In this lively episode of the Joe Rooz Show, Joe broadcasts live from Eagle Pass, Texas, bringing a mix of humor, insight, and engaging conversation. Joe kicks off the show with a light-hearted introduction, sharing his excitement for the weekend and teasing a packed schedule ahead, including a crypto project and upcoming shows. The episode features two special guests: Joe Owen, a multifaceted storyteller with a rich background in music, writing, and film, and Jessamyne Dodd, a journalist covering a wide range of topics from crime to entertainment. Joe Owen shares fascinating stories from his career, including his experiences with legendary musicians like the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, and offers insights into finding one's niche in the creative industry.
In the second hour, Jessamyne Dodd joins the conversation, bringing her expertise in journalism to the table. She discusses her passion for highlighting victim stories in crime reporting and her experiences covering the border and political landscapes. Jessamine also shares her journey into journalism, driven by a love for storytelling and a commitment to giving a voice to the underrepresented. The episode wraps up with a discussion on the challenges and rewards of journalism, the importance of staying informed, and the personal motivations that drive both Joe and Jessamine in their respective fields. Listeners are left with a sense of inspiration and a deeper understanding of the complexities of media and storytelling.
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(00:03:08) Introduction and Weekend Plans
(00:04:40) Tonight's Guests: Joe Owen and Jessamine Dodd
(00:06:49) Interview with Joe Owen: Rock and Roll Stories
(00:22:37) Joe Owen on Health and Wellness
(00:40:22) Joe Owen's Book: Madhouse
(00:44:54) Joe Owen's Latest Book: Feeling Groovy
(01:07:56) Interview with Jessamine Dodd: Journalism Journey
(01:33:12) Border Issues and Media Coverage
(01:52:27) Upcoming Topics and Closing Remarks
- Wayne Rankin
- Rosanna Rankin
- Carolina Jimenez
[00:03:04]
Unknown:
Alrighty. Yay, folks. This is Joe Roos. It is nineteen zero five hours on Friday, 07/25/2025, and we are transmitting to you live tonight from the asylum studios from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. And we are going to do the very best we can to bring you the best quality talk radio we could muster without all the bluster. Welcome to the Joe Ryu Show. Alright, folks. Guess what? We made it. It's Friday. Finally, Friday. We made it through a week and we didn't kill anybody. At least, I haven't.
Not yet. And, gotta find the crew who left the garbage pail in the corner over there. There we go. Alright. Hey, folks, I hope you guys are ready for a great weekend. I have a feeling things are gonna go really, really, really well this weekend. We got a packed weekend ahead of us here with the Joe Russo. We got a lot of little things going on. Our project, our crypto project starts, again tomorrow. And then, we have our our Sunday show, and then we're back to the grind with our guests on a Monday. So So we got a busy, busy, busy weekend.
And I'll give you the complete rundown when we get down to the end of the show. We start to wrap this baby up for today. Now tonight, we have two incredible guests lined up for us. In the first hour, we have Joe Owen. And then after the break, in the second hour, we have journalist, Jessamine Dodd. If I'm saying her name right, and I hope I am. And, we'll bring all that to you, some in some kind of fashion and order. Okay? As you could tell, this is not a scripted show. We just blah. Alright. Now before we get into the business of the day, as always, we do have some housekeeping that, that we need to do. So without any further ado, let's get all of our little thingies up here.
Alright, folks. Ezra Healing is a substantial part of the new wellness paradigm currently being born in North America and, of course, around the globe. Now global citizenry are no longer satisfied with the sick care version of so called health care. Band aid medicine, endlessly treating symptoms rather than root causes must be abandoned as soon as possible. Patient centric care must be the priority. We need to transition towards the do no harm model of private care that places humanity at the forefront of real health and wellness care. In this new model, your entire lifestyle is examined and analyzed to promote and support the totality of your body's integrated systems.
We are solutions based or or Ezra Health is a salute Ezra Healing is a solutions based health promotion and disease prevention grassroots movement that's always evolving to best serve you and your family. So if you want more information about this, our new sponsor, head on over to ezrahealing.com. That link should be up by there on the screen. And, we'll have to do something about the graphic location there. You really can't see it, so we'll fix that, in subsequent shows. But, head over to ezrahealing.com. That's ezrahealing.com, and make sure you let them know that you heard this on the Joe Russo.
Alright. Now, let's see. So with our first official sponsor read out of the way, hope I did alright with that. I think so. I think it kinda went alright. Our first guest is here waiting for us. He has lived many lives. A, rock and roll insider, an author, business coach, and now a film producer. Joe Owens is a seasoned storyteller with a career spanning decades. Now early on, he worked behind the scenes with legends like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Paul Simon. Amazing, by the way. Gaining a rare inside look at the creative machine and the toll it can take. From there, he went on to write several books, including Welcome to the Jungle, Mad House, The Rock Star Real Estate Agent. That's a good one. I like that. Blending music industry insight with practical strategies for business, mental health, and specialization.
His latest book, Feeling Groovy, is a tribute to aging with purpose. At 75, 75 folks, and and I'm gonna tell you because I saw him right before we, started the show here. We had a little chat. Doesn't look a day over 80, honestly. But at 75, Joe still hits the gym four times a week and walks two miles a day, all after a serious health scare in his late fifties convinced him to make a radical shift in how he lived. Now And whether your passion is business, creativity, or just staying sharp, and saying in a noisy world, Joe Owens brings hard won wisdom, unforgettable stories, and actionable insights for every stage of life.
Joe Owens, if you're out there, welcome to the Joe Russo. It's great to have you here. Just click on that mic and the camera and join us. Almost there. So while we wait for Joe and his camera to, to cooperate, so as you can tell, I'm drinking my methylene blue, which is, as always, a great, great addition to the show. Joe Owen. Can't hear you. That's right. Mic on.
[00:08:51] Unknown:
How about now? Now I got you. There you go. Alright. See, these are the joys of of a live show. What you what you said said a minute ago about not killing anybody? Yes, sir. A day over 80? You keep you keep that up, and I ain't gonna be with you anymore on that not killing anybody thing. Okay. How you doing, dude? I'm doing good, brother. It's great to have you here.
[00:09:13] Unknown:
We like to we like to have some fun. Try to keep it light. So, now you've had really quite the journey in in in life. You had music, books, film, coaching. Give us an idea. What's something that most people don't know about you, but probably should?
[00:09:32] Unknown:
Oh, that's an interesting question. I'm a sociopath. That's can be problematic for some. Funny thing is that everything that I've done, oddly enough, it's it's linear. Like, all the jobs, even though when you say, well, I worked in the music business, and I worked in a video game business, and then I worked in, minor league baseball, and now I write books, and I make movies, and and real estate, and all that kind of stuff. It it's all kind of the same thing because I've always been a big and you you commented on the rock star real estate agent and rock and roll. Successful rock stars find a niche and they stay there. And successful real estate agents find a niche and they stay there.
Luxury homes, mid century modern, whatever. Mhmm. Video game's the same way. The video game companies, they find a niche. They have a successful game, and then suddenly that that's what they do. I found my niche. And my niche was being a marketing guy, being a creative guy, and understanding how to connect an idea with a successful business venture. But it it's always been the same thing. It's just, you know, swapped out hats.
[00:10:43] Unknown:
So what's something about you that nobody knows that should know?
[00:10:47] Unknown:
Something about me nobody knows that they should know.
[00:10:52] Unknown:
It was a good answer. Armed? But you didn't answer the question. You're heavily armed. Well, that's good. That's very good. You you a lot of people Usually, I have mine right here, but I I didn't bring it into the studio today.
[00:11:04] Unknown:
I was either there you go. But, well, I live in Florida. So, you know, we're a constitutional carry state. So, Texas, man. You know, it's there you go. But I you know, it's hard for me to say. I I don't know what there is about me because I'm pretty much an open book. I mean Yeah. You don't get to live for seventy five years and hide much.
[00:11:20] Unknown:
Well, this is true. That that this is true. But, alright. Then how about this? What's your go to beverage to help you unwind at the end of the day?
[00:11:27] Unknown:
My go well, I don't drink alcohol. I think I think I hit my quota of drinking alcohol by age 38. I think everybody has sort of a quota in their lives. Yeah. And so I think I hit a around age 38, and they said, no. You can't have anymore. There has to be some left for the other people, so you really have to kinda knock off. I've never I I tell this to people all the time. I do not have a grown up palate. My palate stopped growing when I was about 10 years old. Okay. So as, you know, where where a lot of guys are about, you know, cigars and and brown liquor and and beer and stuff like that, I'm all about the cupcakes. Like, sugar is sugar is my thing. So chocolate chip cookies and cupcake yeah. Yeah. I can find out. Yeah. But the occasional brandy or something like that, but, man, I love me some Oreos. Well, the fact that you, you you you work out, frequently and you you walk a lot. Right? I think I read somewhere you walk two miles a day.
[00:12:22] Unknown:
At least. Yeah. I run, walk, whatever I'm in the mood for, but yeah. Yeah. I gotta build up a calorie deficit so I can eat all the junk food. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. I actually I was I was telling somebody earlier that, they they asked me what I ate throughout the day today. Well, I said, well, I had a I had a crappy sandwich for lunch, and then I I filled up on, six two packs of Oreo cookies, and two bags of two bags of Cheetos, and
[00:12:46] Unknown:
and, and all that great stuff. Well, there are major food groups, though. I mean, you know, you do have you do have sugar and you do have chocolate, all those major food groups. But no. I think at the end of the day, oddly enough, my go to beverage
[00:12:58] Unknown:
is Royal English breakfast tea. Really? That's good stuff. Yeah. I I know what you're talking about. I've had that.
[00:13:04] Unknown:
I'm I'm a tea guy. And, so, you know, it it used used to be, I like cognac a lot. Okay. But, you know, that was that was it. But I just these these days, it's more I'm I'm busy. Like, I my days kinda don't end.
[00:13:23] Unknown:
Well, I, I'm a, a coffee guy. I love my coffee. I have tons of coffee throughout the course of the day that's just I love it. I'm so used to it. I'm I'm immune to it, so it doesn't keep me up at night or anything like that. But, as far as the adult beverages go, I'm a bourbon guy, and Oh, yeah. So I love my bourbons, and I I love a good cigar with a burp with some bourbon. Like, you know, you said it before, it's made me laugh a little bit. You know, I love to sit out in the back with with, with with a nice cigar and a bourbon, you know, a good woman too. I'll sit out in the back with a bourbon and a cupcake. Okay. We can do that. Alright. So let me let me let's have a little bourbon conversation here. Sure. So you remember Humphrey Bogart used to call it bourbon. Right? Yes. Yep. He is almost
[00:14:04] Unknown:
Bourbon. Bourbon and branch water was my drink for a long time. Okay. And, but here's one I bet you don't know. Do you remember Rick Dee's, the DJ? Oh, yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Okay. So so I went to a, I went to a brunch at Rick Dee's house, and he was serving bourbon and milk. Yeah. Bourbon and milk. That's interesting. Mint julep. Mint julep is one of your, like, Kentucky Derby drinks. Yes. But bourbon and milk is one of the other ones, and I thought bourbon and milk. It is delicious. I I Yeah. But but Bailey's Irish cream. Right? So it's there. Like, that there there's a, you know, a precedent for it. Sure. Sure. Bourbon and milk is delicious.
And, you know, it's that Sunday brunch drink when you're having whatever you're having. And, but it also coats your stomach so you can drink more bourbon.
[00:14:54] Unknown:
Interesting. I I I Yeah. I'm going to have to experiment with this. I've never tried that. Yeah. It's good. Interesting. Very, very see, look, see, folks, at the Joe Russo, you learn something new every show we get. About knowledge. It's all it's all what it's all about, folks. It's all what it's about. My, my go to bourbon has been, I've been really digging into the seventeen ninety two bourbon, and it's absolutely delicious. They they have, I I just recently had a about two weeks ago, excuse me, two weeks ago, I had a 12 year old, 1792, which was absolutely amazing.
Smooth, beautiful flavor, nice on the palate, and paired well with it with an avo heritage cigar, which was amazing. So, two two kind of, counteract they they kinda balance each other out. They're really nice flavor combination. So wonderful stuff. Wonderful stuff. Another Is it, Buffalo Trace? No. Buffalo Trace is another brand altogether.
[00:15:52] Unknown:
Buffalo Trace is good. But Buffalo Trace is because that's a a buddy of mine gave me a bottle of, Buffalo Trace, and,
[00:15:59] Unknown:
it's good. That's a nice bourbon. Oh, it is. It is. It's very nice. Pairs well with a nice nice medium rare steak. Well, there's that. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. It's a beautiful combination, bro. I I like to, cooking is is is, like a like a side gig of mine. I love to cook. I love to to to put together a nice meal, and I love to pair it. So I make sure I have the appropriate, adult beverages to go along with the meals, as as they are served. That's all you have. The aperitifs and you have the the dinner drinks and you have the after dinner drinks, so it's works nice.
[00:16:30] Unknown:
Listen, I can I can be there in about four hours? Yeah. No worries, bro. Anytime you wanna come on out. We'll do it. Yeah. You know, I can get the I can fire up the jet, and I can be there in about four hours. Alright. Beautiful. That that'll work. That'll work. Are you are you like a are you a Wagyu beef guy?
[00:16:44] Unknown:
I do. I love Wagyu beef. So, I don't have any here at the moment. I cannot afford that at the moment. But, but when I You got two kidneys. You only need one. This is true. And two lungs and yeah. Yeah. Two feet, two toes. Yeah. Two eyes. There you go. You know? Two weeks. Just just be half a man. Just enjoy my steak. I'll be fine. You're getting Wagyu beef. I mean, come on. What do you expect? What what else is there? My dogs actually. I I have two French bulldogs. They're they're my babies. I love them. And, it's just the three of us. So, usually whenever I get some some kind of a steak dinner going or watch it. Let me let me be totally honest about this. Full disclosure, I cook every night for my dogs.
They get chicken breast, they get pork chops, they get steak, they get whatever whatever I eat, they eat. So Right. So tonight tonight they're gonna have braised pork chops for dinner. So very very excited about that. Last week they had, they not last week. I'm sorry. A few weeks ago, they had bacon wrapped filet mignon. Nice. And,
[00:17:46] Unknown:
Well, as well they should, dude. I mean, the more time I spend with people, the more I like my dog. Absolutely.
[00:17:51] Unknown:
Absolutely. And I and I tell you this, and this is more of a on a serious note because people ask me all the time, well, why do you spoil the dogs like that? They're just dogs, you know, all that stuff. You know what? When I was going through a about three years ago, I went through a very very dark period in my personal life, and I spent it at the bottom of a bottle almost every single day. And, I struggled, and when I was laying on the floor in the bathroom, after throwing up all over the place, hit my head against the ceramic tile, blood dripping off my head. Who was there with me? It was my two babies. My two dogs. Who's that? They stayed by my side through the whole thing. And if and what really kept me going through all of that stuff was the fact that they don't have opposable thumbs and they can't feed themselves, so they need me to stay around, so I have to take care of myself.
[00:18:42] Unknown:
My dogs got me through the lockdown during COVID. I would have lost my mind if it wasn't for the dogs. Oh, yeah. And, I have one. He's a, he's a long haired dachshund and basset hound mix, so it makes him a slightly sort of taller dachshund. But speaking of Wagyu beef, I left one marinade on the counter, went up to do something, came back, and he had scooped it. Oh, nice. And he's he's sitting out on the patio eating about $60 worth of steak. And, but his name you'll like his name. His name is Pierre Gustave Touton Beauregard. Now give me a history lesson. And I Yes, please. I call him Beau. Okay. But a history lesson. Who is Pierre Gustave Touton Beauregard?
[00:19:27] Unknown:
Well, you're gonna have to educate me on this one. Again, folks, this is a this is a lesson, so take your notes, get your get your school books ready. Right. This this is this is helpful, and it's helpful on two levels. Your your your listeners will like it too.
[00:19:40] Unknown:
So Pierre Gustave Touton Beauregard was a French explorer from Louisiana, but he was also the first Confederate brigadier general.
[00:19:50] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:19:51] Unknown:
And he started the Civil War. Jim Barrager. First shot. And, I named him that to piss off my liberal friends. Nice.
[00:19:59] Unknown:
I love it. I love it. Yes.
[00:20:02] Unknown:
And so, oh, what's your dog's name? Oh, he's named after the first Confederate general. That is awesome, man. I love that. That's fantastic.
[00:20:10] Unknown:
Yeah. The South shall rise again, man. Hell yeah. Save your Confederate money. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. My my tour name my girl is her full name is Winnie Jean. And, but when we brought her home, she was only about that big, so we called her Bean. And it just and it just kinda stuck. But, she she knows both names.
[00:20:29] Unknown:
And my other guy is Snoop Dogg.
[00:20:31] Unknown:
Nice. Nice. That's nice. My boy, my boy is named after two serial killers. His, he's named after Charles Manson. A real one, Charles Manson, and, and a fictitious one, Dexter Morgan. So his name is Charles Dexter. So and then and then of course and then, of course, you know, short, you call him Chucky, which is the the the movie character, you know. So Exactly. I love that. That's great. So he's covered. You are a sick man, Joe. Oh, yeah. You need some serious professional help. You have no idea. If I wait. Actually, let me do this. Let me see if this works. You have no that doesn't work.
[00:21:13] Unknown:
You have no idea.
[00:21:15] Unknown:
There we go. Hey. Nice. Yeah. These little effects, they're nice. I don't know if they translate or not onto the video, but it's fun for the moment. I did it one one time, I was I was just in the studio, I was just playing around with the equipment. I had just gotten the new mixing board and everything, and I was playing around all the features on it. And I got, I I was going through a bottle of, of, Elijah Craig, Toasted Barrel. And, I got about halfway to almost to the bottom of the bottle, and I decided to record a podcast episode in in
[00:21:49] Unknown:
In this voice. So I recorded the whole thing like this, and tried to figure out. And but the funny thing is though, with this voice, it makes everything sound really, like, dirty, like, perverted. Like, you can just go, yes. And it sounds dirty. I don't know why. But it just does. So,
[00:22:08] Unknown:
so we had fun. Anyway, we are way I don't know where we're going with this whole thing, but Oh, good. That's the blue that's the methylene blue by the way, folks. You know? There you go. It's, it helps. I would say blue meth. I want my jeep on that. It's excellent. Oh, it's fantastic. If that if I say sometimes I call it blue meth, but, you know, people start thinking I'm like breaking bad or something like that, you know. Don't knock blue meth. It got me through college. Yeah. There you go. Awesome. So listen. So seriously though, you so you worked with some of the biggest names in in music. Right? You we talked earlier. I did. That the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Paul Simon.
What was some of the biggest lessons that you learned behind the scenes?
[00:22:52] Unknown:
Don't screw anything up because those the most vindictive people on the plat no. I'm kidding. I worked surprised. I I worked for the company that ultimately became Live Nation. Oh, okay. And one of the guys that I worked with, Arthur Fogel, they made a movie about him, Who the f is Arthur Fogel? And he's one of the big shots at Live Nation. And it was a concert promotion company, but it was all the concert promotion companies in Canada coast to coast. So every rock band that came to Canada, I touched it in some way because I did all the marketing for all the shows. And I had sort of people in local markets. Right? And they sort of executed stuff, the promotions, things like that. So, I mean, this was years. And you know how many concerts there are. And and, like, everybody comes to play. So it was, you know, this week, we had Bruce Springsteen and and Blondie and Michael Jackson. And next week, we had, you know, this band and this band and this band. Okay. So I I got to sort of be in the presence of all of these different bands for for years.
And then the same guy, Michael Cole company, started something called three three hundred sixty five degree concert tours. And the three sixty fives were basically he would buy all the rights to a tour. So the Rolling Stones, he would buy the concerts, the t shirts, the broadcast, the sponsorships, and he'd pay them in advance. So he'd give them a check for, like, you know, $300,000,000, and then he'd come to all of us and say, okay. Go earn me $400,000,000. So then I would go out and I would do the broadcast things or the pay per view broadcast and, you know, get paid for all that stuff. And I did the sponsorship stuff too. So in my career, I've done $400,000,000 worth of corporate sponsorships. Wow. Everybody, Paul Simon, American Express, Coca Cola, Budweiser, everybody else.
And so we did the global tour of David Bowie. We did the global tour of the Rolling Stones. And then I I went off and did some other things in in video game land, but they went on to do U two and and all these other huge global tours. So it was and and it was great because I've always been hands on with the bands. Mhmm. Like, I've always been right there with with the groups, talking with them, bringing them together with the sponsors, bringing them together with the, you know, the the interviewers and things like that. And it's funny. I I was talking to somebody the other day, and they said, you must have some great pictures. I said, I don't have any pictures.
I have two pictures of me in the music business. One with, Tom Jones and one with the Pointer Sisters. That's it. Wow. He said, well, I don't have any pictures. I said, I don't have any pictures because I was an inside guy. I was the the marketing, the promotions guy. The minute I became a fan and wanted to get my picture taken, I'd lose all my credibility with the band There you go. Because they never saw me as a fanboy. They saw me as the marketing guy, the money guy, the sponsorship guy. So you couldn't cross that line. I made sure the local radio guys got their picture taken. The sponsor guy got his picture taken. I made sure all those guys got their pictures taken, but I never got my picture. So if anybody ever comes to me and says, you know, give me evidence, give me proof that you were I sorry. I don't I don't have it. But, so that that most artists are nice guys.
Most artists are nice people. When they're backstage, when they're in a controlled environment, when they feel safe, it's fine. When they get out in the world, they have to be guarded because, you know, paparazzi's out there, crazy people are out there, crazy people with guns are out there. I I at the Billboard Music Awards, I introduced, Phil Collins to Cher, and Phil Collins had never met Cher. Cher was, like, twelve feet tall. Right. And Phil Collins was about five feet tall. And it was hilarious because it was like introducing a five year old kid to Santa Claus. I mean, he was abs absolutely in love
[00:26:52] Unknown:
with her. It was great. And, it's funny because you don't see them like that. You know? It's it's it's so No. It's weird. You know?
[00:26:59] Unknown:
Oh, you know, I think I think people get this this mindset that all the rock stars know each other. And it's like a big rock star club, you know? And they're like, hi. How you doing, bud? Like, they don't know. And they're also fans of of other people. So, so that was great. The the high point of of the Rolling Stones thing for me was, some guys that I went to high school with. I got them backstage passes and tickets and everything to the first gig. And And so the band was coming back from soundcheck, and we're hanging out, and the band's coming back from soundcheck. And Keith goes, Joe, my god. You do it. And they were more like, oh my god. You know Keith Richards?
I was I said, I've been with him for five months. Pretty yeah. So we, you know, we have encountered each other every now and again. But I went from being super nerd to being, like, the coolest guy on the planet Earth, which is, you know, four guys I went to high school with. So Nice. Funny how nothing things that don't matter matter. But, yeah, most most of the time, they're professional guys. They're great. They're friendly. They're good to hang out with, but, they're guarded.
[00:28:03] Unknown:
Yeah. Now so what advice would you give someone that's trying to break into the industry today, especially in this era with with which just everything's just streaming stuff?
[00:28:13] Unknown:
Yes. So the democratization of everything has destroyed society as we know it and we are basically apes with phones. It's really tough now because it there used to be some structure to it. In fact, Welcome to the Jungle, that book that you you mentioned a little bit ago, was written, like, 1994, it came out on Harper Collins. And it was basically a book for Garage Bands. This is how you make it in the music business. And and it was little tips and tricks and, you know, get to know the secretary of the a and r guy, and and she'll put your tape on the top of the pile. And and the the book is completely out of date. But there was a hierarchy of things. There were big concert promoters. There were there are top 40 radio stations. There were FM radio stations, gigantic record stores, you know, and and everything was compartmentalized.
The deals were simple but complicated, but, you know, at least everybody knew what everybody was doing. Yeah. And in fact, I recently saw on eBay that Welcome to the Jungle was selling for a $100 a copy. Like, why is a 1994 book about the music business selling for a $100 a copy? Collector's item. No. History book. Oh. Guys who are teaching music business and community colleges and stuff like that say this was the Roman Empire era of the music business. And we like to tell our students this was the pinnacle. This was as big as it got. And the reason we are where we are now is because that existed.
And so much of what we are now is a reaction to that. So now
[00:29:52] Unknown:
Did but did you ever intend that book to be used as a history book?
[00:29:56] Unknown:
Hell no. In in fact, I was sort of like, okay. Thank you so much for that. Now I feel a 100 years old. Here I am Mark Twain. But, it makes sense because, you know, it it was it captured a snapshot of the music business in the early nineteen nineties when it was as big and and the record companies and they all had power. It was like the studio the movie studio era of the forties. Okay. It's the same thing. But all of that has changed now. And so now you you make an album in your bedroom on your laptop, and you put it out, and you do all your social media stuff. And, you know, it it's completely different. Somebody said to me, why don't you update the book? I said, I wouldn't know where to start.
I mean, it's so different now. The financial model is terrible for artists right now because streaming, they make pennies. Where back in the day of of tapes and vinyl records and things like that, they made money. Mhmm. The only way artists make money now is to tour. They don't make money from their music. There's there's no radio stations that are paying performing rights because they played their records on the radio. They used to get t shirt money. They get performing rights money, publishing money, record sale money to all these different revenue channels. They're gone. So now you can get 3,000,000 plays and you get, like, $80 from Spotify. Wow. That's it. So oh, it's terrible. It's terrible. The royalty rate from streaming is awful.
And so the only place they make the money is tour live touring. That's why when COVID came along, it destroyed
[00:31:31] Unknown:
the music business. Also, it shows the high prices of tickets.
[00:31:35] Unknown:
Well, the high prices of tickets, that's a long story. But, yeah, it it cost a lot of money to see a rock band, And that's why I I think you're seeing a lot of sort of club things and stuff like that for the people that don't have money and you see the new bands. Yeah. But I I would say to somebody right now, you know, you just the only thing that hasn't changed is find a lane. Find something that you do. Whether it's pop, rock, rap, find something. Because all the successful bands, they find a niche, they stick to it. Bruce Bruce Springsteen's record company thought he was gonna be another Bob Dylan. Mhmm. They thought he was like a a singer poet. And then all of a sudden, Born to Run comes along.
But Bruce has the same fans now that he had at the Stone Pony in New Jersey. They've stayed with him because he hasn't let them down. And that's the same with every band. The band makes the best music they can. They take care of their fans, and they they but they stay in their lane. You don't see Bruce Springsteen making a a rock album and then a country album and then a disco. You know? It's like, you don't see that. The band that can play rock and disco and whatever whatever, they're playing at the Anderson wedding at the country club this week. You know? Everybody everybody wants you to stay in your lane. And it's the rock star real estate agent is the same thing. That's what that's about. Stay in your lane. Specialize in something. Build a reputation to be good at it. That's interesting. You know, one of my favorite bands is, Pink Floyd. Alright? And I I grew up on Pink Floyd, cut my teeth on Pink Floyd.
[00:33:09] Unknown:
I think I've heard everything Pink Floyd's ever put out. I am amazed still to this day of how great a band like Pink Floyd is. And I judge a band, based on their live performances, and and Pink Floyd has just put on amazing shows over the years, that I think about the pulse tour that they did back in the nineties is still if you look at YouTube, is getting tons and tons of plays. And that's a good example of a band that just stayed in their lane. They still have the same fans they had back in the sixties when they started all the way through these years, and even new generations are picking up on them.
[00:33:42] Unknown:
The the one thing about the generations, and this is, you know, where people say to me, okay, boomer, but, you know, I don't care. The the bands could really play back then. They had talent. They were really good musicians. They had to be. And they had to be because we didn't have auto tune. Right. You you couldn't fix it with technology. You had to be able to get up there on the stage and make the music. Yep. And so I think I think that has been one of the casualties of technology. And now, like anything else, you know, AI will write a book for you, AI will make an album for you, AI will, you know, whatever. And I think there's there's some loss there Absolutely. In all that, you know, gets unfortunate. But, again, I've if if anybody's gonna try to be successful today, make your own music. Don't rely on technology. Yeah. And if you are gonna rely on technology, don't call yourself a musician. Call yourself a a tech.
[00:34:45] Unknown:
An engineer. Yeah. Something like that. There you go. You know, and I I agree with you. I mean, it it it would be a a very unique experience to have a band come up like they did back in the fifties, sixties, and the seventies, and just be a legitimate talent, you know, just musically, instrumentally, vocally. I mean, I I I I can't listen to half of the stuff that's out there today.
[00:35:11] Unknown:
It just Yeah. Well, they're I mean, they're out there. They're they're I mean, there's Lynyrd Skynyrd out there right now. But it's a it's a tough road to hoe for that kind of music right now. And, because it's it's more about something else. It's the same look. It's the same in my business now. I mean, everybody they get AI to write a book for them, and they call themselves an author. And I think, no. You're not. And I I don't use AI. I don't use any of that to write books. I sit down, and and a lot of them, I either handwrite or write with a typewriter, and not a computer.
And but I write my books because I haven't been able to find any technology that I can't spot from a mile away.
[00:35:51] Unknown:
And because I'm a human being and a machine's still a machine. I don't care how clever it is. I so agree with you on that. That is absolute but, you know, you say you say you use a typewriter. You know you know what popped in my head when you said that? Jack Nicholson in The Shining, sitting in that big in front of the from the fireplace. I'm back. When you when you hear this, it means I'm working.
[00:36:13] Unknown:
It's That's but there's there's something about that. There's something about the typewriter. I write so my nonfiction books I'm done with the nonfiction stuff. I got, you know, I got that out of me and the feeling groovy and rock star real estate and stuff like that. I wanted to write a couple of books about things, but now I do all fiction stuff. Okay. And I write Victorian English detective stories. Oh, nice. And I actually oh, yeah. I've got a guy called Augustus Blythe. He's like Sherlock Holmes. But I find real crimes, and then Augustus solves them. Nice. There's a whole story that goes with it. And I have another guy called, Jonathan Blackwood, and he's a he's a lawyer. And the same thing, he's barrister for the defense. But when I write those books, I write them on paper by hand with a fountain pen.
And I do that this sounds crazy. I do that because I try to and I clear the desk off, and the only thing is is the paper and thing. Because I had a friend of mine who writes historical novels. He said, look. You have to put yourself back there. He said, you you cannot have your phone. You can't have any technology. You have to abandon technology and think like it's 1860. You absolutely have to do that. He said, otherwise, you're gonna get off track. He said, and you you can't write three paragraphs about, you know, they went to the market blah blah blah blah blah, and then pick up your cell phone and and, you know, order,
[00:37:35] Unknown:
you know, Grubhub. That's a It ain't gonna work. That's a that's a that's a great way to do it. You you need to you need to end you need to add candles, though.
[00:37:45] Unknown:
Can yes. Electric lights, candles. You listen. You'd be amazed how crazy I am when it comes to when it comes to sort of putting myself back there. And I've read books and books and books and books about what it was like to live Yeah. Back then. But it makes a big difference. It's it's huge. Well, sure. It does. It's it's it also it stokes the creative juices in your head.
[00:38:06] Unknown:
You know, it helps you it helped it, you know, putting yourself in that situation and and that release in that type of environment, you know, helps you think that way. It it it's it's it's a great way to do it. I I I love it. I got so committed, I actually learned to write cursive again.
[00:38:21] Unknown:
So I I'm actually writing like that when I was in fourth grade. You know what? I I But That is that's great too.
[00:38:27] Unknown:
Believe it or not, I I've recently started to to to retrain myself in writing cursive. I've gotten so used to over the years just writing in print and everything and just, you know, block letter print
[00:38:38] Unknown:
that, We're gonna love this. Someone hired me to translate cursive for them. Their their grandfather had left a diary, and he passed away and they couldn't read it. And they hired me
[00:38:54] Unknown:
to read his cursive diary. I I I guess they don't teach this anymore in in the public schools. I mean, that that was a very big thing when I was growing up and that that was I think that was first, second grade you started learning how to write in cursive. Well, the difference is that I I can't really write in cursive unless a nun is hitting me. Ah, there you go. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Well, see, I got I got thrown out of Catholic school, so I I can't, you know, I I can't relate to that. So I did. I'm serious. They they they they they actually escorted me out to my mother. They said, we don't need his kind here. And they pushed me out the door. It's amazing. I did I did everything that I could. I didn't know you could actually come. I did everything I could to get thrown out, but I was unsuccessful. Oh, well, you know, just challenge the priest one day. There you go. You know, just just tell the just tell the priest there's nothing you can do for me that I can't do for myself.
[00:39:41] Unknown:
Yeah. See, here's the thing, Joe. You and I come from different generations.
[00:39:46] Unknown:
Yep. And if I would have told a priest that, he would have knocked me out. So Yeah. For sure. Corporal corporal punishment was a thing in Catholic school when I was here. Yeah. Yeah. It it it wasn't necessarily a thing when I was going through through the especially the catechisms. It it it but it it was there on the down low. Mhmm. You know, it was it was I know they wanted to let it hit it, you know. Yeah. It was it was that good it was that good grab of the ear, you know, the the little twist here or there, you know. But it was there, but unofficially there. Unofficially there. Well, the best way to learn a religion is to have it beat into you. So There you go. Well You know, there you go. Well, Madhouse. You wrote a book called Madhouse. I did. Where you explore mental health and high pressure, creative environments. So what what inspired that book?
[00:40:33] Unknown:
I had a friend, a whole bunch of that shit crazy real estate agent friends, and it was it was painful for me to watch people who had obvious mental health problems. Anxieties and I'm not you know, they weren't messed up or anything. They were perfectly normally functioning human beings. But they had anxiety that held them back, and they had depression that held them back, and they had isolation that held them back. They weren't making money. And I got into this thing of saying, look. Get your head right to get your bread right. But if if you weren't so nervous when you went to a listing presentation, you'd get more listings. Mhmm. It's like one on one. It's simple.
And I and I went out and I talked to a whole bunch of brokerages, and I talked to agents of brokerages. And they said, well, you you got any leads? How how do we get more leads? I want more leads. And they didn't get it. They they just didn't get it. And, the handful that did actually profited from it. But, again, it there were things in me that I wanted to get out. I wanted to feeling groovy out because people kept saying to me, you know, hey. You're 75 and you look pretty good and you work out, you know, how do you do that? I said, okay. Well, let me, you know, write the story of that. But Man House Man House, I just I felt really bad watching a lot of agents self destruct. One one kid wanted to do listings, and he, every time he went to have a listing presentation, he'd have a panic attack, and he couldn't do it.
And so it was, like, it was a self care book too. I mean, it was very much a if this is happening, do this. If that's happening, do that. There's a lot of, lot of substance abuse with a lot of people because either they go home and, you know, instead of having a glass of wine at night, they had five. Mhmm. And, just a lot of stress and struggles that had they been okay with reading a book and internalizing some of the stuff. But it's a really, really hard business, and all people in real estate are trying to do is just get over. Especially now, it's tough. And what was the hardest part about writing that? The toughest part about writing it it's it's the toughest part about writing nonfiction books, those pesky facts.
And, you know, you have to Facts are expensive. Fiction book, and he needs a boat, I just write a boat in there. You know? And I don't have to find out were there any boats and how many were there and would they be avail no. So the hardest part was because you don't you're writing a book about mental health. You don't wanna mess that up. You know? That's something you wanna get right. So I spent an enormous amount of time interviewing psychologists and psychiatrists and interviewing real estate agents and, and, you know, talking to people, trying to make sure that the advice I was giving him was good advice, and the stuff that I was identifying as problems were actually problems. Mhmm. So that was a that was a hard one. The book was, how you say in English, a flop.
I mean, it was it was an absolute disaster. No one cared. But I had a good time writing it, and I learned some things. And again,
[00:43:34] Unknown:
you know, if you want a successful book about real estate, write about where they can get leads. Right. Now, well, the other thing is though is if you if if the book reaches one person, then it was a success. And if and if Yeah. I think so. And if one person got something out of it. You know, that that's the way the way I approach my show here is like, you know, if one person gets something out of it, I don't care how many people watch.
[00:43:52] Unknown:
Not this show. No. The other other guests, sure, but not not This was good. Although they did they did learn a little bit about the Beauregard and and, you know, Confederate general system. So did I, actually. That was good. That was just me being yeah. It's me being the victim. So I I knew I knew I knew the name general Beauregard, but I didn't know the connection. I didn't know the rest of that story. That was great. Yeah. He called he actually called himself PGT Beauregard. Here it goes now, two tone Beauregard. So his nickname for himself was PGT Beauregard. Nice. And, so we got a guy, you know, starting the civil war that sounds like a rapper. Yeah. That's absolutely.
[00:44:30] Unknown:
Absolutely.
[00:44:31] Unknown:
But yeah. So yeah. So, I mean, man Man House and and Rockstar Real Estate Agent, I'm just giving them away now because I I really do believe that. I had a girl that wrote the wrote the forward for that, and she specializes in mid century modern houses, those nineteen sixty ranch homes. And she travels around the world now doing tours of those things and just she has more business than she can handle, and it's only because she got a reputation for it. Nice. Well, let's talk about feel let's talk about feeling groovy, because, Sure. And that's the most recent work.
[00:45:00] Unknown:
It is. So, so what brought up what brought about
[00:45:05] Unknown:
that particular book? What was the motivation for that? That was an interesting book that when I started I started writing it years ago. But when I started writing the book, my kid actually nicknamed it running from God. And, he said, well, why you run, dad? I said, but you're running from God, aren't you? I said, oh, yeah. God's an underachiever, so he'll have to be running to catch me. And I'm gonna bet that he won't. But the running through, the the book was interesting. Phil and Greer was an interesting book because, while I was writing it, it was essentially gonna be a workout guy, and it was very much like their sponsor. Okay. I mean, that's what the book is about. You know? I don't take pills. I don't go to doctors. I've been none of that. I don't trust any of it because just like you said in the ad, they treat symptoms now. That's right. Yeah. And I don't take medicine because, like, they they you know, I I have back aches sometimes, and they say, well, let me give you something for the pain. I don't want anything for the pain because if I take something for the pain, how do I know when the pain has stopped and my back is better? It's a great point. And if I take something for the pain, I'm gonna go lift shit that I shouldn't be lifting because my back is still hurt. So I don't I don't do that, and I'm very much about taking care of myself and, you know, keep my body in good shape and all that.
But when I started writing the book, it was basically gonna be a workout guide for baby boomers. Then I started talking to baby boomers, and they said, we don't care about that. I said, well, what do you care about? And they said, we wanna feel younger. We wanna feel better. I'm like, really? So then I had to go back and and kind of rewrite the book. And so what they sort of come up into the book was, know what's going on. I know all about computers. I know who the rock stars are. I know who the movie stars are. I know what's going on in politics. I know what's going on in the world. I am up to date, as up to date as I was thirty or forty years ago.
And so many people, as they get older, they just check out. Mhmm. And so, you know, they're talking, why do you remember when Ann Margaret and Elvis Presley got and all those people are dead now, dude. That that's over. That that we're finished with that one. So I I then the book is now about, you know, get some sleep. Make sure you sleep well. And here's how to sleep well. And, you know, your room should not look like a Best Buy. It should look like a bedroom. There should be a bed in there because you're only doing one thing in the bedroom, maybe two if you're lucky. Sure. And I was gonna add that. Okay. Well, you know, these are old people. But,
[00:47:23] Unknown:
I work at look. I I work in a nursing home, my regular job. Trust me. Yep.
[00:47:29] Unknown:
It it goes on. Hey, the old buggers. Yeah. There you go. Yes. Very much. But, there's still you know, the exercise part was there and, you know, how to lift weights when you're in your seventies because it's different. You know, lots and lots of reps of lighter weights instead of trying you know, as if you you try to, you know, do three eighty five dead like you it's gonna be interesting. To say the least. But it it it'll it's gonna go through all of those different things. And I wrote the book because I really had an interest in thinking, okay. I'm in pretty good shape. I've been lucky.
And so if I can pass any of that along and I I do go out and I do, appearances at, you know, sort of homes and gyms and stuff like that, talking to people around my age and younger. And it's so funny when, you know, people will say, well, you know, when when you're my age, I'll say, how old are you? I'm 58. I had ties older than you. But I I talked to people, and Awesome. It's a little bit of an incentive. You know what I mean? It it it kinda is a little bit of aspirational stuff like, hey, man. Now, again, I've been lucky. No catastrophic diseases, you know, none of that kind of stuff, and that's just the luck of the draw.
But, I think that if if your head's right, if you if you stay engaged in stuff, if you don't check out, and remember, you know, your body's a very elegant machine, and it's made to move. That's right. So don't plop yourself someplace. And guys that say, you know, give me some Lipitora because I have high cholesterol so I could keep eating hamburgers. What's wrong with you?
[00:49:04] Unknown:
Stop eating the cheeseburgers, dude. Yeah. No. I agree with you. I agree with you. Don't take medicine to do things you'd be able to do things you shouldn't do. Yeah. I I had very similar conversations with, with with a number of people, folks that work in the medical field, and actually with my doctor, himself too. I I I very honest with him, I said, look, I don't wanna be on this medication anymore. I don't wanna be taking blood pressure medication. I don't wanna be taking No. All this other stuff that because you you you you know, you read you you take this medication and then it causes side effects, and then there's a pill for the side effect. You you know, then know the pill for the side effect of that pill. Next thing you know, you you have like, what what did it for me was is I I got up one morning, and I was getting ready to leave for work, and I looked at my, in in my my bathroom. I have, like, all the medications and stuff that I was taking all lined up, so I remember to take it. And Right. I was looking at it one day, and I was like, good grief.
You know, I I spent ten minutes in here just just popping bottles, and just one after another just like and I got a a fistful of, of pills that I'm taking, and it's like, this is all I do is just take pills. I mean, I there has to be something different. So I I wanted to make sure that I wanted to to to redirect myself, I should say, not make sure, but I wanted to redirect myself to to make better choices. Because I think that the whole point of even being on medication is not to be on it for the rest of your life. It's to help you overcome a certain period of time, and and the goal is to get off the medication.
[00:50:29] Unknown:
Right. And, again, I mean, you know, there were days when I took handfuls of pills, but it was 1969. So that's different. Different. Much different. But yeah. But, I'm 75. I go to a doctor, and he asked me to list my medications, and I say none. Mhmm. And people there's something wrong when you don't take when you say I don't take any medicine. They want you nothing? No. Nothing. But I do take vitamin c and a multivitamin and vitamin d and vitamin k, and I take, magnesium, and I take Androyden. And, you know, it's like, I take supplements to to supplement my immune system Hence the word. And to to keep it going. Mhmm. So that so that's what it's for. But I'm I believe that medicine does in many, many, many cases more harm than good. Now look, I'm not you know, if I have a heart attack, take me to the hospital. Of course.
But, you know, I I don't believe and it's just habit now. And, you know, the doctors prescribe it, and the people take it, and everybody's taking their antidepressant or this or that, whatever whatever whatever. And I Nobody questions it. Well, I wasn't born with it, so I probably don't need it. Yeah. You know? And what you and what you said about blood pressure is true. I mean, you have high blood pressure? Great. Don't eat too much salt, eat more fiber, drink more water, and exercise. Yeah. Be more active. Absolutely. Absolutely. Active. Yeah. The,
[00:52:07] Unknown:
like, I was gonna say that, you know, there are alternatives to the medication. You know, the medication is is again, there are some occasions where somebody has to be on medication. There is an a legitimate need to be on a medication. But nine out of 10 times, these are things especially when you if you put somebody on it very young. Like for me, I they put me on blood pressure medication when I was in my my mid forties, late forties. You know, I think that's kinda young to be on that stuff, but I didn't question I didn't question it. I just said, oh, okay. Yeah. Whatever. Started taking it. You know, mom's on it, dad's on it, grandma's on it, this one's on it, that one's on it. Yeah. Whatever. And I started taking it. And it gets to the point where it's like now all of a sudden, like, do I really need this? I mean, oh, yeah. Well, of course you need it because you feel that you feel good because the medications making you feel good. Okay. Well, so I just started weaning myself off.
And, you know, yeah, okay. So I went through a little bit of, like, headaches and all that stuff, but that that let me know that, okay, I need to add something to my to my diet here to fix that, not medication. So I started doing, like you said, cutting down the salt intake, or actually changing the salt that I used. You know, I I Right. You know, something that that's better for you. Drinking more water, you know, flushing out my system. I mean, good grief. You have no idea, you know, what what a what a benefit that is. You know, cut the sodas out, cut the the all that junk stuff out of there. Get rid of it. That stuff. Oh, good. You know, if if I have anything carbonated now, it's sparkling water.
[00:53:39] Unknown:
Best blood pressure treatment that you have are bean and chucky. Yeah. They are they are the best you know, you go home, put the dogs in your lap, pet them a little bit, the blood pressure will go right down. Absolutely. Because that's that's what you want, what what you want your body to do. And the other thing is earthing. That's something we don't do enough. Take your shoes off and walk in the grass. Mhmm. We spend all of our time separating ourselves from the earth. Yeah. We walk on concrete in shoes. We we don't touch trees. I mean, I, you know, I have a little bit of Native American going way, way back. And I had a great great grandmother or whatever the heck she was We used to tell media, if you're if you're feeling tired and and whatever, go put your back against the tree for ten minutes and get that earth energy coming up. Now you can get something called a grounding sheet, oddly enough. Have you heard about that? I've heard about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the grounding sheet, you basically plug it in your wall. Like, you put the ground thing in there and it and you get there's, like, metal fibers in there. But there's nothing better. And just take your dogs out. Watch what your dogs do. Mhmm. Your dogs go out and they go and and they lay down in the grass and they roll around and they do everything again to stay connected to the dirt.
And we don't spend nearly enough time staying connected to the ground. And, you know, I don't think this is like tree hugging, crazy crystals talk. I think this is, you know, this has become, enough with the medication, enough with changing my body chemistry. It's not gonna do it. Plus the fact that, you know, I I have I have psoriasis on my arm, so let me take this medicine that will give me a stroke.
[00:55:18] Unknown:
Right. No. That that that was my point from earlier. Yeah. I mean, you have all these side effects that come with these medications are worse than what it they're intended to treat, and then you're on medication to take care of the side effect.
[00:55:29] Unknown:
Well, listen. I'm I'm loving your new sponsor. I think that, you know, in fact, when when you were doing the opening, I was checking them out, and I'm gonna spend a minute checking them out a little bit more because that's that is absolutely the right idea. All we do is treat symptoms. We don't treat any of these. So that's what, you know, full circle, that's what feeling groovy is about. Feeling groovy is is all about take care of yourself, do it naturally, don't get on the medical hamster wheel, don't do any of that stuff. Just, you know, live your life and be happy and and get your head right and all that. By the way, feeling groovy, the Paul Simon song? Mhmm.
Right? He hates that song.
[00:56:03] Unknown:
I read that someplace. Yeah. I I had a feeling you were going that way. He hates that song.
[00:56:08] Unknown:
And, and I thought because, you know, I I know him a little bit because I did the the Born at the Right Time tour with them years ago. And, I thought maybe I'll wait till I then no. No. No. No. Because it's not gonna get in his radar screen, so that'll that'll be fine. But he absolutely hates that stuff. Yeah. And just, just to do a little plug, by the way, because talking about Ezra Healing,
[00:56:27] Unknown:
the the founder and the CEO and I will be doing a show starting August 5, every two every two weeks on on a Tuesday, where we'll be talking about these alternative health, holistic approaches to medicine to to treating the body, and we're calling the show. It's it's gonna be called Do No Harm. And, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. So I would I would invite you to come and check it out. Okay. Great. That's fantastic. So that's that's really good. That's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it. She was on the show, a couple of weeks ago. Her name was Svetlana Rylkoff.
Great lady. Super smart. Had great conversations with her. We, we kinda connected really well. As a matter of fact, they just sent me a a a little bit of a care package of some vitamins and supplements, to try out. So, really really wonderful people. Love talking to them, and, and they don't just, you know, just for people with pets, they don't just treat and and counsel
[00:57:21] Unknown:
humans. They also take care of your pets too. So Yeah. Just and just one thing I'll say because I you know, we bonded here, and I feel like you're my brother and I care deeply for you. So these pharmaceutical companies are very big very big companies. And so what I want you to do is before you start your car, when you go out, look under the car and see if there's anything on there with little lights blinking. Yes, sir. Yeah. Because, you know and and anybody's tailgating you in the middle of the night, just keep going. Yes, sir. My my, my my my years of my years of working in law enforcement and my, my my stint working for the US Department of State. Mhmm. Yeah. Just just just be careful because anytime people have money to lose.
[00:58:02] Unknown:
Yes. See, I actually accidents happen. I actually invested in the little the little, mirror on the stick, you know, so you can look under the car before you get in. So I do the inspection. Because, you know, GlaxoSmithKline has a lot of money and no place to spend it. Yeah. And so is Pfizer and all them, you know. Especially especially with all the especially with all the COVID money they made and and Exactly right. So, you know, there you go. All that great stuff. So, so in the in your fifties, you had a you had a really serious scare. You had a hard scare.
[00:58:28] Unknown:
I did. I I was born with a thing called supraventricular tachycardia, SVT. And, a lot of athletes get it, and all of a sudden, your heart just takes off. Like, I'd be doing this with you Mhmm. And suddenly my heart would be doing 180 beats minute. Oh, wow. Just take off. Now it stayed in rhythm, so it wasn't AFib. But, it just went really fast. And your leg, you know, your legs would get wobbly and you'd be out of breath. And, my my symptoms lasted fifteen, twenty minutes. Yeah. Some people that last for days. I mean, they will be in this for weeks, and it just it's scary, and it's it, you know, doesn't feel good.
What happened was I had an episode of it. It did last for a few days. I went to the hospital, and they, you know, they can either convert it with the paddles, like, they whack you in the chest and you go flying off the table or one of those things, or they can give you medication for it. Well, they gave me the medication, but they gave me too much and the wrong meds, and they almost killed me. So, that was bad. And, so I went to my doctor, who's a holistic doctor, after the whole thing was over. I said, look. They want me to come to, they want me to to come to the cardiologist all the time and do this and do that and take medication, whatever. He said, no. No. No. No. We're not gonna do that. He said, here's what we're gonna do instead. And that's where the whole feeling groovy thing came about. You're not gonna take medication. You're gonna work out. You're gonna lift weights. You're gonna do this and that. And then when I started doing it, like, I I started at 60, just doing it for my health. And then Then about, like, '61, '62, I thought, this is fun. Let me see if I can get back in shape.
So for fifteen years now, I've been doing this, and it seems to work. Although it's funny when you get to be 75. Nope. I didn't plan to be this old, so I really don't have a plan anymore. So I get up in the morning like, what am I supposed to do? And so, you know, that's why I invented this, you know, writing books and doing things like that because I get up in the morning and now I have something to do. People say, why don't you retire? It's because I don't know how. I I don't know what that is. So I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing. But, yeah, that whole that whole health scare was what kinda launched me on this, this journey of, I think I'll get in good shape and, you know, see how it works out. So so far so good, man. Alright. Well, you look great. And,
[01:00:38] Unknown:
our next guest has, checked into the, to the waiting room, so we're gonna have to wrap it. I didn't even get to half of the questions that I had for you. So we're gonna have to have you on again at some point. So you just let me know. Just let me know when you're available, and we'll work something out. And, so where could the audience go to follow your work, learn more about your books, connect with you online? How how can we find you?
[01:00:57] Unknown:
Wwwjoeowensauthor.com.
[01:01:02] Unknown:
Outstanding. And, of course, we'll have that in the show notes. And, we actually have your picture in the show notes too because because mice Oh, that's so that's so sad. I'm so sorry. My other sponsor does that with their platform. So we'll get to that after the break. Joe Owen, thank you so much for being with us tonight. Really do appreciate it, and we'll definitely get you back here. This was this was really a lot of fun. Thank you so much for it. I appreciate it. Joe, thanks. It was a pleasure. Hopefully, see you soon. Very soon. Very soon. Very soon. Take care, man. Alright. You too, bro. Alright. Bye bye. Alright, folks. What we're gonna do here is we're gonna take a short break, do a little bit of a reset, and we'll come back to our next guest, Jasmine Dodd. I hope I'm saying her name right. And if I'm not, she'll tell me for sure when, when we come back. Alright, folks. So remember, this is a live show weeknight 7PM central time, Saturdays at 3PM central time, and Sundays at 6PM central time. And don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, whatever you wanna call it. Share it with your friends, your family, and followers because it actually does help with the algorithm and helps us get seen, which is what we are trying to do. Alright. So we will be back right after this about two minute break, maybe three.
Gotta use the restroom, gotta refill the coffee, and we'll be back with Jasmine Dodd. So stay with us, folks.
[01:07:14] Unknown:
So now you told me you couldn't hold on. You searched inside just for something that can't be won.
[01:07:44] Unknown:
Alrighty, folks. We are back. This is the Joe Russo. First hour is in the books. Getting ready here for hour number two. Our guest is waiting for us in the virtual green room, and we'll get we'll get to Jasmine, hope I'm saying it right, in just a quick moment. Folks, Podhome. Podhome is the most modern and easy to use podcast hosting platform. Use it to publish your episodes, enhance your audio, and automatically generate transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, and more. You can even, believe it or not, you can even, I thought I had the graphic. There we go.
You could even broadcast live through your website via the media player that they provide. That's great. You can also get a website through podhome.fm. Everything that you need in one affordable subscription of $15.99 a month. That's $15.99 a month. You cannot get a better deal than that. Remember, transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, broadcasting live, and it's connected with the podcasting two point o platforms, so you can even get Sats, which are micropayments of Bitcoin streamed to you through them. Folks, other platforms offer these things, for sure, without a doubt, but for almost triple the price.
Head over to podhome.fm and try them out for $15.99 a month. And when you sign up, you're gonna get thirty days free so you can play with it. Pod home is our host platform for our audio stream. We love it. It's great. Best move I ever made, leaving one of the bigger names to come over to podhome. So try it out. $15.99 a month. Podhome.fm. That's podhome.fm. Alright. Well, folks, our guest is waiting for us. Jasmine Dodd. She's a news reporter, an on air host covering culture, crime, politics, and more. Her bylines include the New York Post, the Epic Times, Jewish News Syndicate, the Imperial Valley Press. She hosts a weekly talk show that tackles current events, headlines, feature interviews, and, really covers a lot of really interesting things. Whether she's in the newsroom or on your podcast feed or on on location covering stories, Jasmine brings curiosity, real world grit, and commitment to telling stories that matter.
Jasmine, like to welcome you to the Joe Russo. If you could, just, flip on your camera there and your mic, and we're waiting for you. I just gotta turn your mic on. Your mic's not on. Okay. There you go. Almost. Almost had it. Okay. How's that? That's great. I think I have it. Okay. This is this is the joy of live shows. You know, you have all these little technical Live podcast is great. Right? It is best. How are you? It is the best. I am great. How are you? Am I saying your name right, by the way? It's Jessamine. So you're pretty close. Okay. Alright. So I'm an idiot. So I'm sorry. I apologize. It's not it's not that bad. Alright. Most people say it right, so it's okay. Okay. Well, I try to do my best because people mangle my my last name all the time.
Ruz? It's not that's the shortened version of it.
[01:11:45] Unknown:
What's the long version? Ruziello. Ruziello?
[01:11:48] Unknown:
Yeah. So that's just cut in half. That's all. No big deal. So welcome to the show. It's great to have you here. So, I usually like to ask folks at the very very outset of the shows, to tell us something about yourself that most people don't know but should.
[01:12:07] Unknown:
Something about myself that most people don't know? I'm kind I that's a really good question. People know a lot of things about me. I guess one thing that I don't talk about a lot, but I've started to open up a little bit more about is my animal activism. I've always been into saving animals, animal welfare, you know, no kill shelters, adoption, adopt, don't shop Mhmm. Spay neuter, trap, neuter, and release, doing that right now out here in the valley. So I I haven't, that's not really my whole platform. You know, some people's platforms is all about their work outside with animals. Mhmm. And, I don't really do that. I just do it because I love it. And, I haven't I I've started posting a little bit more about some of the the the cats that, you know, the rescues that I've been doing and adoption events and and the importance of spaying and neutering, trying to clear the shelters because right now, there is an influx, this summer at, the Humane Society in Riverside, the Humane Society Imperial County, the Humane Society in San Diego. Mhmm. In LA, they're getting a lot of, dogs, mostly from either people who all of a sudden have to leave the country.
A lot of them have been dogs of, illegal that have been deported, and the dogs and cats are abandoned. So I've been kind of working to try to find those dogs and cats homes. Well, that's it. Yeah. That's great work too.
[01:13:42] Unknown:
Here, where I am I'm in I'm in Texas. I'm in Eagle Pass. And, here, people tend to, like, just leave their gates open. Their dogs just roam the streets. It's it's terrible. I have two dogs myself. I have my my my two French bulldogs. Yeah. My, my little bean and my little Charlie.
[01:14:01] Unknown:
That's my rescue. Yeah. That's the thing, that kinda shocked me about being out here, when I first got to Imperial County is, just the amount of cats and dogs running up the street. Mhmm. People will have, like, you know, the their gates are open or the dogs can kinda they just let them walk themselves. They open the door and let the dogs go out, and I'm like, what's going on? Yeah. So, yeah, that's what happens in the country. People just
[01:14:22] Unknown:
that's the country for you. People just let the dogs just kinda have free roam, but they always go home. You know? But some of them don't. Yeah. True. So those are the ones. No. I'm guilty of that too. I mean, I'll, you know, I'll let the dogs out, but I'm out there with them. You know? I'm not I don't just walk I just don't open the door, say, hey. I go and just leave them, and we'll see you later. No. They go outside, I'm I'm there with them, and they're both my two are really well trained. Like, they know that there's a limit to how far I'll let them go, and they push the limit.
They go right to the edge of the limit, and they'll look back at me and and, you know, you have just to do like this, and and they'll come running back. But, but they're great. I love them. They're my babies. I take care of them. It's just the three of us, and we have a grand old time. I spoil them rotten, you know. I I was telling our previous guest that, tonight they're tonight they'll be having braised pork chops for dinner. Yeah. I I cook for them every night. Dogs eat better than most people. They do. They do. Like last night, they had, what did they have last night? They had, roasted chicken breast last night, and I had, I had a a a a ham sandwich. So, you know, I cook for them. I don't cook for myself, but yet I'm fat and they're not. So you explain that one. I will figure that
[01:15:42] Unknown:
out. But, I never thought that I would be, caring for a a community of feral cats when I moved in here. You know, there was a woman next one of my neighbors, and she ended up moving. And all of a sudden, the cats kept showing up, and I'm like, I guess I'm in charge. I guess I'm taking care of you guys now. And, you know, I didn't definitely was not the plan, but they're here. Now they come and wait at my door for me when I get home. So So See here you have to worry about feral chihuahuas.
[01:16:11] Unknown:
Mhmm. And and every now and then there's a feral chihuahua that likes to hang out by my house. So Oh, god. It's it's but it's amusing. It is. So, so what's what's your, what's your go to beverage to help you unplug and recharge at the end of the day?
[01:16:27] Unknown:
You know, I don't I hate I hate saying this, but there's I do love a good Coca Cola. Oh, there's nothing wrong with that. It just there's something I like the Mexican Coke. Yes. I'll buy it. I agree. It's so good, and I know it's so bad for me. There's so much sugar in it, and especially at night. I should not be drinking it, but, you know But it's the good sugar. It's not just day. That's that's kinda what I wanna have. I don't drink alcohol or anything like that, so I treat myself to a Coca Cola. Well, see, but so the the Mexican Coke has real sugar in it, not the fake stuff. So it's it's I guess it's in some ways better for you that way.
[01:17:01] Unknown:
Yeah. But I never I never had a Mexican Coke until I got here. And, oh, yeah. Well, I'm from New York, so we don't get this up there. But the, when I moved here, here ten years now, I think I was here like three days and I had my first Mexican Coke and I was hooked. I was like, oh, I'm done. I'm never going back to another Coke again. I have to have the Mexican Cokes, but but I've recently cut sodas out of my my diet and all that stuff. So the most, if if I want something carbonated, I'll have just like a sparkling water or something like that, with some kind of a natural like, I'll get some fresh lime or something, squeeze it in there, and I'll probably throw a dropper of methylene blue or something in it just to oh, I love the methylene blue.
[01:17:38] Unknown:
I I'm trying to cut down on the sodas, doing, like, one a day. I think I had two today because it was really stressful day, but,
[01:17:49] Unknown:
if that's the worst thing I'm doing, that's okay. Yeah. That's I I would agree with you on that one. So, so you've been published in major outlets. How did you first get into journalism?
[01:18:01] Unknown:
How did I first get into journalism? I have always loved writing. English was always creative writing was my favorite, subject in school. I loved it. And then I started in photojournalism, during the pandemic just with my camera, just interning, going around LA, taking pictures of protests and and riots and empty streets and, you know, everybody kind of coping. I just started documenting it. And, and then one day, the editor said, I I turned in some pictures, and I said, who's the writer so I can send it to them? They go, why don't you write it? And I was like, me? They said, yeah. Why don't you write it? And I said, okay. So I really
[01:18:42] Unknown:
enjoyed writing. And and then And how long ago was that?
[01:18:47] Unknown:
How long ago was that? In 2020. Okay. I kinda started doing photojournalism 2018, 2019, and then started writing in 2020. Okay. And then I just kinda took off from there. I got my first job in TV, and then I got my first job doing this and that. And And I just kind of, just kept building on different parts, different kinds of of news reporting and kinds of like, the I wanted I knew I wanted to do broadcast, so I got a job in broadcaster. I knew I wanted to do print. I I knew I wanted to do digital. I knew I wanted byline, so I would just kind of, take these freelancing jobs just to get my work out there so that I had something to show.
And just started making these great connections. And, you know, next thing I know, I'm I'm interviewing, like, you know, NBA players and and, you know, actors that I've been watching since I was five. And now I'm there standing with them, interviewing them, and, you know, politicians that I was watching on TV. I'm like, I just saw you on, you know, on this channel and on that channel and watching you in Washington, and now you're sitting here talking to me. And so it kind of is a very cool career. And, I know I still have a lot more that I want to do. So
[01:20:02] Unknown:
And I'm sure you'll get it done. But what what drives you today, though?
[01:20:06] Unknown:
What drives me today, my son. Okay. Yeah. I have a little boy, and, that's you know, there's days. I'm a single mom, so, you know, and I have been since I was pregnant with him. And I said, I look at him, and I'm like, I don't wanna go to work. I don't wanna drive. I don't wanna sit eight hours. I don't wanna be running up and down the border. I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna stand out in a 110 degree weather. But I wake up and I look at his eyes, and I I gotta do it. I have to do it, and I have to keep going, and I have to do more, because there is nothing like your son saying that he's so proud and telling his friends. That's my mom on TV. That's my mom's name in TV. Be a great feeling, though. And it's just the best feeling in the world, and I just I hold on to that feeling.
And I'm like, you know, there's certain things that I can't show him because the content is too, you know, violent. But the ones that are fun, he gets to come with me, you know, if it's the county fair or a really cool children's movie premiere.
[01:21:08] Unknown:
And he just gets a kick out of it. And that's that's why I'm doing it. I'm doing it for him. Well, I know what you mean though because, like, when I before I came to Texas, I worked for New York City. So, I'd and I wore many hats, working for the city. And and, one of the the probably the most fun things that did when we had community events and things like that that that would take place in my sector and my districts, I would bring my son with me. And, just just just to get to see his reaction to the whole thing and say, hey, my my dad coordinated this. My dad put this all together. My dad knows this person and that person. It's a great feeling. It is. You know, you kinda pat yourself on the back and say, hey, good job. You know? But, but yeah, I know I totally get I totally get you on that. It's it's, it it is something it it does drive you every single day. Like right now, what drives me the most is my my two dogs. My kids are older. They're they're they're still living back east, you know? But my two dogs, I know that if I don't get up and go to work every day, they don't have thumbs, they can't open cans of dog food for themselves. So I gotta do it for them, you know. So I gotta make sure that I have stuff in the house to to feed them, and, you know, cook for them, and take care of them. And so they and, you know, they give me a lot back too. You know, I mean granted they're not they're not human kids. They're not gonna, you know, but I know they they're there at the end of the day, and, you know, they they enrich my life, and I'm doing the best I can for them. And it's a great thing. I take them to work with me too. And right now I work in, You do? I do. I I work in a nursing facility, and, the residents in the facility love the dogs, and I bring them through. They're like the unofficial mascots of our facility.
So once a month, I bring them through, and they get to hang out all day. They play with the residents. They go out into the courtyards. They run around. They do all kinds of great stuff with them. And they have they have a blast. You know? So, you know, I get they're my kids. I love them.
[01:22:54] Unknown:
I'm totally way off the market. That's awesome. That's so nice. You could bring your dogs with you. Oh, yeah. I also kind of have this thing where I I I kind of have this I don't feel like I'm in competition with anybody out there in the world, but I always feel like I'm in competition with myself. Mhmm. Like, I'm like, this next story's gotta be even better. Yeah. This next interview's gotta be even bigger. This one's gotta go, you know, you know, gotta reach more people. I've gotta make a change. You know? So I've I have this thing in the back of my head too. You know? So that's that's another that's the second part. Yeah. I I'm the same way with the with the shows too because, you know, you start off, you you you have little
[01:23:32] Unknown:
boo boos and mistakes here or there, but you figure by the time you get to where we are with the show, it should be a little bit more refined. But, you know, this mistake still happen. But every show I do, I try to do something better. I try to make it better. I try to make it flow better. I'm very critical of myself, terribly critical of myself. Like, I won't go back and watch any of the shows that I've done. Because all I'll do is sit there and just nitpick and pick it, pick it, pick it. I'll wait for it. Yeah. Like, I have a I have a couple people that help me with the show. I have I have, not to get into the whole big pitch on it, but I have I have tiers, membership tiers.
So I have, I have I call them producers. So I have an associate producer level, which is a monthly recurring donation of a certain amount, and then a producer level, and then executive producers. And, so I have these these people that have contributed, there's like a core group of them, there's like four of them, that really do help me a lot with the show, you know, aside from their donations to the show to keep it moving. I rely on them, they help me out. Like, I have two exec I have two executive producers that live out in Washington State. They are fantastic. They are such a great source of encouragement. As a matter of fact, I spoke to them both right before we did the show here today, and they I I just I was having a moment. I was like, I don't even wanna do the freaking show today. I'm just such I'm in such a bad I'm in such a bad mood, you know. I was having a bad day, and, they were like, no. No. You gotta do it. Show goes on. You gotta do it. You gotta do it. And they were so encouraging about it, and, you know, they were great. And then I have, another my producer is, Angela. I think I included her in the emails that I sent you. Angela's fantastic. I mean, she she donates her time and her talent, and she helps me just coordinate all the all the guests, and she helps me do the emails and all that stuff. She's fantastic. I appreciate them. You know, so they help me every day to make this make this thing better, and they're my critics, so I go to them. So what do you think? What did I do here? What did I do there? And they're very encouraging for that. So like I said, I won't watch my own stuff. I I can't. I I'm just too hypercritical. And, so I I totally got you. You drive every day. You strive every day to do better and better and make yourself better. This way, because you're building a name for yourself. You're you're you're this is this is what you do. This is your name. My goal is to make this thing my my full time thing. I want I wanted this thing to take off, and I wanna be able to, you know, succeed at it. You know, I'm not saying I could be the next Rogan. I wouldn't mind, you know. Money's good. But, you know, I'm not I'm not anywhere near that.
But, but I got you. I totally understand that. Now, you cover crime, politics, entertainment, the border, which is something we're gonna talk about too because I because I live in a border town, so it's very interesting to hear. Yeah. You're in evil past. That's you're right there. You're yeah. You're right up there too. I'm like two minutes away from Shelby Park where that whole standoff took place. So Oh. So, yeah. Very interesting. Very interesting. So, so is there is there a common thread for you, like human stories, cultural influence?
[01:26:31] Unknown:
Well, I wanna say that I I I started covering crime because I just wanted to give, I felt like a lot of times in the media when there's a murder or someone goes missing that, they're focused so much. And we see it in the movies a lot too. And I'm a huge movie fan. That's my first love is film. We're focused on the killer. Who is he? What did he do? Where did he come from? Where did she go to school? Where did she know? Who did they and we're not talking enough about the victims, which is why I really am I'm happy about the coverage. It's such a horrific crime, the Idaho four. I mean, it's just so heartbreaking.
But I feel like finally, the media is is focused not so much on Kohlberger, but on the victims and who they were, their lives, their family, and what they're because a lot of times when you have three minutes to do a package on air or you have a thousand words, people wanna know who, why, where did did they how did they grow up? They wanna talk about the killer. They wanna talk about the mass murder. And I just really wanted to highlight and give the victims, you know, pay tribute to them. Mhmm. And, also, I wanted to talk about cases that were not being talked about. You know? The the missing kids that go you know, the MMIWs, things that the mainstream media just kind of glosses over. You know? They might get a quick little, you know, paragraph here or there in the news, but there are so many, and I've had parents come, well, why doesn't anybody care about my kid? And I said, I do. So let's talk about it.
You know, know, I care about your kid your kid, but I care about them. You know, you're a mom. So and a lot of times we hear that in the news. Why why not my child? You know? And then the other part that I love covering is I love covering entertainment news because it's fun. It's not as controversial. No one's gonna cancel you. You're not gonna lose your job for going to a movie premiere and interviewing an actor about how they prepared for a role. You know what I mean? And you get to do some really cool stuff. I appreciate the art of filmmaking. I appreciate the art of music. Also, you know, smaller indie artists, smaller indie films that, aren't blasted everywhere on on every, you know, variety and here and there, I I say, oh, you guys have worked so hard. We should just we should do an article.
I enjoyed your film. Let's talk about it. You know? Or I really love watching you do what your art. Art is art is so necessary. So I love that. The border stuff kinda just fell into my lap as I, ended up out here. So I'll tell you what. The election campaign was it was brutal. I don't wanna do that again. I I mean, obviously, in four years of New York Post, it's like, we wanna get you back doing that. I'm gonna do it because I really love the team there. Nice. But it's just not. It's like, oh my gosh. It's brutal. You're standing up for six, seven hours in a line talking to people at a rally. You're running from city to city every day. It's it's hard. Sure.
[01:29:54] Unknown:
It's, I I've had my run-in with politics. Yeah. I love politics. I'm I I I'm a political junkie. My my political views don't always jive with everybody else, but, you know, that's okay. The one thing I don't do is argue about it. You know, I if if we can't agree on something, I'll crack a joke about it and move on, and just let it go. But That's probably smart. Yeah. It's the best way to do it, I think. I I think anyway. It's it's just it's just saves friendships and family relations and and whatnot. But, are you you're still hosting your show? Your your podcast?
[01:30:33] Unknown:
You know what? They had to take, I am not doing that. I'm gonna start back, but I don't think I'm gonna be doing it on the same platform. I'm gonna be switching platforms. And, I really loved hosting it. I like being able to talk freely without a script, just kind of, you know, what we're doing right now, just talking and having conversations. But the reason that I love doing it and, again, a lot of things were switching around at that particular network and, you know, CEOs leaving, owners going to Washington for a job in the Trump administration. So So things kinda got jumbled around. Nothing happened.
I was just like, I can't do this time slot that you wanna move me into. I have a nine to five. And that was really all that happened. And they said, well, if you if that day opens up again, you can come back. And so I'm kind of looking at other platforms for that for that,
[01:31:29] Unknown:
outlet. Go independent. Do it yourself.
[01:31:32] Unknown:
Yeah. I was like, you know what? I have a Substack. I'm just gonna start going live on Substack. Because there's a lot of things that, being in local news that I I can't cover for our newspaper, it's strictly local. So if it's outside the county, I have to either find a way to tie it back into somebody here in the county Mhmm. Or something that's happening in the county. But a lot of the things, especially international things or Hollywood stuff, you know, I can't. My hands are tied. My editor said, if it's not here, I don't care. You know? He's like, I care, but we I don't care. It's not for us. Right? So there's a lot of things that I wanna talk about, and, that's kinda why I started my Substack because there are things that I wanna write about that are really interesting to me, and there are people that I want to talk to.
And I need that I need I need to have that creativity Right. So I don't feel stifled in my job. Because if I'm just writing about Calexico, Mexicali, El Centro, I kind of start going, but there's this thing that's happening, and it's so cool. Or I wanna talk about it. Oh my god. There's this case. There's a serial code. I need to talk. You know? And so that's kinda why I started doing it. Also, at the time that I was doing that show, I was doing freelance. So I was free to take an hour, you know, two hours. As long as I turned my work in by five, it didn't matter. It wasn't hourly. It was you know, when you're freelance, you're paid per article. So I kinda made my own hours. And then when I got the nine to five, that changed. So that's the that's the only reason
[01:33:12] Unknown:
that that happened. Well, you know, the trend right now or or the the popular trend if you're if you if you check out a lot of the podcasting sheets and things like that, you know, articles that come out about podcasting, the the the growing trend in podcasting right now is local podcasting. So talking about things that are going on in the local community, they are taking off like crazy. This was supposed to be that. This show was supposed to be that, but it it it Okay. It morphed into something far beyond that. So, but, but that's something to consider too when you if you are gonna restart, and especially with the Substack or, you know, or what other other platform you you're looking to to get on to. Mhmm. You know, local stuff is really big. It's growing quick. It's getting huge followings, especially somebody with your background and your creds. Oh, forget it. You'll you'll get a big audience really quick.
[01:34:03] Unknown:
I keep thinking I'm gonna go live on Substack, and then I just, I haven't done it. So I think I'm gonna just start doing it and see what happens. But, yeah, there there's there should be a lot going on. And, regarding the border, you know, you know you're there, and I'm here too. And I don't know what it's like where you are, but I know where it's I was just saying that. I know what it's like here, and it's not what they're showing on television. It's not at all. And we're twenty minutes from the border. I've gone on ride alongs with the chi with with border patrol. I've gone into the offices with the chief of board, the CBP, El Centro Sector. We've had sit downs. I've interviewed them many times.
I've reached out to them for stories that and and investigative pieces that I've been working on, and they've always responded. You know, Gregory Bovino, I think they're putting him in a bad light right now Mhmm. For his work in Los Angeles because he's not he's not the person that that that the media is making him out to be. He's very respectful. He's very polite. He's concise, but he's an agent, and he has a job to do. You know? And, there's a lot but there's I so I started writing a book. Because I'm I'm a city girl, and I got out here, and it's all farm and desert and wall. And I'm like, what am I doing here? And so my PR agent said, start writing. Just write your experience. Write your write your book. And I said, I don't I've never written a book. Like, twelve twelve hundred words, maybe 2,000 words at the most for an investigative piece. Mhmm. I can't write 20,000, 50,000 words. That's crazy. When am I gonna do that? So I'm just I'm I'm about three quarters of the way done right now. Because I'm like, what are they doing on TV? Like, I don't understand because there's nothing happening here. Not anything. There hasn't been one raid.
There haven't been any anything. There's nothing. It's no. People are going to work. People are hanging out. No one's
[01:36:09] Unknown:
and and this is the border town. That's it. There's nothing happening here. You would think there'd be more activity in the border town than than in the city areas. But of course, you know, they've they've they've shuffled everybody into the cities. Right. And they shuffled everybody more north, especially down here in Texas. They would they would sending people up north. But, I know here with the border at at the peak of it, it was it was really bad. And it was very underreported as well. I have I have some some really close friends who are border patrol agents that were were telling us, you know, off the record, of course, you know, horrific stories of the things that they were coming across and and, you know, children by themselves and, you know, unfortunately, you know, those that that that didn't make it safely across and ended up Yeah. Passing before that and, you know, finding them, and and it's it's it was it was a terrible situation. And right now, I mean, well, before I get to right now, I mean, there were there were times where I would be on my way to my regular job, and, you would see there there's like a couple of those those big gas stations nearby here, and you would see, like, people just lined up all in a row, all with the same yellow binder, or or or envelope, all standing there waiting, and then this big unmarked white bus with the blacked out windows would pull up, and they'd load up on the buses, and they'd be off.
You know? And it would be like that all morning all morning. You know? They they mostly did it in the early morning hours where there are weren't that much there wasn't that much traffic around. So people so it wasn't getting in the way of traffic and people weren't seeing it as much. But, it was very it was really really bad. I had one incident here at my house where, it was, it was an early Saturday morning. It was like seven something in the morning, and somebody knocked on my on my on my side door. And, I, you know, I went over there. My dogs were freaking out. I I went over there, and it was some guy out there talking to who asked me if I would be interested in in in renting my house to him.
Now, obviously, he wasn't a local. I could you could tell that right away. But just a random question asking me if if I would if I would be interested in renting my house to him. And while he's talking to me, he's like craning over my shoulder to see what's over, you know, behind me. So my, you know, I I like I said, I worked in New York City. I worked in law enforcement for twenty three years, you know. You know, the the red flags started going off, and of course, I reached for my firearm and I kept it close by. And, you know, I told him, so no, I'm not interested in renting the house. And he goes, well, he goes, I can give you 17 I can give you a thousand $700 a month cash.
No. I'm not renting my house. No. I I I can double that. No. You know, and he just would That's not. Yeah. He just kept persisting. But again, had the yellow envelope, had cash. He had sent him along his way. I mean, I you know, so those things happen, and they happen a lot more frequently than people reporting on.
[01:39:09] Unknown:
Now Well, I yeah. Well, I mean, I I I wanna clarify. I just mean there's no raids of of, like, illegal farm workers or anything like that. I hear Yeah. But but they are one of the things that I hear what you're saying and what let me clarify that when I get the CBP alert, like, the the notes every day, there's a lot of drugs Yes. Guns and trafficking that they are stopping at the border and stopping at illegal points of entry. Yes. And and people are not seeing that. There's stash houses that they have found Mhmm. Like, in a neighborhood, by a school, a residential neighborhood, where people, you you know, were being trafficked where there were lots of guns, cartel, things like that. So those things are actually happening every day. What I meant was that there's not these huge mass raids where you see ice descending upon the, you know, as or they'd show these two second clips on the news. Either they're raiding Home Depot. They're raiding the farms.
And I'm sure that might that, you know, we're watching it, so it's happening. It's just not happening here. But what they are doing here is stopping illegal
[01:40:27] Unknown:
trafficking. Right. Exactly. Now I was coming to that too. That that that was my next point is that what we're not being told is all the activity that's being stopped. Because there has been no crossings into into no illegal crossings into Eagle Pass that I that I'm aware of at this point. Nothing that I've seen says anything about that. So it it's it has the control of the border here has gotten much much better. I I would almost say it's probably 99.999% closed, but they are recovering drugs. They are recovering human trafficking. They they are stopping these things coming into the into the country, and we're not hearing about all that. You know, the the media is, like you said, focused on on these raids that are taking place and, and mostly in the bigger cities, because, you know, again, that's where they were all shuffled off to at some point, you know, as they were coming through.
And it's a shame because the customs and border patrol is doing a fantastic job. They're I don't think they're getting the recognition that they should be getting for the work that they're doing. Right. The the the media, of course, is focusing on all the negatives, you know, the Maryland man, the Florida man, this this man, that man, that, you know, and they're not telling you that that these people are not only, you know, criminals in the sense that they crossed the border illegally, they came to the country illegally, but they're also hardened criminals. They a lot of these people have criminal records from the countries which they came from, or the majority of them have records here in The United States, but they were just never processed.
[01:42:06] Unknown:
Yeah. I, sat in on a detention hearing, on the ICE detention hearings. I was lucky, and, you know, I was able to sit in on one of them. They let me come in. And I'll tell you, one of the guys, you know, there were a few that were just illegal crossing. They'd you know, they weren't here. They came through and not a part of entry. No criminal record, but there was a gen there was a guy, and his lawyer was pushing for him to be released. He had MS 13 tattooed across. Like, he had the I I saw it. He had the tattoo across his chest. It was in evidence, and he was wanted in El Salvador for murder and kidnapping.
And he got into this country when a legal, means, an illegal port of entry, not a port of entry, through a fence, and he was in the community and trying to get him released. Luckily, the judge said no. So whether or not he is going to be going back home to El Salvador to serve his time there or if The US is going to I think El Salvador wanted him to come back and serve his time. But, you know, so I I said, you know, it's not all just there are some really bad people that they're stopping, and those are the people that we need to also make sure that people understand. Like, this guy was walking around Mhmm. Our city.
[01:43:32] Unknown:
Yeah. And and and, again, I agree with you a 100%. These are stories that need to be have more light shine, shown on them. Because you're you're not just you're you're talking about public safety. You're talking about the safety of of the citizens of this country. And and and to just open just to throw the doors open and just let anybody through without vetting them out, without finding out where these people are coming from, why they're coming here. I mean, the when when we went into, when when we bombed the nuclear facilities in in Iran, what came to my mind was is that one day that that they interviewed somebody at the border crossing in here, and it turns out that this person was a known terrorist, and he made a very a very openly veiled threat that, you know, you have no idea what's coming next.
I and I I I don't remember the guy's name. I'm sorry about that. It just flipped out of my head, but, that came to my mind. These people have been pouring into this country for the last four years.
[01:44:40] Unknown:
Yep.
[01:44:42] Unknown:
Where are they all? Why are the, you know, why were they allowed in knowing who they were? What was the whole point of this? You know, and, you know, I hate to think negatively about my government, but unfortunately, you have to. You know, to be to be honest, you have to. I mean, government's a necessary evil, and I think Thomas Jefferson said that for a reason. You know, I I I don't know. I I'd it just baffles me that that it would go, and then the media would just tow the line to the whole thing Yeah. And not raise those questions. And yet, here, like, I don't remember seeing one, one nationwide injunction stopping people from coming into the country, but yet I see all these nationwide injunctions preventing people from being deported.
You know, thankfully, that's kinda slowed down at this point, but, you know, you understand the point. It's it's Yeah. Where what was the motivation behind all that? Why were they being allowed? Like, why was nobody saying anything? What was the whole purpose behind it? And I think we're gonna find out sooner or later. And I unfortunately, I think the media is complicit in the whole thing.
[01:45:50] Unknown:
And I hope we find out before we have another nine eleven. Exactly. Look. I'd I'd been through nine eleven. I I I mean yeah. I was I remember everybody who was alive remembers exactly what happened. And my point whenever I bring that up is I'm not I'm saying that the people who who hijacked those planes were here for ten years working, studying, taking lessons, having jobs and a home and a family. Just regular Joe's. No record. Nothing. Just guys who came over. And then one day, the world changed. Yeah. Absolutely.
[01:46:31] Unknown:
And when I when I when what I was saying was is that, you know, I worked on the pile. I I did the rescue. I did the recovery. I did the cleanup. I did all that stuff. I I I know what what what it looks like. I don't wanna ever see that again. You know? Yeah. And unfortunately, the potential for that happening is here. Mhmm. You know? And, again, I give I give, I give, Ice and I give, Tom Homan. I give them a a huge thank you for the work that they've been doing so far. I would love to see it ramped up even more than it is, but, you know, that's, you know, you you there's no way you're gonna be able to get was would they estimate 20,000,000
[01:47:08] Unknown:
that came across? That's a Or It's a ridiculously kind of that, that the people who have been here just, you know, working with the families and, you know, they have the green card and they go to their green card has expired. They should, you know, maybe just not go to a detention center, be sent home, and then be able to reapply for their green card if they haven't done anything. I think that, you know, especially the farm workers, you know, people who are here who started businesses, they should be able to not be in a detention center for three, four, five, six, seven, eight weeks. They should, you know but at this point, people unfortunately, some good really good people are are being locked up, and, they haven't done anything wrong, and they've contributed to society.
But at this point, you know, I just I I I wanna say, and it sounds horrible, but if you have the chance to self deport, it's better than going to the to the detention center. And that way, you can come back legally. You know? I mean, they've they've offered this. So at that point, if you don't do that, you get caught. I don't I feel bad for you. I really do. My heart especially if if there's a child involved. You know? That's where they get me right there. But that and the person who you know? Again, the the gentleman not they're not gentlemen. The the who did nine eleven, they were here in the community too going to college.
Yeah. So you never know. But come back, take the thousand dollars, go to your family, and then come back again. Yeah. I I interviewed a gentleman,
[01:48:57] Unknown:
a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago. And, he he he was he's he got his American he got his US citizenship in 02/2015. And, but prior to that, he he was here. He had a he had a visa to be here. His visa expired. And, but while he was here, he met somebody, fell in love, you know, wanted to stay with her, get married, and all that stuff. But then when he when he realized that his visa was expired, of course, you know, his his self his conviction over doing the right thing and doing things the right way, he voluntarily left. He went to he went to 26 Federal Plaza, turned himself into INS. They laughed at him, said, just just go. Just go home.
You know? And and and and, you know, you you apply again. You you get to go through the process. You you come back the right way, And that's what he did, and, you know, it didn't take years and years and years to do it because he did it the right way. He left, he did what he needed to do, he got through the process, and came back here, reunited with with with the woman he loved, and got married, and became a citizen in 02/2015. And, his his, his name is Julian Raven, and, he actually has lawsuits, three times before the US Supreme Court over freedom of speech, because he loves the country so much that he actually painted, a a a huge portrait, or a mural almost really for, for president Trump's first, first term, and, submitted it to the Smithsonian.
And the Smithsonian said that they won't they wouldn't accept it because it's a political message, and they were like, well, what about all the stuff you have from Obama? Different thing. Different. Different. So he's he went through lawsuits with this against the Smithsonian for that, because you know, Smith's not the Smithsonian is not a federal entity. It's a private entity that's funded by the federal government through, you know, through your taxes. So, so he so he went through lawsuits, and he's still going through lawsuits over this whole thing. But my point is is that he did it the right way. You know, he he came, he overstayed his visa. He he understood that. He left, self deported, did it the right way, came back, became a citizen, and it didn't take years and years and years to do it. So that excuse really doesn't float with me, you know. I'm sure in some cases it does because of backgrounds. Yeah. No. There's some there's actually a lot of people who said it took them at least ten years to get their citizenship. There's a lot
[01:51:30] Unknown:
of stuff and red tape, and it takes a lot of time. It takes time. Like certain circumstances. Yeah. Gonna come here, and and a year later, you're gonna be a people say it takes between seven to ten years, sometimes a little bit more than that. I guess that's why people are going to court is to try to get extension so that they can complete their citizenship. Yeah. But I guess that's why it's taking so long is because they have to hear each individual case by case base.
[01:51:59] Unknown:
Jasmine, we have five minutes left. Okay. And I didn't get to half of what I had for you.
[01:52:05] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:52:06] Unknown:
So I'm I'm going to extend an invitation to you to come back another time. So we'll, I'll have Angela reach out to you, and we'll work out a date when you can get out here again. Get out here like you're gonna come here. But, jump on the show with us. Virtually get out there. Yeah. There you go. And, so, before I let you go though, I'm gonna ask you the usual ending of the show question. Well, I have two, actually. What's one topic you haven't or issue that you haven't covered yet, but you're looking forward to tackling?
[01:52:37] Unknown:
One issue that I haven't, pulled yet, I've tackled a lot of things. I haven't I I've been commenting on the Gislan Maxwell and Epstein case, but I haven't, written about it professionally. I've just been sort
[01:53:01] Unknown:
of posting about it on my I shoulda asked you this earlier. I woulda loved to talk to you about this.
[01:53:06] Unknown:
Yeah. I I I covered Harvey Weinstein quite thoroughly, when his case was was being so I I haven't really, professionally covered it. I've just, been posting a lot about it, especially on my Instagram stories, focusing again on the victims. Okay. Because that's that's where it is. So that's that's one thing, I guess, if I had to say anything.
[01:53:34] Unknown:
That's an awkward question. I know. But
[01:53:36] Unknown:
I I mean, I've covered a lot of stuff. But, yeah, that's that's probably one more talking about political corruption.
[01:53:49] Unknown:
Like, I've always kinda steered away from that because I don't wanna get fired. So Yeah. Well but if you if you go if you go rogue and Yeah. You could talk whatever you wanna talk about. So Right. That's that's what we do here. We talk about whatever we wanna talk about. So what what I'm gonna ask you to do for me though is when you can, if, I don't know if you had a chance to respond to the email that that we sent you earlier. If you could just send over all your links and everything so I can update the show notes and have everything in there and ready to go. And then I'll look for my follows. I'll be following along with you. And then, so, speaking of which, where can the listeners go to read your articles, follow your show, upcoming show, your substack, and connect with you online? Alright.
[01:54:30] Unknown:
So my substack is called spotlight dispatch because I do focus a lot on entertainment, but also politics and crime a little bit. Times of Israel, just look up my name. Same with, Imperial Valley Press, Ivy Press online. That's my nine to five job. So you can find me, all of my border stuff, and environmental work, there. And, let's see. I'm on x. I keep calling it Twitter. X, Instagram, and threads. And TikTok is at Jesse, j e s s y, d o d d, Jesse Dodd. And I think my Instagram is just Jessamyn Dodd. Okay. Great. Well, I'll be looking for you. I'll be need to look for my follows, and, hopefully, we'll be able to connect. And,
[01:55:18] Unknown:
and so thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to be with us. So much for having me on. This was great. Oh, it was it was a blast. I loved it. Like I said, I A lot of fun. I have, like, three pages of questions to ask you. But I'm sure well, there's a lot more we can get into. Oh, absolutely. Definitely next time we talk, I'm gonna talk about, this whole Epstein debacle. Listen, I've been going hard on the Epstein stuff on my social media. So Alright. So we'll definitely we'll we'll make that the focal point of the show then. Alright. Sounds great. Jessamine Dodd.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Have a great night. Take care. You too. Alright, folks. So, what we're gonna do is here, we're gonna take a quick quick two minute break here, and then come back just wrap up everything up. Or you know what? That we're not gonna go to break. We'll just do we'll just wrap it up right here. Alright, folks. So, before we say adios for the night, just some quick announcements. Don't forget to head over to the website, joeroos.com. Joeroos.com. And, when you get over there, make sure you look for our contact section. Open up that little web form and fire us off a message. Let us know whatever is on your heart, what is in your mind, any questions, comments, cares, or concerns that you might have, any suggestions for the show, topics you wanna have covered, guests you'd like to try to see us get, we'd be happy to oblige.
Also, don't forget tomorrow, 7PM central time, we will be doing the crypto show with Marissa Lee. Looking forward to that, so make sure you, you set your timers and get on board or notifications, reminders, whatever. You know what I'm talking about. It's late. I'm tired. Been working all week. It's been a hard week. Alright? Don't give me crap. So 7PM central time, the Crypto Show with Marissa Lee. That'll be tomorrow. And then, our Bible study Sunday is, at 6PM central time on Sunday evening, Sunday afternoon. However you like to phrase it. Alright. Don't forget, check us out on our socials on Twitter or x at, Joe Ruse. Truth Social. You need to get on Truth Social.
If you wanna follow this administration, what they're doing, goes on Truth Social first, especially from, President Trump. So Truth Social, you can find me at Joe Roos Mines. You can find me at Joe Roos. Mines is a great platform, by the way, folks. You need to check it out if you haven't done it already, and give me a follow there. I'll follow you back. If you wanna check us out on Facebook, we have a Facebook page at, it's, Joe Roos podcast. Instagram, we are not Joe Roos on Instagram. Okay? And now that's the name, not Joe Roos, because we got banned when we first set up our account, immediately before we even posted anything. So we went back with not Joe Roos, and they accepted that for whatever reason.
And then, TikTok at joe dot roos. Don't really use TikTok all that much. I'm gonna try to start using it a little bit more, so I'll keep you up to date on that. No no listener emails for you today, but we do have our shout outs to our executive producer, Wayne Rankin, our executive producer, Rosanna Rankin, executive producer, Carolina Jimenez, and our wonderful producer, anonymous Angela. Thank you so much, guys, for all that you do. And you know, so I'm I wanted to mention this earlier. I started mentioning it earlier that, you know, I I had a rough week this week and, with a lot of other things going on. And, when I said earlier that I was really thinking, like, I didn't really wanna do the show tonight because just wasn't, you know, wasn't there thinking about it.
You know, I I gave Wayne a call, and, I spoke to Wayne, I spoke to Rosanna, and I gotta tell you, it was such an encouragement today. Absolute encouragement and a blessing, and I appreciate them. I love them. I love their friendship. Like I said, you know, many times before, I I've known Wayne for, over twenty years, and, he's always been a blessing to me, and I I'm thankful for him and, for Rosanna and just the words of encouragement that they had for today. I really appreciated that. Thank you so much, guys. Love you to death. You have no idea. And then, also our our executive producer Carolina Jimenez, thank you so much for your support. I really do appreciate it. Thank you. And, of course, anonymous Angela for all the work that she does. I mean, Angela donates her time and her talent, you know. This is a very busy woman, you know. I know the I know the back stories. She's anonymous Angela for a reason, so I'm not gonna tell you all the stuff that she's involved with. But she does incredible work with me, and I I really do appreciate that, from handling the, handling the sites, you know, for for the guests, the guest lists, and scheduling, and the emails, and all that stuff. She has been phenomenal, and I really appreciate all the work that she's been putting into the show here. You know, probably wouldn't be where we are right now if it wasn't for all the support that I've been getting from not only from from Angela, but from all of our producers. So thank you everybody so much.
Really do appreciate you guys. Now if you wanna get on get in on the fun, you could, head over to our support page at joeroos.com/support, and you can do a one time donation in any amount. You could do a recurring donation in any amount. But if you really wanna have fun, you gotta sign up for the producer tiers. Now we have our associate producer tier, $17.76 a month. We have our producer tier at $18.36 a month. And we have our executive producer tier level one, twenty five dollars a month, and executive producer two at $50 a month. Now all of tiers get the shout out on every show. They get my eternal gratitude. They also get, included in all of the show notes, included in anything that we send out as far as emails or anything goes out in the mail from us.
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Yeah. You can click that or you can go to the shop page on our website. You can purchase it through there. We have this one. We also have the, I have rabies t shirt that's available to you, and we have sticker packs that we're in the process of developing. We're also trying to get some some coffee mugs and all that great stuff. So we'll have all that available to you at some point. But if you wanna help us out, you can go down right there and click that shop button and buy a t shirt. They're great. I love them. They're really comfortable. They wash well. They last. Good quality stuff. Alright. If you wanna help us out with, donations in in cryptocurrencies, you can do that as well. We have our crypto wallet information up on the support page as well. Ethereum, Tether, Bitcoin, Solana, Texacoin, you know, whatever, you wanna send over to us, we appreciate that. And, of course, using the Podholm, .fm platform with our for our audio stream. We have a number of folks that are listening to the show on the audio on the live feed on the audio. And, because they're on the two point o platform, they're able to, actually live stream live stream or boost us SATs, Satoshis, which is just a micropayment of Bitcoin. So, you could do that by heading you can get those apps, those modern podcast apps, by heading over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org.
And, you can get yourself one of those great apps. I love them. I think they're great. I use them quite frequently. As a matter of fact, I'm beta testing one right now for our, our host platform, which is I'm telling you, it's really good, and you're gonna love it when it's when it goes full, and it's fully available to everybody. So great stuff. Gotta check them out. Alright. And, again, thank you to our sponsors, [email protected], and, of course, [email protected]. Alright. Well, folks, I think that's gonna pretty much just about do it for us for tonight. So just wanna say thank you again for spending the week with us and spending tonight with us. Thank you so very much for it. Don't forget, head over to the website, joeroos.com.
Click on the contact button and send us over any comments or questions. And folks, don't forget have a great weekend. Make Texas independent again. Go podcasting. Keep a steady stride and keep talking.
[02:03:39] Unknown:
Together? Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather. Happy trails to
[02:03:49] Unknown:
you. To remain
Alrighty. Yay, folks. This is Joe Roos. It is nineteen zero five hours on Friday, 07/25/2025, and we are transmitting to you live tonight from the asylum studios from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. And we are going to do the very best we can to bring you the best quality talk radio we could muster without all the bluster. Welcome to the Joe Ryu Show. Alright, folks. Guess what? We made it. It's Friday. Finally, Friday. We made it through a week and we didn't kill anybody. At least, I haven't.
Not yet. And, gotta find the crew who left the garbage pail in the corner over there. There we go. Alright. Hey, folks, I hope you guys are ready for a great weekend. I have a feeling things are gonna go really, really, really well this weekend. We got a packed weekend ahead of us here with the Joe Russo. We got a lot of little things going on. Our project, our crypto project starts, again tomorrow. And then, we have our our Sunday show, and then we're back to the grind with our guests on a Monday. So So we got a busy, busy, busy weekend.
And I'll give you the complete rundown when we get down to the end of the show. We start to wrap this baby up for today. Now tonight, we have two incredible guests lined up for us. In the first hour, we have Joe Owen. And then after the break, in the second hour, we have journalist, Jessamine Dodd. If I'm saying her name right, and I hope I am. And, we'll bring all that to you, some in some kind of fashion and order. Okay? As you could tell, this is not a scripted show. We just blah. Alright. Now before we get into the business of the day, as always, we do have some housekeeping that, that we need to do. So without any further ado, let's get all of our little thingies up here.
Alright, folks. Ezra Healing is a substantial part of the new wellness paradigm currently being born in North America and, of course, around the globe. Now global citizenry are no longer satisfied with the sick care version of so called health care. Band aid medicine, endlessly treating symptoms rather than root causes must be abandoned as soon as possible. Patient centric care must be the priority. We need to transition towards the do no harm model of private care that places humanity at the forefront of real health and wellness care. In this new model, your entire lifestyle is examined and analyzed to promote and support the totality of your body's integrated systems.
We are solutions based or or Ezra Health is a salute Ezra Healing is a solutions based health promotion and disease prevention grassroots movement that's always evolving to best serve you and your family. So if you want more information about this, our new sponsor, head on over to ezrahealing.com. That link should be up by there on the screen. And, we'll have to do something about the graphic location there. You really can't see it, so we'll fix that, in subsequent shows. But, head over to ezrahealing.com. That's ezrahealing.com, and make sure you let them know that you heard this on the Joe Russo.
Alright. Now, let's see. So with our first official sponsor read out of the way, hope I did alright with that. I think so. I think it kinda went alright. Our first guest is here waiting for us. He has lived many lives. A, rock and roll insider, an author, business coach, and now a film producer. Joe Owens is a seasoned storyteller with a career spanning decades. Now early on, he worked behind the scenes with legends like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Paul Simon. Amazing, by the way. Gaining a rare inside look at the creative machine and the toll it can take. From there, he went on to write several books, including Welcome to the Jungle, Mad House, The Rock Star Real Estate Agent. That's a good one. I like that. Blending music industry insight with practical strategies for business, mental health, and specialization.
His latest book, Feeling Groovy, is a tribute to aging with purpose. At 75, 75 folks, and and I'm gonna tell you because I saw him right before we, started the show here. We had a little chat. Doesn't look a day over 80, honestly. But at 75, Joe still hits the gym four times a week and walks two miles a day, all after a serious health scare in his late fifties convinced him to make a radical shift in how he lived. Now And whether your passion is business, creativity, or just staying sharp, and saying in a noisy world, Joe Owens brings hard won wisdom, unforgettable stories, and actionable insights for every stage of life.
Joe Owens, if you're out there, welcome to the Joe Russo. It's great to have you here. Just click on that mic and the camera and join us. Almost there. So while we wait for Joe and his camera to, to cooperate, so as you can tell, I'm drinking my methylene blue, which is, as always, a great, great addition to the show. Joe Owen. Can't hear you. That's right. Mic on.
[00:08:51] Unknown:
How about now? Now I got you. There you go. Alright. See, these are the joys of of a live show. What you what you said said a minute ago about not killing anybody? Yes, sir. A day over 80? You keep you keep that up, and I ain't gonna be with you anymore on that not killing anybody thing. Okay. How you doing, dude? I'm doing good, brother. It's great to have you here.
[00:09:13] Unknown:
We like to we like to have some fun. Try to keep it light. So, now you've had really quite the journey in in in life. You had music, books, film, coaching. Give us an idea. What's something that most people don't know about you, but probably should?
[00:09:32] Unknown:
Oh, that's an interesting question. I'm a sociopath. That's can be problematic for some. Funny thing is that everything that I've done, oddly enough, it's it's linear. Like, all the jobs, even though when you say, well, I worked in the music business, and I worked in a video game business, and then I worked in, minor league baseball, and now I write books, and I make movies, and and real estate, and all that kind of stuff. It it's all kind of the same thing because I've always been a big and you you commented on the rock star real estate agent and rock and roll. Successful rock stars find a niche and they stay there. And successful real estate agents find a niche and they stay there.
Luxury homes, mid century modern, whatever. Mhmm. Video game's the same way. The video game companies, they find a niche. They have a successful game, and then suddenly that that's what they do. I found my niche. And my niche was being a marketing guy, being a creative guy, and understanding how to connect an idea with a successful business venture. But it it's always been the same thing. It's just, you know, swapped out hats.
[00:10:43] Unknown:
So what's something about you that nobody knows that should know?
[00:10:47] Unknown:
Something about me nobody knows that they should know.
[00:10:52] Unknown:
It was a good answer. Armed? But you didn't answer the question. You're heavily armed. Well, that's good. That's very good. You you a lot of people Usually, I have mine right here, but I I didn't bring it into the studio today.
[00:11:04] Unknown:
I was either there you go. But, well, I live in Florida. So, you know, we're a constitutional carry state. So, Texas, man. You know, it's there you go. But I you know, it's hard for me to say. I I don't know what there is about me because I'm pretty much an open book. I mean Yeah. You don't get to live for seventy five years and hide much.
[00:11:20] Unknown:
Well, this is true. That that this is true. But, alright. Then how about this? What's your go to beverage to help you unwind at the end of the day?
[00:11:27] Unknown:
My go well, I don't drink alcohol. I think I think I hit my quota of drinking alcohol by age 38. I think everybody has sort of a quota in their lives. Yeah. And so I think I hit a around age 38, and they said, no. You can't have anymore. There has to be some left for the other people, so you really have to kinda knock off. I've never I I tell this to people all the time. I do not have a grown up palate. My palate stopped growing when I was about 10 years old. Okay. So as, you know, where where a lot of guys are about, you know, cigars and and brown liquor and and beer and stuff like that, I'm all about the cupcakes. Like, sugar is sugar is my thing. So chocolate chip cookies and cupcake yeah. Yeah. I can find out. Yeah. But the occasional brandy or something like that, but, man, I love me some Oreos. Well, the fact that you, you you you work out, frequently and you you walk a lot. Right? I think I read somewhere you walk two miles a day.
[00:12:22] Unknown:
At least. Yeah. I run, walk, whatever I'm in the mood for, but yeah. Yeah. I gotta build up a calorie deficit so I can eat all the junk food. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. I actually I was I was telling somebody earlier that, they they asked me what I ate throughout the day today. Well, I said, well, I had a I had a crappy sandwich for lunch, and then I I filled up on, six two packs of Oreo cookies, and two bags of two bags of Cheetos, and
[00:12:46] Unknown:
and, and all that great stuff. Well, there are major food groups, though. I mean, you know, you do have you do have sugar and you do have chocolate, all those major food groups. But no. I think at the end of the day, oddly enough, my go to beverage
[00:12:58] Unknown:
is Royal English breakfast tea. Really? That's good stuff. Yeah. I I know what you're talking about. I've had that.
[00:13:04] Unknown:
I'm I'm a tea guy. And, so, you know, it it used used to be, I like cognac a lot. Okay. But, you know, that was that was it. But I just these these days, it's more I'm I'm busy. Like, I my days kinda don't end.
[00:13:23] Unknown:
Well, I, I'm a, a coffee guy. I love my coffee. I have tons of coffee throughout the course of the day that's just I love it. I'm so used to it. I'm I'm immune to it, so it doesn't keep me up at night or anything like that. But, as far as the adult beverages go, I'm a bourbon guy, and Oh, yeah. So I love my bourbons, and I I love a good cigar with a burp with some bourbon. Like, you know, you said it before, it's made me laugh a little bit. You know, I love to sit out in the back with with, with with a nice cigar and a bourbon, you know, a good woman too. I'll sit out in the back with a bourbon and a cupcake. Okay. We can do that. Alright. So let me let me let's have a little bourbon conversation here. Sure. So you remember Humphrey Bogart used to call it bourbon. Right? Yes. Yep. He is almost
[00:14:04] Unknown:
Bourbon. Bourbon and branch water was my drink for a long time. Okay. And, but here's one I bet you don't know. Do you remember Rick Dee's, the DJ? Oh, yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Okay. So so I went to a, I went to a brunch at Rick Dee's house, and he was serving bourbon and milk. Yeah. Bourbon and milk. That's interesting. Mint julep. Mint julep is one of your, like, Kentucky Derby drinks. Yes. But bourbon and milk is one of the other ones, and I thought bourbon and milk. It is delicious. I I Yeah. But but Bailey's Irish cream. Right? So it's there. Like, that there there's a, you know, a precedent for it. Sure. Sure. Bourbon and milk is delicious.
And, you know, it's that Sunday brunch drink when you're having whatever you're having. And, but it also coats your stomach so you can drink more bourbon.
[00:14:54] Unknown:
Interesting. I I I Yeah. I'm going to have to experiment with this. I've never tried that. Yeah. It's good. Interesting. Very, very see, look, see, folks, at the Joe Russo, you learn something new every show we get. About knowledge. It's all it's all what it's all about, folks. It's all what it's about. My, my go to bourbon has been, I've been really digging into the seventeen ninety two bourbon, and it's absolutely delicious. They they have, I I just recently had a about two weeks ago, excuse me, two weeks ago, I had a 12 year old, 1792, which was absolutely amazing.
Smooth, beautiful flavor, nice on the palate, and paired well with it with an avo heritage cigar, which was amazing. So, two two kind of, counteract they they kinda balance each other out. They're really nice flavor combination. So wonderful stuff. Wonderful stuff. Another Is it, Buffalo Trace? No. Buffalo Trace is another brand altogether.
[00:15:52] Unknown:
Buffalo Trace is good. But Buffalo Trace is because that's a a buddy of mine gave me a bottle of, Buffalo Trace, and,
[00:15:59] Unknown:
it's good. That's a nice bourbon. Oh, it is. It is. It's very nice. Pairs well with a nice nice medium rare steak. Well, there's that. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. It's a beautiful combination, bro. I I like to, cooking is is is, like a like a side gig of mine. I love to cook. I love to to to put together a nice meal, and I love to pair it. So I make sure I have the appropriate, adult beverages to go along with the meals, as as they are served. That's all you have. The aperitifs and you have the the dinner drinks and you have the after dinner drinks, so it's works nice.
[00:16:30] Unknown:
Listen, I can I can be there in about four hours? Yeah. No worries, bro. Anytime you wanna come on out. We'll do it. Yeah. You know, I can get the I can fire up the jet, and I can be there in about four hours. Alright. Beautiful. That that'll work. That'll work. Are you are you like a are you a Wagyu beef guy?
[00:16:44] Unknown:
I do. I love Wagyu beef. So, I don't have any here at the moment. I cannot afford that at the moment. But, but when I You got two kidneys. You only need one. This is true. And two lungs and yeah. Yeah. Two feet, two toes. Yeah. Two eyes. There you go. You know? Two weeks. Just just be half a man. Just enjoy my steak. I'll be fine. You're getting Wagyu beef. I mean, come on. What do you expect? What what else is there? My dogs actually. I I have two French bulldogs. They're they're my babies. I love them. And, it's just the three of us. So, usually whenever I get some some kind of a steak dinner going or watch it. Let me let me be totally honest about this. Full disclosure, I cook every night for my dogs.
They get chicken breast, they get pork chops, they get steak, they get whatever whatever I eat, they eat. So Right. So tonight tonight they're gonna have braised pork chops for dinner. So very very excited about that. Last week they had, they not last week. I'm sorry. A few weeks ago, they had bacon wrapped filet mignon. Nice. And,
[00:17:46] Unknown:
Well, as well they should, dude. I mean, the more time I spend with people, the more I like my dog. Absolutely.
[00:17:51] Unknown:
Absolutely. And I and I tell you this, and this is more of a on a serious note because people ask me all the time, well, why do you spoil the dogs like that? They're just dogs, you know, all that stuff. You know what? When I was going through a about three years ago, I went through a very very dark period in my personal life, and I spent it at the bottom of a bottle almost every single day. And, I struggled, and when I was laying on the floor in the bathroom, after throwing up all over the place, hit my head against the ceramic tile, blood dripping off my head. Who was there with me? It was my two babies. My two dogs. Who's that? They stayed by my side through the whole thing. And if and what really kept me going through all of that stuff was the fact that they don't have opposable thumbs and they can't feed themselves, so they need me to stay around, so I have to take care of myself.
[00:18:42] Unknown:
My dogs got me through the lockdown during COVID. I would have lost my mind if it wasn't for the dogs. Oh, yeah. And, I have one. He's a, he's a long haired dachshund and basset hound mix, so it makes him a slightly sort of taller dachshund. But speaking of Wagyu beef, I left one marinade on the counter, went up to do something, came back, and he had scooped it. Oh, nice. And he's he's sitting out on the patio eating about $60 worth of steak. And, but his name you'll like his name. His name is Pierre Gustave Touton Beauregard. Now give me a history lesson. And I Yes, please. I call him Beau. Okay. But a history lesson. Who is Pierre Gustave Touton Beauregard?
[00:19:27] Unknown:
Well, you're gonna have to educate me on this one. Again, folks, this is a this is a lesson, so take your notes, get your get your school books ready. Right. This this is this is helpful, and it's helpful on two levels. Your your your listeners will like it too.
[00:19:40] Unknown:
So Pierre Gustave Touton Beauregard was a French explorer from Louisiana, but he was also the first Confederate brigadier general.
[00:19:50] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:19:51] Unknown:
And he started the Civil War. Jim Barrager. First shot. And, I named him that to piss off my liberal friends. Nice.
[00:19:59] Unknown:
I love it. I love it. Yes.
[00:20:02] Unknown:
And so, oh, what's your dog's name? Oh, he's named after the first Confederate general. That is awesome, man. I love that. That's fantastic.
[00:20:10] Unknown:
Yeah. The South shall rise again, man. Hell yeah. Save your Confederate money. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. My my tour name my girl is her full name is Winnie Jean. And, but when we brought her home, she was only about that big, so we called her Bean. And it just and it just kinda stuck. But, she she knows both names.
[00:20:29] Unknown:
And my other guy is Snoop Dogg.
[00:20:31] Unknown:
Nice. Nice. That's nice. My boy, my boy is named after two serial killers. His, he's named after Charles Manson. A real one, Charles Manson, and, and a fictitious one, Dexter Morgan. So his name is Charles Dexter. So and then and then of course and then, of course, you know, short, you call him Chucky, which is the the the movie character, you know. So Exactly. I love that. That's great. So he's covered. You are a sick man, Joe. Oh, yeah. You need some serious professional help. You have no idea. If I wait. Actually, let me do this. Let me see if this works. You have no that doesn't work.
[00:21:13] Unknown:
You have no idea.
[00:21:15] Unknown:
There we go. Hey. Nice. Yeah. These little effects, they're nice. I don't know if they translate or not onto the video, but it's fun for the moment. I did it one one time, I was I was just in the studio, I was just playing around with the equipment. I had just gotten the new mixing board and everything, and I was playing around all the features on it. And I got, I I was going through a bottle of, of, Elijah Craig, Toasted Barrel. And, I got about halfway to almost to the bottom of the bottle, and I decided to record a podcast episode in in
[00:21:49] Unknown:
In this voice. So I recorded the whole thing like this, and tried to figure out. And but the funny thing is though, with this voice, it makes everything sound really, like, dirty, like, perverted. Like, you can just go, yes. And it sounds dirty. I don't know why. But it just does. So,
[00:22:08] Unknown:
so we had fun. Anyway, we are way I don't know where we're going with this whole thing, but Oh, good. That's the blue that's the methylene blue by the way, folks. You know? There you go. It's, it helps. I would say blue meth. I want my jeep on that. It's excellent. Oh, it's fantastic. If that if I say sometimes I call it blue meth, but, you know, people start thinking I'm like breaking bad or something like that, you know. Don't knock blue meth. It got me through college. Yeah. There you go. Awesome. So listen. So seriously though, you so you worked with some of the biggest names in in music. Right? You we talked earlier. I did. That the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Paul Simon.
What was some of the biggest lessons that you learned behind the scenes?
[00:22:52] Unknown:
Don't screw anything up because those the most vindictive people on the plat no. I'm kidding. I worked surprised. I I worked for the company that ultimately became Live Nation. Oh, okay. And one of the guys that I worked with, Arthur Fogel, they made a movie about him, Who the f is Arthur Fogel? And he's one of the big shots at Live Nation. And it was a concert promotion company, but it was all the concert promotion companies in Canada coast to coast. So every rock band that came to Canada, I touched it in some way because I did all the marketing for all the shows. And I had sort of people in local markets. Right? And they sort of executed stuff, the promotions, things like that. So, I mean, this was years. And you know how many concerts there are. And and, like, everybody comes to play. So it was, you know, this week, we had Bruce Springsteen and and Blondie and Michael Jackson. And next week, we had, you know, this band and this band and this band. Okay. So I I got to sort of be in the presence of all of these different bands for for years.
And then the same guy, Michael Cole company, started something called three three hundred sixty five degree concert tours. And the three sixty fives were basically he would buy all the rights to a tour. So the Rolling Stones, he would buy the concerts, the t shirts, the broadcast, the sponsorships, and he'd pay them in advance. So he'd give them a check for, like, you know, $300,000,000, and then he'd come to all of us and say, okay. Go earn me $400,000,000. So then I would go out and I would do the broadcast things or the pay per view broadcast and, you know, get paid for all that stuff. And I did the sponsorship stuff too. So in my career, I've done $400,000,000 worth of corporate sponsorships. Wow. Everybody, Paul Simon, American Express, Coca Cola, Budweiser, everybody else.
And so we did the global tour of David Bowie. We did the global tour of the Rolling Stones. And then I I went off and did some other things in in video game land, but they went on to do U two and and all these other huge global tours. So it was and and it was great because I've always been hands on with the bands. Mhmm. Like, I've always been right there with with the groups, talking with them, bringing them together with the sponsors, bringing them together with the, you know, the the interviewers and things like that. And it's funny. I I was talking to somebody the other day, and they said, you must have some great pictures. I said, I don't have any pictures.
I have two pictures of me in the music business. One with, Tom Jones and one with the Pointer Sisters. That's it. Wow. He said, well, I don't have any pictures. I said, I don't have any pictures because I was an inside guy. I was the the marketing, the promotions guy. The minute I became a fan and wanted to get my picture taken, I'd lose all my credibility with the band There you go. Because they never saw me as a fanboy. They saw me as the marketing guy, the money guy, the sponsorship guy. So you couldn't cross that line. I made sure the local radio guys got their picture taken. The sponsor guy got his picture taken. I made sure all those guys got their pictures taken, but I never got my picture. So if anybody ever comes to me and says, you know, give me evidence, give me proof that you were I sorry. I don't I don't have it. But, so that that most artists are nice guys.
Most artists are nice people. When they're backstage, when they're in a controlled environment, when they feel safe, it's fine. When they get out in the world, they have to be guarded because, you know, paparazzi's out there, crazy people are out there, crazy people with guns are out there. I I at the Billboard Music Awards, I introduced, Phil Collins to Cher, and Phil Collins had never met Cher. Cher was, like, twelve feet tall. Right. And Phil Collins was about five feet tall. And it was hilarious because it was like introducing a five year old kid to Santa Claus. I mean, he was abs absolutely in love
[00:26:52] Unknown:
with her. It was great. And, it's funny because you don't see them like that. You know? It's it's it's so No. It's weird. You know?
[00:26:59] Unknown:
Oh, you know, I think I think people get this this mindset that all the rock stars know each other. And it's like a big rock star club, you know? And they're like, hi. How you doing, bud? Like, they don't know. And they're also fans of of other people. So, so that was great. The the high point of of the Rolling Stones thing for me was, some guys that I went to high school with. I got them backstage passes and tickets and everything to the first gig. And And so the band was coming back from soundcheck, and we're hanging out, and the band's coming back from soundcheck. And Keith goes, Joe, my god. You do it. And they were more like, oh my god. You know Keith Richards?
I was I said, I've been with him for five months. Pretty yeah. So we, you know, we have encountered each other every now and again. But I went from being super nerd to being, like, the coolest guy on the planet Earth, which is, you know, four guys I went to high school with. So Nice. Funny how nothing things that don't matter matter. But, yeah, most most of the time, they're professional guys. They're great. They're friendly. They're good to hang out with, but, they're guarded.
[00:28:03] Unknown:
Yeah. Now so what advice would you give someone that's trying to break into the industry today, especially in this era with with which just everything's just streaming stuff?
[00:28:13] Unknown:
Yes. So the democratization of everything has destroyed society as we know it and we are basically apes with phones. It's really tough now because it there used to be some structure to it. In fact, Welcome to the Jungle, that book that you you mentioned a little bit ago, was written, like, 1994, it came out on Harper Collins. And it was basically a book for Garage Bands. This is how you make it in the music business. And and it was little tips and tricks and, you know, get to know the secretary of the a and r guy, and and she'll put your tape on the top of the pile. And and the the book is completely out of date. But there was a hierarchy of things. There were big concert promoters. There were there are top 40 radio stations. There were FM radio stations, gigantic record stores, you know, and and everything was compartmentalized.
The deals were simple but complicated, but, you know, at least everybody knew what everybody was doing. Yeah. And in fact, I recently saw on eBay that Welcome to the Jungle was selling for a $100 a copy. Like, why is a 1994 book about the music business selling for a $100 a copy? Collector's item. No. History book. Oh. Guys who are teaching music business and community colleges and stuff like that say this was the Roman Empire era of the music business. And we like to tell our students this was the pinnacle. This was as big as it got. And the reason we are where we are now is because that existed.
And so much of what we are now is a reaction to that. So now
[00:29:52] Unknown:
Did but did you ever intend that book to be used as a history book?
[00:29:56] Unknown:
Hell no. In in fact, I was sort of like, okay. Thank you so much for that. Now I feel a 100 years old. Here I am Mark Twain. But, it makes sense because, you know, it it was it captured a snapshot of the music business in the early nineteen nineties when it was as big and and the record companies and they all had power. It was like the studio the movie studio era of the forties. Okay. It's the same thing. But all of that has changed now. And so now you you make an album in your bedroom on your laptop, and you put it out, and you do all your social media stuff. And, you know, it it's completely different. Somebody said to me, why don't you update the book? I said, I wouldn't know where to start.
I mean, it's so different now. The financial model is terrible for artists right now because streaming, they make pennies. Where back in the day of of tapes and vinyl records and things like that, they made money. Mhmm. The only way artists make money now is to tour. They don't make money from their music. There's there's no radio stations that are paying performing rights because they played their records on the radio. They used to get t shirt money. They get performing rights money, publishing money, record sale money to all these different revenue channels. They're gone. So now you can get 3,000,000 plays and you get, like, $80 from Spotify. Wow. That's it. So oh, it's terrible. It's terrible. The royalty rate from streaming is awful.
And so the only place they make the money is tour live touring. That's why when COVID came along, it destroyed
[00:31:31] Unknown:
the music business. Also, it shows the high prices of tickets.
[00:31:35] Unknown:
Well, the high prices of tickets, that's a long story. But, yeah, it it cost a lot of money to see a rock band, And that's why I I think you're seeing a lot of sort of club things and stuff like that for the people that don't have money and you see the new bands. Yeah. But I I would say to somebody right now, you know, you just the only thing that hasn't changed is find a lane. Find something that you do. Whether it's pop, rock, rap, find something. Because all the successful bands, they find a niche, they stick to it. Bruce Bruce Springsteen's record company thought he was gonna be another Bob Dylan. Mhmm. They thought he was like a a singer poet. And then all of a sudden, Born to Run comes along.
But Bruce has the same fans now that he had at the Stone Pony in New Jersey. They've stayed with him because he hasn't let them down. And that's the same with every band. The band makes the best music they can. They take care of their fans, and they they but they stay in their lane. You don't see Bruce Springsteen making a a rock album and then a country album and then a disco. You know? It's like, you don't see that. The band that can play rock and disco and whatever whatever, they're playing at the Anderson wedding at the country club this week. You know? Everybody everybody wants you to stay in your lane. And it's the rock star real estate agent is the same thing. That's what that's about. Stay in your lane. Specialize in something. Build a reputation to be good at it. That's interesting. You know, one of my favorite bands is, Pink Floyd. Alright? And I I grew up on Pink Floyd, cut my teeth on Pink Floyd.
[00:33:09] Unknown:
I think I've heard everything Pink Floyd's ever put out. I am amazed still to this day of how great a band like Pink Floyd is. And I judge a band, based on their live performances, and and Pink Floyd has just put on amazing shows over the years, that I think about the pulse tour that they did back in the nineties is still if you look at YouTube, is getting tons and tons of plays. And that's a good example of a band that just stayed in their lane. They still have the same fans they had back in the sixties when they started all the way through these years, and even new generations are picking up on them.
[00:33:42] Unknown:
The the one thing about the generations, and this is, you know, where people say to me, okay, boomer, but, you know, I don't care. The the bands could really play back then. They had talent. They were really good musicians. They had to be. And they had to be because we didn't have auto tune. Right. You you couldn't fix it with technology. You had to be able to get up there on the stage and make the music. Yep. And so I think I think that has been one of the casualties of technology. And now, like anything else, you know, AI will write a book for you, AI will make an album for you, AI will, you know, whatever. And I think there's there's some loss there Absolutely. In all that, you know, gets unfortunate. But, again, I've if if anybody's gonna try to be successful today, make your own music. Don't rely on technology. Yeah. And if you are gonna rely on technology, don't call yourself a musician. Call yourself a a tech.
[00:34:45] Unknown:
An engineer. Yeah. Something like that. There you go. You know, and I I agree with you. I mean, it it it would be a a very unique experience to have a band come up like they did back in the fifties, sixties, and the seventies, and just be a legitimate talent, you know, just musically, instrumentally, vocally. I mean, I I I I can't listen to half of the stuff that's out there today.
[00:35:11] Unknown:
It just Yeah. Well, they're I mean, they're out there. They're they're I mean, there's Lynyrd Skynyrd out there right now. But it's a it's a tough road to hoe for that kind of music right now. And, because it's it's more about something else. It's the same look. It's the same in my business now. I mean, everybody they get AI to write a book for them, and they call themselves an author. And I think, no. You're not. And I I don't use AI. I don't use any of that to write books. I sit down, and and a lot of them, I either handwrite or write with a typewriter, and not a computer.
And but I write my books because I haven't been able to find any technology that I can't spot from a mile away.
[00:35:51] Unknown:
And because I'm a human being and a machine's still a machine. I don't care how clever it is. I so agree with you on that. That is absolute but, you know, you say you say you use a typewriter. You know you know what popped in my head when you said that? Jack Nicholson in The Shining, sitting in that big in front of the from the fireplace. I'm back. When you when you hear this, it means I'm working.
[00:36:13] Unknown:
It's That's but there's there's something about that. There's something about the typewriter. I write so my nonfiction books I'm done with the nonfiction stuff. I got, you know, I got that out of me and the feeling groovy and rock star real estate and stuff like that. I wanted to write a couple of books about things, but now I do all fiction stuff. Okay. And I write Victorian English detective stories. Oh, nice. And I actually oh, yeah. I've got a guy called Augustus Blythe. He's like Sherlock Holmes. But I find real crimes, and then Augustus solves them. Nice. There's a whole story that goes with it. And I have another guy called, Jonathan Blackwood, and he's a he's a lawyer. And the same thing, he's barrister for the defense. But when I write those books, I write them on paper by hand with a fountain pen.
And I do that this sounds crazy. I do that because I try to and I clear the desk off, and the only thing is is the paper and thing. Because I had a friend of mine who writes historical novels. He said, look. You have to put yourself back there. He said, you you cannot have your phone. You can't have any technology. You have to abandon technology and think like it's 1860. You absolutely have to do that. He said, otherwise, you're gonna get off track. He said, and you you can't write three paragraphs about, you know, they went to the market blah blah blah blah blah, and then pick up your cell phone and and, you know, order,
[00:37:35] Unknown:
you know, Grubhub. That's a It ain't gonna work. That's a that's a that's a great way to do it. You you need to you need to end you need to add candles, though.
[00:37:45] Unknown:
Can yes. Electric lights, candles. You listen. You'd be amazed how crazy I am when it comes to when it comes to sort of putting myself back there. And I've read books and books and books and books about what it was like to live Yeah. Back then. But it makes a big difference. It's it's huge. Well, sure. It does. It's it's it also it stokes the creative juices in your head.
[00:38:06] Unknown:
You know, it helps you it helped it, you know, putting yourself in that situation and and that release in that type of environment, you know, helps you think that way. It it it's it's it's a great way to do it. I I I love it. I got so committed, I actually learned to write cursive again.
[00:38:21] Unknown:
So I I'm actually writing like that when I was in fourth grade. You know what? I I But That is that's great too.
[00:38:27] Unknown:
Believe it or not, I I've recently started to to to retrain myself in writing cursive. I've gotten so used to over the years just writing in print and everything and just, you know, block letter print
[00:38:38] Unknown:
that, We're gonna love this. Someone hired me to translate cursive for them. Their their grandfather had left a diary, and he passed away and they couldn't read it. And they hired me
[00:38:54] Unknown:
to read his cursive diary. I I I guess they don't teach this anymore in in the public schools. I mean, that that was a very big thing when I was growing up and that that was I think that was first, second grade you started learning how to write in cursive. Well, the difference is that I I can't really write in cursive unless a nun is hitting me. Ah, there you go. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Well, see, I got I got thrown out of Catholic school, so I I can't, you know, I I can't relate to that. So I did. I'm serious. They they they they they actually escorted me out to my mother. They said, we don't need his kind here. And they pushed me out the door. It's amazing. I did I did everything that I could. I didn't know you could actually come. I did everything I could to get thrown out, but I was unsuccessful. Oh, well, you know, just challenge the priest one day. There you go. You know, just just tell the just tell the priest there's nothing you can do for me that I can't do for myself.
[00:39:41] Unknown:
Yeah. See, here's the thing, Joe. You and I come from different generations.
[00:39:46] Unknown:
Yep. And if I would have told a priest that, he would have knocked me out. So Yeah. For sure. Corporal corporal punishment was a thing in Catholic school when I was here. Yeah. Yeah. It it it wasn't necessarily a thing when I was going through through the especially the catechisms. It it it but it it was there on the down low. Mhmm. You know, it was it was I know they wanted to let it hit it, you know. Yeah. It was it was that good it was that good grab of the ear, you know, the the little twist here or there, you know. But it was there, but unofficially there. Unofficially there. Well, the best way to learn a religion is to have it beat into you. So There you go. Well You know, there you go. Well, Madhouse. You wrote a book called Madhouse. I did. Where you explore mental health and high pressure, creative environments. So what what inspired that book?
[00:40:33] Unknown:
I had a friend, a whole bunch of that shit crazy real estate agent friends, and it was it was painful for me to watch people who had obvious mental health problems. Anxieties and I'm not you know, they weren't messed up or anything. They were perfectly normally functioning human beings. But they had anxiety that held them back, and they had depression that held them back, and they had isolation that held them back. They weren't making money. And I got into this thing of saying, look. Get your head right to get your bread right. But if if you weren't so nervous when you went to a listing presentation, you'd get more listings. Mhmm. It's like one on one. It's simple.
And I and I went out and I talked to a whole bunch of brokerages, and I talked to agents of brokerages. And they said, well, you you got any leads? How how do we get more leads? I want more leads. And they didn't get it. They they just didn't get it. And, the handful that did actually profited from it. But, again, it there were things in me that I wanted to get out. I wanted to feeling groovy out because people kept saying to me, you know, hey. You're 75 and you look pretty good and you work out, you know, how do you do that? I said, okay. Well, let me, you know, write the story of that. But Man House Man House, I just I felt really bad watching a lot of agents self destruct. One one kid wanted to do listings, and he, every time he went to have a listing presentation, he'd have a panic attack, and he couldn't do it.
And so it was, like, it was a self care book too. I mean, it was very much a if this is happening, do this. If that's happening, do that. There's a lot of, lot of substance abuse with a lot of people because either they go home and, you know, instead of having a glass of wine at night, they had five. Mhmm. And, just a lot of stress and struggles that had they been okay with reading a book and internalizing some of the stuff. But it's a really, really hard business, and all people in real estate are trying to do is just get over. Especially now, it's tough. And what was the hardest part about writing that? The toughest part about writing it it's it's the toughest part about writing nonfiction books, those pesky facts.
And, you know, you have to Facts are expensive. Fiction book, and he needs a boat, I just write a boat in there. You know? And I don't have to find out were there any boats and how many were there and would they be avail no. So the hardest part was because you don't you're writing a book about mental health. You don't wanna mess that up. You know? That's something you wanna get right. So I spent an enormous amount of time interviewing psychologists and psychiatrists and interviewing real estate agents and, and, you know, talking to people, trying to make sure that the advice I was giving him was good advice, and the stuff that I was identifying as problems were actually problems. Mhmm. So that was a that was a hard one. The book was, how you say in English, a flop.
I mean, it was it was an absolute disaster. No one cared. But I had a good time writing it, and I learned some things. And again,
[00:43:34] Unknown:
you know, if you want a successful book about real estate, write about where they can get leads. Right. Now, well, the other thing is though is if you if if the book reaches one person, then it was a success. And if and if Yeah. I think so. And if one person got something out of it. You know, that that's the way the way I approach my show here is like, you know, if one person gets something out of it, I don't care how many people watch.
[00:43:52] Unknown:
Not this show. No. The other other guests, sure, but not not This was good. Although they did they did learn a little bit about the Beauregard and and, you know, Confederate general system. So did I, actually. That was good. That was just me being yeah. It's me being the victim. So I I knew I knew I knew the name general Beauregard, but I didn't know the connection. I didn't know the rest of that story. That was great. Yeah. He called he actually called himself PGT Beauregard. Here it goes now, two tone Beauregard. So his nickname for himself was PGT Beauregard. Nice. And, so we got a guy, you know, starting the civil war that sounds like a rapper. Yeah. That's absolutely.
[00:44:30] Unknown:
Absolutely.
[00:44:31] Unknown:
But yeah. So yeah. So, I mean, man Man House and and Rockstar Real Estate Agent, I'm just giving them away now because I I really do believe that. I had a girl that wrote the wrote the forward for that, and she specializes in mid century modern houses, those nineteen sixty ranch homes. And she travels around the world now doing tours of those things and just she has more business than she can handle, and it's only because she got a reputation for it. Nice. Well, let's talk about feel let's talk about feeling groovy, because, Sure. And that's the most recent work.
[00:45:00] Unknown:
It is. So, so what brought up what brought about
[00:45:05] Unknown:
that particular book? What was the motivation for that? That was an interesting book that when I started I started writing it years ago. But when I started writing the book, my kid actually nicknamed it running from God. And, he said, well, why you run, dad? I said, but you're running from God, aren't you? I said, oh, yeah. God's an underachiever, so he'll have to be running to catch me. And I'm gonna bet that he won't. But the running through, the the book was interesting. Phil and Greer was an interesting book because, while I was writing it, it was essentially gonna be a workout guy, and it was very much like their sponsor. Okay. I mean, that's what the book is about. You know? I don't take pills. I don't go to doctors. I've been none of that. I don't trust any of it because just like you said in the ad, they treat symptoms now. That's right. Yeah. And I don't take medicine because, like, they they you know, I I have back aches sometimes, and they say, well, let me give you something for the pain. I don't want anything for the pain because if I take something for the pain, how do I know when the pain has stopped and my back is better? It's a great point. And if I take something for the pain, I'm gonna go lift shit that I shouldn't be lifting because my back is still hurt. So I don't I don't do that, and I'm very much about taking care of myself and, you know, keep my body in good shape and all that.
But when I started writing the book, it was basically gonna be a workout guide for baby boomers. Then I started talking to baby boomers, and they said, we don't care about that. I said, well, what do you care about? And they said, we wanna feel younger. We wanna feel better. I'm like, really? So then I had to go back and and kind of rewrite the book. And so what they sort of come up into the book was, know what's going on. I know all about computers. I know who the rock stars are. I know who the movie stars are. I know what's going on in politics. I know what's going on in the world. I am up to date, as up to date as I was thirty or forty years ago.
And so many people, as they get older, they just check out. Mhmm. And so, you know, they're talking, why do you remember when Ann Margaret and Elvis Presley got and all those people are dead now, dude. That that's over. That that we're finished with that one. So I I then the book is now about, you know, get some sleep. Make sure you sleep well. And here's how to sleep well. And, you know, your room should not look like a Best Buy. It should look like a bedroom. There should be a bed in there because you're only doing one thing in the bedroom, maybe two if you're lucky. Sure. And I was gonna add that. Okay. Well, you know, these are old people. But,
[00:47:23] Unknown:
I work at look. I I work in a nursing home, my regular job. Trust me. Yep.
[00:47:29] Unknown:
It it goes on. Hey, the old buggers. Yeah. There you go. Yes. Very much. But, there's still you know, the exercise part was there and, you know, how to lift weights when you're in your seventies because it's different. You know, lots and lots of reps of lighter weights instead of trying you know, as if you you try to, you know, do three eighty five dead like you it's gonna be interesting. To say the least. But it it it'll it's gonna go through all of those different things. And I wrote the book because I really had an interest in thinking, okay. I'm in pretty good shape. I've been lucky.
And so if I can pass any of that along and I I do go out and I do, appearances at, you know, sort of homes and gyms and stuff like that, talking to people around my age and younger. And it's so funny when, you know, people will say, well, you know, when when you're my age, I'll say, how old are you? I'm 58. I had ties older than you. But I I talked to people, and Awesome. It's a little bit of an incentive. You know what I mean? It it it kinda is a little bit of aspirational stuff like, hey, man. Now, again, I've been lucky. No catastrophic diseases, you know, none of that kind of stuff, and that's just the luck of the draw.
But, I think that if if your head's right, if you if you stay engaged in stuff, if you don't check out, and remember, you know, your body's a very elegant machine, and it's made to move. That's right. So don't plop yourself someplace. And guys that say, you know, give me some Lipitora because I have high cholesterol so I could keep eating hamburgers. What's wrong with you?
[00:49:04] Unknown:
Stop eating the cheeseburgers, dude. Yeah. No. I agree with you. I agree with you. Don't take medicine to do things you'd be able to do things you shouldn't do. Yeah. I I had very similar conversations with, with with a number of people, folks that work in the medical field, and actually with my doctor, himself too. I I I very honest with him, I said, look, I don't wanna be on this medication anymore. I don't wanna be taking blood pressure medication. I don't wanna be taking No. All this other stuff that because you you you you know, you read you you take this medication and then it causes side effects, and then there's a pill for the side effect. You you know, then know the pill for the side effect of that pill. Next thing you know, you you have like, what what did it for me was is I I got up one morning, and I was getting ready to leave for work, and I looked at my, in in my my bathroom. I have, like, all the medications and stuff that I was taking all lined up, so I remember to take it. And Right. I was looking at it one day, and I was like, good grief.
You know, I I spent ten minutes in here just just popping bottles, and just one after another just like and I got a a fistful of, of pills that I'm taking, and it's like, this is all I do is just take pills. I mean, I there has to be something different. So I I wanted to make sure that I wanted to to to redirect myself, I should say, not make sure, but I wanted to redirect myself to to make better choices. Because I think that the whole point of even being on medication is not to be on it for the rest of your life. It's to help you overcome a certain period of time, and and the goal is to get off the medication.
[00:50:29] Unknown:
Right. And, again, I mean, you know, there were days when I took handfuls of pills, but it was 1969. So that's different. Different. Much different. But yeah. But, I'm 75. I go to a doctor, and he asked me to list my medications, and I say none. Mhmm. And people there's something wrong when you don't take when you say I don't take any medicine. They want you nothing? No. Nothing. But I do take vitamin c and a multivitamin and vitamin d and vitamin k, and I take, magnesium, and I take Androyden. And, you know, it's like, I take supplements to to supplement my immune system Hence the word. And to to keep it going. Mhmm. So that so that's what it's for. But I'm I believe that medicine does in many, many, many cases more harm than good. Now look, I'm not you know, if I have a heart attack, take me to the hospital. Of course.
But, you know, I I don't believe and it's just habit now. And, you know, the doctors prescribe it, and the people take it, and everybody's taking their antidepressant or this or that, whatever whatever whatever. And I Nobody questions it. Well, I wasn't born with it, so I probably don't need it. Yeah. You know? And what you and what you said about blood pressure is true. I mean, you have high blood pressure? Great. Don't eat too much salt, eat more fiber, drink more water, and exercise. Yeah. Be more active. Absolutely. Absolutely. Active. Yeah. The,
[00:52:07] Unknown:
like, I was gonna say that, you know, there are alternatives to the medication. You know, the medication is is again, there are some occasions where somebody has to be on medication. There is an a legitimate need to be on a medication. But nine out of 10 times, these are things especially when you if you put somebody on it very young. Like for me, I they put me on blood pressure medication when I was in my my mid forties, late forties. You know, I think that's kinda young to be on that stuff, but I didn't question I didn't question it. I just said, oh, okay. Yeah. Whatever. Started taking it. You know, mom's on it, dad's on it, grandma's on it, this one's on it, that one's on it. Yeah. Whatever. And I started taking it. And it gets to the point where it's like now all of a sudden, like, do I really need this? I mean, oh, yeah. Well, of course you need it because you feel that you feel good because the medications making you feel good. Okay. Well, so I just started weaning myself off.
And, you know, yeah, okay. So I went through a little bit of, like, headaches and all that stuff, but that that let me know that, okay, I need to add something to my to my diet here to fix that, not medication. So I started doing, like you said, cutting down the salt intake, or actually changing the salt that I used. You know, I I Right. You know, something that that's better for you. Drinking more water, you know, flushing out my system. I mean, good grief. You have no idea, you know, what what a what a benefit that is. You know, cut the sodas out, cut the the all that junk stuff out of there. Get rid of it. That stuff. Oh, good. You know, if if I have anything carbonated now, it's sparkling water.
[00:53:39] Unknown:
Best blood pressure treatment that you have are bean and chucky. Yeah. They are they are the best you know, you go home, put the dogs in your lap, pet them a little bit, the blood pressure will go right down. Absolutely. Because that's that's what you want, what what you want your body to do. And the other thing is earthing. That's something we don't do enough. Take your shoes off and walk in the grass. Mhmm. We spend all of our time separating ourselves from the earth. Yeah. We walk on concrete in shoes. We we don't touch trees. I mean, I, you know, I have a little bit of Native American going way, way back. And I had a great great grandmother or whatever the heck she was We used to tell media, if you're if you're feeling tired and and whatever, go put your back against the tree for ten minutes and get that earth energy coming up. Now you can get something called a grounding sheet, oddly enough. Have you heard about that? I've heard about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the grounding sheet, you basically plug it in your wall. Like, you put the ground thing in there and it and you get there's, like, metal fibers in there. But there's nothing better. And just take your dogs out. Watch what your dogs do. Mhmm. Your dogs go out and they go and and they lay down in the grass and they roll around and they do everything again to stay connected to the dirt.
And we don't spend nearly enough time staying connected to the ground. And, you know, I don't think this is like tree hugging, crazy crystals talk. I think this is, you know, this has become, enough with the medication, enough with changing my body chemistry. It's not gonna do it. Plus the fact that, you know, I I have I have psoriasis on my arm, so let me take this medicine that will give me a stroke.
[00:55:18] Unknown:
Right. No. That that that was my point from earlier. Yeah. I mean, you have all these side effects that come with these medications are worse than what it they're intended to treat, and then you're on medication to take care of the side effect.
[00:55:29] Unknown:
Well, listen. I'm I'm loving your new sponsor. I think that, you know, in fact, when when you were doing the opening, I was checking them out, and I'm gonna spend a minute checking them out a little bit more because that's that is absolutely the right idea. All we do is treat symptoms. We don't treat any of these. So that's what, you know, full circle, that's what feeling groovy is about. Feeling groovy is is all about take care of yourself, do it naturally, don't get on the medical hamster wheel, don't do any of that stuff. Just, you know, live your life and be happy and and get your head right and all that. By the way, feeling groovy, the Paul Simon song? Mhmm.
Right? He hates that song.
[00:56:03] Unknown:
I read that someplace. Yeah. I I had a feeling you were going that way. He hates that song.
[00:56:08] Unknown:
And, and I thought because, you know, I I know him a little bit because I did the the Born at the Right Time tour with them years ago. And, I thought maybe I'll wait till I then no. No. No. No. Because it's not gonna get in his radar screen, so that'll that'll be fine. But he absolutely hates that stuff. Yeah. And just, just to do a little plug, by the way, because talking about Ezra Healing,
[00:56:27] Unknown:
the the founder and the CEO and I will be doing a show starting August 5, every two every two weeks on on a Tuesday, where we'll be talking about these alternative health, holistic approaches to medicine to to treating the body, and we're calling the show. It's it's gonna be called Do No Harm. And, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. So I would I would invite you to come and check it out. Okay. Great. That's fantastic. So that's that's really good. That's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it. She was on the show, a couple of weeks ago. Her name was Svetlana Rylkoff.
Great lady. Super smart. Had great conversations with her. We, we kinda connected really well. As a matter of fact, they just sent me a a a little bit of a care package of some vitamins and supplements, to try out. So, really really wonderful people. Love talking to them, and, and they don't just, you know, just for people with pets, they don't just treat and and counsel
[00:57:21] Unknown:
humans. They also take care of your pets too. So Yeah. Just and just one thing I'll say because I you know, we bonded here, and I feel like you're my brother and I care deeply for you. So these pharmaceutical companies are very big very big companies. And so what I want you to do is before you start your car, when you go out, look under the car and see if there's anything on there with little lights blinking. Yes, sir. Yeah. Because, you know and and anybody's tailgating you in the middle of the night, just keep going. Yes, sir. My my, my my my years of my years of working in law enforcement and my, my my stint working for the US Department of State. Mhmm. Yeah. Just just just be careful because anytime people have money to lose.
[00:58:02] Unknown:
Yes. See, I actually accidents happen. I actually invested in the little the little, mirror on the stick, you know, so you can look under the car before you get in. So I do the inspection. Because, you know, GlaxoSmithKline has a lot of money and no place to spend it. Yeah. And so is Pfizer and all them, you know. Especially especially with all the especially with all the COVID money they made and and Exactly right. So, you know, there you go. All that great stuff. So, so in the in your fifties, you had a you had a really serious scare. You had a hard scare.
[00:58:28] Unknown:
I did. I I was born with a thing called supraventricular tachycardia, SVT. And, a lot of athletes get it, and all of a sudden, your heart just takes off. Like, I'd be doing this with you Mhmm. And suddenly my heart would be doing 180 beats minute. Oh, wow. Just take off. Now it stayed in rhythm, so it wasn't AFib. But, it just went really fast. And your leg, you know, your legs would get wobbly and you'd be out of breath. And, my my symptoms lasted fifteen, twenty minutes. Yeah. Some people that last for days. I mean, they will be in this for weeks, and it just it's scary, and it's it, you know, doesn't feel good.
What happened was I had an episode of it. It did last for a few days. I went to the hospital, and they, you know, they can either convert it with the paddles, like, they whack you in the chest and you go flying off the table or one of those things, or they can give you medication for it. Well, they gave me the medication, but they gave me too much and the wrong meds, and they almost killed me. So, that was bad. And, so I went to my doctor, who's a holistic doctor, after the whole thing was over. I said, look. They want me to come to, they want me to to come to the cardiologist all the time and do this and do that and take medication, whatever. He said, no. No. No. No. We're not gonna do that. He said, here's what we're gonna do instead. And that's where the whole feeling groovy thing came about. You're not gonna take medication. You're gonna work out. You're gonna lift weights. You're gonna do this and that. And then when I started doing it, like, I I started at 60, just doing it for my health. And then Then about, like, '61, '62, I thought, this is fun. Let me see if I can get back in shape.
So for fifteen years now, I've been doing this, and it seems to work. Although it's funny when you get to be 75. Nope. I didn't plan to be this old, so I really don't have a plan anymore. So I get up in the morning like, what am I supposed to do? And so, you know, that's why I invented this, you know, writing books and doing things like that because I get up in the morning and now I have something to do. People say, why don't you retire? It's because I don't know how. I I don't know what that is. So I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing. But, yeah, that whole that whole health scare was what kinda launched me on this, this journey of, I think I'll get in good shape and, you know, see how it works out. So so far so good, man. Alright. Well, you look great. And,
[01:00:38] Unknown:
our next guest has, checked into the, to the waiting room, so we're gonna have to wrap it. I didn't even get to half of the questions that I had for you. So we're gonna have to have you on again at some point. So you just let me know. Just let me know when you're available, and we'll work something out. And, so where could the audience go to follow your work, learn more about your books, connect with you online? How how can we find you?
[01:00:57] Unknown:
Wwwjoeowensauthor.com.
[01:01:02] Unknown:
Outstanding. And, of course, we'll have that in the show notes. And, we actually have your picture in the show notes too because because mice Oh, that's so that's so sad. I'm so sorry. My other sponsor does that with their platform. So we'll get to that after the break. Joe Owen, thank you so much for being with us tonight. Really do appreciate it, and we'll definitely get you back here. This was this was really a lot of fun. Thank you so much for it. I appreciate it. Joe, thanks. It was a pleasure. Hopefully, see you soon. Very soon. Very soon. Very soon. Take care, man. Alright. You too, bro. Alright. Bye bye. Alright, folks. What we're gonna do here is we're gonna take a short break, do a little bit of a reset, and we'll come back to our next guest, Jasmine Dodd. I hope I'm saying her name right. And if I'm not, she'll tell me for sure when, when we come back. Alright, folks. So remember, this is a live show weeknight 7PM central time, Saturdays at 3PM central time, and Sundays at 6PM central time. And don't forget to like, subscribe, follow, whatever you wanna call it. Share it with your friends, your family, and followers because it actually does help with the algorithm and helps us get seen, which is what we are trying to do. Alright. So we will be back right after this about two minute break, maybe three.
Gotta use the restroom, gotta refill the coffee, and we'll be back with Jasmine Dodd. So stay with us, folks.
[01:07:14] Unknown:
So now you told me you couldn't hold on. You searched inside just for something that can't be won.
[01:07:44] Unknown:
Alrighty, folks. We are back. This is the Joe Russo. First hour is in the books. Getting ready here for hour number two. Our guest is waiting for us in the virtual green room, and we'll get we'll get to Jasmine, hope I'm saying it right, in just a quick moment. Folks, Podhome. Podhome is the most modern and easy to use podcast hosting platform. Use it to publish your episodes, enhance your audio, and automatically generate transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, and more. You can even, believe it or not, you can even, I thought I had the graphic. There we go.
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Head over to podhome.fm and try them out for $15.99 a month. And when you sign up, you're gonna get thirty days free so you can play with it. Pod home is our host platform for our audio stream. We love it. It's great. Best move I ever made, leaving one of the bigger names to come over to podhome. So try it out. $15.99 a month. Podhome.fm. That's podhome.fm. Alright. Well, folks, our guest is waiting for us. Jasmine Dodd. She's a news reporter, an on air host covering culture, crime, politics, and more. Her bylines include the New York Post, the Epic Times, Jewish News Syndicate, the Imperial Valley Press. She hosts a weekly talk show that tackles current events, headlines, feature interviews, and, really covers a lot of really interesting things. Whether she's in the newsroom or on your podcast feed or on on location covering stories, Jasmine brings curiosity, real world grit, and commitment to telling stories that matter.
Jasmine, like to welcome you to the Joe Russo. If you could, just, flip on your camera there and your mic, and we're waiting for you. I just gotta turn your mic on. Your mic's not on. Okay. There you go. Almost. Almost had it. Okay. How's that? That's great. I think I have it. Okay. This is this is the joy of live shows. You know, you have all these little technical Live podcast is great. Right? It is best. How are you? It is the best. I am great. How are you? Am I saying your name right, by the way? It's Jessamine. So you're pretty close. Okay. Alright. So I'm an idiot. So I'm sorry. I apologize. It's not it's not that bad. Alright. Most people say it right, so it's okay. Okay. Well, I try to do my best because people mangle my my last name all the time.
Ruz? It's not that's the shortened version of it.
[01:11:45] Unknown:
What's the long version? Ruziello. Ruziello?
[01:11:48] Unknown:
Yeah. So that's just cut in half. That's all. No big deal. So welcome to the show. It's great to have you here. So, I usually like to ask folks at the very very outset of the shows, to tell us something about yourself that most people don't know but should.
[01:12:07] Unknown:
Something about myself that most people don't know? I'm kind I that's a really good question. People know a lot of things about me. I guess one thing that I don't talk about a lot, but I've started to open up a little bit more about is my animal activism. I've always been into saving animals, animal welfare, you know, no kill shelters, adoption, adopt, don't shop Mhmm. Spay neuter, trap, neuter, and release, doing that right now out here in the valley. So I I haven't, that's not really my whole platform. You know, some people's platforms is all about their work outside with animals. Mhmm. And, I don't really do that. I just do it because I love it. And, I haven't I I've started posting a little bit more about some of the the the cats that, you know, the rescues that I've been doing and adoption events and and the importance of spaying and neutering, trying to clear the shelters because right now, there is an influx, this summer at, the Humane Society in Riverside, the Humane Society Imperial County, the Humane Society in San Diego. Mhmm. In LA, they're getting a lot of, dogs, mostly from either people who all of a sudden have to leave the country.
A lot of them have been dogs of, illegal that have been deported, and the dogs and cats are abandoned. So I've been kind of working to try to find those dogs and cats homes. Well, that's it. Yeah. That's great work too.
[01:13:42] Unknown:
Here, where I am I'm in I'm in Texas. I'm in Eagle Pass. And, here, people tend to, like, just leave their gates open. Their dogs just roam the streets. It's it's terrible. I have two dogs myself. I have my my my two French bulldogs. Yeah. My, my little bean and my little Charlie.
[01:14:01] Unknown:
That's my rescue. Yeah. That's the thing, that kinda shocked me about being out here, when I first got to Imperial County is, just the amount of cats and dogs running up the street. Mhmm. People will have, like, you know, the their gates are open or the dogs can kinda they just let them walk themselves. They open the door and let the dogs go out, and I'm like, what's going on? Yeah. So, yeah, that's what happens in the country. People just
[01:14:22] Unknown:
that's the country for you. People just let the dogs just kinda have free roam, but they always go home. You know? But some of them don't. Yeah. True. So those are the ones. No. I'm guilty of that too. I mean, I'll, you know, I'll let the dogs out, but I'm out there with them. You know? I'm not I don't just walk I just don't open the door, say, hey. I go and just leave them, and we'll see you later. No. They go outside, I'm I'm there with them, and they're both my two are really well trained. Like, they know that there's a limit to how far I'll let them go, and they push the limit.
They go right to the edge of the limit, and they'll look back at me and and, you know, you have just to do like this, and and they'll come running back. But, but they're great. I love them. They're my babies. I take care of them. It's just the three of us, and we have a grand old time. I spoil them rotten, you know. I I was telling our previous guest that, tonight they're tonight they'll be having braised pork chops for dinner. Yeah. I I cook for them every night. Dogs eat better than most people. They do. They do. Like last night, they had, what did they have last night? They had, roasted chicken breast last night, and I had, I had a a a a ham sandwich. So, you know, I cook for them. I don't cook for myself, but yet I'm fat and they're not. So you explain that one. I will figure that
[01:15:42] Unknown:
out. But, I never thought that I would be, caring for a a community of feral cats when I moved in here. You know, there was a woman next one of my neighbors, and she ended up moving. And all of a sudden, the cats kept showing up, and I'm like, I guess I'm in charge. I guess I'm taking care of you guys now. And, you know, I didn't definitely was not the plan, but they're here. Now they come and wait at my door for me when I get home. So So See here you have to worry about feral chihuahuas.
[01:16:11] Unknown:
Mhmm. And and every now and then there's a feral chihuahua that likes to hang out by my house. So Oh, god. It's it's but it's amusing. It is. So, so what's what's your, what's your go to beverage to help you unplug and recharge at the end of the day?
[01:16:27] Unknown:
You know, I don't I hate I hate saying this, but there's I do love a good Coca Cola. Oh, there's nothing wrong with that. It just there's something I like the Mexican Coke. Yes. I'll buy it. I agree. It's so good, and I know it's so bad for me. There's so much sugar in it, and especially at night. I should not be drinking it, but, you know But it's the good sugar. It's not just day. That's that's kinda what I wanna have. I don't drink alcohol or anything like that, so I treat myself to a Coca Cola. Well, see, but so the the Mexican Coke has real sugar in it, not the fake stuff. So it's it's I guess it's in some ways better for you that way.
[01:17:01] Unknown:
Yeah. But I never I never had a Mexican Coke until I got here. And, oh, yeah. Well, I'm from New York, so we don't get this up there. But the, when I moved here, here ten years now, I think I was here like three days and I had my first Mexican Coke and I was hooked. I was like, oh, I'm done. I'm never going back to another Coke again. I have to have the Mexican Cokes, but but I've recently cut sodas out of my my diet and all that stuff. So the most, if if I want something carbonated, I'll have just like a sparkling water or something like that, with some kind of a natural like, I'll get some fresh lime or something, squeeze it in there, and I'll probably throw a dropper of methylene blue or something in it just to oh, I love the methylene blue.
[01:17:38] Unknown:
I I'm trying to cut down on the sodas, doing, like, one a day. I think I had two today because it was really stressful day, but,
[01:17:49] Unknown:
if that's the worst thing I'm doing, that's okay. Yeah. That's I I would agree with you on that one. So, so you've been published in major outlets. How did you first get into journalism?
[01:18:01] Unknown:
How did I first get into journalism? I have always loved writing. English was always creative writing was my favorite, subject in school. I loved it. And then I started in photojournalism, during the pandemic just with my camera, just interning, going around LA, taking pictures of protests and and riots and empty streets and, you know, everybody kind of coping. I just started documenting it. And, and then one day, the editor said, I I turned in some pictures, and I said, who's the writer so I can send it to them? They go, why don't you write it? And I was like, me? They said, yeah. Why don't you write it? And I said, okay. So I really
[01:18:42] Unknown:
enjoyed writing. And and then And how long ago was that?
[01:18:47] Unknown:
How long ago was that? In 2020. Okay. I kinda started doing photojournalism 2018, 2019, and then started writing in 2020. Okay. And then I just kinda took off from there. I got my first job in TV, and then I got my first job doing this and that. And And I just kind of, just kept building on different parts, different kinds of of news reporting and kinds of like, the I wanted I knew I wanted to do broadcast, so I got a job in broadcaster. I knew I wanted to do print. I I knew I wanted to do digital. I knew I wanted byline, so I would just kind of, take these freelancing jobs just to get my work out there so that I had something to show.
And just started making these great connections. And, you know, next thing I know, I'm I'm interviewing, like, you know, NBA players and and, you know, actors that I've been watching since I was five. And now I'm there standing with them, interviewing them, and, you know, politicians that I was watching on TV. I'm like, I just saw you on, you know, on this channel and on that channel and watching you in Washington, and now you're sitting here talking to me. And so it kind of is a very cool career. And, I know I still have a lot more that I want to do. So
[01:20:02] Unknown:
And I'm sure you'll get it done. But what what drives you today, though?
[01:20:06] Unknown:
What drives me today, my son. Okay. Yeah. I have a little boy, and, that's you know, there's days. I'm a single mom, so, you know, and I have been since I was pregnant with him. And I said, I look at him, and I'm like, I don't wanna go to work. I don't wanna drive. I don't wanna sit eight hours. I don't wanna be running up and down the border. I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna stand out in a 110 degree weather. But I wake up and I look at his eyes, and I I gotta do it. I have to do it, and I have to keep going, and I have to do more, because there is nothing like your son saying that he's so proud and telling his friends. That's my mom on TV. That's my mom's name in TV. Be a great feeling, though. And it's just the best feeling in the world, and I just I hold on to that feeling.
And I'm like, you know, there's certain things that I can't show him because the content is too, you know, violent. But the ones that are fun, he gets to come with me, you know, if it's the county fair or a really cool children's movie premiere.
[01:21:08] Unknown:
And he just gets a kick out of it. And that's that's why I'm doing it. I'm doing it for him. Well, I know what you mean though because, like, when I before I came to Texas, I worked for New York City. So, I'd and I wore many hats, working for the city. And and, one of the the probably the most fun things that did when we had community events and things like that that that would take place in my sector and my districts, I would bring my son with me. And, just just just to get to see his reaction to the whole thing and say, hey, my my dad coordinated this. My dad put this all together. My dad knows this person and that person. It's a great feeling. It is. You know, you kinda pat yourself on the back and say, hey, good job. You know? But, but yeah, I know I totally get I totally get you on that. It's it's, it it is something it it does drive you every single day. Like right now, what drives me the most is my my two dogs. My kids are older. They're they're they're still living back east, you know? But my two dogs, I know that if I don't get up and go to work every day, they don't have thumbs, they can't open cans of dog food for themselves. So I gotta do it for them, you know. So I gotta make sure that I have stuff in the house to to feed them, and, you know, cook for them, and take care of them. And so they and, you know, they give me a lot back too. You know, I mean granted they're not they're not human kids. They're not gonna, you know, but I know they they're there at the end of the day, and, you know, they they enrich my life, and I'm doing the best I can for them. And it's a great thing. I take them to work with me too. And right now I work in, You do? I do. I I work in a nursing facility, and, the residents in the facility love the dogs, and I bring them through. They're like the unofficial mascots of our facility.
So once a month, I bring them through, and they get to hang out all day. They play with the residents. They go out into the courtyards. They run around. They do all kinds of great stuff with them. And they have they have a blast. You know? So, you know, I get they're my kids. I love them.
[01:22:54] Unknown:
I'm totally way off the market. That's awesome. That's so nice. You could bring your dogs with you. Oh, yeah. I also kind of have this thing where I I I kind of have this I don't feel like I'm in competition with anybody out there in the world, but I always feel like I'm in competition with myself. Mhmm. Like, I'm like, this next story's gotta be even better. Yeah. This next interview's gotta be even bigger. This one's gotta go, you know, you know, gotta reach more people. I've gotta make a change. You know? So I've I have this thing in the back of my head too. You know? So that's that's another that's the second part. Yeah. I I'm the same way with the with the shows too because, you know, you start off, you you you have little
[01:23:32] Unknown:
boo boos and mistakes here or there, but you figure by the time you get to where we are with the show, it should be a little bit more refined. But, you know, this mistake still happen. But every show I do, I try to do something better. I try to make it better. I try to make it flow better. I'm very critical of myself, terribly critical of myself. Like, I won't go back and watch any of the shows that I've done. Because all I'll do is sit there and just nitpick and pick it, pick it, pick it. I'll wait for it. Yeah. Like, I have a I have a couple people that help me with the show. I have I have, not to get into the whole big pitch on it, but I have I have tiers, membership tiers.
So I have, I have I call them producers. So I have an associate producer level, which is a monthly recurring donation of a certain amount, and then a producer level, and then executive producers. And, so I have these these people that have contributed, there's like a core group of them, there's like four of them, that really do help me a lot with the show, you know, aside from their donations to the show to keep it moving. I rely on them, they help me out. Like, I have two exec I have two executive producers that live out in Washington State. They are fantastic. They are such a great source of encouragement. As a matter of fact, I spoke to them both right before we did the show here today, and they I I just I was having a moment. I was like, I don't even wanna do the freaking show today. I'm just such I'm in such a bad I'm in such a bad mood, you know. I was having a bad day, and, they were like, no. No. You gotta do it. Show goes on. You gotta do it. You gotta do it. And they were so encouraging about it, and, you know, they were great. And then I have, another my producer is, Angela. I think I included her in the emails that I sent you. Angela's fantastic. I mean, she she donates her time and her talent, and she helps me just coordinate all the all the guests, and she helps me do the emails and all that stuff. She's fantastic. I appreciate them. You know, so they help me every day to make this make this thing better, and they're my critics, so I go to them. So what do you think? What did I do here? What did I do there? And they're very encouraging for that. So like I said, I won't watch my own stuff. I I can't. I I'm just too hypercritical. And, so I I totally got you. You drive every day. You strive every day to do better and better and make yourself better. This way, because you're building a name for yourself. You're you're you're this is this is what you do. This is your name. My goal is to make this thing my my full time thing. I want I wanted this thing to take off, and I wanna be able to, you know, succeed at it. You know, I'm not saying I could be the next Rogan. I wouldn't mind, you know. Money's good. But, you know, I'm not I'm not anywhere near that.
But, but I got you. I totally understand that. Now, you cover crime, politics, entertainment, the border, which is something we're gonna talk about too because I because I live in a border town, so it's very interesting to hear. Yeah. You're in evil past. That's you're right there. You're yeah. You're right up there too. I'm like two minutes away from Shelby Park where that whole standoff took place. So Oh. So, yeah. Very interesting. Very interesting. So, so is there is there a common thread for you, like human stories, cultural influence?
[01:26:31] Unknown:
Well, I wanna say that I I I started covering crime because I just wanted to give, I felt like a lot of times in the media when there's a murder or someone goes missing that, they're focused so much. And we see it in the movies a lot too. And I'm a huge movie fan. That's my first love is film. We're focused on the killer. Who is he? What did he do? Where did he come from? Where did she go to school? Where did she know? Who did they and we're not talking enough about the victims, which is why I really am I'm happy about the coverage. It's such a horrific crime, the Idaho four. I mean, it's just so heartbreaking.
But I feel like finally, the media is is focused not so much on Kohlberger, but on the victims and who they were, their lives, their family, and what they're because a lot of times when you have three minutes to do a package on air or you have a thousand words, people wanna know who, why, where did did they how did they grow up? They wanna talk about the killer. They wanna talk about the mass murder. And I just really wanted to highlight and give the victims, you know, pay tribute to them. Mhmm. And, also, I wanted to talk about cases that were not being talked about. You know? The the missing kids that go you know, the MMIWs, things that the mainstream media just kind of glosses over. You know? They might get a quick little, you know, paragraph here or there in the news, but there are so many, and I've had parents come, well, why doesn't anybody care about my kid? And I said, I do. So let's talk about it.
You know, know, I care about your kid your kid, but I care about them. You know, you're a mom. So and a lot of times we hear that in the news. Why why not my child? You know? And then the other part that I love covering is I love covering entertainment news because it's fun. It's not as controversial. No one's gonna cancel you. You're not gonna lose your job for going to a movie premiere and interviewing an actor about how they prepared for a role. You know what I mean? And you get to do some really cool stuff. I appreciate the art of filmmaking. I appreciate the art of music. Also, you know, smaller indie artists, smaller indie films that, aren't blasted everywhere on on every, you know, variety and here and there, I I say, oh, you guys have worked so hard. We should just we should do an article.
I enjoyed your film. Let's talk about it. You know? Or I really love watching you do what your art. Art is art is so necessary. So I love that. The border stuff kinda just fell into my lap as I, ended up out here. So I'll tell you what. The election campaign was it was brutal. I don't wanna do that again. I I mean, obviously, in four years of New York Post, it's like, we wanna get you back doing that. I'm gonna do it because I really love the team there. Nice. But it's just not. It's like, oh my gosh. It's brutal. You're standing up for six, seven hours in a line talking to people at a rally. You're running from city to city every day. It's it's hard. Sure.
[01:29:54] Unknown:
It's, I I've had my run-in with politics. Yeah. I love politics. I'm I I I'm a political junkie. My my political views don't always jive with everybody else, but, you know, that's okay. The one thing I don't do is argue about it. You know, I if if we can't agree on something, I'll crack a joke about it and move on, and just let it go. But That's probably smart. Yeah. It's the best way to do it, I think. I I think anyway. It's it's just it's just saves friendships and family relations and and whatnot. But, are you you're still hosting your show? Your your podcast?
[01:30:33] Unknown:
You know what? They had to take, I am not doing that. I'm gonna start back, but I don't think I'm gonna be doing it on the same platform. I'm gonna be switching platforms. And, I really loved hosting it. I like being able to talk freely without a script, just kind of, you know, what we're doing right now, just talking and having conversations. But the reason that I love doing it and, again, a lot of things were switching around at that particular network and, you know, CEOs leaving, owners going to Washington for a job in the Trump administration. So So things kinda got jumbled around. Nothing happened.
I was just like, I can't do this time slot that you wanna move me into. I have a nine to five. And that was really all that happened. And they said, well, if you if that day opens up again, you can come back. And so I'm kind of looking at other platforms for that for that,
[01:31:29] Unknown:
outlet. Go independent. Do it yourself.
[01:31:32] Unknown:
Yeah. I was like, you know what? I have a Substack. I'm just gonna start going live on Substack. Because there's a lot of things that, being in local news that I I can't cover for our newspaper, it's strictly local. So if it's outside the county, I have to either find a way to tie it back into somebody here in the county Mhmm. Or something that's happening in the county. But a lot of the things, especially international things or Hollywood stuff, you know, I can't. My hands are tied. My editor said, if it's not here, I don't care. You know? He's like, I care, but we I don't care. It's not for us. Right? So there's a lot of things that I wanna talk about, and, that's kinda why I started my Substack because there are things that I wanna write about that are really interesting to me, and there are people that I want to talk to.
And I need that I need I need to have that creativity Right. So I don't feel stifled in my job. Because if I'm just writing about Calexico, Mexicali, El Centro, I kind of start going, but there's this thing that's happening, and it's so cool. Or I wanna talk about it. Oh my god. There's this case. There's a serial code. I need to talk. You know? And so that's kinda why I started doing it. Also, at the time that I was doing that show, I was doing freelance. So I was free to take an hour, you know, two hours. As long as I turned my work in by five, it didn't matter. It wasn't hourly. It was you know, when you're freelance, you're paid per article. So I kinda made my own hours. And then when I got the nine to five, that changed. So that's the that's the only reason
[01:33:12] Unknown:
that that happened. Well, you know, the trend right now or or the the popular trend if you're if you if you check out a lot of the podcasting sheets and things like that, you know, articles that come out about podcasting, the the the growing trend in podcasting right now is local podcasting. So talking about things that are going on in the local community, they are taking off like crazy. This was supposed to be that. This show was supposed to be that, but it it it Okay. It morphed into something far beyond that. So, but, but that's something to consider too when you if you are gonna restart, and especially with the Substack or, you know, or what other other platform you you're looking to to get on to. Mhmm. You know, local stuff is really big. It's growing quick. It's getting huge followings, especially somebody with your background and your creds. Oh, forget it. You'll you'll get a big audience really quick.
[01:34:03] Unknown:
I keep thinking I'm gonna go live on Substack, and then I just, I haven't done it. So I think I'm gonna just start doing it and see what happens. But, yeah, there there's there should be a lot going on. And, regarding the border, you know, you know you're there, and I'm here too. And I don't know what it's like where you are, but I know where it's I was just saying that. I know what it's like here, and it's not what they're showing on television. It's not at all. And we're twenty minutes from the border. I've gone on ride alongs with the chi with with border patrol. I've gone into the offices with the chief of board, the CBP, El Centro Sector. We've had sit downs. I've interviewed them many times.
I've reached out to them for stories that and and investigative pieces that I've been working on, and they've always responded. You know, Gregory Bovino, I think they're putting him in a bad light right now Mhmm. For his work in Los Angeles because he's not he's not the person that that that the media is making him out to be. He's very respectful. He's very polite. He's concise, but he's an agent, and he has a job to do. You know? And, there's a lot but there's I so I started writing a book. Because I'm I'm a city girl, and I got out here, and it's all farm and desert and wall. And I'm like, what am I doing here? And so my PR agent said, start writing. Just write your experience. Write your write your book. And I said, I don't I've never written a book. Like, twelve twelve hundred words, maybe 2,000 words at the most for an investigative piece. Mhmm. I can't write 20,000, 50,000 words. That's crazy. When am I gonna do that? So I'm just I'm I'm about three quarters of the way done right now. Because I'm like, what are they doing on TV? Like, I don't understand because there's nothing happening here. Not anything. There hasn't been one raid.
There haven't been any anything. There's nothing. It's no. People are going to work. People are hanging out. No one's
[01:36:09] Unknown:
and and this is the border town. That's it. There's nothing happening here. You would think there'd be more activity in the border town than than in the city areas. But of course, you know, they've they've they've shuffled everybody into the cities. Right. And they shuffled everybody more north, especially down here in Texas. They would they would sending people up north. But, I know here with the border at at the peak of it, it was it was really bad. And it was very underreported as well. I have I have some some really close friends who are border patrol agents that were were telling us, you know, off the record, of course, you know, horrific stories of the things that they were coming across and and, you know, children by themselves and, you know, unfortunately, you know, those that that that didn't make it safely across and ended up Yeah. Passing before that and, you know, finding them, and and it's it's it was it was a terrible situation. And right now, I mean, well, before I get to right now, I mean, there were there were times where I would be on my way to my regular job, and, you would see there there's like a couple of those those big gas stations nearby here, and you would see, like, people just lined up all in a row, all with the same yellow binder, or or or envelope, all standing there waiting, and then this big unmarked white bus with the blacked out windows would pull up, and they'd load up on the buses, and they'd be off.
You know? And it would be like that all morning all morning. You know? They they mostly did it in the early morning hours where there are weren't that much there wasn't that much traffic around. So people so it wasn't getting in the way of traffic and people weren't seeing it as much. But, it was very it was really really bad. I had one incident here at my house where, it was, it was an early Saturday morning. It was like seven something in the morning, and somebody knocked on my on my on my side door. And, I, you know, I went over there. My dogs were freaking out. I I went over there, and it was some guy out there talking to who asked me if I would be interested in in in renting my house to him.
Now, obviously, he wasn't a local. I could you could tell that right away. But just a random question asking me if if I would if I would be interested in renting my house to him. And while he's talking to me, he's like craning over my shoulder to see what's over, you know, behind me. So my, you know, I I like I said, I worked in New York City. I worked in law enforcement for twenty three years, you know. You know, the the red flags started going off, and of course, I reached for my firearm and I kept it close by. And, you know, I told him, so no, I'm not interested in renting the house. And he goes, well, he goes, I can give you 17 I can give you a thousand $700 a month cash.
No. I'm not renting my house. No. I I I can double that. No. You know, and he just would That's not. Yeah. He just kept persisting. But again, had the yellow envelope, had cash. He had sent him along his way. I mean, I you know, so those things happen, and they happen a lot more frequently than people reporting on.
[01:39:09] Unknown:
Now Well, I yeah. Well, I mean, I I I wanna clarify. I just mean there's no raids of of, like, illegal farm workers or anything like that. I hear Yeah. But but they are one of the things that I hear what you're saying and what let me clarify that when I get the CBP alert, like, the the notes every day, there's a lot of drugs Yes. Guns and trafficking that they are stopping at the border and stopping at illegal points of entry. Yes. And and people are not seeing that. There's stash houses that they have found Mhmm. Like, in a neighborhood, by a school, a residential neighborhood, where people, you you know, were being trafficked where there were lots of guns, cartel, things like that. So those things are actually happening every day. What I meant was that there's not these huge mass raids where you see ice descending upon the, you know, as or they'd show these two second clips on the news. Either they're raiding Home Depot. They're raiding the farms.
And I'm sure that might that, you know, we're watching it, so it's happening. It's just not happening here. But what they are doing here is stopping illegal
[01:40:27] Unknown:
trafficking. Right. Exactly. Now I was coming to that too. That that that was my next point is that what we're not being told is all the activity that's being stopped. Because there has been no crossings into into no illegal crossings into Eagle Pass that I that I'm aware of at this point. Nothing that I've seen says anything about that. So it it's it has the control of the border here has gotten much much better. I I would almost say it's probably 99.999% closed, but they are recovering drugs. They are recovering human trafficking. They they are stopping these things coming into the into the country, and we're not hearing about all that. You know, the the media is, like you said, focused on on these raids that are taking place and, and mostly in the bigger cities, because, you know, again, that's where they were all shuffled off to at some point, you know, as they were coming through.
And it's a shame because the customs and border patrol is doing a fantastic job. They're I don't think they're getting the recognition that they should be getting for the work that they're doing. Right. The the the media, of course, is focusing on all the negatives, you know, the Maryland man, the Florida man, this this man, that man, that, you know, and they're not telling you that that these people are not only, you know, criminals in the sense that they crossed the border illegally, they came to the country illegally, but they're also hardened criminals. They a lot of these people have criminal records from the countries which they came from, or the majority of them have records here in The United States, but they were just never processed.
[01:42:06] Unknown:
Yeah. I, sat in on a detention hearing, on the ICE detention hearings. I was lucky, and, you know, I was able to sit in on one of them. They let me come in. And I'll tell you, one of the guys, you know, there were a few that were just illegal crossing. They'd you know, they weren't here. They came through and not a part of entry. No criminal record, but there was a gen there was a guy, and his lawyer was pushing for him to be released. He had MS 13 tattooed across. Like, he had the I I saw it. He had the tattoo across his chest. It was in evidence, and he was wanted in El Salvador for murder and kidnapping.
And he got into this country when a legal, means, an illegal port of entry, not a port of entry, through a fence, and he was in the community and trying to get him released. Luckily, the judge said no. So whether or not he is going to be going back home to El Salvador to serve his time there or if The US is going to I think El Salvador wanted him to come back and serve his time. But, you know, so I I said, you know, it's not all just there are some really bad people that they're stopping, and those are the people that we need to also make sure that people understand. Like, this guy was walking around Mhmm. Our city.
[01:43:32] Unknown:
Yeah. And and and, again, I agree with you a 100%. These are stories that need to be have more light shine, shown on them. Because you're you're not just you're you're talking about public safety. You're talking about the safety of of the citizens of this country. And and and to just open just to throw the doors open and just let anybody through without vetting them out, without finding out where these people are coming from, why they're coming here. I mean, the when when we went into, when when we bombed the nuclear facilities in in Iran, what came to my mind was is that one day that that they interviewed somebody at the border crossing in here, and it turns out that this person was a known terrorist, and he made a very a very openly veiled threat that, you know, you have no idea what's coming next.
I and I I I don't remember the guy's name. I'm sorry about that. It just flipped out of my head, but, that came to my mind. These people have been pouring into this country for the last four years.
[01:44:40] Unknown:
Yep.
[01:44:42] Unknown:
Where are they all? Why are the, you know, why were they allowed in knowing who they were? What was the whole point of this? You know, and, you know, I hate to think negatively about my government, but unfortunately, you have to. You know, to be to be honest, you have to. I mean, government's a necessary evil, and I think Thomas Jefferson said that for a reason. You know, I I I don't know. I I'd it just baffles me that that it would go, and then the media would just tow the line to the whole thing Yeah. And not raise those questions. And yet, here, like, I don't remember seeing one, one nationwide injunction stopping people from coming into the country, but yet I see all these nationwide injunctions preventing people from being deported.
You know, thankfully, that's kinda slowed down at this point, but, you know, you understand the point. It's it's Yeah. Where what was the motivation behind all that? Why were they being allowed? Like, why was nobody saying anything? What was the whole purpose behind it? And I think we're gonna find out sooner or later. And I unfortunately, I think the media is complicit in the whole thing.
[01:45:50] Unknown:
And I hope we find out before we have another nine eleven. Exactly. Look. I'd I'd been through nine eleven. I I I mean yeah. I was I remember everybody who was alive remembers exactly what happened. And my point whenever I bring that up is I'm not I'm saying that the people who who hijacked those planes were here for ten years working, studying, taking lessons, having jobs and a home and a family. Just regular Joe's. No record. Nothing. Just guys who came over. And then one day, the world changed. Yeah. Absolutely.
[01:46:31] Unknown:
And when I when I when what I was saying was is that, you know, I worked on the pile. I I did the rescue. I did the recovery. I did the cleanup. I did all that stuff. I I I know what what what it looks like. I don't wanna ever see that again. You know? Yeah. And unfortunately, the potential for that happening is here. Mhmm. You know? And, again, I give I give, I give, Ice and I give, Tom Homan. I give them a a huge thank you for the work that they've been doing so far. I would love to see it ramped up even more than it is, but, you know, that's, you know, you you there's no way you're gonna be able to get was would they estimate 20,000,000
[01:47:08] Unknown:
that came across? That's a Or It's a ridiculously kind of that, that the people who have been here just, you know, working with the families and, you know, they have the green card and they go to their green card has expired. They should, you know, maybe just not go to a detention center, be sent home, and then be able to reapply for their green card if they haven't done anything. I think that, you know, especially the farm workers, you know, people who are here who started businesses, they should be able to not be in a detention center for three, four, five, six, seven, eight weeks. They should, you know but at this point, people unfortunately, some good really good people are are being locked up, and, they haven't done anything wrong, and they've contributed to society.
But at this point, you know, I just I I I wanna say, and it sounds horrible, but if you have the chance to self deport, it's better than going to the to the detention center. And that way, you can come back legally. You know? I mean, they've they've offered this. So at that point, if you don't do that, you get caught. I don't I feel bad for you. I really do. My heart especially if if there's a child involved. You know? That's where they get me right there. But that and the person who you know? Again, the the gentleman not they're not gentlemen. The the who did nine eleven, they were here in the community too going to college.
Yeah. So you never know. But come back, take the thousand dollars, go to your family, and then come back again. Yeah. I I interviewed a gentleman,
[01:48:57] Unknown:
a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago. And, he he he was he's he got his American he got his US citizenship in 02/2015. And, but prior to that, he he was here. He had a he had a visa to be here. His visa expired. And, but while he was here, he met somebody, fell in love, you know, wanted to stay with her, get married, and all that stuff. But then when he when he realized that his visa was expired, of course, you know, his his self his conviction over doing the right thing and doing things the right way, he voluntarily left. He went to he went to 26 Federal Plaza, turned himself into INS. They laughed at him, said, just just go. Just go home.
You know? And and and and, you know, you you apply again. You you get to go through the process. You you come back the right way, And that's what he did, and, you know, it didn't take years and years and years to do it because he did it the right way. He left, he did what he needed to do, he got through the process, and came back here, reunited with with with the woman he loved, and got married, and became a citizen in 02/2015. And, his his, his name is Julian Raven, and, he actually has lawsuits, three times before the US Supreme Court over freedom of speech, because he loves the country so much that he actually painted, a a a huge portrait, or a mural almost really for, for president Trump's first, first term, and, submitted it to the Smithsonian.
And the Smithsonian said that they won't they wouldn't accept it because it's a political message, and they were like, well, what about all the stuff you have from Obama? Different thing. Different. Different. So he's he went through lawsuits with this against the Smithsonian for that, because you know, Smith's not the Smithsonian is not a federal entity. It's a private entity that's funded by the federal government through, you know, through your taxes. So, so he so he went through lawsuits, and he's still going through lawsuits over this whole thing. But my point is is that he did it the right way. You know, he he came, he overstayed his visa. He he understood that. He left, self deported, did it the right way, came back, became a citizen, and it didn't take years and years and years to do it. So that excuse really doesn't float with me, you know. I'm sure in some cases it does because of backgrounds. Yeah. No. There's some there's actually a lot of people who said it took them at least ten years to get their citizenship. There's a lot
[01:51:30] Unknown:
of stuff and red tape, and it takes a lot of time. It takes time. Like certain circumstances. Yeah. Gonna come here, and and a year later, you're gonna be a people say it takes between seven to ten years, sometimes a little bit more than that. I guess that's why people are going to court is to try to get extension so that they can complete their citizenship. Yeah. But I guess that's why it's taking so long is because they have to hear each individual case by case base.
[01:51:59] Unknown:
Jasmine, we have five minutes left. Okay. And I didn't get to half of what I had for you.
[01:52:05] Unknown:
Alright.
[01:52:06] Unknown:
So I'm I'm going to extend an invitation to you to come back another time. So we'll, I'll have Angela reach out to you, and we'll work out a date when you can get out here again. Get out here like you're gonna come here. But, jump on the show with us. Virtually get out there. Yeah. There you go. And, so, before I let you go though, I'm gonna ask you the usual ending of the show question. Well, I have two, actually. What's one topic you haven't or issue that you haven't covered yet, but you're looking forward to tackling?
[01:52:37] Unknown:
One issue that I haven't, pulled yet, I've tackled a lot of things. I haven't I I've been commenting on the Gislan Maxwell and Epstein case, but I haven't, written about it professionally. I've just been sort
[01:53:01] Unknown:
of posting about it on my I shoulda asked you this earlier. I woulda loved to talk to you about this.
[01:53:06] Unknown:
Yeah. I I I covered Harvey Weinstein quite thoroughly, when his case was was being so I I haven't really, professionally covered it. I've just, been posting a lot about it, especially on my Instagram stories, focusing again on the victims. Okay. Because that's that's where it is. So that's that's one thing, I guess, if I had to say anything.
[01:53:34] Unknown:
That's an awkward question. I know. But
[01:53:36] Unknown:
I I mean, I've covered a lot of stuff. But, yeah, that's that's probably one more talking about political corruption.
[01:53:49] Unknown:
Like, I've always kinda steered away from that because I don't wanna get fired. So Yeah. Well but if you if you go if you go rogue and Yeah. You could talk whatever you wanna talk about. So Right. That's that's what we do here. We talk about whatever we wanna talk about. So what what I'm gonna ask you to do for me though is when you can, if, I don't know if you had a chance to respond to the email that that we sent you earlier. If you could just send over all your links and everything so I can update the show notes and have everything in there and ready to go. And then I'll look for my follows. I'll be following along with you. And then, so, speaking of which, where can the listeners go to read your articles, follow your show, upcoming show, your substack, and connect with you online? Alright.
[01:54:30] Unknown:
So my substack is called spotlight dispatch because I do focus a lot on entertainment, but also politics and crime a little bit. Times of Israel, just look up my name. Same with, Imperial Valley Press, Ivy Press online. That's my nine to five job. So you can find me, all of my border stuff, and environmental work, there. And, let's see. I'm on x. I keep calling it Twitter. X, Instagram, and threads. And TikTok is at Jesse, j e s s y, d o d d, Jesse Dodd. And I think my Instagram is just Jessamyn Dodd. Okay. Great. Well, I'll be looking for you. I'll be need to look for my follows, and, hopefully, we'll be able to connect. And,
[01:55:18] Unknown:
and so thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to be with us. So much for having me on. This was great. Oh, it was it was a blast. I loved it. Like I said, I A lot of fun. I have, like, three pages of questions to ask you. But I'm sure well, there's a lot more we can get into. Oh, absolutely. Definitely next time we talk, I'm gonna talk about, this whole Epstein debacle. Listen, I've been going hard on the Epstein stuff on my social media. So Alright. So we'll definitely we'll we'll make that the focal point of the show then. Alright. Sounds great. Jessamine Dodd.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Have a great night. Take care. You too. Alright, folks. So, what we're gonna do is here, we're gonna take a quick quick two minute break here, and then come back just wrap up everything up. Or you know what? That we're not gonna go to break. We'll just do we'll just wrap it up right here. Alright, folks. So, before we say adios for the night, just some quick announcements. Don't forget to head over to the website, joeroos.com. Joeroos.com. And, when you get over there, make sure you look for our contact section. Open up that little web form and fire us off a message. Let us know whatever is on your heart, what is in your mind, any questions, comments, cares, or concerns that you might have, any suggestions for the show, topics you wanna have covered, guests you'd like to try to see us get, we'd be happy to oblige.
Also, don't forget tomorrow, 7PM central time, we will be doing the crypto show with Marissa Lee. Looking forward to that, so make sure you, you set your timers and get on board or notifications, reminders, whatever. You know what I'm talking about. It's late. I'm tired. Been working all week. It's been a hard week. Alright? Don't give me crap. So 7PM central time, the Crypto Show with Marissa Lee. That'll be tomorrow. And then, our Bible study Sunday is, at 6PM central time on Sunday evening, Sunday afternoon. However you like to phrase it. Alright. Don't forget, check us out on our socials on Twitter or x at, Joe Ruse. Truth Social. You need to get on Truth Social.
If you wanna follow this administration, what they're doing, goes on Truth Social first, especially from, President Trump. So Truth Social, you can find me at Joe Roos Mines. You can find me at Joe Roos. Mines is a great platform, by the way, folks. You need to check it out if you haven't done it already, and give me a follow there. I'll follow you back. If you wanna check us out on Facebook, we have a Facebook page at, it's, Joe Roos podcast. Instagram, we are not Joe Roos on Instagram. Okay? And now that's the name, not Joe Roos, because we got banned when we first set up our account, immediately before we even posted anything. So we went back with not Joe Roos, and they accepted that for whatever reason.
And then, TikTok at joe dot roos. Don't really use TikTok all that much. I'm gonna try to start using it a little bit more, so I'll keep you up to date on that. No no listener emails for you today, but we do have our shout outs to our executive producer, Wayne Rankin, our executive producer, Rosanna Rankin, executive producer, Carolina Jimenez, and our wonderful producer, anonymous Angela. Thank you so much, guys, for all that you do. And you know, so I'm I wanted to mention this earlier. I started mentioning it earlier that, you know, I I had a rough week this week and, with a lot of other things going on. And, when I said earlier that I was really thinking, like, I didn't really wanna do the show tonight because just wasn't, you know, wasn't there thinking about it.
You know, I I gave Wayne a call, and, I spoke to Wayne, I spoke to Rosanna, and I gotta tell you, it was such an encouragement today. Absolute encouragement and a blessing, and I appreciate them. I love them. I love their friendship. Like I said, you know, many times before, I I've known Wayne for, over twenty years, and, he's always been a blessing to me, and I I'm thankful for him and, for Rosanna and just the words of encouragement that they had for today. I really appreciated that. Thank you so much, guys. Love you to death. You have no idea. And then, also our our executive producer Carolina Jimenez, thank you so much for your support. I really do appreciate it. Thank you. And, of course, anonymous Angela for all the work that she does. I mean, Angela donates her time and her talent, you know. This is a very busy woman, you know. I know the I know the back stories. She's anonymous Angela for a reason, so I'm not gonna tell you all the stuff that she's involved with. But she does incredible work with me, and I I really do appreciate that, from handling the, handling the sites, you know, for for the guests, the guest lists, and scheduling, and the emails, and all that stuff. She has been phenomenal, and I really appreciate all the work that she's been putting into the show here. You know, probably wouldn't be where we are right now if it wasn't for all the support that I've been getting from not only from from Angela, but from all of our producers. So thank you everybody so much.
Really do appreciate you guys. Now if you wanna get on get in on the fun, you could, head over to our support page at joeroos.com/support, and you can do a one time donation in any amount. You could do a recurring donation in any amount. But if you really wanna have fun, you gotta sign up for the producer tiers. Now we have our associate producer tier, $17.76 a month. We have our producer tier at $18.36 a month. And we have our executive producer tier level one, twenty five dollars a month, and executive producer two at $50 a month. Now all of tiers get the shout out on every show. They get my eternal gratitude. They also get, included in all of the show notes, included in anything that we send out as far as emails or anything goes out in the mail from us.
Also, at the executive producer levels, you get to book a thirty minute segment with us live here on the show so you can join in the conversation live right there up on the screen with us. That's always a lot of fun. And then, you also get, T shirts and swag, and you get one of these great Joe Russo's t shirts. I mean I mean, I wear it because I forget my name, so it just tells me who I am. But I'm kidding. Well, maybe not. But you can get these this this shirt here. Right? You just click that little button at the bottom of the page there if you wanna buy it. That's it's a little shop button at the bottom down there somewhere.
Yeah. You can click that or you can go to the shop page on our website. You can purchase it through there. We have this one. We also have the, I have rabies t shirt that's available to you, and we have sticker packs that we're in the process of developing. We're also trying to get some some coffee mugs and all that great stuff. So we'll have all that available to you at some point. But if you wanna help us out, you can go down right there and click that shop button and buy a t shirt. They're great. I love them. They're really comfortable. They wash well. They last. Good quality stuff. Alright. If you wanna help us out with, donations in in cryptocurrencies, you can do that as well. We have our crypto wallet information up on the support page as well. Ethereum, Tether, Bitcoin, Solana, Texacoin, you know, whatever, you wanna send over to us, we appreciate that. And, of course, using the Podholm, .fm platform with our for our audio stream. We have a number of folks that are listening to the show on the audio on the live feed on the audio. And, because they're on the two point o platform, they're able to, actually live stream live stream or boost us SATs, Satoshis, which is just a micropayment of Bitcoin. So, you could do that by heading you can get those apps, those modern podcast apps, by heading over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org.
And, you can get yourself one of those great apps. I love them. I think they're great. I use them quite frequently. As a matter of fact, I'm beta testing one right now for our, our host platform, which is I'm telling you, it's really good, and you're gonna love it when it's when it goes full, and it's fully available to everybody. So great stuff. Gotta check them out. Alright. And, again, thank you to our sponsors, [email protected], and, of course, [email protected]. Alright. Well, folks, I think that's gonna pretty much just about do it for us for tonight. So just wanna say thank you again for spending the week with us and spending tonight with us. Thank you so very much for it. Don't forget, head over to the website, joeroos.com.
Click on the contact button and send us over any comments or questions. And folks, don't forget have a great weekend. Make Texas independent again. Go podcasting. Keep a steady stride and keep talking.
[02:03:39] Unknown:
Together? Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather. Happy trails to
[02:03:49] Unknown:
you. To remain
Introduction and Weekend Plans
Tonight's Guests: Joe Owen and Jessamine Dodd
Interview with Joe Owen: Rock and Roll Stories
Joe Owen on Health and Wellness
Joe Owen's Book: Madhouse
Joe Owen's Latest Book: Feeling Groovy
Interview with Jessamine Dodd: Journalism Journey
Border Issues and Media Coverage
Upcoming Topics and Closing Remarks
