Latest / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 12

Transcript

The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 12 · The Bluegrass Blues Podcast

0:00
Welcome to the Bluegrass Blues podcast. I'm Amy
0:03
and I'm Jesse. Well, this is our 12th episode
0:16
and I'm glad to see Amy that you're with us,
0:19
that the rapture didn't get you, didn't get me
0:22
either. Do you know what was going on with that?
0:26
You know, it's Rosh Hashanah. I've been focused
0:29
on the new year for Jewish people. I kind of
0:33
missed out on all this. Why don't you update
0:35
us? Okay, so if you were on social media the
0:38
past couple of weeks, you would have seen that
0:40
evangelical Christians had decided that Jesus
0:44
was coming and that they were going to be lifted
0:47
up into the heavens as part of the rapture, which
0:49
is this idea that in... Christian fundamentalism.
0:55
The rapture means that the true believers are
0:59
going to be taken to heaven in full bodily form
1:02
and that there will be seven years of tribulation
1:05
and then there will be the Armageddon. That's
1:08
their logic here. Is there like a magnet up on
1:12
high and it just pulls them up? It must be because
1:16
they're just going to rise and it's not that
1:18
they're going to like... Disappear they're just
1:20
going to levitate into the heavens But if you
1:24
were watching social media these past couple
1:26
weeks you would have seen there were people just
1:29
tons of people talking about in tears saying
1:33
they were getting ready for the rapture that
1:34
they were selling their all their belongings
1:37
and giving all their key information to their
1:40
family members who they knew weren't going to
1:42
go to heaven with them and it was Well, anyway,
1:47
it was supposed to happen either the 23rd or
1:49
the 24th. Today's the 25th, and we're all still
1:55
here. It doesn't appear to have happened. Oh,
1:57
no. I didn't see any. I saw no one floating in
2:00
the air. Yeah, maybe in a dream. Yeah, to me,
2:07
there's this Christian fundamentalism that's
2:09
very dangerous, and it's very... geared toward
2:15
being ignorant. And being absolved of any responsibility
2:19
for the hard things. It's almost like the fundamentalists
2:25
have decided, they took a look around and they
2:27
saw that everything's bad, partly because of
2:30
the person they put in the White House. And so
2:33
instead of doing something to actually improve
2:36
the lives of everybody or to deal with the problems
2:39
that we're facing today, they decided... not
2:42
my problem, I'm going to check out and you all
2:44
have to deal with it. And, well, they didn't
2:48
do anything or they didn't have this experience
2:52
that they were expecting. So now... That would
2:55
be really... really sad to get rid of your house
2:58
and all your belongings and your job and everything
3:01
and then not have God use his magnet to pull
3:04
you up in the sky? Well, I saw one where this
3:06
woman said that she bought a car from a guy who
3:10
was expecting the rapture and he better not expect
3:13
her to give it back. Right. Like, how are they
3:15
going to get around now? Oh, I guess it's not
3:17
my problem. I'll just pray for them. Yeah, right.
3:19
Thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. All
3:21
right, you guys. Thoughts and prayers. But the
3:22
thing is that this is... Okay, let's talk about
3:27
religion for a while and how the irresponsibility
3:30
of certain groups of people in terms of their
3:33
religion, where they've decided that they're
3:35
going to just check out and not have to deal
3:38
with the problems they've created. Not only that,
3:41
they're doing things or they have done things
3:44
that have made our lives worse. indoctrinating
3:49
kids in schools. They put through these efforts
3:52
to get the Ten Commandments in the classroom
3:54
again. There was this story in the Kentucky Lantern
4:00
this week about an Ohio group that's taking school
4:05
children to the Creation Museum. Yes, and the
4:08
Ark. There is an Ark. And these museums are supposed
4:14
to be... Well their belief is that the earth
4:17
was created 6 ,000 years ago and that men roamed
4:22
around with dinosaurs and It just is it it defies
4:28
all teachings of true science. It's this make
4:32
-believe System where they're condemning people
4:37
for not believing but then they give us these
4:42
really amazingly stupid ideas about what you
4:46
should teach children and if you look at the
4:49
numbers since the pandemic occurred in schools
4:56
the numbers are down for all across the board
5:00
in terms of what children are learning they're
5:02
not reaching the correct reading levels, they're
5:06
not reaching the correct arithmetic levels. Everything
5:11
has gone down. Science. Science is down. Science
5:14
is bad. Yeah, science is bad. And, you know,
5:17
if you look to the government in terms of how
5:21
the government is supposed to improve the situation
5:24
in schools, the Secretary of Education's previous
5:28
job was as the head of WWE, the World Wrestling.
5:33
entertainment system you know and there are photos
5:36
of her like in the ring doing like body slams
5:40
with people and this is our education secretary
5:42
these are we have that craziness going on we
5:48
have a secretary of health who has decided that
5:53
tylenol causes autism right which is you know
5:58
where does this come from because Autism was
6:01
recognized back in the early 20th century. I'm
6:04
sure even before then. Tylenol was invented in
6:07
the 1950s. So where's the logic of this? And
6:11
I don't know if you saw the Trump press conference
6:13
where he made the announcement about Tylenol,
6:15
where he couldn't pronounce acetaminophen. You
6:18
know, it was just this... Pronouncing words correctly
6:23
is intellectualism, and I think it's Satanism,
6:26
actually. Right. But, you know, we have these,
6:30
there's just this overall failure in religion
6:35
that's really setting everyone back. And, you
6:39
know, it not only involves the Christian religion,
6:42
there's this whole idea in the Israel situation
6:46
with Gaza where, you know, it's... It's God's
6:51
will that they take the land or God's will that
6:55
you commit genocide. And it's just not. You did
7:01
a letter to the editor, or you made an announcement
7:04
with some group recently? Yeah, there were several
7:07
of us who signed, Palestinians and Jewish people
7:10
in Louisville who signed an op -ed, an opinion
7:13
piece in the Courier -Journal, basically calling
7:18
this war what it is, and it's a genocide in Gaza,
7:22
and for our legislators like Morgan McGarvey
7:26
and others to... sign on and co -sponsor even
7:31
the Block the Bombs legislation to stop selling
7:34
these bombs to Israel to do with whatever they
7:38
wish. You know, I was raised Jewish and I was
7:43
actually raised as a conservative Jewish person.
7:45
Conservative Judaism doesn't mean that I'm not
7:48
progressive politically, but... And, you know,
7:51
the values that I was raised with, actually,
7:54
they remind me a lot of the values that Jesus
7:56
teaches, right? Like justice and liberty for
8:01
all and peace. you know, loving your neighbor
8:06
and welcoming the stranger and all the things.
8:10
Like, this is exactly how I was raised. And unfortunately
8:13
for this High Holy Day season, which interesting
8:16
that the rapture was timed for Rosh Hashanah,
8:20
which means the head of the year, the new year.
8:23
And people wish you a happy new year. We eat
8:25
apples and honey, you know, sweet new year. So
8:28
sorry about that, you rapture people. I'm really
8:31
sorry that didn't work out for you. For a lot
8:34
of us Jewish people who really are struggling
8:37
with this political situation caused by Bibi
8:41
Netanyahu and his war machine and, you know.
8:45
Apparently, you know, Jewish leadership in this
8:47
country, mainstream Jewish leadership also, you
8:50
know, just believes that Israel can do whatever
8:52
it wants, including, you know, maiming children
8:55
and murdering and starving families and now,
8:58
you know, completely bombing out Gaza City so
9:02
that, you know, these trapped people have to
9:04
move again. Where? I don't know. What are they
9:07
eating? How are they living? But, you know, I
9:10
see a Riviera coming on, you know, the Mediterranean
9:13
Sea with Trump's name, you know, Trump BB land
9:16
or something like, you know. But what we did
9:20
here, because we don't have clergy here that
9:23
are speaking out against these atrocities, a
9:26
lot of us did not go to services. For me, it
9:28
was the first time in my life that I didn't go
9:31
to services. In fact, I sing in the choir and
9:33
I've always sung in the choir. I know all the
9:36
music by heart. And it's meaningful to me, but
9:39
I just, I could not go and listen to another
9:42
sermon about Israel on the high holidays. So
9:45
we created our own service and we had it outdoors.
9:49
It was beautiful. And I led some meditation and
9:53
some yoga. And we really got to a lot of the
9:56
fundamental questions that Jewish people ask
9:59
at this time of year. And we talk about our sins
10:02
and we talk about what we could. have done better
10:05
over the course of the year. We talk about making
10:07
amends. And then while the gates are open now
10:10
from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, you know,
10:14
these gates are open. And now is really the time
10:17
that we look at ourselves and we set intentions
10:20
for who we want to be in the new year. And I
10:23
couldn't do that in services. I couldn't do it
10:25
in synagogue this year. And it was really funny.
10:28
We went around the table talking about this and
10:33
my son, who is 22 years old, you know, I was
10:37
talking about this is the first time I haven't
10:38
been in services, and he said, well, this is
10:42
the first time I haven't fallen asleep during
10:44
Rosh Hashanah. So I guess it was an improvement
10:48
for everyone, including my son, who managed to
10:51
stay awake and actually stay engaged because
10:54
we were really including him in a unique, authentic
10:57
way this year. Yeah, it's people who are... truly
11:01
religious and who believe in the teachings of
11:04
Christ are not evangelical and they're not right
11:09
well they're not the extreme right -wing even
11:11
though those are the people who say they are
11:13
the most religious because you look at what's
11:16
happening in religion now and today's martyr
11:20
is Charlie Kirk i mean where does that come from
11:23
homophobic racist sexist right but he's christian
11:27
so but so he's that kind of christian that you
11:31
know the people who are with the ark or the people
11:35
who are waiting for the rapture that's the kind
11:37
of person they want to follow but you know it
11:41
it has permeated so much especially with the
11:45
charlie kirk funeral i don't know if you saw
11:47
any of the clips from that but You'd think he
11:50
was a head of state. You'd think he was royalty.
11:53
Yeah, plus they brought out all the Christian
11:55
iconography in this service where you had, there's
12:00
this photo of this guy carrying a cross, but
12:03
the cross has a roller skate at the bottom of
12:05
it. So, you know, maybe he needs a cross with
12:07
training wheels? I mean, what's going on here?
12:10
Might be too heavy to carry. Yeah, well, it's
12:12
just... Things are too heavy to carry, Jesse.
12:14
Right, but... I want to be lifted up into the
12:17
sky by some magic white man. With a magnet. Yeah,
12:20
but it doesn't work that way. But, you know,
12:24
the thing with Charlie Kirk is also that we talked
12:29
about this last week where, you know, stadiums,
12:32
sports teams were doing a moment of silence for
12:35
him. And, you know, our congressman, who I'm
12:40
going to rip right now, Morgan McGarvey, signed
12:43
onto this Charlie Kirk. Whatever it was in the
12:48
US House. They passed some legislation Noting
12:53
the importance of Charlie Kirk and For McGarvey
12:57
to do that is just it's an insult to his constituency
13:00
the people who put him in office, you know, he
13:05
He's in Louisville. That means he had to get
13:07
the black vote in order to win. And the queer
13:10
vote. Yeah. And the women's vote. And the immigrant
13:14
vote. The people who are here, who are United
13:18
States citizens, who came from other countries.
13:21
Voted legally. Right. And that's everything that
13:24
Charlie Kirk was. Against? Yeah, he was just
13:28
saying horrible things. He was putting people
13:30
on these lists where his followers could harass
13:34
them. He was putting the names of college professors
13:38
on a list where they're trying to get them thrown
13:41
out of the schools. And they're treating this
13:44
guy like he's Martin Luther King Jr. Right. It's
13:48
just, it really was insulting. our congressman
13:52
voted along with the rest of them. You know,
13:55
there were too many Democrats voted in favor
13:58
of this measure. I think there were like 99.
14:01
But, you know, he could have voted no. He could
14:05
have abstained. He could have voted absent. But
14:09
he didn't. He voted with the Charlie Kirk forces
14:13
where he is telling us that he believes Charlie
14:16
Kirk was right. That's, you know, you can't...
14:19
parse it any other way if you vote in favor of
14:21
this you support what charlie kirk said so he
14:25
supports um the uh attacks on black women who
14:30
were are successful and he supports uh the attacks
14:34
on gay people and he supports attacks on immigrants
14:37
immigrants and having them locked up with alligators
14:40
in the middle of the swamp it makes it kind of
14:43
interesting to uganda yeah Yeah, they're flying
14:47
people to countries they have nothing to do with
14:49
and just dropping them off. And listeners, I
14:52
just want to say that Jesse and I do not condone
14:55
violence and we don't condone the fact that he
14:58
was murdered. Absolutely not. No. Not. No. We
15:02
do not. Nor do we condone the lynching of a young
15:05
black man at Delta State University in Mississippi.
15:08
That almost got no news. Or the fact that when
15:12
Charlie Kirk died that... HBCUs, historically
15:16
black colleges and universities, had to shut
15:18
down because people were threatening to blow
15:20
them up, saying that, you know, it's like it
15:24
was a left conspiracy when it turns out it's
15:26
just another right winger or some kid who's off
15:30
on some weird... um social media tangent right
15:34
like in the dark web mackenzie scott just gave
15:37
a huge amount of money millions and millions
15:40
of dollars to hbcus in the last week so you know
15:44
unlike her husband who i guess i think amazon
15:47
prime they just lost a big lawsuit that because
15:51
they were They were basically getting people
15:54
to subscribe to Prime, and then they made it
15:57
really difficult for you to get out of the contract.
15:59
And I think we're getting a billion and a half
16:02
dollars with a two and a half billion dollar
16:04
lawsuit. But I digress. Before you go, McKenzie
16:08
Scott. divorced from Jeff Bezos. That's what
16:12
we're talking about. Jeff Bezos is the head of
16:14
Amazon. I never hear about what he's giving the
16:19
way that she gives. She's unbelievable. Just
16:22
like Melissa Gates is unbelievable. Bill Gates
16:25
is. But if you look at the donations that Amazon
16:28
gives or that Bezos gives or that any of the
16:31
really super rich billionaires give. I do a mathematical
16:38
calculation in my head. If they give X amount
16:42
of dollars, what would that mean if I gave proportionately
16:46
the same amount of money they give? And a lot
16:49
of times I've found it's like me giving 25 cents
16:52
to a guy on the street who's looking for some
16:55
change. This is only change for them. You know,
17:00
they make these announcements that, oh, Jeff
17:03
Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg have donated a million
17:06
dollars to something when they have fortunes
17:09
that are in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
17:12
Right. And I want to go back to the Charlie Kirk
17:14
stuff because, you know, we had this big blow
17:17
up with Jimmy Kimmel over the last week, too,
17:21
where, you know, he he's a comedian. He's and
17:25
he has free speech and he did not condone the
17:28
murder at all. Actually, I thought what he was
17:31
talking about about Charlie was pretty tepid.
17:33
But what you saw was the head of the FCC under
17:39
Trump's dictatorship basically pressuring ABC,
17:45
who's owned by Disney, to... cancel the show,
17:49
which they did. And then what you saw, and this
17:52
is where I have hope, and I'm always the one
17:55
that's the hopeful one in this crew. But you
17:58
saw a bunch of us. I had a Disney Plus bundle
18:02
because I still have young people in the house,
18:05
and it comes with Hulu and ESPN, I think, and
18:08
that was $30 a month. You saw tens of thousands
18:12
of us cancel our Disney subscriptions, right?
18:15
So then it became, I saw. that their stock price
18:19
dropped the equivalent of like $4 billion, right?
18:23
Yeah. So then it became a money decision, which
18:26
I'm fine with. I'm like, come on, people. Let's
18:28
bring the power to the purse and boycott these
18:32
places. And they reinstated Kimmel to his show.
18:36
Yeah, this week. And it's the same thing that
18:39
happened with Target. where they got rid of all
18:44
their DEI programs. And, you know, Target had
18:49
been pushing itself as this big, fair employer
18:53
and believer in equal opportunity for people.
18:57
And then Trump comes along, they say, never mind.
19:00
And so the Target's numbers are down hugely.
19:04
Right. Keep shopping, Costco. Yeah. But going
19:08
back to that, the free speech stuff, I thought
19:11
it was really interesting how Rand Paul and Thomas
19:15
Massey here in Kentucky really thought that was
19:20
horrible and egregious for the government to
19:23
have any kind of comment on a comedian's speech,
19:27
on free speech. Major government intrusion. Jimmy
19:32
Kimmel actually commended Rand Paul for doing
19:34
that. And Mitch McConnell, actually, too. Right,
19:36
and Rand Paul said, well, it's the first time
19:38
my name's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel. Right, right.
19:42
Miracles do happen. But, again, when we get back
19:45
to McGarvey and what he's done, you know. There's
19:50
one other thing that bothers me about what he's
19:53
done is there has been this move by the Republicans
19:56
in this state to redraw the maps of all the districts
20:00
to get rid of the only Democratic district in
20:04
the state, which is our district. And our congressman
20:09
is McGarvey. Right. District three. Yeah. And
20:13
the thing is that when this announcement was
20:15
made, and I said this before. He didn't respond.
20:20
He said nothing. If I were a politician, I would
20:26
have just gone off and called them all kinds
20:29
of names, talking about how they want a fascist
20:34
country because they're taking away the voices
20:37
of the people. And he said nothing. So he says
20:42
nothing in terms of this redrawing of district
20:45
maps. He supports Charlie Kirk in the legislature.
20:51
And how can he expect his constituents to support
20:55
him when he does things like this? Plus, he's
20:58
not out in the state, as we've mentioned numerous
21:00
times. He should be out in the state with all
21:02
those town halls that Republicans don't hold
21:04
because they're so unpopular now. It's interesting
21:08
because John Yarmuth. who preceded Morgan McGarvey
21:13
as our congressman from the third district. He
21:16
just wrote a piece on September 24th in the Kentucky
21:20
Lantern where he was talking about the ugly specter
21:23
of midterm gerrymandering and the potential disruption.
21:28
And he is very clear that, you know, first of
21:31
all, it's very unusual for states to redraw district
21:34
lines between censuses. But he also talks about
21:38
how You know, in Louisville, you have this very
21:44
efficient and effective coordination of efforts
21:47
between the mayor, Metro Council, and the representative
21:51
for the third district because the constituents
21:53
are the same and the needs and wants are the
21:56
same. And he writes that now there's some discussions
21:59
among some Republicans in Frankfurt about splitting
22:04
Louisville into three different congressional
22:07
districts. presumably making it impossible, almost
22:11
impossible, for a Democrat to be elected. And
22:14
some of these districts, he says, are going to
22:16
go all the way down to the border of Tennessee,
22:18
which is nuts. It would be impossible to really
22:24
effectively and efficiently govern. And he also
22:27
mentions that Republicans down there don't really
22:30
want liberals from Louisville, you know, having
22:33
a say in what's happening in southern Kentucky.
22:36
And I don't blame them, right? Like, they have
22:39
their wants and needs. We have our wants and
22:42
needs. Louisville is very different than southern
22:44
rural Kentucky on the Tennessee border. Come
22:48
on. Yeah, you're talking about an urban district.
22:51
and splitting that up to have influence over
22:55
what a rural district was. Right, and you have
22:58
black people here, and their voices matter. They
23:00
would pretty much lose their voices. No, that
23:04
would be the reason why they would do this. It's
23:07
pure discrimination. And the problem we have
23:10
in the state is that there's a super majority
23:13
of Republicans in both the House and Senate.
23:16
So if they want to do this, they can. There will
23:19
be a legal fight, no doubt. But again, the Democratic
23:24
Party in this state has been very... weak about
23:28
actually defending itself and defending the people
23:31
who support it. And apparently this happened
23:33
in Nashville. About 250 ,000 people in Nashville
23:37
were placed in a new district with 500 ,000 other
23:41
Tennesseans. So it's going to be clear that the
23:44
500 ,000 other Tennesseans are going to have
23:47
their interests be heard and not the quarter
23:50
of a million from Nashville. And Nashville has
23:53
a Democratic mayor, and so he's got to work with
23:56
three Republican representatives on any federal
23:59
initiative. So apparently Missouri is about to
24:03
do the same thing to Kansas City. breaking up
24:05
its largest city and economic engine for strictly
24:08
partisan electoral advantage, disenfranchising
24:12
a large black population from federal representation.
24:17
This one I'm not that hopeful about, but we got
24:20
to step up. Kentucky. And the Democratic Party
24:23
has to step up, not only on the state level.
24:25
And Morgan has to step up. Gee whiz. And the
24:28
National Party has to step up. Again, we're not
24:32
hearing what we should be hearing from them.
24:36
Another stupid thing I read this week. Stupid.
24:40
Yeah, see, that's how you might say it if you're
24:42
not very smart. You might say stupid. So on September
24:47
23rd, this is also from the Kentucky Lantern,
24:50
GOP attorneys general disputes climate science,
24:56
urge end to greenhouse gas regulations. And whose
24:59
photo is at the top of this article? No one other
25:05
than Attorney General Russell Coleman. And he
25:08
is against climate science. He thinks it's hooey.
25:14
And he thinks that all the companies deserve
25:17
not to be regulated and it's terrible for the
25:21
economy, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, what's
25:25
interesting about this article is that Byron
25:28
Gary, an attorney for the environmental legal
25:31
group, Kentucky Resources Council, which if you
25:34
don't know about them and you care about Kentucky's
25:37
environment. Kentucky Resources Council is the
25:41
place to put your money in for fighting for clean
25:45
water, for clean air, for clean soil, for alternative
25:49
energy sources, etc. But he basically said that,
25:53
you know, if if these attorneys general really
25:57
do cut cut the. regulations on climate issues,
26:04
that these are real effects on people's lives.
26:07
They are going to be killing people if this is
26:10
repealed. And when they're doing that, if they're
26:13
repealing environmental laws or doing these things
26:17
where they call for more pollution, they're taking
26:22
away Medicare and taking away Medicaid and health
26:25
services. So you have all these wildfires and
26:28
all this flooding and all this dangerous, you
26:31
know, polluted water, asthma as a result of the
26:35
smokestacks not having scrubbers in them. And
26:38
yet all these people are going to not have access
26:40
to health care. And if there's a disaster, there's
26:44
no FEMA because the money that was going to go
26:46
to FEMA to deal with disasters is instead going
26:49
to build concentration camps. Did you read that
26:53
the FEMA director couldn't be contacted within
26:56
a full 24 hours after the Texas floods? Yeah.
27:00
Where was he? Well, also in the immigration director
27:05
is, you know, taking bagfuls of money, that $50
27:09
,000 bribe that the FBI caught him on and that
27:12
he hasn't been fired because he's part of a corrupt
27:16
administration. Right. That's just a kleptocracy.
27:19
It is. Anyway. I have some fun stuff to mention.
27:23
Yes, let's go through the fun stuff. Okay. So
27:27
this Sunday, September 28th from 1 to 6 p .m.
27:31
at Trellis Brewery, which is at 1827 Logan Street,
27:38
Louisville, Kentucky. So near the Logan Street
27:41
Market, Shelby Park area, there is a We the People
27:47
Palooza. So it's an afternoon of live music,
27:52
speakers, food trucks, and community action.
27:56
You can see that it's going to be really great.
27:59
It has partnering organizations like Planned
28:02
Parenthood, LSURGE, which I've talked about,
28:05
Louisville Standing Up for Racial Justice. The
28:09
Fairness Campaign is sponsoring it. Sierra Club
28:12
is sponsoring it. Kentucky Citizens for Democracy
28:15
and a whole lot more. So a lot of incredible.
28:18
local organizations fighting for justice and
28:22
so come it's a it's a day to celebrate resist
28:25
and build community together everyone is welcome
28:28
so that's one thing i think is really cool that's
28:31
going to be really fun and then the big day coming
28:34
up is october 18th put it on your calendar that's
28:37
our next no kings day all across the country
28:42
so be looking at 50501 kentucky be looking at
28:48
any place that you find your progressive politics
28:52
stuff. No King's Day will be in many, many towns
28:57
in Kentucky. It's so exciting. And let's once
29:01
again explain what the significance of 50501
29:04
is. It's 50 states, 50 actions on one day. So
29:09
they're very coordinated, which is frankly what
29:13
we need. I still am dismayed by the lack of leadership
29:17
by the Democratic Party. There are so many opportunities
29:21
to just, you know, really skewer all of this
29:25
nasty shit. And where's the leadership? But there
29:30
are grassroots volunteers all over the country
29:34
stepping up, and it really is going to be the
29:38
power of the people to turn this around. Our
29:40
pocketbooks matter, as we saw with Disney, and
29:44
as we've seen with Target and some other places.
29:46
When they start losing money, they start paying
29:49
attention. And let's talk about some of the things
29:53
that have happened that aren't related to politics
29:55
at all. Like just last week, we had the Bugfest
29:58
in Bernheim Forest. And you were there. You were
30:02
one of the guides through the day. Can you tell
30:06
us a little about that? Oh, my gosh. It was so
30:08
fun. So Bugfest is this amazing event. We had
30:12
a 50 % increase in attendees at Bugfest last
30:18
weekend. What it is, is we captured bugs on site.
30:25
the week leading up to the event we're tagging
30:29
monarch butterflies and we showed people how
30:31
you tag monarch butterflies so we had all these
30:34
insects and then we had all these participating
30:36
organizations like idle wild if you haven't been
30:39
to idle wild it's on logan street in louisville
30:42
as well and they are doing amazing things um
30:46
again having chrysalises in there they've got
30:49
walking sticks and they have hissing madagascar
30:52
cockroaches and all these bugs And even if you
30:56
just want to see dead bugs because you think
30:58
that, like, beetles are really cool, they've
31:00
got the coolest cases of dead bugs in there.
31:02
And you can learn about all these amazing, amazing
31:05
bugs. So we had, there was a costume tent and
31:09
a bug parade. There were crafts. There were all
31:13
of these booths. An insect zoo. And there were
31:17
these great hornet's nests. And we had a photo
31:19
booth. And my kids manned or personed the photo
31:23
booth. and you could wear the head of a praying
31:26
mantis or any kind of some sort of you know bug
31:29
and take your picture with your family I'm seeing
31:31
a lot of holiday cards go out now with people
31:35
with bug heads on them from from bug fest and
31:38
it was just it was a total blast and you know
31:41
for me oh and I went on an insect treasure hunt
31:45
with kevin weiner he lives in evansville and
31:48
he runs this group called all bugs go to kevin
31:51
and he knows so much about bugs he actually used
31:56
to be an exterminator and then fell in love with
31:58
bugs and now he's got this worldwide following
32:01
of all bugs go to kevin and all day long people
32:05
are posting on his website and his Facebook page.
32:08
What is this? What is this? They want to know
32:10
what bug they're seeing and it's the cool, he's
32:12
so cool. And so we went out with the kids and
32:15
we went on insect treasure hunts. And for me,
32:17
the coolest part is seeing the kids be so jazzed
32:21
about bugs. And for me, this is an act of resistance,
32:25
especially today. We are seeing a drop in a major
32:29
drop in the insect population. I think it was
32:31
about 40%. So we are really, we are. damaging
32:36
the environment seriously damaging it and there
32:40
are species that are becoming extinct and so
32:43
seeing the kids get excited and not afraid of
32:46
bugs gives me hope that they will then talk to
32:49
their families about not spraying insecticides
32:53
and pesticides and also you know about planting
32:57
native gardens so that the monarchs and the bees
33:00
and all these places you know these insects have
33:03
food Right, it wasn't like, it's an environmental
33:08
issue and it's a good way to show that the environment
33:12
does matter. My grandchildren, I was there with
33:15
my grandchildren, my two grandsons, and they
33:19
had a great time. They were going through these
33:22
bins that contained plastic bugs and they were
33:26
sorting through those so they put the spider
33:28
on their hand or whatever, tarantulas or whatever.
33:31
Then my five -year -old grandson was at one of
33:34
the booths where a guy put a millipede in his
33:37
hand. And it's like you hear this squeal, just
33:40
this squeal of joy that this bug is crawling
33:43
on his hand. He got a costume because the costumes
33:48
were free to use, so you had to get them back
33:51
at the end. But he was dressed as a dragonfly,
33:55
and he did use the mask. And his two -year -old
33:59
brother. was there too just having as much fun
34:02
as as he was having and they were out in the
34:05
environment they were outdoors playing and running
34:08
around with a lot of other children it was it
34:12
was packed and when when we got there there was
34:15
a line that just went down the highway for at
34:18
least a mile and it was just a really good way
34:24
to see see people really enjoying the outdoors
34:27
enjoying the environment and learning something
34:30
about what what this environment means to us
34:34
and how it keeps us alive. Right. And your grandson,
34:39
Milo, oh my gosh, he was just running around
34:42
and he would ask his grandma, TC, he's like,
34:45
TC, come catch me, I'm a butterfly. And he was
34:48
just spreading his wings and flying all over
34:51
the place. They were so cute. Yeah. They had
34:55
so much fun. Oh, and Jesse, you said that if
34:57
a millipede had showed up in his house, he would
35:00
have probably had a very different reaction.
35:02
Right, yeah. It's like this bug is running around.
35:05
But he'd never been exposed to that before. So
35:08
just again, it's like kids are exposed to something
35:12
that they ordinarily wouldn't see in their home.
35:14
And now if they see it in their home, they'll
35:16
know what it is. They won't freak out. It'll
35:19
just be, oh, okay, this is a bug, and you can
35:22
just put it outside and put it where it belongs.
35:25
And maybe they've learned a little bit about
35:27
their beneficial uses and what they do and why
35:30
they're here, like spiders inside the house and
35:32
things like that. Right. Two other things happened
35:36
over the last... couple weeks that were really
35:39
big for the Louisville economy. That was Bourbon
35:42
and Beyond and Louder Than Life. Apparently almost
35:45
a half million people came to town for these
35:49
music events. Right. They were two four -day
35:53
music festivals. I think in Bourbon and Beyond
35:55
they had about 300 artists in the course of four
35:59
days. And I don't know how many artists they
36:02
had at Louder Than Life, but We were driving
36:06
down the highway. This was the weekend of Bugfest.
36:10
And there was just this long line of cars going
36:14
at the exit from the interstate where the Louder
36:18
Than Life Festival was. But it's eight days of
36:22
music with really famous bands just at the Kentucky
36:28
Fair and Exposition Center. Seems like it's a
36:32
perfect place to do this because not only were
36:34
the stages or like at least four or five stages
36:38
active the whole time, people also had access
36:43
to the rides at Kentucky Kingdom. So, you know,
36:46
it's like you... And there's a ton of parking
36:48
there. Right, yeah. And it's centrally located.
36:51
It's really close to the airport. It's easy access.
36:55
Right, easy to find getting off at the interstate.
36:57
But it was just... it was huge and it's you know
37:01
it brought in millions and millions of dollars
37:04
for the Kentucky or the Louisville economy and
37:07
you know it was such a success I think they did
37:10
it last year they were doing it on the waterfront
37:13
and there was no it was it was still uh it was
37:17
it was in a different location near at the fairgrounds
37:20
last year but I think they they thought this
37:22
this location was better but previously it was
37:26
on River Road and the event space got flooded
37:30
and it was a disaster so they had to move it
37:32
up to higher ground. But it makes sense moving
37:35
it down to the Convention Center. It's accessible,
37:38
parking is no problem. And you can just like
37:41
roam around and it just really is well done.
37:45
It's just not green. It's not very green there,
37:48
which I miss. Yeah, we went to the state fair
37:51
there. So, you know, that was another event where
37:55
you get to see, kids get to see animals. So that
37:57
was fun too. And what else happened? Something
38:01
else happened. Oh, we have something coming up
38:04
next. not this coming weekend, but next weekend,
38:07
is the art show. St. James Art. St. James Court
38:11
Art Show. Art Show. And that will have 300 artists
38:15
from all over the country. It has been voted
38:18
as one of the best art shows in the country,
38:20
and it's right outside my front door. I've been
38:24
doing this for, well, we've been here for like,
38:27
what, 18 years now? We've been in Louisville
38:31
since 20... 2010 so that's 15 years and when
38:38
we moved here it was like just the weekend before
38:42
art show and we just helped out with having artists
38:47
set up their booths and you know letting them
38:50
have access to our house if they had to use the
38:52
bathroom or something and again it's right outside
38:57
our front door so we could open the door and
39:00
there's art everywhere and it takes up at least
39:03
four square blocks of Old Louisville from 6th
39:08
Street all the way to 3rd Street and it goes
39:12
from Hill Street to Central Park. So you've got
39:15
art all over the place, lots of food trucks or
39:19
access to food and in Central Park they'll have
39:23
live entertainment. They had like dance programs
39:27
or singers or you know puppet shows, whatever.
39:31
It's just a huge thing in in the heart of louisville
39:36
uh it's right outside our front door so and a
39:38
lot of the neighborhood associations here um
39:41
make the money that they need to like trim the
39:44
trees and make sure that the lawns are mowed
39:47
and and the communal spaces are taken care of
39:50
i'm the president of the our backer court neighborhood
39:54
association and every year we collect bourbon
39:57
bottles cool liquor bottles and then we we cut
40:02
them off uh and then we saw them off and then
40:06
the neighbors come together and we all sand them
40:09
so they're they're no sharp edges and then we
40:12
wick them and then we pour really fragrant wax
40:15
in them and we always have a booth on fourth
40:18
street and you know last year we made over six
40:21
thousand dollars selling these candles that the
40:24
community made and that pays for all the things
40:26
that we need that we want to do also i want to
40:29
Just mentioned that this coming Saturday from
40:32
10 to 2, the Auerbacher Court neighborhood is
40:35
having a free swap meet. So come and pick up
40:39
all kinds of free stuff. If you want to take
40:43
stuff that you were going to take to Goodwill
40:45
or some other place and bring it to the swap
40:47
meet and meet some neighbors, come join us. It's
40:50
on the intersection of Julian Court and Auerbacher
40:54
Court in the heart of Old Louisville. Don't miss
40:58
it. Yeah, there really is a lot of stuff to do
41:01
in Louisville. And we get obsessed with the political
41:07
situation in the country and we have fears about
41:11
where the current administration is leading us.
41:14
But there are these other events that we've just
41:17
talked about that show that there's liveliness,
41:21
there's happiness, and there are things to do
41:24
that will distract you from. the bad things that
41:28
are going on right now. Not only distract you,
41:30
but I would frame it as empower you to have the
41:36
energy to spend in the way that we can spend
41:40
authentically to fight this regime. I will say,
41:43
last night, was it last night? What's today?
41:46
No, two nights ago, I went to see Melissa Etheridge
41:49
and the Indigo Girls at the Iroquois Amphitheater.
41:51
I was going to ask you about that. Oh my gosh.
41:54
It was so fun. It was just so fun. And the backdrop
41:58
was very political. They had signs like, stand
42:02
up for the lookout. And then all around that
42:05
it said, don't say gay, don't say gay, don't
42:08
say gay. And then they had this poster on the
42:10
backdrop, what to do if ICE comes, you have rights.
42:15
Was this a free show or did you have to pay to
42:17
do it? Oh, no, it wasn't free. But, you know,
42:19
it wasn't. predatory either but they had all
42:23
this great stuff on the backdrop and they were
42:25
very you know how the Indigo Girls and Melissa
42:28
Etheridge are very you know lesbians making music
42:32
the lesbian community was very well represented
42:36
it was so fun we all just danced our butts off
42:41
and knew all the songs and sang so out loud and
42:46
you know it was necessary it was such a good
42:48
time for us to to have this cathartic communal
42:51
experience because then we're energized to then
42:54
get back onto the Five Calls app and show up
42:58
at our protests and write our legislators. Actually,
43:02
the last form letter I got from Rand Paul, I
43:06
don't even remember what I was writing him about.
43:08
Literally, he does not even mention the topic
43:11
that I was writing about. It was like, thank
43:13
you for writing. It's my honor to serve our constituents
43:17
and feel free to write again or whatever. But
43:20
I mean, he didn't even mention the issue that
43:23
I even wrote about. That was a little disturbing.
43:26
But that's why we need concerts and community
43:29
and art shows and the arts. We can't defund this
43:34
stuff. Right, right. And with the Rand Paul letter,
43:37
I'm sure. he used an auto pen to sign it. Oh,
43:40
I'm certain. Because that was the big Republican
43:42
complaint against Biden that he was using an
43:44
auto pen, like Trump doesn't use an auto pen.
43:48
But, you know, we are just going through a difficult
43:54
time now. And there are things we can do. Like
44:00
you just told me that there was a special election
44:02
in Arizona and a Democrat won there. Arizona's
44:05
a very... conservative state yeah her dad had
44:10
run there and she's now got the seat and she
44:13
she's we need her yeah and we're going to have
44:16
uh elections in 2026 so we have to get ready
44:21
for that um and we still have to you know do
44:26
our best to stop what this regime is doing right
44:30
because they are They are trying to kill us.
44:33
They are. And it's not only that they're trying
44:35
to kill us, they've announced that they want
44:36
to kill us because go back to the Charlie Kirk
44:40
funeral and you have Stephen Miller talking about
44:43
the enemies and Trump talking about how he hates
44:46
his enemies. This is at a religious service where
44:50
they're talking about hating their enemies. Right.
44:52
So there are things that we can do to... get
44:57
away from it, but we have to remember that it's
44:59
still going on and we have to do our best to
45:02
make sure the future is better. for our children,
45:06
for our grandchildren, because that's what I'm
45:09
concerned about now. I'm pretty old and I know
45:13
my time isn't, it's not going to be much longer,
45:18
but we have generations that are coming up behind
45:21
us and we have to do things to improve their
45:24
lives and to make sure their lives are better.
45:26
So that's my little speech for the day. Well,
45:31
thanks, Jesse, for another productive, perhaps
45:34
entertaining podcast. Yes, and thank you. And
45:37
we look forward to seeing you all in a couple
45:40
of weeks after the art show. No, it'll be before
45:43
the art show. It'll be after the art show. After.
45:46
So we'll give you all the details of the art
45:48
show and tell you all the art we bought. Yeah.
45:51
So everybody, thanks for listening. We'll be
45:54
back soon. Bye. Our closing music is by John
46:00
Chamberlain.