Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Salome to Uzbekistan, Hausit to Zimbabwe and Senga to Ethiopia. The International Fund for Silliness continues to expand its reach. Thanks for being here. What's on the docket today? Why, it's a Norm Nathan show from January 21, 1996, which shall be titled Nathanized.
We begin our adventure with Norm teasing the weekend's upcoming guests and a shout out to yours truly.
Next It's a WBC StormCenter promo. And then on to our guest author, Mary Beth Bond.
Maybe not.
Suddenly we are listening to some classic radio chatter between Norm and Lavelle Diet.
Now it's time for an actual guest, Greg Smith, author of Beer A History of Suds and Civilization from Mesopotamia to Microbreweries. The interview hops around a bit but does come to a head.
And calls are on tap, but the taps are dry as no callers are featured.
Next up was Scott J. Kirman, who wrote All Sold how to Sneak Into Sporting Events and Concerts. This was his second time on the show and and his next conquest was to sneak into the Super Bowl. Norm really loved talking to him and he tells some great stories. Then we take some calls. Ann, Jill, Russ, Helen and Belmont, not Helene, Al and a mystery caller. Special announcements let's cut away to the Paul Parent Gardening show talking cross Pollinating Grasses and Deep Roots with caller Richard.
Back to Norm now talking to Diane about a guest we had on the announced yet not included, Mary Beth Bond and her book Traveler's A Woman's World. It was a book Norm highly praised for its excellent writing. Let's now hear from Mac talking about super bowl xxx. Norm had some trivia which you'll just have to wait to hear. But if you're a patron supporting the show, you already know the answer as I use it for this week's episode preview.
Wink, wink, nudge nudge. The lovely Monica from Cleveland, Ohio was on the line. Norm recently proposed marriage in a letter he wrote but had not mailed. She worked with Mickey and Gilly, a pair we've had on the show on we R e in Cleveland. She was kind enough to ask about my then health condition recovering from chickenpox a mere month before my 29th birthday.
That was a whole lot of fun.
Marilyn in West Virginia and a story about a clunk. Norm gives us a heads up about a guest for the next show, Mr. Cheap. Well, looky here. It's Mark Wahlstein, also known as Mr. Cheap and his book Mr. Cheap's Boston. He's in studio. They take calls from the three C's Carol, Caroline and Chip.
Episode 271, Nathanized, tempers its way to your ears.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Now talking with Greg Smith, author of Beer A History of Suds and Civilization From Mesopotamia to Microbreweries. Microbrewery seems to be a very big thing these days. More and more of them opening all over the place.
And so he will take us on a tour through the history of beer making its influence on our ancestors and the many roles it played and is still playing in society because this is a very heavy, deep program, as you know.
And then right after that, Scott Trimmin will be on with us. Remember, we had Scott Cremen, who's a stand up comic and has written a book on how to sneak into events, sporting events, concerts and stuff.
Well, this weekend Scott says he'll be sneaking into the super bowl and he'll be calling to update us on his ambassador plan, how to sneak into various kinds of things.
And then let's see what else we got going for us on Sunday.
Harry Carey, Jr. Who has appeared in over 100 films such as Mr. Roberts, Rio Grande and Back to the Future 3.
He's the author of a book called Company of Heroes, My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company. He'll give us details on what many of Hollywood's legends were really like.
It's important that we know about that kind of stuff. So those are the things that Tony Nesbitt, the booker and big time producer of this program has lined up for this weekend. Looks like we a lot of, lot of fascinating people.
[00:04:56] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: A lot of the lines are open right now. So if you'd care to call, we'd love to talk with you at 61 7, which is, of course, the erotic area code to Boston. Let me say that again.
As long as the kids are not up and listening.
617-254-1030 is the rest of it. Storm center. With complete storm related information and combined sources of WBZ radio and television, you turn to the one place when the storm hits. Delta, WBZ News Radio, 1030.
Okay. Mary Beth Bond, it's nice to have you with us. Hi.
One moment, please. The trouble is in your set. Mary Beth, can you hear me?
Hey, you know, this isn't a way to begin a program.
May I sing you a medley of songs?
I don't quite understand this. We just had it with us.
[00:05:55] Speaker D: No.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: You know what to do in a case like this? You throw on another commercial. Thank you. Experiences with you. Would that be okay?
[00:06:03] Speaker E: Oh, I'd love to talk to people.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Yes, Bond, who edited a book called A Woman's World. Traveler's Tales. Travelers Tales, a whole series of books written by a lot of people on different. Different areas of the world. But A Woman's World is a collection of essays by women. Just a short stories about where they have been and just absolutely fascinating and just dozens and dozens of interesting stories. We'll take some calls now, okay, Mary Beth?
[00:06:31] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Okay, here's Chris. Thank you very much. And that was just a darn nice. It makes a fella feel proud. Thank you.
Anyway, we'll be be around through the night. That shouldn't come as any great, great news, but are you. Are you. Are you a bear?
[00:06:48] Speaker F: That's great news.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: Is it. Is it great news?
[00:06:50] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: Yeah. I never thought of it.
[00:06:53] Speaker F: To know that you're going to be around.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Son of a gun. I think that's, that's really just a darn nice.
[00:06:58] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: You look at. You look especially dapper tonight. What is there about you, Lavelle?
[00:07:02] Speaker F: That I've lost four to six pounds.
[00:07:05] Speaker G: Have you?
[00:07:05] Speaker D: No.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Really? That's right. You do look a lot thinner.
[00:07:08] Speaker F: That's true. I've lost £46.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I am.
[00:07:12] Speaker F: I've changed. I've changed my personality completely.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Well, no, not. I would not want you to do that.
[00:07:18] Speaker F: Well, my radio Persona doesn't change, but my off radio Persona has changed. I'm much more quiet and reflective.
Yeah. Did you.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Did you make a resolution? Like, was that it? Like this year I'm going to be more reflective. I'm not going to be the wild arm waving loudmouth that I have been in the past. Or is that the way you phrased it?
[00:07:36] Speaker F: That's the way I phrased it.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: I see.
No, I've always been reflective though.
[00:07:41] Speaker F: Yes, I have always been.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Oh, see, so, so what's the. What's the change?
[00:07:45] Speaker F: I wanted to be like normally.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Well, I mean, come on, give me a break. Everybody does well cheapers.
[00:07:52] Speaker F: I mean, just think when the whole country becomes nathanized, it's going to be a wonderful place. You like my leather coat and my.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: No, I like the way you dressed. But you lost £46.
[00:08:02] Speaker F: I really did. That's the truth.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Just because there have been so many hockey games and stuff on the things that I haven't got a chance to see you so much. And while we were missing your presence, you. You were just sitting around losing weight.
[00:08:15] Speaker F: Norman, I have. You have always spelled me. You have always followed me.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Now I realize, remember. Yeah. On that shot I knew there was something familiar about us looking at each other with our eyes locked together like Saturday night.
[00:08:29] Speaker F: Yeah. Yeah.
Well, was it amorous or rapture? Was it amorousness or rapture?
[00:08:35] Speaker B: I hope it wasn't amorous.
[00:08:36] Speaker D: Please.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: No, but I. But. But you look. You look really good. That's really nice.
[00:08:41] Speaker F: Yes.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: And you were scouting up all kinds of stories tonight. It was kind of. Kind of nice to hear you.
[00:08:46] Speaker F: Yeah, it was. It's. It feels good to be on for four hours. The rhythm is better. And, you know, you understand that when you. You've been on radio as long as there has been one.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: And I was. I've been on since about five years. Before radio was invented, I was on. You were. Yeah. They anticipated.
[00:09:02] Speaker F: You were on the air, I'm sure.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
[00:09:04] Speaker F: In the air.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: At least I said that one night. I said, I've been on since about 10 years before radio was invented. And a woman called and thought, isn't that interesting? That must set some kind of a. She took it all seriously.
[00:09:17] Speaker F: She did.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:18] Speaker F: Let me ask you a question.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:20] Speaker F: This has nothing to do with your coming subject about beer.
[00:09:24] Speaker H: Yeah.
[00:09:24] Speaker F: But when Minnesota Fats died, did you mourn?
Have you. Did you ever interview him?
[00:09:31] Speaker B: No, I never.
[00:09:31] Speaker F: It was the greatest interview that one.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Could possibly, really, because when I. When I. When I think of him, I think of Jackie Gleason, I guess, who played him in the movies. I never met the. The real Minnesota Fats.
[00:09:45] Speaker F: Par excellence.
He was almost as good as, you know.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: No, no. Would you stop that? Just stop that. But it's kind of interesting that a guy made a tremendous career and a big name for himself playing pool for billiards.
[00:09:56] Speaker F: That's right. Was it billiards?
[00:09:58] Speaker I: Okay.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: Is there a difference between billiards and bulls?
[00:10:01] Speaker D: Yes, there is.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Can you explain to us?
[00:10:03] Speaker F: I'll try. There are no pockets on the billiards table.
And you play with three balls.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: And pool is what? There are pockets.
[00:10:13] Speaker F: There are pockets and you have to get. You have to shoot the balls into the pockets. And there are all kinds of pool games, but the eight ball is. There are high balls and low balls. The high balls have stripes. The low balls are solid color. And the first one who gets all of his low balls or high balls off the table into pockets gets a chance to shoot at the eight ball. And if he sinks the eight ball, he wins the game. In village, you have to. Every time you have, you take a shot of the three balls, one of the.
The other two balls have to be touched by the ball that you shoot.
You get it?
[00:10:48] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:49] Speaker F: And the cue ball that you shoot or the ball that you use as the target ball has to at least hit a cushion. That's the way you play billiards.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: You know all that stuff, don't you? That's amazing.
[00:10:59] Speaker F: I used to be. Way back when, I used to be pretty good.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that's when you. You were 46 pounds heavier.
[00:11:06] Speaker F: Well, 46 pounds heavier and about 20 years younger.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: I see.
[00:11:11] Speaker F: Listen, let me. Let me say you. Tell you hello and goodbye since you have to suds us.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I'm glad you asked me, because you're probably asking. Who do you have as your guest?
[00:11:21] Speaker F: Who do you have as your guest?
[00:11:23] Speaker B: He's waiting on the line right this minute saying, will those guys never shut up or what?
His name is Greg Smith, and he's written a book called.
Are you just gonna sneak out of here quietly without. Without Sam talking to you right now?
[00:11:37] Speaker F: All right, I'm sorry.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Okay. He's the author of a book called Beer A history of suds and civilization from Mesopotamia to Microbreweries. They're just springing up all over them. They know what they were brewing. Did they just stumble upon it?
Because that's probably the way most things are invented anyway. We just stumble upon them and wow, hey, this tastes good. I think I'll call it beer. How did that come about?
[00:12:05] Speaker D: Well, you're exactly right. And as far as we can figure, by studying ancient remains of clam foras, the ancient vessels for holding liquids and doing analysis on them, we can see all the ingredients of beer in the linings of those vessels. And what they figure happened was a little bit before that time, even by accident, people were gathering grains. Our ancestors were hunter gatherers and storing them. And somehow it got wet. And instead of throwing it away because it took a lot of effort to gather this stuff, they spread it out and dried it. When they tasted it, it was sweet.
They figure sometime after that, after first inventing malted barley, which is what that was, it got wet again. And this time, airborne yeast, which is everywhere, got into it and started fermenting. And when they tasted this very unappetizing looking goop, life suddenly got a little bit easier.
Their prehistoric stress went away, and they decided it was a pretty good thing.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: And they shouted, whoopee. Yeah, let's do it again. Yeah, let's do it again. I always admire people who were the first to take a sip or bite into something that nobody's ever tried before. I mean, there must be a hero medal for whoever the one was the first Tried it, you know, would you have dared to be the first? And you looked at this stuff and nobody's ever tried it. They don't really quite know what it is.
Later on, everybody wanted to try it. Obviously, if it got to be, you know, made them feel all of us better.
But would you have been the first.
[00:13:46] Speaker D: To try to actually, for Northern Virginia?
And they, of course, went a little far north, lost their way a little bit, and were looking for a place to make land. And William Bradford wrote in his diary, the reason that they stopped at Plymouth is for we could not take time for further search, our victuals being much spent, especially beer.
No one trusted water back then, so beer was very important. And in fact, when they came ashore, one of the first buildings they built in Plymouth was a brewhouse.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: That's interesting because by that point, brewing breweries had been around for some time, because we're talking about Mesopotamia and way, way back then when they were discovering beer.
So they figured that water was not all that safe, that it might not be that pure.
[00:14:36] Speaker D: Right, exactly. But when they drank beer, no one got ill. And I guess early on there, they just didn't make the connection of boiling the water to make beer with killing the microbes and bacteria, but they knew beer was safe to drink.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: What is it? What is a micro brewery place? Now, I'm a grown person. I've been around and I've seen things and I've seen life and I woo all that. I've never been to a microbrewery and I really plan to be at one.
What is the popularity and what are they like?
Well, they.
[00:15:10] Speaker D: They come in all shapes and sizes, of course.
There's about 600 of them around the country now, very fast growing.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: I'm sorry, there are how many?
[00:15:19] Speaker D: About 600.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
Sounded like you were ordering something out of an old English novel, that kind of stuff.
Is there a great deal of difference between beer and ale and different kinds of beer?
I always thought the formulas were similar. How do you make them so different?
[00:15:39] Speaker D: Well, you're correct, the formulas are very similar.
There are two major categories of beer. One is lager and the other is ale. Lagers we refer to as beers generally, and it's the type of yeast that makes those different and divides them into those two categories. The lagers in general will have a crisper, cleaner taste to them, whereas the ales will be a little bit fruity in the taste, A lot more going on in the beer, much more complex beer. Ale is the old ancestral father of all beers. If you will.
And very popular in England and Belgium and so forth, whereas lagers are popular in Germany.
So Those are the two major classes. There are actually about 70 sub styles of beer now.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: 70 sub styles, right.
Are there more. More of those now than there have been in the past?
Are we experimenting more with different kinds of. I'm thinking of, for example, here in this area we have Samuel Adams beer, which is relatively new and started by a company that was relatively small.
Are there more. More of these smaller companies getting into the beer making business?
[00:16:56] Speaker D: Oh, more all the time. And that is a fine example of the beer, the Sam Adams folks and Boston Brewing.
And you have a lot of other great brew pubs around town there as well.
As I said, they've gotten very popular and people have embraced this. But it's not a new style per se, although there are people doing variations. But in fact, it's a return to old styles that we used to have in this country.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: I remember reading Silas Marner, remember the British novel, and about a small British town and people coming off the farms or wherever at night would sit. This is their major entertainment, kind of. I always envied this. I thought, what a great thing.
Maybe it predated cheers and pledges like that. But they'd come into the tavern and they all sit around hoisting their signs and drinking beer and singing and mostly just talking and things.
Had there been no beer ever invented, there probably would be no taverns. I'm just reaching out for really weird things that I'm saying, but it's hard to imagine any kind of an industry or it's hard to imagine any industry being built without, say, beer as the basis of all of that.
[00:18:23] Speaker D: It'd be very important part of our culture in this country.
So was cider. So if we had never invented beer, perhaps cider would have been the popular beverage. And it was very popular in colonial times in New England.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Was that hard cider?
[00:18:37] Speaker D: Hard cider, yes, indeed.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: Okay, so we're talking. We're still talking alcoholic stuff, right?
[00:18:43] Speaker D: Right. And a tavern was the focus of any community back in the colonial days.
If you wanted to get the news, you went to the tavern. You wanted to see your neighbors and socialize. It was the tavern. They even held court in the tavern.
Military training of the militia occurred at the tavern because they knew they could get everybody to show up there. So the tavern was a very important part of our early life in America.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: How did beer.
I guess what I'm asking you is if you can sum up the history of beer and how it reflected upon our lives through the years when there's a pompous question, isn't it? I can't believe I just asked you that.
But it did have quite an effect on.
On civilization through the years.
Could you sum that up for us, or am I just asking you something really dumb?
[00:19:41] Speaker D: Oh, no, not at all. In fact, a lot of people would go so far as to say beer was the basis of civilization.
It's always been there with us at almost every important event in our country's history, and indeed, the world's history has been in some way or shape tied to beer.
And, for instance, to show how important it was to civilization when they found out how to make beer, even though it was by accident.
One theory is that it's what helped make people settle down in one place, because now they had to cultivate the barley, plant the barley, and then, of course, they had to know when to plant it. So they invented a calendar to know when spring came. And, gee, all this great stuff, mathematics, even for tallying the number of kegs you made in an accounting system, all that sprang from. From the tap of beer.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Well, that's. That's fascinating stuff. Let's just take a break.
[00:20:36] Speaker D: Brewers, of course, our names, we're all familiar with, and they'd be the folks like Anheuser Busch, then Miller, Coors, and on down the line. So over the last 20 years or so, they've remained pretty much the same. They.
And in fact, part of that weeding out of the breweries that we talked about before is because those national brands became so powerful and they were.
Excuse me, they were able to capture a very large part of the market.
Let's see, number four would be Strohs, then the G. Heilman and Pabst folks, followed by Genesee, Latrobe, Evansville, and then Yuengling in Pennsylvania.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Great. Okay. A lot of people want to talk to you.
Forgive me, but let's just take another break. A British naval officer who's visiting America, Captain Frederick Marryat, who had some interesting things to say, says Americans can fix nothing without a drink.
If you meet, you drink. If you punch your drink. If you make acquaintance, you drink. If you close a bargain, you drink. And it goes on like that.
Americans drink because it's hot, they drink because it's cold and all that. And as for water, the general opinion, it's very good for navigation, but kind of sums up our attitude toward this kind of thing.
The whole book is full of some interesting comments like that, which I think you'd find intriguing in sports. I don't mean broke in as a player, but broke into the game and the concerts and stuff without paying. Anyway, he's going to be on with us in a few minutes and he's going to. He's going to try to do the same thing at the Super Bowl.
This is costumes, personal brashness, and a keen awareness of Hyman's of human psychology to con, cajole, or coast past stadium personnel. One of the things I remember he mentioned here was the best way to get into places is to look like you belong. You know, don't have any look of doubt on your face as you're going in. You know, like, hey, hi there. I'm. I'm selling peanuts here or whatever, whatever the situation is. And you just walk in like you expect to go in.
And he says, very few people will stop you.
They'll say, hey, he looks like he belongs.
So you just go in.
I come closer. I don't want everybody to hear this. I've tried that on other occasions when I wanted to interview somebody coming in on a plane, say, at Logan Airport. And I wanted to get. Not just in the waiting room, but get out toward the runways, catch them right as they stepped off the plane, and just walk in and act like you belong.
Scott has done this with dates, though that's a little shaky because you gotta get the date to look like she is part of the deal, too.
Okay? Like she really belongs. Anyway, I hope Scott calls, and if he does, obviously we'll talk with him. If he doesn't call that, we won't talk with him. Meantime, I'd love to talk with you.
[00:23:48] Speaker I: Security.
Who's the head of security?
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:52] Speaker I: So I went up to a security guard and I said that, you know, this head guy, I got his nickname. I'm his cousin.
I said, and he said, you'll take care of me tomorrow.
So the guy says, yeah, you come back here and he's a good friend of mine. I'll take care of you.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Is that right?
[00:24:09] Speaker I: I'm all set already.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: No, can Kevin, tell me. Can you repeat the conversation the way it happened?
[00:24:15] Speaker I: All right. The guy's name is Jaffe.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: And he's the head security guy. Yeah.
[00:24:21] Speaker I: Oh, yeah, he's the head guy. So where's Jeff? I went up to the guy. Remember, these guys are just big boat boys and bad windbreakers.
Not talking about mental giants here, Norm.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Okay? So you.
[00:24:32] Speaker I: I go, where's Jaffe tonight? He says, I don't know. He's around running around in the golf cart. He's 110 place. I said, you know, I'm his cousin Justin from out of town. He says, oh, yeah, you know. And then of course, you know, this is the guy, this is the big boss. So you want to get in with the big boss? He says, can you put in a good word for me for, you know, to Jaffe? Oh, sure I can.
So you'll take care of me tomorrow? Oh, yeah. You come over here and you and your girlfriend, you guys will be all set.
So I'm all set already.
But of course, I think I'm gonna sneak in again.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: Yeah. Does that take the challenge out of it when it's that easy?
[00:25:10] Speaker I: Well, I mean, you know, you gotta have, you know, you gotta be real smooth. You know, I did my work already.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: So you have a date with you?
[00:25:18] Speaker I: Yeah, I have my girlfriend with me.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: Okay, so she's used to this though. Cause she's, she's.
[00:25:22] Speaker I: Hey, you know the old joke, Norm?
[00:25:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:24] Speaker I: Hey, honey, I bust dinner. So here, put these nose and glasses.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: So she's used to you sneaking into places and she sneaked in with you.
[00:25:32] Speaker I: Oh, yeah. So she hates it sometimes.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Does she really? Because I. I would think she's kind of gotten to be sort of a veteran at all.
[00:25:38] Speaker I: Yeah, but she doesn't want to do it anymore.
She only came with me because she, you know, she cares for me.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Oh, is. She doesn't.
[00:25:44] Speaker I: She didn't even want to come.
[00:25:46] Speaker B: Oh, but she cares for you. That's so nice.
[00:25:48] Speaker I: But now, but you know, now she's happy because you're going to see the Super Bowl.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Does she ever say to you, scott, why don't you ever pay something?
[00:25:56] Speaker I: That's right. He says, scott, the book's going to go so great. Why don't you buy a ticket?
Well, first of all, Norm, you know, we were walking around the stadium, tickets are being scalped for 4,000 a seat.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: No kidding.
[00:26:10] Speaker E: Four.
[00:26:10] Speaker I: A guy was. Guy was at one of the, like the gates right now outside the gate, asking, talking to someone about $8,000 for two seats for the 50 yard line.
That's crazy.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: It is kind of crazy.
[00:26:24] Speaker I: And first of all, you know, the guy who had the two tickets, he looked like he could mug the guy anyway for the 8,000, you know, why give him the ticket if he knew the guy had 8,000 in his pocket? He'd look like he was gonna hit him over the head.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: Anyway, how many people do they expect at the game?
[00:26:44] Speaker I: Well, I think the stadium, I think, I don't know, I Think the stadium holds about 80,000, isn't it? But there's just, there's just millions of people right now just hanging around the streets outside the stadium.
They have this rip off thing called the NFL Experience.
[00:26:58] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:26:58] Speaker I: And I wonder charging like 20 people to see like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders jump up and down for 10 minutes.
I mean, you know, for that they should be able to, heck, like have a raffle to take one of them home.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: Did you, did you sneak into the airplane flight out there? You had to pay for something?
[00:27:15] Speaker I: No, I drove out here.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: Oh, I see.
[00:27:17] Speaker I: And I actually paid for the gas.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Oh, I'm sorry. I know that seems like you sold out on that one.
[00:27:25] Speaker I: I know.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: And you probably paid for the hotel room. You can't sneak into that.
[00:27:31] Speaker I: I'm not Stone, Louise, you know. I'm a good guy, as you know.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: No, you're a very good guy.
[00:27:37] Speaker I: I just wrote a fun book and the book's been going great.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: And, and again, the book is called All Sold out how to Sneak Into Sporting Events of Concerts.
[00:27:44] Speaker I: Now can I mention my 1-800-number?
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Yes, as a matter it's in the USA article, but mention it.
[00:27:50] Speaker I: Can you believe that, that they put that in there?
[00:27:52] Speaker B: I know what they mentioned. 1-800-507-Book. And they give the price 8.95.
[00:27:58] Speaker I: They never do that.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: I know, I, I, I, I don't know any, any publication that does that. And this is a great national publication. That ought to boost sales.
[00:28:07] Speaker I: Oh, yeah. Kidding me. The phone. They said the phone's been off the hook since the article came out.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: No kidding.
[00:28:12] Speaker I: Oh, they've already got 2, 000 orders.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: You know something? You're okay, Scott. I want to be like you one day, Norm.
[00:28:19] Speaker I: I want to be like you someday.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Oh, I don't know. Geez, everybody does. You know.
[00:28:27] Speaker I: Ever since I did bz, everyone's asked me. They said you and Norm were great together.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: I thought it was, I thought, I thought it was fun. I enjoyed talking with you very, very much.
[00:28:36] Speaker I: But I couldn't stop laughing because the hour after my hour. Yeah, all they wanted to do was tell these stories about how people snuck in.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: No, I know it, I know it, it really sparked up because that's the ultimate dream of people, I think, is to get into something without paying for it.
[00:28:51] Speaker I: And people remember sneaking in, nor more than they ever remember the event that they went to.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: That's true, because when I was a kid, people would come into the movie theater by coming in through the side door. We talked about this because when you open it, the door. One of the doors in a movie theater during the daytime, right. The sun comes in and. And, you know, I mean, it's. It's obvious that some doors open that shouldn't be opened.
[00:29:17] Speaker I: That's right.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: So I guess maybe you have to do that at night then.
[00:29:20] Speaker I: But, yeah, you know, this stadium. But it's so funny because, you know, the super bowl is obviously our biggest event.
And here the NFL security was looking for me all day, and they have my picture.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:29:30] Speaker I: Taped to the wall.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Is that as a result of the article?
Yeah. And so, I mean, they. They clipped out that article and they.
[00:29:40] Speaker I: Taped it to all the walls of the, like, the. The trailers that they. All the security hangs out.
[00:29:46] Speaker B: And like, this is the wanted guy. Be careful. I know him. He's going to sneak in because they.
[00:29:50] Speaker I: Don'T want to look bad.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:29:53] Speaker I: Of course, I didn't shave, right? So I have this beard.
Haven't shaved for the last week, so I kind of look like Grizzly Adams.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: Oh, okay. So you don't match the picture that's in the USA Today.
[00:30:02] Speaker I: And I wore a baseball hat, so, you know, my girlfriend doesn't even know who I am.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: Before I let you go ask, tell us about some of the.
Some of the wilder experiences that you've had sneaking into events. Concerts and sporting events and all that.
[00:30:20] Speaker I: You know, my favorite one was, you know, when I snuck into R.E.M.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:30:25] Speaker I: I snuck into this, you know, band called R.E.M. for Hard Copy.
And I was wearing these special glasses, these glasses that. The $20,000 glasses that tape whatever you look at.
So, you know, whatever I was looking at was being taped. So I get backstage before the concert. Now I'm with the band before the concert, which is outrageous.
But of course, these guys in Bad Windbreakers come up to me and. And of course, they ready to kick me out.
Okay. You with me, Norm?
[00:30:52] Speaker B: I'm with you. Oh, yeah.
[00:30:53] Speaker I: All right. So now you have to remember I was at Anaheim. This is owned by Disney World.
So all of a sudden, nine of those guys escort me out because I didn't have a pass. And here I am backstage with the band, and I'm just hoping and praying that they would start beating the heck out of me, because I would have taped it all, and I could have owned the Disney line. The ride, like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, like, hey, come over here. Five bucks. You want to ride it? Five bucks.
So I was like, I'm just thinking, beat me up. Beat me up.
[00:31:27] Speaker J: Please.
[00:31:27] Speaker D: No.
[00:31:28] Speaker I: Kick me Harder. No, I don't think you've broken my nose yet, but it didn't happen.
That's always my favorite story of, you know, getting backstage before the concert.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Do you lay out a whole group of events very far in advance that you want to crash?
[00:31:47] Speaker I: Oh, yeah. Well, you know, my future events for the year. Yeah, the Olympics.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Now that starts in. Was it June or July?
[00:31:54] Speaker I: July, I think.
[00:31:55] Speaker D: Right.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: July and August.
Not. What am I saying? July and then.
[00:32:00] Speaker I: That's in Atlanta.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: In Atlanta. August was my.
[00:32:03] Speaker I: I'm going to England to crash Wimbledon this year.
[00:32:06] Speaker F: Wow.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: Okay, so you've got. You got all this. These events already laid out, so you know where you're going to be pretty much the whole year.
[00:32:13] Speaker I: Yeah, well, you know, it's all to promote the books, obviously.
Mother cares about Norm.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: I know. That's right.
[00:32:21] Speaker I: I was in the USA Today yesterday, right?
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Yeah, she could care less.
[00:32:25] Speaker I: I'm in the Lawrence Eagle Tribune today. She's never been so excited.
I mean, you know, USA Today has 3 million in circulation. Lawrence Eagle Tribune has like 30,000.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:32:36] Speaker I: She could care less about the USA Today.
No one. She knows we fat.
Everybody should know.
And remember, Tip o' Neill said it, right? Everything is local.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. Hey, Scott, it's a. It's always a great pleasure to talk with you. Can we do this often?
[00:32:55] Speaker H: Often?
[00:32:56] Speaker I: Normal. I'll call you once a week.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: I would be lovely. I'd love to know where.
[00:32:59] Speaker I: You know, you're my favorite.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: Hey, you're my favorite too.
[00:33:03] Speaker I: I love Norm. Nathan, I'm going out in the limb.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:33:07] Speaker E: On my honeymoon back in 1950.
[00:33:12] Speaker H: I.
[00:33:13] Speaker E: Was all dressed up with my husband. I was wearing a beautiful brown velvet dress and I looked like the cat's meow.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: The cat's meow.
Oh, I haven't heard that one in a while.
[00:33:27] Speaker E: We ended up in. We ended up in New York because we were in the Pocomos and there were a bunch of old people there like me now, and they had chit chat hours. And my husband said, oh, let's leave here. We'll take the chat with us and leave the chick behind.
And so we did. We ended up in New York.
And I wanted to see the show break the bank.
And my husband said, hey, look at that line. And there was a line going all the way around the block. It must have been been a block and a half long. And I said, I know how we'll get in. At that time, I worked for a newspaper in Washington, D.C.
and everybody, including the janitor, has one of these cards that said that they worked for the Times Herald, Washington, D.C.
and I pulled out my card, went up to the ticket taker, who was a very young man, thank goodness. If he were more mature, he would have known better. But I said, you have our reservations.
And he said, what reservations? And I said, you don't have our tickets. And I gave him my name and I said, we're newly weds. And we were really planning on being seeing this particular show because Bert Parkins was doing it at that time.
And he said. He said, well, just a minute. He got scared because he thought I was really a big shot from the newspaper. So he called upstairs and he said, look, he says, you can go around the back way and take the elevator up. And we did.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: It.
[00:35:15] Speaker E: My husband was scared, skinny.
I got into the show and we got on the show because my husband was in the service and because it was our honeymoon and we met Burke Parks and it was an exciting. It was the first time that my in laws had seen me because they were in Boston and we were in.
We had met in Washington and married in Washington D.C.
so it was quite exciting.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: It's kind of interesting though.
[00:35:46] Speaker E: But I did it in.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, do you think women, outside of Scott Kerman, who. Who's the professional gate crasher, you think generally women have more chutzpah about break about doing that kind of thing than men? Do you think men tend to.
[00:36:03] Speaker E: Well, I think my husband isn't the kind. He was a nice, mellow guy like you.
He wasn't the kind that would do something like that. I was the one that was a little bit on daring side.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Yeah. See, my wife would have done exactly what you did and I would have done what your husband did. I would have said, I don't want to Bill, let's buy a ticket. Let's go some. No. Ready, Honey, I can't go through with this. And she would have pushed her way through and with some kind of a cockamamie story and I would have sheepishly followed, which is obviously the way your husband played it.
[00:36:38] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: But I wonder if that's true. True of, you know, couples in general. Is it the woman who has the most nerve about those things?
[00:36:46] Speaker E: I. I think it depends on the couple. But I know that I'm. I'm that kind of a person.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: And oh, I want you so bad now that I know that ad pay for one month.
[00:36:57] Speaker E: And I.
Grandpa.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: No. But I usually. I'm really good about paying bills. Okay, I won't I won't go through that whole thing, but. But, but, you know, I went through a poor period about 40 years ago, and I vowed if I ever got through this, I'd pay my bills right on time. And I've always done that.
And I think somewhere in the storms and stuff, somehow the bill got misplaced or landed in the snow or whatever.
I don't know. And I don't. I can't imagine a cable company canceling you because you. You missed one payment. Yeah, that seems odd when my record is absolutely marvelous. The rest of the time, anyway, I haven't called them back to say the payment is on the way. Hooked me up again because I. You get letters saying there's extra charge for this, and then they, you know, And. And on the bill is also a notice that says something about dinner. Not responsible for payments unless they get them. Like, if it's lost in the mail, they don't take any responsibility for that. And their.
[00:37:57] Speaker F: Their.
[00:37:58] Speaker B: Their bill to me was lost in the mail, but aside from that, anyway. So I don't have. I really don't have much television because once you're hooked up to cable, it takes a little while to hook yourself up to over the airway kind of tv.
So I've been reading more, and I find that that's kind of fun. And I really don't miss television all that much. I really don't.
[00:38:21] Speaker E: What have you been reading?
[00:38:22] Speaker B: Well, let's see. For Christmas, one of my daughters gave me a couple of baseball books. I know that's not highly intellectual, but it's kind of fun. Or I dig out. I love American history, and I've been reading.
[00:38:35] Speaker I: Me too.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: You too?
[00:38:36] Speaker E: Oh, I love history.
[00:38:38] Speaker B: Okay. So I've been getting caught up on that and caught up in newspapers and magazines and stuff that I never seemed to have time for before because I'd be watching television.
[00:38:51] Speaker E: Yeah. I find that I, like. I feel awful. But like, a newspaper, I can't sit down and read a newspaper. But I can sit down and read a book and spend like five hours.
[00:39:00] Speaker H: In bed reading a book and just.
[00:39:02] Speaker E: Finish it off, but I can't. I don't have the patience to read a paper. I mean, what is it?
[00:39:05] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: Well, that's okay. That's all right. You may find the books more interesting. I also have. One of my daughters gave me Charles Kuralt's America, which I'm anxious to get it because I'm a big fan of his. I think he's absolutely superb.
[00:39:21] Speaker E: My dad, just by chance met him on a plane. He was thrilled to death.
[00:39:25] Speaker D: Oh, really?
[00:39:26] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:39:26] Speaker H: Up in Maine.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I gotta have him on this program one day because I'm a big fan. I would love to talk with him.
[00:39:32] Speaker E: He has a great voice.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: He has a great voice and he also. He writes absolutely magnificently. I mean, not just this book, which I haven't even gotten to yet, but the copy that he's written for his network appearances on his travels around America are superbly written, he said. He's absolutely a number one. He says special.
[00:39:55] Speaker E: Is that the book with his latest book with the Portland headlight in the background on the COVID Yes. Yeah, that's what I thought.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: Yes. And a big picture of him sitting there in front of that.
[00:40:05] Speaker E: Yeah. It was a good shot.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
Jill, you're okay. Keep reading.
[00:40:11] Speaker D: So I. I lost in Topsfield, in Boxford.
[00:40:16] Speaker F: And.
[00:40:18] Speaker D: I am out of business.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: See th. Topsville. It's kind of interesting because you see, you're from Peabody now. Peabody I kind of equate with Middleton. We're working class people. Although Middleton now has kept all these. A lot of expensive homes and everything. We've kind of changed a bit.
But people from Boxwood, I don't think would ever vote. Vote for anybody from Peabody.
[00:40:42] Speaker D: No, I.
[00:40:43] Speaker B: Because they're snotty people. I was quoted in the papers saying that the other day and I'm starting to get nasty notes on that. So I'll never be able to run for anything in Boxford either. I'm in the same boat you are.
[00:40:55] Speaker D: Well.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: And I don't think you could ever.
[00:40:57] Speaker D: Buy a home in Boxford.
[00:41:01] Speaker B: Well, who would want to, you know? I mean, it's not even a real town.
It is. It isn't. It's a whole bunch of tennis courts or swimming pools.
[00:41:08] Speaker D: West Boxford.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: West Boxford's a little different. That's a little homier.
And I do have friends who live there, but the town is.
Nobody would want to live there who cared about anything.
And it's so ultra conservative.
It's nothing.
I'm sorry. I'm going on again.
[00:41:29] Speaker D: I hope I don't get recalled from.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: People don't call rats. Call me.
[00:41:35] Speaker E: Okay?
[00:41:35] Speaker B: That's right. Because you'd have to. They might have to pay a toll to call Peabody or something. I don't know.
I hope so. I hope so too.
[00:41:44] Speaker D: I was listening to you. I listen to you every night.
[00:41:47] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:41:48] Speaker I: As I.
[00:41:49] Speaker D: As I told you, I'm. I'm a Norm Nathan addict.
[00:41:54] Speaker B: I get to Frankie Max at Beachmont, at Revere.
[00:41:57] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[00:41:57] Speaker B: And we used to go. I mean, that was one of you. Talk about being addicted. We would go there all the time catching Freddie Ross and he do all these jokes and my mother in law said, if you marry my daughter, I'll dig my way out of the grave and get at you. So we buried her face down. The hell with her, let her dig.
That was kind of typical Freddie Ross kind of humor.
[00:42:20] Speaker D: Do you remember Freddie doing the pinball machine act?
[00:42:24] Speaker B: Yes, I do. I just vaguely, because that's a long time ago, but I do remember.
[00:42:28] Speaker D: Well, it was.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: He did. He did a gi thing. I guess everybody during that period did a. A military skit also kind of stuff. Yeah, but I. I sort of mix up that one with the. The pinball, but. Well, the pinball one, it finally got to him.
[00:42:46] Speaker D: It was. It was so demanding that he couldn't do it anymore.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Is he still alive, do you know?
[00:42:54] Speaker I: No, he died.
[00:42:57] Speaker D: Probably five years ago.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: He moved up to New Hampshire. Yes, I did a show.
I forget the name of the group. Spotlighters or some club.
They were saluting Norm Crosby and I don't know why, but they asked me to do a routine also, so I was pretty awful. I just whipped together something. I was. Anyway, the thrill for me was not only being on the same stage with. With Crosby, but also Freddie Ross was there and that. This is the first time I'd ever met him outside of Frankie Max, although I'd never met him then. I used to, you know, with some friends of mine, a bunch of guys, we'd go catch him. Let's go to Frankie Max and catch Freddy Ross. And he was. He was our hero. And here I am performing alongside him. That was a great thrill. And Norm, I was there. Oh, were you there then?
Oh, Crosby kept making fun of me the whole night. He said something. I was kidding about how unprepared I was to do anything, but he did it in such a good natured way that I just felt badly, like, why didn't I really work on this more? I was just so in awe of the people, the performers that were there. It's kind of funny. And you were. Did you perform that? Oh, no, I was.
[00:44:14] Speaker D: I was in the audience.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: Oh. Because there was quite.
[00:44:17] Speaker I: I.
[00:44:17] Speaker B: Where was that? Anyway, it was a big audience.
I don't remember. Maybe it was like one of the hotels, I think one of the ballrooms of the hotels or something. Yeah, but. But I remember sitting down and then Crosby every now and then would throw a dig in, like, and snoring Nathan. Boy, he really worked on his material, didn't he? You know, and. And it was. And I. I felt. I really felt self conscious about. I. To this day, I. I've never stopped regretting the fact that I should have sat down. I really should have done something.
I never went into anything so unprepared as I was that day. I thought, you know, a couple of jokes and that'd be enough.
[00:44:53] Speaker D: Well, I thought you were great.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: Oh, my God, Russ, you're making me feel better about that whole night.
[00:45:01] Speaker D: Even though you were a kid then.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Well, I don't know. I wasn't such a kid. That wasn't that long ago. I think it was within the past 20 years. It was back in the 70s, I guess.
[00:45:13] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: I wasn't a kid even in the 70s.
You're nice to say that.
[00:45:20] Speaker D: You're still the kid when it comes to me.
[00:45:22] Speaker B: Well, I appreciate that. And I'm glad to be the kid to somebody, and especially you, Russ. And I thank you. Hey, I got to move along, but I thank you very much for the call. Let me ask you something, though.
[00:45:32] Speaker D: Sure. Is it too late to get up.
[00:45:34] Speaker I: On the dumb birthday game?
[00:45:37] Speaker B: Let me turn you over to Ed Leclair.
He's the one who fills in all the group there, so hold on. He's going to take the call now. Thank you. I got to get to Helene before the news. Hi, Helene.
[00:45:52] Speaker E: Helen from Belmont.
[00:45:54] Speaker B: What's that?
[00:45:55] Speaker H: Helen from Belmont.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Oh, this is a different one. I'm sorry. It's Helen in Belmont.
My other friend is Helene in Belmont, so I thought you might be she.
[00:46:05] Speaker D: But I'm.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: I'm glad you're you. So thank you very much for calling.
[00:46:08] Speaker E: I've talked to you before.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: Yes, I. I recognize your voice.
[00:46:12] Speaker H: I'm enjoying your show a lot tonight. I drifted back in when that young.
[00:46:16] Speaker E: Lady was calling you Grandpa and. Oh, yeah, and it's just been great.
[00:46:22] Speaker H: Reminiscing about all the old times and the old places.
[00:46:27] Speaker E: That gentleman to talk to you right after with that had the old cars.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:33] Speaker E: He happened to mention the Last Hurrah.
I wondered if you'd seen that show, the Last Hurrah. It's at the Black Rose.
[00:46:42] Speaker B: No, I never have. Is it running now?
[00:46:44] Speaker E: Yeah, it's running now. I'm going to see it tomorrow. It's about Curly.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: Yes, well. And I read the book.
[00:46:52] Speaker E: I read the book, too.
[00:46:53] Speaker B: Yeah, which was a great book.
It was made into a movie, too. I remember, Wasn't it? With Spencer Tracy?
[00:46:58] Speaker H: Right, right.
[00:46:59] Speaker E: I just wonder what it's going to be like. It's a musical.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Could you. Could you call back. Yeah, sometime later, after you've seen the show and let us fill us in with it. And when it is, when it's being shown. I'd love to. I'd love to see it.
[00:47:12] Speaker H: It's a dinner theater and. And then the show.
[00:47:15] Speaker E: And it's a musical, so I'd be glad to. I hope it'll be good. There aren't too many people around that will remember him, and I'd probably be one that would.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: Well, you know, the. The book itself was. Didn't mention. Of course it wasn't. It didn't mention Curly, although it was clearly about him, was Skeppington.
That's. That's right, Skeffington. But it was clearly Curly they were talking about. But it was about the Curly kind of politician. So whether you remember James Michael Curly or not.
[00:47:45] Speaker H: All right.
[00:47:46] Speaker B: It doesn't really matter. I think it. I think it's. It was still a fascinating book and a movie, and I hope it's a fascinating show. Well, at the Black Rose, you say you're right.
[00:47:55] Speaker E: Right.
[00:47:56] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:47:56] Speaker B: So call back afterwards and let us know how.
[00:48:02] Speaker I: And it didn't really hit me too.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Righteous because I like to listen to.
[00:48:07] Speaker I: Your program and you do.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: Oh, we were. We were kidding. We were kidding about my native language of Shagra.
[00:48:13] Speaker I: And I said, I thought you were.
[00:48:15] Speaker B: Going down to Rodami and getting them clams with the oil on it. I know. It's not like I got over the edge. No, but we were kidding about the fact that I said that my native language was Chagra. There is such a language. But from that point, we said. I said it only has four vowels. Oh, no, it has three. Has no vowels and only three consonants. So it's a very difficult language to. And it's kind of ugly. And the sounds you were just doing was. Was. Was similar to the sounds that I did, poking fun at that whole thing and just kind of trying to say, how do you say, I like you? You're a good person in Chagra. And so it came out the way.
And obviously the sound offended you, and I apologize for that.
[00:49:03] Speaker J: Norman.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
You know, there's one thing I could ask of you. There's library in Norwood, Massachusetts, and Framingham, Massachusetts, looking for volunteer tutors.
Yes. People that didn't get educated when they were younger.
[00:49:24] Speaker I: And like I said, I'm a student.
[00:49:29] Speaker B: A past student and a future student in the program.
[00:49:32] Speaker I: And I try to do everything I can for.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: For the literacy volunteers.
Okay, well, that's very kind of you.
That's very good. So we suggest people check in with Norwood and Framingham if they'd like to help. Yep. Okay. Good enough, Al.
[00:49:50] Speaker I: Thank you.
[00:49:50] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. You have a good night too. And thank you for calling. Thank you very much for those kind words.
[00:49:55] Speaker E: You're very welcome.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Have a good weekend.
[00:49:58] Speaker D: Well, thank you.
[00:49:58] Speaker E: And you too.
[00:49:59] Speaker B: Thanks.
[00:50:00] Speaker H: Bye.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: Bye.
[00:50:00] Speaker E: Bye. Bye.
[00:50:03] Speaker B: Now that is an adorable person. Behalf of Ed Leclaire, on behalf of the lovely Elizabeth, behalf of the good looking Tony Nesbit, the almost good looking Norm Nathan person. Why, that's me.
And of course, the lovely Marilyn Gorelnick. I hope it's a great day for you. We'll see you tonight. Bye. Bye. Old sport from WBZ Boston.
[00:50:27] Speaker G: Growing sunshade. They are a cross between the tall fescues that grow in sand and gravel pits. It looks like a big clump of grass that's growing in pure gravel or sand. And they've taken a fescue that traditionally grows in your lawn, cross pollinated them, and they've picked up the best characteristics of both grasses.
They have taken the texture from your lawn and they have picked up the root system from the one that lives in the wild.
So a tall fescue of today's grasses will produce a root system up to three feet deep, which means that it should dry out as quickly as rye grasses or blue grasses that only produce a root system about 6, 6 to 10 inches deep.
So that the tall fescues will withstand drought and sunny conditions a lot better than bluegrasses will. And they need a lot less water because the root system goes so deep.
[00:51:32] Speaker D: Sure. Does it require a lot of soil preparation? I've seen people with rototilizone in their lawns and, you know, is it something everybody wants? You know, I'm like everybody else, lazy. You know, can you just take and broadcast this on top of the soil? Does it grow like rag. Not ragweed, but crabgrass. I mean, crabgrass will grow anywhere. I've got crabgrass in my lawn that if there was a weed show someplace, it would be blue ribbon stuff.
It's incredible.
[00:51:59] Speaker G: Yeah. What you need to do. And that would be with any seed, the seed has to be in contact with soil.
[00:52:08] Speaker D: I've got plenty of soil showing.
[00:52:10] Speaker G: Yeah. So as long as you took a steel rake and you scratched up the ground so that when you drop the seed on the soil, it would be in direct contact with it, then there shouldn't be any problem. If you have a large area to do. And you've got a lot of dead grass from last year. And you won't know that until spring. You take a wrench yourself, a power thatcher. You run a thatcher back and forth over your lawn. You can do a half acre lawn in about maybe four hours.
And then you rake it all up and you have these little ridges that have been cut into the soil. Sprinkle your grass seed, a little fertilizer, a little bit of lime, and plenty of water. And that grass will come all by itself. But this, this Canadian grass, I don't know to say. They won't give you any information.
And until I know what. What's in it, I don't want to recommend it to you. So look for something that I know will work. Richard, we thank you for the phone call.
[00:53:05] Speaker B: A whole series of books. It's called Travelers Tales.
And. And they have a. There's a whole bunch of them now, Travelers. I'm just looking at the Traveler's Tales catalog. The one I have is the one that she wrote, but there are others like Travelers Tales on Thailand, Mexico, India, France, Hong Kong, I guess.
I guess I. I guess Greece. And I was looking for.
For places where, you know, for Egypt. I don't see that on there. Spain and Nepal. And I. I guess. I guess it's a project in the.
In the making anyway. Probably come out with more. But hers is Travelers Tales, A Woman's World. And. And that has to do with the essays of women who have written about.
Essays about where they have been and the kind of travels they have been part of. And the writing, I think, is incredibly good.
Just good writing is so much fun to read.
[00:54:08] Speaker E: Oh, absolutely.
[00:54:09] Speaker B: And you really get absorbed by these things. I thought when I started reading this, I don't know, how can I identify with some woman who's gone off alone to India?
And it's absolutely fascinating. I was sorry when the essay ended. And I can hardly wait to get into the next one now. How about that for a plug for the book?
I don't mean to go overboard about that, but it's quite a delight.
[00:54:32] Speaker E: Yeah. I'll definitely get the book.
[00:54:33] Speaker B: Okay. Hey, Diane, thank you very much. I appreciate hearing from you.
Son of a gun. Morgantown. Of course.
[00:54:39] Speaker J: Yes, indeed. I got a couple numbers I'd like to throw around for you.
[00:54:42] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:54:44] Speaker J: Getting ready for a Super Bowl.
[00:54:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:46] Speaker J: And I'm sure you're, you know, I'm gonna root for the Steelers.
[00:54:50] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:54:50] Speaker J: And they're getting 12 and a half points.
[00:54:53] Speaker B: You're gonna. Okay.
[00:54:54] Speaker J: We're getting 12 and a half, Pittsburgh.
[00:54:56] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:54:57] Speaker J: What's your opinion on that?
[00:54:58] Speaker B: Oh, my opinion really means nothing. I'm so pitiful.
[00:55:01] Speaker J: Oh, it means something to me now.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: No, no, I just. I just don't follow it closely enough for where my opinion really would mean much of anything.
[00:55:08] Speaker J: Well, let me tell you who they're playing.
Dallas Cowboys.
[00:55:12] Speaker B: No, no, I knew that, but I know who's playing, but I wouldn't be able to, you know. And you now, are you giving Pittsburgh 12 and a half points?
[00:55:21] Speaker J: I'm getting 12 and a half.
Me and my friend bet on the game.
[00:55:26] Speaker B: Oh, so you figure the Cowboys will beat the Steelers 12 by 12 and a half points?
[00:55:30] Speaker J: That's what he says.
[00:55:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:32] Speaker J: Well, I think I'm gonna win some money this time.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: You bet heavily on this once in.
[00:55:36] Speaker J: A while, you know, a couple parlays, maybe a straight bet here and there, you know.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:55:42] Speaker J: Can't get too involved with, you know, gets a little expensive.
[00:55:46] Speaker B: Most people I know see, and I'm kind of a novice. Not a novice. I. I'm just not deeply enough into it where my opinion really means anything, but. And I know yours does.
[00:55:57] Speaker J: It does to me.
[00:55:58] Speaker B: Okay, is this. This gonna be one of the really great Super Bowls or just one of the usual drab ones?
[00:56:04] Speaker J: Well, I'm gonna give you some statistics here, some more numbers.
Steelers been in four Super Bowls and they won them all, so this will be the fifth one.
[00:56:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Does that mean they're going to walk all over Dallas? No, obviously not, because you got Dallas winning.
[00:56:19] Speaker J: I believe that.
I believe it'll be probably a field goal game, my man.
And I say the Steelers will win them by field goal.
[00:56:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:56:28] Speaker J: That's a pretty big prediction for me.
[00:56:30] Speaker B: So you want to do. Would you name a score, actually, in addition to the.
[00:56:36] Speaker J: Here's one for you.
[00:56:37] Speaker B: Yeah, here we go. Now I'm ready.
[00:56:40] Speaker J: 38, 35.
[00:56:43] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:56:44] Speaker J: So I'll call you next Sunday night after the Super Bowl.
[00:56:47] Speaker B: Okay. This. Because they always build up the super bowl, and only on a rare occasion is the game ever as much fun as it. As you expect it's going to be. So. But you expect it's going to be a real doozer.
[00:56:58] Speaker J: Well, I've watched Dallas and Pittsburgh playing a couple Super Bowls, and they've all been pretty close.
Okay, so I'm predicting the Steelers 38, 35.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: Oh, here's an interesting story about that. I was going to mention this on the air, and as long as you mention the game.
This is, of course, Super Bowl 30. I know you well know that.
[00:57:16] Speaker J: Oh, yeah.
[00:57:19] Speaker B: The. The. The Showdown, which is January 28th, it says here, will be the first super bowl to be broadcast in the Navajo language.
This is a station in Window Rock, Arizona.
Son of a gun, I've been there. Radio station KTNN, manager Tasba McCullough estimates the audience will be 250,000 or more. And the sports director there says it's quite a challenge to broadcast sports in Navajo.
But he says the language allows the announcers to describe the emotion of the game and is in keeping with the Navajo storytelling tradition. And I suppose it would be fun to hear the game in Navajo maybe for about two minutes. After that, we'd probably lose interest.
But it's hard. It's come somewhat. It's hard to imagine that I'd find.
[00:58:07] Speaker J: It hard that an Indian could root for the Cowboy. What do you think?
[00:58:12] Speaker B: You think the last team in the world he'd want to win would be the Cowboys?
[00:58:17] Speaker J: That's what I say.
[00:58:18] Speaker B: No, I think you're right.
[00:58:19] Speaker J: I'll check in with you next Sunday, Norm.
[00:58:21] Speaker B: Okay, Mac. Thanks for the call. See you, bud. Bye. Bye.
2, 5, 4, 10, 30. Let's go to Monica in Cleveland, Ohio. Hey, it's my friend Monica.
[00:58:33] Speaker H: Hey.
[00:58:34] Speaker B: I just wrote you a note.
[00:58:35] Speaker E: You did?
[00:58:36] Speaker B: Yeah, cuz I got your note.
[00:58:37] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: And I proposed marriage.
[00:58:40] Speaker E: Oh, you really?
[00:58:41] Speaker B: And running away to an exotic land. Maybe Tierra del Fuego.
[00:58:45] Speaker E: Yeah. And how about Barcelona?
[00:58:48] Speaker B: Barcelona, right. Barcelona would be nice. Have you been to Spain at all?
[00:58:54] Speaker E: Never been to Spain.
[00:58:54] Speaker I: Don't even have a passport.
[00:58:56] Speaker B: I guess now is a little tough time to get one. Although I guess maybe you can get them again. Yeah, things seem to be moving a little bit better.
[00:59:04] Speaker E: Well, that's funny, because I was like. Well, he said he was gonna write me letters and everything and I haven't gotten anything.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: No, it's. You see. No, it'll. It'll go out Monday, so you'll probably get a chance Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on what the delivery is in. I know you don't live in Cleveland, right?
[00:59:21] Speaker E: Yeah, just outside of it.
[00:59:23] Speaker B: Just outside of Cleveland. Okay. That was a nice picture of you there too.
[00:59:27] Speaker E: Oh, thank you, sir.
[00:59:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I pinned it up on my wall and I look at it each night and I have fantasies.
[00:59:34] Speaker E: Well, I realized that when I wrote the letter, I didn't put it through on the stationery, so that's why the letter kind of looks a little silly.
Did he have to space the words, you know, to go around?
[00:59:44] Speaker B: No, listen, the way I type, you'll Get. You'll get a letter that's spaced even worse than that.
[00:59:49] Speaker E: But you know what? Hey, how's Tony's chicken chicken pox?
[00:59:52] Speaker B: Oh, Tony's chicken pox. That's Tony Nesbitt. Yeah. Who has. I'm just. This is a review for people who don't know that Tony Nesbitt is a producer here who I work with, who books a lot of the guests that we have on the program.
That Tony at the age of 28.
I think he's 28. Something like that. Anyways, come down. Came down with chickenpox, which is a painful disease at any age.
[01:00:18] Speaker E: Even worse for adults.
[01:00:20] Speaker B: Yes, it is. When you're older, it's even worse.
[01:00:22] Speaker E: It could be like deadly or something is what I.
[01:00:24] Speaker B: In some cases it could be. However, it wasn't deadly, mercifully, in Tony's case. And he's back at work. He was here the other day and he looks good. He looks really good. And the pock marks seem to be at a minimum.
[01:00:37] Speaker E: Well, I wrote David Letterman a letter too because I told him that Tony said that he had buns like Tony's cuke or David's cue card guy.
So I said I'd be glad to be the judge of bun. So hopefully it'll get in the CBS mailbox.
[01:00:53] Speaker B: That would be nice. That would be. I hope, I hope he gets to see it and I take it seriously and read it and give you. Give you a response and stuff I might mention. Also Monica is on.
You're still working with the other two guys, Manny and Gill there.
[01:01:08] Speaker E: Mick and Gilly. Yeah, those.
[01:01:10] Speaker B: Yeah, Mickey and Gilly and W E R E in Cleveland and.
Well, the letter covers some other things. But you mentioned the fact that you were in.
No. Is it landscaping? You don't call it landscaping.
[01:01:26] Speaker E: Lotus scaping.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:01:28] Speaker E: I do organic gardening.
[01:01:29] Speaker B: Yeah, organic gardening. I mentioned the fact too, that. That I deal in through the years of gardening also. I grow vegetables all. And I've never used any chemical fertilizers.
[01:01:39] Speaker J: Well, that's good.
[01:01:40] Speaker E: This world can survive, you know, if we're going to raise crops and things like that. We don't need.
[01:01:45] Speaker B: We don't need that stuff. We don't need that.
[01:01:48] Speaker E: Got enough of that floating around in the ozone.
[01:01:51] Speaker H: We don't.
[01:01:51] Speaker B: Yeah, we don't. We don't. And we don't need to worry about whether we're washing off all the chemical junk that comes on our potatoes and everything else. For God's sakes. That was acting.
[01:02:02] Speaker E: It's another headache.
[01:02:04] Speaker B: You Know, if you want to. If you want to get at the radio full time, I hope you'll pay close attention to me because I'm a leader in new ideas and thoughts and stuff and in acting.
[01:02:13] Speaker E: Right. And a pioneer as well.
[01:02:15] Speaker B: A pioneer. Yeah. When I'm talking to somebody as young as you, I kind of eliminate the word pioneer.
[01:02:21] Speaker E: But it's kind of sad because sometimes, you know, you'll be on to a hot topic and then you fade in and out like every, oh, I don't know, 15 minutes.
[01:02:30] Speaker B: I know. The fact that you're that close to Cleveland is surprisingly, that you can pick us up at all. We get out to a central Ohio a lot. Columbus and Toledo.
[01:02:38] Speaker E: Heck, that's pretty darn near Indiana.
[01:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah, no, we get. There's no. Yeah, we. We get a lot of calls from that area again, Columbus and that part. But not so much up where you are around the Cleveland area.
And also. Yeah, a lot. A lot of calls from parts of Indiana and stuff. But I wish you well and I hope to continue to hear from you. Monica, you're okay.
[01:03:00] Speaker E: Look forward to seeing your letter this week.
[01:03:02] Speaker B: Oh, and it's on recycled paper, I hope.
[01:03:06] Speaker H: Great.
[01:03:06] Speaker E: And are you going to enclose a photo?
[01:03:09] Speaker B: I did not do that. No, I already sent that out. No, I don't have a photo yet. We're supposed to take some pictures later this week at my house along with the animals. And I was kind of hoping that I could hide behind the horse and the two big dogs so you would see that much of me.
[01:03:26] Speaker E: Okay.
[01:03:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:03:27] Speaker E: You take care. Have a great week. You're only on till one.
[01:03:30] Speaker B: Just till one. Yeah, just. Yeah, just Sunday night is a little short night.
[01:03:34] Speaker E: Ah, okay. Well, you take care.
[01:03:36] Speaker B: You too, Monica.
[01:03:37] Speaker H: All right.
[01:03:37] Speaker B: Bye.
[01:03:38] Speaker D: Bye.
[01:03:39] Speaker B: Okay, let's go to Pramanica in West. In Cleveland, Ohio. We'll go to back to West Virginia and the Maryland in West Virginia. How you doing?
[01:03:49] Speaker E: Good evening.
[01:03:50] Speaker H: I'm fine.
[01:03:50] Speaker E: How are you?
[01:03:51] Speaker B: I'm just fine, thank you.
[01:03:52] Speaker H: Also, I think. I think we're running out of time very quickly, aren't we?
[01:03:56] Speaker B: Well, we got about three minutes or so.
[01:03:58] Speaker E: Well, I wanted to.
[01:03:58] Speaker H: I wanted to tell you about a.
[01:04:00] Speaker E: A tra.
[01:04:02] Speaker H: A trip that I was taking one time where it's one of these things where you think later that somebody up there likes you and there's some reason why you're on this earth because we had gone over a 9,200 foot pass in the Bighorn Mountains driving, and we were driving a big old Cadillac.
It was in Gorgeous shape. But it had been stored for several years.
Only had a few miles on it.
But the person who had bought it was just so excited about the whole thing. And it was lovely to ride in. But we stopped to take some pictures just after we'd gone over this path.
And the driver decided to back up a little bit, I guess, to get closer to the guardrails.
And there was this clunk and then we discovered we had no axle.
[01:04:56] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
[01:04:57] Speaker H: And we were able to drift down maybe a quarter of a mile and there was a real wide place to pull off. And you could have put half a dozen cars there.
And so the one man who was with us jumped out and got into a Volkswagen Bug, which you had mentioned a while ago with the first person that came down the mountain and took off to find help.
It was a beautiful day. It was in the mid-60s.
And the three of us who were left had things to read and we chatted and took pictures and finally was beginning to get a little, little dark dusk looking. And a state policeman was heading over, back over the mountain.
And he tried to ignore us, but we stopped him and, and did prevail on him to radio and find out where the wrecker was or if there was one coming. They said, well, they were waiting till it came back in and our, our person was there waiting for it. The wrecker came and, and picked up the rear end of the car and we were riding in it, you know, sort of looking down at the road going down off this mountain.
And we found out that the nearest town was 20 some miles.
They dropped us off at the motel, took the car onto the garage.
Later we found out that the wrecker lost its brakes after it got back down there.
[01:06:27] Speaker B: Oh, gee, isn't it, Aren't you lucky it held onto its brakes as long as it did then.
[01:06:32] Speaker H: Right. So, you know, it's one of those things where you think there's some reason why I'm here.
[01:06:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Somebody was smiling at you that way. Boy, that is, that is really frightening.
That isn't frightening for the record, like I driving the record, too.
[01:06:46] Speaker H: Yes, it's the kind of thing that makes your knees go weak when you, I know.
[01:06:50] Speaker B: And you realize what could have happened.
[01:06:52] Speaker E: Right.
[01:06:52] Speaker B: Oh, hey, I'm, I'm so glad to hear your voice, Marilyn.
I'm beginning to shake a little myself and sweat.
[01:07:00] Speaker H: Well, it was, it was one of those things that makes, you know, you have a purpose.
[01:07:05] Speaker B: Okay. Hey, Marilyn, I, I, I wish you well and I thank you for the call and congratulations. I'm glad everything worked out okay.
[01:07:13] Speaker H: Thank you.
[01:07:14] Speaker B: Take care. Bye. Bye.
Some fascinating people who we'll be talking with throughout that time. And most of all, it'll be fun talking with you. So hope you'll give me a call. But don't, don't start dialing just yet. You can wait till Friday for me. The temperature 27 degrees, the roads are loose and snow. And we'll have A complete WBZ AccuWeather forecast coming up in just a little bit.
One of the. One of the guys we're going to have as a guest on Friday, by the way, will be Mr. Guy. Calls himself Mr. Cheap or Cheapy. He's got a book out on all kinds of special places to buy things inexpensively, as you could guess by the title.
[01:08:00] Speaker E: Each weekend night.
He's beyond compare and so debonair.
He shines so bright.
[01:08:18] Speaker I: You're on BZ103.
[01:08:24] Speaker B: Oh please, please don't turn that dial.
He makes me smile.
This is the exciting norm.
[01:08:55] Speaker C: Nathan.
[01:08:56] Speaker B: Sean. Imagine it's a program you've been waiting for the entire week. And I don't blame you. I have too.
Last time we talked, I think was last.
Last Monday was about 1am and Monday morning, Sunday night, Monday morning, time has weighed heavy. I just been. Just going from room to room at the house, knowing not what to do. Waiting for this very very moment when we could be back together again. Am I talking stupid already?
Normally it takes to about 2 or 3 in the morning before I get to be really foolish.
[01:09:26] Speaker C: Take around with you stick it in the glove compartment of the car or in your back pocket or your briefcase or whatever.
[01:09:31] Speaker B: Can you flash that at some stores you go into, even if they're not listed, they'll look at that, they'll say this guy knows all about the cheap places. We better mark our prices down. Can you intimidate people just by showing that?
[01:09:44] Speaker C: I, I have gotten in over the years in doing all the footwork and all the research that goes into this. I've gotten probably every conceivable response and reaction from we love you. What a great idea. Please put us in your book to please get out.
[01:09:59] Speaker B: We don't want to hear about it.
Do you get. Do you get rejections like that? People say get out of here, man. Very, very few.
[01:10:06] Speaker C: But I have, you know, people have a.
An odd reaction or there's a variety of reactions to the word cheap there. You know, any number of people who've told me you write a book called Mr. Cheaps Boston. What a terrible title. I mean that makes it sound like it's all plastic and things that break, and it's all about junk. And then you can easily turn around to somebody else and say, yes, I write this book called Mr. Chief's Boston. They say, what a great name. Where can I get a copy of it?
[01:10:36] Speaker B: How do this. You know, I was going to ask this obvious question about how this came about, because you list all kinds of businesses, and it would seem to me the research you have to do on this is absolutely incredible.
[01:10:48] Speaker C: Well, I've worn out a lot of shoes, but of course, I always know where to get more cheap. So the way it all came about, actually, is from my own background as the, quote, starving artist, unquote.
My background's in theater.
And, you know, actors don't exactly reach the top of the pay scale in this country.
[01:11:08] Speaker B: I don't know. I'm an actor, but I'm trying to get a job as a waiter.
That's one of the oldest, worst jokes in the world.
[01:11:17] Speaker C: And I'm very pleased to say it just reached the Boston Globe bestseller list this week.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: Isn't that nice?
[01:11:23] Speaker C: So it seems to be doing quite well all over again. I'm very, very excited. Excellent.
[01:11:29] Speaker B: Okay, so this is kind of part two of the book. Not. Not part two. That's not quite the way to phrase.
[01:11:34] Speaker C: It, but this is new, improved. It's bigger. It expands further out into the suburbs. It covers a whole lot of new stuff that the original book didn't have.
[01:11:43] Speaker B: Okay, now, do you list it according to suburbs, too, as well as.
I'm just saying that because as I glance through this, there's one section here says Arlington, Belmont, that kind of stuff. But mostly it's divided up into kinds of kinds of places, kinds of restaurants, kinds of clothing stores, and all of that kind of thing.
[01:12:04] Speaker C: The shopping section is organized alphabetically by what you want. Clothing, furniture, shoes, electronics. The restaurant section. I did divide it up geographically because when you're hungry and you're looking for a good, cheap place to eat, you want something that's nearby. You want to say, okay, here I am in Arlington.
[01:12:25] Speaker B: What's good?
[01:12:25] Speaker C: That's near me. And so in. In that case, I decided to break it up by area. And. And it does cover all of the areas of Boston. And then out in the. Basically all the suburbs within 128.
[01:12:37] Speaker B: Okay, now, anybody has any questions they want to ask, because I'll ask you some first before we get to the phones. But Mark Wahlstein, who is Mr. Cheap.
[01:12:45] Speaker G: Yes.
[01:12:47] Speaker B: Are you married?
[01:12:48] Speaker C: No.
[01:12:48] Speaker B: Does this does this hurt your romancing by being known as Mr. Cheap Cheap when you're going out with a woman that she figured, what's the sense of going out with this guy's gonna find the cheapest places around?
Why bother with this, this crummy guy?
[01:13:02] Speaker C: I, I am not cheap in that sense. What, what of course the name means is where to get good stuff cheap. I, I have a, a story that I tell about a friend of mine.
[01:13:14] Speaker F: Who.
[01:13:16] Speaker C: Had an argument with his wife.
In order to make up with her, he bought her a bouquet of roses, long stemmed red roses, which he got at some place for about $10.
He gave her the roses, she said, oh, that's wonderful. They kissed and made up. And then he had to point out that he had gotten a deal on the roses.
You know, he went that extra step a little too far. And I'm not like, that's an awful.
[01:13:44] Speaker B: Thing to do.
[01:13:47] Speaker D: Anyway.
[01:13:48] Speaker B: Let's see. 2, 5, 4, 10:30, by the way, is our phone number. Our area code is 617.
I'm not quite sure which, what to ask you about because you cover so many, many things.
Is there any specific area where you can get better deals than in other areas?
The theater, for example, a certain date or someplace you can get cheap tickets?
[01:14:11] Speaker C: Sure.
Well, if you're talking about days of the week, for example, comedy clubs are always less expensive during the week than on the weekends.
And jazz music is a great way to go if you can go during the week. The Regatta Bar, which is one of the very nicest jazz spots in the whole area in Harvard Square is much less expensive during the week and often with the same musicians who are going to be playing on the weekend, but they charge separately for each of the two sets on the weekend. Whereas if you go on a Wednesday night or a Thursday night, you pay once and you can stay the whole evening.
[01:14:46] Speaker B: So that's, that's true of scholars too, which is also very close by here, which is another jazz club, the theater though, if you can, you pick up tickets, for example, the same day as the performance.
Yes. Are tickets cheaper then? Yes.
[01:15:01] Speaker C: There is a great way to save money on theater and that's the bostics ticket booths. There's been one at Faneuil Hall Marketplace for quite a number of years. And just last year they opened up a second booth in Copley Square. And this is where any shows that are playing in town that have a lot of unsold tickets for that evening's performance, they'll dump all those tickets into the folks at Bosticks, and you can pick them up for half price plus a dollar or two service charge.
You take your chances because if they're, if you're really, really got your heart set on seeing Les Mis. And when this happens to have sold pretty well, you may not find them listed on the boards at the Boss Tix Booth.
But what fewer people know is that there's a great second program run by the same people. The same people who do. The BOSS takes Booth, have a program called Arts Mail, and for absolutely no charge, just write to them and say, please put me on your mailing list.
You will receive a catalog every month of events that are going to be coming into town. They're selling tickets way in advance.
Very often they're selling preview tickets. Those are the seats before, before the show opens and the reviews come out. And the show needs to try and boost sales before all their publicity hits big.
Also, local companies who. Local theater companies, local dance companies, concerts, etc. It's not just theater who just want to sell a few extra tickets and are willing to do so at half price.
So with artsmail, you get. In fact, I have a copy of it here. You get this wonderful catalog. It's. It's about 30 pages.
Look what's on the COVID of this. This was the. From last year. It's Phantom of the Opera.
And you can get Phantom of the Opera tickets. Let's see, let's see what the deal was.
The average ticket price, it says here, is $36. Your price, 22.50.
So you can basically get the same deal as you get at the Boss Takes Booth or similar.
And you can get them in advance. You can get them by mail, and you have a selection of dates usually. So it's, it's a much more flexible, not taking chances kind of an operation. All you have to do is write to them and get on their mailing list.
[01:17:14] Speaker B: Okay, what about some other categories? Now, say the area of clothing, for example.
I want to pick up a swell pair of shoes. Okay, I don't know why I said that, but the first thing that came to mind, sensible shoes.
Sensible. Oh, yes, yes. I want to be comfortable. Oh, God knows, yes. Oh, yes.
But how do we go about finding a place that has good quality shoes cheaper? I mentioned this. You can lapse off into other areas of clothing as well. But these are, these are areas I don't think not too many people know about.
[01:17:51] Speaker C: There are a lot of discount shoe companies all around the Boston area. And I have a whole chapter that is Just called shoes and Sneakers. And you can go to a place like the Barn in Newton, which is a long time sort of family outfitter kind of a store. They have great stuff for men and women and kids and they sell it very, very low markups.
So they, they just do so much business. They do such a high volume business that they are able to keep the, the markups very low.
There are also places that discount designer shoes.
And you know, sometimes you can even find those at Filene's basement.
And those are brand new in their, maybe last year's styles. But you know, for you and me, for men, how much do the styles change? It's not the same as, as for women. And, and of course with Sneakers, Reebok has their own outlet store. New Balance has their own outlet store. There are all kinds of places to save big on the expensive tennis shoes and basketball shoes and things like that.
[01:18:58] Speaker B: Our, the outlet stores do you really save? I'm thinking of mill outlets and all that kind of stuff. A number of them down, say around the New Bedford area, Fall river and that kind of stuff you really do save there.
[01:19:13] Speaker C: I get asked that question a lot. And, and the reason is, and the reason people are somewhat unsure about it is the, the answer is yes and no. It's not a straight yes or no. You have to shop carefully, even at the outlets.
I do have a roundup of all of those places here at the beginning of my book so that people who want to explore these things, they can find the, the address and the directions and how, how long it takes to drive from Boston to the, the Freeport outlets in Maine and the Cape Cod factory outlets and the Worcester Common fashion outlets.
If you go to these places. Outlet shopping has become a huge, huge phenomenon in the retail business. And I'm no mba, but I've learned a little bit about retail.
Everybody seems to want to shop at the outlets now. And so the outlets and the factories themselves, they've caught on to this. So you have this tremendous spread of outlet malls.
There aren't that many irregulars out there.
They couldn't possibly. And of course this is what Marshalls and TJ Maxx are doing as well in Farleene's basement. You know how many stores there are in those chains? There just aren't that many mistakes being made at the factories to fill that many stores. So what's happening is that you actually have. Manufacturers are starting to make items that are sort of a second tier, a lower tier of their same goods directly for the outlet stores. So that if you wanted to buy a Ralph Lauren shirt, let's say, or a sweater.
You could go to the Ralph Lauren Polo outlet at the Worcester Common Fashion outlets and you'd get a nice selection of clothing. But it may not be the exact same clothing that you would find at Bloomingdale's. It's not the same stuff.
It is produced less expensively and therefore priced less expensively.
[01:21:09] Speaker B: So we're not talking about mistakes, though, with their purpose.
Make these for lower. That's exactly prices.
[01:21:17] Speaker C: Yeah, it does.
I don't know their entire history, but from what I understand, they started out as a wholesaler and furnishing books for schools and educational institutions. And they didn't mean to sell to the public necessarily, but the public started sneaking in.
They have expanded tremendously and there's, there's nothing mobile about them anymore. In fact, they've just added a whole new section to the front of their building and they've expanded their hours.
They're, they're going very consumer friendly at this point and they're definitely there to stay.
[01:21:51] Speaker B: Okay, we'll take some questions from, from you, the listener, it in just a minute.
[01:21:57] Speaker C: What is it? Essex Street, I think it is.
It's right behind the, the Mason's building.
[01:22:02] Speaker B: Oh, right in the, the combat zone area. Which is not the combat zone anymore.
[01:22:08] Speaker C: It's not. And, and it's a perfectly good lot. And I think their, their whole day rate is only $5 or something like that.
[01:22:14] Speaker H: Are there any deals on getting a T pass?
[01:22:16] Speaker E: A monthly T pass?
[01:22:18] Speaker C: Now there again, you know, you're at the mercy of the T, because they've got the monopoly on the things they, they, they can charge what they want because no one else makes them. They don't have to discount them, though. The T passes themselves are a good deal if you use them enough because of course you're paying a monthly rate and then you get unlimited usage.
[01:22:37] Speaker B: What about clothing or something like that? Can we help you with anything along those lines?
[01:22:41] Speaker C: What do you want to shop for, Carol?
[01:22:43] Speaker B: You want a toy or games, do you want.
[01:22:46] Speaker E: Yeah, I do, as a matter of fact. A home computer. Home personal computer.
[01:22:52] Speaker C: There are some wonderful places to go to a chain of places all around the suburbs called the Computer Outlets. They have one in Revere, Weymouth, Westwood, A lot of W's.
What they are selling are factory refurbished computers. That is a computer by one of the big makers, Dell, IBM, perhaps a lot of the famous names that may have had some kind of a defect or was returned for some reason.
It was sent Back to the factory fixed.
And now because it has been fixed, they cannot resell it as new. They can't give it to Leechmere, they can't give it to CompUSA.
And so there are all these places that are around. Usually they're in out of the way locations like in office parks and things that are selling the refurbished, still warrantied, still new. And whatever defects they had were fixed computers for hundreds of dollars less. I've seen laptop computers there for 7 and $800 that would ordinarily be going for 1,500.
Also, by the way, there's a place called the Laptop Superstore, which is a local chain and they have a branch in Harvard Square in Cambridge. That's their. Doubles as their clearance center. They do kind of the same thing there.
[01:24:15] Speaker B: And I know you have hotels, motels, all kinds of stuff in the book. Hey, thank you very much for calling, Carol.
[01:24:21] Speaker E: You're welcome.
[01:24:22] Speaker B: Take care. Bye.
[01:24:22] Speaker F: Bye.
[01:24:23] Speaker B: Incidentally, the, the book is pretty cheap itself. It's only what, 9.95.
[01:24:28] Speaker C: It's 9.95 with about 350 pages listing some six or seven hundred stores, restaurants, activities, hotels. And so what I like to say is it pays for itself the first time you use it.
[01:24:44] Speaker B: Actually, that's true. Can I go to the New England Mobile Book Fair and get it cheaper.
[01:24:48] Speaker C: Than that and get 20% off?
[01:24:49] Speaker B: Is that right?
[01:24:50] Speaker C: I got a whole stack of them over there right by the door.
[01:24:53] Speaker B: Okay.
Carolyn in Medfield. Hi, Carolyn.
[01:24:57] Speaker H: Hi.
[01:24:58] Speaker E: Can you give me the address for the Arts mail catalog?
[01:25:01] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, sure.
It's gonna ring here.
[01:25:05] Speaker B: Right.
[01:25:06] Speaker C: To Arts Boston, which is the, the Non Profit Organization.
100 Boylston Street.
[01:25:12] Speaker E: Okay.
[01:25:13] Speaker C: Suite 735, Boston, Mass 02116.
[01:25:20] Speaker E: Okay. And I plan to buy your book, go looking for it tomorrow.
[01:25:24] Speaker B: Okay. It's called blue cover, so you'll, you'll spot it right off Mr. Chief's.
Boston is the one that you'd want obviously for this area.
[01:25:32] Speaker E: Right up my alley.
[01:25:33] Speaker B: Okay, thank you.
[01:25:34] Speaker E: Thanks very much.
[01:25:34] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you.
[01:25:36] Speaker H: Good night.
[01:25:36] Speaker B: Bye. Bye. 2 5, 4, 10:30, area code 617. If you have any questions, here's Chip in Cambridge. Hi, Chip.
[01:25:44] Speaker I: Hi, Mark.
[01:25:45] Speaker C: Hi, Chip.
[01:25:46] Speaker I: Two questions. I know that you go to the.
[01:25:50] Speaker D: City that you're working on.
[01:25:52] Speaker B: Yes.
How?
[01:25:54] Speaker I: And I think I heard you once say that you spent like six weeks.
[01:25:57] Speaker D: In the city before, you know, after you've done all the preliminary research. Is that true?
[01:26:01] Speaker C: You've heard my other interviews?
[01:26:03] Speaker B: Yes. No, you told me.
[01:26:04] Speaker C: Oh, oh, is this Chip that I know from. Yeah, yeah. Hi, Jeff. How you doing?
[01:26:08] Speaker E: Hi.
[01:26:08] Speaker C: I know this guy Norm. He's a ringer.
[01:26:11] Speaker B: He's a ringer.
[01:26:13] Speaker I: No, but seriously, six weeks.
[01:26:17] Speaker C: Basically, the way it divvies up is, is there's me and there are two assistants.
[01:26:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:26:21] Speaker F: One of.
[01:26:22] Speaker B: Is Chip. One of the assistants.
[01:26:23] Speaker C: No, he's not.
[01:26:23] Speaker B: Okay, no, but.
[01:26:24] Speaker I: But I.
[01:26:26] Speaker C: He and I have a mutual friend.
Basically, what happens is I will go to whatever city for about a month to six weeks. And also one of my assistants will go to the city for about the same length of time. And during that entire time, the third person, the other assistant, is doing a whole batch of work on the telephone, sort of backing us up.
So when you throw it all together, it's three people going non stop, all out, sometimes seven days a week.
[01:26:57] Speaker I: For.
[01:26:57] Speaker C: A period of about two months. And that seems to do the trick.
[01:27:02] Speaker I: Yeah, you can get a pretty good.
[01:27:03] Speaker D: Beat on the city.
[01:27:04] Speaker C: And the other thing is, I had a wonderful comp. I know when I've done my job well when people tell me that they live in those cities. And I found places that they didn't even know.
[01:27:13] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:27:14] Speaker C: I have a book in Chicago which is done very, very well.
[01:27:16] Speaker B: Well.
[01:27:17] Speaker C: And I was interviewed by a writer from the Chicago Tribune, a fashion writer for the Chicago Tribune, and she told me I had found a clothing discount store that she didn't know about. That's when I know I've done my job.
[01:27:32] Speaker D: My other question is. I've got two more, but I'll talk.
[01:27:35] Speaker B: To you some other time.
[01:27:36] Speaker D: When will there be a Mr. Cheaps guide to Paris?
[01:27:39] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
[01:27:40] Speaker C: And to whom should I speak at your point?
[01:27:42] Speaker D: Publisher to get to make sure that you're sent there.
[01:27:44] Speaker B: Wow.
[01:27:45] Speaker C: As soon as they send me.
[01:27:46] Speaker B: Boy.
[01:27:48] Speaker C: I don't know if there is anything cheap in Paris, everybody. I've never been there. Everything I hear.
[01:27:52] Speaker B: Actually, there's.
[01:27:53] Speaker D: Actually there is.
[01:27:54] Speaker B: And I'd love to see you. Mostly the people.
[01:27:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I didn't say that.
[01:27:59] Speaker B: No, I said that I find Parisians are very hard to get along with. But then again, I haven't been to Paris in about 20 years, so it may have all changed.
[01:28:08] Speaker A: Once again, an excellent foray into the world of the Norm Nathan show. Links are in the bio to support said show. My cup was recently filled to the brim on Buy me a coffee. Thank you. Closing the vault and leaving this world a little sillier than we found it. 4. Singing a medley of songs while having technical difficulties, Weight loss and looking good.
Amorous rapture. Anticipating the invention of radio, but being on the radio. Minnesota Fats, Pool and billiards and balls and rules Beer, lager ale, microbreweries Being sneaky but looking like you belong the cat's meow paying your bills, reading Charles Kuralt dissing stodgy boxtard Mass. Frankie Max Beachmont in Revere, Massachusetts. Freddie Ross spotlighters Norm Crosby, James Michael Curley, the Black Rose, Norm's native language Chagra Stories that make you shake and sweat. Starving artists, Boss Ticks, Arts Mail and Arts Boston Sensible Shoes. Shopping carefully at your local outlet stores. The late lamented Worcester Common Fashion Outlets, Factory Refurbs, Leech Mirror, Greg Smith, Scott J. Kerman, Mr. Cheap Mark Waldstein, the quiet, reflective loudmouth Lavelle Diet Marilyn Gorelnik, Ed Leclair and the man who was riddled with Regret, Norm Nathan. I'm the slightly pockmarked Tony Nesbitt.
[01:29:43] Speaker B: A lot of the lines are open right now, so if you'd care to call, we'd love to talk with you at 617, which is, of course, the erotic area code to Boston. Let me say that again.
As long as the kids are not up and listening.
617254. 1030 is the rest of it.
