Rock On, Jack

We start this ball of clay, malleable and soft.  Our parents are the first ones to get their hands us and they start forming this ball into a person, then school, family, friends and maybe a little media get involved and help complete the process.  The problem is that we are not clay, true masters serve apprenticeships and are trained in the skills of handling clay, of forming it into works of art.  Parents are just assumed to be these masters, we are neither trained nor accredited… We are left to become artisans on our own.

As far as I can figure this casting process ends somewhere in our twenties, the clay begins to harden into the people we are as adults.  Our firing complete, we are finished, ready for display.

Lucy was very excited, in art class a few weeks ago they made clay bowls.  They formed them, craving their own unique designs into them, painted the piece and allowed them to dry, hardening into the finished bowl.  When I asked her how it turned out, she responded that it looked great “but she had to be careful, it would break if she dropped it.”

That is the problem with us clay pots, we are breakable.  When we are finished and presented, we are pristine, perfectly painted, designed and finished… but then life starts.  We chip and crack, pieces may break off and holes can form.  There are people in our lives that find these imperfections and pick at them, making them worse.  Digging their fingers into our cracks and removing larger and larger pieces.  There are those who try and repair us, filling gaps and mending breaks.

A wise man once told me… A sentence that starts this way always sounds like a load of crap, but I swear it’s true.  My high school Latin teacher, Mr. Garcia, once told me that sincere was derived from the latin words sine and cera, meaning without wax.  Apparently back in ancient Rome, merchants would proclaim the statues they were selling were “sine cera”, meaning they were solid and undamaged. Broken and chipped sculptures would be fixed by filling the voids with wax.  This has stuck with me 20 years later.

In fact, not to get off the subject (But it is my blog, so I’m going too), the whole Latin class experience was strange.  In high school we had three language options French, Spanish and Latin, I really thought I would pursue science so I took Latin… To be honest, I was not intelligent enough to be in that class.  There were maybe a dozen of us in the class, and they were the smartest of the school (and me), one was a certified genius (I wonder what ever happened to him, he was scary smart, he’s either in some high powered think tank changing the world or in a cabin with no electricity writing a manifesto, he was that kind of genius).  What I didn’t know then, was that this was to be a pattern in my life, sneaking into circles I didn’t really belong, fooling people into thinking I fit in, so I can do what I enjoy most… observing talent and intelligence.  It was here that I learned to truly see what made these people work they had to think you were one of them.   I squeaked by in Latin, I passed, but I was fascinated by these kids, these hunks of clay that were ending their formation, their last step the kiln of college, whose brains already had surpassed the capacity of most of those in charge of molding them.

Lucy was right, you do have to be careful, but what she doesn’t know is that it is impossible to avoid breaks.  None of us are sincere.. at least in the true meaning of the word.  Our cracks and breaks are filled with wax, spackled and pasted, because no matter how well you are crafted, damage will occur.

I look at my 39 year old clay form, a jigsaw puzzle of cracks and flaws, held together by friends and family, missing pieces filled with the wax of compassion and kindness, knowing that my Mothers goal was for me to be sincere.  And then I look at my kids, still soft and able to be formed, I hope that my unskilled hands will craft as perfect a finished product as possible, and that they will be as sincere as any person can be.

This is old, but it begs to be played today!

The weather has been so great, these warm nights are really getting me ready for summer… Although, I’m still not sure where I’ll be living?  I need to get working on that!

Eric (Horn) and I are taking the CRN van out today… I’m not going to lie, I’m looking forward to it.  I’ll post video later today.

Have a great, safe St. Patty’s!!!!  I’ll post at you later, I’ve had some stuff on my mind.

Rock On, Jack

Radio Club was today, the kids are doing so well.  They are natural radio personalities, watch out Seacrest they’ll be coming after you soon!

I’ve been bummed that I haven’t had much time to workout, I really want to get back into shape… Although my biggest problem is diet, I’ve been eating junk.  A good diet is so important… And I know this, I’ve just been lazy and using working and the kids as an excuse.

Lucy is excited, Angela is taking her whale watching this weekend… Bing and I will be doing something else, on land, I don’t do well on boats!

This stinks.  Well this saved some hassle. 3D could kill you! (OK, not really)  Assault with a deadly lid.    Bad dog. This is horrible.  No wang in our winter wonderland. Only in Florida.  A small Loss.

Rock On, Jack

Speaking of winning tickets, Bing loves to play Skee-Ball… Only thing is he really can’t muster the strength to get the ball up the ramp. Here’s Bing, 1 Ball and 2 minutes of attempting to sink it:

It’s looking good for the Podcast!  It will most likely be a two level system, where you can keep the old subscription rate and get the daily show as normal or buy a premium (Although it’ll have a better name than that!) and get not only the normal show up an additional 15 minutes of content everyday.  We will also be putting “classic” Jack and Stretch Shows on itunes once a week to hopefully spawn subscribers to our new material.  Thank you all so much for sticking with us and coming up with so many great ideas!!!!

I have to admit, as much as I don’t like Guy, NBC’s new Minute to Win It is pretty good.  I kind of want to try out.  Celebrity Apprentice I’m not as into.  Lately I have been liking Modern Family, Scrubs, Cougartown and In The Middle…  The Parenthood is OK, I think I need to see a few more episodes before I make my final verdict.  And I can’t forget Lost, which has been excellent.

I’m not going to lie, I’m dreading tomorrow morning… The first day back to school/work after the Spring Forward always sucks!

See, she did beat him!  R.I.P. Peter Graves.  Avoid Mexico.   Love breaks up with Kennedy.  Mummy go home.  Runaway Prius may have been a fake.  What the buck?  Hero dog needs help.  By Beep.   This is disgusting.   This is one tough cabbie!

Rock On, Jack

Rock On, Jack

And I just think this is funny!

Friday night we went and hung out at Panera… The kids will miss that place when I move, it’s our official hang out!

Sunday we took it easy and watched the Oscars at a friends house.  I thought they were entertaining for what they are… I never go into awards shows with very high expectations.

Yesterday was Radio Club, it’s going so well.  I can’t wait until I have their “show” to post, it will mean so much to them to have people listen to  it.

Next weekend I’m already booked with kids birthday parties…. No one warns you before you have kids that your weekends will be consumed by other kids parties someday, but that’s exactly what happens!

I’m more amazed that the cable guy showed up on time.  Just what you want to do: compare yourself to Barbie.  Andy Richter speaks out.  You can buy anything on Ebay.  Seal meat.   Runaway to get probed.  Guilty plea in Letterman case.  This is sad.

Rock on, Jack

Jack,

I assumed Angela told you she entered a contest to win a $1000 prize. My husband entered this same contest. They are picking 1 male and 1 female grand prize winner, so they are not competing against each other. Can you put a link out there (on your blog, on Facebook, wherever) and ask people to give both Angela and Mark a “Thumbs Up” vote? Let’s make them both winners!

Here is where people can vote:

http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/19976/voteable_entries?view_entries=1

Angela’s video is called “A Whale of a Date” and Mark’s is “A Very Animated Date.”

People can vote once a day, so tell people to vote more than once, if they get a chance.

Thank you so much!!!!

This is by no means an attack on the people who said they stopped listening when Jamie left (I get that and those people really didn’t cause that drastic a change in the amount of listeners.)  Many people listened to the radio show strictly and specifically for Jamie, and I don’t blame them she is a radio superstar with a unique gift that many have tried to copy (Jillian Barberie, Chelsea Handler), but none do as well.  But lets face it, she was never a huge part of the podcast’s three year history.

I’m not going to lie, the podcast started as an “F” you to big radio… You think you can fire us and make people not care, we’ll show you.  No radio show had done that, no one had taken ownership of their listeners.  In days prior, you got fired, and if you weren’t hired at another radio station, you disappeared.  There was no model, no one to look to to see how to do it, we kind of made it up as we went.  Angela Channel tackled the technical part (With the help of Andrew) and built a system that would work for our subscriber based idea from scratch.  There was trial and error, as those of you who have been here since the beginning know, but we figured it out.

We were a joke in the radio industry, look at those has-beens and their pathetic “podcast”.  “It’ll never work, it’s just sad”, was the sentiment going around the business, but we swallowed our pride… and proved them wrong.  Now, three years later, it is crazy to think of a popular show not podcasting, whether they are on or off “terrestrial”  radio.  The same people that mocked us on their radio show years ago, ran to the podcast format when they were let go.  Ultimately the “joke” has become the standard.

But that is really not why our podcast matters.  What it started as, is not what it has become.  Our pod is not always the most entertaining, technically perfect or even relevant.  Don’t get me wrong, some days it is all those things and more.  The Jack and Stench pod (The name it has had for the majority of it’s existence) is about friendship and dedication, it’s about family and sacrifice, honesty and sharing.  Not just between Stretch and me, but between us and you.

It hasn’t always been easy, for either of us.  I won’t go into the stresses and challenges Stretch has gone through over the last three years, I wouldn’t want to speak for him (We all know he has his own voice!)  Stretches of unemployment,  a mental breakdown, divorce, full time jobs and full time families have all been intertwined through the fabric that creates the podcast.  There were days, when the last thing I wanted to do was record that damn show… I remember recently, coming home from court, my divorce final, sitting down on my couch and breaking down crying, and thinking I have to pull it together, we have to record the pod in a hour.  Or logging onto Skype the day after getting out of the mental hospital, having to confront my demons into that headset.  There are days when I wish we could keep going, a hour isn’t long enough to laugh with my friend and talk about the world and it’s strangeness.

The pod is an inside joke between us and you, it’s good times and bad shared with friends, it’s our secret club that we’d at least like to think others would like to be a member of if they just knew about it. It’s not a radio show anymore, and it’s definitely not the Jamie, Jack and Stench Show.  It’s become about us being loyal to each other through thick and thin, the line between audience and entertainer almost totally erased, you are the pod, we just show up to turn on the mics and make sure they record. Maybe that’s why it can’t survive, something that personal may not have the mass appeal to sustain it’s self.

The Pod Mafia, The Myspace Army, The Silent Listeners and those of you who have not received a title yet, You are the podcast… And no matter what happens (We haven’t given up yet), you should be proud… You accomplished that “F” you and you created a family from a radio show… And that Rules!

The kids and I had a great weekend… It was so great to get to spend some time with them, they hadn’t been over in a while!  We hit the new Bob’s Big Boy , it was a win-win… They had apple juice for Bing and hot dogs for Lucy (Two things they don’t have at the Toluca Lake Bob’s).  Lucy has been big on her Littlest Pet Shop toys lately… We have been collecting stickers to get the platypus, it’s good to have goals.  Bing is still obsessed with golf balls, especially colored ones… He loved the orange ones I had printed with his name on them.

I told you all I’ve been helping with the radio club at Lucy’s school… It has been really, really rewarding.  If there was one thing that being emotionally and financially destroyed in this whole divorce process has taught me is that the most important things are not money related!  I feel so lucky that I have the time to go down and work with the kids, they are so great and eat up everything we’ve been teaching.  Lucy and Bing had to go with me on Monday (It’s currently only open to 4th and 5th graders), and Lucy told me when she is old enough she wants to join.  The other exciting aspect of this is that it is the pilot program, we are working hard to get it in other schools, which I will hopefully be involved in too!  It has also been cool all the positive response I have received from my friends in the business, people like Carson Daly ( Amp Radio) , Chuck Ide (Clear Channel engineering genius) and Jim Pratt (Voice of the Lifetime network, Disney Channel and many others) have all committed to coming down and speaking with the kids.  I’m sorry to go on and on about this, but it is something I am really excited about!!!!

Stench is rocking at the Jason Ellis Show, He seems to really love it, which is so cool… He has been so down and put up with so much crap, it is great to see him doing something he enjoys.

This blog cannot be all positive… it’s just not my style!  Did I mention I hate my apartment building?  I’m counting the day’s until my lease is up and I can get out of there… And give you all the exact details on where not to live!!!!!

This guy kind of rules.   There are “Exotic chickens?“  Killer wave.   Dog silencer!?!?  Do you believe her?  Gotta stay on schedule.  Betty is fine!!!  Congrats on the marriage.

Rock On, Jack