guy, he's the generic white guy all the way all around the world. And I've they've talked about this for decades.
SPEAKER_01:Well since he started. He's a very unusual and prolific and extraordinarily talented actor. And in the lowdown, um it's it's a story of a newspaper reporter um in a town in Oklahoma, and it kind of this down and out guy who rattles around and lives in a van and is also writing a book and um Is it is his van down by the river? I don't know. No, I just it might be later on in the series. I didn't watch all of it. Okay, but um it reminded me of a little bit, it had like he's got like a Cormac McCarthy vibe about him. I don't know how to explain it. He's like rough and tumble. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:He's a sketch of a guy. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's no real hard outlines.
SPEAKER_01:And his pork pie hat, and he's sort of um I I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. He's just a very interesting portrait of a particular sort of writer. Um, sort of part cowboy, part writer, but also um he he owns a weird little bookstore um that sells nothing.
SPEAKER_02:Um That's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's uh Yeah, you know, that basically I mean they sell paperbacks of um I think there are 200 books in the whole store, and they're paperbacks. Anyway, it's it's a very interesting show, and it takes some patience. It's not like uh, you know, rip roaring, yeah, fabulous. Um it gets absorbing the more you watch it, but it's a very intelligent show and it's interesting, and I recommend taking a look.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I do.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Now, Michael, we watched something that you had a few words about.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yes, that is correct. Well, please, please, well, um I don't know what happened, but someone somewhere has decided on purpose to ruin one of my favorite TV characters. Uh-huh. Uh Elsbeth. Right. Who in uh in The Good Wife was amazing doing her nutty stuff in that show. And now she's got her own show. First season I thought was pretty good. Right. I don't know if this is the second or third season, but a new season has just started, and we just watched the first episode, and it is one of the worst things I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it was season one of episode two, and there's a lot very wrong about it.
SPEAKER_02:Episode one of season two, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Did I say season one of episode two?
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Same thing. Yeah, well, more or less. Yes. Um anyway, so same but different. Well, here's something we learned. Amy Sederis.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, who I adore, by the way. She's one of the world's funniest people. I follow her on all the social medias, and she's cracking me up every day.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm. Well, I also adore Amy Sederis, and she is a terrible actress.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she's not good. No, thank you. No, not good.
SPEAKER_01:And she was the guest star of this episode. So there was a lot of one one of them. Right.
SPEAKER_02:Andy Kindler was also uh Andy Richter. Andy Richter, not Kindler.
SPEAKER_01:But he was he was okay.
SPEAKER_02:No, he was he was great, yes.
SPEAKER_01:Right. No, she was terrible.
SPEAKER_02:Her acting was just and I have to blame it on her.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, right, because not everyone else was bad at acting. At that level. But the script and the direction was horrible.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. It was just awful.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm thinking that the whole idea of it was ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02:It was this whole let's try to tie improv and uh yes and into solving a murder. Yeah, and it's just come on.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they they um had a whole scene devoted to Amy Sederis teaching Elspeth improv.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was it was not good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, it was terrible. Um but I'm hoping and I'm thinking episode two has to be an improvement.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know who directed this one, but uh I'm gonna look it up, and then if they've directed the next one, I'm gonna avoid it. Oh my goodness. We couldn't watch the whole thing. We didn't finish it. No, we didn't. We don't know who who done it. Well, we know who done it. We know who done it. We didn't see anybody caught.
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_02:You know.
SPEAKER_01:But we know how I mean we knew how instantly. Yeah. Anyway, uh it was Oh, and Stephen Colbert. We're for like Oh my goodness, that's right. Right. So Stephen Colbert. He was the deceased. Yes. Um, spoiler. Yeah. Anyway. Someone killed Stephen Colbert. Yeah. And how.
SPEAKER_02:Actually, that was uh and and he was good too. Yeah. Yeah, he wasn't great, but he was good. Uh because he was actually playing against his type, you know.
SPEAKER_01:So Well, except he was playing himself, essentially. He was playing uh a late night talk show host. Right, he's playing a late-night talk show host, but a lot meaner than the other. Oh yeah, no, he but I mean and it w his time in this show was not not terribly long. No. But anyway, um, so so yeah, I guess you could avoid that one.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Umid uh season two, episode one of Ellsbeth without uh losing any sleep at all. Or even like uh, you know, breaking out into a sweat or uh having a little twitch at the corner of your eye. There you go. Yeah, I don't know what your thing is. My thing? Well, I mean, we have you know like a million people listening, so it could be any of them. True. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Paris update.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my goodness, yes. Now we didn't talk about this the last time, right? Well, it hadn't happened. Right, how someone broke into the Louvre and uh with chainsaws and stole some uh Napoleonic jewelry worth eighty-eight million dollars.
SPEAKER_01:Eighty-eight million euros.
SPEAKER_02:Euros, there you go. Yeah, hundred million dollars basically. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And uh there's been all kinds of hilarious stuff on TikTok. Oh yeah, and about this and on Instagram. Um, but you know, I was thinking about this whole situation, and someone was asking me what I thought about it. I mean, like who would have done this and what would be happening?
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I said, you know, thinking about this, the only example I have of who could have done this is someone who simply wants to have these things.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Right? Because they can't be fenced. Yeah, you're not fancy. There's no way in the world.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_01:Um you're not you can't sell this stuff to anybody.
SPEAKER_02:Um, they're going to get I mean, and it doesn't matter what you do to the stones, they've been studied a hundred million ways, and you know, if they ever come under a microscope, people are gonna know where they came from.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. I mean, there's no there's nothing anyone could do with this stuff for financial gain. No. And so I said, well, it seems to me logically that someone, and this has been my example that I've been using, like the Sultan of Brunei. Yeah. Um, worth 50 billion, by the way, um, who hired these. Did you know there's Sharia law in Brunei?
SPEAKER_02:I well, I heard about that yesterday, yeah. Because we were talking about something uh you know, had origins in Brunei, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So uh anyway, it would have to be someone like that, yeah. With all the money in the world.
SPEAKER_02:Who doesn't need to show it off or any of that. He just he's like, these are mine now.
SPEAKER_01:Just wants his, you know, wife number twelve to be walking around jewelry. Right. Yeah. Uh-huh. In Empress Eugenie's emerald necklace and single earring. She was ahead of her time. She wore a single earring. Anyway, uh yeah, well, of course, who have we apprehended at the airport? Oh, tell me. Well, two.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, two.
SPEAKER_01:Two French nationals with origins in the first one's from Algeria. Right, okay. And he was caught at the airport on his way to Algeria. And the other one is a French national from Molly. Right. Who was caught in his wherever, in his abode, um with a ticket to Molly. Okay, for the next day.
SPEAKER_02:So it wasn't just two guys going home.
SPEAKER_01:No, no.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:It's two two guys uh, you know, getting out of town, and one of them was found with DNA. And I think that's how the thing was busted open.
SPEAKER_02:But I see DNA from the scene.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, okay. Um, and I I mean I had no Oh he dropped a pair of gloves or something, I think is what happened.
SPEAKER_01:I think it was actually his helmet.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. All right.
SPEAKER_01:I've heard something about a pair of gloves. You know, they left on Vespas. Not on like motorcycles. The whole thing they did is insane. I know. It's Keystone Cops. I mean, they broke into it several floors up. Yeah, because they had a ladder. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, the whole thing was just totally so they didn't like walk into a door or they broke into the side of the building, but it's just it's insane. I am very interested to find out in what really happened. And I don't know if we will. Oh, we will. I think. Well, you know, those people may never may never speak. Depends on how much they were paid. Oh, they will speak.
SPEAKER_01:You think so? Oh, yes. Okay. Oh yes. Enhanced interrogation, I'm sure, will be used. Um, also known as torture by those of us who haven't been um, you know, dipwashed by git mo. Um, anyway, enhanced interrogation will certainly be applied and is already being applied. And um as I've learned, having read a lot about this, no one lasts in torture. You can make anyone talk with almost no exceptions. So I'm thinking these two 30-something year olds, um yeah, can probably persuade a two. Well, we'll see. Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm certain. And how much can they have been being paid? I mean, I'm saying, okay, a million dollars, let's say split between the two of them.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Half a million each.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, yes, life-changing money.
SPEAKER_02:Probably go a long way in, Molly.
SPEAKER_01:But is it worth right, but they didn't make it, obviously. But is it worth the risk? You know, if someone said to me, here is ten million dollars, right? All I need you to do is to break into the Louvre, or into the Met or into any massive museum, and steal a hundred million dollars worth of small valuables. There's no way.
SPEAKER_02:I I know. I mean I I at any age, I would never would have like, I don't care how much you give me, I'm not gonna try something stupid like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, it's ridiculous. Yeah. Um, to think that you might make off with you might get away with this.
SPEAKER_02:Well, now have they do they have the jewelry?
SPEAKER_01:No. See, that's the thing. So now, well, they'll find out where it is. So the jewels are still largely missing. Yeah. Now I don't know what that means. That's that's a largely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That's an interesting word.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Um it's not yet clear if there was inside help or complicity at the museum. Oh, by the way, the Louvre reopened almost immediately. I mean, not that day.
SPEAKER_02:Right, yeah. Was it that day? I don't think so. I think it was like a day the next day, right? A day or two later. Yep. Um They just had court things cordoned off and you know right.
SPEAKER_01:Because I was really concerned about that. Like someone had said, oh, the Louvre will probably be closed for I don't know how long. Yeah. And I was saying, oh my God, what a disaster that will be.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. No, they're they're not gonna put up with that. Yeah. So there's there's no other place like that. Hello. You know, hello Louvre. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Jewelry, second floor.
SPEAKER_00:Impressionists basement. Yeah, impressionists around the corner in the little museum.
SPEAKER_01:Um see, that's who needs to be like, you need like the staff of Barney Greengrass to be running the loo. Exactly. Yeah. Just get a few diner waiters from New York. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:They'll handle it. Throw some pickles down the table in front of you and say, What do you want?
SPEAKER_00:What, you want a second toothpick? Break that one in half.
SPEAKER_01:Uh yes. The lessons of Mo Greenberg, I will never forget that damn day. When my father asked him for a second toothpick, and he said, break that one in half. And it made my father laugh so hard. Well, of course. Yes. Oh my god, that's hilarious. I know. Yeah, we're running a tight. The Sturgeon King. The Sturgeon King. What? That's right. You thought they were. Yeah. So um I'm sure no one has ever tried to st steal any large sturgeon from there. I don't imagine so, no. Um the arrests are a major step, but the fact that the jewels are still missing. I mean, this case is, you know, far from closed. Um And were there only two perpetrators? Well, so far, I mean, they like I said, they're trying to find out if anyone inside was complicit. Right. Um the fact that these are dual national suspects with attempts to leave the country point to cross-border dimensions, right? Yeah. Lack of said. And um. And so the French are saying this is a blow to their national heritage. What else would they say? Right. Um, and to expect a long tail litigation, restitution efforts, museum security reform, possibly international law enforcement cooperation.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And uh, yeah, so Interpol, Interpol.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:You know, there was a time when Interpol seemed like the scariest thing in the world, didn't it?
SPEAKER_02:Well, because we, you know, we didn't know much about it. I think that yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And now I'm Thinking, I you know, like I said, get Mo Greenberg.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's right, get him on it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you want a pickled tomato? Where are the jewels? And I'll think about it.
SPEAKER_01:Um, well, speaking of delicacies, I have a very funny story. Okay. And it's about Costco, and I love Costco. And there's oh shoot, what magazine? It might have been the New Yorker. Um, but it might have been New York magazine, which the the two really should not be confused.
SPEAKER_02:But no, no.
SPEAKER_01:Um they're not the same. No, they aren't. But someone did a long piece about Costco. Okay. And why it is so beloved and just such an American treasure, basically. People love Costco. And I include myself. I miss Costco.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and we don't have one on the Cape.
SPEAKER_01:No, which is good, but I still wish we did.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I mean, we we have BJs, which is, you know, a uh, you know, a discount version of the same thing.
SPEAKER_01:No, but it doesn't have that thing. It's not like I used to push that cart into Costco and suddenly feel my troubles falling off my shoulders, just falling away when I heard that of the of the automatic doors opening, and then the blast of air conditioning, and then pushing that oversized cart into that oversized store full of oversized people, and oversized items. Well, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:So 55 gallon drums of mayonnaise and yeah, I mean, and somehow I I remember the first time I went into a Costco, and I'm not even gonna say when this was, because it it dates me too much. Um, it puts me in the I'm 80, but I'm gonna say I'm 60, and you'll think I look great. Anyway, um they had a thing called five-pound muffins at one point. Yeah, it was a brief little thing. Of course, they could not keep them in stock, right? Because who's gonna go into Costco, see a five-pound muffin, and not throw that in their cart? Right, yeah. So it's almost like, you know, if you've got twenty gallons of mayonnaise and you know, the the 300 rolls of toilet paper, and there's still plenty of room in your cart, yeah, you know, a five-pound muffin, what? Everything starts to look, you know, normal-sized after a while. Anyway.
SPEAKER_02:And I've been to the very first Costco.
SPEAKER_01:Where was that? Seattle.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, everything starts in Seattle. Yeah, I mean, uh, Amazon, Starbucks, and Costco, all three started there.
SPEAKER_01:I wish I could remember that damn line from the birdcage when Nathan Lane says, You're you're born in Palm Beach, buried in Oh, yeah. Dunedin, and you have the best of both worlds. I know someone's gonna write to me and and correct me on that. But anyway.
SPEAKER_02:That'd be good. Yeah, that'll be good.
SPEAKER_01:So it was like born in Seattle. Anyway, well, tell me about before I tell the story, tell me about your first Costco experience. How did you find out about it? Were you a member? Tell me the whole thing.
SPEAKER_02:There there was a place around that was similar to it called uh Price Club. Right. And uh and in the uh and in the Seattle and Tacoma area, a price chopper, which was kind of the same thing. But that's a grocery well, that's a grocery store now. Right, but this was uh down there, it was this gigantic warehouse thing. Um but that was long ago. And um, so it was, you know, I've I'd been to many of those places, so I'm like, okay, I I'm I'm gonna go go to this one. And it was uh down on Fourth Avenue, Seattle, and then uh it wasn't huge, but uh you know, it was big enough. And um I don't know, it was it's impressive because everything is so huge. Uh-huh. And um of course they didn't have any of their you know, their brand. They didn't have a brand at that point with the you know, the Kirkland. No, Kirkland. Which by the way is in the Seattle area, is a town in the Seattle area. That I know. Yeah. Um not far from where I used to live, actually. Just across the freeway.
SPEAKER_01:Just across, yeah, right over there. Well, I can tell you my Costco story, which I I don't have to say when this was, I can just tell you. So this woman with a clipboard walked into um my place of business, which was then um uh part of my father's business, which was housed in New Jersey, and said to me, Can I speak to you about Costco? And I was like, Oh my god, there are Jehovah's Witnesses in my store spreading the gospel of Costco. Yeah. And so I I was kind of like, oh no, what's this gonna be? And where I was at that moment was I was up front, I was alone, and there was no escaping it. I couldn't say here, speak to my employee, or or I'm sorry, I'm busy with a customer. No, it was just myself. So this woman put her clipboard down in front of me and started telling me about this place that was opening called Costco.
SPEAKER_05:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01:And started telling me all the benefits and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And if I signed up for a membership, which was what do they cost now? Uh, I don't know, around 100 bucks, something like that. You're kidding me. No, I don't think so. Well, this was less than$40. This this was probably$29. Um, and they said, um, and if you sign up on your first time in, we will put this towards your purchases if you make any purchases. And that that's what grabbed me. That was the Mo the Mo greengrass of it all. Right, yeah. Was, you know, um, here you give me 29 now, I give it back to you tomorrow. Anyway, that was my first Costco membership was like 29 bucks. And I went in a couple of times. I wasn't thrilled with it on until later in my life when I moved to Miami and I became a devotee. And one of the reasons I did was because by then, in addition to, you know, pallets of dog food, right? Yeah, um, you could get uh small valuables. Yeah. Now by that I mean they sold little Swarovski crystal figurines. They sold certain handbags and certain some of them still have like a jewelry section. Right.
SPEAKER_02:And so they sell watches and and diamonds.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Yeah. And so I was able to score in there occasionally the perfect gift for uh, you know, not that much money. And one time I bought a crystal figurine. It was well, it doesn't matter, but squaw swar Squarovsky. As Blanche would say. And um I gave it to someone as a house gift, and it still sits on their coffee table. You know, it became like their favorite thing. So it was a great option for that kind of stuff. And then my parents got totally into the hot dog situation.
SPEAKER_02:Me too.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. And you got a hot dog and a drink for a dollar. Yep. Now, I don't believe that exists anymore, or does it?
SPEAKER_02:Uh I think it might be a buck and a half now, but it still exists. Yeah, they used to do roast beef sandwiches too, but they just stopped doing those.
SPEAKER_01:What about the pizza?
SPEAKER_02:And they also uh many of them do pizza as well, still. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I used to love a Costco pizza.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, me too. And and a Costco hot dog. Let me tell you something about Costco, okay? It opened in in September of 1983.
SPEAKER_01:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02:And uh within the next year, uh Portland and Spokane had stores. And within the next six years, they'd done three billion dollars in sales.
SPEAKER_01:What do you mean? And those not in those places, no, no, not just those places.
SPEAKER_02:They just that they started off in the first year with three stores at the most, and by the end of six years, they'd sold three billion dollars. And by the way, I want to make a an amendment to what I said earlier about things in Seattle. Amazon, Starbucks, yeah, Costco. I forgot one. Microsoft.
SPEAKER_01:Of course.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that's the yeah. So there you go. Yeah, now it's Seattle is the, you know, where many things began.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Probably, and and people hate it for that. They do. Well, a lot of people hate Amazon. You know, yeah, a lot of Amazon haters. A lot of Starbucks haters. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah, but not because they're from Seattle.
SPEAKER_02:Well, no, no, because of what they are.
SPEAKER_01:Because they're hateful.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and Microsoft as well, they all have haters. Yeah. Any I guess if you're successful in America, you're gonna have haters. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah. Also, if you're a robber baron, but that's for a different show. Anyhow, um, oh my parents, um, when they were in there, well, my mother, I I should should separate the wheat from the chaff here. My mother was one of those, it's lunchtime, let's go to Costco. Uh, people. And so she would do one round for samples. Okay, so here's the thing, and they had samples and cooking demonstrations going on all over the store. Oh, yeah. It was brilliant because people would come in when they were hungry, go around and taste everything, and then buy a few five-pound muffins. Yep. You know, it was just so genius. Or you could go get the dollar drink in a hot dog, and chances were you were gonna walk out with something. Yeah. Anyway, a man tried to stage a romantic surprise proposal. Oh. At a Costco. Oh no. Yeah, at the cheese sample station. Where? What do you think? What cheese? Just guess. It's fine.
SPEAKER_02:Gouda.
SPEAKER_01:It was Havarde. Oh, okay. But good guess.
SPEAKER_02:Um Gouda guess.
SPEAKER_01:Uh huh. Right. Gouda guess. Okay. It's pun time. Pun time at the Apollo. Um, so what he did is asked the sample lady um who had these little, you know those little Dixie cup things? Yeah. That they the they're like the dental Dixie cups. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, to Dixie. It's such a weird song. Sometimes they put little samples in, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Or they give you your pills in them when you're in the hospital.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly, yeah. So what I remember them mostly from. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right. So she was putting her lit little pieces of cheese into of Havardi into these Dixie cups and handing them out. Right. So he gave the lady, the guy who was proposing the ring box to put behind her a tray of cheese cubes so he could dramatically discover it.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Um, but it was Costco on a Saturday, and a woman um stepped up, reached across the table for a sample, grabbed a toothpick, grabbed a napkin, and grabbed the little ring box, too, thinking it was part of the display, and she tossed it into her cart with her samples and started strolling away. And of course, the guy freaked out and went after her. And um, the whole thing became like an episode of Elspeth. Uh-huh. You know, so um she's like, she's thinking she's rightfully got whatever this is. She hasn't even looked in the box yet.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And um, this guy's running after her. Um, and she she then ditched her cart and started to run. Um so then anyway, so she was apprehended though by security. Keystone cops. Right, exactly. And so um they open this box in front of her, and of course there's a diamond ring in it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then this woman, the woman who is being proposed to is seeing all this insanity. Right. And then screams out, this better not be part of the plan. And so then he got down on his knee um and said, you know, will you marry me? And there are about eight hundred captures of this on TikTok of the guy kneeling in front of the cheese.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And um someone shouted out, Mazzle! Which I love. Yeah. Um, so yeah, they um Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, don't don't all right, here's here's my suggestion. Don't do that, guys. Yeah, learn something here and do not do this kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's stupid. Yeah. It's stupid and I've seen a horrible video where this whole thing was set up in in Europe, in uh I think it was in Italy.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:In like a town square at sunset on or uh whenever it was on a Saturday. Yeah. And there's a violinist, it's uh this whole situation. And you know, then the guy gets down on his knee and proposes, and there are video, he's having the whole thing videoed, and everyone else is you know making their own videos of this situation happening in the town square. And she says no. Oh no. That is awful. Exactly. I mean, there are a lot of reasons not to do these public you know setups.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:A lot of reasons. And don't put the ring in a freaking piece of cake.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_01:Don't put it in anything.
SPEAKER_02:No, don't hide it in anything.
SPEAKER_01:In food.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Uh no.
SPEAKER_01:No. People, please get a hold of your.
SPEAKER_02:It's wrong.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, if you want to pop the question in Costco, uh you know, whatever. Peace unto you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Whatever. But don't involve the frickin' ring. No, just leave the rings at home. Yeah. Don't hide them in food. That's just so gross. I'm trying to think of what I would do if that had ever happened to me. And I end up with this thing in a bite of food. Right, exactly. It's like gross. What is this? I don't want that to be my first reaction.
SPEAKER_02:Or like down in the bottom, I've I know of one instance where a guy dropped it in a glass and there's ice in the glass, and the whole and so it couldn't be seen down there, and the woman started to drink the ring down and started choking. Oh God. That's just classic.
SPEAKER_01:I hope that's on video also. It's a uh I don't know if it is, it might be a Reddit story.
SPEAKER_02:So anyway, it could be total BS.
SPEAKER_01:Well, whether whatever gender you are giving or receiving a ring, don't do that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's just horrible. Um, well, I have another Costco story because I love Costco stories.
SPEAKER_02:It's a Costco show.
SPEAKER_01:Um, yeah. Um The Royal Costco show. That's right.
SPEAKER_02:That's a that's very serious.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's really Costco's Witnesses.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:A man walked into Costco rolling a queen size mattress.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And um, which he wanted to return. Ah. Because he was no longer satisfied with it. Ah, I see. And when he was asked, he said so he says, I have no receipt. Right. Um, and they said, Well, how long have you had it? He said, about two years. Yeah, okay. And this matches looked like it had been in a couple of basement floods. Yeah. You know, it had survived divorce. Um, who knows how many people its own divorce, you mean?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Its own divorce. Yes. Um, it had seen things. Yes. Um, and he said, they said, well, what exactly is the problem with it now? He says, I don't find it comfortable anymore. Uh-huh. Um, and so 700 days later. Yep. Yeah. The man walked out with a full refund.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. Was it like a a guaranteed forever kind of mattress?
SPEAKER_01:Nope. Wow. Nope. Um, according to witnesses, he then went to get a dollar hot dog, rewarding himself for his moral victory.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that is awesome. I love this story.
SPEAKER_01:I know. And the the people around watched in shock, torn between, you know, like outrage and admiration. I'm in complete admiration.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and she said, I returned at one woman said it occurred to me that I could return my life choices to Costco. That's on the table. Um yeah, you know, now I am a firm believer in return. Return policy. Oh, yeah. And I have the three greatest return stories. You might only be able to get to one, you know.
SPEAKER_02:We only have a few minutes left.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really? Yeah. Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_02:Do you want to save them?
SPEAKER_01:Let's hold. Yeah, because uh because I want to mention Ace Freely. Right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we yeah, we've got uh we've got like five minutes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So well, Ace Freely, you probably know, is uh Paul Daniel Ace Freely, original lead guitarist and founding member of the rock band Kiss.
SPEAKER_02:That's right, the space guy.
SPEAKER_01:And he died on October 16th in Morristown, New Jersey. He was 75 years old. And his his death was really horrible. Um, he fell in September and hit his head, brain bleed. Oh, God. And he was hospitalized for a month until he passed away. Wow. I did not know. I didn't either. It was terrible.
SPEAKER_02:I hadn't heard about the accident. I don't know if it was if it was put out there. You know, if there was news about that. I hadn't heard that, and I was really surprised when I was. I mean I usually pay attention to that kind of thing. So yeah. I mean, if it slipped by me, I I guess it could have, but yeah, I hadn't heard about this uh slip and fall thing. That's awful.
SPEAKER_01:So he was known as Space Ace, the spaceman. That's right. And he brought the he started the home makeup situation with the Silver Star makeup around his eyes, and um he and he did pyrotechnic guitars and stuff. And he answered a lead guitarist-wanted ad in the early 70s, and that's how he ended up joining KISS.
SPEAKER_02:Right on.
SPEAKER_01:And I think this might have been in the Bronx, actually. Uh he played melodic atmospheric, but very aggressive guitar. Oh, yeah. And became a key part of the sort of sonic sound that they had during their rise.
SPEAKER_02:And the I got to see them.
SPEAKER_01:Did you?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and their destroyer tour.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:When was that? Earl late mid late eighties? Uh-huh. Something like that.
SPEAKER_01:So they were still a thing.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, it was all, you know, the whole makeup thing. Right. Yeah. They uh they came out on stage in like the mock-up of a covered gigantic tank rolling out onto the stage. And the drummer was up in the turret of the tank, and every once in a while during a song, the turret would move around, and the gun would fire off.
SPEAKER_05:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:And there would be some explosion in the lights above the stage.
SPEAKER_01:It was so cool. Well, there you go. There was the the pyrotech next.
SPEAKER_02:It was just awesome.
SPEAKER_01:I mean rocked in the deck.
SPEAKER_02:The whole beginning of it was you heard the creaking of the tracks of this tank. I miss it. And then you could see these lights moving as it as though they were on the tracks of a tank. Uh-huh. And you and it looks like this huge thing is rolling up onto the stage. It was just so cool.
SPEAKER_01:Well, the original lineup was Ace Freely, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Cress. Peter Crest. Now, Gene Simmons, for some reason, not just in the last month, but in the in recent years, has really become the face and voice of KISS.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I don't know exactly why. Um, maybe he had always taken on that role.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, kind kind of, really. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm. Now, Freely left KISS in 1982. Um, substance abuse issues, creative differences, and then rejoined in the mid-90s for a reunion. Ah. So I wonder who the spaceman was when I saw them. I'm pretty sure he was there, huh? Might have been. He 82 is when he joined Kiss. Okay. Um, so anyhow, his final album, it was a solo studio album, Tenth Thousand Volts, was released last year. In 2024. I did not know. Which I did not know. I love this song. Me too. For every reason. For Ace Freely, please put a light on.
