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Treasured Island 8 Island Secrets Revealed About St Barth From Michael Gross · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: So we've created this podcast network. It's called arrow dot
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  Speaker 1: Net A r r oe dot net. Twenty different podcasts
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  Speaker 1: to choose from daily. One of the biggest plays on
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  Speaker 1: there right now is called something our parents would say.
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  Speaker 1: Come on, we all said it, and it had to
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  Speaker 1: start somewhere, and it usually came from your parents, your grandparents,
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  Speaker 1: your great grandparents. What is the history of what people say?
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  Speaker 1: You'll find it on arrow dot net A r r
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  Speaker 1: oe dot Net. Enjoy your exploration. Hey, congratulations on this
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  Speaker 1: brand new book. Because I am such a I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to say a sucker, but a true lover of
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  Speaker 1: wh When an author can take me someplace that I
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  Speaker 1: feel that is so real and that I want to
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  Speaker 1: get the next ticket from the airport and get there
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  Speaker 1: as quickly as possible.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: To live it, though, that's the different part of the thing.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sitting here dreaming of going there. You've lived it,
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  Speaker 1: and it's like, okay, now you're putting it in words
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  Speaker 1: and it's serving as a ticket to ride like the
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  Speaker 1: Beatles would say. So, how is it that you're able
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  Speaker 1: to do this and bring it forward so that we
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  Speaker 1: have so much emotional connection to it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure what you're asking, how do you do it? Well,
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  Speaker 2: I've been doing it for forty fifteen years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Well it's an art. And that's the thing
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  Speaker 1: about it, because I always envisioned that author or that
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  Speaker 1: historian that's sitting on the other end of these speakers,
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  Speaker 1: that's also sitting on books underneath their bed and in
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  Speaker 1: their attic, and they don't know how to get it
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  Speaker 1: out there. But yet they're holding onto history which is
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  Speaker 1: going to be lost. And so therefore I look up
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  Speaker 1: to people like yourself going They had the courage to
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  Speaker 1: let it go. They had the courage to say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: look there's something that happened here and you should know
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  Speaker 1: about it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, the thing that I always say is
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  Speaker 2: some people can sing, some people can play the guitar,
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  Speaker 2: some people find writing easy. It's just you're even born
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  Speaker 2: with a knack or you're.
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  Speaker 1: Not to be in this moment on this island. What
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  Speaker 1: do you think the attraction is? And the only reason
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  Speaker 1: why I bring that up is because I do believe
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  Speaker 1: in the story of the Celtic gods in the way
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  Speaker 1: that they pick up the dirt and they throw it
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  Speaker 1: across the earth and we all come back to the
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  Speaker 1: same place. Is that what's going Is that why people
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  Speaker 1: come into that area because they feel an energy about
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  Speaker 1: the island.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think the island definitely has an energy. But
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  Speaker 2: it's a unique place in the Caribbean. It's it's the
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  Speaker 2: only Caribbean island that is determinedly French. It has a
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  Speaker 2: very European lifestyle. But all of the beauty and attractiveness
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  Speaker 2: of the Caribbean it's because it's so small and because
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  Speaker 2: it was so undeveloped for so long, it's been able
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  Speaker 2: to kind of erect a wall around its own unique
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  Speaker 2: attributes and they're you know, they've been threatened time and
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  Speaker 2: time again, and somehow the island has managed to retain
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  Speaker 2: its appeal.
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  Speaker 1: But when you step into the history of all of this,
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  Speaker 1: For instance, I Greta Garbo I was so charged up
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  Speaker 1: to hear about that because it's like, it's like, wow,
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  Speaker 1: that is that writer's paradise, that solitude that a writer
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  Speaker 1: or a creative mind wants where they can go to
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  Speaker 1: relax or go to receive. Because my god, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: to be able to write in a place like this
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  Speaker 1: has got to be just just an amazing journey.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I've actually never written in St. Bart Okay, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I wrote the book in New York City, but I've
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  Speaker 2: been going to Saint Bart's for forty years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Do you write though, when you're there, because
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it seems so personal. I mean, I feel
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  Speaker 1: like that you're saying, thank you so much for taking
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  Speaker 1: that airplane over here. Let me go here and show
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  Speaker 1: you what's going on over here. You give me such
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  Speaker 1: a tour guide kind of an experience here.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I don't write when I'm on vacation. And that's
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  Speaker 2: why I go on vacation. Lucky you know, to you
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  Speaker 2: and and I'm fortunate enough that I know my way
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  Speaker 2: around Saint Bart's all of these years. So even though
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  Speaker 2: I'm not Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, I'm able to
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  Speaker 2: enjoy that island. And I know some of the secrets.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I didn't tell my secrets in the book.
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  Speaker 2: It's not a tour book. It's not a guide book.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not saying go to this restaurant, go to that restaurant,
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  Speaker 2: which beach to go to, although there are some hints
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  Speaker 2: of which ones I like, But you know, I know
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  Speaker 2: how to get the best of Saint Bart's after all
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  Speaker 2: these years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, and maybe that's my draw to it
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  Speaker 1: is because I love historical figures such as David Rockefeller.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know this story, but I do now, and
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  Speaker 1: it makes me want to just embrace him even more
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  Speaker 1: in the way of trying to understand everything more about
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  Speaker 1: the Rockefeller family. And I love stuff like this. And
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  Speaker 1: maybe it's because I'm so close to Charleston, South Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: where history is everything to us.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you live in a beautiful place too. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you know there needs to be a book like that
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  Speaker 2: about Charleston. I agree, maybe you should write it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know about that, man, there's too many
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  Speaker 1: rules down there. I don't know about that. But you
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  Speaker 1: see that that you know, the invitation is for readers
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  Speaker 1: to find that escape. And so I mean, and that's
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  Speaker 1: what I love about this. I mean, you give us
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  Speaker 1: the videos. First of all, My god, the fact that
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  Speaker 1: I even saw these videos of these areas, because it
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  Speaker 1: helped me understand the book even more, because you took
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  Speaker 1: my imagination there.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Is is that part of the new texture of writing
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  Speaker 1: stories is that you can't just be linear with just
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  Speaker 1: words on a page. You've got to go where the
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  Speaker 1: people are.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, it is not a friendly world anymore
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  Speaker 2: for people who write books. There's no book review media anymore.
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  Speaker 2: You know. There there used to be hundreds of newspapers
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  Speaker 2: that reviewed books. Now there's like one. There used to
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  Speaker 2: be a lot more books stores than there are now.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when I published my first book, Model in
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  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five, I was able to walk down Fifth
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  Speaker 2: Avenue and visit four or five bookstores. Yes, yes, now
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  Speaker 2: there are precisely none. So you have to go where
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  Speaker 2: the audience is. And so posting videos on Instagram and
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  Speaker 2: Facebook and LinkedIn and blue Sky is one way to
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  Speaker 2: do that. But the point is not the videos. The
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  Speaker 2: point is to make the book sound attractive and get
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  Speaker 2: people to read it.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, well you definitely do that. I mean, the
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  Speaker 1: thing is is that of all things, it starts off
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  Speaker 1: with such a beautiful dedication page. And that's me is
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  Speaker 1: where I go. That is the first place I go
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  Speaker 1: in every book because I want to know the emotion.
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  Speaker 1: I want to know what is the connection. Because an
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  Speaker 1: author doesn't just sit down to put a book together.
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  Speaker 1: It takes an entire family or a support staff that
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  Speaker 1: really keep you growing forward with your words on a page.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, that's very sweet of you to say,
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  Speaker 2: please don't move.
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  Speaker 1: There's more with Michael Gross coming up next. The name
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  Speaker 1: of the book, Treasured Island. This man has lived it,
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  Speaker 1: Michael Gross. Even the postcard. I'm a snoopy. I'm the
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  Speaker 1: guy that comes in the south here and I have
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  Speaker 1: to go through every single antique story and I see
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  Speaker 1: a postcard. My god, my nose has got to be
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  Speaker 1: in it. And I open up the book and oh
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  Speaker 1: my god, it's a postcard. And of course I want
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  Speaker 1: to figure out how to tip that monkey over.
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  Speaker 2: Well you would? You should go to Venice for the Bionale.
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  Speaker 2: The Spanish pavilion at the bi Andale in Venice this
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  Speaker 2: year is an art installation by a guy who has
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  Speaker 2: obsessively collected postcards all of his life. And it is
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  Speaker 2: three or four rooms lined floor to ceiling with postcards
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  Speaker 2: in somatic groupings. You would go crazy there.
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  Speaker 1: It's such a time of lost history, and it's a
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  Speaker 1: book like this that could really ignite the conversation to
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  Speaker 1: just even if neighbors sent a postcard to each other,
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  Speaker 1: that would just drive me into a place of just
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  Speaker 1: of comfort and security, because that it seems to be
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  Speaker 1: that's what kept us together. Were that that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: to keep a secure generation.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, postcards are like books, They're a fading
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  Speaker 2: medium at this point, and so it needs enthusiasm like
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  Speaker 2: yours to keep them alive.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that it's only because I love food.
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  Speaker 1: How about all the chefs where there's chefs on the islands,
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  Speaker 1: and did you get to meet them? Did you get
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  Speaker 1: to because they have a journey as well. When it
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  Speaker 1: comes to the rich, the famous, the people that just
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  Speaker 1: happened to come in for a moment.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there are the kind of celebrity chefs on the
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  Speaker 2: one hand, and then there are the native and local
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  Speaker 2: chefs on the other. So there have been celebrity chefs
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  Speaker 2: on arts since the sixties. Michelle Oliver and his son
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  Speaker 2: both cooked there. They were famous French chefs. In nineteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety two or so, a New York restaurant tour named
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  Speaker 2: Pino Luongo bought a hotel and restaurant that was known
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  Speaker 2: as one of the best on the island prior to
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  Speaker 2: his arrival, and he was the first American superstar restaurant.
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  Speaker 2: He wasn't a chef, but he was an American superstar
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  Speaker 2: restaurant tour. He owned a number of really really important
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  Speaker 2: Italian restaurants in New York, and one of his best
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  Speaker 2: friends was John George von Gerrishten, and he convinced John
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  Speaker 2: George to open on the island. As it happens, both
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  Speaker 2: of them failed miserably in their first go on that island.
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  Speaker 2: It's a story I tell it great length in the book.
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  Speaker 2: John George has since he closed his first restaurant, but
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  Speaker 2: he has since returned and is having a very successful
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  Speaker 2: run there. In more recent years, lots of famous chefs
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  Speaker 2: open on Saint Bart's, some have closed seemed to be thriving.
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  Speaker 2: The two best examples lately the late Joel rubachonp opened
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  Speaker 2: a restaurant in Gestavia, the Capitol, that did not survive
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  Speaker 2: his death. But this this amazing Parisian chef named Cyril
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  Speaker 2: Legniac has just opened his first restaurant there and it's
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  Speaker 2: it's a sensationally beautiful room with great food.
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  Speaker 1: I gotta tell you. Part of the kudos in this
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  Speaker 1: book is the fact that never once did ever feel
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  Speaker 1: like the rich came there to be the rich. I am.
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  Speaker 1: It's just everything that I get from each story is that,
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  Speaker 1: my God, the just one of us that just happened
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  Speaker 1: to get away. And Okay, they got some money. But
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  Speaker 1: the thing is is I never felt like that that
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  Speaker 1: they were being snobby or snubby of anybody who's stepping
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  Speaker 1: in to learn more about their moment.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you kind of missed that part, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: Christmas in New Year's Week petting zoo for food.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know how touchy that was going to be,
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  Speaker 1: because I mean, I know what it's like around here
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  Speaker 1: when when you get into the season for the tourist
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  Speaker 1: instead and sometimes that can be a touchy area.
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  Speaker 2: Well yeah, but you know, you got to be honest
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  Speaker 2: about stuff like that. You know, Rockefeller. When Rockefeller came
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  Speaker 2: to the island, he was looking for a place to
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  Speaker 2: escape and to have privacy. He didn't come there to preene. Nowadays,
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  Speaker 2: especially since say the mid nineties, Saint Bart's at Christmas
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  Speaker 2: has become a place to strut in pre which is
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  Speaker 2: why I don't Which is why I don't go there
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  Speaker 2: during that time of the year, But the rest of
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  Speaker 2: the year it's a very different island.
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  Speaker 1: I would love to go there just to work the
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  Speaker 1: small store, because I swear to God, that's where real
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  Speaker 1: community is. Everybody needs a small store and I would
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  Speaker 1: love to just go in there and do what I
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  Speaker 1: need to do, but also listen, just listen to their stories,
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  Speaker 1: even if you're not part of them.
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  Speaker 2: There are lots of those, and you know some of
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  Speaker 2: them have even survived. There are stores that have been
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  Speaker 2: there for a number of years that are multi generational,
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  Speaker 2: which is super, isn't it? Yeah? It is.
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  Speaker 1: It is Where can people go to find out more
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  Speaker 1: about you? Because I mean this right here, Like I said,
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  Speaker 1: it's one of those things. My wife is one of
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  Speaker 1: those people that gets into her book club and they
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  Speaker 1: always want books that take the places, and this is
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  Speaker 1: that book.
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  Speaker 2: Well about me, there's a website www dot mgrowth dot com,
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  Speaker 2: mg R o SS dot com, and there's more than
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: you will ever want to know about me than the
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  Speaker 2: work I do on that web page.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, you got to come back to this show because
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  Speaker 1: I know there's so much more to you, and I
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  Speaker 1: know you've got many more books on the way, but
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  Speaker 1: I definitely want you to come back so we can
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  Speaker 1: talk about taking those journeys through the imagination.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. Well, hopefully there will be more books and
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  Speaker 2: more opportunities to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Will you be brilliant today? Okay,