Flyover Guys
Just a couple middle-aged midwestern fellas who are here to yap about pop culture and sports. Occasionally, we'll fly over some random, forgotten about topics from the past that we hold near and dear to our hearts.
Flyover Guys
Episode 36: America 250
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To celebrate the 250th anniversary of America declaring independence, Seth and Joel discuss cultural and historical touchstones that represent our country's rich history.
Welcome to the Flyover Guides, a show by two middle-aged Midwestern fellows who are just trying to figure out what was, what is, and what will be about aspects of American culture from our little plot of soil here in the Heartland. So jump on board with this week's episode. He's Steph, and I'm Joel, and we are talking honoring the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. What does it uh mean to be? It's not really what does it mean to be American. I think, can you kind of give the genesis of what was the idea we were starting with of to talk about our country? Was it a it was World Cup related, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I just thought it was interesting um looking at all the World Cup fans from different countries of the world and how they kind of came to our country and and discovered our culture and posting it on social media. So I thought it would be fun to share with uh our listeners what we think are kind of these uh iconic cultural and and you know people and anything about our our history of our country over the last 250 years. So uh I guess our version of what we think is uh represents our history of our country.
SPEAKER_00So we're mixing in a little historical, a little pop culture, and a little cultural. So we have seven categories. We're just gonna do a top five for each of the categories. We'll just go back and forth and we'll blend our category, we'll blend them together and see what we come up with. Um so if so if we if we have somebody coming uh from abroad, we're gonna sit them down and say, All right, you got a couple weeks to explore our country. Here's what we recommend you check out. If if if money was unlimited, I guess you could say. So our first category is geography. And so geographically speaking, five places um somebody would just need to see uh that embodies the United States. So I'll I'll let you lead off. What would be the one what's one of your five?
SPEAKER_02I was just thinking of places that I've been that I would recommend. And thinking back to just um the history of our country with geography, and maybe I'm big on the national park system, and one of one of the best national parks I've ever been to that I would recommend is Yosemite National Park in California. And California is a beautiful state to visit, just period, full stop. But if you have a chance to go to Yosemite, uh it has a little bit of everything. And I know Yellowstone's probably at the top of people's list, but I would say fly to San Francisco uh and head on, head on over, check out that city first, but head on over to Yosemite, and it's beautiful. And you can hike. They there's obviously mountains and national forests, but you can also see people climbing uh El Capitan and Half-Dome, free climbing with no ropes or anything, and they're just on the face of this mountain, and you could literally stand there. It's like a spectator sport. Uh so there's there's a lot of stuff to do. You hope that they don't fall, obviously, but then when you climb up to the top, you just see these people just get up off of the they I've seen people that just climbed it and they just get up and act like nothing happened, and then they just kind of walk off. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, you just climbed the face of that mountain. You know?
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02But have you been there?
SPEAKER_00Um, no. We've done the Yellowstone and Grand Teton, but I know we've been to San Francisco, but this was 2010. But we did we were only there for a marathon, so we we didn't get to do any of that kind of fun stuff. That's a great call. I mean, and this is at the top of our family's bucket list to get it is to go see Yosemite. So I think that's fantastic. Um, I'm gonna go a different direction in that yours is much more adventurous, and I'm from Kansas, so I think for uh somebody abroad, I think they should see the Great Plains. I think um the immensity, it gets to the immensity of our country because you don't see planes like this unless you're in southern Russia. And and so I don't know if that's the Flint Hills in Kansas or just maybe driving for a few hours in the Midwest. Uh, because at this point in some places you would have gone through multiple countries. So I guess the Flint Hills might work, and I'm just gonna start local because I want somebody to see. I I remember when our foreign exchange student, her parents came and they were from Switzerland, and it was kind of a her parents were just great, uh Thomas and Ruth. And he made such an interesting, quirky comment. He said, I've never seen so much sky. And and I was just like, that's such a fun way to put it. And so I think for me, just the immensity of our country, you could probably start to get a feel for it in the Great Plains. Not nearly as adventurous as yours, but I think necessary to understand us.
SPEAKER_02Everybody always, when you say you're from Kansas, people are always like, Oh, you lived on a farm. Well, actually I did, but it's not just it's not just farms in Kansas. But I do think that that's essential to see what it's like just to try drive through wheat fields, you know, along cornfields or whatever, and just kind of see what people do in Kansas. And it's obviously got its ties in immigrants from Europe and all that stuff with growing growing uh wheat and food for the world to eat. So that's a great one. It was on my list. I I probably knew you were gonna take that first. Um I can griffied you. Yeah. Alright, you're up. Alright, I'm up. So I don't know if this actually works. Um can I just say a generic answer and just say You better defend it.
SPEAKER_00Suburbs to get thrown off the show. Just in general. Suburbs. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Just go to uh suburbs of a major city and see what it's like. Because I think that's kind of like everyday USA geography, how we live. It's it's just suburbia has kind of taken over. Maybe that's because I've kind of lived in suburbs my whole life, except for when I was young growing up. But I don't know. I I I think I think just the way that the suburbs are structured, it's kind of traditional today of where I think most people live. So I would almost say just visit a suburb and see what it's like.
SPEAKER_00It could be boring, I guess, but well then I'll I'll combine it with this one. Um no, this will be number four, but I mean in a way you could do this. Go get to the Rocky Mountains. I I think there's something majestic about the Rocky Mountains. So maybe go to Boulder, Colorado, and then uh you can see some suburbs at that point. But at least you're surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. And I and again, this is the Midwestern in me. I know there's when we're done, you have one more choice, and so when we're done, I'm I can imagine peep people are gonna be like, oh my gosh, all you've done is covered things in the West or Midwest. You've left out so much. Which, yeah, this is the tough part about the geography of our country is you can spend a lifetime and more not leaving our country and having a unique vacation. Um but I think just in terms of the you know, you could choose something like the Appalachian Mountains or uh, you know, but for me the Rocky Mountains uh are peak. Sorry. Uh my fault. All right. What's your last one? Our family. We've got them at national parks, Great Plains, suburbs, Rocky Mountains.
SPEAKER_02Our kids like to go to the beach, and it's a lot more accessible where we live now. So we've been to California beaches and and also uh now living out east, a lot of stuff in whether you go to like the outer banks in the Carolinas or go down to the Florida beaches or even in the Pacific or uh the Gulf of Mexico down there on the panhandle side, whether it's any of those states that that are uh along there. But I would say you got to go to some of the beaches, and on our list is I know you've been here, but I want to go to the Florida Keys. I have not made it all the way down there. Yeah. Uh just to check out that kind of way of life, I guess.
SPEAKER_00That drive just from Miami to to Key uh to Key West was one of the great drives of my life. Um yeah, it is. It's it's one of those where I'm thinking of beaches in the southeast. I think a clearwater beach in Florida, how great that was. We loved the outer banks, um, but that I don't know if that much was for the beaches as opposed to just the whole lifestyle there. Yeah, but I agree with you. It is. It's such an east coast down through the southeast, I should say, um, lifestyle. And so some people go to Destin or Gulf Shores. Um, there's a lot of choices, so that's a good one. Um we have left off a few things geographically, but maybe they'll make their way into cultural landmarks. So uh we'll hold off on cultural landmarks to change it up. But so we have Yosemite, Great Plains, the suburbs, Rocky Mountains, and uh one of the East Coast or southern beaches, and that's great. So you got to eat while you're there, so let's choose some foods to eat. Um I guess I'll start with this one since you started last time. So five foods that are just kind of American. So I'm gonna start, I'm gonna give my Great Plains answer, um, meaning I'm just gonna start right down the middle, and I'm gonna start with a hamburger. Um now this was originated in in Germany, uh, hamburg, but it was just the the patty. The idea of Americanizing it started in the late 19th century uh by putting two pieces of bread around it. And so I think the idea of of Americans, it's not much more than a hamburger. So I guess I'll I'll get Midwestern on if have you ever had a juicy Lucy?
SPEAKER_02I have not, but I know what it is. I've just never eaten one.
SPEAKER_00So for people who don't know, that's a Minnesota thing um up in the Twin Cities. You put the cheese inside in the middle of the beef patty. So I'd say just to honor my Midwestern roots, a juicy Lucy. But if you just need to try a hamburger, I don't know, do you have a favorite place like Five Guys or I guess Culver's is kind of popular in the world? Culver's West. Yeah, just uh I guess on the West Coast it's more in and out burger. But I just to have a hamburger, try that it's such an American thing. So that's that that's my first one. Like I said, it it's it's a fastball right down the middle, but I'm choosing that one.
SPEAKER_02Throw some fries in there, and you got your yourself a an American meal right there.
SPEAKER_00I'm not saying it's the best, I'm just saying it's an American meal.
SPEAKER_02That's the thing about our country, is we've evolved over time and we we are pro we're proud to be a country mixed of immigrants. So you're naturally bringing in things from other countries and other cultures uh and Americanizing it. But I think one food that kind of have its has its roots in some of the natives is is just meat over a fire, and more specifically, like barbecue. That's right. And I think barbecue is a good thing for America because no matter what region you go to, they've they've kind of taken the idea of barbecue meat and they've turned it into their own style, whether it's Carolina or Kansas City or Texas or wherever you go, they have different types of sauces and and different what different cuts of meat that they specialize in, maybe even different um animal, like whether it's pork or chicken or brisket or ribs or whatever. But I think barbecue is an American um experience that you sh you could have anywhere, uh, and it and it is unique. But being from Kansas City, or from Kansas, I think we need to throw in the our burn-ins or our sweet sauce that we always have. Uh so I say barbecue.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that that fits right in with my historical nerdiness because Spanish explorers saw that from the indigenous people, uh, the Tayano people. And so it's you know, you we could date this back to the 15th, 16th century as they observe them smoking meats and drying meats on wooden racks. Um, and yeah, and so you bring in a little bit of West Africa, the Caribbean, and then the American Southeast. And like you said, we adopt that and then we we create sauces, and in essence, we're continuing that tradition of what indigenous people were doing already in the 15th century, probably long before that. I'm just saying when Europeans came into contact. Um next one. I'd say I'm gonna continue with that. I'm gonna I'm gonna do uh gumbo because we're talking about French Acadians who were kicked out of the Canadian region, sent down to the swamps of Louisiana, and so then gumbo, you're combining French cuisine, West African, Caribbean, Native American, and Spanish. And in a way, that is America. That is the blending of all cultures, and everybody's throwing in a cooking style, a sauce, uh, peppers, a type of meat into it, a rice into it, maybe. So I just thought that, and since you since you said uh barbecue, I thought this kind of went nice hand in hand. The blending of cultures, I thought gumbo was, and I love Cajun food. Cajun food's just amazing when done right, and I wish we had more around here, but I'm gonna say try Cajun, get a jambalaya, get a gumbo, and you get a flavor of a variety of cultures in America.
SPEAKER_02So in our family, we cook a lot of meals at home. Basically, we don't eat out very much because of food allergies, but we have seasonal rotations of our favorites, and we love that's one thing that we love about the changing in the seasons. It also changes up our meals that we prepare and cook at home. And gumbo is in our winter rotation, so it's a fan favorite in our household. We make we make that uh with many different soups and stuff in in the wintertime, but gumbo's a good one. Um I don't know if this is similar to what you've already said, but this is just kind of basic. But I'm gonna say just the the hot dog.
SPEAKER_00And I think I was thinking corn dog, but I wasn't too far off.
SPEAKER_02Coney island, there's a lot of debate. When you look up the history of a lot of these foods, obviously Germans they had uh sausages and stuff like that. And in in Europe, they probably had this before us, but just a the idea of a street food or a quick something to grab on the go. Uh, but maybe more importantly, because I love baseball, you have to eat a hot dog when you when you go see America's game. And and we eat so many hot dogs that we even have on 4th of July celebrating our birthday. What else do you do but see how many hot dogs you can stuff down your throat? Right? Nathan's hot dogs. Yeah. So I'm gonna say the hot dogs. Ridiculous consumption. Yeah, it's it's cheap. Uh everybody made them when you were kids growing up, when your parents left you at home by yourself. You just threw hot dogs in the microwave or whatever. And and I don't know, I don't really eat a hot dog if I go somewhere. I I guess um cities have their own versions of hot dog, it's kind of like barbecue. So Chicago dog, you have hot dogs with like coleslaw on them, and so hot dog is also something that we've geographically and regionally we've kind of made our own wherever you go in in the great, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is. It's a great call. And you'll notice how meat heavy we are here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, not a lot of vegetables here.
SPEAKER_00So I can go one of two ways. I can go back to um indigenous people, or I'm gonna go new. I think since it's the last one, maybe I should go new. Um, because I was gonna say cornbread, uh, Native American cornbread. But I'm gonna go new, and so this is newer, and I'm gonna go ahead and say buffalo wings. Yeah. That's the night, that's the 1960s. Yeah. And it's the idea of fried chicken wings in a tangy vinegar and butter sauce. Um, what was the name in Buffalo? Was it I think it's the anchor bar. Uh I've I was up there once, um, but I think they invented buffalo wings in the in the early 1960s. And so again, this idea of fried food, we have to get to what is America. And so uh the last you know, quarter century, uh no, I should say at least half century, if not longer. Um, that's such a part of the American diet, good or bad.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, just think of uh about any restaurant you go to, they have that on the appetizer part of the menu. It's just taken over everything.
SPEAKER_00It has. And it it's an example like gumbo. Gumbo, or even the um New England lobster roll, maybe the regional foods, and you hear of it like every now and then, maybe in it, maybe in a mid-sized town, let's say like Wichita, somebody will serve gumbo. You know, a few restaurants will. But almost everybody now in the country serves buffalo wings, some type of buffalo wings. So it's nationalized in the last 60 years. All right, so there's your food. Um, very heavy on the meats, so um everything from hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue. I guess gumbo is our least meat entry. Um, let's do some uh let's move to some um pop culture stuff. Uh so I'm gonna give you this topic, so this means you get the majority. I'm gonna give you sporting venues. Um you're going to America, uh, the root of America is is what? Freedom and capitalism. And so our civilization has adopted a deep love of competition and that seeps into every facet of our life. And so we create these monuments to competition, which are our sporting venues. Um you get to go first, you get three out of the five. I'll choose. I've got a long list, so I'll be fine with whatever two I have.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and this is a hard topic just because you could ask a hundred people and they'd all say different answers. So uh but I'm gonna say I'm just gonna go with my heart first and just say Lambeau Field. I had that down. And not just because they're my favorite football team, but it has so much tradition, and you know this. Um it it just it's not big and extravagant, and it's just kind of a small town team in uh you know Wisconsin. It's not really Midwest. I guess you could say it's Midwest, but it's Midwest. It's Midwest. It's gotta count. Um but you show up, there's not there's not all these, you can't go there and like play video games in the outfield, or it it's just you go there, there's there's bleachers seats, and it's still they still maintain the charm of the original stadium, but they have added on to the stadium, but also outside. Um, but it's one of those things where everybody's gotta, if you love football, you gotta go to Lambeau Field, even if you don't like the Packers.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm gonna be just like you, I'm gonna be as predictable as can be on this one. And I'm gonna say, for me, uh, the American sport is baseball. And so I think Wrigley Field is where to be able to go to a day game in Wrigley, and and I think you and I went when we went, it was it was an evening game, though, wasn't it? Yeah, or was it a late afternoon game? Late afternoon. Um yeah. Boy, that was great because that was an inner city game between the White Sox and the Cubs. But just to go to Wrigley, uh, the Ivy, especially go in the midsummer, um, I will say it's a little bit diminished with the big scoreboard, the video board, where it once wasn't there, where it was, you know, the the scoreboard is still changed by hand. Just to be in the neighborhood itself, um, it feels like you're drawn back, you know, 75 years with everything that's around kind of the Addison area. So I I would say baseball is it you take it back to the 1860s in our country. There's something the the way the world has adopted soccer, and that soccer is um it's a shared, it's a simple sport, you just need a ball. Um baseball is is similar in that you need a group of people and your your equipment is minimal. I think you and I are going to do something on football in the coming weeks, and you can't recreate the football experience the way you can with soccer or baseball. You know, you get a stick and a and a ball, and you can go play baseball. Um and so for Wrigley, I just think there's a romantic quality to it that it it's it's tough to beat. It's tough to beat. It's kind of the the heartbeat of America that I that I agree that it's probably dying and football has taken over. Football's become kind of the new god of American. you know, entertainment. But Wrigley kind of in a way embodies I don't know what we once were, I guess. And maybe that's what you were saying about Lambo. Because Lambeau is like that sense of community. And everybody has a stake in that team. And and there's something poetic and romantic about that with the Packers. I mean because you know what other s tiny town owns a professional football team? Yeah. You know, that's it's so unique. And all right, that's mine, Wrigley.
SPEAKER_02And Cheese Kurds up there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah and Cheesecurds.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and with as we get older and our history and sports get older, a lot of these original stadiums, like Yankee Stadium, doesn't exist anymore. They had to rebuild basically a replica of the original. So Wrigley's one the last in Fenway, but I don't want to say in Fenway, yeah. But yep, that was on my list. I love basketball and since we are from Kansas we've mentioned this in the past. Alan Fieldhouse. You could go with Cameron Indoor Stadium, but let's go, that's Duke. No you can't. No you can't. Now I would love to see a game there just because of the atmosphere and the student section and all that. But uh KU's no joke they have a great student section. They have great traditions and when you look at all the coaching the coaching tree and all the players and and still have that feel of uh an old field house uh that you play uh an American sport of basketball in it's it's awesome if you're ever in Lawrence Kansas check it out so yeah that's uh I was gonna say another basketball one but I'm gonna hold off because I want to I want to mix up sports but there's definitely another candidate I don't know is is your next candidate still basketball or is it something else?
SPEAKER_00I had I had a basketball thing on my list but you know okay then I'll see what you say because I'm gonna go to Churchill Downs oh um I'm I'm gonna go to you go to Louisville Kentucky and I went to it and it's a dump it's really kind of a it's just kind of a dump but it's uh to be able to go to a Kentucky Derby and and to see some of my friends who go uh and how the get out it is uh in a way of of southern culture um it it's again America's our sports are intrinsically tied to gambling and I think we kid ourselves when we not when we deny that and so horse racing and baseball and boxing were our passions and so there's not really a boxing arena you you go to but in terms of horse racing I would think Churchill Downs is kind of emblematic of that a lifestyle that once was and so get your mint julep and uh put on your big hat and have a day at it and gamble away.
SPEAKER_02Yeah that's a good one um maybe after I say this last one we could throw out a couple honorable mentions but I think you and I are both thinking the same thing um especially with the recent events I think Madison Square Garden's got to be on the list. That's what I was wondering it doesn't it's not just basketball it's not just uh St. John's and the New York Knicks but it's also boxing it's concerts it's hockey it's it's everything and and maybe more importantly uh kind of like the Lakers games it's who is in attendance that is also equally important to the game itself.
SPEAKER_00So uh the celebrity rows you have you know people like Spike Lee who's always in attendance but you also have your your Ben Stillers and your uh Timothy Chalamets and all these guys who show up Jimmy and and anybody else who wants to jump on the bandwagon they go to Madison Square Garden and and they're all of a sudden Knicks fans but um that was my other venue yeah yeah I I have never been I've never been I haven't either I really want to go and we're gonna be there over Christmas and I'm waiting if she's listening honey um I I really want to see if I can sneak my son and I into the Christmas day Knicks game um just because I know they're gonna play on Christmas Day and that's gonna be expensive. Yeah that's the only thing is I'd see what a price of two tickets are and um but I I want I want to see something at Madison Square Garden. Not a wedding but you know something it's funny. Well did you have any honorable mentions?
SPEAKER_02You got all mine other you even mentioned Fenway so that was the other one I think like Augusta National over here by Maine. Oh my gosh why didn't we say that yeah yeah I I was debating and it's great uh that that is I've never been it's hard to get it's one of those tickets that's hard to get into uh the event itself but it's so iconic in just America that's great call so that would be my goal I I thought just for new stadiums I've heard I've heard great things about SoFi just the interior of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah and what was it six billion or two two billion dollars to make this not six but uh just I want to see the modern architecture of something like that.
SPEAKER_02I mean I got I know people could say Jerry's uh stadium for the Cowboys in Dallas but I think to see what the money that was poured into SoFi I'd be be curious to see that one yeah and even on some of the World Cup broadcasts some of those announcers that were former soccer players they said this is the best sports venue I've ever been in. So when they say something like that from other countries on the biggest stage in the world that that means something. So that's pretty cool. They did it right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah it was by the way $5.5 billion to construct so dug jeez. Okay so maybe what we can do is we've got four categories left we can kind of bounce back and forth between historical and then cultural kind of a little bit more lighthearted. So we'll go to cultural landmarks uh that'll be next um so for cultural landmarks I'm gonna go ahead and say um Disney World that I feel like that's kind of American entertainment since you know Disneyland started in 1955 I think Disney World in Orlando was in the 1970s but just to go to Disney World it is obscenely expensive but it is curated to have a picturesque time when we've gone it it is it it's it's wonderful because there's not a lot you have to do other than just make be sure you're willing to shell out a small fortune but it was every you know it was everything the kids wanted to do so if people are are so able or so lucky to be able to afford that I think it really sits at the heart of American entertainment Disney World.
SPEAKER_02I agree and I guess the only advice we've been there a handful of times the only advice I would give is kind of do your research before you go because there's a lot of people who know exactly what's going on and you could you could find yourself just wandering around and really not taking advantage you mentioned the money aspect to get the the biggest bang for your buck you kind of need you need a game plan and you need a strategy and then but there's a lot of pressure but the other thing I would say is don't feel like you have to do everything and just enjoy the moment uh because it almost becomes a competition among visitors. It is and that's when it gets stressful so just kind of relax but have a game plan.
SPEAKER_00It is it tells you how popular it is that they are travel agencies designed just for Disney World. Yeah. Just so that you can maximize your entertainment and in a way it's almost worth it.
SPEAKER_02All right that's one what do you got all right maybe this is a boring one um but I think boring the Great Plains I think of iconic landmarks and I think of the Statue of Liberty just for what it represents in our history. We are going to take my mom she's never been to New York we're gonna take her in September on a trip and we're gonna do uh see the Lion King on a Broadway show um but she really wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty in Ellis Island and then of course we're gonna do uh you know Times Square and 9-11 it everything you know we're just gonna we're gonna ride the subway we're I don't know if we'll go to any like the Museum of Modern Arts or anything but uh but we're gonna try to hit all the major kind of landmark stuff and I've only been twice uh so this will be my third time you but the thing about New York is there's always something going on there's always something new to see and um maybe New York itself could just be maybe not New York City. Yeah New York City.
SPEAKER_00I did I I put just if somebody wants to see you know again I'm sorry I I can't help it it's in my nature it was founded as a company town by the Dutch and so it was always intended to be uh an economic center of cosmopolitan groups there was always a variety of people there and it's it it's it's something that it's a city that builds itself up tears itself down builds itself up tears itself down and reimagines itself and weirdly I don't know if you've experienced this in the times I've always been in New York I feel like it's a whole bunch of real little cities built into one huge city. Yeah and because they have such distinct personalities which I love it I I actually love being in New York I can't wait to be there over Christmas this year just to experience that once in our life but like you said it you will never never fall short of things to do in New York. If you're bored in New York then you're just a boring person.
SPEAKER_02It it has I mean if you think about sports and entertainment and you know music and art and architecture and history and food it has everything you could go there I don't know dozens of times and and probably still love every second of it so all right so we have Disney World in New York City so I'm gonna cheat now and do one that I haven't been to so maybe I'm gonna have to lean on you.
SPEAKER_00But I feel like we could have put it in geography but we didn't put the Grand Canyon. Yeah and have you been to the I haven't been to the Grand Canyon. See I haven't either but I I just feel like that's such a big part of our country and identity and everybody goes nuts when they say that how have you not been to the Grand Canyon I haven't been to the Grand Canyon I I have a bit of a prejudice of going to the Southwest for some reason. That's about the only thing I want to do in the Southwest. There's just no appeal for me in in that part of the country for some reason. But it seems like just the sheer scope and scale of the Grand Canyon it seems like you have to do it as a cultural landmark.
SPEAKER_02Hopefully when I go it's on my list I I I don't I've kind of like you I'm you see pictures of it but it's one of those things where just being in person the scale of it but I don't know I'm afraid that when I go it's gonna be about my mood and attitude and I'm afraid I'm gonna be like Clark W. Griswold where I'm like look at it I'm like okay let's go you know I'm not gonna rob anything where we have to get out of there but um yeah maybe go down and hike down at the bottom through the trails and maybe even camp I don't know but we'll see. It's a canyon larger than the state of Delaware so yeah okay well I just felt like it had to be said uh Europe cultural landmarks when we talk about the history of our country and culture uh I was thinking independence hall in Philadelphia as kind of a an iconic that's where the birth of you know our independence and it's where constitution was signed and debated and uh I've been there I I think I've only been to Philadelphia once and it's really unique how well maybe it's not unique but it's it's cool how all those original buildings and you know the Liberty bell and um obviously you could do a lot of cultural stuff with food and stuff but independence hall is pretty cool uh if you have a chance to take a tour or or have like a little tour guide or something. It's neat however I don't think I spent more than a day there like in Philadelphia.
SPEAKER_00So we were kind of that was kind of in the middle of a stop between uh DC and New York so uh but independence hall with our celebration of our 250th to give my historical context to it founded in the 1680s uh Pennsylvania William Penn the founder was a Quaker colony for a religious refuge for Quakers it was our only planned city so they actually designed the city the layout for it even the name you know City of Brotherly Love Philip Philia and Delphi so there's great history to it and like you said it is it's quintessential America um I'll finish with a cultural landmark um the Mississippi River and maybe start in St. Louis and if you were ever to get on a Dixie boat you know one of those big boats and make your way to Memphis I mean I doubt you go all the way to New Orleans but just the idea of the Mississippi River and how it cuts up through the Twin Cities. So you know you go Twin Cities Dubuque uh St. Louis Memphis down to New Orleans um it there's something about that culture and that that you know obviously you start thinking of Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn and all that stuff but there is a whole culture there uh for the Mississippi and how crucial that is to who we were as a people Europeans were trying to access that obviously this was part of the Louisiana Purchase was to be able to to to acquire this to kind of keep out the Spanish and the French as well. So I just think that's such a distinct culture the Mississippi culture and we went to I think I told you we went to Cape Girardo Missouri a sleepy town on the Mississippi River to visit where my grandparents were from and I don't know it there's just there is something uniquely kind of I don't know I'm drawn I'm drawn to it yeah and you know when you travel by car vehicle you always drive over bridges over over rivers and stuff and when you're crossing the Mississippi let me tell you many river yeah you just start thinking of vacation by home over Jordan uh all right so there we go for our cultural landmarks Disney World the Statue of our New York City the Grand Canyon Philadelphia and the Mississippi River so why don't we go again a little bit more lighthearted um do you want to do I'll I'll give you your dealer's choice here do you want musical artists or do you want films that are uniquely American that just define who we are as Americans?
SPEAKER_02I want you to do 305 I want well I I don't know you are much more well maybe all these topics you know a lot more than I do but um I guess we can talk about let's talk about films next I guess let's do it and then you can have because you're into music a lot more than I am so all right well you get going then what's you what's an American film I bet we have some similar ones uh I was thinking about just like the history of film and maybe going back to like King Kong it's a good one and uh maybe the the first big I like monster movies and I don't remember the last time that I've actually watched King Kong all the way through but early on I I just remember how big he was and again we talked about New York and all that stuff but I King Kong itself is just kind of an icon in the film industry I think and uh so I think that might have to land on my list.
SPEAKER_00Yeah it's great it's been remade multiple times it's it's one of those style of films where um I I can't remember if it was 33 I I feel like it's 1933 was the original um yeah the idea of of the primitive and the modern and then where where is he dying?
SPEAKER_02On top of the Empire State Building by airplanes a new invention so yeah it it it it does such a great contrast to that and and um I really loved I know this that the poster uh the King Kong poster idea Yeah it's fantastic just I think it had to be on the list maybe I don't know there's so many to choose from but yeah and see I was gonna go back in the I have a few from the from the 30s but I'm gonna just since I'm only gonna contribute two I'm gonna contribute I'm gonna contribute um the Wizard of Oz uh yes I know I'm gonna get crap for being a Kansan and saying The Wizard of Oz but again a quintessential American film uh the Frank Baum books the parable of the American farmer against robber barons in the Gilded Age we're living in it essentially again today um and all I can say is the whole Pink Floyd dark side of the moon coupled with watching the Wizard of Oz it is fun it was fun to discover that it is and I'm sure it's now on YouTube where you just type it in.
SPEAKER_00We did that 25 years ago and it was a blast where you start on the third lion's roar of the MGM and then put on Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. So if you want an alternative way to watch the film that was a blast to do it that way and it lasts about 45 50 minutes that way. But again it's just Dorothy and Toto and and yes all things Kansas but it's it's a great story and obviously it's been recycled again and again everything from Wicked to Michael Jackson and the whiz um there's so many iterations of that story so alright that's mine. What's your next one?
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna go with the first movie that I watched that well actually Wizard of Oz scared me when I watched that first but the first movie that I can remember that actually like haunted me and uh this is a movie that didn't have necessarily the best um I don't know not like special effects and stuff but Jaws. I'm gonna go with Jaws. Yeah great call and love that movie it's just something about that I I did not go to a lot of beaches or the ocean when I was growing up but I was definitely scared to go into open water and and Jaws is one of those yeah it's just one of those movies that you should uh should watch just the music uh dunno dunna you know and it just I don't know it it's one of those American horror films that maybe isn't like Texas Chainsaw or Freddie or Jason Voorhees but man that shark less is more that's it's the great example of less is more yeah it's so quotable the story when uh Shaw gives the story of the USS Indianapolis and oh my gosh it still sends shivers down my spine that one I was going to do a popcorn movie of the 70s too but now I'm not because you did Jaws.
SPEAKER_00But it's great because Jaws is maybe our first real kind of the beginning of summer blockbusters. You could argue Jaws was that that beginning I'm gonna cheat and do the Godfather one and two uh I'm gonna I'm gonna squeeze them together the idea of the immigrant experience and uh again it and I know it's so overplayed the idea of the Godfather movies but it it if we're just saying understanding America going from old world to new world uh and then in the new world uh the mix of of crime and politicians and capitalism and trying to corner markets and even expand with part two trying to get into Cuba during the Cuban Revolution I just think it it it's one of those these aren't movies of the 70s we don't make movies like the 70s anymore it might be the greatest decade of films uh the 30s or the 70s and we've we have two 70s films on here and we have two 30s films on here so um I would just say Godfather one and two have you seen them have you seen the Godfather movies did you have a preference between um probably two I think I think me two I I think De Niro's take of Corleone as a younger guy all those scenes are just incredible at the turn of the century.
SPEAKER_02Yeah all right your last one so there was another 70s one staring me in the face which is an I know what it was but but I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna I'm actually gonna go to the late eighties a movie I've only seen once uh I have one in the late eighties too but I think I think we got to mention Do the Right Thing.
SPEAKER_00That's what I have yeah I literally have Do the Right Thing on there.
SPEAKER_02I've only seen it once and I was blown away and I didn't see it until like maybe five years ago um that's the yeah but I just love I just love how the buildup over as as it gets hotter and the tension grows and it's just like ah you just have to spikely it's a spikely film and there's a lot of good actors and actresses in it um but I was blown away by that movie and what so what what do you think I know that I I'm whether people want to address it or not because we like to avoid hard conversations in our country race is perennially an issue it will always be an issue in our country and Spikely is one of the first to take it head on in all its ugly forms and and not just white black I mean he deal he deals with uh different ethnic groups uh over that day and I I just I had it there and I was debating whether to say it and I was going to put it in our honorable mention so I'm I'm thrilled you said it obviously there's a 50 other films we could put we you and I were both dancing around Star Wars um but I think you said Jaws and that covered it nicely.
SPEAKER_00But in terms of film as an art form, I I think obviously it's Jaws Wizard of Oz, King Kong all those give us escapism in a way and I'm glad you put on a list a film that gives us realism uh and that art is meant to also reflect back of we have to deal with tough topics and usually there's better means than a film. I mean let's not kid ourselves a film's just two hours of entertainment but at least it it it could be more mainstream uh in that more people can have eyeballs on it and have those conversations. So I guess I'm saying it can be an avenue to have a conversation and that's something we often don't like to have to do with race relations is have that conversation. And he shoved that in our face and I mean I mean Hollywood didn't even want to touch it. They didn't put that up for awards and that was the year Driving Miss Daisy won this picture which is ridiculous. But that that speaks to our culture so great call.
SPEAKER_02So spike yeah spikely if if there was one film that I that I that you see in my opinion I haven't seen all the spikely movies but um I think that one it's well done and it still holds up by the it's just it's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Honorable mentions we can throw a few out um I'll throw the birth of the nation in 1913 um based on the movie the clan or based on the book The Klansmen.
SPEAKER_02That was our first blockbuster epic film unfortunately um again it deals with race in a completely opposite way uh gone with the Wind the idea of the epic the Hollywood epic and sweeping epic of the Civil War again playing around with our historical narrative of in our memory of of the Civil War can I meant can I mention yeah those are just a couple just somebody somebody in general that is kind of a blind spot that I'm embarrassed that I haven't seen more but Alfred Hitchcock his movies um rear window and rear windows fantastic vertigo and all I I need to I need to go dive into his stuff more psycho and so North by Northwest um yeah that's great those are those are fantastic well um are we ready for our next one yeah next one historical figures so people like if you're coming to our country and you're like I need to know some famous Americans um who do I need to know and so again obviously this is riddled with with our our own biases uh our own knowledge of our country's history so I mean I know the standard answer uh if I'm gonna start with it I know the standard answer would be Washington but I'm gonna say Jefferson um I think Thomas Jefferson is more he's complicated I mean he's a brilliant writer obviously with the Declaration of Independence um the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom um served in Paris in the 1780s um secretary of state resigns vice president resigns um doesn't like the way the country's going under the party of Hamilton and essentially Washington and then when he becomes president himself um acquires Louisiana um obviously you deal with his personal life with uh Sally Hemings uh own it being a slave owner himself also an inventor he he's he is our enlightenment philosopher um but at the same time he is completely uh a complex contradictory human who I I I just I don't know I I think he's necessary because we are filled with contradictions and um it's funny as a president he always wanted to have as little government as possible can you imagine today a president doing what Jefferson did when he asked Congress to shut down all international trade that's like the most overreaching thing you can do and so I that that's what's fascinating to me about somebody like Jefferson. So that he's he's my number one that's definitely a good so I'm gonna go I'm gonna go with the first lady and I'm gonna go with uh the longest serving first lady Eleanor Roosevelt great call and I think she's gotta be on the list just because of the role that she played uh just with human rights and women's rights and um the way that she was kind of in a unique situation where she traveled a bunch uh for you know whether it was FDR his handicapped inability to move around as well as she could but she was really kind of the voice of and an advocate for all humans really um even after she was done being a first lady with the United Nations and stuff but and and the way that she kind of tapped into just the American society with whether it was like daily or weekly uh news articles and stuff as a writer and so yeah great great call great call maybe maybe our most powerful and greatest first lady ever um I'm gonna go back to the 19th century and I'm gonna say Frederick Douglass I feel like he's so overlooked in our history I I don't think enough Pete Americans who are casual with their history understand the depth of his importance somebody who was once a slave escaped from slavery.
SPEAKER_00His freedom got paid for by abolitionists in Massachusetts he wrote the narrative life of Frederick Douglass which explained what the conditions of slavery were like he worked for a peaceable way to end slavery um met with Lincoln he might have helped change Lincoln's mind about African Americans being naturally intellectually inferior. Lincoln had typical 19th century mindset on some of this and then was around into the 1890s long after Lincoln and the Civil War and had real reservations about the way we carved a memory of that Civil War and and what needed to happen for race relations.
SPEAKER_02I just think he might be he's got to be in the conversation with the most important African American man in our country's history um and and so I I he's again he's a complicated character um but I think also just essential to understanding 19th century America it's a great one yeah is that's the thing when you make a list or if you look at who you could mention if it's just five it's just it's almost an impossible task.
SPEAKER_00So it is um maybe and I'm just also trying to fit in with that we cover different eras of history.
SPEAKER_02Yeah so and so I guess as an American I kind of want to represent the the spirit of ingenuity invention and I'd say Thomas Edison just because you know you talk about a guy that's j j has a lot of patents and he has failed so many times but he's really put his mark on um just technology and and what we have as society is thanks to him and his um little Menlo Park laboratory that he set up and hired a bunch of people to try to create with him.
SPEAKER_00So there's been a lot of guys you could you could kind of talk about Steve Jobs and what he's done as well for the modern but I think it kind of goes back to Thomas Edison I could be totally off I could probably say somebody else but I think Edison just kind of represents that ingenuity of the American spirit so yeah it's because again it's our culture has has evolved into a culture of of so much of our culture is is rooted in service and entertainment and everything from the moving picture um the phonograph uh the light bulb um even though we can get into a whole Westinghouse thing um Edison had a hand in it yeah and that's that shapes the world that we know um i if i'm gonna go if I'm gonna go 20th century now since since it seems like we've covered the 19th century even a little bit of the 18th century 20th end of the 21st century I guess I'm trying to bring it up a little bit more at a recent time um I I I think I'm gonna say Donald Trump I I'm gonna say because I I'm gonna say Donald Trump because if you look at the rise of commercial real estate and and yuppies of the 1980s young urban professionals and the whole idea of the 1980s is you know think of uh Wall Street greed is good um he becomes a celebrity and then he gets his own what do you want to say game show uh the apprentice is that is the right term for it reality show I've never seen it I don't know how to say this I've never watched that and and that speaks to where we've evolved since the 1980s is is we've now merged uh politics is now sport and it is entertainment and and instead of serious policy the way somebody maybe like a Washington Jefferson shoot even all the way into the 20th century up to somebody like a whether you're on the side of Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover FDR policy mattered I don't know if policy matters to people anymore and it's just become sport.
SPEAKER_02I mean politics has become entertainment and so in a way he's that personification of of of bridging the all those ideas uh since the 1980s so I I I know that's a controversial pick but we're talking about influential figures in our history he's gonna be an influential figure oh yeah he just is I I think you when especially when you uh look at it from 25 50 years from now he's gonna be a guy that just pops up on the radar so yeah yeah the music of our country uh if people want to understand the history of the music of our country have at it there's so many ways to go there's not a right way for this one there is and I I think Elvis has to be mentioned yeah just because of his role in rock and roll and maybe you you look at all the heartthrobs that teenagers have like just thrown themselves at and and adored and loved and he was one of the first I would I would think so just mainstream pop culture Elvis um yeah you you can't go uh you can't go wrong with Elvis he's he's blending white and black culture rhythm and blues um yeah gospel soul he bring brings that all in the 19th our first like sex symbol um uh uh of rock and roll kind of that's a fantastic one I'll go pre-Elvis and I'll say George Gershwin I'll say as a composer for somebody like I got rhythm embraceable you someone to watch over me um summertime I I think George Gershwin represents kind of those timeless staples uh in what do we want to say the the orchestral and and jazz montage of America so I will say George Gershwin that's a good one um I'm gonna say more modern I'm gonna say Michael Jackson yeah and I have not I haven't been to see the movie that just came out oh boy have you seen that yes I have uh I don't know I haven't really seen many of these biopic music movies but uh I'm afraid to go see what they did but uh he represented my childhood yeah uh anybody that grew up in the 80s he was kind of the king of pop culture for for our generation and he he had style he could dance uh we'll mention the good things you know everybody has the bad aspects of their life I guess uh maybe some more so than others but he was on everything he was on yeah uh he had toys he had obviously the records that he put out his albums but he had stickers and uh everything any anything that you could brand they kind of had a Michael Jackson something um Pepsi you know he got into commercialization of selling advertisement and I think it's a super big compliment to Taylor Swift to say she's almost on the my Michael Jackson level now that's not meant to to condescend or be derogatory to Taylor Swift because that is such a next level of of all facets beyond just music or cultural influence he had that in the late 70s into the 80s that yeah rarely seen in our history.
SPEAKER_00And I mean this movie which I'll go ahead and just say it was a bad movie. It was just bad. It's like a VH1 paint by the numbers it's entertaining if you just want to listen to a listen to performances and the guy does a good job I think it's his nephew does a good job imitating him. But in terms of getting to a deeper story there's nothing deep about that movie. But it's made over now a billion dollars and here we are how many years after his death that people are still enamored by him and so a credit to his legacy I mean honestly I'll do one more historical and then you get the you get whatever you want. I have to put Louis Armstrong on there because I think Louis Armstrong in my opinion is the most important musician for American music of the 20th century with jazz um he's not the first jazz player we probably don't even know who the first one is if you want to do like jelly roll morton or something. But the idea of popularizing jazz and improvisation and you think from everything from hip hop and rock and roll on down leans on improvisation. And that's what Louis Armstrong in the jazz movement started for America. And so if somebody's coming to our country and they don't know anything about American music it's like well you have to start in a way you have to start with jazz a uniquely American form of music from New Orleans and it's popping up in urban areas of Kansas City, Chicago, New York and that's a unique American quality. I remember that Ken Burns he did his his thing on jazz and he was asked like a thousand years from now what will people take away from American civilization if we're long gone and he said the Constitution baseball and jazz are uniquely American contributions to world civilization and I thought that was kind of cool just a different way to look at that.
SPEAKER_02All right you get the last one all right last one I'm gonna mention it um and I want you to expand on it because you're a bigger fan than I am but um when I think of American like songwriters and lyrics and what they mean to like uh the culture and even anti-war and all that stuff is Bob Dylan. Yeah. So I think I think he needs to be considered and mentioned for like multiple generations in the last 50 years but um have you seen him in concert?
SPEAKER_00Yeah a few times this last year I was lucky enough to see him on the front row good thank you Bo wow yeah Bo treated us uh and my wife too and so we were front row and he's in his 80s and he was never stood up once but he put on a fantastic show um saw him uh first time in the early 90s it's Century 2 that was awful he didn't remember half of his lyrics I think I saw him up in Kansas City and in St. Louis with Paul Simon I've seen him a number of times um never never at his apex but I think I agree with what you're saying that Dylan is he's our only American writer to ever win a Nobel Prize for literature that's his songbook which is incredible. That's a good debate should he be our one American representative for literature and that's that's how it is right now according to the Nobel Prizes. But the idea of of taking folk music and then moving into the rock genre he's gone into different genres um and trying to put meaning behind lyrics that are more than like pretty pretty pretty pretty peggy sue ooh ooh ooh I love you and trying to write about you know give heft and give meaning to it um you know so uh for somebody to try to sit and listen to Dylan you're not going necessarily for the ambient qualities of of of the of the sound or or of his voice his tonal qualities you you're going for the message that lays underneath it it's it's where you want to sit and you want to sit with words and and there is a melody put to it and so you that goes all the way back to the Middle Ages but he speaks to American issues I mean obviously beyond American issues but I I agree I mean if you're gonna could put like Bob Dillon lights you could have put people well not even light but Johnny Cash could go there. I think maybe a little lesser extent Springsteen could go there. They speak to a an experience of Americana that's crucial. Yeah it's crazy so if you could throw one last one on there that's kind of uh one of your favorites what would you have put on I don't know if I'd put favorites though I was just trying to look impactful because you could go back to the 30s with Robert Johnson and blues or if you wanted to go like Beyonce or Taylor Swift. I mean bringing it into the that we do have voices in modern America that I think are going to endure and right now I would probably say it's Beyonce and Taylor Swift in probably modern times. So you know if I want to go to the 20 uh 1920s or the 2020s Robert Johnson for blues or Beyoncé or Taylor Swift they those voices probably will endure 100 to 200 years from now the way that Elvis and Michael Jackson and Louis Armstrong and Dylan and Gershman will. So um well we ran a little long for us but you know what that's America America goes big and so we went big today. So uh everything from our geography our food our sporting venues our cultural landmarks our historical figures films and musical artists um I'm sure there can be much disagreement and that's okay that's part of America is diversity and disagreement let's just keep that disagreement violence free and try to find a way through so hey great call thanks for doing this this is to honor uh our 250th birthday uh or independence I guess you could say but also in conjunction with the World Cup um and if you're coming to America we'll hear some aspects of the United States so great call but by the way that do the right thing that was fantastic. All right well thanks for listening everybody sorry we kept you a little long today but hopefully uh you can make it to the end see you next time take care