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TMP342 DAPHNE PARKER POWELL: THE DEATH OF COOL · Troubled Men Podcast

• 0:15
  Speaker A: Greetings, troubled listeners. Welcome back to the Troubled Men podcast. I am Renee Coleman, sitting once again in Snake and Jake's Christmas Club lounge in the heart of the Clempire with my co host, the original troubled man for troubled times. Yeah, Mr. Manny Chevrolet. Welcome, Manny.
• 0:33
  Speaker B: I am welcome, yes. I am welcome. You know, remember a few shows back you said everyone saying welcome in, welcome in. Yeah, I have yet to hear that.
• 0:42
  Speaker A: Okay, well, keep your, keep your ears.
• 0:44
  Speaker B: Every place I go, I have yet to hear anyone say, well, you know, New Orleans.
• 0:48
  Speaker A: I only heard it in New Orleans at an art opening from some hipsters. So, you know, everything gets here a little bit later, which is a good thing. So you know, that may.
• 0:59
  Speaker B: Like democracy. Well, I don't know, like a good education.
• 1:06
  Speaker A: Sure. Now I feel like I get a. I got a fine education here, but you know, that's through no fault of my own. Oh yeah, I was saying that phrase may bypass New Orleans altogether in the mainstream.
• 1:20
  Speaker B: Good.
• 1:20
  Speaker A: So we'll see. We'll see.
• 1:22
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 1:22
  Speaker A: Well. So it's been three weeks since we saw each other.
• 1:26
  Speaker B: Good.
• 1:27
  Speaker A: Did you miss me?
• 1:28
  Speaker B: Not really.
• 1:29
  Speaker A: Right.
• 1:29
  Speaker B: I don't miss anybody. You know me, I don't care for people.
• 1:32
  Speaker A: Sure, I get that.
• 1:33
  Speaker B: You know, they're the worst.
• 1:35
  Speaker A: They are.
• 1:35
  Speaker B: They're the worst.
• 1:36
  Speaker A: People are the worst, you know, but also the best.
• 1:39
  Speaker B: Like I, I think if we were to have in our country today to try to have hands across America, you wouldn't get past three blocks.
• 1:49
  Speaker A: Huh. Okay.
• 1:49
  Speaker B: Because nobody likes each other.
• 1:51
  Speaker A: Right.
• 1:52
  Speaker B: It's so divided.
• 1:53
  Speaker A: A lot of division.
• 1:54
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I'm all for it.
• 1:56
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 1:56
  Speaker B: You know, whatever.
• 1:58
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 1:58
  Speaker B: I don't leave the house much.
• 2:00
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 2:01
  Speaker B: You know, but when the mailman comes over, I say, welcome in.
• 2:05
  Speaker A: Oh, okay.
• 2:05
  Speaker B: Cuz he's banging my wife. All right, well, it's, it's a cordial, crazy going nut.
• 2:10
  Speaker A: Right.
• 2:10
  Speaker B: No, my wife and I had this thing, okay. She, you know, I don't know what they call it. It's a thing that people started.
• 2:17
  Speaker A: Polyamory.
• 2:20
  Speaker B: No, it's like a wish list. Like, oh, okay. If I had, if, if I had one night to be. Yeah, that's it.
• 2:28
  Speaker A: And the mailman is on your wife's hall pass.
• 2:30
  Speaker B: Yes. Okay, Mailman. And I, I picked, I picked a dead pinup girl. You know, I picked, I picked Betty Boop.
• 2:37
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 2:38
  Speaker B: And she picked the mailman. So it goes crazy going, okay, we haven't got our mail in months.
• 2:43
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 2:44
  Speaker B: You know, I guess she's that good or that bad. I don't know.
• 2:47
  Speaker A: Yeah, he's keeping a low. Yeah, right.
• 2:49
  Speaker B: But he's a good guy.
• 2:50
  Speaker A: Sure, sure. Well, you have a long history with the mailman. You used to hang out, smoke weed with your mailman when you're back in la.
• 2:57
  Speaker B: Ray. The mailman?
• 2:59
  Speaker A: Ray Young. Pre.
• 3:00
  Speaker B: He delivered all right? Yeah, he delivered. Sometimes he wouldn't leave, though.
• 3:05
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
• 3:07
  Speaker B: Going nuts there.
• 3:09
  Speaker A: Well, so we. We've had a busy time. I know you were busy with school. I was busy playing all my Jazz Fest dates. Yeah, like you always like to. To say, I. I hit all my marks, I said all my lines, it all worked out. And then I went out on the road with the iguanas and Sunny Landreth. We went all through the Massachusetts.
• 3:29
  Speaker B: Did you hear that? I think while you were gone, maybe there was a. It was in the Garden District. These thieves were looking, trying, opening doors of cars, and some guy put. I guess he does this for security reasons, but he put a mannequin with the head and mask of Michael Myers from Halloween, that scary movie Halloween. And one of these pugs, these thugs, went to open the door and they saw this mannequin of Michael Myers and they freaked out and they just started shooting into the guy's car at Michael Myers, you know, So, I mean, it scared the burglars away, the car thieves, but he. Now he needs a new windshield.
• 4:11
  Speaker A: Oh, now, I hope they catch those guys because it seems like they had a murderous intent. If you're just ready to start shooting somebody because they had a mask on.
• 4:19
  Speaker B: Scott spooked. I don't know. Well, I don't, you know, but anyway, who. Who knows? But it's a scare. I remember when I first saw that movie Halloween. You could talk if you want. You can say things. You ever see that movie Halloween? When it first came out, I saw
• 4:33
  Speaker C: the reboot of it.
• 4:34
  Speaker B: Oh, the reboot. What are you, 18 years old?
• 4:38
  Speaker C: Nice try.
• 4:40
  Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think, you know, I. I've. I've maybe seen bits and pieces of those. Those slasher movies. You know, I'm not a horror movie fan. I never have been.
• 4:48
  Speaker C: Well, it's like one story, you know, you watch one and you know the story of all of them.
• 4:52
  Speaker A: I'm terrified already. I don't need to. I don't need anything else, especially in this town. Yeah, yeah. No, it's like. Like I heard Cat Williams say. He said. He goes, you can't threaten me. I'm terrified already.
• 5:05
  Speaker B: Now, who is Cat Williams?
• 5:07
  Speaker A: He's a great comedian. Oh, well, I Got rear ended. I know you like that at a gay bar. Well, no, not.
• 5:17
  Speaker B: Not this time.
• 5:18
  Speaker A: Not this time. No. That was on Normancy Francis Parkway at 2.
• 5:22
  Speaker B: It'll always be Jefferson Davis to me.
• 5:25
  Speaker A: Sure, I get that.
• 5:26
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 5:26
  Speaker A: Okay. So on the parkway at 2 Lane Avenue, I'm sitting there waiting for a red light, and suddenly out of nowhere, a work truck slams into the back of my car.
• 5:37
  Speaker B: I know.
• 5:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:38
  Speaker B: Now, did you call Morris Bart?
• 5:40
  Speaker A: I didn't call any attorney. I. I felt like it was in. In spite of how shocked I was at the impact, it was such.
• 5:48
  Speaker B: Why were you shocked? You're used to that.
• 5:50
  Speaker A: Well. Well, I wasn't expecting it, you know.
• 5:54
  Speaker B: But you didn't have lubrication.
• 5:57
  Speaker A: But I was loose. I was.
• 5:58
  Speaker B: You were loose?
• 5:59
  Speaker A: I was loose because I wasn't.
• 6:00
  Speaker B: But your foot was on the brake.
• 6:01
  Speaker A: My foot was on the brake. I did go forward about four feet, but I did not go out into Tulane Avenue, so there was no other cars involved. Now, when I pulled over to the side to exchange information with the guy, he had insurance, car was registered. I said, he's showing it all to me. He's very cooperative. He's very sorry. Apologetic and all, I guess, admitting fault. And I said, you got a driver's license? He said, well, no, I have my Honduran passport here.
• 6:32
  Speaker B: Oh.
• 6:33
  Speaker A: I said, hmm.
• 6:34
  Speaker B: So you called ice on him.
• 6:35
  Speaker A: So the police had already shown up and officer said, okay, y' all pull off to the side and I'll send somebody to take a report. So we're waiting for that to happen. And I said. I said, well, if the police show up, it's going to be a problem for you. He goes, yeah, probably so.
• 6:54
  Speaker B: Was his name Domingo?
• 6:55
  Speaker A: His name was Jose. I said, well, look, man, you know, you're. This is a clear cut case. I don't really need a police report because you ran into the back of me. I got pictures. You're, you know, admitting fault and all. I said, look, why don't we just take off, man? He goes, oh, that would be great.
• 7:11
  Speaker B: And he took off.
• 7:13
  Speaker A: So we took off. And then the insurance company is settling with me, so it's all working out.
• 7:18
  Speaker B: Who is this insurance company?
• 7:19
  Speaker A: I don't know. It's not important. Some. Some nameless company, you know, it's a subsidiary of one of the big ones.
• 7:25
  Speaker B: They have, you know, it's a.
• 7:28
  Speaker A: Underwritten by one of the big companies, but you never know, you know. And then shortly after that, the next day, I was driving somewhere and somebody just failed to yield they were going to run into me again. I, I don't know, man.
• 7:40
  Speaker B: Well, maybe somebody doesn't like you. Well, you know, there are assassins out there.
• 7:44
  Speaker A: That's true.
• 7:45
  Speaker B: They're really bad assassins.
• 7:47
  Speaker A: They're becoming more popular people. People cheer them on. Yeah, it's like.
• 7:51
  Speaker B: Well, I, I cheer them on is the way to hit somebody once in
• 7:55
  Speaker A: a while, you know, they become sexy.
• 7:57
  Speaker B: I remember my day. Assassins were good. You know, they kill somebody. They, they, you know, someone was. Needed to be dead. They were dead.
• 8:05
  Speaker A: Well, yeah. You think back on it? Not necessarily Squeaky from. Didn't get that. Get that bullet off.
• 8:10
  Speaker B: She was just Manson false. She wasn't an assassin. She wasn't.
• 8:15
  Speaker A: Well, she had a gun. She was trying to. Yeah, trying to pull a knife.
• 8:17
  Speaker B: I'm talking about, you know, the Day of the Condor kind of creep.
• 8:22
  Speaker A: Well, yeah, yeah. You know, Carlos the Jackal.
• 8:25
  Speaker B: Yeah, the Jackal. They are the Jackal, these assassins. But I also think the assassination attempts to our fearless leader were all fake. If you ask me, I think they were all fake.
• 8:37
  Speaker A: Okay, well, that, that has been floated out there. And someone who said that to me, I said, you know, as someone that used to believe a lot of crazy shit and no longer does, I tend to not believe that for all the same reasons. I discounted all the crazy shit that I used to believe.
• 8:53
  Speaker B: I don't know what you just said anyway, but you can listen back to it on replay. Used to be, you know, people die when people got sick, they died, you know. Oh, he got sick and he died and now it's. He lost his battle, you know. Now that's what they say these days. He lost his battle. Well, no, he didn't. He just died.
• 9:14
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 9:15
  Speaker B: What kind of battle? He knew he was gonna die. She knew she was gonna die. They died.
• 9:19
  Speaker A: Battle with mortality, you know.
• 9:21
  Speaker B: You know, speaking of dying.
• 9:23
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 9:24
  Speaker B: I would like to have my last dying wish. Do you ever think about your last dying wish? You know, I don't know, perhaps, you know, I would like my last dying wish for it to be a real hassle for my family and friends. That's what I would like. That's my last dying wish. Because I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna have a funeral or, you know, I'm not being buried underground or anything like that.
• 9:48
  Speaker A: Well, I thought we decided that who, whichever one goes first is going to have the other one's going to have them stuffed, taxidermy, some kind of life, life, lifelike pose, maybe you with a, a cocktail and A shitty look on your face. I don't know.
• 10:05
  Speaker B: I don't. I don't remember that. No.
• 10:07
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 10:07
  Speaker B: I don't remember.
• 10:08
  Speaker A: You have to go back to one of the early shows.
• 10:10
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 10:10
  Speaker A: Where we covered all that, signed all the waivers. I cut you off. You were gonna say something else.
• 10:18
  Speaker B: No, no, I was. About my last dying wish.
• 10:20
  Speaker A: Oh, well, speaking of dying, I know I saw you posted about Ted Turner. He was a friend of yours.
• 10:27
  Speaker B: I love.
• 10:28
  Speaker A: We lost Ted Turner. A visionary.
• 10:31
  Speaker B: Love him.
• 10:32
  Speaker A: Environmentalist.
• 10:33
  Speaker B: And he used to. In Jane Fonda's book, she talked about how after they got married. Yeah. She kept wanting three ways with her.
• 10:42
  Speaker A: Huh.
• 10:43
  Speaker B: And she actually did a few. Three ways with. With Ted and her and stuff. You know, two. Two women, a guy, two guys and her.
• 10:50
  Speaker A: Oh, really?
• 10:50
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. She talked about it. Read her book.
• 10:53
  Speaker A: Oh, okay.
• 10:54
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 10:54
  Speaker A: Check it out.
• 10:55
  Speaker B: Before she dies.
• 10:56
  Speaker A: Sure, sure.
• 10:56
  Speaker B: Well, before she gets assassinated.
• 10:58
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 10:59
  Speaker B: Well. But, yeah, I loved him because he saved all those beautiful movies that were going to be in a. In a garbage bin.
• 11:07
  Speaker A: Right.
• 11:08
  Speaker B: He saved all Turner Classic Movies. Yeah. He owned a baseball team. I didn't understand this whole sailing thing. I guess that's a rich man sport.
• 11:17
  Speaker A: Right?
• 11:17
  Speaker B: Right.
• 11:17
  Speaker A: I think he bought some big buffalo preserve.
• 11:20
  Speaker B: He bought buffalo preserves and stuff. So, yeah, he was my friend.
• 11:25
  Speaker A: Well, somebody else I. I suspect that you. You may post about, but just passed away this very day, was the great Rex Reed. Did you see that?
• 11:35
  Speaker B: That, you know, I mean, the movie review guy.
• 11:38
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:38
  Speaker B: I thought he died years ago.
• 11:39
  Speaker A: Well, he's been kind of out of the public eye, but apparently. And he wasn't even that old. I mean, he's in his 80s. He was like 87 or something. But he just passed away. Just today.
• 11:49
  Speaker B: Really?
• 11:50
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And I was reading.
• 11:51
  Speaker B: He was gay. Right.
• 11:52
  Speaker A: He was gay. He was gay and openly gay. And. And he's gay.
• 11:56
  Speaker B: I just saw him yesterday.
• 11:57
  Speaker C: What?
• 12:00
  Speaker A: I don't know what that means, but I was reading back through his. His life story on his Wikipedia page, and they were having some of his reviews, and a lot of them, the kind of things that he would say about people, reminded me of something you would say.
• 12:14
  Speaker B: Like what?
• 12:15
  Speaker A: Well, he was talking about some movie that Melissa McCarthy was in, and in the review, he described her as humongous, the size of a tractor. He went on and on. He had three or four unkind remarks to make. Make in. In the space of this one review. And I thought, well, that's. That sounds.
• 12:38
  Speaker B: Well, see, you know, he comes from that era where, you know, people he was the voice. You know, right now it's like the Rotten Tomatoes and everyone does that. Get away from me.
• 12:51
  Speaker A: Dogs.
• 12:51
  Speaker B: Dogs are showing up.
• 12:53
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, dogs.
• 12:55
  Speaker B: Well, how old was this guy?
• 12:57
  Speaker A: He was just in his 80s, you know, 87.
• 12:59
  Speaker B: He was still reviewing movies.
• 13:00
  Speaker A: I don't think he was. I mean, maybe this was like, this is some Melissa McCarthy movie from 10 years ago.
• 13:07
  Speaker B: Oh, God. But, well, you know, he comes from that era, like Rona Barrett, right? Stuff. They didn't really care about the story or anything like that. They more cared about the fashion, you know, that's what they cared about more, cuz he was gay. And Rona Barrett, you never saw her left side. She always looked to the right.
• 13:25
  Speaker A: Huh? Okay, I did.
• 13:27
  Speaker B: Was it the other way around?
• 13:28
  Speaker A: I didn't. I never, never clocked that. But okay. Yeah, but also he was in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckenridge.
• 13:36
  Speaker B: He was, he played Myra.
• 13:37
  Speaker A: No, he did not. But he had some other role in the, in the film.
• 13:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's what happens. You know, a lot of these critics are people who are, became critics and stuff. They were wannabe writers and actors and stuff like that. Movie makers. And they just didn't make it.
• 13:55
  Speaker A: And they get angry, right? They got to take it out.
• 13:58
  Speaker B: They're gonna take it out on them, you know. You know, like Ed Sullivan. You remember Ed Sullivan, don't you? Oh, yeah, yeah. He was a gossip columnist.
• 14:08
  Speaker A: Really?
• 14:08
  Speaker B: Back in the 50s. And he wrote and all of a sudden he started doing some local show, variety show. Then he got his big, big break, you know, in the, what was it, probably the early 60s. But he was a gossip columnist, that's what. Oh, he got his start okay. You know, he was a good guy.
• 14:27
  Speaker A: Like, it reminds me, you see that movie, I think it's called the Sweet Smell of Success. About the gossip columnist, is that Tony Curtis?
• 14:34
  Speaker B: Right.
• 14:35
  Speaker A: You know that, that's, that's, I think, hearkening back to that era where the newspaper columnists who wrote those kind of things wielded a lot of power.
• 14:42
  Speaker B: Well, that's it. I mean, they had the power because if you got a bad review from this one critic, your movie's dead.
• 14:50
  Speaker A: Right. Or if you got a good review, it could make your make your picture or make your whole career.
• 14:56
  Speaker B: Maybe it was a movie that wasn't doing well. You know, it was just like, what, what's this? And then this Rex Reed guy says it's the greatest movie ever. You know, boom, it's a hit.
• 15:06
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 15:06
  Speaker B: But not today anymore. No, no, Everybody's, everyone's got their own opinion. Right, right, right. Everyone has their own voice.
• 15:12
  Speaker A: Voice. Yeah.
• 15:13
  Speaker B: This is the worst thing ever, you know. This is the worst thing ever.
• 15:18
  Speaker A: The telephone.
• 15:19
  Speaker B: He's holding the cell phone. This was the worst invention ever because it gave everyone a voice. A lot of people don't need to speak.
• 15:26
  Speaker A: Yeah, we, we could use more gatekeepers, I think. I agree.
• 15:30
  Speaker C: I feel like the music industry comparable to that, since no one seems to care about music criticism is like the failed angry guys are all sound guys or promoters now. That's like the equivalent.
• 15:43
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Although some of the, I would say the better soundmen are usually the better musicians and many of them are excellent
• 15:51
  Speaker C: musicians in this town.
• 15:53
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. We have some great soundmen working in New Orleans these days. I gotta say, man, I rarely play play anywhere where they don't have a good sound man. Now sometimes I'll go on the road someplace and you'll get the sound man who. And this is the thing that drives me crazy. You know, it's tough in these festival settings where you gotta do a quick changeover and you know, everybody's trying to get their monitor levels where they want them to be and it's not enough time to do it. But someone that will argue with you about what is happening and they'll. You'll say it's not in my monitor. And they'll say it is and I'll say it's not at all. And they'll say it's turned all the way way up. And at that point you go, hold on, don't touch anything. Because usually at that point it is turned all the way up, except there's some button that they haven't hit. And then they will, it will occur to them, they'll go, oh, sorry. And they'll hit that button with everything turned up and they'll like 100.
• 16:49
  Speaker B: This is during a show.
• 16:50
  Speaker A: It was right before a show. Sound check. Sometimes during a show, I mean, if you're still trying to get that shit sorted out during the set, it will still happen. And yeah, you have 150 decibels spike go through your head and you never hear the same way. Now that's the thing that aggravates me. Anyway. Maybe we should get to our guests here.
• 17:11
  Speaker B: Sure, yeah.
• 17:12
  Speaker A: Nice, nice. All right, well, we have a guest here. She's got a lot of energy. She's very self driven. She's an award winning singer, musician, songwriter, poet, performer, producer. She has her seventh record, the Death of Cool, coming out any day. Now, actually, I think the day after this show comes out, and when I
• 17:35
  Speaker B: walked in, she told me to off.
• 17:36
  Speaker A: Sure, sure, sure. She's. She's got some. Some moxy to her.
• 17:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, she's got some moxy.
• 17:42
  Speaker A: This record, Death of the Cool, is produced by Troubled Men podcast guest and Squirrel Nut Zippers honcho Jimbo Mathis. He's alive still, so he's still quite a lot. And you can see her playing at places like 3090 on Frenchman Street, House of Blues, Foundation Room. She just played the French Quarter Fest, the Jazz Museum. Her previous record, the Starter Wife, was named in the best releases list by NPR's All Songs Considered. And no Depression magazine called her the voice of the futuristic folk rock, alt rock roots movement. Without further ado, the great Ms. Daphne Parker Powell. Welcome, Daphne.
• 18:25
  Speaker C: Hey, thanks for having me.
• 18:26
  Speaker B: Hey, yeah. Welcome.
• 18:27
  Speaker C: I love being here with you guys. This is great.
• 18:29
  Speaker A: Okay, well, we're just getting started. Don't. Don't.
• 18:31
  Speaker C: Don't judge yet.
• 18:32
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Daphne, I know you're not from New Orleans, so give us some background. Tell us where you grew up.
• 18:38
  Speaker C: Dad was a Marine, so military brat. Born at camp Lejeune in 1980, which, if you followed any of the cancer lawsuits, probably explains, cleans a lot of stuff.
• 18:46
  Speaker A: Okay. Because you are also a cancer survivor.
• 18:49
  Speaker C: I am. We'll come to that. Another.
• 18:50
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 18:51
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:51
  Speaker A: Another moment. So you spent early years in Camp Lejeune land?
• 18:55
  Speaker C: Well, landed in Ohio pretty soon after I was born and grew up in the foothills of Appalachia, doing a lot of.
• 19:03
  Speaker B: You know, there's an army, but there's a base there.
• 19:05
  Speaker C: No, he got out.
• 19:06
  Speaker B: Oh, he was already out.
• 19:08
  Speaker C: Yeah, he got out not long after I was born.
• 19:10
  Speaker B: Go around the world.
• 19:11
  Speaker C: I didn't go around. Well, I did, but in a different context. We moved to Ohio, and I grew up there and took off when I was 17. Moved to New York, did Brooklyn in the 90s.
• 19:23
  Speaker A: Now, I read something about growing up in a family band. Folk music band. That's so. Your. Your father's family? Mother's family.
• 19:33
  Speaker C: My mom's side.
• 19:34
  Speaker A: Okay. And did. Is. Did they hail from the area of Ohio, the. The Appalachian foothills.
• 19:41
  Speaker B: Wait a minute. Hold on a second. You said you were a military brat. So when were you in any base?
• 19:49
  Speaker C: Just Camp Lejeune.
• 19:50
  Speaker B: Just what?
• 19:51
  Speaker C: Just Camp Lejeune.
• 19:53
  Speaker B: Camp Lejeune. Okay. Camp Lejeune?
• 19:56
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 19:56
  Speaker C: In North Carolina.
• 19:57
  Speaker A: I don't know why we're all listening to the same.
• 20:00
  Speaker B: Maybe it's just too nice, you know?
• 20:01
  Speaker A: Just Adjust your. Your earpiece. That's not.
• 20:05
  Speaker B: And when was that? Camp Lejeune, 1980. All right, so that's the big lawsuit, right? Camp Lejeune? Yeah. Okay. That's right. That's the big law now. Do you have make any money out of that yet?
• 20:18
  Speaker C: No. You know, I called the number just to see what would happen, and they
• 20:21
  Speaker B: were like, I told you to off.
• 20:22
  Speaker C: Yeah, it's kind of funny. I've had cancer seven times and they still told me I wasn't sick enough to qualify.
• 20:31
  Speaker A: Maybe. Maybe the 8th will be the charm.
• 20:33
  Speaker B: I.
• 20:33
  Speaker C: You know, I just keep hoping that
• 20:35
  Speaker B: I never get an military.
• 20:38
  Speaker A: So do we.
• 20:39
  Speaker B: He retired the military?
• 20:40
  Speaker C: Yeah, he got out, moved us to Ohio.
• 20:43
  Speaker B: How old was he?
• 20:44
  Speaker C: Young.
• 20:45
  Speaker B: So he did like 20 years or something? If 10 years.
• 20:47
  Speaker C: No, he was. He did one tour. He was done.
• 20:50
  Speaker B: Oh, just one and done.
• 20:52
  Speaker A: Yeah, one and done.
• 20:53
  Speaker C: It was not for him.
• 20:54
  Speaker B: Oh, like me.
• 20:56
  Speaker C: He doesn't like other people.
• 20:59
  Speaker B: He was in the Appalachian.
• 21:00
  Speaker C: He's actually a wrestling banjo rust belt kid.
• 21:03
  Speaker B: Oh, he was a rust belt.
• 21:05
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 21:05
  Speaker C: He's Pennsylvania.
• 21:06
  Speaker B: Oh, and that's western or eastern Pennsylvania.
• 21:10
  Speaker C: Allentown.
• 21:11
  Speaker B: Oh, didn't Billy Joel sing a song
• 21:15
  Speaker A: living there in Allentown?
• 21:16
  Speaker C: He sure did. But my whole. My mom's whole side is from Kentucky, and they were coal miners. They followed the mines. As everything got stripped out in Kentucky, they followed them north. My grandfather actually worked for Peabody coal mine. You know, John Prine's song Paradise is about Peabody coal mine in the world's largest shovel at Big Muskie. That's permanently parked about 15 miles from where I grew up in Ohio.
• 21:43
  Speaker A: Okay, so when you say family band, what did that. Who was in that?
• 21:48
  Speaker C: Grandparents, mom, me mom, and my sister.
• 21:52
  Speaker A: Okay, and what was that like? What kind of You. You played guitar? What did you play?
• 21:58
  Speaker C: Yeah, it started out acapella, and I. My first instrument was actually flute, which is kind of hilarious. I don't play it now, but I started playing guitar. My mom always played guitar.
• 22:08
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 22:09
  Speaker C: And a lot of harmony singing, white gospel, you know, old time music, that kind of stuff.
• 22:15
  Speaker A: Appalachian traditional, hillbilly music. Yeah, I love that, man. Some very mournful stuff going on there.
• 22:24
  Speaker C: Yeah. And then it turned into a love of. It turned into a love of sea shanties eventually.
• 22:29
  Speaker B: Did you ever sleep with a cousin? Don't the Appalachians do?
• 22:33
  Speaker C: I got a body count, But I got to tell you, never one in my family.
• 22:37
  Speaker B: Okay. All right, good.
• 22:40
  Speaker A: Well, that's good. And this is what, as a teenager, you're doing this. And so as you're. As you're. And you're going to high school there in Ohio. And Allentown, that's a. It's a real hard scrabble area.
• 22:51
  Speaker B: Right.
• 22:52
  Speaker C: Well, where I grew up, it was in the middle of nowhere, like down in the mountains. And the nearest high school was about an hour long ride from where I grew up. And so I ended up being homeschooled instead.
• 23:06
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 23:06
  Speaker C: Because early days of homeschool, way too much of a pain in the.
• 23:09
  Speaker B: Was there oxy cotton there?
• 23:11
  Speaker A: Not yet.
• 23:11
  Speaker C: Oh my God. There was. No, not Oxy at that point. Point.
• 23:14
  Speaker B: No Oxy. Do you think you could get some now?
• 23:18
  Speaker C: So one of the great things about having cancer seven times is I've got a jar of oxy at my house. I am not telling you where I live. This probably got a street value that would buy. Well, it'll. It'll replace Renee's car.
• 23:31
  Speaker B: Really?
• 23:32
  Speaker A: Yeah. My car is a piece of. So it wouldn't be hard.
• 23:35
  Speaker B: Well, maybe you can sell it to Jose. He probably has some people.
• 23:39
  Speaker C: There you go.
• 23:40
  Speaker A: Might get whole thing going on. I seemed like. It seemed like an upstanding citizen or. Or non citizen, rather have it at home.
• 23:46
  Speaker B: And where do you live now
• 23:50
  Speaker A: anyway? At what point do you. So are you writing your own songs? Start off doing that. You start a band that's outside of your family. Tell us, give us some of that detail.
• 24:03
  Speaker C: Yeah. One of the great things about picking up a guitar for me was that it was the first chance I'd had to take my really obnoxiously maudlin and self absorbed poetry and do something with it that seemed to matter. You know, nobody writes good poetry when they're 15 years old. That's just not a thing. I mean, maybe there's a couple people out there, but I was not one of them.
• 24:27
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 24:27
  Speaker C: And. And then I just kind of like anything else. You just shape it and shape it and work on it and get lots of feedback from people. You try it out until something gives.
• 24:38
  Speaker A: Yes. Time plus attention plus any amount of talent will amount in you getting better.
• 24:44
  Speaker C: Eventually.
• 24:45
  Speaker A: Yes, one hopes. No, it's almost inevitable now. The attention has to be. It can't just be time. And a little bit of talent has to be focused and a lot of
• 24:57
  Speaker C: time in what I refer to as the Humilitron, which is like committing it to paper, committing it to tape and listening back and being like, oh God, oh, did I. Wow. Yeah.
• 25:08
  Speaker A: Yes. This is a shame based operation. I understand.
• 25:11
  Speaker C: Absolutely.
• 25:12
  Speaker A: That is how you.
• 25:13
  Speaker C: That's the big motivator well, that and spite and horniness. Okay, Those are my. Those are my three.
• 25:19
  Speaker A: Oh, okay.
• 25:20
  Speaker B: Spite and what?
• 25:21
  Speaker C: Horniness.
• 25:22
  Speaker B: Horniness.
• 25:23
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah. The best art is made pretty much out of spite and horizontal horniness.
• 25:27
  Speaker B: Really? Now, are you horny?
• 25:30
  Speaker C: Your eyebrows right now?
• 25:33
  Speaker B: Are you just spiteful?
• 25:34
  Speaker C: I. I gotta tell you, the. The overwhelming smell of Jagermeister does the exact opposite of horny to me.
• 25:40
  Speaker B: Oh, is that what you're drinking now? No, no. You can smell Jagermeister?
• 25:46
  Speaker C: Oh, I can.
• 25:46
  Speaker B: I can smell sewer water here. That's what I smell. Piss and sewer water.
• 25:50
  Speaker A: Maybe it's. It's kind of a Venn diagram is a little bit of overlap of both.
• 25:54
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 25:55
  Speaker C: Chicken or the egg? No, I'm having the same drink as you guys. I was. I was informed getting in, so I was like, I'm going to ride that wave for you.
• 26:05
  Speaker A: Nice, Nice.
• 26:06
  Speaker C: I'm going to ride the Stoli wave.
• 26:08
  Speaker B: All right. It's.
• 26:09
  Speaker A: It's good stuff. Now, what kind of bands were you listening to that were not of this genre? Like, you know, so early eight? Well, no, you're born 1980, so we're. You're listening to stuff in the. The 90s. I don't know. The Breeders, Liz Fair.
• 26:24
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, I went to Lilith Fair. It was. It was mindblowing. I went. Was it 19?
• 26:30
  Speaker B: I went there to meet chicks, man. They weren't having anything of it, man.
• 26:33
  Speaker C: I was going to say it was the first time that I had ever been someplace that Indigo Girls closed out the show. And it was the first time that I had ever been in a public place in Ohio. That's just not a thing. Especially in rural Ohio. And I was up in Columbus, and
• 26:48
  Speaker A: there were all women. You're saying, oh, my God.
• 26:52
  Speaker C: All of these women, like, sitting in pairs on blankets, making out to the Indigo Girls. And my mom lost her damn mind
• 26:59
  Speaker B: when I went to.
• 27:00
  Speaker C: She was like, wait, what?
• 27:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, when I went to Lilith Fair, man, I bumped into so many ex lovers and girlfriends.
• 27:07
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 27:07
  Speaker B: They all, you know, switched the other team after me.
• 27:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. Good work.
• 27:12
  Speaker C: You were doing the Lord's work, Manny.
• 27:13
  Speaker A: You were. Enough, all right?
• 27:15
  Speaker B: They looked at me like, get out here, Manny, with your rape machine. You know, they'd say things like that to me. And I was just like, hey, I got beer tickets. Come on. You know, you. But, yeah, I saw it all worked out. Yeah. Alanis Morissette, now, she was there. She came on to me and I said, back off, Alanis. Go sing your hateful song somewhere else.
• 27:40
  Speaker C: That's.
• 27:40
  Speaker B: You know, but I like her.
• 27:42
  Speaker C: She's. I'm glad you stood up for yourself.
• 27:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, she seems like a good gal.
• 27:45
  Speaker A: I could see her being a little bit pushy, a little bit of a handful.
• 27:48
  Speaker B: Oh, you've had problems with her?
• 27:50
  Speaker A: No, no, no, no.
• 27:51
  Speaker B: You had a thing for her.
• 27:53
  Speaker A: Oh, no.
• 27:55
  Speaker B: Back off your advances.
• 27:57
  Speaker A: No, no, no, no. That's.
• 27:58
  Speaker B: She's just Canadian. That's why you don't like her, right?
• 28:00
  Speaker A: You know, it's. It's a. It's really just a taste thing as well, they say. No accounting for taste. You know, I'm more of a Liz Fair breeders kind of guy. You know, Elastica.
• 28:10
  Speaker C: So she wasn't punk rock enough for you?
• 28:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, there's. There's something kind of just grating about her. In fact, I. That horrible voice maybe I recently heard. And I know. I know a lot of fans out there, a lot of female fans, but I have to say, I was in our grocery store, the Troubleman podcast, grocery store, not too long ago, and they were playing, you know, now they play music that I grew up with or, you know, I was an adult when it happened, and. And it was that song, oh, the Dogs again. It was one of the songs from that Jagged Little Pill record about, you learn, you know. You learn, you know, I was listening. I was like, God, what an awful vocal tone, man. It just sounds like nails on a chalkboard, to use Manny's expression. But again, you know, some people love it, so it's. You know, it sold millions of copies.
• 29:03
  Speaker B: She was making a new album. She says, I want Renee Coleman to play bass on. Would you play bass for her?
• 29:08
  Speaker A: Absolutely.
• 29:09
  Speaker B: Really?
• 29:10
  Speaker A: That's a paycheck 100, you know, and
• 29:13
  Speaker B: it's all about the money, man.
• 29:15
  Speaker A: Well, no, I think. I think that whoever she started to
• 29:18
  Speaker B: sing to you, well, how would you feel?
• 29:20
  Speaker A: You know, I might have to tell her, since I'm someone who has a hard time holding their tongue. I might have to say, if I was you, I wouldn't do that yelp. I'd get rid of the. The yelp in your voice and try to sing as naturally as you can. Just open your mouth and let the sound happen. And don't try to put any English on it.
• 29:38
  Speaker B: That's what I say to all women I've been with. Open your mouth and let the sound happen.
• 29:43
  Speaker A: Yeah, okay.
• 29:44
  Speaker B: That's what I've said to many women and most women in my life.
• 29:46
  Speaker A: Well, there you go.
• 29:47
  Speaker C: Why can't I just hear something slurping right now?
• 29:51
  Speaker A: We didn't have to get so. So graphic there, Daphne. So how do you make it out of. Of.
• 29:58
  Speaker B: Of Alanis Morissette Studio?
• 30:01
  Speaker A: How do you make it out of Ohio?
• 30:03
  Speaker C: I worked a bunch of dumb little service industry jobs, and then I got packed up my little 1987 Chevy Cavalier and I drove my ass to Brooklyn with $500 in my pocket and the
• 30:18
  Speaker B: cheapest acoustic guitar you had. All that Oxy too.
• 30:22
  Speaker A: Obviously, this is to go to college to Brooklyn.
• 30:25
  Speaker C: Well, it was to go anywhere but Ohio.
• 30:28
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 30:29
  Speaker C: Basically.
• 30:30
  Speaker A: But I saw you have a degree from Fordham.
• 30:32
  Speaker C: I do not have a degree.
• 30:33
  Speaker A: I didn't Fordham.
• 30:34
  Speaker C: I went to Fordham.
• 30:35
  Speaker A: Okay, That's. That's better yet.
• 30:37
  Speaker C: Yeah, I got in. I couldn't even believe a homeschool kid like me actually got in. But I did not finish. I only got. I only made it through three years. I'm not a classroom person.
• 30:46
  Speaker A: I hear you.
• 30:47
  Speaker C: Classrooms are not my jam, Manny.
• 30:49
  Speaker A: And I never finished college either. In fact, most of the. The most successful guests we've had on the show do about two years of college and leave. That's. That's the general trajectory of. Of people that are successful in their own rights.
• 31:04
  Speaker B: Did Rick Slave go to Harvard? He graduated Harvard. Rick Slave.
• 31:08
  Speaker A: He may have. He may have.
• 31:09
  Speaker B: Yeah. So we've had Harvard grads.
• 31:11
  Speaker A: No, we have had some. Him, but, you know, I. I said the most successful, but.
• 31:15
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 31:17
  Speaker A: Not that he's not successful in his own right, but, you know Juan. Juan Valdez? No, Juan Sanchez is. I think he's a hard.
• 31:27
  Speaker B: Isn't that the coffee grower for you, Ben, or Folgers?
• 31:32
  Speaker A: Folgers.
• 31:32
  Speaker B: He only picks the best beans.
• 31:34
  Speaker A: Right, right, right, right. Call back. No, Juan Sanchez, our bartender here. I think he addressed. It's either Harvard or Columbia that he graduated from. Anyway, back to you, Daphne Parker Powell. And so. So you arrive in Brooklyn with an acoustic guitar. And what year is this?
• 31:52
  Speaker C: 1998. Somewhere in that range.
• 31:56
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 31:56
  Speaker A: It's before Brooklyn got so hipster fied.
• 32:00
  Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. I lived in Prospect Heights, which at the time, time was pretty dodgy. And then I ended up with an apartment in Fort Green for a little while.
• 32:10
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 32:10
  Speaker C: Most of that neighborhood got torn down to build the Barclays center, which is a bummer. It's like my old hood is. Just doesn't exist anymore.
• 32:17
  Speaker A: All right, so it was a cool time, man.
• 32:20
  Speaker C: I got to know some great people. Brooklyn in the 90s was awesome.
• 32:23
  Speaker A: Right? So what now? Now?
• 32:25
  Speaker B: Did you meet Spike Lee there?
• 32:26
  Speaker C: I sure didn't. That would have been great.
• 32:29
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 32:30
  Speaker C: I would have loved because.
• 32:31
  Speaker B: Were you near Bed Stuy?
• 32:33
  Speaker C: Fort Greene is a little further, closer to Manhattan.
• 32:36
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 32:37
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 32:40
  Speaker A: Okay. So you're, you're, you're there. It's working odd jobs and you're finding musicians to play with there.
• 32:46
  Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. I, because I grew up in the old time community, I had a lot of folks involved with the. What is called the Folk Music Society of New York. But for short nomenclature is. It's called Pinewoods.
• 32:57
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 32:58
  Speaker C: And that's a of lot, lot of traditional music folks that do various styles of, you know, everything from sea shanties and Appalachian folk to kmer to all kinds of different things. Pete Seeger and Jean Richie were really very heavily involved in that scene. And that is kind of how like my life started taking shape. From there was getting involved with that crew of people through, you know, moving in with some friends that I had met while I was still living in Ohio. And they kind of gave me a springboard up and then kind of chasing that music all over the world.
• 33:36
  Speaker A: Okay, well, so how long were you in Brooklyn for and what caused you to leave?
• 33:42
  Speaker C: About two years.
• 33:43
  Speaker B: And the rent caused you to leave? Probably.
• 33:45
  Speaker C: Oh my God. I had. I was the luckiest bitch alive, man. I got a sublet for $500 a month.
• 33:52
  Speaker B: What?
• 33:52
  Speaker C: I know, I know. I don't even. I. Some the stars aligned for me. I was really lucky.
• 33:59
  Speaker B: That's great. Cuz I lived in Manhattan in the 80s, but I was living in the Hilton Hotel for about nine months because I was working on a television show, so I didn't really have to.
• 34:12
  Speaker C: That's a rough life.
• 34:13
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were.
• 34:14
  Speaker B: But I had a lot of friends. Friends like in Lower east side. Lower. You know, we're paying like 12 and we're talking 1986, like $1200 for like a room half the size of this, I bet, you know.
• 34:28
  Speaker C: Damn.
• 34:28
  Speaker B: Yeah. Good times for them, I'm sure.
• 34:31
  Speaker A: So, so you're. It's the, the beginning of your professional. I mean you're, you're writing songs with people, meeting other professional musicians out there. The big city, New York. But you're only there for two years and what's next for you is it you start to somehow wind up on a sailing ship? Was it the sea shanties that got you on that?
• 34:51
  Speaker C: In a way, yeah. So I kind of had my fill of New York. I moved from rural nowhere into the biggest, baddest city in the world. And I did okay. I mean I held my own, but I never felt quite to Jim Croce too hard. But New York's not my home. Like, I really just did not feel it.
• 35:12
  Speaker B: And now, did you stay in touch with your family in Ohio?
• 35:16
  Speaker C: Oh, sure, Some of them. Some of them I had to kind of walk away from a lot of stuff. I. I grew up one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
• 35:23
  Speaker A: Oh, really?
• 35:23
  Speaker C: And when I left Ohio, I also left the faith. And that meant that I was basically just shut out from everybody's life, except for a couple of people that understood why I needed to go.
• 35:36
  Speaker B: So your parents were sitting on the porch going, why doesn't Daphne call things like that?
• 35:43
  Speaker C: One of the people that I did hold on too close and tight is my mom. I'm very grateful for that. And she's still.
• 35:49
  Speaker B: Absolutely. Did you call her for Mother's Day?
• 35:52
  Speaker C: I did. Well, I texted with her. She was working, but I call her a lot.
• 35:58
  Speaker B: Working the pole on Thursday?
• 36:00
  Speaker C: No, she's a nurse.
• 36:02
  Speaker B: She's a nurse.
• 36:03
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 36:03
  Speaker B: She's doing the. That's where the oxy cotton's from, huh?
• 36:07
  Speaker D: She does.
• 36:07
  Speaker C: Loving work, man.
• 36:09
  Speaker B: Loving work. That's nice. But you did. You texted her?
• 36:12
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah, we talk almost every day. Oh, she lost her battle.
• 36:17
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, she lost the battle, apparently. Yeah, she lost that battle.
• 36:22
  Speaker A: Tell us about this sailing ship.
• 36:24
  Speaker C: Doing sea shanties and traditional music in New York led me to doing living history interpretive work at South Street Seaport Museum. And they had a number of tall ships there, some of which were just like museum ships, and some of which were actually voyaging boats, and you could get on them and learn how to sail. They had sea scouts programs, all kinds of interesting, like, student programs. Some of them were headboats where you could go tour New York harbor as a tourist or whatever. And I kind of cut my teeth on those. I'd always wanted to learn how to sail. I always thought it was really cool. And they're. They're old. They're traditional double mast.
• 37:03
  Speaker A: What kind of rigging?
• 37:05
  Speaker C: Schooners are my favorite vibe schooners are the ones with two masts and the sails run fore and aft, not. Not perpendicular to the hull. They run the same direction as the hull.
• 37:15
  Speaker A: Well, I mean, do they. Do we even have modern sailing ships that. I mean, that's like a Roman style of ship, right? I mean, all. All sailing. Modern sailing ships have. Have sails that run fore and aft. Yeah.
• 37:27
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 37:27
  Speaker A: Right.
• 37:27
  Speaker B: Did you have to climb up and move?
• 37:29
  Speaker C: Oh, I did. I loved it. It was so fun. I've always been such an adventurer.
• 37:35
  Speaker B: I don't like the ocean to Begin
• 37:37
  Speaker A: with, yeah, I don't like water. I don't even like to put my head under the water in the tub.
• 37:40
  Speaker C: Oh, wow.
• 37:42
  Speaker B: He likes to put his head underwater in the toilet, though.
• 37:45
  Speaker A: That's how I make up for.
• 37:47
  Speaker C: Yeah, fair.
• 37:50
  Speaker A: Anyway, back to you.
• 37:51
  Speaker C: So, yeah, so I'd been working with like Pete Seeger and he, back in the 1960s, he saw how shitty the Hudson river had gotten from pollution and he started this really cool program called the Clearwater. There was a music festival that developed out of that concept also. Clearwater Music Festival on the Hudson River. But there's a boat, an actual wooden sailing ship called the Clearwater. It's a slight loop and it's been used as like an educational platform ever since then. And so a lot of tall ships were no longer industrially viable. They couldn't move enough cargo cheaply enough. And so instead of decommissioning them or letting them rot, a lot of non profits built programs based on Clearwater, where they were teaching ropes courses in environmental science and ecology and things like. Things like that. So when I got, you know, I cut my teeth down at South Street Seaport, I ended up leaving New York to go sail all over on different tall ships teaching Clearwater based programs.
• 38:51
  Speaker A: So. So where were you stationed, so to speak?
• 38:54
  Speaker C: Doing that all over, everywhere from Maine and down the whole East Coast. I was on the Great Lakes. I was out in Seattle on Schooner Adventurous, down in la, in San Francisco on Hawaiian Chieftain. I was down in the Gulf. I. I spent almost two years on Pride of Baltimore too. For anybody that doesn't know Pride of Baltimore, it's a.
• 39:22
  Speaker A: It's almost everybody, but go ahead and tell us.
• 39:25
  Speaker C: Well, it isn't though. You remember Spiel Spielberg made that movie about the Amistad? It won like Oscars and stuff. So at that time there was Amistad. There was no Amistad. Right. It's since been built. They built an Amistad since that movie came out.
• 39:41
  Speaker A: Oh, but it was actually a historical boat.
• 39:43
  Speaker C: It was. Right. But that historical boat didn't exist anymore.
• 39:47
  Speaker A: Oh, yes. Anymore. Yes. It existed in real time. And you know, interesting little fact about the Amistad. The guy that led the revolt on the Amistad is. Was Sing K. But the guy that was running the Symbionese Liberation army when they took Paddy Hearst captive called himself Sing Kyu, but he took his name from that guy. Did you know that?
• 40:14
  Speaker C: I did not know that.
• 40:14
  Speaker B: Now you do.
• 40:15
  Speaker C: Awesome. I love that.
• 40:16
  Speaker A: Tidbits of useless knowledge I have.
• 40:19
  Speaker C: So the boat that I was on for a Couple of years. Actually played Amistad in the Spielberg movie. Oh, so it's that boat. So that is how people know it. Yes.
• 40:26
  Speaker A: Well, you know, we are gonna get to your music career, to your recording career. I feel like it's right around the corner, but right now, it's. It's time for that. It's that time, Manny.
• 40:35
  Speaker B: Yeah. We need to take a break. The nation, the troubled nation knows what to do. And we'll be right back.
• 40:41
  Speaker D: I wonder now was it a dream? Did it frighten you like it frightened me? Find the light and steady my breath? You square my shoulders and you turn my head? Beyond the passing time? Beyond the dying vine? Beyond the 5th and GR. That road is always right? Tell you things I don't tell the crowd? You know me better than I know myself? Crushing grapes beneath my toes? Juice is sweeter than the sticks and stones treat a pump bind a word, dream a vision? Now my faith is stirred? Can't turn around, can't follow you? I'm an open door? Door you will walk right through? Beyond the passing time? Be on the dying vine? Beyond.
• 42:11
  Speaker A: And we're back. Back with Mr. Manny Chevrolet. I am Renee Komen, back with our guest, Ms. Daphne Parker Powell. Now, I know, Daphne, you're kind of new to the show, but as our listeners understand, this is a listener supported operation. We have PayPal and Venmo links in the show, notes of every show, as well as the Facebook page. And you know, we rely on the kindness of strangers and. And friends to defray our operating costs, buy us cocktails. And it's been a bit of a dry period. I've talked about it a few times. That has motivated some movement, a bit of movement. But I'd say it's still very trying times. We have a. But I want to give a shout out to Brian Hudson who used the PayPal link but ate all the heads up. So thank you, Brian. Brian, keep saving your pennies. Also, we have a Patreon page. Takes all the guesswork out of supporting the podcast. We have links there for trouble. Men podcast. T shirts and also tank tops come in many sizes, men and women styles. And also follow us on social media, Instagram, Facebook and rate. Review and subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening to it. Give us five stars. Cost you. Nothing helps us a lot. And yes, if you want to check out any of my dates coming up, you can have the link there for the iguanas.com and the dates page and also my Renee. Com and Facebook page.
• 43:44
  Speaker B: Is there any booze in this drink.
• 43:46
  Speaker A: I think it is, it's, you know, I was, I was tasting it and it's back to that. And I saw him pour the soda out of a. A can addiction. Dry soda can. So I don't know where the sweetness is coming from and.
• 43:57
  Speaker B: But I don't taste any alcohol in this drink whatsoever. Did you see him pour.
• 44:01
  Speaker A: I saw him pour it, yeah. So I poured out of the bottle. Yeah.
• 44:04
  Speaker B: I don't know.
• 44:06
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think you'll probably eventually feel something, but yeah, I think that's about enough of that housekeeping for now. Let's get back to our guest, Ms. Daphne Parker Powell. Now, Daphne, I know that you didn't always go by that name professionally. You, you had a different name that you, you made records under for, for many years. That was Daphne Lee Martin. That's so. So Lee Marvin Lee Martin. Daphne Lee Martin.
• 44:32
  Speaker B: You could have been part of the group the Sons of Lee Marvin.
• 44:36
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 44:36
  Speaker B: With Jim Jarmusch.
• 44:38
  Speaker A: Right, right, right.
• 44:39
  Speaker B: You know, that would be cool.
• 44:40
  Speaker C: Jim Jarmusch is good company.
• 44:42
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 44:43
  Speaker C: I mean, Tom Waits is my absolute favorite artist on this platform planet. And all their work together is right up there.
• 44:50
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's, that's, that's our, that's our exact aesthetic. You come off the, the sailing ships at some point, you, you start a record label, start a record store, start making your own. I'm assuming this is cuz you're making your own records. You wanted to. And we've only met a couple of times in person before actually.
• 45:10
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 45:11
  Speaker A: So welcome, welcome. And it's very nice to do all this research. And doing it, I became more impressed because not only do you have a. You put out these records, they're very self directed records. You played all the instruments on some of your records. You produced your own records. Talk about how did you start doing that?
• 45:34
  Speaker C: Yeah, when I landed in Connecticut, it was because I was dating this guy, whatever, and his family lived in Connecticut. I would never have chosen Connecticut on my own accord, but that was where his family was. So we landed there and, and he was out of the picture pretty soon thereafter. And then I just fell really fast and hard for one of those bad boy types and poured my entire life savings into his dream, which was opening a record store.
• 46:01
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 46:01
  Speaker C: And I was like, man, I like music. Let's do this. Okay.
• 46:05
  Speaker B: And for about this was in Connecticut.
• 46:07
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 46:07
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 46:08
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 46:08
  Speaker B: So what happened to the first guy? He went on to sell insurance or something.
• 46:12
  Speaker C: Dude. Last time I heard anything about him, he was about to get divorced and had like three DUIs, and I was like, zero.
• 46:20
  Speaker B: Was his name Jose?
• 46:25
  Speaker C: No, but I think he got what was coming to him, I'll tell you that.
• 46:28
  Speaker A: Don't. Don't we all?
• 46:30
  Speaker C: Oh, man. There's like a poetic justice. Sometimes it takes 20 years to get that poetic justice, but you get it eventually. Yeah.
• 46:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think so.
• 46:39
  Speaker C: Yeah. So I. I poured my heart and soul into it. I wasn't really making music at the time, but I got into it. So I opened the record store called the Telegraph in New London, Connecticut in 2010, and I put my first record out at the end of 2011. And since I had to learn to DIY everything, like most artists do, you have to wear every hat. You have to learn how to graphic design. You have to learn how to run radio campaigns. You have to learn how to, you know, flyer and book shows and promote them. You have to everything, every little corner of the industry. When you're first starting out, you have to learn all of that. You don't have a team behind you to help. And so I figured, well, if I'm gonna learn all this shit, I'm gonna at least do it for me and all my friends too.
• 47:24
  Speaker A: Okay?
• 47:25
  Speaker C: So that's where the record label kind of was born. And I was always in love with Anita Franco, like from day one when I was a teenager. And I thought, well, if Righteous Babe is such a success and she's self driven and I'm self driven, I could try to figure out a similar model. Right. I could follow this then. I own my masters. I am not beholden to the industry at large, and I could just kind of do things in my own way on my own terms. And I'm seven albums deep now.
• 47:52
  Speaker A: What is your label?
• 47:54
  Speaker C: Pleasure Loves Company.
• 47:55
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 47:55
  Speaker B: Nice.
• 47:56
  Speaker C: Yeah. And that's new. I ran everything through the Telegraph for the first five records.
• 48:00
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 48:01
  Speaker C: But, yeah, but, yeah, that was my. That was. My married name back then was Daphne Lee Martin.
• 48:07
  Speaker A: I didn't go all the way back and listen to all your earliest records, but your most recent records are very expansive. You know, like kind of moody orchestral cabaret and, you know, kind of alt folk, but. But not. Not simple, small records. They're very lush and. And so, I mean, that's.
• 48:30
  Speaker C: Thank you.
• 48:30
  Speaker A: It's not easy to do.
• 48:31
  Speaker C: Thank you. No, it's not. Some of the tracks on my opus record is Fall on youn Sword, and I did most of that myself. And. And some of those songs, there's like 50 separate instrument tracks on them because I just Wanted this sort of Phil Spector wall of sound, like, hugeness to the thing. And because I was just miserably married to someone who didn't love me. And sitting in my basement, that was pretty easy to pull off. Sure.
• 48:58
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 48:59
  Speaker C: You know, like, hey, man, nobody's gonna pay attention to me.
• 49:02
  Speaker B: I'm at the record store.
• 49:04
  Speaker C: Well, he still runs it.
• 49:06
  Speaker B: He still runs it. He's still in the basement.
• 49:09
  Speaker A: She was in the basement.
• 49:10
  Speaker C: I was in the basement. Yeah.
• 49:12
  Speaker B: Up there with the cameras watching you in the basement.
• 49:14
  Speaker A: Right.
• 49:15
  Speaker C: Yeah. Well, yeah. If you only knew. Yes, probably.
• 49:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, I know. I know these kids.
• 49:21
  Speaker A: So, yeah, Manny. He's very perceptive. Well, so, you know, you had cancer all these times. Is that any of that started yet? In this timeline?
• 49:31
  Speaker C: The first round was in 2006, so, yeah.
• 49:34
  Speaker A: Oh, okay. So you were already a cancer survivor by that time.
• 49:37
  Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I had. Had. Yeah. And. And I knew that I couldn't have kids because of the first cancer.
• 49:44
  Speaker A: Oh, wow.
• 49:45
  Speaker C: So the record store was kind of my baby. Right. Like, that was my way of, like, momming my scene.
• 49:51
  Speaker A: Pretty young to. To be having those kind of maladies, huh?
• 49:55
  Speaker C: Yeah, 26 was. It was a bear.
• 49:56
  Speaker A: Gee whiz.
• 49:58
  Speaker C: But it gave me the opportunity to, like, be the mom to all my scene friends, you know? Like, I was never into drugs because when you're sailing, you have to pee in a cup for the Coast Guard. So, like, I never fell into some of the traps that the other artists around me fell into, and I'm really lucky for that. But it kind of uniquely positioned me into this, like, nurturing character, you know, the den mother, if you will, of the scene. And then when I opened the record store, that only just reinforced it even more.
• 50:26
  Speaker A: Right, right. So you're. You're up there, you know, making records for you, your friends, producing their records as well, or just putting them out.
• 50:34
  Speaker C: Or just putting them out.
• 50:36
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 50:37
  Speaker C: Yeah, I. I haven't really produced for very many people. I've. I'm not great. I. I futz around at Logic. I'm not an amazing producer, and I don't even put out my own recordings very much anymore. Some of those cover songs that you hear on my, like, Spotify and stuff like that, I made those myself, but I just always want to work with, like, the coolest people I can get my hands on.
• 51:04
  Speaker A: Well, it's really. I think it's. It's a dubious prospect to produce your own record if you can possibly avoid it. Because it's. No matter how great a producer you are, if you're the artist. You need to be the artist. You need to be on that side of the glass. You need to be thinking about the concerns of the people on that side of the glass. And to make the best thing, you need someone who is as good as you on the other side of the glass. Doing what happens over there, making those decisions, being objective, you know, looking after you, looking out for your best interests so that you don't have to do it all.
• 51:42
  Speaker C: You get way too close to it. And everybody needs a no man. I mean, you've got Manny.
• 51:47
  Speaker B: Everyone needs.
• 51:48
  Speaker C: Everyone needs a no man.
• 51:49
  Speaker B: Oh, everybody needs to tell you. Jamming it to the big guy when
• 51:55
  Speaker C: you're getting too serious.
• 51:57
  Speaker A: She's being nice. Compliment.
• 52:01
  Speaker B: So who are these people? You first produce unsuccessfully?
• 52:06
  Speaker C: Oh, no, I. I'm. I. I just. I just help people make demos.
• 52:10
  Speaker B: I. I don't help them make them produce.
• 52:13
  Speaker C: Produce.
• 52:14
  Speaker A: So you put out several records up there now, at some point the marriage falls apart, I'm guessing.
• 52:20
  Speaker C: Sure did.
• 52:21
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 52:21
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 52:23
  Speaker A: And you have recurring episodes of cancer diagnoses?
• 52:30
  Speaker C: No. Well, not really. What happened was I. This is a funny story. I'll do it as quickly as possible. I thought I was healthy as a horse. I was doing so great. I had moved down to New Orleans. I was rocking it, like making now.
• 52:44
  Speaker A: Why'd you move to New Orleans?
• 52:45
  Speaker B: Sorry.
• 52:46
  Speaker C: Music. I just love it here. The thing we didn't get to in the tall ship conversation was the pride of Baltimore that I was on.
• 52:52
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 52:52
  Speaker C: Actually came to New Orleans in 2001 for the op sale. We actually docked the boat right in Jackson Square in front of the aquarium for the op sale, for whatever anniversary that was. And.
• 53:04
  Speaker A: And.
• 53:04
  Speaker C: And I fell in love.
• 53:05
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 53:05
  Speaker C: All right. Oh my God. So in love. And I was 21 at the time. And this year, OpSail's coming back and I'm so stoked.
• 53:12
  Speaker A: Okay. To see all the boats again comes around.
• 53:15
  Speaker C: But yeah, I've just been obsessed with the city ever since and I always knew I would end up here.
• 53:19
  Speaker A: So when the marriage fell apart, you just moved here sight unseen. Or except for that one short time,
• 53:24
  Speaker C: I had actually hired touring bandmates from here over the years with the other records. Cuz this is where the great musicians are. So I went and scooped them up and I was like, go on the road with me. And they were like, yes, let's do that.
• 53:37
  Speaker B: Who are those guys?
• 53:38
  Speaker C: None of them live here anymore.
• 53:40
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 53:40
  Speaker C: And you.
• 53:41
  Speaker B: They knew better, Right.
• 53:44
  Speaker C: All over the world at this point, they're. They're chasing Their dreams.
• 53:47
  Speaker A: Not from here, because. No, if they were from here, they would still be here.
• 53:51
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 53:51
  Speaker A: Like me going to the. The record before this, when the starter was life.
• 53:55
  Speaker C: Sure.
• 53:55
  Speaker A: It kind of has some themes from the dissolution of your marriage.
• 53:59
  Speaker C: Yeah. That's the breakup record. That's my sea change.
• 54:01
  Speaker A: You know, your sea change, your blood on the tracks.
• 54:04
  Speaker C: If it. Yeah, you will. Yep.
• 54:06
  Speaker A: Both records I love. They're career highlights for both of those artists.
• 54:12
  Speaker C: Have you ever been divorced?
• 54:14
  Speaker A: No, I have not.
• 54:15
  Speaker C: Don't do it. 0 out of 10 do not recommend.
• 54:18
  Speaker A: Believe me, I understand
• 54:21
  Speaker C: nothing.
• 54:21
  Speaker A: I wouldn't. It's not on my bucket list.
• 54:23
  Speaker C: No, don't do it.
• 54:24
  Speaker A: So Starter Wife is a fairly sprawling record. I mean, has a lot of complex arrangements and all that kind of stuff. Now, are you living here when you make that record, or are you kind of between two cities?
• 54:38
  Speaker C: Sort of between two cities. For that one, it came together over Covid, so we couldn't see each other in person. Like, that producer lived in Lexington, Kentucky. I was in Connecticut. And my collaborator, the fiddle player, who did all the arrangements because it's chamber pop.
• 54:55
  Speaker A: Kieran.
• 54:55
  Speaker C: Kieran Ledwidge.
• 54:57
  Speaker A: Ledwidge, Yeah. I had to write that name down. But he plays beautifully.
• 55:00
  Speaker C: Oh, my God, he's wonderful. He's in Australia now. That's. He's an Australian national. He was just living in the States at the time. And he went back because Australia closed its borders during commercial Covid.
• 55:12
  Speaker B: Right.
• 55:12
  Speaker C: And he wanted to be with his family. And while he was there waiting it out, he got a gig playing for Delta Goodrum. And Delta is like the Taylor Swift of Australia. Like, she's so successful and famous and now.
• 55:27
  Speaker B: But only in Australia.
• 55:28
  Speaker C: Yeah. Well, and then Europe, because I've never heard of her. She's on Eurovision, I think, now.
• 55:33
  Speaker A: All right, makes sense.
• 55:35
  Speaker B: New Zealand and Australia, though, right?
• 55:38
  Speaker A: They're close.
• 55:39
  Speaker B: They're. They're.
• 55:40
  Speaker A: They're different countries.
• 55:41
  Speaker B: But they're the same continent, right?
• 55:43
  Speaker A: No, no, they're both islands.
• 55:45
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 55:45
  Speaker B: No, but Australia is a continent.
• 55:47
  Speaker A: It's an. It's an island continent.
• 55:49
  Speaker B: Yeah. But I think if you call it Oceania, then it's Australia and New Zealand.
• 55:55
  Speaker C: You. I think you might be correct there. Yeah, I think that.
• 55:58
  Speaker B: I think so.
• 55:59
  Speaker C: Yeah. Tell him what he's won, folks.
• 56:01
  Speaker B: Yeah, but. Yeah, those Aborigines, man, you gotta watch out for those people. They're crazy.
• 56:08
  Speaker C: Yeah. They actually care about the planet and stuff.
• 56:11
  Speaker B: Yeah. It's wild, really. That's why they hide.
• 56:14
  Speaker A: They're the only ones. So on this record You're. You're still dealing with some of the fallout for. Well, clearly the. The title song is Starter Wife. It deals with some of these. These issues that you're still trying to clear the decks of.
• 56:28
  Speaker C: Sure, yeah. I mean, for that matter, the Death of Cool is a little bit of still sort of processing the end result of that. This is something that. This will be the first interview I actually say this out loud in the Death of Cool. The concept of it came out of the wreckage of the Starter Wife and sort of that idea of like, I spent 11 years of my life with this man who had this idea that to matter, he had to matter in these niche social groups. He had to be the king of hipster mountain. Right. He had to be the. The guy like finger guns guy.
• 57:07
  Speaker A: Right.
• 57:07
  Speaker C: And. And just how much of my own creativity, my own energy and my own love and my care and my. My whole life I wrapped up into the shallowest ass because he was leading the way. And so the whole thing of the Death of Cool is making fun of that.
• 57:27
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 57:28
  Speaker C: It's saying, you know what? You don't have to be. It's obviously a tip of the hat to Miles Davis and Birth of the
• 57:33
  Speaker A: Cool, but yes, I had that in my notes. Miles Davis and Gil Evans, please. Let's not forget Gil Evans.
• 57:39
  Speaker B: What was your ex husband's name? Jim Jones.
• 57:44
  Speaker C: Manny, I love you.
• 57:47
  Speaker A: We all do.
• 57:47
  Speaker B: Now the desert. Cool. Cool happened when Humphrey Bogart died.
• 57:51
  Speaker C: Oh, fair.
• 57:52
  Speaker B: That's when cool died.
• 57:53
  Speaker C: That's when cool died.
• 57:55
  Speaker B: No one's ever been cool.
• 57:57
  Speaker A: That's when. When Sinatra and Betty Bacall got together. Did they? Yes. Anyway.
• 58:03
  Speaker B: I don't know about that.
• 58:04
  Speaker A: Anyway, look it up. But so. So Death of Cool. Yes, that. That all of these preoccupations with hipsterism and. And how you're viewed by others is really not where it's at.
• 58:20
  Speaker C: Right. And changing yourself or faking it, pretending to be something in order to fit into small social groups instead of just becoming your actual self, being who you really are. And yeah, I just want to make fun of that so bad that it just disappears forever. I want to make it so uncool to. To be cool.
• 58:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. You know, it's like, stop.
• 58:45
  Speaker C: Stop trying so hard.
• 58:46
  Speaker B: Well.
• 58:46
  Speaker A: Well, that's the thing. You can't really be cool if you're trying.
• 58:50
  Speaker C: Right?
• 58:50
  Speaker A: You know, I mean, you. The maybe stupid people will think you're cool, but you won't really be cool.
• 58:57
  Speaker B: Well, because, I mean, you live two lives. You live the young person's life where you're learning and all that kind of stuff and you're trying to be cool, but then you reach a certain age where the second part of your life and then it's over. You realize, well, that was stupid. I just. Yeah, you stop giving a. Yeah, you don't give a. So, I mean, that's what cool is. I mean, right? Cool is for the young, you know, it really is.
• 59:23
  Speaker A: But then, like, Harry Dean Stanton is the ultimate cool. Who did not care.
• 59:27
  Speaker B: Or. Or.
• 59:28
  Speaker A: I don't know. I'm just thinking of someone who was, you know,
• 59:33
  Speaker B: the art. Because he was soiling his pants constantly.
• 59:36
  Speaker A: Well, sure. That's how much he didn't care.
• 59:38
  Speaker B: He didn't care. But was that cool? The soil pants?
• 59:41
  Speaker A: I wouldn't say that's cool.
• 59:42
  Speaker B: Being at Dantana's in the only smoking booth and the waiter won't even come and wait on you, you know, is that cool?
• 59:49
  Speaker A: All right, I figured that was.
• 59:51
  Speaker B: That was.
• 59:51
  Speaker C: Well, you just said smoking and that's like a prime example, right? Like in the 70s, like, everybody wanted to be the Marlboro man, right? Like that looked good cool as. And now if you're like smoking a cigarette, everybody walks past you like, oh, that's sad that you still do that, man.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker B: Even people who smoke those E cigarettes, they don't look cool either. They look stupid.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker A: Way less cool.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker B: Yeah, I'd rather be smoking a real cigarette than smoking a piece of plastic
• 1:00:18
  Speaker A: now, man, Manny and I both smoked for years and. And smoked as friends together. And I was at. In Walgreens today and I was checking out and I was, look, I saw the. The Pall Mall red, you know, unfiltered, that I used to smoke for years. And it was 13 a package. And I thought, man, you know, when I first started buying those things, there were 50 cents a pack from the cigarette machine of the Jeff Nor. Jeff.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker B: That was a lot of money then too.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker A: Well, I mean, it was not. It was cheap, but. But
• 1:00:51
  Speaker B: really, you smoke Paul Malls?
• 1:00:52
  Speaker A: I smoke Paul malls for over 10 years, yeah.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker B: Oh, God. Is that like a ghetto cigarette?
• 1:00:58
  Speaker A: Delicious. No, it's delicious cigarette. I mean, I don't know what they are. Yeah, it's.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker B: But Pall Malls being sold in the ghettos.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker A: I thought, man, I would like to smoke one, but it wouldn't taste the same as. As it does in my mind. I know now. Yeah, it's like I can't smoke a palm.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker B: I would like to smoke crack again. Sure, smoke. Smoke some crack. I always thought doing a hit of
• 1:01:20
  Speaker C: heroin there you Go. And all the Oxy.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker A: I'm good.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker B: The Oxy you're gonna give us later, right, Right, right.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:01:26
  Speaker C: I always thought if I was gonna smoke cigarettes, they would be those long, skinny, elegant ones, the Virginia Slim. Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker B: Those are chick cigarettes.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker C: Yeah, well, you know, I'm a chick, so.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker A: Sure, it makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, so let's talk about Death of the Cool. So you have Jimbo Mathis, the great Jimbo Mathis.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker C: That's right.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker A: Called by Jim Dickinson the Huck Finn of American music. He's. He's a guy who, you know, before I ever met him, I saw him from a distance and I thought, that's a lot of kind of artifice and shtick that this guy has. I'm not sure I dig that so much. And then I met him and I fell instantly in love with him. I was like, oh, no, it's all real.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker C: It's real.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker C: There is no artifice with that man.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker A: Exactly, exactly.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker C: The Cool died a long time ago
• 1:02:15
  Speaker A: with that man, Jimbo Mathis. We had him on the show back in the ring room.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker B: Is he still alive?
• 1:02:21
  Speaker A: Oh, fuck yeah. No, he produces all kind of records. Now. I know Jimbo likes to work fast. Do you work fast on your record? You guys cut a lot of that shit real quick.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker C: When he and I talked a lot about the record before we even set foot in a room together, we, we. We spent a lot of time talking about listening through to the demos that I had made at home, right? Talking about how he works, how he likes to work, talking about the goals for what we wanted it to be. I I have always put so much time into, like tracking into the click and overdubs and, and, and my perfectionism is my fatal flaw.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker A: Jimbo is.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker C: And Jimbo is the. The exact opposite of that. And it was such a goddamn gift, man. And he's like, look, we're gonna go in, we're gonna cut every song one time, maybe two. And we did 10 songs in three days with like a nine piece band. That man is a magician. And the fact that we were working at Nappy Studio with Mike Napolitano engineering, and he already had a heads up on the gear and the P people.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker A: So with Ani defranco in the front part of the house.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker C: Well, she was on tour when we
• 1:03:31
  Speaker A: made the record, but that's her house. Must have been gratifying to you.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker C: God, I l yeah. The ins. The outside of me was like, okay, professional. The the inside of me was like,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker A: right now, now Mike Napolitano of. We all love that guy. But he's a guy who, if you go, what do you think about this song? He'll go, like, I don't know, don't ask me, man. I don't listen to songs. He goes, like, I like, like two songs. He goes, I'm listening for the sound of it. Like, what does it sound like? And, man, he got ears and his shit. He'll come, he'll mix stuff. And as I've gotten older in my career, you know, I used to. Or, you know, further along in my career. Well, I've gotten older as well. You know, I used to think about like, well, here's the bass sound. I usually get setting it from the amp in the studio before we even cut. And as I got older and cared less, I started thinking, well, this is your studio. You're the engineer. I'll let you do whatever you want. And as I've gone along and all the engineers I work with are all great, I go, like, surprise me. And if I don't like it, then I'll say something. And I always invariably come back into the control room and go, sounds great, man. I love it. And it will often, like I said, it will be not something that I would have chosen tonally or something, but it fits in the track and it's like, great. That's great, man. And Mike is one of those guys, he comes up with a sound, he
• 1:04:56
  Speaker C: sees the whole picture. He's like a conductor. He can see every line and.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker A: And, and he. He likes the fucked up sounds, which is good because I'm sure you got some fucked up sounds with Jimbo. Absolutely. That's a good combination.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker C: He's also, you know, I was only able to have Jimbo there for the first week, right, for rehearsals and the initial tracking sessions. And I went back and worked with Mike separately to do, like, the handful of overdubs I was on. I was doing chemo at the time when we made the record, and I was really weak. And so I couldn't deliver the vocal performances that I wanted to. So we had to redo a few of those. But he was really incredible as a coach. Also just saying, like, okay, I. This. I like this part. Let's go back and revisit this. But in a really nice way. You're very right about the pragmatic, like, I don't know, man, I don't listen to songs. He is like that. But he's also like, okay, this worked, this didn't. And that sort of really direct but loving pragmatism was an incredible gift and so professional and so correct for what that moment needed.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Now, I tried to get. Get Mike on the podcast, and I was there with people that have been on the podcast and who he's sounds
• 1:06:10
  Speaker C: like not his thing.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker A: Deep rapport with. And he goes, man, I can't stand the sound of my own voice. I would never do that. He goes. He goes, I like you. I'd come on your show, but I. Except I wouldn't want to hear my own voice, so.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker C: Oh, man.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker A: And I thought, you know, I somehow knew that instinctively. Mike, that's why I never asked you for. Because I'd be in there and Jeff Trafford, you'd be like, mike, you should be on Renee's podcast. And he's like. And I would. We'd look at each other like, I don't know. Anyway, back to you, Daphne Parker Powell, and. And your record Death of the Cool. You finished this record off with. With Mike, and now it's coming out May 22. It must feel like in the flesh.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker C: Well, in the. In the vinyl, but. Right.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker B: Oh, vinyl.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker A: It's a momentous time for you.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker D: It is.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker C: Well, it's album number seven, so I don't feel the same like butterflies in my stomach feeling that you have when you make your first couple of records.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker C: Right now I'm somewhere in between. Absolutely panicked about how it's going to do and pay for itself. And also just like, does anyone give a shit? You go through this stages as an artist of like, oh, this is awesome that I'm doing this. And I. I think I like what I'm trying to do here. And then you go through this sort of like, okay, wow, this is absolute shit. I hate this. I hate myself. Why am I even showing up every morning? And then you go through these other stages of like, oh, this actually might be kind of, oh, I'm collaborating with people now. This is great. This part I love, you know, and you, you ride that wave right back and forth. And right now I think I'm in a. A little bit of a. Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit, here comes what's gonna happen.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker A: It's a lot of work at this point. Like, you've done so much work already and now it's coming out and you think, well, yeah, I have even more work and. And a lot of work. That's not the fun part, which is not being in the studio.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker B: Will it be at your ex boyfriend's record store?
• 1:08:11
  Speaker A: That's a good question.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker C: Ex husband well, that would. That would be very interesting to find out.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We should try to make that happen.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker C: I will keep you updated on that.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker B: Keep us updated.
• 1:08:24
  Speaker C: But, yeah, I mean, I. I love the idea of just walking away from all of it right now and starting to write the next project. I'm very Sylvia Platt that way. I'm like, now that I've birthed it, man, it's out of me. I'm done. Let it go. Let it be in the world. It's its own entity now. But I also, because this is album number seven, I know that the finish line isn't until at least December, and so I have to keep. I have to stay the course on it. But also, I totally wanted to start writing the next record.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker A: Sure.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker C: Right now.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker A: Now. Now. The. The. You've already put out, what, three singles?
• 1:08:58
  Speaker C: Yeah, I think three or four.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker A: And I was. I was watching them on YouTube today, and they all have, like, 100,000 views plus. Very impressive. I was shocked. I mean, I'm happy for you, but that's.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker C: Have a great team.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker A: That's not an easy thing to do as someone who's not touring around all the time, doesn't have a real record label and with distribution and all that stuff, so. Congratulations. That's terrific.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker C: Thank you.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker A: That must be very gratifying.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker C: Well, it is, but it's also. It's not rocket surgery, right? Like, it's.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker B: It's.
• 1:09:36
  Speaker C: You buy the right ads, you. You. You build your team. You know, all you're gonna get from a record label is their team. That means their radio promoter, their publicist, their, you know, marketing people, their design people. You know, maybe you're lucky and you get something like that. I made it a very. I made a very purposeful decision right at the beginning to get the painter. I wanted to do the artwork, to get the photographer, I wanted to take the pictures, you know, to get the videographers that I wanted to create, like, all of the ancillary storytelling to this project. And I. I'm thrilled with how all of it came out, because what I was able to do is take my time and curate it the way I wanted it to be. And when you take that kind of time, it shows up on the back end. And a good ad budget helps.
• 1:10:26
  Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker C: I mean, but, like. Yeah, when.
• 1:10:28
  Speaker A: You wouldn't even know how to do that since I'm 12 years old. But, you know, I'm not really concentrating on that part of it right now. And the videos look terrific, and the record sounds wonderful. I mean, the Sound.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker B: Sound of it is who shot your videos?
• 1:10:46
  Speaker C: I worked with a number of people. So Jessica Mixon, who's a wonderful singer songwriter here in town. Jonathan and Brown made the first one for Scorched Earth in the Flood. I had. Danica Andrad did the music video for Perpetual Light of the Void. And Nikki Dina Talley did the video for Speak no Evil.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker B: These are all on the new album.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker C: On the new album. And we. We did all of the music videos in one day.
• 1:11:15
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker C: At John Cameron Mitchell's house.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker A: You know, I shot. I shot a video at John Cameron Cameron.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker C: Well, that's how I knew what a cool space it was, because of your video. And I wrote my footsteps and I was like, okay, my dude, tell me everything. And she was like, okay, well, it's a cool house.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 1:11:34
  Speaker C: So great.
• 1:11:34
  Speaker A: It's got a. Got a real vibe to it. Well, we're kind of on the down slope of the podcast here. But. But you have the website, Daphne ParkerPowell.com or where all this can go through. You have the Daphne Parker Pal Facebook page. I'll put all the links to those in the. The show notes of the show. And.
• 1:11:55
  Speaker B: And will you be playing live anywhere soon?
• 1:11:58
  Speaker C: Yeah, I play. I play in town all the time. You'll hear me on the live wire. But yeah, if you go to Daphne Parker Powell, I will try to update the website. Otherwise, just wander down.
• 1:12:09
  Speaker B: I don't really care for live music music, so you won't see me there.
• 1:12:12
  Speaker C: Okay. Do you like jambalaya?
• 1:12:15
  Speaker B: What's that?
• 1:12:15
  Speaker C: Do you like jambalaya?
• 1:12:16
  Speaker B: I hate jambalaya.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker C: Oh, well, I'm not inviting you to my record release then. Fine, Just be that way.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker A: He likes menudo. And what else?
• 1:12:24
  Speaker B: I find jambalaya to be very dry.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker D: Yeah, I suppose that could be.
• 1:12:29
  Speaker A: It often is. Yeah. Cuz they cook it for so long in the pot, it loses all the moisture.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker B: And I don't like going out and seeing like live music. It's always so loud.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker B: You know, and then you pay a cover and then they want you to tip them. It's like, I just paid to see you. Now you want more of my money that I'm not doing that.
• 1:12:49
  Speaker C: I don't know.
• 1:12:49
  Speaker B: You should pay me to go see you.
• 1:12:51
  Speaker C: I don't know how the two of you are. Are buds the way you are.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker A: Are you serious? Really? You don't get this?
• 1:12:56
  Speaker C: I get it.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker A: Look, she's saying she doesn't understand how we're friends. I said really, really don't. How do you not get this look,
• 1:13:04
  Speaker B: because we were dope fiends together. That's how we became friends. No, we're.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker A: We're more alike than you'd imagine. In fact, a couple of years ago, we were at a Mardi Gras after party, and we were talking, just talking around the table, and then we. Our wives were there, and then we left with our wives about the same time. And the young, maybe like 20 something niece of the host said, yeah, who. Who was that older gay couple that was here? She goes, you know, there's two guys that were sitting, said, renee and man. And he said, yes. Like, that's hilarious. I can't wait to tell him. I was like, no, I. I get it. I could. I see it. But yeah, anyway.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker B: But I think we had said that we had done. We were partners in a show. I think that's what we mentioned. And they took it like we were partners.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker A: We said that we were partners?
• 1:13:57
  Speaker B: Yeah, something like that.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker A: But I think it was mostly the report.
• 1:14:01
  Speaker B: We said we were writing buddies and drinking partners. That's what we said.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker A: No, that's what you said. When I told Manny in a private conversation years ago while we were doing this show, I said, well, Manny, we're friends. And he said, we're not friends. We're writing partners in drinking bodies. And I thought, well, okay, if you want to put. Put it like that. Yes, that's. That's. Yeah, that's. I'll accept.
• 1:14:22
  Speaker B: I don't need friends.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker C: That's fair.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker B: I got one friend.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker C: One friend.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker A: Jesus.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker B: Right there.
• 1:14:28
  Speaker A: Alcohol.
• 1:14:29
  Speaker C: Well, she's a be.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker B: Yeah, she's great.
• 1:14:31
  Speaker A: She always delivers.
• 1:14:32
  Speaker B: Never lets me down.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker A: Never let you down, man. Just what you expect.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker B: So disappointed. So do you have a sticker for her?
• 1:14:39
  Speaker A: I left them all. I will, I will.
• 1:14:42
  Speaker B: I'll get some.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker C: Yeah, we'll make it happen.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker A: But. But Daphne brought CDs for us. Has a CD for you, Manny, for new record.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker B: I don't have a CD player, but I'll see what I can.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker C: Here, Just.
• 1:14:53
  Speaker A: Just give it to your wife for. For late Mother's Day present. Well, thank you so much, Daphne. It's been so fun talking to you.
• 1:15:03
  Speaker C: You know, thanks for letting me insinuate my. Myself into your, you know, as understanding and revered podcast as I worked in.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker A: Into it. You really grew on me. I'm not even kidding. I was like, really?
• 1:15:16
  Speaker C: It's like herpes, man.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker A: Great admiration for this. This woman. Yeah.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker C: Oh, thank you.
• 1:15:22
  Speaker A: And. All right, well, another successful podcast. And as we always say in the troubled men podcast, trouble never ends, but the struggle continues.
• 1:15:32
  Speaker B: Good night.
• 1:15:33
  Speaker A: Good night.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker D: By streams for mirages idolized ideals empty applause put a building wrapped made of notes pulled from bottles where the scorched earth meets the flood. The poor devils you pity are our friends who died trying. If it hasn't got you, it's just a matter of time. You'll see the edge coming, but you'll step on the gas, feel the air for the fall. And in my poor chambered heart I have plaster all the walls with the scrubs and the nubs that I come to make sense of it. Lonely man passes me by For a woman never once loved him and never once lied. But I was not born here to tug as she sleep. So I guess this is goodbye. And in my four chambered heart I can swear up all the floor and I'll dance here by myself with open windows and doors. In my four chambered heart I have mastered all the walls with the scrubs and the mouths that I found makes sense. In my four chamber heart I have swept all the floors. And I'll dance you by myself and with open window.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker A: Sa.